Blog Number 208

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Well I have precious few hours left in my vacation.  Today was quite full.  We woke up at the normal time and without any kids to slow us down we found we were ready to go over an hour early.  We took the time to go for a walk.  There is a paved path that runs behind our apartment complex so we walked for about 30 minutes.  It was getting hot by the time we got back so we cooled down a little and then headed out to church.  Everyone (OK, 6 people) was happy we returned safe and sound.  The service was good and we ended up going to Pei Wei with some friends for lunch.  We came home, regrouped and then took a test run out to the train station.  My mom is bringing the kids home on Thursday and they are taking the train.  We found the station OK but could not find anywhere to park really.  We got a little lost on the way back (thank God for our compass) but after we drove around and found a street with a familiar name we ended up taking it.  We were very far south from where we needed to be and there were many stoplights.  What do we care?  We are still on vacation!  We shopped for some much needed groceries (the cupboards are bare) and we found yet another sub $10 wine that we are going to try out.  This wine is from Texas and we are hopeful that for $7 it might just be THE wine for us.  We did manage to stop by the apartment front office earlier in the day and picked out a few movies from their DVD library so the wife and I are ready to cuddle up on the couch, sip some wine, and enjoy a movie.  Tomorrow though it is back to work (sigh).

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 207

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

We left Kokomo this morning at 3:45 AM central time and 15 1/2 hours and 930 miles later, the wife and I arrived at home (sans kids).  Missouri was once again a killer.  What a boring state to drive through!  We did manage to visit a place we have drove by each time we drive to and from Indiana.  There is an Amish Cheese Shop in Chouteau, OK that we have always wanted to shop at but each time we went through that town the shop was closed (since we did not travel by it during normal business hours).  Well this time is was a Saturday in the early afternoon when we drove by it so we stopped in.  I sampled the chipotle pepper jack cheese (wow) and perused the store.  We ended up buying some preserves and apple butter at the cheese shop and some fresh bread and pineapple carrot cake at the bakery adjacent to it.  I feel I was a little ripped off though.  Since the store had Amish in the title I was expecting some good old fashioned Amish people to be there.  All that was there was a bunch of Mennonites.  Now don't get me wrong, the Mennonites are fine (there were several in my high school that I was friends with).  But when you are expecting the real deal, you feel a little let down.  After leaving the store we had a discussion in which the wife was convinced that we could convert to the Mennonite faith but when we listed all the things that we had to give up we decided against it (one of the things I would have to give up is owning a computer and thus blogging - my blog would be a piece of paper nailed to the tree).

At any rate, the weather was nice the entire drive and now we are exhausted (and still Baptist and not Mennonite).  We are going to enjoy a good nights sleep back in our own bed.  Until next time...

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 206

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Today is the last true day of vacation.  The wife and I are heading back to Texas early tomorrow morning and that will eat up our whole Saturday.  Sunday I am sure will be church and unpacking and getting the apartment back in order.  So that leaves today.  We are meeting with friends tonight and this afternoon we are visiting my grandma as the assisted living center she lives in is having an ice cream social.

The kids were still with their grandma so the wife and I had the morning to ourselves.  We met my mom and her boyfriend for breakfast and then headed to the Indiana Department of Revenue to try to clear up my state tax mystery.  The State of Indiana sent us a refund check equal to about twice what we paid for the entire year in taxes.  I noticed their error immediately and probably could have called them but I thought it would be easier to explain it in person so we headed to the local office here in town.  It only took 3 minutes and the ladies there could not have been nicer.  They thanked me for my honesty but promptly took the nice big check from me without offering a reward.

As I mentioned in my last blog, the wife and I went golfing on Wednesday morning.  We went to Rice's Golf Center which is a small par 3 course here in Kokomo.  We went into the clubhouse and paid for 9 holes of golf and then bought 4 used golf balls (just in case we lost a few on the course) and borrowed some clubs (7 iron, 9 iron and putter for each of us).  We opted to play the "short nine" which means we play the shortest nine holes on the course based on yardage.  This means hole 1 and then holes 11 through 18.  The longest hole is 100 yards and for the most part you could throw the ball to the green from the tee if you wanted to.  This is my kind of golf and the perfect way to introduce the wife to the sport (though she has been to a few driving ranges in her life).  Here are our scores...

Let me start off by saying that for this being the wife's first attempt at golf, she did great.  Now for the rest of this paragraph I will poke fun at her.  She asked me early in the week why we would go golfing.  I simply replied that it would be something to blog about.  So she knew going in that the entire outing would be documented with my commentary.  After a few pointers from me (which I am sure did not help in the least bit) she managed to hit the ball on her second swing off the first tee.  As she tapped in for what she thought was a four I had to inform her that her first swing (that missed everything) actually counted.  She hesitantly penciled in a five and moved on.  During the round I showed her various places where I or a playing partner had hit our tee shots.  I do remember playing hole 13 once and a fellow golfer hit a tree real close to the tee and was actually behind the tee once the ball stopped rolling.  This caused him to have to hit again before we teed off since technically he was "away".  Good times!  I finally hit a good tee shot on 14 and sank an 8 footer for my lone birdie of the day.  You would think this would have made me feel good but since I did not have any more good tee shots on the balance of the holes, it only served to remind me how inconsistent I am.  The wife hit a ball into a fence line on hole 15 and I dug the pretty orange ball that she was playing with out of some thorn bushes.  It was not until I got to the green that I notice that I had a lot of blood on the back of my hand from retrieving the ball.  I made a point of showing the wife how much I would go through for her (even though I did not feel any pain and it took me 5 minutes even to realize that I was bleeding).  When we arrived at hole 18, I pointed to some mowing equipment to the (way) right of the fairway and noted I had been there several times.  She promptly deposited the ball underneath said equipment.  It was behind a shed of sorts and since we were on the last hole anyway we basically threw the ball back into the fairway (hence the * by my wife's score on the last hole).  If not for a 3 putt on 15, I would have been satisfied with my round.  Since I have not played in about 10 years I don't think I did that bad.  I did, however, learn a few new golfing rules.  Be sure to note these for your next outing...

Section 3 Paragraph 2b: If said player is teeing off of the first hole and if it is their first time playing the sport of golf, any swings that do not result in the ball actually moving do NOT count in the stroke count.

Section 13 Paragraph 6c: If a player hits the ball slightly with the club so that the ball falls off the tee, the player can use the one time per round qualifier, "That does not count, there was a bee on me" rule.  The player will not be penalized the stroke.  This will also qualify for any winged creature that may or may not have a stinging apparatus.  The winged creature must be witnessed by at least one more player in order to qualify.

When we got back to the house the kids were back home and the daughter was sick to her stomach.  She has eaten rather poorly (nutrition-wise) while on vacation (as have we all) but it particularly effected her.  We hung around the house the rest of the day.

Yesterday I went into a local business where I used to do a lot of computer work.  They had a to do list for me and then I hitched a ride to the local building for the place where I work and went to lunch with some co-workers.  The restaurant we wanted to go to actually had a small sign on the door that said, "Closed until Aug. 23rd" so we opted for plan B.  The food was OK but we had a good time catching up.  We went to dinner with friends last night out to the city of Greentown.  Greentown has exactly one stop light.  I used to live there ages ago and my brother used to own a restaurant in the same building as the one we ate at.  We know the wife of the family that runs the business and her husband is from Italy so the Italian food was great.  I had the Gnocchi Amanda (named after the wife).  It was gnocchi with a red bell pepper sauce (ah, to die for).  Again, we had a great time catching up and just being on vacation.

I have surprised myself this week in my ability to avoid working much at all and enjoying myself.  Of course now that will make going back to work on Monday that much worse but oh well.  We have a few things planned for today so I will have to let you know how that goes.  Until then...

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 205

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Well the day has finally arrived.  Unless I messed up counting*, this is blog number 200.  Hard to believe I haven't abandoned this yet like so many others.  I hate to think of all the orphaned, abandoned blogs out there that were started with the best of intentions and yet remain un-updated and full of cobwebs.  Sigh.

The kids stayed with their aunt and grandma on Monday night so yesterday morning the wife and I found ourselves alone.  We made a pot of decaf coffee and then pondered our breakfast options.  Neither of us felt like cereal or like cooking so I offered to head out and get something to go.  McDonald's was the choice.  I have not been to an actual McDonald's to eat in over three years.  I have stopped at McDonald's while traveling as they tend to have cleaner bathrooms than most places.  I decided to go inside and place my order.  I do not like drive thru's.  The second you pull up they want to take your order.  Typically you cannot see the menu until you are at the speaker and for some reason I don't like the pressure of having to order right away.  If you go inside, you can sort of hang back from the counter thereby indicating you are not ready to order.  Only after I have thought out my options and know what I want will I mosey up to the cashier.  So, I went inside to order.  The place was kind of busy (I thought) for a Tuesday morning but the line was moving quickly.  I ordered what my wife wanted and then some breakfast burritos for myself.  This was a mistake.  I paid for the meal (only about $5) and then waited.  Many people ordered after me and then received their food and left.  I counted 19 orders actually.  19 orders were placed after my order and actually had their order fulfilled before mine (this is just inside orders, I did not include drive thru orders in that count).  Breakfast burritos must be a made to order item.  Overall I was in the store about 20 minutes.  I never got upset or angry and I could tell the cashier was getting frustrated with the cooks as he was sure I would be upset on the delay in fulfilling my order.  He breathed a sigh of relief when he finally gave me my bag of food and I told him that I was on vacation and in no hurry.  The food was nothing to blog about really.

At around 11 we went to some friend's house and hung out for 4 hours or so.  After catching up on the latest and touring all the parts of the house that they had updated it was time for the main event, the ping pong match.  The husband and I have some epic battles.  He has a good backhand and I have a good forehand.  This is a nice way of saying that he has NO forehand and I have NO backhand.  Either way, we are about equally matched and always have a good time.  We usually egg each other on as needed with insults about the weaker points of our game.  I tend to have the better serve and usually end up winning more games than I lose based on how well I am serving that day.  I won 5 of the 7 games yesterday so I left happy in my ping pong conquest.  We have a tentative match scheduled for November which is the next time we are scheduled to be back in Kokomo.

The kids stayed with their aunt and grandma again last night so the wife and I went and watched Wild Hogs.  It was Tuesday so the dollar theater was only 50¢.  This is about the right price to pay for this movie actually.  We did run into some of the wife's extended family at the movies though.  Unfortunately for us it was the people we try to avoid at family get togethers.  Also unfortunate for us was (unlike at family get togethers) that we were the only ones there to talk to and also unfortunate for us was the fact that we arrived early so we had no other choice except to talk to them.  The boyfriend of my wife's aunt is truly weird.  There is not enough room on this blog to give you a background on this fact so you will have to trust me.  Here is the first 5 seconds of the conversation...

Him: Hey, I had open heart surgery (no, this is really how it started, no small talk).
My Wife: Oh
Him: Yeah, see. (lifts shirt up to show her the scar.  mind you he is like 70 pounds overweight and not pretty to look at in general, add "no shirt" and "a scar" and you can see how this was our worst nightmare coming true right in front of us).

Anyway, we knew (or hoped) that in 10 minutes the movie would start so we did not have do endure this for very long.  Fortunate for us there was another gentleman in the theater recovering from open heart surgery and we walked away as they were going to compare scars.  I am not sure if this incident had an affect on us enjoying the movie or if it was just not that great of a movie.  Either way we were only out $1 total.

This morning we went golfing.  It was the first time golfing for the wife.  I will save that for tomorrow's blog however.  Until then...

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

* 2012-08-05 note - As I copy these early blogs from Xanga to this blogger site I confirmed that I did indeed mess up counting.

Blog Number 204

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

I am not really good a taking vacations so yesterday I went into the my company's Kokomo office.  My badge still worked thankfully and I remembered my passcode easy enough.  I had not been in this office since Thanksgiving last year but it looks about the same.  I had to chuckle a little as well since there were several packages piled up out front that no one has bothered to take the time to deliver then to the intended recipient.  This was the subject of one of my first blogs actually.  So you see, very little has changed at all.  I looked at the attention line of the packages and did not recognize any of the people's names or I would have picked up where I left off and delivered them myself.

After visiting with a few folks, logging in and checking my email and making a phone call or two I logged off and headed down the street (on foot) to my favorite pawn shop.  When I first started going there they had CDs for $3 or 5 for $10.  Eventually they just lowered them to $2 each and lo and behold when I came in yesterday they were now only $1.  I recognized a lot of the CDs from my November 2006 visit but now that they are only $1 my standards for what I wanted were greatly lowered.  I found 7 CDs that I thought I needed and even 2 of the 3 Lord of the Rings movies for $5 each. Unfortunately the DVDs are the 2nd and 3rd movies so I will need to go find the first one before I can feel like I got a bargain.  Still, 7 CDs and 2 DVDs for $18 (including tax) is not too shabby.

The son and I went to lunch with my mother while the daughter and wife went to lunch with hers.  My mom then took my son birthday shopping and I hung out at the house with the daughter while the wife got her hair done.  It seems there is only one person in the known universe that can properly understand the complexities of my wife's hair.  Fortunately for her, that person is located in Kokomo (and not, say, Budapest).  Anyway, a short 2 1/2 hours later the wife arrived back home looking like a million bucks and with a broad smile on her face (indeed this morning she said goodbye to the new look as she hopped in the shower since she claims she can not pull off styling it herself).

Last night the mother-in-law and sister-in-law planned a late birthday party for the son.  There were almost 20 people at our table at Hacienda.  My brother, his wife and her son came along with my dad and his wife.  My grandmother was there along with a friend of the family and 4 of her 5 kids.  Through in my mom and her boyfriend and my family and my wife's sister and mother and you have one big crew.  The service was very good and the food was average (which is good for Hacienda as it is not one of my favorite spots).  Most importantly I got to spend some time talking to my dad and of course my son had a good time.

We have another partially full day ahead of us so we will see what adventures the day brings.  We are heading over to some friend's house and the husband and I typically engage in an epic ping pong battle.  I will have to let you know how it goes.  Until next time...

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 203

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Today was a pretty fun day.  We stopped at Panera this morning on the way to church.  This is something we did about every week when we lived here in Kokomo.  In fact, there were a few regulars there that recognized us and commented on how much the kids had grown.  Church service was good (I really miss our pastor here).  I was scheduled to sing during the offertory and that went pretty good.  Some friends who moved to Luxembourg were in town this week as well so we went out to lunch with them and another couple.  The wife and I were interested in a Chinese buffet or anything that was not a chain restaurant that we could easily eat at in Texas.  We were overruled however by the other couple as they wanted good old American food.  So we went to Steak-n-Shake.  It was not my first choice but we had a good time.  The wife and I left the kids with grandma and went to see Disturbia at the dollar theater after shopping some of the end of season sales at the mall.  It was a pretty good movie (for a dollar).

Tomorrow I am going to head into the office to catch up on email.  I do not do well on vacation without a little work.  Some of my fellow co-workers think I am deranged.  So be it, I can only enjoy my vacation if I know I am not going to be behind when I actually return to work.  Sometime this week I hope to take my wife to a par 3 golf course.  She has not been golfing before so this should be something to blog about.  Until then...

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 202

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Despite being on vacation and despite being dead tired from getting up early and driving all day yesterday, my body still decided it wanted to wake up at its normal time (5:30 AM central time).  My wife got up and made some breakfast (her vacation hadn't started yet evidently since this is what she would do on a non-vacation morning).  My mother, grandmother and aunt came over for a visit around 10 and then the kids went out to eat with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law while the wife and I went out to eat with my mother and grandmother.  We went to Ruby Tuesday's and all four of us actually ordered the same thing off the menu.  We only differed in choice of beverage.  I opted for a Pomegranate Lemonade while everyone else had iced tea.  The lemonade sounded good when the waitress rattled of the drink choices but once she delivered it to the table I rethought my selection.  It was served in a very tall, skinny glass and was very girly looking with its pink color and wedge of lemon on the rim.  It did taste good though but it was a little embarrassing to lift that glass to my lips.

After that we were kid free until 4 PM when the daughter had an eye doctor's appointment.  We drove around Kokomo a little and noted what businesses were still in business and what new ones had taken the place of the olds ones.  We checked out the dollar movie theater to see what was playing and made a mental note to get back when we could secure a babysitter one evening (which should not be a problem).  After the eye doctor, we hit the local Big Lots and then came home for a game of Sorry (the game of sweet revenge).

I really do not like the game of Sorry.  It is one of my mom's favorite games so that is why it is in her house.  The wife vaguely recalled playing it as a young child and not liking it then.  The son loves it.  It was the only game in the house so I opted to play it.  The daughter quickly lost interest and the wife and I were soon drawing cards for her and moving her pieces.  Lo and behold, 40 minutes later she was the winner.  I think this will be our last game of Sorry for the vacation.  I would rather go out and buy more games and leave them here than play Sorry again.  I think the wife would agree with me on this.

It is only 8:30 now central time and the wife and I are both beat so we are off to bed.  Until next time...

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 201

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Well we are now in Indiana.  The van ride went great, truly uneventful just like we like it.  We made the trek in record time too.  During the drive I mentally keep track of how many miles we should have gone versus actual miles traveled.  Using the 1 mile per minute average (60 miles per hour) I can easily keep track how far ahead (or behind) schedule we are at any given time.  We left at 3:55 AM and by Oklahoma (only 50 miles away) we were 5 minutes ahead of schedule.  After Oklahoma we were 30 minutes ahead and by the time we got through Missouri and into Illinois we were over an hour ahead of schedule.  It was truly amazing.  We stopped for a late lunch at a Ponderosa in Vandalia, Illinois. The wife and I seem to recall eating there before.  The food is not that great but there are not a lot of choices on Highway 44 in that part of the country.  The son and daughter did discover mousse for the first time off of the desert bar.  As with all new food, we had to convince them to take the first bite.  The son needed a lot of prompting.  The daughter needed only to hear the word "chocolate" and she was good to go.  We rolled into Kokomo 20 minutes ahead of schedule (stopping for lunch cost us some time) and arrived at my mother's house around 8:10 local time.  15 hours and 15 minutes including stops is not a bad time.

We were quite exhausted from the whole trip but the site of both grandmas gave the kids a second wind.  The cat (who did great in the van on the trip) was not in favor of leaving the van and getting into his cage.  He was overruled however and he is now out at my mother-in-law's and sister-in-law's house for the duration of the vacation.  In fact he is staying with them until the come to Texas in October so I am cat free for the next two months or so.  I will try to get by without him .  We don't have a lot planned for today other than the daughter has an eye doctor's appointment around 4.  I am sure something will come up though.

I did wake up this morning from a strange dream.  I am scheduled to sing a special song during the offertory this Sunday.  In my dream I did not get a chance to run through the song before the service.  The sound man could not get the monitors on the stage to my liking and I started off key as well.  I really started messing up the timing of the second verse and had to make up for time by improving lines that combined several lines.  Then the pastor interrupted the song for an announcement that was totally irrelevant.  It was crazy and when I woke up I was truly glad it was a dream.  I am singing tomorrow so hopefully the dream is not prophetic.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 200

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Well it has been about 7 weeks since we gave up cable TV and almost 2 weeks since I gave up caffeine.  I am none the worse for wear for denying myself these 2 pleasures (though I have gone to the cafeteria at work twice this week for a Starbuck's decaf coffee, what can I say, I'm only human).  We did finish the last chapter of the 2nd book of the Chronicles of Narnia tonight.  We read a few chapters each week out loud to the kids (in lieu of TV).

Last night, 4 guys from our ABF went to watch a Frisco Roughriders baseball game.  None of us knew if this was AAA minor league baseball or maybe AA.  Turns out the Roughriders are part of the Texas league.  None of knew what that meant exactly but I think this is extreme minor league baseball.  The stadium is about 7 miles from our apartment and tickets are reasonably priced.  We had a great time and I can see myself taking the son there sometime soon.  For the most part we took turns making fun of each other and making comments about the game, the between inning entertainment and the food available there.  I can imagine the people in front of us wished we would just shut up.  So, Mr. and Mrs. SatInFrontOfUs, I apologize.  Hopefully you got some of our jokes and we did not ruin your evening.

The wife has us all packed and in about 8 hours (at 4 AM central time) we should be on the road and heading back to Kokomo, IN.  We have about 1/2 our days filled up with outings and visits so who knows what we will do with the rest of our time back home in Indiana.  I have not been back since last November so I am trying to think of things that I want to do while I am up there.  So far I am drawing a blank.  I think I will just take lots of naps and the wife and I will enjoy all the free babysitters (a.k.a. grandmas) that are available to us.  I am scheduled to sing on Sunday back at the church we attended before we moved so I am looking forward to that.  The trip will involve the cat coming with us and Tiger usually takes about 100 miles to calm down so the first hour or two might not be too fun.  I will be sure to keep you posted.  Until then...

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 199

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Well we are gearing up for our vacation in lovely Kokomo, IN.  I am taking this Friday and all of next week off of work and we will get up very early (or as my wife calls it, the "butt crack of dawn") and hit the road for the 15 hour, 900 mile trip.  We have made this trip a few times so far and the wife even made it without me when I was in Argentina earlier this year so we are old pro's at it.  Leaving this early helps us miss St. Louis at rush hour and making the entire trip in one day also saves money (no hotel half way there) and gives us an extra day back home to visit with friends and family.  The kids do great on the way there since they know the grandma's are at the end of the road (the drive back home is another story).

I was talking on Monday with a co-worker who lives in The Netherlands.  He could not believe that I would choose to be in a car for 15 hours let alone force my wife and kids to this kind of thing.  The more I thought about it the more I realized something.  This guy has probably never ridden in a car for more than a few hours at a time.  His country is so small compared to America that you would not need to drive that far to get anywhere really.  15 hours in a vehicle had to seem like torture to him.  Later that day I was talking to another co-worker in Egypt.  He was also slightly aghast that I was undertaking this trip.  He mentioned that he could drive his entire country end to end in about 7 hours so 15 was hard to imagine.  I assured both co-workers that this was not a punishment and that we would be quite fine and no worse for wear.  I don't think either one believed me though.

Until we came to Austin, TX last February for a visist, the kids had never been in the car that long so they are new to this kind of thing.  In Indiana, 15 hours is a long trip.  In Texas (depending on where you start and what direction you are heading), 15 hours might not even get you out of the state.  Folks down here are just used to driving a ways to get somewhere I guess.  At any rate, in about 54 hours, we will be up and getting ready to pile in the Pontiac Montana and hit the road back to HoosierLand.  I am sure there will be something to blog about then.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 198

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Wow, what a weekend so far.  Where to begin?  Today at precisely 4:22 PM my son turned 9.  He was born at 4:22 PM on 07/14/98.  Now only I would notice this but 07 x 14 = 98 so the month times the day equals the year.  This is the only time the event occurred the entire year of 1998.  This is the way that I knew for sure that he was going to be like me since this sounds like something I would try to pull off.  Anyway, we followed our normal family birthday tradition (that we just started in December with my wife's birthday) wherein the birthday person gets to pick a restaurant to go to and then receives a menu (the only menu for the entire table) and then has to order for everyone at the table.  He was looking forward to this.  We actually went out to eat last night.  He could have been mean and ordered something we did not like but he knows my birthday is only 40 or so days a way and paybacks are brutal.  He did a great job and the waiter really treated him great.  At the end of the meal the waiter said he was preparing a special desert for him and my son started to refuse it claiming he was full.  We had to talk him into it.  The waiter did not know how to react to this.

This morning we got up and (after a little breakfast) headed to the Ancient Treasures of the Holy Land exhibit in Dallas.  We were meeting some members of our Sunday School class there.  It was interesting.  Upon handing the tickets to the person at the entrance, we were all given headphones and little MP3 like player.  It had a number keypad on it along with play, pause, and volume buttons on it.  As you walked around the various displays there were numbers listed above each one.  If you punched in that number and hit play, you heard a detailed description about that particular item.  It was a pretty neat setup actually.  The daughter was kind of bored but at the end (after you turned your headphones and players back in) there was a 3-D movie.  This was a whole new experience for her and we ended up watching the short movie through twice.

Once we arrived home I sat down and played some Crash Bandicoot on the GameCube.  I was dangerously close to defeating the entire game this morning so I promised the son I would play more when we got home.  This is the game we bought in April (I think) so it has been months in getting to the end of the game.  The evil Dr. Cortex finally met his match today and I was able to defeat him.  It was a great victory!  The evening ended up with a great game of naked Uno where I won by one point over my wife on a brilliant last move on my part.  Such a great day for me.  It is a shame that it has to end.  I did see a very ironic thing early on this morning but it really deserves it's own individual blog so it will have to wait until another day.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 197

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

5 days and no caffeine.  I still get a little tired in the afternoon but I am sleeping much better than I did before.  I think I have survived and now comes another hard part, not starting to drink coffee again.  History tells me that I will fail (usually due to a holiday or vacation).  Since I am on vacation starting next Friday methinks the "hey, you're on vacation" attitude will slip in and I will be back on the sweet black liquid by month's end.  I guess we will wait and see.

I received a letter in the mail today from the State of Indiana Department of Revenue.  This could not possibly be good news really so reluctantly I looked it over.  The letter explained to me that I made a calculation error on my state income tax form (IT-40PNR for Partial Non Residents) and that the details were on the back of the letter.  I flipped the letter over and low and behold there in black and white was proof that I made a $2,133.00 error on my taxes and now instead of owing $7 on my taxes the State of Indiana owed me $2,126.00.  Figure in the $7 check that I sent them based on the tax return I filed in April and the total the state now owes me is $2,133.00.  Logic would dictate here that since I did not even pay that much in taxes total, that there is NO way that this could be correct.  I called my dad (who does taxes) and asked him if he had any idea why I would get this letter.  According to him, barring some sort of earned income credit (which I do not qualify for) this was just a mistake.  He said there was nothing I could do to stop the refund check from coming so I might as well wait for the check and then when I am on vacation in Indiana just stop by a local branch of the Department of Revenue and sort the whole thing out.  Ultimately I found their error, they interpreted the line where I report my county tax as having an extra zero which accounted for the mathematical glitch.  More to come on this one probably.

After bath time and some home made ice cream the family sat down and played a game of Life.  The daughter had no idea what was going on and even had trouble spinning the wheel but we pressed on.  The son had the obvious lead most of the game and by a twist of fate I ended up going through mid life crisis and stopped being a doctor (at $90K per year) and decided to become and accountant (at $30K / year).  In the end the daughter was well over the $1 million mark but just shy of the son.  The wife and I brought up the rear.  I had a real shot up until my mid life crises and career change.

So in real life I seem to be getting a $2,000 check that I cannot spend and in the game of life I finished with a lot less money than my kids.  Either way, Life didn't do me any favors today.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 196

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Well I have survived the past few days with no caffeine.  I have been tired but I have slept well.  So far, so good but I did smell fresh coffee this afternoon at work and was tempted (but resisted).  Although while we were watching "Home On The Range" tonight with the kids I was starting to nod off a little.  However that could have been because the movie was not that great (Roseanne Barr as a cow hero, come on!).

Yesterday when I arrived home from work (very tired) I was greeting by my 5 year old daughter.  In general she is quite bouncy and so she greets me most days with justifiable excitement (after all, daddy is home!).  Well yesterday she had something to show me (this too is not uncommon).  She proceeded to give me a tour of the house and showed me how she had decorated it.

We must rewind a bit to get the whole story.  At least 2 years ago, my mother visited an auction (or an estate sale, I forget which -wait, I think it was a going out of business sale actually, yeah that's it).  At this sale, she bought a ton of stuff that she really did not need.  Eventually she gave a box or two to us.  The boxed contained Christmas decorations, specifically lots of tree ornaments.

Fast forward to yesterday.  The daughter had obviously found all these ornaments and decided they needed to be hung up somewhere.  She decided they ALL had to be hung up.  So she showed me every doorknob in our house and the ornament she chose for it.  There is a snowman on my bedroom closet door, a polar bear with a sock cap on the inside of our front door, a pair of snowmen on the hall closet door, a bear hugging a snowman on one bathroom door and trees, Santa Claus' and other miscellaneous Christmas stuff on all the other doors (both knobs, inside and out).  In addition to this there are ornaments hanging wherever there is a place to hang (dresser drawers, faucets, etc.).  I could tell by the excitement of the tour that she had worked hard on picking the exact right ornament for each location.

I am not sure how long our house will be decorated in this manner but based on her smile I think it might just be a while.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 195

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

I had planned this day all week.  I was going to quit drinking coffee "cold turkey" style.  I have done this a few times in my life (going back to coffee eventually each time as you may well have guessed) so I knew what I was in for.  The human body it seems is no big fan of change and will protest even if you are doing it for its own good.  The body also does not listen to reason at all and will even try to bargain with you to get what it wants.  Below are excerpts of my conversation with my body today.

My Body: You know Jon, I cannot help but notice that it is 8:00 am and we have yet to have our coffee yet.
Me: Yes, we are not having any more coffee.  The caffeine is not good for us, coffee stains our teeth and we take too much sugar in our coffee.  I am doing this for US.
Body: WHAT?  You will pay for this!  Do you remember the last time you went without caffeine?
Me: Yes but I can take it.  It is for our own good long term.
Body: Listen buddy, you will pay for this.  You will be singing a different tune come noon.
Me: Bring it on.

...4 hours later...

Me: Um, Mr. Body sir?  Could you call off the headache, dizziness, nausea and general nature of disorientation?
Body: You like that huh?  Don't say I didn't warn you.
Me:  Really, there is no reason to call out the entire army is there?
Body:  Tell you what I am gonna do since I like you and all.  If you give up this silly quest of giving up caffeine and sugar and make a pot of coffee right now I will consider stopping the headache in a few hours.  The rest of your punishment will stay in place throughout the day as a reminder of what you tried to do to me today so that you will not do it again.
Me: I think I will stick it out, thanks for the offer though.

...2 hours later...

Body: Hey wuss boy, how's it going.  Did you like the extra pounding I just threw in for your headache?  Oh, and I have more nausea where that come from too.  Give it up dude and face the facts.  We both want and need coffee.  It only takes 10 minutes to brew a pot or better yet Starbucks is just down the road.  You could be sipping on java, the sweet nectar of life, in just a few minutes.
Me: I don't think you have much left in you friend and I think I can withstand whatever you throw at me.
Body: Curse you and your logic.  You have won again but I know you and know you well.  My friend you will be back to coffee by August.  You may have won the battle but I will win the war.

Now I was not feeling well most of the day so some of the transcript is as best as I can remember it but you get the general synopsis of how my day went.  After a nice 2 hour nap with the wife (her body was protesting too) I am feeling a little better but as memory serves, tomorrow will be no fun either.  I tend to be real sleepy in the early afternoon and my body will tempt me again for a quick pick me up.  Wish me luck.  Until next time...

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 194

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Great News!  A new Veggie Tale movie is due out this winter!  This one I might even pay full price to see as opposed to waiting for it to come to the dollar theater.

After dinner tonight we threw on our shoes and took a walk.  We headed down to the local Braum's for some ice cream.  I am estimating that the hike was over a mile round trip (the wife is guessing 1 1/2 miles total).  We were quite hot when we arrived and the ice cream was a nice way of cooling down (not to mention the AC at Braum's was working very well).  We sat down to eat our treat (me: Rocky Road, wife: Butter Pecan, son: Chocolate, daughter: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough).  It was then I noticed the muzak playing in the background.  I couldn't quite make out the song though it sounded very familiar.  After the verse, chorus, bridge and solo I recognized it as being "More Than A Feeling" by Boston.  Faithful readers, some songs should not be defiled by being recorded as musak.  I recall feeling the same way about 20 years ago.  I can recall it quite vividly.  I was in a Steak-n-Shake restaurant when another song came on and sounded familiar.  It took me an equally long time to recognize "Don't You Forget About Me" by Simple Minds.  Words cannot describe how upset I was at the desecration, the degradation, the perversion of a favorite song of mine.  That's why I am in full support of the No Muzak website.  The refer to muzak as "aural pollution" and that sounds about right to me.

Anyway, once the Boston song was over I went back to enjoying my ice cream and then we walked home.  We were all quite tired when we got home so it was bath / shower time and then off to bed (without even any time for Uno).  I am working tomorrow morning to play catch up as it was a busy week and then it is likely time to grocery shop again.  I am sure I will find something to blog about then.

One noteworthy event to mention.  July 9th will mark the one year anniversary of my very first blog.  I did not think that when I started I would be nearing my 200th blog in only 1 year.  I mentioned this to my wife (who by the way is still a faithful reader of the blog, though I do not allow her to read over my shoulder).  I asked her to promise to have my blogs published when I die.  She agreed but now that I think about it I guess I will have no way of knowing if she did or not.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 193

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

It now has been over one month since we canceled our satellite tv.  We have watched a few movies from the library with the kids (most recently the A&E version of Jane Eyre) but for the most part we have been sans tv for the entire month.  As I have mentioned before, we have discovered a love of card and board games, especially Uno.  So much so that a friend of mine from Sunday School actually blamed me for his family wanting to play more games.  He did so in jest but it is neat that it is catching on.

Uno is one of those games that can require strategy but has enough luck that the 5 year old can join in.  I discovered a site recently devoted to alternate rules for Uno so we have been adding a few here and there.  As the variations that we use pile up the game hardly resembles the original one as outlined in the rule book.  Tonight we played our most complex variation yet...

• Anytime someone plays a 7, they have an option to trade hands with any other player
• Anytime someone plays a 2, they then immediately give 2 cards from their hand to the player who follows them
• Anytime someone plays a 0, everyone trades hands with the player next to them in the direction the play is currently going
• Anytime someone plays a Draw Two, the next player can pile on another Draw Two thereby making the next player Draw Four (or he can add another Draw 2 making the next player Draw Six, etc).
• The player who goes first for the hand gets to choose how many cards we start with (from 5 to 10)

We added these rules one at a time over the last few playing sessions otherwise it would be too confusing.  We did try adding one more rule for the last few hands tonight.

• Naked Uno - Each player plays with his/her cards all facing up so everyone can see what everyone else has and play accordingly

This variation involves some strategy, especially if you play with all the above variations too (which we did).  One problem with all these rules is that you can end up with LOTS of cards in your hand and if the hand (the one attached to your wrist) is small (like, say my son's or daughter's) then it is quite hard to hold all the cards and the wife and I are forever fanning the cards out for them.  In one hand tonight after a few brutal turns, my son's hand looked like this...

He had close to 20 cards.  After he played a 7 though he passed them on to someone else (and breathed a sigh of relief).  Such is the life of an Uno hand, who knows who will end up with the big pile?  There are lots of other variations that we will try out soon so I will keep you posted.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 192

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

My kids do not quite grasp the concept of Independence Day just yet.  The only meaning they tie to July 4th is that Daddy does not have to go to work.  I suppose as long as they know it is a special day I can let it be.  The daughter was jumping right in to the "daddy's home" thing when she jumped on my lap and wanted me to play with some of her toys.  She has an elaborate set of wild animals along with a collection of just horses.  She was bringing me some of her wild animals (specifically some big cats) when I noticed something...

Do you notice what I noticed?  These things are freaky / scary!  After studying them for a few seconds I wanted to put them down and not look at them any more.  I mean, if I had had these faces to look at every day as a kid there is no telling how scary my nightmares would have been!  She does not seemed phased by them at all.  I showed these to my wife and she agreed with me.  They remind me of something out of Day of the Animals or The Island of Dr. Moreau!  I am shuddering here even blogging about them. 

Those two movies (along with The Food of the Gods) were movies I watched as a kid.  In the mid seventies when HBO first was available in our area, my brother and I were allowed to watch these scary movies over and over again.  We would quote lines from them to each other all the time.  Recently the wife and I watched The Island of Dr. Moreau and it was not quite as scary as I remember.  Actually the plot line was quite boring and the half man / half animals were more funny than scary.  I would imagine if I watched the other movies from that time they would get a similar review.

But the above plastic toys that belong to my daughter, they will probably haunt me in my dreams tonight!

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon