Wordless Wednesday

New template

I think I am happy with the new look. I know.... some of you miss my guppies... so here ya go: Anyway... I'll be working on this template and tweaking it to get exactly what I want from it. This morning, I taught myself how to do the drop-down list for my blogroll, and I added some stuff to the sidebar... I think the biggest change I made was dropping the "Rant Zone" from my title... I mean... really... What exactly did I rant about? When I created my blog in the first place, I figured I would talk politics... That's where I kept hearing about blogs... I really had no clue what they were. So I figured I'd use it as a place to blow off steam after arguing in circles with people on political message boards. I grew very bored with the arguments around the same time i created my blog, so there really isn't much ranting to do now.... So I'll just be guppyman. That works. Anyway... Thanks for the positive response to the change... Eventually I'll get this page to look just how I want it (and then I'll probably get bored and change it again).

Thank You....

Reposted from last year- The thoughts are still the same....

Thank You! I would like to take the time today to thank every soldier who has put his/her life on the line for my freedom. Your sacrifices have allowed us all to enjoy this life which we hold most precious.... I am at a loss for words really...

So Thank You

You make me

Are you scared?

I got bored with my template.... So I changed it to this one.... I still have a lot of work to do to get everything just right and how I like it, but I decided to see what I think of this for a few days before I go to too much trouble.... So... what do you think?

Red White & Blue

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*Note- I unfortunately have never gotten to ride in one of these... Every year there is a Balloon festival in the neighborhood... it's great to see... watching these guys take off and land from people's front yards or wherever they find a spot is amazing!

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things about American Idol...

1. Congrats to Taylor Hicks for becoming the new American Idol. 2. I didn't think it would happen. I like Taylor, but where is his music going to find airtime? Where do you listen to new stuff from Michael McDonald or Joe Cocker anyways...? 3. Toni Braxton trying to get Taylor to feel her up last night.... Too funny! 4. The Clay-gasm that boy had when Clay walked out on stage was hilarious! 5. Another funny part... They didn't give Pickler her own song to sing! Unfortunately, they did give her a bunch of airtime though. 6. All of them sounded so much better last night than they ever did on the show. I guess not having the pressure on you anymore does a lot for vocals... 7. Vote for the Worst is claiming victory. I'm not so sure I'd call it that... When they failed to keep Brenna in even with votes splitting all those different ways, I started questioning their ability to affect the votes at all... 8. It is funny that the guy who won was one Simon said would never even make it to Hollywood. 9. Meatloaf looked pathetic last night. 10. So did Ms. Psycho Friends Network 11. My favorite parts of American Idol are the cheesy ones. The Ford commercials, the group songs... the ones that make the people feel like they are so out of place it's unreal... those are some classic moments. 12. But I hate the songs they write for the winners (or second place folks) Have you heard the crap Bo is putting out? OMG... that sucks so badly it's painful... 13. What's next.... Big Brother? Can't wait for it to start now....
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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
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Wordless Wednesday

Wanna go camping....?

Have you ever been in a relationship where you feel like the other person is just an extension of yourself? Where you think so much alike it scares other people? Where you kinda take for granted that what you say and what you mean will be understood by the other person? And then some innocent conversation brings that crashing down around you and you suddenly realize that you don't know this person at all... They have the strangest thoughts and you have no clue what they are thinking... Welcome to my marriage.... I suggested that we should go camping the other day. Figured we'd run up and go tubing on the river or something. I suggested maybe bringing some folks along if they want to come... No big deal, right? I didn't think so.... (BTW- This will be the first time we've decided to go camping together) First off, let me describe what I meant when I said "let's go camping".... Friday evening after work, let's come home... throw the tent, some clothes, some blankets and pillows and an empty cooler in the car. We'll hit Wal-Mart on the way out and get food, drinks, charcoal and ice. Then we'll drive up to the general area and find a place to pitch a tent and we'll camp for the weekend.... Hopefully anybody who wants to tag along finds us, but if not... oh well..... Sounds like a plan, right? Oh wait... I married a woman. I'm so used to her thinking like me I forget that ya'll are a different species and you have very different ideas on how to do things... Plans. She and her friend have been making plans. I think we're up to 16 people or so that are going on this adventure. Yesterday, they were calling campsites and trying to make reservations. They are planning what we'll need, where we'll be, who may go up early and claim our campsite, checking what the river will be like when we go, figuring out all kinds of details that I never even would have thought about... Who knew there was so much involved with going camping? Of course, This isn't a bad thing... I'd probably take off and forget something. I'd probably spend a lot of extra time driving around trying to find a decent camp site... Balance is good. I tend to be really spontaneous and last minute about things like this. I tend to put everything off until it's time to go... She tends to plan things out and be prepared for anything... Between us, we make a great team. I love her to death. Either way... It's gonna be a great camping trip.

Conversation with a spammer....

I'm sure some of you have seen my spam posts... Usually, I just make fun of them, but today... i thought I'd try something different. I decided to hold a conversation with my spammer and see what road it may lead down.... you be the judge.... the secret med men use Oh... what is this secret med men use oh wise and wonderful e-mail spammer??? Could it maybe be one of these? Re: test VALLtwUM Re: test VbtAGGRA Re: test CktALLlS Re: test VtAGGsRA Re: test VtAGiGRA Re: test VtzAGGRA Re: test AMBBtExN Re: test AMBBtEsN Re: test VALLtUoM Re: test VALeLtUM Re: test AMoBBtEN Re: test VALLatUM Re: VALUM n Re: Prescriptions Written and Filled Online for any Medicine You Want. Overnight Shipping. Apparently it's not a big secret... Everybody seems to want to tell me about them.... But since you brought it up... how much is it? pay 2,50$ for v,iagra That is a most confusing price, but since I don't need em anyway... what else do you have for me today? Fw: qsizbmebmpu rbwzbwria mxnwkasd kqgcjfbjyaz qkgrwpswxfu qsliov qnvznad nrilkfejn !! Important! Ummmmm... OK... I see that is importanat, but you seem to have some kind of typing impediment... Have you been kidnapped and your fingers are tied up or something? This is even worse typing than trying to sell me VtzAGGRA.... Re: Your crdit RE: Your creddt Your credit I thought you were trying to sell me drugs... now we're going to discuss my credit? BTW- It's nice to see you finally invested in a spell checker.... I test these p1lls it's amazing! Ahhhhh... Now I get it... those must be some pretty amazing pills... They apparently work on the part of your brain that controls spelling...? Urgent Notification #54721395929728 Your account #96069539 Hey... that's pretty impressive... you threw some random numbers up behind your message... But I don't have an account #96069539.... Bye You're leaving already? You just got here... I was enjoying your company.... Hi That's better. So what are you up to today? fsleep oon dustpan Oh really... I hate when I fsleep oon dustpan... All products for your health! I thought we were past all this medicine talk... Re: EphedraMax is in the news today... Breaking news: Ephedra legal again Increase your energy levels You have a drug problem, don't you? Any med for your girl to be happy! Hey now... my girl is happy. She doesn't need your pill pushing to get her that way.... Re: bakuyy news Huh? RE: G59 Now you are just making up gibberish, aren't you? You got some time Yeah, but I'm running out of patience... Our store is your cureall! What the Hell is a careall???? You have Won! Ok.... I'm bored with you now... Time for me to end this conversation... Bye bye... how everyone By hitting my delete key... just like I'm doing now.....

Photo Scavenger Hunt - Flowers

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Here is a collage of flowers from last year. I loved the way this pic came together- It's worth it to click and view the full sized image....

Quick question.....

My wife was just telling me she and some friends at her work would like to start their own buisness and leave the whole working for someone else thing behind... This is something I have always wanted to do also, but I never have found out just how to go about doing it. If I had my choice, I'd build things (like the stuff in my Thursday Thirteen) and sell them full time... Anybody out there ever go out on your own and start your own buisness? How did you go about it? Was it worth it? Have any tips or advice on getting started? I wonder if I'd have the courage to really do it. I'd have to see the income coming in steadily before I'd ever leave the job I have behind... I think my biggest problem with doing it right now is that I just have no clue where I could sell what I can build. If I could get that part figured out... who knows?

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things I've built (or would like to build...)

1. Let's start with the scrapbooking desk I built for my wife. Excuse the mess, I took this pic right after I installed the shelves before she had a chance to get it all organized.... 2. Next up is the aquarium stand I built after we moved... I got rid of my 135 gallon tank and went a bit smaller with this 55 gallon... 3. Here is the fist in a series of benches I've built. This one I gave to my dad for Christmas a few years ago... 4. Here is bench I built for my sister's birthday. 5. Next up, I built this one for my co-worker... This is my only paid project I have done so far... She loves it and still tells me about accesories she buys for it- She decorates it for different times of year and it's the first thing you see when you walk in her front door. 6. Here is the most recent of my benches... I built this one for my mom for her birthday last year... 7. I built the A-frame for this swing (I actually built two of these, my mom has the other one)... I went up to Home Depot and took some quick measurements of one they had for sale, beefed it up a bit to make it a little more sturdy, and then built it for half the price... 8. I put this breadbox/potato bin together without ever seeing one... My wife described one she had and I threw together plans in my head an then built it... This pic was before it got finished, but you get the idea... The knobs are different and it looks much better now... 9. Christmas yard signs... first up is Joy... 10. and Santa kneeling by Jesus... While looking for pictures for this, I realized I don't have pics of 13 things I've built... So the next 3 will be projects I would like to build in the near future... 11. Gazebo - I have always wanted to build one... I can picture it with vines growing up and being a peaceful place to hang out in the yard.... 12. Dog house- My dogs are starting to spend more and more time outside... I need to get on this one soon. 13. Entertainment center- I need to build something that fits into our living room that looks better than cheap Wal-Mart furniture... I can see it in my head, I just need to get the idea into the wood... Hope you enjoyed!
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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
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Wordless Wednesday

Yeah- I'm cool now!

6th grade- I had made it out of elementary school... I was older- I was cool... And there they were... sitting down on a storm drain by the creek ouside the school. there are the cool kids- They smoke, they cuss, they get high, etc... There's the folks I want to hang out with. So I did. 11 years old and I started smoking... Pretty much just to fit in with the cool kids... By 14, I was smoking a few packs a day... Marlboro reds... Chain smoking... Look at me folks... I'm cool now! I smoked between 1 and 3 packs a day (I quit a few times, the longest period was about 9 months) for 22 years. Holy shit... 22 years of being a smoker. I've smoked over 150,000 cigarettes! How crazy is that? No telling how much I've spent- Prices crept up during those years from under a buck to over $3 a pack... I'd estimate somewhere between $15,000 & $50,000. Yep... I'm cool. Today is my 17th day without smoking. I made a bunch of excuses as to why I needed to smoke just a little longer... the last one I had was Stormii's surgery. After that one, how could I say anything was so major that I really needed to smoke anymore? God is good. I have not cheated once this time around. Previously, I have done cool things like put on a patch and then just take a drag here and there, or even cooler, put one on in the morning, rip it off at lunch time and then smoke for the rest of the day. Nothing like a small overdose of nicotine to make you feel like the coolest guy around! Sick? Can barely breathe? Feel like you're gonna cough up a lung at any second? I betcha a cigarette would make that feel better... let's get up and drag that ass outside and smoke one... hell it was so hard to get here, might as well make it two. Been there.... The sad part? I haven't had one in over two weeks... But I still want one just as bad now as two weeks ago. And I know exactly how I'd feel if I smoked one. I'd have the headache from hell... I'd get naseous, I'd want to pass out... But that coolness- yeah... it's a powerful draw! Thankfully, by the Grace of God- I have stayed uncool for now... I have resisted the temptation... Sure... I flick my imaginary cigarette mindlessly while waiting for the light to turn green... I inhale deeply getting that first drag off my pen while sitting at my desk at work.... I make some extra trips to the snack machine during the day too... But I'm not smoking. Probably the hardest thing in the world to do... Anyway, enough ranting about that... Here's a little something I found while looking for motivation... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Within 20 minutes after you smoke that last cigarette, your body begins a series of changes that continue for years. 20 Minutes After Quitting Your heart rate drops. 12 hours After Quitting Carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal. 2 Weeks to 3 Months After Quitting Your heart attack risk begins to drop. Your lung function begins to improve. 1 to 9 Months After Quitting Your Coughing and shortness of breath decrease. 1 Year After Quitting Your added risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker’s. 5 Years After Quitting Your stroke risk is reduced to that of a nonsmoker’s 5-15 years after quitting. 10 Years After Quitting Your lung cancer death rate is about half that of a smoker’s. Your risk of cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, kidney, and pancreas decreases. 15 Years After Quitting Your risk of coronary heart disease is back to that of a nonsmoker’s. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Interesting tidbit.... This is my 500th post! Woohoo for me. So maybe i am cool now, even without the whole smoking thing... ;)

Survivor is over....

Well... that's it... Survivor ended last night... Here's my season finale wrap-up... First up, 10 minutes of what we've already seen... Time to go do something else for awhile and then watch it all on the DVR.... Oh yeah... the fire challenge... Last week Danielle & Cirie tied in the votes, so they have to build a fire and burn a rope with it... Both get fires, but Danille nurtures heres enough to actually burn something with it... Cirie goes home... Next day, terry shows off his immunity idol that he had the whole time... then they get into a fishing competition- and they make me wonder... where'd they get the spear??? Didn't Sally lose the fishing spear the first time it got taken out? Where did this one come from? How much off camera babying do these people get anyway? REWARD CHALLENGE: WALL TO WALL Survivors must race to the top of a three-story climbing wall using four individually-shaped pegs. First, they must make their way through a table maze. Once at the end of the maze, each will release a bag containing their first two pegs and move to a spinning wheel. Reading the clues, each must spin the wheel clockwise, counter-clockwise, and clockwise again like a combination lock to find the one bag that contains their final two pegs. With the help of the pegs, the players must get to the top of the wall and place their pegs in the proper slots, which will raise a flag. The first person to raise their flag wins the Reward: a high-protein meal and a cot to take back to camp. This Reward will give the winner a huge advantage in the upcoming Immunity Challenge. Aras is in the lead almost all the way though this, but screws up while climbing the wall- He actually got real lucky, he fell at one point and got caught by his shirt on a peg... if he had gone down, it wouldn't have ended as close as it did... Anyway, Terry wins reward and gets a good meal and a cot to sleep on... Next is the most boring part of every season... They get to go "reflect" on all the also-rans that got kicked out earlier... Fast-forward up until they set the skull on exile island on fire, and then get dissapointed by even that... I want a raging inferno... maybe some explosives thrown in or something... but it just burns... I did notice they burned all the torches this time... I guess they didn't want some fisherman finding them and selling them on E-bay this time...? IMMUNITY CHALLENGE: BALANCE OF POWER Starting on the largest of a series of floating platforms, every fifteen minutes the Final Three will move to the next smaller platform. As the platforms get smaller, it will get tougher for the Survivors to maintain their balance. Only their feet can touch the platform. If their hands touch the platform or they fall off, they are eliminated. The last person standing wins Immunity and a guaranteed slot in the Final Two. All is well until the third platform... Terry never gets his balance and falls in, and Danielle nods to Aras with one of those "I got yer back" type nods and Aras goes swimming too... Danielle wins immunity... They both try to plaed their case to Danielle, but she decides she has a better chance beating Aras than Terry... little did she know that either way she was doomed... When Danielle and Aras wake up, they find eggs, bacon, pancake batter, fruit, orange juice and champagne... They eat and then take a walk with their champagne... Buzzed off girlie drinks, they decide to walk out on the slippery rocks... and Aras goes down hard! Glass shatters and stabs him in the back and hand... Ouch! That looks painful.. He pulls a huge shard out of his back- he's lucky he didn't do more damage than he did... The medics come out and stitch him back together- so now Aras has the drunk stupid sympathy vote too... at the final tribal council... we hope for the spirit of Sue Hawk to take over somebody and have them blast the final two, but it never really happens... Pretty boring question and answer session followed by the vote... Then Jeff just walks off set and walks into the studio... Dang it Jeff... we want helicopters! We want jet skis! We want the big cheesefest that shows you coming back to the states with the votes! Anyway- he reads the votes, and Aras wins. yippee. Is it just me, or is Survivor getting more and more boring all the time? Anyway... That's a wrap...

Hey Mom....

This little frog has something to tell you... He noticed that your love for us overflows... So he wanted me to grab some pics of yellow flowers for you today... Happy Mother's Day Mom! Thanks for all you do for us and for just being you. You are the best mom I could ever hope to have... I love you.

Celebration

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Gift from an angel....

I got the neatest gift this morning from my Little Angel... It was Muffins for mom, Donuts for Dad this morning at her school... So we went... She made me a card... Here's what it says: Daddy I Love you Because you talk through things that I have problems with I love u Because you cheer me up when I am sad. I Love u Because you get me donuts on the weekends. I Love u Because you try to make life easey for me. Each has it's own drawing and there are hearts covering the page... How cool is that to see you are loved... to see your little girl show that so beautifully? I think that's one of those things that I'll hold on to for the rest of my life! What a great way to start the morning!

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Posts from the 13th...

I decided to go back through may archives and see what I posted on the 13th of each month (I did leave one post out, only because it was basically a link to somewhere that no longer exists...) When I finished, I had thirteen posts... Go figure!?! Enjoy! Wednesday, April 13, 2005 American Idol review Friday, May 13, 2005 Survivor recap.... Monday, June 13, 2005 One more from the wayback machine....(old pictures of me) Wednesday, July 13, 2005 Back of my sister's bench..... And an update on the shuttle launch Tuesday, September 13, 2005 Picketing Wal Mart.... Thursday, October 13, 2005 Sad, So Very Sad Tuesday, December 13, 2005 Bethlehem and In the yard.... Friday, January 13, 2006 Random thoughts on a Friday Monday, February 13, 2006 Cheney and the media.... Monday, March 13, 2006 Random thoughts on a Monday..... Thursday, April 13, 2006 Stormii is Fine!
Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Wordless Wednesday

I wonder if they meant to do this...?

MSNBC made my morning today.... I was glancing through their headlines and I came across a link that said the following: WP: Confident Democrats lay out agenda Hey... I've been looking for that for years now! Great, a story that will finally explain it! Yay! Here's what I got when I clicked the link... Somehow I knew....

Discovery

If only I could be as fascinated by the world around me like a child... Here is my daughter and her cousin yesterday searching through the rocks by the bay... The littlest things become such a wonder to kids. I want that back... I want to be awestruck by God's small wonders... I guess in a way I was... I watched these two and I was fascinated by their search... I followed along not to see what they might discover, but just to watch the joy they found in the journey.

Photo Hunt...

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My wife has suckered me in to all kinds of daily memes this week. So I figured why not do this one too...? So here is my first Photo Hunt.... The theme is OPEN Now... I'm just waiting for this canna leaf to finish opening.... I just really liked this shot for some reason....

Survivor

*See the next post if you wondered what that flower was yesterday* Back at camp after tribal council, Shane is trying to figure out what happened... Cirie and Aras lie to hime and he buys it hook, line & sinker... Dang it... The whole point of watching tonight was to see Shane go nuts... Oh well.... Danielle also showed Terry that he really was alone out there and he'd need to win everything from here till the end... REWARD CHALLENGE: SECOND CHANCE this Reward Challenge combines elements of past Challenges put together in a four-stage obstacle course. First, the five tribemates will dig in a circle of sand, each looking for a bag. The first four to find their bag move on to the second round. In the second round, they will carry their bags with them to untie a wooden snake. The first three to get to the finish with both bag and snake proceed to the third round. The third round, they will carry the bag and snake as they race over a sand hill and into a water pit, where they will untie a large fish. The first two to get to the finish with fish, bag and snake will move on to the final round. In the last round, the last two standing will go head-to-head, carrying all three items that they have collected through a series of wooden tunnels and towers. The first person to the finish wins the Reward: face-to-face in person with a loved one. The winner of the Challenge will be responsible for allocating who wins love and how much love they get. They get knocked out in this order... Shane first, Cirie, Danielle, Aras- That leaves Terry as the winner... Terry gets to decide who gets to do what with their loved ones... He picks his wife to stay in a hotel with him... Shane's son (Boston Powers??? OMG.. I can't believe he named his son Boston Powers!) and Shane are coming with them... Cirie's man is going back to camp to spend the night... Aras gets a hug from his mommy... and Danielle's mom says goodby while Danielle goes to Exile island. I would have almost done the same thing, but I would have let Cirie and her man go back to the hotel... I'd figure that anybody who has a chance of getting some might want to be clean first. Let the boy have a night camping with his old man..... After all the family visits, Aras bitches at Terry cuz he's a big mama's boy and he wanted time with his mommy, damn it! He thinks of her as more than a guy thinks of his wife, and I trully wonder where they cast this year's show... These people are a bunch of fruitcakes! IMMUNITY CHALLENGE: PERCH the Immunity Challenge will test the Survivors' balance and accuracy. Each tribe member will stand on a very small perch at the top of a 20-foot poll in the water. When the game begins, they will lower a bucket into the water to fill it, then pour from the bucket into a very narrow bamboo shoot. As the bamboo shoot fills up with water, it will raise a flag. Once the flag is high enough to reach, they must carefully grab it and raise it above their head. During this challenge, Shane's total lack of a brain has never been more evident... He is pouring water basically on his feet... He's not gonna win anything... Terry wins immunity again- for what, the 900th time? So the tribe must eat another of their own... At tribal council, Shane discovers his strong alliance doesn't need him anymore, he is voted out and sent packing.... Well... at least now he can go buy a pack of smokes....

What is that third flower / yesterday revisited...

Yesterday, a few people asked what this flower was.... It is a flower spike off some kind of aloe plant. I'm not sure what it is exactly, it came with the house... here's a crappy little pic of when it was in bloom... Here's a pic of the plant it comes off of.... And here is the flower spike as of yesterday... There were actually three flowers on this thing, but I pretty much missed the other two... The next neat one that will open is just forming on a bromiliad I stuck in a knothole on a tree out back. I noticed the flowerhead just starting to sneak out when I went back there yesterday. I'll post pics when it opens...