1st Fathers Day
I'll start this post off by thanking everyone who wished me a Happy Fathers Day. Each email, text, and phone call helped bring a smile to my face on a difficult day.
The day was spent going to Home Depot, mowing the lawn, laying on the hammock, and dining out for breakfast and dinner. Not too shabby of a day in that regard.
As a Dad without children its quite an awkward day - especially since it was the first. People who know what happened don't quite know how to act, which is expected. Heck I didn't even know how to act. I can only imagine how Lauren and other Mothers that have lost children feel on Mothers Day.
At one point I found myself standing in my closet; tears running down my cheeks. In my head: a flash of what it would be like to take my kids out for the day.
What a great feeling it must be to be out at the park or pool with your kids on Fathers Day. For me, not yet.
*MP* How smart IT workers know when their company's doomed
Interesting.. How smart IT workers know when their company's doomed: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10270493-71.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
*Sent from my iPhone*
When your wife is out of town..
Doggie Treat Cookbook
Each year for Seven's birthday, a good friend of mine (j. Bernard Ralph) makes homemade dog treats, dog cakes, dog ice cream, etc. Seven loves em - even the doggie safe chocolate ones!
Because he loves cooking and wanted to support a good cause, he wrote a Doggie Treat Cook Book - available at Amazon.com for only $10. The best part about the book is that 80% of the profit goes directly to The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International (JDRF.org)!
Know someone with diabetes? Have a dog? Know someone with a dog? Want to help a good cause? Please help in supporting JDRF. Follow this link to buy a copy or two today! =)
Catch-up
There's been so much going on lately that I've been in a mini-post mode (if you haven't been able to tell). So here's one with some substance =)
Getting the New House Set Up
Backing up a couple of weeks here.. I wanted to make sure that I talked about all of the work that went into the new house. There was so much work that was done in those 10 days and I give so much thanks to everyone that gave up their time to help. Blood, sweat, and tears were all shed - seriously.
Dad- Putting work on hold, driving 1500 miles each way, working dusk til midnight, and teaching me all of the things you did, was more than I could have ever asked for. You are the reason that we made all of our deadlines. Thank you! I love you.
Charlene- It was great to meet you. Thank you for all of the help! Your ability to translate the growls and grunts of the Green men through floors and ceilings is what made the Bonus room come together!
Fran- Thank you so much for the homemade food! Fast food would not have gotten us through those 18 hours sweaty dirty days! Thank you also for all of the cleaning and packing help!
Gene- Without your knowledge, muscle, and painting skills, it would have been 100 times harder to accomplish everything that we did. We sure know how to hang closets now don't we?! Thank you!
Jay- Because of you I am now a ceiling fan installation connoisseur! Although we're not technically neighbors anymore, we still have to hang out regularly! Thanks!
Holly- Thanks for giving up your husband for a couple of days, even though you were sick and pregnant! Did we tell you that Jay almost died?? Eh, we'll tell you 'bout that later...
Allison- Our house now contains a little bit of that Pernecky charm; courtesy of you =)
Mike- Thanks for surrendering your wife while staying at home drinking. Thanks man. J/K!
There were so many others that offered their assistance but the timing just didn't work out. You've all been with us through so much this year. Thank you!
Birthday
Lauren put together a poker party at our place for my birthday, 2 days after the move - thanks Babe! We had a great time and after all of the rushing around, it was nice to cut lose and have some fun.
Updated House Pics
Lauren is still trying to put the finishing touches on the house, but here are a couple of 'before and afters' as things are today. Sorry for the quality of some of the pics.
And Finally - A Notice To Any Friends Moving
Give me a ring if you need any help with moving, unless it has to do with hanging blinds... I'll sweat, move, carry, lug, tow, install, hang, or demolish anything you want - except hang blinds. Oh man I hate hanging blinds...
In The Middle
Ugh. So lets say there are 4 people, we'll just call them A, B, Y, and Z.
Ok, so people A and Z have a, how do you say, non-productive relationship. B and Y have no quams whatsoever. (In fact, B loves Y to death and feels bad about not spending more time with Y.)
Still with me?
B & Y get the shaft. Sucks being in the middle...
*MP* Going to see Pelham 123
Laurens out of town for a few days. Off to see Pelham 123 while I can!
*Sent from my iPhone*
Fake Baby Blogger Exposed
Fake Baby Blogger Exposed
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,526037,00.html
And the experiment is over..
So after a couple of weeks without Laurens favorite E! and MTV shows readily available on TiVo, we went back to Cable. Brighthouse to be exact, not Verizon. I suspect that Verizon should be out of business in the next couple of years with the way they do business. Probably the only reason they haven't gone under yet is because they lock everyone into crazy contracts. I hope someone good buys and maintains the Fios Internet service when they go under. No - I'm not bitter..
Know anyone without Cable or Sat Tv?
You do now! The Greens are running a real life test of what it's like
with using only 'over the air' channels.
The beginning:
- Move and cancel cable services (nets approx $100/month or $1200/year$
- Use existing digital TVs in the house to get the free channels.
(actually works pretty well)
- Use the multiple laptops, desktops, and home servers to make a home
media netowork. This should allow any PC on the home network to watch
everythig else. Dvds, CDs, tv shows, digital music, internet
programming, etc - all free. Netting $13/mo/Tivo.
Were ok day 3 and so far it's been suprisingly difficult. The first
issue is getting the signals to your tvs. Both of our tvs have digital
tuners in them but required a $50 amplifier. I still can't get NBC HD
( on 8.1 ).
I'll continue to play around with the options but at this point I feel
that we may have to get the $9/mo basic cable packge to just function.
Well see.
I don't want this whole post to be negative. When we are able to get a
station like ABC or FOX or CW in HD, the audio and picture look
amazing. At the party this last weekend everyone was so confused about
it being HD and free. It's been so shoved in everyone brain that you
have to pay to get good quality basic channels.
If this project is a failure; we may stick with it anyways, give up
and go back to Cable, or cut the string all the way and replace TV
time with other hobbies. Stay tuned!
*Sent from my iPhone*
*MP* And Verizon Continues to Suck
Big surprise.Verizon is the only one of over a dozen contractors this
week to no show.Apparently they dont need the business.
