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