Blog Number 417

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Well this is our last night in South Haven and it was another beautiful sunset over Lake Michigan.

My camera is not that high quality so you will have to trust me that it was prettier than this.  It is hard to tell what the photo looks like since the sun is so bright and I cannot see the little screen on the back of the camera.  I have to wait until I can transfer it onto the pc before I know if I captured the moment or not.  Case in point...

I had taken a few shots of the kid's footprints but this is the only one that came out OK.  I can't even tell if it is the son's or the daughter's really.  The daughter is having the time of her life between picking up rocks along the beach or watching cartoons back at the cottage.  I bought her a 12 DVD set of classic cartoons (Felix the Cat, Popeye, Mutt and Jeff, etc) and she brought that with her on this trip.  These really crack her up for some reason.  It is more entertaining for us to watch her watch the cartoons than for us to watch the cartoons themselves.  I am sure she will be sad to go tomorrow morning when check out time arrives.  The son and I still have another day of vacation coming as we are heading off to Decatur, IL, to the Stellar Kart concert.  He is still way pumped about going.  I hope it will be as good as he hopes it will be.  Since the brother and his wife left, the wife and I inherit their room and do not have to share one with the kids.  It will be nice to stretch out on a bigger bed (previous nights found the wife and I sharing a twin size mattress).  Well I think I need another cookie since my trusty scales are not here to point an accusing finger at me tomorrow morning.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 416

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Such beautiful weather here in South Haven, Michigan.  The locals tell us that is was not a nice summer but today was perfect.  We took the kids and headed to a town called Saugatuck where there are tons of little shops.  We walked up and down the little streets and visited a few stores and looked at some fancy boats before we ran into my mother and her boyfriend who took the kids from us.  Then the wife and I went back to the shops that we skipped over that were not very kid freindly.  One place we hit was the Fernn Valley Tasting Room.  They allowed you to taste (5) different wines (1 ounce samples) for free.  I tried the Pinot Grigio (very dry), Cabernet Sauvigon (very good), Riesling (very good, I had never tried this type of wine before though I have wanted to for some time), Briarwood Red (a desert wine, very sweet), and the Classic Port (18+% alcohol).  The port was my favorite and after lunch and some more walking we went back and bought a bottle ($18 for 500 ml).

Last night we headed toward the beach (probably about 1/4 mile away from our cottage).  I had to run back and get the camera once I saw the sunset.  Pretty, ain't it?  Once we walked the beach a bit, we headed back for some family time.  After the kids went to bed we just hung around the living room and talked about old times.  My brother and my wife are here with us and I do not get to talk to him that often.  Soon enough it was bedtime (and the Sangria had kicked in and the wife was sleepy).  There are 2 twin beds and a pull out bed in our room.  I had put the kids in the pull out bed earlier so that left a twin bed for the wife and one for me.  I got in bed first and pulled the covers up tight as it was a little cold.  The wife returned from the bathroom moments later and asked if she could get into my bed.  Before your minds gets too far into the gutter, the wife did NOT ask to get into my bed with a sexy voice but more of a "move over, I am going to steal the heat from your body" kind of voice.  We slept OK but tight.  When the kids got up, the son was a little upset that a bed went unused while he was forced to share one with his sister.  I promised him his own bed tonight.  My brother is heading home a day earlier than us so the wife and I might score our own room for a night.

My brother is frying up some hamburger as the start of his chili making.  I am looking forward to it as he used to own his own restaurant and made some pretty good food.  I will have to let you know how it turns out.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 415

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

I have been listening to a lot of music lately.  This is normal so if you knew me real well then that last sentence was unneeded.  But few people know me real well so I felt it was a necessary statement.  Ecclesiastes 1:8b says "...the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing."  Well my ear is never filled with hearing.  I try to listen to music with positive lyrics but lately I have drifted toward a darker side.  I used to shy away from certain groups altogether but as I have gotten older perhaps I have gained understanding or compassion.  The things that people sing about are not so different than my experiences or at least close enough so that I can relate.  I have (2) CDs by Stone Temple Pilots now (both for $1 each).  I have heard that some of the band members had trouble with drug use so as I listen to this band I play a little game called "Where they high when they wrote these lyrics?"  Let me give you a sample from the song "Still Remains"...

1 Pick a song and sing a yellow nectarine
2 Take a bath, I'll drink the water that you leave
3 If you should die before me ask if you can bring a friend
4 Pick a flower, hold your breath and drift away...

Line 1 has to fall into the "yes, they were high when the wrote it" as it makes no sense in any context that I can think of.  Line 2 is a toss up as it is just gross enough to be a real fetish.  Line 3 seems sincere and even sounds like something I would have said to my wife while we were engaged (not that I would not say it now, just more likely to have said it when I was newly in love).  Line 4 is another toss up.  All in all, this chorus was probably written while stoned but with brief moments of clarity thrown in.

My recent attention to lyrics is probably due to 35 minutes worth of extra listening time while on the treadmill and the phenominal lack of terrain change that the treadmill offers.  With no sensory input from the eyes, the ears search for something to fill the gap.  I will be taking the next 4 days off of the treadmill as the family travels to South Haven in Michigan.  My mother and her boyfriend will be there along with my brother and his wife.  Throw in our 4 and the 8 of us will be there over the long holiday weekend.  Then it is off to Decatur, IL, for the son and I (wife and daughter will ride home with my mother) so we can go to the Stellar Kart concert.  I like their music well enough (though their lyrics are rather simple) but I did catch some video posted on their Facebook page of them in concert.  I think it might be a looooong concert if you get my drift (the lead singer did not sound as good as he does on the CDs).  I am sure I will have a blog or two about it.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 414

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

This morning Oreo (our beloved poodle / shih tzu mix) lost his manhood to the vet's knife.  As much as I don't care for the little guy, as a fellow male I feel some sense of loss.  Don't get me wrong, I am glad we did it.  For one thing, he has become a one dog show with the various things he, um, well that he attempts to prove his manhood to.  It has gotten so bad that we have given him his own theme song.  If you recall one of the songs from the movie Madagascar was "I Like To Move It" by the character King Julian.  Well if you replace the word MOVE with HUMP every time it occurs then you sorta get the idea.  At first the wife and I tried to ignore these primal movements but with time (and due to increased frequency) we simply had to sing (along with the kids) the "I Like To Hump It Song."  Our poor Doberman was catching the brunt of the humpings (of course).  To a 10 lb dog, Nina is a lot of woman.  I question his instincts though as the humpings were not quite on the mark (and often times about as far away from the mark as is caninely possible).

We were able to find a low cost ($30) neutering clinic about 30 miles south of us.  Throw in a $9 plastic collar and we were out for under $40.  Considering the local vet wanted upwards of $200, we are quite happy (happier than Oreo anyway).  It might still take a month for the testosterone to drain from his system so we are not out of the woods just yet with his dirty dancing but at least we will get a few days respite while the stitches heal.

 

While the wife and daughter were picking Oreo up, the son and I attacked the front yard.  Actually I had done most of my part on Sunday so I only had a few corners before I unleashed him on the remainder.  I have not hit the treadmill since last Thursday since I was sick most of the weekend and woke up Monday with a very sore left knee (perhaps from mowing on Sunday).  I had a 6 am meeting this morning so the treadmill was out of the question.  Hopefully I can get back into the rhythm tomorrow.  I am still holding steady at 179.5 (for the last 3 days) so the lack of exercise has not hurt my weight but with the long weekend coming up, I hate not to get a day or 2 before week's end.

Well the wife has the water on for some hot tea (it is supposed to be down to 45° tonight) and the cone headed man beast is out of his cage for a while (walking quite timidly I might add).

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 413

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

The calendar stated that not only was today August 31 (the last day of August) but also that it was our monthly Ice Cream Social (denoted simply as ICS since our 31 had to share a square with the 24).  I don't like it when calendars do that, share the squares.  There has to be some new calendar printing layout technology that would end this unfairness to the last Sundays and Mondays in months that have their 1sts on a Friday or Saturday.  It is a true injustice.  Anyway, where was I?  Oh yes, ice cream social.  Normally we run 5 miles west to the Sweet Retreats place in Russiaville (located near the only flashing stop light in town).  However, tomorrow AM I have to be in to work at 6 and the wife is taking Oreo in early to the vet for a minor operation (I had a similar operation a few years ago and as I was comforting him about his upcoming "loss" I promised to share my bag of frozen peas that "conforted" me during that time - he must have understood and appreciated these kind words as he replied with a lick on the face, which if I am not mistaken is doggie for Thanks Guy).  Anyway, where was I?  Oh yes, ice cream social.  We decided to hit the frozen custard place near my mom's house.  It is OK but it is definitely not Sweet Retreats.  We got our treats to go and hung out at my grandma's apartment while we ate them.  She had not seen me since my LASIK surgery and commented several times that I did not look right (mind you she did NOT say that I looked good, just that I looked not right).  We also watched some TV there (just a rerun of America's Funniest Home Videos).  Once we had our fill of guys getting it in the area that Oreo would soon be sore in, we took the kids down the street to mom's house for the night.  While there, she handed me a $5 off coupon for Walgreens that expired at the end of the day.  There was no minimum purchase (except that you did not get a refund for spending less than $5) so once we left her house we wandered around the Walgreens for 15 or 20 minutes looking for $5 worth of stuff.  In the end we bought a large choclate candy bar that was marked on clearance for $0.89, a $3.49 container of roasted peanuts, and a $0.79 bottle of 20 oz soda.  The cash register had some sort of error and charged us negative sales tax we ended up with a $0.06 credit which appeared to be a problem as the cash register lady then informed us that the only way to complete the purchase as is was to put it on a gift card (which she was willing to do until I found a 10 cent piece of candy that threw us back into positive territory).  We carried it all home but did not eat or drink any of it (not even the 10 cent candy) and just finally watched the season finalé of NCIS (a show that we just started watching over the summer).  We are both happy to know that the season premier is only 3 weeks away so we don't have to wait very long until we find out the answer to the cliff hanger.  Most of our favorite shows start up again in 2 - 4 weeks and we are ready though we still have the finalé of Lost on the hard drive to view.  After that though we are empty.  Well, it is definitely time for bed since I have that early morning meeting.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 412

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

When the wife finally got home yesterday from her outing and some grocery shopping we had an hour or two before we needed to head out again.  I opted not to go out to the son's recital and our flock group since I was still contagious but I could not stay in the house any longer.  I can only take so much 1 on 2 dog time and I had had my fill for the day.  They are ok in small doses and they are usually ok when there are other humans around but I just get tired of worrying what they are up to or being their entertainment.  If I let them outside to play, they tend to find things to chew on in the garage.  Typically we don't know what these items are until we walk the back yard and find remnants.  I swear these dogs are part goat.

The latest chew thing is these orange cones that we bought in Texas for the son and daughter to practice soccer drills.  My typical practice is to take whatever it is that the dogs are chewing on and beat them with it.  In my mind I am associating pain with the item and (hopefully) this will then transfer of a negative connotation with the previously chewed item.  While this works occassionally, I think Nina is so smart that she weighs in her mind the pleasure to pain ratio (will the joy I get from chewing this item out weigh the pain of the beating with said item?).  She is too smart for her own good I think.  In this case, after a small beating, I placed the cone on her head and she just sat there in humble, submissive mode so I had her stay long enough for the picture.  Oreo (above right) just looks guilty in general which means that I just don't catch him at whatever it was that he was into out there while Nina was being caught chewing.

Anyway, as I mentioned, once the family was out for the evening, I got in the car and drove.  I decided to head to the Goodwill store and was able to pick up a few CDs...

• Relient K - "mmhmm" - 2004: I have been watching a few auctions on ebay and had in my mind that I would pay up to $5 including shipping should one auction end that low.  Fortunately I was able to grab it locally for $2 in great condition.  I am hoping the son will like this one as they are a little punkish and might give us some relief from constant Stellar Kart songs.  Here's hoping.
• Vangelis - "Themes" - 1989: For those of you non Goodwill shoppers, Goodwill has a color coding price sticker system where each week's new items is given a different color.  Basically once an item has been at a store for more than a few weeks, it immediately drops to 1/2 prices.  This is of course based on the sticker color having been the color uses a few weeks ago.  This CD and the next 2 listed below were all 1/2 price.  This one does include the Chariots of Fire theme which is worth the $1 itself.
• Jon and Vangelis - "The Friends Of Mr. Cairo" - 1981: Other than Chariots of Fire, I have not heard much of Vangelis' work.  I love Jon Anderson's voice (from Yes) and do own a hard to find Christmas album by him along with a solo release that I grabbed for a $1 earlier this year.  Since this release is pushing 30 years old I am not holding up my hopes too high.
• Jon and Vangelis - "Private Collection" - 1983: I guess someone who was a fan was dumping their Vangelis collection on this particular Goodwill store.  Their loss, my gain I suppose.  I imagine when I am gone, this CD will find its way back to another Goodwill store and my loss will be their gain (assuming CDs are still around at that time).  There are still many cassettes, LPs and a few 8 tracks at this Goodwill and a few old timers flipping through them so I would imagine if I live another 30 or 40 years then CDs will still be accepted at 2nd hand stores.

The wife and I were able to finish a movie this morning.

• December Boys: I saw the previews for this one on another movie we watched a few years ago at the movie theater.  Basically it is about 4 boys who live at an orphanage whose birthdays are all in the month of December.  They get to take a holiday to the coast (this movie is set in Australia) and have time of discovery.  I am always impressed when child actors can pull off serious roles and not muck up the movie and in this case there were 4 of them.  I was a little shocked that a side character who was supposed to be a young teenage girl was actually 21 at the time of the filming of the movie.  There is one small kissing scene where I was thinking, "how can they let 15 year olds do this on camera?"  Well I will tell you how, they are not 15 (or 16 or 18 even).  Maybe I should IMDB these movies before I start watching them.  That might save me some inner conflict.

I am holding out hopes for a nap today but they are fading as the wife announced that she would like to go (i.e. we ARE going) to the Goodwill down in Carmel.  This will keep my nap free weekend streak going at 4 weeks (for those of you keeping track).

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 411

Greetings and welcome to today's (2nd) random thought.

Man am I bored.  It is just shortly after 11 in the morning and I am really, really bored.  The biggest excitement was blogging earlier today.  My home is just no fun without my family here.  When they were gone on vacation to Texas I at least had movies to keep me company but since I am too cheap to spend 50 cents at the library I don't even have that.  I have killed the last 4 hours or so by finishing up a movie I started a while back (see review below), listening to some music, shaving off my 2 week's worth of beard, swapping dogs in and out of their respective cages, changing my TX plates for my new IN plate on the buick and in general doing nothing (in general).

I really should not be on the internet since I do not have a cell phone and someone might actually be trying to call me.  When I did not renew my cell phone a few months ago, I asked my manager if that would be a problem.  I wanted to make sure that if they needed to get ahold of me (which has happened a few times in my career) that I would be reachable.  I was slightly hinting at maybe needing a company provided phone but all I got was a confirmation that I am truly not as important to my company as I thought that I was.  "No, Jon, that's OK as you are not an on call type of person.  Feel free to have the only method of reaching you as telegraph or smoke signals.  Really, you are not that important."  I am translating of course as those are not the exact words that they used.  Since that time, I truly have not been needed but at least I will know when I truly have arrived at the level of importance that I thought I was, namely when they tell me that I will be issued a company provided cell phone.

My sickness is still bad enough that I likely will not attend anything this evening that we had planned.  We have a recital for the son and a meeting with our (new) flock group (whose last 2 meetings we have missed for one reason or another, in fact, we have never attended despite "joining" this group several months ago).  Hopefully the wife and a kid or 2 can go tonight lest we lose are membership.  OK I really need to get off now (after a short movie review that is).

• The Hudsucker Proxy: This is your typical boy graduates from business school, boy goes to big city, boy lands job in the mail room of big corporate but later that same day is promoted to president, boy meets girl who is really a reporter but pretends to be his secretary, boy succeeds despite obstacles, boy's lack of experience lands him out on the street, boy meets former president (now and angel since he is dead due to jumping out of the 44th floor window), boy heeds dead man's advice, boy gets with girl, boy continues as president story.  This had Tim Robbins (who I did not realize was in Twister which is the son's favorite movie lately but I did enjoy him in The Shawshank Redemption which is one of my all time favorite movies) and Paul Newman and had the same sort of oddness as Big Fish did.  If you liked Big Fish, I think you will like this one just don't watch any part of it with my kids since they just asked all kinds of questions that I could not possibly of answered.  Fortunately they only watched about 15 minutes with me and it was early in the film before things got really weird (or really weirder).

Thanks for reading my (2nd set of) Random Thoughts.

Jon