Lost my mind, please return if found

            Things are so off for me right now, that I have no clue what to write.  It isn't as if there is a lot going on, just that I have no idea what actually is happening.  Take the septic work, for instance.  The system is installed but it hasn't been inspected.  The inspection could happen today, tomorrow, or maybe next week.  Then they have to finish filling in the holes, level the ground and get their machinery out of the way.  It is definitely, possibly getting done this week.  Maybe.  In other words, sometime this month...hopefully.
            As you can tell, I am not exactly centered today.  My mind is trying to go several different directions and I am not even sure where a few of them lead.  All I know is that it isn't helping me write this.  If I were to hold down the period key each time my mind wondered, this post would be several pages by now.  The really sad part is, I have no idea where it wanders off to.  All I know is that I stare at the screen for a minute with nothing going on and then I can continue to write.  I think that this means that I need to stop writing today's post so that I can stare off without the pressure of trying to figure out where I was just at. 
             By the way, if you see my mind out and about with out its body, or vice versa for that matter, please send them home, I would appreciate it.
            Thanks for reading and, as always, have a great day.

Short and full of complaints.

            It has been a heck of a week.  Since my last post, I have barely had time to check my email let alone write a coherent post.  Overall it has been an interesting week.  My oldest son had his first science fair.  I think he did all right.  I was unable to attend due to work, but I heard he did OK.  I am looking forward to talking to him about it, but I haven't been able to see him since it happened due to other events.
             That being said, I find that things are happening that are driving me nuts right now.  I have to work overtime this weekend which means that I will be unable to attend church yet again this weekend.  i should be able to go to the afternoon practice for the AWANA games, but I am unsure.  I work the graveyard shift so hopefully I can wake up enough to go to the practice.  I will have Monday off (mainly because I will be sleeping during the day) because of it, but that really isn't saying much.  I have to set up a doctors appointment for my shoulder.  I think I re injured it doing push ups.  Hopefully this time the doctor will be able to figure out what is wrong.
            I guess I have complained enough.  I really don't know where else to go with tonight's post so I think I will just end it.  Thanks for reading and, as always, have a great day.

Shifting shifts shifts everything.

           Today was interesting.  I woke up after only 3 hours of sleep and was unable to go back to sleep.  about 2 hours later I passed out on the couch for 4 hours.  It felt good, but I still missed the sleep.  This is the main reason I hate Graves.  It sucks the energy right out of you.  I found that it takes about a month and a half to get used to the schedule enough so you actually start to get regular sleep during the week.  The problem is I am only on it for a month.  Which leads to the second problem, it takes at least a week to get back on a normal schedule regardless of how long you were on graves.  The other problem with graves is that I get sick the first week or so of the shift because my body's way of protesting is to shut down any function that it feels is inconsequential.  I still haven't figured out how it determines order of importance, but apparently the sickness prevention portion is at the bottom of the list because it is the first section to be cut.  I have a cold that is absolutely horrid.
        I actually don't have a lot to say.  I drained every conscious thought into yesterday's post and thus have a mild case of writers block.  Besides, I could use the time for my candidate research.
       Thanks for reading and, as always, have a great day.

Nothing worth noting and nothing of note.

           This has been an interesting week.  With the snow shutting everything down for 2 days, the kids have managed to drive us nuts.  To make it even more interesting, the dryer finally died.  Now we have to get a new one and hope that we can get it delivered before Sunday.  It is amazing just how quickly we can run out of clothes.
            I am so bogged down with so much stuff that I really don't know where to go with today's post.  I think I will just end this and let it go to whatever.  I really don't want to rant on random things for no reason.  It just isn't me.
          Thanks for reading, sorry it is so short, but, as always, have a great day.

Short Pointless post

           It was an interesting weekend.  It has snowed off and on and none of it stuck.  We got our shopping done and managed to spend a little time with the boys.  Unfortunately they got sick Saturday so we missed church on Sunday.  In all it was interesting.  Today is interesting because it is snowing again, but this time it looks like it may actually stick around.  Tomorrow should be interesting.
         I really am at a loss as to what to say.  I really don't have any issues pressing me other than what I pointed out last week.  Luckily, we have the means to take care of our issues, we just haven't acted on them yet.  I really don't have a lot to say on top of that.  I will do some research or something and maybe have a decent post tomorrow, provided I don't get a snow day.  Anyway, have a great day.

Nothing of importance

           Yesterday went nothing like I planned.  First I got home and was getting ready to go under the house when my wife got home from the car dealer (she got the oil changed in the van).  She informed me that the van needed it's brakes fixed.  So we decided to look into what it would cost to get them fixed elsewhere and ended up spending the afternoon getting them repaired.  After we got home, I did some more trouble shooting and realized that the problem with the toilet wasn't a clog, but a backed up septic system.  So we have the septic guy coming this afternoon to pump it.  As we were taking stock of our savings and determining what repairs we could afford, we realized that, with what we had saved, we could afford to get the dryer repaired as well (it squeaks as it dries).  In other words, our savings is now gone and we should be good on repairs for a while.  Thank God we are actually able to put a little in savings each paycheck.
           I have no idea what to write about today and am wondering where I should go with this post.  After yesterday's rant on the 2nd amendment, I really have nothing else to say, for now anyway.  Things being what they are, I am a bit preoccupied with the aforementioned home problems and where to go from here.  I have so much suddenly on my plate, that I have to wonder if I was just putting everything off until later.  That being said, I think I will sign off for today before I decide to change my mind and go on another rant. 
          Thank you for reading and, as always, have a great day.

Weekly Update

         Things are getting interesting now as the holidays approach.  We are just 17 days from opening night on the play and rehearsals are getting intense.  There is so much I have to do and so much we need to do that it has become a grand scramble to iron out the wrinkles and get the final touches done.  I am so looking forward to the final show.  Actually, I am looking forward to when I can actually get sleep at night.  That won't happen regularly until January though.
           To make things even more interesting, there is a safety stand down this week which means I will end up odd shifting one day so that I can go.  I find out tomorrow whether this means I go after being on grave shift all night, or whether I have to go back to work for grave shift after spending all day in the stand down.  Either way, I am not looking forward to it.  I really don't know which would be worse, getting a night off then having to spend all day in a theater being bored and going in that night or trying to stay awake after being up all night.  I kinda think the second would be better since I have to go on a Friday.  We'll see what happens.
             Other than all that, things are going well.  I spent some time talking with my brother in law the other day and am glad that he is doing well.  He is flying to my home town to spend Thanksgiving with my sister.  That should be a blessing.  And I am looking forward to Thanksgiving as well.  Since I will be working graves the night before Thanksgiving, we have decided to celebrate Thanksgiving on Friday so my wife doesn't have cook Thanksgiving dinner while I sleep and she can actually enjoy her games.  Should be fun all around.
              I am out of things to say tonight.  Hope you all have a wonderful day and find yourselves blessed these holidays.  Have a great day.

Colds and the ability to concentrate.

         Ever have one of those days that just jumps up and grabs you by the nose and refuses to let go.  Today is such a day for me.  I have a cold that is killing me right now.  To make it even more interesting, I didn't get my coffee this morning due to my forgetfulness last night (I forgot to set my coffee maker to auto-brew).  In other words, if the rest of today goes like this morning did, it is not going to fun at all.  I also have AWANA tonight.  That should be fun.  A cold with a ton of kids going nuts.  Every Wednesday I get a new respect for teachers and I only run the games. 
       I really am having trouble focusing so I think I will just end this early today.  I apologize for the shortness of it and, hopefully, I will feel better tomorrow.  Have a great day and keep on moving.

Short and pointless

          I really need to stop reading the news.  Very seldom does it include anything that doesn't anger or upset me.  Even if the article is good, the comments are off the wall and negative to the extreme.  It just means that I have to calm down afterward.  I need to try not to write my blog to soon after I read the news, but you know what they sell, bad news sells.
        I did get some good news the other day.  My brother in Law is with my sister and out of his home.  The church from my home town went and picked him up and brought him out.  He is sleeping better and will be getting the dental work he needs.  They still are trying to decide where they need to be and praying for God's guidance on it.  I just hope nothing happens to their house in Chattanooga while they are away. 
        Not much else is going on.  I really don't have a lot to say.  Since I ranted yesterday, I don't think it would be right for me to rant today.  I hope you all have a wonderful day.

Skipped Monday, Update Tuesday.

       As you can see, I didn't blog yesterday.  There is a reason for that.  I was too busy getting drilled at the dentist in the morning and felt it wouldn't be fair to you to hear me whine and complain about the pain in the afternoon.  Thus, I decided to skip Monday's post and move on to happier (to a small degree anyway) topics.
        Let's start with the weekend update.  As I mentioned Friday, This weekend was busy.  It started with a soccer game in the drizzling rain (my third son, Mathew's team) which we won.  Then moved on to celebrating my oldest's tenth birthday at Red Robin for lunch.  We then went to my second son's (David) game which we also won.  David also scored his first goal ever.  We then finished our grocery shopping and managed to get home just in time for dinner.  Sunday was a little less hectic.  After church and lunch, we went swimming as a family and had a blast.  Then we finally got to relax.  While it was busy, it was a good weekend.
      Last night, I had my first read through of the musical "Annie!".  I am Drake, Warbuck's Butler.  Turns out, it is a rather involved part.  I am in a lot of scenes and have quite a few lines.  Luckily, I have no solos, which is good.  I look forward to more of the same.
      Finally, this morning, as I was backing out of the driveway, my check engine light on my truck came on.  Hopefully it is something small and easy to fix.  I will have to get it checked out on my way home.  The good news is, the motor sounds good and I don't have any other indications of anything bad, so it may just be an O2 sensor or the gas cap.   We'll just have to wait until this afternoon to see what it is.
      Now that I have my wife wringing her hands and worrying, I will end this post.  Don't worry to much dear, we'll get it fixed and stay within our budget.  We don't even know if it is going to cost more than $2 yet so stop panicking.  Thank you all for reading.  Have a great day.

Week in review and other stuff

         It's time for the week in review.  Thumb hurt, short posts, fair, Family, and work.  There, done with that.  The thumb is doing much better.  I will be shifting to smaller bandages over the weekend and should be back to full posts on Monday.  I also am going to start another blog that will actually be a serial story.  I will write what I can when I can on it as it will be something else I use to fill the time and thus, not a priority.  This will be my primary blog and I will update it Monday through Friday.  The other blog is just a side project I have been kicking around for a while.  Thanks for your support as always.  Have a great weekend.

Nothing important

    Today, my sons are having friends over for their first sleep over.  This should be interesting.  A bunch of 8 year olds sleeping away from home for the first time.  Anyone else expecting a bit of anxiety?  At least they all live close enough that it won't take long for them to get home.  I remember when I grew up sleep overs were a bit more complicated.  My closest friend was a mile away and thus sleep overs were not something you could back out of.  We'll see how it goes.
     There really isn't anything pressing on my mind today, so I have no idea where this is taking me.  Want to come along for the ride?  The wife and I are still looking for a realtor to aid us in selling our house.  We haven't really gotten anything solid yet and are still wondering which direction to go.  I really hope we find one soon.  I am up in the air about where we will go when I retire.  To be honest, I have had reservations about returning to Iowa and am unsure of where I need to be.  I still have a while to figure it out, but it is something that is eating at me.  First things first though, and that is getting the house sold.  We'll figure it out.  We usually do.  Not much else to say today.  Seems that I said enough the past couple of days.  Have a great day.  And have fun.

Random Act of Philosophy

   We are all looking for different things.  Sometimes those things are similar, sometimes they are not even close.  What we look for can say a lot about who we are and what we place importance in.  I am not talking about lost car keys or a new outfit, I am talking day to day aspirations.  What it is that we have as our long term goals.  Those little things we keep looking for that keep us going day to day.  Whether it be retirement, a place of our own, a family, or even just getting to the weekend for some down time.  Do your goals distract you from what you are doing, or do they focus you?  Do you look at each decision through the filter of how it affects your goal, or do you thrive on the hope that it will all be OK?  Sometimes it isn't the goals that define the person, it is how they are attained.  While a goal of a comfortable retirement with family is admirable, robbing banks to achieve that goal is not.  Do you step on others to attain your goal, or do you work with others and have them help lift you up to them?  Do you ride the wave of public opinion in the hopes that it is going your way, or are you willing to swim against the current to reach the shore?  Just as Lewis and Clark had to sometimes go against the stream and sometimes just ride the current, there is no one answer.  Sometimes you can catch the wave of prosperity and leap forward towards your goal and other times you are thrown against the rocks by an unexpected event.  Such is life.  If you bemoan what life gave you, you haven't found what it was you were meant to do with it yet.  In each set of circumstances, we find we can learn something from it if we look hard enough.  Pain is a great teacher though no one likes the lessons and it is through the hottest fires that the strongest steel is made.  Take heart in all you do and in every circumstance, because it is true that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.  Now that I have used nearly every cliche in the book, have a great weekend and don't take things to serious.  God bless.

A quick update and not much more

  So I decided to skip manic Monday this week because Monday was the fourth and I really don't feel like ranting right now.  It may have something to do with the fact that I just spent an hour crawling around in a hot tank and am tired and sweaty because of it.  Or it may not be, I don't know.  Anyway, I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July and still have the same number body parts you started with and haven't lost any use of them.  My family survived, mostly.  Turns out my second came down with Strep on the fourth.  I took him to the doctor this morning and got it confirmed and got him meds.  The poor boy didn't even get any of the ice cream I made.  Other than that, is was a great weekend.  I thin this will end today's notes as I am tired and really don't want to write any more.  Have a great day.

If I drew a blank, Why are there words?

    I am kinda stuck on what to write today.  I think I hurt something yesterday with all my thinking.  Anyway, I realized that I failed to give my weekend update.  Turns out that I managed to finish the case I was working on Friday.  It turned out wonderfully.  Now I need to finish the roof.  In fact the rest of this week is going to be pretty busy.  I need to move the camper, which means stowing it then moving it.  Tomorrow, we are taking John out.  The roof needs done, still.  I really need to mow the yard, and Saturday is shot with doing the fireworks stand.  This is why I dislike swings.  By the time you wake up, you have less than 6 hours to eat 2 meals, get dressed, work, and spend time with the family, before you go to work.  It really does shorten the day.  At least working day shift, you only have to eat one meal and you don't have to wait on everyone to wake up and the day to warm a little before you go out to work.  Mowing dew soaked grass takes twice as long as waiting for the afternoon to mow.  Oh well.
    The really sad thing in all this is that I have no idea what we are doing with John tomorrow.  Since it will be over lunch and we have put ridiculously tight restraints on what we are spending, I really have no clue how to make it special.  It really shouldn't be a McDonald's then home thing, but I am really stuck on what to do.  We'll figure it out I suppose.
   Well, I really don't have much to say so I will end this with the usual.  May you have a wonderful evening.

What?

     So, today I got everything I needed to make a new case for my camper's outside grill.  Then, when I got home, I got sidetracked by my wife reminding me that we needed to demoss the roof.  I got my 2 older boys up there along with my wife and we went to work.  After 2 hours of clearing moss, we found we were about a third of the way done.  To make it even more interesting, my oldest inherited his dad's fear of heights.  Anytime I said or did anything that remotely involved how high we were, he immediately would yelp and lay flat.  While it was slightly annoying, it was also rather hilarious as he was never near the edge and the roof has a very gentle slope.  Luckily I was able to keep from laughing.  I just had to remember how scared I was of heights at his age.
   Speaking of my oldest, I have decided it is time that he cook on his own.  I decided that he would make us Chocolate chip cookies on his own for us tomorrow.  I told him that he can ask, but he is in charge of doing it.  He is nervous, but I am confident he can do it.
     We have decided to try something this summer.  We are going to take each of our kids out one at a time.  Just the kid, mom, and dad.  To make it fair, we have decided to go from oldest to youngest.  Thus, we are trying to line up baby sitting for our 3 youngest for Saturday afternoon.  I left it up to Laura.
    As you can probably tell by now, I really don't have much for a train of though right now.  There really isn't much I on which I wish to comment so I will just call it a day.  Have a good night.

Good morning and Good night

   It's 6:00am, do you know where your brain is?  If you're me, the answer is not really.  I have been up for almost 24 hours and now I get to go home and sleep for 6 then return here to work.  So this may be the only post you get today.  Not that this is much of a post.  Anyway, I hope everyone had a decent father's Day.  Mine was going good until about 9:30 last night when I left home to come to work.  Then it went rapidly down hill.  I have yet to have more than a single job on most nights I've worked overtime (I had one night when I had 3 jobs, otherwise one would be the most).  Tonight I had none.  Not one.  I don't mind working if I am here for a reason, but I hate coming in and doing nothing for 8 hours because a shop "might" have something.  It pretty much ruins my day.  And due to the current policy, I will be dead tired when I come in this afternoon.  Yup, off at 06:30 only to return at 13:30 (1:30pm for you non military types).  Well, I ought to sign off before I say something I will regret later.  Remember, there are 2 times when you shouldn't write your feelings, when you're exhausted or drunk.  That's it for now, have a wonderful day.

Friday randomness and ranting

   So it's Friday.  The end of the week for most, just one more day for me.  The reason?  I have duty tomorrow.  24 hours of fun (not sarcasm) and running in circles.  Looks like you may get a bonus edition this week.  Oh well.  Today, I need to weed eat and stop at the RV shop to set an appointment for my trailer.  If it doesn't cost to much, I will set it for after next payday, otherwise, I will set it for as soon as I can.  I am afraid that it going to cost me more than I really hope, but I can't do the work myself (I have no clue what I am doing) so I will have to pay an expert to do it.

   Anyway, it looks as though it will be an interesting weekend.  Hopefully, I can get enough sleep on my duty day, so I don't have to miss church.  It has been a long week.  Then again the first week back after leave always is.  Especially if you are used to going non stop and you have a desk job that is 99% waiting for someone to need you and 1% watching other people work.  The only excitement in my job is trying to figure out which websites to visit that are 1. interesting, 2. safe, 3. allowed, and 4. not overly repetitive.  The only problem is, that for some reason, when you become the boss, you forget that you have nothing to do except search the Internet and you aer expected to keep busy.  About every 3 or 4 months we get told that we are wasting to much time on the Internet and we need to stop.  They then tell us that we can't read non work related material (if they said books, we'd read newspapers and magazines) or do puzzles.  "If you're bored, read the tech manual."  Try reading the manuals for all you electronic equipment at home for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week and see how long you last.  Oh, and sleeping at work is definitely not allowed.  After a week of everyone in the office congregating in one location and have a large and loud conversation about nothing, they tend to change their stance and allow "limited" surfing.  In other words, go back to what you were doing.  It always amazes me that this continually repeats.

    Wow, I really went off there didn't I?  Guess I should just relax and let it go.  Anyway, You all have a wonderful weekend and enjoy yourselves.  Keep a stiff upper lip and all that jazz.

Random Thursday Thoughts

   So today is change of command.  Conveniently, I forgot bits and pieces of my uniform so I didn't have to participate.  I did however have to sit in the office and work, which makes me the late guy today.  Oh well.  So I was thinking that there has got to be a better way to do yard work.  I decided it was time my kids started doing it.  So tonight I get to see my 9 year old push the mower for the first time.  I hope he can do it.  That way he can get it done while I am at work this summer.  If not, I will give him other things to do.  There is so much that I need to to do.  Especially since I need to put the house up for sale so I can have it sold before I retire.  The backyard has holes and hills and needs a bit of smoothing.  Both the front and back need re-seeding.  I have a strip of yard under the front window that needs landscaped (namely weeded, matted, and rocks put down).  Not to mention I need to put gravel down in my parking space and fill some holes there as well.

    Enough of my yard woes.  I am so looking forward to doing stuff with my boys this summer.  I need to get my fishing license so I can take them fishing.  I  really do want to do some fishing with them.  The ponds here on base are stocked and I know the boys will love it.  They have been bothering me to let them practice casting.  Mathew is getting pretty good and John and David are already pretty decent at it and are working on accuracy vice distance now.  I so look forward to it.  I also think Laura will enjoy the experience of camping at new places this summer.  We have already decided that we have to go to Mt Rainier this summer.  Not sure when we will start as I still have a lot to do to the camper to get it ready.  I think the boys would try to sleep out in the backyard in their tent if Laura would let them.  I don't know whether they would last the night or not, but it would be interesting.  I don't know if I could resist trying to scare them (Laura might be able to stop me, but I would probably try anyway).  At least the weather is turning nice now.  Oh well.  Not much else is going on.  I will continue to write daily when I can.  If you have ideas for topics, please write it in the comments.  I have started to notice that I am quickly running out of ideas.  Thanks and enjoy.

Drivers and the odd stuff.

  So it's happy hump day and I have yet to decide on a topic.  I guess it just isn't coming to me.  The blank is deep and wide and I just can't seem to find a way across it.  Anyway, the fact is that I usually do this at work during a lull in the action (there tends to be a lot of those here), but that also means that I get interrupted and sometimes derailed by other conversations.  Unfortunately, today is one of those days where the conversation is either unrepeatable and Thus I am distancing myself as much as possible, or it is on a subject I care nothing about.  Either way, it isn't helping much other than to give me something to cite as unhelpful.

   Let's talk about cars and the people who drive them.  Seems to me that the instant someone gets a driving license they suddenly get a second personality.  That nice girl who is always considerate of others becomes a rage filled speed demon that has to take the entire highway.  The punk, who is always trying to find new and interesting ways to skirt the laws, is now the highway vigilante that drives at the speed limit next to the grandma who can't find the gas pedal.  The law abiding neighbor suddenly finds that the horn has a nice ring to it and is trying to determine exactly the sex of the fly that died on your bumper by using his brights and getting as close as possible..  And it turns out that you are the only one on the road that knows how to drive.  You commonly hear yourself saying things like, "the gas is the pedal on the right!"  "Look at that speed demon!"  "Get off my bumper!"  Etc.  The funny thing is, everyone is driving with the exact same attitude, "My way is right, your way is wrong, and get off the road."  No one is immune.  I like to call it, the I-Am-Right syndrome.

   I believe it can be traced back to high school.  This is that age where you discover that your parents are old and uncool, teachers don't know everything, the world is out to get you, and the opposite sex is worth staring at (among other things).  And for some reason, we decided that this would be an appropriate time to introduce these confused, self absorbed, and egotistical beings to an automobile.  Who is the idiot who thought of that.  Let's put someone who thinks that they know it all, have no fear, and think they will live forever in command of a 2000 pound piece of metal and flammable materials that can go 100 mph.  Who else thinks this is a bad Idea.  What makes this even more absurd is that we expect people who can barely pay attention to a teacher for 10 minutes to be able to concentrate enough to operate these deathtraps on the road with other people who are the exact same way.  So let me see if I got everything.  Large metal object with a combustible fuel, traveling at highway speeds, requiring concentration and coordination to operate.  Give it to a person that: Has no concept of courtesy, has a 30 second attention span, believes him/herself immortal, and believes that they know it all.  Granted, not all kids are this way, but let's be honest, most are.  If you think otherwise, try this little test.  Give your kid a tennis ball and a golf ball.  Have them balance them on the backs of their hands and watch a movie of your choosing.  Tell them they have to keep the balls balanced on their hands and that you are going to ask 10 questions about the movie at the end.  Make them watch 15 minutes of the movie and then ask them questions about the movie.  Make the questions simple like what is the name of the secondary character, or what color car were they driving.  This is equivalent to what you have to do while driving.  I'm willing to be they can't get all 10 questions right or that they failed to keep the balls balanced.  Now for the fun part.  Let them do it to you.  I am kind of afraid to find out how I do.  Especially since I just made all of this up and have no clue how well this works.  Sounds interesting though doesn't it.   Have a wonderful day.