Guppyman

If I'm not here.....

2006-06-09T10:52:00.000-07:00

Come look for me here

I'm fed up....

2006-06-09T05:59:00.000-07:00

All week, Blogger has been having issues. I'll post something, it'll work fine for a little while.... Then I'll start noticing that I can't get to my page. Or if I can, the comments aren't working. A bunch of folks can't upload pictures. The whole thing has been nothing but a big ol' mess.

Blogger's status page happens to be a blog hosted on.... you guessed it... Blogger. There's something that makes sense! They have problems, and you can't get to their blog to know what they are because the friggin system is down. But even if you could get there, you wouldn't get any information anyway... They don't bother updating the site until after they fixed something, and even then, they don't really give you a clue what has been happening anyways...

I've been playing around with wordpress a little. Checking out a freebie account seeing what I can do with it. I'm not happy with the freebie stuff i've found so far though.... I don't have the control over things like my template that I have become so used to. So I started thinking.... My birthday is next month. Why not ask for a domain and hosting for my birthday? That would solve so many issues... I could run wordpress on my own domain and probably stay a lot happier with the whole blog thing. Plus, I could branch out into a few other areas that I've been wanting to anyways. And I could host my wife's and my mom's blogs too...

So look for big changes soon... I want off of blogger badly. I'm so sick of wondering if it'll work today. I'm sick of wasting credits on traffic exchanges for a page nobody can get to... I'm ready to grow up, embrace my inner geek, and start my own space on the net.

*************NOTE********* It looks like Blogger is still screwed this morning too... When i wrote this, there were nice pretty breaks and seperate paragraphs.... when I posted, I looked and I have one huge jumble of text.... Go figure!?!

Public service announcement

2006-06-08T08:35:00.000-07:00

The two most common searches that bring people to my site... Pringles - Everlasting love commercial I'm sorry folks. I don't know why so many people search for this. I don't know why Google has decided that since I mentioned Survivor seems like a Pringles commercial and Somebody sang the song Everlasting Love on American Idol on the same post a long long time ago... I don't know why you think you may find the video here. It's not going to happen. I don't like the song. I don't like commercials. I don't know where you can find the video. I don't care. Go away. 55 gallon aquarium stand plans This one I can help you with. I posted about the stand that I built back in January of 2005. I linked to a guy that has some great plans. I am very happy with the tank stand. Build it and enjoy! Lately I've been getting hits for Ephedramax too.... I mentioned that in one of my spam posts.... Nope folks... I ain't got any. I can forward you some e-mails from folks who claim to have plenty at good prices though.... It's sad.... I get these same old keyword hits... Throw in guppy and guppyman, and that pretty much covers my regular search engine hits. I don't get any of the cool stuff like "Big Breasted Hot Mamas" or "Pregnant Goat Videos". None of the good stuff I see so many people get.... I guess I'm boring or something.... Oh well... Hope you folks find your Pringles song... or not. I don't care either way...

Wordless Wednesday - Huh?

2006-06-07T05:53:00.000-07:00

Blogger issues... Bored on a Tuesday....

2006-06-06T07:02:00.000-07:00

******NOTE - If you are here from radio opensource- I have a new blog... Blogger got to be too much for me to deal with... Visit me here***** I have no clue what Blogger has been up to... Their picture hosting seems to have gone nuts the last few days, and yesterday I had trouble even getting my page to come up.... I guess I can't complain too much... It's free, right? So today I was trying to figure out something to post. I hate when I just sit on the same post for days at a time. Yeah... I like the last group of pictures, but I need something fresh.... But I hate posting just for the sake of posting. Where is the fun in that? So I decided to grab a few pics that I originally stuck on an anonymous blog I started and gave up on.... Speaking of giving up on blogs.... I had a great time when I started Diary of a Lesbian Guinea Pig... I have guinea pigs that for some reason have decided that girls are their thing. At first, it was so easy.... I had all kinds of ideas on things to post. The first series of posts was great fun... But then it hit bottom. I mean... how much can you post about creatures who sit in a cage and eat, poop and sleep 24/7...? I wish the creative juices had kept flowing for that one, and I keep hoping the spark will come back... but so far it just sits there... Waiting... Hoping I'll come back and figure out how to keep it interesting... We'll see if it ever happens... Anyway... Enjoy these pictures... I went outside to check the mail... When I came back in, I heard a semi-scream from my wife... "Get it, get it!" I'm like... "get what"? She says "the lizard that is over here terrorizing me!" So I go and chase this little guy around... Carefully keeping my body between him and my dogs (who would love a snack)... I finally catch hime and take him outside... He was so grateful, he posed for a bunch of pictures for me! So tell me.... Would this scare you? And just for grins.... Here's a few passion flowers I gave my mom a few years ago... The vine looks great now!

After the storm.....

2006-06-04T19:13:00.000-07:00

Last week, we had some nice storms roll thru the area.... Her are a few shots I took after it finally quit raining. Enjoy!

Mirror

2006-06-03T08:48:00.000-07:00

Grab the Photo Hunt code. Join the blogroll. Visit participants.

What are you people..... Nuts?

2006-06-02T13:41:00.000-07:00

I logged into Blogmad earlier and saw this: Wow... you people are crazy... that's all I have to say about it...

Thursday rambling....

2006-06-01T07:29:00.000-07:00

I debated doing a Thursday Thirteen, but decided against it. I love the traffic that comes by because of it, but I hate writing 13 things out.... so today, I think I'll pass.... Instead, you get the privledge of reading some random thoughts that I have... Tuesday, I was waiting for the Astros game to come on, so I decided to watch a little of the White Sox/Indians game.... Some guy hit a 2 run homer... the ball bounced just above the yellow line and back onto the field... I looked in the crowd... Did I just see what I thought I just saw? Let me hit rewind... OMG... yes I did. Let me hit rewind, and go through in slow-motion... frame by frame... Too funny! Some guy turned to what I assume is his girlfriend and grabbed her boobs. He waited until he knew he'd be on national television and felt her up while he was there.... She smiled... Too funny. I tried to get the video of this, but the only one I can find is so small you can't make out what is going on. If anybody has a source for good quality video of this, let me know... Girl is blonde with a blue shirt on... she's pretty easy to see in the crowd. I have noticed a lot of blogs by gay folks. I have no problem with that, but some of them have me wondering. Some seem to be out there for the sole purpose of blogging about being gay. Why? What is the point? If that's who you are, fine... but does who you sleep with define you to the point that it's the only thing you have worthy of talking about? I debated trying to put together a "Heterosexual Man's" blog that discussed being straight, but I wouldn't know where to begin. It's who I am... it's not the "Be all, end all" of my existence. Maybe I just don't get it? It reminds me too much of when Ellen came out. She had a semi-funny show, but once she came out, every joke she had from there forward was about being gay. Why? Is there some super-secret gay thing that I don't get to know about that makes being gay the only subject worthy of talking about to you? Is there a certain level of gayness that you are trying to achieve by speaking about nothing but gayness in public? Do you earn brownie points or something? Another thing that has me wondering is self proclaimed blog critics. Or folks who decide to let everybody know what not to do on your blog. Some don't like "mommy blogs", or "Religious blogs". Some don't like "political blogs" or "sports blogs". Most claim to have this vast knowledge of all things technical, but for some reason, they haven't discovered that a browser window has a little 'X' in the top right corner. Folks.... move on... Don't like what somebody has to say, go somewhere else. Don't like the template somebody used? surf away.... There are millions of blogs out there folks! Just because you see the same ones over and over you seem to think you are now some kind of authority on them? Maybe your traffic exchange is limiting you a little too much... Branch out and go see what else is out there... eventually, you may even find the blogs you are looking for. The only thing I'd agree with you on is auto-play... There is a feature that I think should be banned from the Internet- not just blogs. But guess what..? I hit pages with it, I move on. I block them from my surf rotation at traffic exchange sites, and I don't worry about them anymore. Get over it people... I just looked up and saw this was getting to be longer than I wanted, so I'll stop now... Have a great week everybody... Sorry to skip the 13, but I just wasn't in the mood.

Wordless Wednesday

2006-05-30T22:01:00.000-07:00

New template

2006-05-30T06:32:00.000-07:00

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....

2006-05-29T12:47:00.000-07:00

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?

2006-05-28T08:52:00.000-07:00

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

2006-05-27T07:25:00.000-07:00

Grab the Photo Hunt code. Join the blogroll. Visit participants.
*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

2006-05-25T08:56:00.000-07:00

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....
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

2006-05-24T06:18:00.000-07:00

Wanna go camping....?

2006-05-23T06:28:00.000-07:00

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....

2006-05-22T07:44:00.000-07:00

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

2006-05-20T06:16:00.000-07:00

Grab the Photo Hunt code. Join the blogroll. Visit participants.
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.....

2006-05-19T08:18:00.000-07:00

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

2006-05-18T07:57:00.000-07:00

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!
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

2006-05-17T03:58:00.000-07:00

Yeah- I'm cool now!

2006-05-15T13:24:00.000-07:00

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....

2006-05-15T08:01:00.000-07:00

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....

2006-05-14T07:48:00.000-07:00

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

2006-05-13T08:47:00.000-07:00

Grab the Photo Hunt code. Join the blogroll. Visit participants.

Gift from an angel....

2006-05-12T08:54:00.000-07:00

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

2006-05-11T06:38:00.000-07:00

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

2006-05-09T22:01:00.000-07:00

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

2006-05-08T06:31:00.000-07:00

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

2006-05-07T10:12:00.000-07:00

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...

2006-05-05T22:25:00.000-07:00

Grab the Photo Hunt code. Join the blogroll. Visit participants.
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

2006-05-05T06:51:00.000-07:00

*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...

2006-05-05T06:11:00.000-07:00

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...

Thursday Thirteen

2006-05-04T07:06:00.000-07:00

Well... The response was great for the Wordless Wednesday, So I decided to try out this 13 things thing too... Hope I didn't overload you with pics on this one. Enjoy!
Thirteen Things from my garden...

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 - Virgin no more...

2006-05-03T04:54:00.000-07:00

American Idol

2006-05-02T19:31:00.000-07:00

2 songs each this week... 1st, from the year they were born. Next, one of Billboards chart toppers or some such nonsense... I'll get right to it... Elliot starts out with George Benson's Broadway. He pretty much sucked- Simon even told him to be glad he sings twice tonight.. His second song was some crap about going home. Elliot... you may just get your wish... If only Paris didn't suck so badly.... Speaking of Paris, she was up next with Prince's Kiss. Holy crap! I rememeber when this came out. I was driving already. This is when she was born, and she's about to make more money than I have in my entire life. How pathetic is that? Anyway... I can't stand Paris. She may sing ok, but she grates on my nerves. So... as far as I'm concerned... this and her second song pretty much sucked. Paris is who i really think will go home.... Next up was Chris. And he absolutely slaughtered Renegade. Dude... you sing the 4 notes your voice is capable of very well... why try to step outside that and sing something so obviously way beyond your abilities? I just don't get it... Anyway... His Shinedown song may have been better... I couldn't tell you... the song itself sucked pretty bad so maybe he did it well, maybe he didn't... I don't know. I think Chris is starting to realize what is in store if he wins or gets too close to the top... he's starting to try to throw this thing. And if that's what he is doing, he's doing one Hell of a job at it. McPheever came out and butchered Against All Odds. If she wasn't so damn cute, that really would have upset me. She made up for it by performing her second song entirely on her knees! Woohooo to that! I think we know who all the guys who watch this show will be voting for..... ;) Taylor did Play That Funky Music and did pretty dang good for a white boy... That was classic Taylor and I'd say the best of the night. He finished the show with Something from the Beatles.... not bad but a little slow to end with... All in all, I'd say he did the best. My bottom three- Elliot Paris Chris Going home: Paris

Speaks for itself....

2006-05-02T06:21:00.000-07:00

A normal work day....

2006-05-01T10:52:00.000-07:00

On my way to work this morning, I drove past the apartments where all the illegals wait for someone to hire them for the day. Yep... there they all sit, and yep... people are there picking them up.... At lunch, I drove past where they are doing highway construction... Sure enough, they have plenty of folks working... I see the yard crews are out in full force too.... What happened to shutting cities down? How come all these folks showed up to work today? Maybe these are the people who I keep hearing about that "are only here to make a decent living". So... Who is protesting? The lazy-asses who came here to suck off the government tit maybe? The folks who INS should be rounding up while they are all gathered in one place? The folks who broke into our country and are now demanding we pay their way? We should be celebrating today. We should be celebrating the largest single-day roundup ever by INS. It won't happen... but... wouldn't it be nice? So... quick question.... If, on this "Day without immigrants"... if the country goes on as normal.... We work and live as we always do... what happens next?

Trash to Treasure

2006-04-30T07:49:00.000-07:00

Here's a few shots of the project I am working on. We found this a few weeks ago at a garage sale.... the lady had primered the whole thing white, so imagine that as you look at the pics. I am far from finished, so the colors you see are not how it'll end up- they're just base coats. I'll post pics of the final result once I'm happy with it. Thanks for the comments on my quitting smoking post... I woke up and put my second patch on this morning (instead of saying screw it and running to the store like I wanted to)... Hopefully I can keep myself busy enough not to think too much about it. That and trust that God will take the desire away should help me successfully quit this time.

Here goes nothing.....

2006-04-29T10:54:00.000-07:00

I got up this morning... and stuck one of these on.... Yep... I'm quitting smoking again! Yay me! Thoughts and prayers folks.... I'm gonna need all the help I can get.

Solving the immigration problem....

2006-04-28T11:07:00.000-07:00

I was getting all upset over the whole immigration thing.... But then I saw this article, and it made me have an idea... We'll continue to take the folks who want to get out of Mexico for work and to be productive, IF... Mexico will take all our drug addicts and useless members of society... Legalize it all Mexico! Maybe we can start a reverse wave of people flooding across the border for your drugs.... We'd all win then. Sounds like a plan to me!

Useful tool....

2006-04-28T08:42:00.000-07:00

I HAEV FOUND DA MOST USEFUL 2L EVER INV3NT3D FOR DA INTERNAT!111! OMG LOL CHEK OUT DA ANGLISH-2-12-YEAR-OLD-AOLAR TRANSLA2R

Survivor....

2006-04-28T06:51:00.000-07:00

Let's see... where to begin...? Shane. Blackberry. Stupid. OK... he either is absolutely nuts, or he has a strategy to convince everybody that he is. What kind of idiot picks up a piece of wood and decides that it's their Blackberry? Somebody drown him please.... REWARD CHALLENGE: THE KEY OF SEA the tribe will be divided into two teams of three. Each team member will be attached to a rope that spans the length of an obstacle course. They must follow the rope while navigating the various obstacles. When the final platform is reached, they will unclip from the rope and, one at a time, race across a lily pad run, jump into the water and retrieve one of three bags. Once all three bags have been retrieved, they will clip onto the rope again and make their way back through all the obstacles to the beach. The first team to reach the finish with all three members and all three bags wins the Reward: a barbeque feast. Terry, Courtney and Danielle vs. Shane, Aras and Cirie Somehow Cirie, Shane & Ara got tangled up in the water... The other team finished before they even got all their bags. Kinda pathetic. They decide to send Aras to exile island and Cirie & Shane go back to camp alone.... Terry, Courtney and Danielle get told before they go, they get to compete for a car. They fire marbles from a slingshot to break tiles- first to break three wins. Terry dominates this one too, winning himself a brand new gas-guzzling monster of a vehicle that'll cost him over $100 to fill up.... Then they hop on a plane and fly to some island, hop in Terry's new car and basically film a commercial for it driving thru beautiful scenery. Wonder how much GMC paid to get that in there???? They head to the beach and have a bar-b-q and talk strategy- could the big alliance crumble??? Meanwhile, back at camp... Cirie decides to go fishing. She grabs the little piece of wood with a fishing line attached and heads to the water.... crushes a snail and immediately pulls out a fish! Go figure... they've been fishing for how long now? Cirie pulls one out in 30 seconds. Scheming, stategizing, blah blah blah.... IMMUNITY CHALLENGE: HOLD YOUR OWN Each tribe member will kneel at the end of a long plank suspended over a pit of water. They'll be holding on to two ropes connected to a weighted hook. Starting with twenty percent of their body weight, the weight will increase by another ten percent every fifteen minutes. When the weight becomes too much to hold, the ropes will slip from their hands, the plank will give out and they'll fall into the water. The last person left standing wins Immunity. Shane proves he is not only nuts, but he's a wuss too by dropping in first. Cirie goes next, and thankfully Danielle saves us from having to look at her pit hair right after.... Aras drops next leaving only Courtney and Terry. Courtney looks like she might almost pull it off for a second, but then drops leaving Terry to win his fourth straigh immunity challenge. Lot's of scheming going on before tribal council, and Cirie decides it's time to make a power play... she pulls in Aras and Danielle and they vote Courtney out, leaving Shane & Terry out in the cold.... Should make for an interesting Shane meltdown next week when he realizes his entire tribe voted differently than they told him.

Top 5 American Idol.....

2006-04-27T08:15:00.000-07:00

Well.... Pickler got picked this week as the worst singer... She was that, but I am still amazed and surprised America woke up and realized that cal-a-mar-aaa and sale-mun and tarantula eyes and no one to play pottery with don't make an American Idol... So today... I figured I'd give you my take on the top 5. Here they are, in the order I figure they'll get voted off: Paris Bennett

Paris has a voice. She can sing. But she doesn't connect with today's music in the slightest. Her attempts at being her age fell flat... I can't see her having much of a "pop-star" career after this show ends... Maybe she could work on Broadway or something... music theater...? There is a reason she keeps finding herself in the bottom three... She's not right for this show. Elliott Yamin Monkey Boy.... Elliot looks like Eminem's ugly half brother or something... He looks slightly less awkward on stage than a Pee-Wee Herman impersonator at a police convention... My wife thinks he can sing, and the judges seem to love him... But if I actually watch the TV while he is performing, I have trouble hearing through my laughter... He'll get ejected right after Paris... The other three are tough. All three could actually win this thing... Here's the way I think it'll happen.... Chris Daughtry Chris will be the first of the major players to get axed. I know... all you girls will be moping around depressed and all that... but really... The guy will make it better if he doesn't win this thing... He will be recording soon enough anyways... Taylor Hicks I can see Taylor winning this thing, but I don't think he will. Personality-wise, I think Taylor is the best of the bunch... He's a flashback to the days of Joe Cocker... He'll add something new to the radio after it's all said and done... I just don't know what station will play what he puts out. Katharine McPhee McPheever is my choice for the winner of this thing. She's the most marketable for the show's producers, she's a born performer. The music she'll put out would have the most cross-genre appeal. I expect to see a big push for Katharine soon from the judges.. Not like this week when they told her she sucks after the best performance on the whole show..... There you have it folks.... Your American Idol winner- Katharine McPhee !!!! Of course... I could be completely wrong... It wouldn't be the first time.

Rambling thoughts on a Wednesday.....

2006-04-26T12:24:00.000-07:00

Usually... I'd give my thoughts on American Idol today.... But I skipped it. I watched the Astros play 14 innings instead. From what I've read so far... I made the right choice. Sounds like the show was pretty lame last night.... I guess I'll find out when I watch the much shorter version on the DVR later.... But I will make a guess anyway.... Bottom 3 - Paris, Elliot and (gasp) Kellie. Paris will go home.... Yay! It's about time! Anyway... So now what....? I don't have a huge AI post... What to talk about on a Wednesday...? Here's a thought... Earlier I was thinking about how so much could easily get me down... My wife just had to have major surgery... I have to go to work and leave her at the house alone... Gas prices... All kinds of political issues... Money... There are all kinds of things I could get worked up over and get depressed over or whatever.... But- I'm not. I'm thankful. We were able to get my wife's problems taken care of before they became too major. There was no cancer... it all went great actually. I'm thankful I have a job to go to. I'm even a little bit thankful for gas prices... All the activity in the oil industry has my company hopping. All in all- I step back and look at all the little (or major) things that once would have shattered my world and realize that I am so blessed. God is good. So I'm happy. More often than not I'm happy. It's very cool... I find myself happy even when I don't think I should be... When things crash down around me and try to drag me down with them... It doesn't get me down anymore. Is that growth? Maybe.... I know that God won't give me anything more than I can handle... I know He's got my back no matter what... So... I choose to enjoy what life puts in front of me. Thank you Lord!

spam spam spam spam......

2006-04-25T12:12:00.000-07:00

I haven't done a spam post in awhile.... But they keep sending me material, so I figure I need to go ahead and pass it on for them.... First off... How many different ways can you spell the same word? At least... I think it's the same word... I'm not real hip on the latest slang.... maybe I'm missing something important....? Re: PHARMACjgcY Re: PHywyARMACY Re: PHARMACpuxY Re: PHARhbvMACY Re: PHARcpxMACY Re: PHwjgARMACY Re: PiomHARMACY Re: PHARxxrMACY Re: PmihHARMACY Re: PHARMvzjACY Re: PHptcARMACY Re: PHARMAjjeCY Re: PHARMmjjACY Re: PHARnwsMACY And if that wasn't enough.... The same folks have decided they have other cool new sayings for me too... Re: CIbrkALlS Re: VIvsyAGRA Re: good VALtUfM Re: good CltALlS Somebody teach me how to pronounce these things so I can be cool with the kids these days.....! ------------------- Oops.... I think they may have sent this one to the wrong e-mail address... I'm guppyman... not muskrat! I do feel kinda bad that poor muskrat is having problems though... I sure hope they find him! We know how you can make it hard again. muskrat ------------------- OK.... I wonder if my degr.e.e.. from these folks will be spelled like that.... Yeah... I have a degr.e.e.. from a repu.t.ib@l inst.i.tui^n! no exams, no books, no classes just a degr.e.e.. ------------------- Ummmmmm.... But is there a reason TO read it? there is no reason not to read this ------------------- Tell me you don't like this stuff? Actually.... I love this stuff! I have hours of fun hitting my delete key over and over and over..... ------------------- OK... Time for the WTF part of the show.... Can anybody guess what the next two messages were trying to tell me???? cutworm bagatelle hackberry Deployment Buckle Hands ------------------- hiya hot stuff, do you think now would be a good time to sleep with me? Ummmmmmm..... NO. ------------------- Now these guys are promising some seriously hard stuff.... Quartzite! WOW! Got problems in the bedroom? We can help. quartzite ------------------- Your wife will love this. masturbate I about died laughing on this one.... Yeah... your wife will love it.... maybe you'll stop pestering her for sex all the time... Just take matters in your own hands buddy! ------------------- OK folks.... I may not be around much for awhile... Apparently I have been winning contests left and right. I must have forgotten that I entered any of these, but thankfully they were nice enough to send me e-mail reminders (to an e-mail address I never give out even). So if you need me.... I'll be off spending all my money! FRANK WILLIAMS - WINNING NOTIFICATION, FINAL NOTICE!!! Greenwich Lottery - Winners Award Notification!!! AWARD NOTIFICATION 2006 - CONGRATULATIONS FROM HONDA MOTORS....CLAIM YOUR CAR NOW !! GREAT WEATHER LOTTERY PROGRAMME - CONGRATULATIONS Ms. Julie Wright - CONGRATULATIONS WINNING NOTIFICATION ------------------- Until next time folks... just remember... spam is your friend.

Gasoline.....

2006-04-24T13:26:00.000-07:00

This map really disturbs me.... Besides the fact that absolute LOWEST price on the map is $2.37.... It's where the prices are high or low... I live on the Gulf Coast of Texas. I deal with refineries that are making gas for the rest of the country. I breathe the pollution... I look at the things daily. So why is it that the lowest prices aren't where they make the gas? You'd think that the farther they had to ship the stuff, the higher the price would be, right? But that doesn't seem to be the way it works at all..... That really sucks. I figured out what I need.... I need a king cab pickup that runs on water. Something I can pile as many people and as much junk as I want to in it, but it doesn't cost much at all to operate.... Somebody wake up congress and tell them it's time to drill anywhere we have oil, and to drop the huge tax on gasoline for at least a little while.... my wallet can't take much more of this.

Too much fun....

2006-04-24T11:39:00.000-07:00

Crap. That's what trying to post today has been. Crap. But I'm gonna try this anyway.... I have been testing a couple of light sabers that my mom bought for somebody... (You wouldn't want to give untested light sabers to somebody, would you)? Anyway- She bought Darth Vader's and Luke Skywalker's.... Now... if only I had somebody to battle with, I'd be feeling great! Check em out! (yes... it's me being a dork again) One little thing I noticed.... In Episode IV... didn't Kenobi give Luke "his father's light saber"????? I have Anakin's saber, and the two look nothing like eachother.... Things that make you go hmmmmmmmmm.....

What's blooming?

2006-04-23T08:04:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick little walk around the front yard to see a few plants that were blooming this morning.... Enjoy! Salvia A stargazer lily that I dropped in the ground last year... Hibiscus I have no clue what this is, but it's pretty... "Spooky mix" Dianthus with ice plant... Rose Gardenia I'm not sure what these are, but wow... they spread and go nuts! Tomato... almost ready! Jasmine - Wow... you ought to smell these....

A cry for help....

2006-04-20T11:34:00.000-07:00

Folks... I need a favor. Normally, I wouldn't even bother asking, but this was pretty pathetic... I got an unsolicited review. Cool right? Yeah sure... the dude didn't like my site... but who really cares about that? Even bad reviews are good- they bring traffic... Well, usually they bring traffic... This guy has given me a whopping 4 hits. In 9 days.... 4 whole hits! Woohooo! (it was three this morning, but apparently somebody else decided to come see me after that)... This guy apparently doesn't get much traffic himself... So I figured I'd give him a hand... I mean... really... if you are going to do reviews... What's the point if nobody gets to read them? So everybody go visit this guy and then click on the link back to me. Let me at least try to pretend that his review brought me some traffic.... Thanks folks.....

A short update....

2006-04-18T08:50:00.000-07:00

As most of you know by now, My wife needed surgery to remove some cysts that apparently decided to grow from her kidney. So last Wednesday, we went to the hospital at 6am... they started her surgery around 8. Waiting sucks. Especially when you have no clue what is going on. We sat there... they said it would probably take around 3 hours... 9 o'clock passed... 10 o'clock passed, 11 o'clock passed... 12 o'clock passed... finally... as I came back from one of my 10,000 smoke breaks Stormii's mom said the nurse had come out and told them they had drained the cysts, that all was going well, and now they just needed to remove the cysts themselves and they would be a couple more hours... Finally, a bit after 2pm, her doctor came out and told us what was up.... He said that he drained over 5 liters of fluid out of her cysts... something like this.... He also told us that the cyst wall itself was over a centimeter thick and it took him 5 different instruments before he found something to cut through it... He said it was like cutting concrete. He said that he thinks everything went very well, he thinks that she should heal ok and not have them grow back... He said it was a lot more challenging than he thought it would be, but all was ok. Thank you Dr. Link!!!! Anyway... they stuck her in recovery and wouldn't let me see her for a few more hours.... More time for me to pace, try to sit for more than a minute at a time, more trips up and down the elevators to go smoke.... more time to go absolutely nuts.... waiting waiting waiting.... Finally, they wheeled her out and I got to see my baby! :) Yay! I can be at peace finally! She was high as a kite and actually quite funny... begging everybody for ice chips and promising to be their best friend if they'd just wet her lips... Anyway.... The next few days were full of trying to walk, breathing with their little machine to prevent infection, morphine, waiting to fart, me having bad allergic reactions to all the flowers that people sent, sleeping in a chair, cool nurses, bad TV, forgeting to feed myself, and all the other things that being in the hospital involve..... Here's a few pictures I took while hanging out.... Thanks! Stormii and her baby hippo.... Walking.... My Angel - You don't know how good it feels to just sit and stare at somebody until they are gone in surgery for so long and you have no clue what's going on.... And finally, my bed from Wednesday till Sunday... Thanks everybody for all the prayers and thoughts and everything... It helped a lot knowing people were out there pulling for us. Praise God that everything came out ok and that he guided the doctors hands... I have my baby back home... And I want to keep her here.

We're home!!!!!

2006-04-16T18:15:00.000-07:00

Hey folks.... We finally made it home from the hospital this evening. We were there a little longer than expected, but everything went ok and Stormii is going to be fine. I'm a bit worn out after spending 5 days at the hospital, so I will have to post more later. I just wanted to tell everybody thanks for the prayers. God is good! Now I just need to find a large balloon and figure out how to stick 5 liters of fluid in it.....

Stormii is Fine!

2006-04-13T02:59:00.000-07:00

This is Miteymite, here to tell you that the surgery went well and Stormii is fine. Thank you everyone for your prayers. We know they helped her come through this. The doctor drained over 5 liters of fluid off the cysts. There were five of them, measuring 40 centimeters across the back. The doctor had to try 5 different tools before he could find one to cut out the cysts. They must have been there for years and years to have gotten so mature. The doctor said it was like performing five separate surgeries. It took over five hours to perform. Now you can imagine, with all that excess stuff in her, her organs were getting pushed every which way. They expect everything to come back to its right place. The real miracle is that her kidney, where the cysts were attached, is a little flat right now, but not damaged. No one can understand how she walked around like that and didn't even feel any pain, much less have any lasting damage. This is where God and your prayers come in. Stormii looked terrific when she woke up. Her color was good, her hair wasn't even tangled, and she was so alert. They had her on morphine for the pain, and she is a really cute drunk. She was so thirsty, and trying to wheedle ice chips, even to the extent of calling her friends and asking them to bring her some ice. The doctor relented last night and let her have some fluids. Guppyman stayed at the hospital last night [those two are so crazy in love they're almost nauseating] and I took Stormii's mom & grandma back to their house for the night. Today Stormii has to walk, and walk, and walk. This will put everything back into its proper place. At first the doctor said 24 - 48 hours in the hospital, but since the surgery lasted so much longer than he expected, he is now saying 48 -72 hours. Of course, Stormii is ready to get out now. Have a wonderful day, everyone. We are all rejoicing.

Today is the day....

2006-04-12T02:50:00.000-07:00

In about 10 minutes, we're leaving for the hospital to go get Stormii's baby hippo taken out... Thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers! Take care!

Good Mornin....

2006-04-10T06:41:00.000-07:00

Well.... The week is finally here... I've looked forward to this week with both dread and anticipation... Wednesday is Stormii's surgery. I'm at work today, but I took the rest of the week off. Tomorrow her mom and grandma are flying in, and then we have to be at the hospital at 6:30am on Wednesday morning. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers folks. It helps. Not sure when I'll be able to update ya'll on how it went... Maybe I can get my mom to do an update after the surgery... If you can't find info here, maybe check over there... Anyway... I guess I better get some work done considering this will be the only day I work this week.... Take care folks!

Survivor......? Oops....

2006-04-07T07:06:00.000-07:00

Last night, I sat down around 7:45... When I looked at the DVR, I noticed the little record light wasn't on... WTF? So I turned on the TV and yep... Survivor was on, but I wasn't recording.... We had too much on the list and were out of room. So... My whole Survivor watching experience last night was about 2 minutes before tribal council on.... I hate when that happens. Looks like Austin went home.... and that's pretty much all I know. Oh well.... Happy Friday!

Political idea....

2006-04-06T09:20:00.000-07:00

I've come to a new conclusion.... I want term limits. Not limiting folks to a few terms.... No... I think nobody should be able to hold an office for more than one term. You go in, you serve your country, and you go back home. You are done at that point. Career politicians suck. Look at the whole immigration deal the are trying to work out right now. over 90% of American's say they want the flow stopped and the illegals deported. they don't want to give them amnesty (by any name). They don't want to reward people who broke our laws to get here in any way. So our wonderful politicians (who obviously know what's best for us) decide to try to make laws granting them amnesty and no plugs for the hole that is the border. Get rid of these people. I don't know which is worse, illegal aliens or politicians... at least the illegals will work for their money.... The saddest part about my idea for term limits.... The people who would have to make it a law are the folks who's job depends on there not being limits.... That makes about as much sense as letting them vote for their own raises... oh wait... they do that too... Well crap...

American Idol....

2006-04-05T07:16:00.000-07:00

Oh boy, here goes guppy with another American Idol post... Wah wah wah... you bunch of babies... :) Anyway... tonight was country night... And it was mostly another week of suckitude like last week... WTF people??? You are supposed to be the top 9 in this thing... Why can't any of you act like it? That sucked. Sucked. and then, it sucked some more. Maybe they should go back to assigning you folks songs? Anyway... let's take a look at the sucktacular that was last night..... Taylor Hicks John Denver - Take Me Home, Country Roads Ummmm....NO. I will admit something here... I like John Denver. I know... some of you are really wondering about me now... But that's ok. Taylor... WTF was that? Some advice? I know... you need advice from some dude on the Internet, right? but I'll give it anyways... Don't just stand there and try to sing something. Especially on a night where your singing doesn't fit the song... Move around, be the spastic old dude with tourettes... wow us with the shear goofiness that is Taylor. But don't ever do what you did last night again. That sucked. Mandisa Shania Twain - Any Man of Mine Madisa didn't win herself any new fans last night either. Randy liked the last 5 seconds of it at least... Simon liked the 5 seconds after it was over... I kinda have to go with Simon on this one. I was bored, and she didn't sing it well. bad start to the night... Elliott Yamin If Tomorrow Never Comes - Garth Brooks This was painful. Elliot.... You need to take the advice they give Bucky and turn it over for yourself... some things do not need quite so much enunciation... Pavorati sings Garth.... ewwwwwww..... Paris Bennett How Do I Live - LeAnn Rimes The judges liked this crap? WTF? If I could vote somebody off, Paris would be the one... Ace Young Tonight I Wanna Cry - Keith Urban Boring, blah, yawn... Sung better than he has anything else recently, but that's not saying much... Wake me up when this thing is over.... Kellie Pickler Reba McEntire - Fancy Hey wow... Kelly can sing country? Who knew? She sang it well, but She really needs to learn how to work the stage... Something other than the strange painful looking bow-legged thing she does.... Chris Daughtry Keith Urban - Making Memories of Us Chris did ok. He needed to after last week's attempt at Creed.... Still kinda bored me though.... Katharine McPhee Faith Hill - Bringing out the Elvis Katharine has the voice for stuff like this... Now if she could learn to change the cutesy little smile into a sexy look that fits that voice, she'd be the total package... Overall, one of the best of the night... Bucky Covington Best I Ever Had - Gary Allen Bucky... WTF? You had such a broad category... COUNTRY! You could have chosen anything- something that would give you a chance to use the last slot to make people remember you up there, but instead, you decided to put us to sleep. I hope for your sake it wasn't a fatal choice.... Anyway... what a crappy night. Again. I almost hate to pick a bottom three tonight. If people were judging them just on last night's performance, the botton three would be a bottom 6 instead... with only Kellie, Chris and Katherine having any hope of being safe.... But I don't think Taylor or Mandisa will be in the bottom three just yet.... Out of the other four- Paris, Ace, Elliot & Bucky.... It's really anybody's guess who will hit the bottom.... I'll be happy if either Ace or Paris go home, And if I had to say which will go- I'd probably pick Ace. He has consistantly sucked worse than the others.... so yeah... he's my pick tonight.

Tuesday...

2006-04-04T06:56:00.000-07:00

Wed. at two minutes and three seconds after 1:00 a.m. the time and date will be 01:02:03 04/05/06 I've had issues with my back and neck for a long time... I regularly end up seeing a chiropractor or a massage therapist... I get to the point that I can barely move my neck at all. My chiropractor asked me if I had ever been in a motorcycle wreck after seeing my x-rays. I guess I did a bit too much stage diving in my youth... ANYWAY... the point to my drawn out little story... Last week, I had to go get a massage because once again I could barely move... The next day.. I was sitting at work and realized something... My wallet is a pain in the ass... It really is... I pulled it out of my back pocket and it hasn't gone back in since... And guess what? My neck hasn't been nearly as bad since then.... Go figure. Just for grins... watch the way this lady grabs this guys attention back....

The art of distraction......

2006-04-03T10:48:00.000-07:00

Friday night we went and saw a movie.... Saturday, we went to garage sales and got some new projects to take up some time... Yesterday it was get paint and weed killer and stuff to take up more time... We need to get the house cleaned up before next week... We need to get the spare room in order for Stormii's mom and grandma.... We need to make sure a lot of stuff is done before next Wednesday.... But doing the stuff to get ready makes it seem more real. Sometimes (like now) I try to fill up my time so that a big event I dread (like Stormii's surgery) doesn't feel so real... I try to fill up all my time so I don't have to think about what is to come... so I don't have to deal with the unknown... I know all the stuff I should be doing, but doing it brings reality so much closer to being real. So I distract myself... I do stupid little projects... I get highly involved in TV shows... I play mindless computer games... I do anything but think about what is to come... Maybe that's not so bad... It wouldn't be good to sit and dwell on it... It wouldn't do any good to worry... I wish I could bring myself to spend more time in prayer, but I even tend to distract myself from that too... Anyway... I don't even know if this is making sense, but it did distract me for a few minutes to write about it.

Did you remember?

2006-04-02T07:53:00.000-07:00

Yep.... it's my least favorite weekend of the year.... The shortest one. Daylight savings time.... Joy o joy. Why do we need this? Why do we go thru the ritual of setting clocks forward and backward over and over and over again.... let's settle on a time and go with it! Next year, it comes earlier (in March) and stays later (till November).... Why couldn't they just say- Hey.... this time works for us... we're gonna keep it all year! Can't decide which time? Split the difference... make permanent real time half an hour from what it is right now! Anyway.... enjoy what's left of your weekend- even though they stole an hour from you....

I think I might be a Democrat.....

2006-04-01T13:34:00.000-08:00

I know this may shock some of you, but I think I may vote for Democrats this next time around. I've looked around at the party I was in and no longer identify with their values- Bush lied to get us into an unjust war for Halliburton Lower taxes for rich people while the rest of us get screwed They want to control women's bodies The homophobic right wing religious nutballs want to persecute gay people and deny them their right to marry goats or whoever they choose. The racist right wingers who want to deny our guest workers the right to basic human rights.... Only rich republicans can afford basic healthcare Minimum wage should be raised to at least $15 an hour We need to understand the plight of the people in the middle east and try to understand the reasons they are attacking us rather than blowing up innocent women and children and making more of them hate us I'm running out of ideas for my little April Fool's post here.... You leftists are a bunch of nutcases and I can't even get myself to think like that even for a joke. At least I tried..... Have a great April Fools day everybody!

Saturday morning

2006-04-01T05:55:00.000-08:00

Last weekend this is what got me going.... yummy! Anyway.... here's the latest thing to bloom out at my house.... I love these things.

I'm old....

2006-03-31T06:58:00.000-08:00

I'm feeling old today. It's a birthday... No.. it's not mine. My daughter turned 8 years old today. Where does the time go? It seems like a week ago I posted on her birthday last year.... And now it's here again. Wow. Well.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY! Daddy loves you (even if you do make him feel old).

Decisions desicions......

2006-03-30T07:55:00.000-08:00

My buddy Ender decided to be extra nice to me and make me some sweet banners! Thanks Ender!!!!! But now I am torn... Blogmad only allows you to use one banner in the rotation.... So I have to decide which one to use.... I hate that. I hate having to make decisions like that... they both rock! So I've decided it's up to you... Help me choose which banner to use... Speaking of Blogmad ... Have you joined? Have you been thinking of joining? Well... I could use the referrals, so feel free to join from here... And since you are in a voting mood already.... why not rate me on VARB?

Crapfest...errr... American Idol....

2006-03-29T06:55:00.000-08:00

What happened to these folks this week? Did they all get together and decide to prove that they shouldn't be allowed to sing modern music or something? This had to be the worst night since auditions... and these are supposed to be the top 10???? Send em all home and let's start over! Here's the review.... Lisa Tucker Kelly Clarkson - Because of You Um.... no. Lisa... you have consistantly sucked and it's time for you to forget this little fantasy of yours and go home. But with how crappy most of the others were... who knows if you will. Kellie Pickler Suds in the Bucket - Sara Evans Boring. Come on Kellie... you are supposed to be a country girl... so what happened here? That sucked. Ace Young Train - Drops of Jupiter OMG... I'm blind! Ace decided to reveal his waxed chest to us during the horrible performance of a bad song.... Please... somebody put him out of his misery.... Talyor Hicks Trouble - Ray LaMontagne Taylor... sorry, but you kinda sucked tonight too. You have nothing to worry about, but come on dude.... Mandisa Wanna Praise You - Mary Mary Finally- something I liked tonight. The judges didn't get it, but who cares about them anyway? Pop out the Christian music in front of 30 million people Mandisa! Wtg! Great job! Chris Daughtry Creed - What If Dude... don't sing Creed. This was Chris's worst performance yet... That sucked. Katharine McPhee The Voice Within - Christina Aguilera Sounded horrible. I usually am all about the McPheever... but ewwwwwwwwww...... Bucky Covington Tim McGraw - Real Good Man In my opinion- Bucky was the best of the night. This fit him perfectly, and he did it well. Paris Bennett Work It Out - Beyonce I liked Simon's description of this one... "It was like a little girl trying to be Beyonce"- And might I add... failing miserably. Elliott Yamin Gavin DeGraw - I Don't Want to Be I can't believe I'm going to say this, But I kinda liked this version of this.... And when the camera pulled back far enough, I could almost look at the screen without hiding under the couch from his ugliness..... Do you folks who say Taylor can't dance turn the channel before Elliot comes on or something? Anyway- as you can see, I only enjoyed 3 performances tonight: Bucky, Mandisa & Elliot.... Bottom three: Lisa Ace Paris Going home: Lisa

Immigration reform???????

2006-03-28T07:03:00.000-08:00

What is wrong with the folks in the senate??? They seem to want to look the other way when it comes to 11 million criminals- OK... I guess we'll just let you all stay since you're here already... WTF???? What's next... Bank robbers protesting in the streets because there are too many cops? Want an immigration reform bill? Here ya go: 1.) Secure the border! Walls, troops, whatever it takes- put an end to people just walking over whenever they feel like it. 2.) Any time someone is found here illegally, immediately arrest them and have them deported ASAP. 3.) Guest workers? Fine. But they must apply for guest worker status while still in their home country. Any person caught here illegally should be banned from ever getting guest worker status. 4.) Seriously punish anyone who knowingly hires illegal aliens- fines, jail time?!? Make it not worth it to hire them. 5.) Make the citizenship process easier and more widely available to people before they decide to immigrate. Our congress is seriously out of touch with the American people.....

Why do I blog????

2006-03-27T11:29:00.000-08:00

I had a discussion with my wife earlier about if blogging is worth it. Some days, it seems like more trouble than it's worth to get people to actually come to your blog and read and comment.... But I have come to the conclusion that when it boils down to it- that's not why I blog.... When I started my blog in January of 2005, I did it just to see what all the fuss was about. I had heard increasing mention of blogs, bloggers, the blogosphere etc... and i had no clue what the Hell I was hearing. I heard there were a lot of political bloggers out there, so I decided to start a page that I assumed would talk about politics- Thus the name "Guppyman's Rant Zone". At the time, I would go to many political message boards and get into heated debate over how nuts I think the left is... Actually... It was around that time that I became so bored with politics and the circles the debates would go without actually getting anywhere... My first post was actually about us painting our dining room and a couple of projects we did... I posted a handful of times in January, including my most popular post ever (that hasn't recieved a single comment) about an aquarium stand I built (I say most popular because I get hits almost every day from people searching out aquarium stand plans).... February found me quitting smoking (yeah... I didn't stay quit)... March brought on my first experience with somebody talking crap about me on their blog.... Looking back, I still find it funny (and I still get occasional visitors from there)... I've talked about all kinds of things over the last year or so.... from stupid links to idiots hurting themselves to reality TV show reviews to prayer requests for my wife and family... I never did find that niche that my blog neatly fits into... I tried the occasional political post, but got bored by it quickly... I figure I really don't need to define where I fit as long as I enjoy posting still.... But the point of my post is this.... I love comments. They feed my ego, they make me feel like people out there actually care what I have to say, etc... But they aren't the reason I blog. I like getting lot's of traffic.... I like being ranked high on things like Battle of the Blogs... But none of those are my reason for all this either... I blog because I enjoy it. I like being able to look back on what I had to say about things. I like the community of people I have found. I like working with my template and making my page look how I want it. I've had webpages before that I went nuts on and constantly worked to keep everything up to date and how I wanted it... Blogging is a logical extension of that, with the added benefit of being able to easily add content any time I want without much effort. I love it. So comment, don't comment, read me daily or skim on by... any way you want to do it is fine by me.... My real reason for doing this at all is for me.

Final Renter...

2006-03-27T07:42:00.000-08:00

I've tried out Blog Explosion's Rent My Blog thing for awhile now... It's a cool idea, people pay you credits to rent space on your blog for a week... Well... after 25 rentals, I've decided I don't want to deal with it anymore. I've rented to my last person... It's not that I don't like the idea, I just don't want to hassle with every week trying to put myself on auction again. So after this week, I'll be removing the rental space.... So how about everybody be nice and go click on my renter... Let's go out with a bang.

Weeds

2006-03-25T10:30:00.000-08:00

I haven't mowed in the backyard for awhile.... When I went out there a little while ago, I noticed that all my weeds were putting on the nicest show for me... I almost hate to mow them down. Maybe I'll just declare my backyard a wildflower area......

It's Friday!!!!!

2006-03-24T06:53:00.000-08:00

Ok... it's Friday and I don't know what to post about.... I felt the need to post just to move the picture of Chicken Little farther down the page.... Yesterday we went to the hospital for Stormii's pre-op stuff... They asked her a million questions and we sat around for hours... I watched the workers out the window tearing down the building next door.... Lately- I feel like I'm getting lessons in patience... Her doctor visits seem to take excessively long times... We wait around a lot. I am not the most patient person... I get real antsy while just sitting there... I'm the type that needs to be doing something. I just found it funny that in the box off to the right, I found this as Today's Promise: For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.-Hebrews 10:36,37 I'm getting better... Maybe I should get better at preparing myself for long waits.... Get something to do BEFORE I go to one of these things... not read all the six month old magazines after I get there... Anyway... Happy Friday everybody...

Shed a tear....

2006-03-23T07:14:00.000-08:00

Yes folks.... you voted.... or should I say... you didn't vote and now little Kevin has to pack his bags and go home. America's newest sex symbol just didn't have what it takes to be your American Idol. It's a sad day indeed. Bye bye Chicken Little! You won't be missed.

American Idol

2006-03-22T07:10:00.000-08:00

50's night.... Barely Man-enough helping the performers get ready.... I'll just jump right into the performances.... Mandisa Dinah Washington - I Don't Hurt Anymore Yeah. Madisa can sing. Yeah. it was another good performance from her. But I'm bored with her. Maybe it's her style of music... It's not something I see myself listening to after the show is over... I like her... I like her voice, but... I don't know... it's just not there for me anymore.... Bucky Covington Oh Boy -Buddy Holly Bucky Bucky Bucky.... Why did you choose this song? Kinda boring tonight, which isn't good at this point in the game... You might just be in the bottom three tonight. Paris Bennett Fever - Peggy Lee This was the worst version of Fever that I have ever heard. The judges were gushing all over this, but I thought it sucked. And I think America will agree with me and place little Paris in the bottom three. Chris Daughtry Johnny Cash - Walk the Line Dude... Chris could start recording now... forget this competition and go on to a very successful career. Very cool version of a great song... Katharine McPhee Come Rain or Come Shine - Ella Fitzgerald Sexy. Hot. I got McPheever! Taylor Hicks Not Fade Away - Buddy Holly Taylor is fun to watch... His dancing is hilarious, but it works so well for him... What did randy say... Jay Leno, George Clooney and a little Phil Donahue... too funny! Lisa Tucker Why Do Fools Fall in Love - Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers, YAWN. I hope you packed Lisa.... It's time to go home.... Kevin Covais When I Fall in Love - Nat King Cole Kevin actually kinda sorta sounded good tonight. This one worked for him, and probably made 11 year old hearts melt.... Elliott Yamin Teach Me Tonight - Al Jarreau Boring. But then, I think he's been boring since day one. This guy has nothing to stand out... he's got a decent voice, but Chris and Taylor blow him out of the water on the guys side of things... He'll make it through this week, but i don't see him lasting too much longer... Kellie Pickler Patsy Cline - Walkin' After Midnight This is Kellie's niche... This worked great for her... BUT... Who did her makeup? I think somebody was screwing with her when they did it... she looked like Bozo the clown... Ace Young In the Still of the Night - Five Satins Ace must have realized after last week that it's gonna take more than a pretty face to stick around... I think this was the best he's done so far... I still didn't like it, but it was his best... So there you have it folks... Bottom Three: Paris Bucky Lisa Going Home: Lisa

The weekend and more pictures

2006-03-20T03:51:00.000-08:00

This weekend I feel like I actually got something accomplished. I cleaned up one of the gardens- Trimmed out a lot of overgrown stuff and got some tomatoes and peppers planted... Stormii planted a bunch of new flowers and weeded and trimmed the front planters... The yard is starting to look good again! The most dramatic thing was when we fired up the chainsaw (you know you had a good weekend when the chainsaw gets involved) and trimmed the lower branches off the tree out front: This tree has driven me crazy since we moved in... I was ready to cut it down I hated it so bad... But a few cuts and suddenly I have a tree I like. Plus, you can actually see the house from the road now. I just hope the garbage men are ok with our bundles of limbs... And since ya'll seemed to enjoy the last batch.... here are a few more flower pics for you... Enjoy!

Random pics from the yard

2006-03-18T06:33:00.000-08:00

I like to take pictures. I take a bunch- most come out crappy due to my camera... It's a Kodak EasyShare CX4310 - cheap little thing we got a few years ago... Some day I want to own a really really nice camera... Of course, then I'll have to learn how to use it, but that's ok.... Here are a few shots I took last week that I think turned out ok...

Funny stuff....

2006-03-17T07:11:00.000-08:00

Picture this... My co-worker gets a call from his wife... She works for the Houston crime lab. They are working on getting their DNA lab back up and working after all the problems they had. Anyway- he's talking to her and he says- "I'm not going to ask them that... here... let me put you on speaker phone and you can ask them" And she did- She needs DNA samples... Ones only guys can give. She wants to send her husband to work Monday with little collection cups to get some male DNA samples... I wonder if she is sending magazines or DVD's to aid in getting these samples... I told him to ask how much it pays... No work is getting done here today... everybody is laughing too hard...

Update on Stormii

2006-03-16T07:43:00.000-08:00

We went to the new doctor yesterday... First- He specializes in laparoscopic kidney surgery... Good news! He is 80% sure he can do this laparoscopicly! More good news! He says her time in the hospital should only be 24 to 48 hours, and her down time should be fairly short also! This doctor seems fairly confident and all is good on that end. Then we talked to his coordinator... It seems that he will be out of town the week they had her surgery scheduled... So... Now they are trying to reschedule everything. We don't know when just yet- just that it won't be the 29th. *****Hey... Now we know... Surgery is scheduled on April 12th****** Oops... I had my work reschedule some training courses to accommodate this... Stormii's mom and grandma have plane tickets that'll need to be rescheduled now... But you know what? It's ok. God is good! Stormii's dad is scheduled to see a neurosurgeon about his back problems on the 29th... So her mom will be there for him instead of here... It's kind of funny how things fall into place like that. I'll let you know when we find out more. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers folks... we appreciate it.

American Idol

2006-03-15T06:05:00.000-08:00

Well... It's Stevie Wonder week. Why? Why take a guy who you've complained about people singing and base the entire week around his songs? What's next week... Mariah Carey? I hate artist theme weeks- I much prefer decades or style... Anyway... let's get on with the performances.... Ace Young - Do I Do Boring. Everything about this guy bores me... why do ya'll keep voting for him? Kellie Pickler - Blame It On The Sun Boring. Not even any new food to tell us about this week.... Elliott Yamin - Knocks Me Off My Feet Boring. My wife likes Elliott. I can't stand him. See what theme weeks do? I see a pattern starting.... Mandisa - Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing Mandisa was decent, but forgetable. The best part of her deal was when Ryan took her shoes off.... Bucky Covington - Superstition Finally... somebody who I might listen to after this is over. Bucky is one of the few this year that I would listen to after this is over (along with Taylor and Chris)... I keep seeing him towards the bottom of polls, and I don't get it... Melissa McGhee - Lately OMG... She forgot the words! First, in front of Stevie... then... on the show. How funny! Notice during the recap she suddenly sang it right? I always hated that they show practice sessions sometimes during the recap... Lisa Tucker - Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours Lisa did ok, but she was forgetable. Kevin Covais - Part-Time Lover Comic relief. First, I laughed all the way through his performance... then... I laughed through is attitude with Simon. This kid has a great future in stand up. Not sure why he's on AI though... But I hope he stays just for my entertainment. Katharine McPhee - Until You Come Back to Me Finally! The show started. What was all that other crap before this? I'vegot McPheever! Talyor Hicks - Living for the City Taylor is great! He knows how to work the crowd... his tourets style dancing works for him... he sings great... good job old man! Paris Bennett - All I Do I liked Paris during the auditions, but I am so done with it. I kept thinking her head was gonna fall off with her little bobblehead routine last night.... Chris Daughtry - Higher Ground And of course... Chris steals the show again. This guy knows what the goal is... to actually have a career after all this. He's well on hiis way, and he's gonna do great. Bottom three: Kevin Melissa Ace Going home: Melissa

BarlowGirl Never Alone

2006-03-14T08:12:00.000-08:00

I waited for You today But You didn't show No.No.No I needed You today So where did you go? You told me to call Said You'd be there And though I haven't seen You Are You still there? Chorus I cry out with no reply and I can't feel You by my side So I'll hold tight to what I know You're here and I'm never alone. And though I cannot see You and I can't explain why Such a deep, deep reassurance You've placed in my life oh We cannot separate 'Cause You're part of me and though You're invisible I'll trust the unseen Chorus I cry out with no reply And I can't feel You by my side So I'll hold tight to what I know You're here and I'm never alone We cannot separate You're part of me and though You're invisible I trust the unseen Chorus I cry out with no reply and I can't feel You by my side So I'll hold tight to what I know You're here and I'm never alone

Random thoughts on a Monday.....

2006-03-13T06:13:00.000-08:00

First- If you would... go click on the thumbnail on top of the far right column... It'll take you to see my buddy Mjet... She is renting space from me this week, and we'd both appreciate you swinging by- Tell her guppy sent ya! Thanks to everybody who left comments on my last post. I was starting to wonder if anybody was reading what I had to say. Some great points were brought up and a lot of new names that I haven't seen are there... I'll have to go visit you all soon when I get a chance. Wednesday we have to go and meet a new surgeon who is going to take over Stormii's operation. (See here for links to posts about that - Just in case you don't know what I'm talking about.) We are still scheduled for surgery on the 29th. I am confident that the ever changing doctors is God putting the right surgeon in place to perform the operation. Thoughts, prayers, etc... are always welcome. Somehow... I have become addicted to this game... Anyway- that's sporadic enough... I hope you all have a great week!

BlogMad Challenge

2006-03-12T06:37:00.000-08:00

Ok folks.... we've all been going mad checking out Blogmad... I've gotten huge amounts of hits because of it- BUT.... Is it doing any of us any good? Where are the comments? Where are the new readers that come back day after day to see what's happening? Where is the payoff other than seeing my hit counter rise? This is the biggest problem I see with most traffic exchanges- yes... people see your blog... yes... you get hits... but Do they bother reading what you have to say? I know not everyone is interested in what I have to say- I click next blog on a lot that I surf too- but if it sparks my interest at all- I try to at least leave an "I was here" type comment... So... that's my challenge for the day... How many of you are willing to at least try to comment on the pages you surf...? let's see if we can make it a true traffic exchange- not one where you just see random 20 second splashes of color while waiting to click the right numbers...

Survivor

2006-03-10T07:15:00.000-08:00

First... I have to say a little about American Idol last night.... Who was that guy claiming to be Bo??? Poor guy. That sucked royaly. He needs to get far far away from any contracts he has with that show and start making music.... The vote outs were great! Kinnik, Ayla, Will & Gedeon all went home... And I won't miss any of them. So now... Only one will go home each week.... Anyway- you're here for Survivor, so let's get started..... We start out at Casaya, and Shane is bitching about being in his alliance. He wants to be released from giving his son's name to the girls.... They are more than ready to release him- and put him on the chopping block. Over at La Mina, Dan reveals that he use to play football for the Dallas Cowboys.... oh wait... thatwas last season... Dan reveals that he was an astronaut. The guys are in awe that they are living with some guy who has been in space. I think that's a great job and all, but come on guys... Anyway... They also catch some minows and swallow em live like back when they were in college... REWARD/IMMUNITY CHALLENGE: IN-COG-NEATO the tribes must each choose three members to race one at a time out into a field to untie, lower, unhook and retrieve four puzzle pieces. Once all four pieces have been collected, the two remaining tribe members will use those pieces to solve a spinning puzzle. The first tribe to solve it correctly will win Immunity and the Reward: a feast in a Panamanian fishing village. The winning tribe also gets to banish one member from the losing tribe to Exile Island. But in a surprise twist, the person sent to Exile Island will not go to Tribal Council, thus protecting them from being voted out. La Mina- as usual- starts off with a huge lead... But they blow it when the rocket scientist can't figure out how to put a puzzle together... And Casaya wins reward! They get to send someone to Exile Island and that person will have immunity at tribal council... They make the smartest move yet and send Sally.... So the guys will have to eat one of their own... Casaya goes to a fishing village and they are met by a bunch of kids- they hand out toys, and they are led to a feast... Chicken, rice, soup, sodas and beer! And for Shane- he bums a smoke off of one of the locals... I have never seen someone make love to a cigarette before- and I really never want to see it again... That was nuts. I figure he probably ate the filter when he was done with it... But it did turn him into a halfway sane person again... Nic fit is gone and suddenly Shane is lovey dovey with the girls... Cirie didn't look to happy about that one. La Mina decides Dan needs to be the guy to get voted off tonight, and he gets his torch put out by Jeff... Next Wednesday they are doing a recap episode, and there won't be a new show for the next three weeks! So everybody needs to go find something to do on Thursdays for awhile....

American Idol (guys)

2006-03-09T07:10:00.000-08:00

OK... It's the guys turn.... Here we go: Gedeon McKinney Percy Sledge - When a Man Loves a Woman OK... I'm bored with Gedeon already. He has one style that he fits in to, and no hope of going anywhere else. I see him having a great career in a casino bar somewhere... Chris Daughtry Broken - Seether and Evanescence Not nearly as good as last week- it may have something to do with my hatred of his song choice... still good enough to keep on going. Kevin Covais Don McLean - Vincent Wrong key for this song... wrong voice... wrong look... Kevin is a great kid... but he's so far out of his element it's funny. I'd love to see him stick around just for grins, but I don't think it's gonna happen. Bucky Covington Pat Green - Wave on Wave Bucky rocks! He's been one of my favorites of the guys since the beginning... He did great on this! Will Makar James Taylor - How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) Bye bye little Brady boy. You sucked again. It's time to go home. Taylor Hicks Taking it to the Streets - Doobie Brothers Wow! Taylor nailed it last night. His spastic arm flinging works for him. He's odd. He's really what music needs these days- something outside the normal everyday crap they pump out. Go Taylor! Elliott Yamin Bryan Adams - Heaven My least favorite of the guys... I wish he'd go home, but I don't think it's gonna happen just yet. nails on a chalkboard would sound better to me. Ace Young Butterflies - Michael Jackson Ok ladies... are you convinced yet that you don't have a prayer with Ace... WTF was that last night? Horrible horrible horrible.... So... Going home: Kevin Will And in case you missed it... Bo will be on the show tonight.....

American Idol

2006-03-08T08:05:00.000-08:00

American Idol- Tonight started out rocky, but got better as the evening progressed.... here's my take on the girls- Paris Bennett Conga - Gloria Estefan This was bad. Not exactly a great song to begin with, but Paris didn't do herself any favors by doing this one. Lisa Tucker Here's Where I Stand - Tiffany Taylor Good vocals- but BORING! I don't get Lisa at all... She has a great voice, but she pumps out this forgetable crap every week. Why? Melissa McGhee What About Love - Heart Another very bad song choice. I'm a huge heart fan, and she slaughtered this one.... Kinnik Alicia Keyes - If I Ain't Got You She sang it like she never did get that sex-change... It really left me feeling like I was watching a bad female impersonator. Katharine McPhee Think - Aretha Franklin Hey cool... Finally... Somebody does something right tonight! The not pregnant, not quitting McPheever girl sounded good! Ayla Brown Natasha Bedingfield - Unwritten This just sucked. I don't know the song, but I really hope that's not what it is supposed to sound like. She looked like she was trying to be something she's not (due mostly to Simon's advice). It didn't work for me. Mandisa I'm Every Woman - Chaka Khan Mandisa kicks ass! She's quickly becoming one of my favorites. Kellie Pickler Melissa Etheridge - I'm The Only One I liked Kellie a lot tonight. I thought she did a great job on this.... Vote for the Worst has decided that Kellie is the worst singer on here, and have chosen her as their candidate. They are destroying what I once thought was a great idea. I don't agree with them at all that Kellie is the worst- she's actually the most marketable one of all of them (and that really is what the show is about). After this is over, she will have a great career and sell lot's of albums. If she doesn't win (and I don't think she will), she'll probably outsell the winner.... Just my opinion... Anyway- My picks to go home are: Kinnik Sky And a surprise - Paris Bennett

Are you ready to rock?

2006-03-06T07:41:00.000-08:00

I figured I'd share a little of my musical tastes with you today... I noticed that I can find all kinds of nifty videos over at You Tube - So here are the first few I decided to look up... Give em a listen and tell me... what are some of your favorites? Slade - Run Run Away Focus - Hocus Pocus Blue Oyster Cult - Godzilla Anthrax - I'm The Man Led Zeppelin - What is and What Should Never Be Stryper - Soldiers Under Command Motley Crue - Live Wire ACDC - Problem Child

Guppy jumps on the bandwagon.....

2006-03-05T10:35:00.000-08:00

Yeah yeah.... I decided to be a follower... I went and looked my name up at Googlisms... And here's some of my favorites: he is worth whatever nottingham forest wants to pay he is a big kid he is almost spot on he is right he is hot he is here he is easy to please he is the bomb he is officially the most he is clueless he is reading your mind he is not mean he is crazy he is amazing he is alive he is miss anguilla 2002/2003 he is not really dull he is almost 100 percent certain he wasn't a woman yesterday he is so tasty you could just eat him up he is the casually late one he is king he is awsome he is a very good boy he is a man he is amazing he is weird he is masturbating he is music he is quite right he is the man he is a great guy he is currently recording his third cd

Survivor

2006-03-03T07:37:00.000-08:00

OK... before I get started, Everybody run over and visit my new renter - Divine Calm... Here's a small bit of what I found on her page... For more, you'll just have to go visit her... I personally write about the wonderful things in life, because I frequently cannot see past the negative. Forcing myself to memoralize the good via a blog is an exercise to create a better sense of well-being. Tell her guppy sent you! OK... Now for Survivor... At Casaya... There are a bunch of folks sitting around trying to figure out how to make fire... So Bruce decides to make a rock garden... Aras and Bruce get pissy with eachother about it... My personal opinion... how many people does it take to build a fire anyway? The rock garden thing was kinda dumb, but really... what else do these folks have to do to occupy their time? REWARD CHALLENGE- Each tribe will designate a retriever to transport rice, beans and fish from a boat to the shore. The retriever must race out, retrieve one item and bring it back to shore, then toss the item to their tribemates, who will be lined up. The item will be tossed from one person to the next until it reaches the last person, who will toss it into the appropriate bin. Once the item is in the bin, the retriever must go out and get another item. The first two items will be a bag of rice and a bag of beans. Thereafter, the items will be fish. Once a fish gets to the end of the line, the last person must chop off its head and the tail before throwing the body into the bin. The first tribe to eight wins the Reward: the entire bounty of rice, beans and fish, while the losing tribe will be able to choose one bag of beans or one bag of rice to take back to camp. It was fairly even until Bruce can't figure out how to chop a fish head off. he whacks away at it over and over- Might as well have been using a baseball bat instead of a big ol cleaver... Finally Bobby takes over and his chopping skills save the day for Casaya- they win reward... and send Terry to exile island again. When Casaya gets back to camp, they discover that the rain has given them a swamp where their camp used to be.... They decide to eat their fish raw because they can't make a fire. Nothing like 100 pounds of sushi to get your day going... *Opinion time... They won a bathroom in the last episode... Hey guys... look at all that wood you have that would make a great roof! Build a roof over your fire and wood! I swear, these people are a bunch of idiots! La Mina did get to choose a bag of either rice or beans after the challenge... They chose beans- OOPS! Austin and Nick both discovered that after two weeks of not eating much, it's not a great idea to shovel beans down like you've never seen food before. Both pay dearly for it that night- from both ends. It's pretty sad when the most exciting thing about a tribe is their stomach problems... This tribe is boring! At Casaya, Bruce and Bobby decide to hang out in the outhouse with the last bottle of wine... Only to be discovered there by their tribe in the morning... Bobby had the line of the night when Courtney was bitching at him... Something like " I feel bad that I drank their wine, but I'm glad I drank yours" IMMUNITY CHALLENGE: Each tribe must send three members to paddle out to collect skulls from four coffins sitting on the ocean floor. Each time a coffin is found, someone must dive under water, open the coffin and find a skull puzzle piece. They'll then untie the puzzle piece and bring it back to the boat. Once all four skull puzzle pieces have been collected, they will return them to shore. The two remaining tribe members use those four puzzle pieces to build a skull pyramid. The first tribe to build their skull pyramid and place their gold skull on top wins Immunity. La Mina dominates the water portion of this one... But struggles on puzzle solving. Just when it looks like Casaya may overtake them, La Mina pulls it off. Casaya has fun figuring out who to vote out... It's Bruce, Then it's Bobby, then it's Bruce, etc... Why couldn't somebdy wise up and make it Courtney or Aras???? Best vote at TC since Season one... 3 for Bobby, 2 for Bruce, 1 for Courtney and 1 for Aras... I love this tribe! They are the most disfuncional bunch of idiots I have ever seen on this show! Let's hope they have the majority at merge time... It'll be great to see all the alliance hopping if they do.

American Idol - Guys turn

2006-03-02T06:57:00.000-08:00

*Before you read much further, I figured I'd mention that BlogMad opened up yesterday. I have done some surfing over there and so far I like it. I've also noticed that they are throwing and incredible amount of traffic my way.... OK... Since I did the girls yesterday, I'll do the guys today..... Taylor Hicks Easy - Commodores I like Taylor. He's different. He's good. I'd even root for him to win this thing... BUT- I started thinking about it- can you see hearing this guy on the radio after this is all over with? I need to hear him do some more modern stuff to know..... Elliott Yamin Moody's Mood for Love - James Moody I can't stand this guy... it's probably mostly his looks (he looks like somebody beat Eminem with an ugly stick)... Not bad if you close your eyes, but not real impressive either. Ace Young If You're Not the One - David Bedingfield Just a quick word to all you girls who are so hot after Ace... Ryan has a much better shot at him than you do. Boring performance. Gedeon McKinney Sam Cooke - A Change is Gonna Come Gedeon reminds me of Michael Evans from Good Times... He sounded good last night, but I have a feeling he'll crash and burn the day they step outside his style... Kevin Covais I Heard it Through the Grapevine - Marvin Gaye Deer in the headlights. That geeky kid they dared to get up and sing karaoke at the dance. America's newest sex symbol. Going home. Jose "Sway" Penala Overjoyed - Stevie Wonder Yawn. Why is this guy on the show? At least he didn't try the falsetto thing again. Will Makar Lady - Kenny Rogers He did ok. He's a local kid, but he just doesn't say 'star' to me. Bucky Covington Thunder Rolls - Garth Brooks I thought this was the best Bucky has done. It was funny, I was telling my wife that he'd sound great singing something like "Turn the Page" and right after, Randy says he'd sound great singing Seiger... David Radford Frank Sinatra - The Way You Look Tonight Crooners croon, but they can't do anything else. Chris Daughtry Fuel - Hemorrhage FINALLY! Somebody who understands how this show works! Chris took a song that the people who vote actually know, and then he nailed it. If he keeps it up, he's easily the choice to win it all. The judges were right- he is the guy that all the others need to look to on how to win the show. Going home? Kevin Covais Sway

American Idol

2006-03-01T10:52:00.000-08:00

OK fine.... I decided to review the women's performances from last night's American Idol... (I was going to wait till the final 12 were picked, but... ) For the most part- last night was boring. The contestants really need to learn what they are playing for in the end.... They are trying to become a pop star in today's musical world... They aren't shooting for the retirement home crowd... You gotta appeal to teenie-boppers. So... how many of last night's performances did that? Yawn.... Katharine McPhee All in Love is Fair - Stevie Wonder Good voice, but... Zzzzzzzz..... Kinnik Sky Gretchen Wilson - Here for the Party Was Kinnik Sky a man at some point in her life? I'm just asking... Kinda like bad karaoke... Lisa Tucker Who's Lovin' You - Jackson Five I think she has the best voice in the competition... She needs to sing something more towards pop and leave this stuff behind. Melissa McGhee Reba McIntyre - Why Haven't I Heard From You Sexy raspy voice, nice chest, but she's scary looking. Heather Cox Mariah Carey - Hero This weeks lowest vote getter. Brenna Gethers Donna Summers - Last Dance Another great Vote For The Worst performance! She is so bad, but it's so funny to watch. I hope VFTW can keep her around for a long long time. (plus, I love seeing how upset she gets people) Paris Bennett Bette Midler - Wind Beneath My Wings Paris- another big voice that needs to let go of the past and join the modern era. Ayla Brown Celine Dion - I Want You to Need Me I may be alone- but I can't stand this girl. She's annoying, she's not now and will never be a pop star, she just grates on my nerves. She has a nice voice, but please America... put her out of her misery soon! Kellie Pickler Bonnie Raitt - Something to Talk About Kellie- I like the country girl thing... I love seeing the innocence- I just wish you'd figure out that the stage is larger than the little circle in the middle. If she learns to work the stage, she's got a big future in front of her. Mandisa Cry - Faith Hill Mandisa can sing. Boring song. She kind of made me think that I could see her leading a gospel choir... OK... stretch, yawn... wonder why I sat down to watch this.... My picks for going home tonight? Heather Cox Kinnik Sky There you have it... Tonight is the guys... let's hope that they have learned that you need to do something to grab attention- not put your audience to sleep.

Update on Stormii

2006-02-28T06:49:00.000-08:00

Well... The day I have waited for with a mix of dread and anticipation finally has a date attached to it. The nurse called Stormii yesterday and they have set March 29th as the date for her surgery. We have to be there at 6am- she is scheduled to go in at 8am.

Lost in a video game...

2006-02-27T08:02:00.000-08:00

Well.... Saturday I was over at Half-Price Books and noticed Roller Coaster Tycoon (With 2 expansion packs) cheap as could be... You can imagine what I did for the rest of the weekend... Well- not entirely true... Saturday evening we went to church and then to my Grammy's birthday party, and Sunday- me and lil-one made crystals and tried to go launch rockets (we discovered we need wading to make em work)... But Saturday night, Stormii had to work overnight so I sat up playing most of the night. I've had this game before (not sure what happened to it) but I get hopelessly addicted... I'd hate to see how I'd be if I got one of the newer versions... Anyway... if you don't see me around... I'm probably lost building my dream park!

Butterfly Pics

2006-02-25T08:26:00.000-08:00

But first.... Did you know I have lesbian guinea pigs? Did you know they had their own blog? Did you know they actually posted 3 times this week? Check em out HERE! Just some more pics from our trip to the Butterfly Center

Survivor

2006-02-24T08:46:00.000-08:00

At La Mina... Sally realizes she is the odd woman out... She had no clue Misty was going... And she's worried (like they always are...) Meanwhile... Dan decides that they will need a fifth person in their alliance... and wants Ruth-Marie... He thinks she'll be more loyal after a merge... At the other camp... Bruce, Shane and Aras are gathering snails... but they get back to find a bunch of lazy-asses at the camp have let the fire die. People bitch at eachother... The alliance of idiots looks shaky... And Cirie couldn't be happier. REWARD CHALLENGE: PUZZLE PARANOIA Each tribe gets six floating puzzle pieces. One tribe member at a time will swim out, dive down, unclip a puzzle piece, and bring it back to the puzzle frame. Once the piece is placed in the puzzle frame, the next person can go out. When all six of the puzzle pieces have been collected, the tribe may start assembling the puzzle by matching corresponding symbols on each side of every piece. First tribe to get it together correctly wins the Reward: Casa de Charmin: a full-service bathroom courtesy of Charmin. Casaya wins the reward and gets the bathroom.... and gets to choose somebody to send to exile island.... They send Terry. La Mina falls apart without Terry's leadership.... *******Can I say something here- The last few Survivor seasons have just really killed my entertainment value with rewards like this. Why baby these people? A reward challenge should have been for just the toilet paper. or a couple of towels... Not a friggin bathroom, shower, and all the other stuff they got. That was ridiculous! Let's get back to playing Survivor- Not Vacation!******** At Casaya- they decide they should keep towels and firewood in their new bathroom to keep it dry... Bobby sees it as an opportunity to use it as what it was intended for... and christens it properly... Terry is on exile island and looks at the clues... and then heads straight over to where the immunty idol is buried. Gee... what punishment Casaya piled on him, eh? Back at Casya... Shane and Danielle argue over work ethic... Cirie is overjoyed... At La Mina- they are trying to fish. They are failing miserably, but they are trying. I bet Sally regrets dropping that spear more and more every day.... IMMUNITY CHALLENGE: SEA LEVEL TREE LEVEL One person is seated in a chair attached to a pulley, while another person is situated directly above them in a crow's nest, where an empty water drum hangs. The other four remaining tribe members are together in pairs, which will race across a balance beam carrying buckets. Once they reach the water, they must dip their bucket in, get water, race back and empty the water into a larger pail. The person in the crow's nest will pull that pail up and empty the water into the drum. As the drum takes on water, it will lower, but the person in the chair will rise until they're high enough to pull a pin releasing their tribe's flag. First tribe to release their flag wins Immunity. Casaya squeaks out the win due to Dan falling at one point, and then Austin pours like a little girl trying not to spill a drop... back to Tribal council for La Mina.... The guys decide that Dan was the only one who told Ruth Marie she would be coming with them.... the rest never said a word. So they decide to vote her off instead- keeping the spear dropper for her strength.... We'll have to wait and see how that works for them.... ************************************* Some of you who have been reading my blog for a long time may wonder why I'm not giving the play by play for American Idol. We have been watching it, but there are just too many people still in it right now for me to go thru them all. I will wait until we're down to the final 12 before I start. I can't say I'm dissapointed with the vote outs last night though... None of the folks who left had a shot anyway.

How we spent our Thursday.....

2006-02-23T19:08:00.000-08:00

Well... we went to a new doctor today.... And I feel better. Stormii will need surgery to have her cysts removed. I hate that - BUT - We finally are headed in some direction. We aren't just sitting in limbo anymore waiting for what the next doctor might say. We aren't getting passed around waiting for someone who thinks he can handle it. Looks like around 6 weeks before they do it. Then, they said she'll probably need 3 or 4 days in the hospital, then around 6 weeks to recover completely. So... Since we took the day off to visit the doctor, and since we were at the medical center which is right by the zoo and the museums and things.... We decided to head over to the butterfly center at the museum. That was a blast... we had butterflies landing on us and surrounding us and everything.... Then... we went to the zoo. Walked around till they closed... We had a really good day. Thanks everybody for the prayers!

American Idol Wednesday

2006-02-22T19:43:00.000-08:00

A cry for help/random gibberish

2006-02-22T08:43:00.000-08:00

Well... tomorrow is the big day... We go to another doctor to try to find out what is up with the cysts my wife has. Hopefully this one will be the right one. I've discovered something about myself during all this... I am real good at turning stuff over to God for him to handle- But I am better at snatching it back and hanging on to it with all I have. I worry. I'm anxious. I drive myself nuts. I smoke a lot- even though I'm supposed to have quit. I dwell on things and close in on myself. It's sad... I know what I should do with this- I should trust in God to take care of it- in His time- in the way He thinks is best.... But I have problems letting go. I know that there are more people praying for my wife than I ever thought could pray about something. I know that no matter how much worrying I do- I will not change things by doing so. I know that it is in God's hands- not mine. Yet I still hang on... How do you deal with this? How do you let go and just trust in God to handle things? And when you do hand them over... how do you keep yourself from grabbing it back? *I've witheld writing this post for quite some time... I try to be Stormii's rock even when I'm not feeling like I can be. I hate to let her know I am worried- and I hate not letting her know also. Some days it eats me up inside because I don't have a clue what I'm doing... Last night- She was upset about my smoking... I totally understand that, but until we are through this- I don't think I can quit. But that started us down the track where she thinks I am smoking because of her... In a way- she's partially right... but it's MY MONKEY- not hers... I am smoking because it's a way I've always dealt with things... it's a comfort thing for me in a way. It really has nothing to do with her. I don't even know if any of this is making sense... Anyway... Maybe somebody has some advice for me? Maybe on how I can leave things in God's hands and not try to take it all on my shoulders? ****It was brought to my attention that some of you may not have a clue what I am talking about with the cysts.... Basically, last year Stormii's doctor felt something in her abdomen that felt a little odd to her. She sent us to get a CT scan- that showed a rather large mass of cysts. A trip to the surgeon, and then he recommended a uroligist. Urologist sent us for an MRI- then decided it was a bigger job than he can handle, and he has recommended us to yet another Urologist. We go tomorrow to the new one. The mass of cysts in her belly can be seen on the scans starting around the lungs and diapragm, continues down to her bladder- touching pretty much everything inbetween. They think it is connected to her kidney (the one that looks like a pancake in the scans) and we will probably need more tests to find out for sure. A quick scan of our posts about it are here, here(bottom), here, here & here. A few of Stormii's can be found here, here & here.

American Idol

2006-02-21T19:18:00.000-08:00

1-866-IDOLS-07

Nothing but links

2006-02-21T07:17:00.000-08:00

I used to do this a lot, but lately... It's been hard to find stuff cool enough to share... But today, I decided to give you a post of nothing but links... Enjoy! The dangers of snowboarding This site needs MORE COWBELL! Better late than never - Star Wars Valentine's cards Need a new T-shirt? Really really tiny games Reverse Dictionary

Update on a scrapbooking desk.....

2006-02-19T19:45:00.000-08:00

As Stormii uses her desk I built, her needs are becoming more apparent. I've held off building the upper shelving to give her time to feel it out and let me know what she wants. Today, I threw this together to hold her stamps: So.... one wall is almost finished... I think it just needs a shelf across the top of the pegboard and it will be pretty much good to go. In that pic, there is a small temporary shelf on the bottom of the pegboard. I have been going back and forth on that one.... I may make a shelf like that that runs the entire length of the desk... It'd be great to put small stuff on up off of her work surface.... I just don't know yet. Next project is the big shelves for the other wall.