Just in the Nick of Time

Lemme tell you somethin'. If'n you're gonna lay ceramic tile, be prepared to work. For the fourth day in a row I am completely drenched in sweat. I did the grout work this morning and after 3 hours it's done. I still have plenty of washing to do, probably 3 or 4 times. Once you begin the grout work, you cannot stop especially if you have a large area. By the time I got to the last 10-15 square feet, the group was pretty hard and it took some scrubbing to get it off the tile. My sponge is ruined. Had I taken a break or waited between float and sponge there's no way I could have gotten it cleaned. Whew. Let me just add one more thing. If you come to my house, stay off the kitchen floor for 16-24 hours...or else!!!

BTW, speaking of float:
CrappieRaider OUT!!!

Happy Something

This could be the greatest holiday in the world. I met my wife (rather reunited) at a St. Patrick Day party. It was a great evening with events that I'm not sure she knows. Seems that one of the hosts recently broke up with his girlfriend and she liked me. The other roommates were talking me out of dating her as it's just not right to date a friend's ex. I agreed and still do. That's just not right. If, after 6 months there is still a mutual interest, go for it. Anyway, seems that one of the guys talking me out of this had a huge crush on her and wanted her for himself. I think they did date but for a short period.

When my soon to be wife showed up, keep in mind my memory fades over time, we escaped for a while just driving around. We kinda hung out on a sofa in the living room for a few hours and pretty soon the sun rose. The rest is history. Great history. Wonderful history. Historical history.

Deep Thoughts with...

http://www.deepthoughtsbyjackhandey.com/random2.asp

• If people were more like me, would I like them?
• Always thought I could be an actor but never have, unless you count the Sheppard role I had in Catholic school.
• Will Ferrell is very funny but that Bush special sucks.
• Synthetic oil does seem to work better and longer than standard oil.
• The house is a mess and Spring Break just started. One more thing to put on the honey-do list.
• I like ducks.

Ranting...Again

Drivers these days suck. Forget about the failure to use a blinker rant, this one is for the people that brake in the middle of the road for no reason. It must have happened a half dozen times yesterday on the way to/from Flower Mound. And to the little lady in the Infiniti that couldn't decide whether to brake, turn, fart or whistle, I hope you finally made it to the hair dresser.

Later in the day we were fortunate enough to get beside a red Mustang with an 18 year old girl driving. She was driving that thing like you would imagine but when we got beside her, discovered she had small children in the back seat. I couldn't believe it. I'm not sure but would wager they weren't buckled in.

Lastly, since I started biking (nice face plant) more it's been brought to my attention that people either don't care or just don't see cyclists. I can't tell you how many times I've thought I was about to get hit. Special thanks to the construction worker that was talking on the phone, drinking a Coke and was too busy to signal much less slow down. When he took that turn I thought I was a goner. Please be careful people. Maybe I'll get one of these.

An for your Sunday morning pleasure:

Creepy or Cool?

Made out of scrap metal...one vote for cool.

Musing in the Morning

• Wonder if David is a proud papa now.
• Got a new bike the other day. Sucks that it's raining and 40 degrees. It's like getting a new box of Little Debbies and you're out of milk.
• There's a weird static noise on my TV every time I change the channel. Of course it's out of warranty so there's no telling what it would cost to fix. I have to hit the mute button before I change the channel and if I FF or rewind. Very annoying.
• I hate when one of the kids is sick. I feel just awful for them and would rather be sick.
• The word "amazing" is used too much. I think we should start using "groovy" instead. Every contestant on every show during their interview will utter these words: "For me, personally, it was amazing". Shoot me now. Why not just, "It was groovy man".
  
• The new U2 CD could be a little better. There is too much lead into each song. One of the songs doesn't start the song until the 1:38 mark and several songs are the same way. Too artsy fartsy. There are enough good songs to save the CD though.
• There's some kind of worm working it's way through our network at work. Very odd that someone can write code like that. Doesn't appear to be malicious, just annoying. I love the flash drive but people need to realize they need to be scanned for viruses just like a hard drive.
• Anybody still use a ZIP drive? Ran across one at the admin building the other day...flashback. 100M. WOW.
• For some reason I like the music of Lady Gaga. Has nothing to do with her looks, trust me. Her voice kind of reminds me of Donna Summer. Poker Face.
  

But Dad...

I was thinking about the excuses I used to use when I got in trouble when I was younger. Seems like "Steve told me to do it" was number one on the list. My second favorite excuse was the ever famous "I don't know". That didn't work on Mr. Hand nor did it work on my parents. I was also thinking about the age that I stopped making excuses...still haven't. The opportunities to blame my older brother are fading so let's see if I can work it in during the Easter break. Dad's reaction?

Saw on DC's Blog, Nice

Early Weekend Start

So I got my butt out of bed and went to the Greenbelt at 7:15 am. Met a co-worker and we did the 6 mile trek and back (1:15 hr). It was not as bad as it would seem although I had to dodge several larger rocks on the path. It will be interesting in 3 weeks at the 3P Challenge. If you look at the pictures from last year, check out number 37. For my sake, I hope the paramedics are on site.

TO Finding A New Team?

The ticket has it's sports pants going crazy this morning as it is reported that TO has been cut. Crap. Anything that assists in the ultimate failure of the Cowboys is greatest to me. Say it isn't so!!! BTW, check out his web page and the picture on the left.

Mean People Suck

When it comes to mean people, there should be a restraining order especially when it comes to kids. There is a coach on one of the kid's teams that was talking very stern to one of the other kids. I though it was his son. But after a while I realized he was talking to all of them the same way. Even told one kid to "Shut you yap". C'mon dude. Get a life. Have some fun. Lighten up Francis. I wish there were a jerk police that rode around the baseball fields writing tickets for people that suck. Let's hold court right there in the dugout and let me be the judge. I of course would be excluded from all charges.

One more before I go

I Heart My Kids

Notice the word "My" in the title. Last night my oldest son had a couple of friends over to play videos games, etc. so the youngest was exiled to the living room with the parents. Oh no. We queued up "Wall-E" on the VOD (greatness btw) to make sure he would be happy. The movie was good and he was totally into it. Earlier in the day we watched "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and he was into it also. Just spending some time with him without arguing, fighting, whatever was so good for me. Times like that are the ones I should remember instead of the talking back, forging teacher's names on letters home, running in the house, and/or throwing Legos at each other.

The middle child and I went to baseball practice early and I did some soft toss with him. He gets this little grin on his face that is...well...precious. Usually when he wants to laugh but doesn't want anyone to know. Anyway, we had a good time freezing our tails off, and practice went on for about and hour and a half. We talked, mostly about baseball, and seemed to enjoy each other's company. He told me he didn't really learn anything at practice and I was pretty quick to correct him. You might have seen or done all of the drills before but paying attention to details and fundamentals will improve you more. He kinda grinned and said something like, "yeah I guess so" but with that same little grin. Gotta love it.

Zach is the oldest and youngest at the same time. We get along okay but we have the typical teenager vs. adult conversations. When he wants or needs something it's very easy to get him to do his chores or help me with something. Since he had friends coming over, he was to help me get his room cleaned. Usually we have to tell him 2 or 3 times to do something but yesterday, once. Greatness. We never really had a bonding moment or anything like that but just the cooperation and willingness to help means a lot. Just like everyone else is asking right now, "Why can't you be like that all the time"?

Hypthetical No. 1

So let's say you have a meeting that your job depends on that is several miles away. You have been driving for a while and have to pee really bad. If you stop somewhere you are going to be even later that originally planned thereby putting your job in more jeopardy. The only thing you have in your vehicle to pee in is your favorite cup, glass, water bottle. Would you pee in it, wash it, and use it again knowing what you used it for?