Hilarious Onion Article

I read this article about a year ago but after seeing a pug (or whatever that dog is called) on an episode of "Bringing Home Baby" on TLC (my wife was watching it, I swear) I was reminded of just how funny this was.

My apologies if you are a pug lover. It's still funny.

Dog Breeders Issue Massive Recall Of '07 Pugs

Dawn

No, I'm not talking about a dish detergent. I'm talking about my favorite time of the day. Ever since I started in my current job about two years ago, I have had to get up before dawn. Sometimes ridiculously early but I have grown to really enjoy the pre-dawn to sunrise hours. I have always loved seeing the sun come up but, in the past I was staying up pretty late so the sunrise was something I rarely saw.

I'm not sure why I like it so much but it's probably most related to the lighting. Everything takes on this bluish color before the sun comes up. The most ironic thing about all of this is the fact that I'm going on and on about the sunrise and yet, here I am sitting at my laptop typing instead of standing outside.

I think I'll change that. See ya.

Pregnancy Journal, Part I

As I mentioned above, Joy is pregnant. So, as I sort of promised, I plan to start and try to maintain a sort of photo journal. I'll be uploading pictures that document her pregnancy up to my flickr site and then linking them here.

This picture is of the second pregnancy test Joy took. The first test was taken at night but the "you are pregnant" line was rather faint. So I told Joy, "That's awfully light. I wouldn't trust it." Anyway, she took another one the following morning (they say your mornin' pee is best for a pregnancy test) and this showed up. The second line was originally a little stronger but it's faded since this test was taken well over a week ago.

There is another test Joy took that her mom purchased without our knowledge. I think it was called Clear Blue. On this type of test there are no lines, only a small LCD display. A display that reads "Pregnant" or "Not Pregnant". Sadly, I waited too long to photograph the "Pregnant" display so it has since faded. Oh well. The real test comes next Thursday when Joy goes to the doctor for a preliminary ultrasound and a due date.

We've been through this twice now but it's still exciting.

See you later.

Weeping Willow

My favorite tree, if a person can have one, is the weeping willow. I'm sure there are countless others that share my fascination with the unique look this tree has. Anyway, we were at Busch Gardens today and I was able to take a picture of a weeping willow. I shot it with my Canon S2IS set to "foliage" (surprise!). I was then able to use Microsoft Picture It to remove the color and mess with the contrast.

I always loved shooting black and white photos with infrared film and I still love high contrast black and white photos. Hope ya like it.

See ya!

An Experiment

Well, Joy is pregnant. Let me be more precise: a few over the counter tests show positive as do a couple of other biological/natural tests. She goes to the official appointment next week for a due date, etc.

We kind of want to keep it quiet since, this early on, many things could go wrong and we don't want to get anybody overly excited if something goes awry.

Anyway, if everything goes okay, I want to do a sort of photo journal of the pregnancy. It will be fun and cool to look back on later.

Hopefully, I will be updating soon on the pregnancy. I'll also still be doing more of my more useless posts so this blog won't be entirely pregnancy related.

See you around.

Funny Story

Yeah, you know the deal with The Onion. Hilarious but sometimes vulgar. The following article is clean but I don't make any guarantees about the ads in the background.

Seriously, this article is one of the funniest ones I've read in quite some time.

Enjoy!

Packers Tell Fans They Gave Favre To A Nice Farm Family

Changes? Yes? No? Maybe? So?

Big changes on the way at home? (For me and my family, I mean.) Maybe. There's always something new and, in some way, huge going on at my house. Stay tuned...

...Maybe I'll update this blog before November.

How...?

How can I put into words...

...how much of a headache these contact lenses give me? Oh wait. I just did (put it into words that is.)

Anyway, I was reminded that I have a blog when I recently received an email from sort of 'bot attempting to get me to let them advertise on my blog. I'm sure I have so many readers that it would only make sense to run ads on here, right?

Nah.


I saw a t-shirt for sale on despair.com. It pretty much sums up my opinion of this blog:


Have a good day!

Finally, Some Feedback

Shortly after I published my last post about our house, our realtor's office called. According to them, the showing we had last night went "really well". He also reiterated that our house is in a really good range, under $250k. Tomorrow night we have another showing from 5:30pm to 6:30pm.

It's amazing how just when you need it, God sends along a little encouragement.

So, as always, everything's going great, it's just a lot of work keeping the house up.

Hopefully, I'll be posting more news here later.

A special thanks to Michelle for reminding me to post on here.

Later!

Nothing Yet

We've had our house on the market for about two weeks now and we don't have any contracts on it yet. It's only been two weeks so I shouldn't get all antsy I guess. We've had several people come to see our home (we had to be gone, of course) but we haven't gotten any feedback yet.

I know the news keeps reporting that the housing market is really slowing down, but I'm of the firm belief that there are people out there buying houses still. Also, the price range we're in allows us some room to lower the price if need be.

So when do we lower the price? I have no idea. Of course our realtor isn't going to want to lower right away or for very much. After all, this is how he makes his money but, I'm ready to sell and say, "Well, BYE!"

At least we're not talking with any of those "Get Out Of Your House In 24 Hours. You Pay Nothing! You Lose Money" types of businesses.

...Yet.

Did I mention that it's hot today? I mean it's very hot outside. Thank the Lord I was able to spend the day glued in front of my computer at work in an air conditioned trailer. In fact, my hands started to get that don't-want-to-move-very-fast-because-they're-so-cold feeling.

I can't wait for fall.

Some Pictures

Bodie Lighthouse in North Carolina's outer banks. I'm not sure if it's pronounced "body" or "boadie". Oh well. I don't actually care.

Another shot of the Bodie Lighthouse. I think it's about 130 years old but I can't remember exactly. I guess I could look it up on the internet right now, but, mreh. That's too much trouble.

I know this one is kinda blurry, but it's Caleb's finger-man. He really got a kick out of playing with me when I first helped him to realize that he could pretend his index and middle fingers could be manipulated to emulate a person walking around, falling, jumping, etc.

For Sale(?)

It seems like only last year that we sold our house and moved into a new house. Now, here we are, a little over a year later and we're putting our house up on the market.

We didn't reach this decision on an impulse. I've been toying with the idea for about six months now. It's just that now we actually need to sell our house. Not for profit but to "simplify", as my wife loves to say.

We're going to be moving into a townhouse (Lord willing) where we will be renting. There are some who will say, "Oh, that's too bad. You'll just be throwing money away on rent." To them I say: Hey, you have to live somewhere!

To be quite honest, I'm very excited to be headed back to the apartment lifestyle. No cutting grass, no raking leaves, no cleaning gutters; it's great. I'm not looking forward to sharing walls with other people but I guess that comes with the territory.

What I'm most looking forward to in the renting lifestyle: no more worries about home repairs. If the sink leaks, call the maintenance man. If the A/C breaks, call the maintenance man. Awesome!

Did I forget to mention Renter's Insurance? It's soooo much cheaper than Home Owner's insurance. Also, if a hurricane rips the roof off of my house (which I own) I can't just leave town. Oh no! I am actually expected to repair the house and continue making my mortgage payments or face foreclosure. What planet are these mortgage people from?! However, if the roof of my townhouse suddenly flies away in a strong breeze, guess what? No worries! I can just move (assuming I'm not in a binding lease). Bye bye rented property where all of my personal belongings were destroyed!

Anyway, to all you renters out there: owning a house is awesome. My house is actually very nice. I'll miss it. Wanna buy mine? The more renters that move out, the more available units there will be for me to choose from.

Hopefully I'll be able to update this blog with good news about the house for sale story very soon.

Later!

No Recent Activity

Thank you for your interest in this weblog, or "blog". Unfortunately, the originator has become lazy and has opted to not make regular entries. Due to this, you will notice large gaps between post dates.

Thank you for your interest.

Check out this Article

Sparrow Aviation Administration Blames Collision On Failure To Detect Pane Of Glass

Funny Video

I may have mentioned the satire news site The Onion on here before but they now post videos. These videos are presented in the typical cable news station format. Anyway, they've posted one of their funniest ones so far (in my opinion). Here's the link: Something in Haiti.

Enter: Gordon II

Actually, I think he's going to be named James, another train from the Thomas the Train world. I'll be sure to post some pictures of the critter for posterity in the event of some unforeseen tragic event.

G' night!

Tragedy

We experienced a little tragedy tonight. My son had his hamster, Gordon, rolling around in his hamster ball. After a couple of minutes, I asked where the hamster was. Caleb didn't know. I searched and searched and finally found him. Our dog, Beth, had killed it.

Molly and Caleb are taking it pretty hard. Surprisingly, Molly more so than Caleb. Anyway, I'm typing this sitting up in our bed with Joy, Molly, and Caleb all beside me. There's not a lot of room here but, hey, they are sad.

Anyway, my initial feeling is to get rid of Beth. Naturally, I know that Beth is just a dumb dog and that she didn't kill Gordon for any reason other than pure instinct. I guess. I still go back to wanting to permanently say "Goodbye" to Beth, but I'll make sure that any decision like that isn't based strictly on emotion.

Have a good night.

Gordon the Hamster
R.I.P.

Some Pics from Today

Joy and me in line for Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride.

Molly and Caleb with Chip of "Chip 'N Dale" fame.

In front of Cinderella's Castle at the Magic Kingdom.



Caleb with his beloved toy knight that's been lost at Magic Kingdom.

They still make Monchichi?! Well, these were for sale in the Japanese area of Epcot.

Here's a close up of Caleb's brave "Sir Knight". I really hope we can find another one for him.

The Magic Kingdom

I'm sure I mentioned it in another post but I still say that the Animal Kingdom is the best Disney World park. We spent the day at Magic Kingdom today and I came away the impression that the park resembles more of a carnival or older amusement park than an "amusement" park. I guess, for me, it's really showing it's age.

Many of the rides like It's a Small World, Peter Pan's Flight (name is probably wrong), and even Pirates of the Caribbean smell old. Kind of like going into an attic. Nothing really wrong with that because I still enjoyed the rides but I think they are definitely starting to show their age. Although, it is cool to see effects that don't rely on computer generated images projected onto screens.

I think we will be going back tomorrow to see the parade and fireworks show at the end of the evening. We left right when the fireworks were starting tonight so we could beat the crowd.

Well, I'm uploading some pictures to my flickr site right now and I hope to show some pictures right here.

See you soon.

Here's one of the many pictures I've uploaded at my flickr site. This was taken at the Animal Kingdom Park on our way out. More pics to come.

We spent the day at MGM Studios yesterday and a great, exhausting time. We rode the Tower of Terror, saw a bunch of shows, and a bunch of other stuff. But the highlight of our day was the first ride we rode: Star Tours, a silly simulator type ride.

I say this was the “highlight” because Caleb cried almost the whole time. Despite how much I tried to explain to him what was going to happen on the ride and how much I tried to tell him that it was all fake, he still came away saying that he thought we were really going into outer space. He was screaming things like, “I don't like this ride” the whole time. Poor guy. Then again, he was already acting scared while we walked through the (very short) line.

Overall, though, we all had a great day. Today, I think we're going to Epcot.

Talk to you later.

April 22nd PM/April 23rd AM post

We went to Disney's Animal Kingdom park yesterday. I wasn't sure what to expect; I wasn't expecting much to be honest. I thought it would be a semi-lame attempt at a zoo. I was wrong. That was a very, very fun park. Especially the Kilamanjaro Safaris ride. I swear we were actually RIDING the ride for close to ten minutes. Although it doesn't fit the typical mold for theme park rides since it's more of a zoo-like tour, it's my favorite ride so far.

It looks like we're going to MGM Studios today which is a pretty fun park.

By the way, the kids are having a great time. They love the pools here at the hotel. Which reminds of fact I'm sure everybody already knows: kids will play in water no matter what the temperature is. Molly and Caleb wanted to play in the pool last night and since the depth is close to four feet, Joy and I got in, too. The pools are heated, which is great. However, getting out was pure torture. We were freezing all the way back to our hotel room. But do the kids really care? No. They would shiver violently and risk hypothermia if it meant they could just play in a pool. Psycho.

I hope to be posting some pictures to my flickr site today. If I think about it, I'll link a couple here.

See you later!

April 22nd AM Post

Up at about 7am today. I walked down to the dining area (can't remember what it's called) and poured coffee for Joy and me. The coffee isn't great and they don't have crème brulee creamer for the coffee but it'll do.

So, today we're heading to the animal kingdom. Unfortunately, it's already 8:10am so it's already going to be pretty packed at the park. But at least we don't have to worry about parking.

Hope to be posting some pictures on my flickr site tonight.

1-800-CYA!

First Day of Vacation

Greetings from the Pop Century Resort Hotel in Orlando, Florida.

Yes, we are now in Orlando, Florida. The flight(s) here weren't too bad; no turbulence, no delays, etc. However, Caleb had to go pee “really bad” a total of nine times between our house and our hotel.

Let me be specific: Caleb peed: twice at Newport News/Williamsburg Airport, twice on the flight to Atlanta, once in the Atlanta airport, twice on the flight to Orlando, and twice at the Orlando airport. That brings the grand total to nine bathroom visits during our trip. It was probably just his nerves but still, that's a LOT of peeing. The reason Caleb even had a chance to pee twice in Orlando was because of an issue we had with our rental car reservation.

I reserved an Alamo rental car through Expedia.com which wouldn't really be all that big of a deal except for the fact that we had also reserved Disney's Magical Express. Disney's Magical Express is basically a bus that takes you directly from the airport to your hotel. It's purpose is also get your luggage directly to your hotel room. That's all fine and good except for the fact that there was a conflict: we were scheduled to take the Disney's Magical Express from the airport AND we were supposed to pick up our rental car from the airport at the same time!

After three calls to Expedia, I was able to cancel my rental car. The second lady I spoke with told me no, “we can't cancel the rental car since it is part of your package”. The third person I spoke with seemed amazed that someone told me they “couldn't” cancel the rental car. Anyway, we are currently rental car-less but we're quite happy. Since we're staying at one of Disney's resort hotels, there are buses constantly running to all of the theme parks. Basically, we made end up spending a little extra on dining but it will in no way equal the cost of the rental car plus eating.

Well, I've got some pictures taken and loaded on my computer but I don't have internet access right now. I'm debating whether or not I actually wanna do it. There's a small fee associated with it so, I might. I might not.

I hope to keep this vacation journal up to date so I can sorta remember the details later on.

See ya later!

Caleb's Quote o' the Day

Caleb (to his sister, Molly): "We were twins but not twins in the same belly."

(Note: Molly and Caleb are not twins.)

Soooo Sleeepy

I'm getting very tired. I don't know why exactly. I think... I think it's because I'm tired.

On an entirely different subject, Microsoft is implementing Windows Messenger into Xbox Live. I'm not sure how cool or crappy that will be. I don't know if I know anybody with Windows Messenger but I'll give it a try. Although, it's probably a waste of time since I rarely IM anybody and lately I haven't been gaming very much. Oh well.

See you later.

(three more days)

Four More Days

Yes, four more days until our vacation. More importantly, only three more work days. The kids are really excited about the trip and so am I. I'm mainly excited about being off of work (had to be there at 5am today - ouch.) and relaxing with my family.

Relaxing. We might not get a whole of relaxation but I'm very happy that we're going to be going at our own pace.

Until next time.

Well... BYE!

Privatize My Blog?

Blogger now has an option that allows (ahem) bloggers to make their blogs available only to people they choose. So, I'm considering it. I've never posted here hoping to get noticed by the world. I've posted here mainly for entertainment and a detached form of communication.

So, anyway, I am considering it. Unless, of course, the public outcry is so great that I am forced to leave my blog open to the public. Hardy har har.

See you soon! Or not, depending on whether or not I choose to turn this blog into a private thing.

That Felt Good

I set up a myspace account a little while ago just out of curiosity. Tonight, I finally did what I've been meaning to do since about a week after I set up the account: I canceled it. I got so sick of getting those "friend" requests in my email box from spammers.

So long, myspace. I hardly knew ya. And I hardly wanted to anyway.

Blogging While On Vacation?

Should I do it? I plan on taking my laptop with me to Disney World with my family. Mainly so I can keep a lot of free space on my digital camera. Anyway, maybe I'll take time out each evening for a quick recap of the day. A sort of vacation journal, I guess.

Anyway, six more days to Disney!

Twelve Days to Disney

No, I'm not a big Disney fan or anything like that. It's just that we're going to Disney World in twelve days and I thought that the title of this post sounds like a movie title or a band name or something cool like that.

I don't know why I've gotten back into posting stuff on my blog again... oh, wait. Now I remember: my sister. My sister has posted a couple of comments here and it's made me want to post some junk on here. Thanks, sis!

One thing before I cut short this already short entry: I am sick of "Baby Story". "Baby Story" is a series on TLC and each episode follows a couple as they go through their pregnancies. My wife apparently loves it, but I am tired of the annoying couples that act like their the only ones that have ever had any kids before. "Oh, look at us! We're having a baby! This has never happened to anyone else in the entire world! And even if it has, we are the only ones who can do it right!"

Here's some more of the dumb crap people say on that show: "We want to have our baby naturally so we're not going to have an epidural." How sweet! And when you go to the dentist for a root canal, do you tell your dentist, "I want to have this root canal naturally. I do not want to have any anesthesia. I want to feel everything.

One last thing about "Baby Story" that annoys me: Why do the producers of the show regularly find people that want to have their baby in a bathtub or jacuzzi? Are the fish? Are they mermaids. Or do they just love the beautiful colors that will inevitably float around in the water during and after the birth? YUCK!

Until next time... Well, BYE!

Snow... In April? Here?!

Yep. It snowed this morning. It actually stuck to the ground a little bit. I can't remember the last time it actually snowed in April in this part of Virginia. It wasn't enough to make a snowman, or a snowball, or even to hear it crunch beneath your feet (it was a very wet snow) but it was cool nonetheless.

Here's to springtime!

There's a Fire in My Home!

It's right there in my living room! Thank goodness it's relatively contained within a hearth-like structure that's built into the wall of my house. It's also quite fortunate that the smoke from said fire is going straight up a chimney-like shaft running from the floor of my house and out through my roof.

Although this is terrifying, I must admit that it's quite cozy.

Six Months Since a Post

Wow! What an amazing six months! Actually, what an amazing past ten days. I've been off from work for the Christmas shutdown and it's been great. The hardest part is going back to work. It really, really sucks. Oh well. Can't have vacation without work, I guess.

I decided to blog a little since Joy and I were wondering about some exact dates of when we sold our old house. Well, I guess this blog comes in handy once in a great while.

Later.

New Photos on My Flickr Site

As the subject line suggests, I've uploaded a ton of pictures to my flickr site. Some may seem a bit repetitive but, again, I'm really using the site as more of an archive than a showcase (although I sure don't hesitate to push it here). Check it out here or the link on the right hand side of this page.

Goodnight

I accidentally ran across a cool little "thingie" for my blog. Over to your right you'll notice a new "flickr badge". Basically, all it does is advertise the pictures I have posted over at my flickr site (which is, for me, evolving into more of an archive than a showcase). Anyway, to all of you out there that read my site (I'm looking at you Michelle and Joy) have a great night and a great day tomorrow!

Some Pictures on My New Camera

Here's some real quick photos I took with my new digital camera (which is a lot of options kinda like my old Canon SLR). Anyway, we're getting ready to go, so here are a few quick images.

Molly and Caleb riding the train at Busch Gardens.

Croquet anyone?

Caleb has Monchichi hair.

Mom and Molly reading some sort of book.

QVC= Quality Value COMEDY!

Check out this QVC blooper. I know, I know. Somebody got hurt. But you have to watch it until the end (it's only 32 seconds long) to see the cameo appearance by a guy that obviously is not in front of the camera very often. It's on the youtube.com site and here's the link right here.

Our Trip

We went to Luray this weekend and had a great time. It was really wonderful to spend so much time with my wife and kids. Anyway, here are a few select shots from the trip. There are more available for viewing at my flickr site.

Here we are at one of the mountain overlooks on Skyline Drive.

Joy and Caleb checking out some of the stalactite formations at Luray Caverns.

Here's Molly reading a book at our room/cottage/whatever. I tried to get the background in the shot since we had an awesome view of the valley below but instead it just looks like any other deck. Oh well.

Here's the handsome couple in the television-less, telephone-less room at the Skyland Resort located at the highest point on the Skyline Drive. Or so the signs claim.

Molly standing in front of Star the pony just before she went for a ride. Ain't she a cutie? (I'm talking about Molly, not the pony.)

There she is riding Star the pony. Oh, and that's me leading way through the maze of equine excrement. It was actually very fun despite the fact that it was pretty chilly that morning.

Another one of Molly.

And one of Caleb.

Until next time (when I decide to stop being lazy and post something more) have a great evening.

Hooray for Luray!

Clever title, don't you think? It will seem even more clever once I reveal the following information: We are driving to Luray, Virginia this weekend.

You remember Luray right? The quiet one that nobody ever really noticed in school but now runs a multi-national, multi-million dollar business? Yea, that's the one.

I'm tired.

Artoo Dee Tow

That's how my son pronounces "R2-D2" when he's playing Lego Star Wars (a very good game by the way).

By the way, check out my Xbox 360's blog. There are a couple of new entries. Worth a chuckle or two. I mean, worth a chuckle or tow.

My Xbox 360 Has a Blog

Well, I just started it today so it may not have much of anything. But, it seems like a pretty clever idea. Basically, it tracks my gaming habits/history and generates blog entries automatically. Pretty cool. Check it out right here.

Wow! I Have a Blog?!

It's been a while since I've posted on here. To be honest, I just haven't had the time. And, to be even more honest, I haven't felt any real need to post.

So, what's been going on with me you ask? Well, we're pretty much settled in our new house and I'm still trying to get "settled" in my new job. The job has been a little more difficult than the house since about every week since I've started I've been reporting somewhere different. Even though I'm a little anxious about this upcoming Monday, at least I'm scheduled to be in the same general area until September. Supposedly.

Well, I'll be sure to post again in less than two months this time.

The Simpsons Quotes

I got a lot of laughs out of this site. Particularly the Professor Frink and Ralph Wiggum pages. Check it out here

One of my favorite quotes:

Bart Simpson (spelling "Impervious" in a spelling B): I...M...P
Nelson: Bart is pee!
Ralph Wiggum: I made Bart in my pants!

Happy Birthday Michelle!

To Michelle: Believe it or not, I still remember the first time I ever saw you. You were just a newborn; still at the hospital. I saw your crazy hair and thought, "That's my sister?" Remember, I was seven at the time and had absolutely no contact with babies (as far as I can remember).

Another super early memory of you: I took you to my first grade class for show-and-tell. Mom was there, of course. I didn't just stuff you into my book bag and head to school (can you tell I've related this story to Molly?). I got to hold you in front of my class and talk about how you were my new baby sister. I was so proud. And I'm just as proud of you now as I was back then.

However, I don't think we have show-and-tell at work but, if that changes, I'll let you know.

Anyway, I just wanted you let you know that I couldn't think of anyone in the world that I'd rather share my birthday with. Knowing that we have the exact same birthday (seven years apart) is something that I'll never get tired of. As an added bonus, I can always easily calculate your age by subtracting seven years off of my age. Pure genius!

As Cracker says: Happy Birtday to me, and to you!

Happy Birthday Michelle. I love you.

I Don't Like Cleaning Up Cat Vomit

The title of this post pretty much sums it all up but, after cleaning up six to seven piles of said cat vomit yesterday, I came to this realization. The only thing I really wonder about is why does some of the vomit, particularly the larger piles, resemble some sort of fabric or upholstery? I mean, I don't inspect cat vomit enough to see if there are any hair or hairballs involved but it is pretty weird.

By the way, isn't "upholstery" a weird word? It sounds like something a bandit would say in reference to his hold-up abilities. Example: "I feel like I've come a long way with my upholstery skills. I can rob a 7-11 in less than 4 minutes now. A personal best!"

House For Sale

Joy and I have lately been discussing how we can lower our bills. (I know this sounds like an info-mercial, but bear with me.) Since I'm starting a new job that will eventually pay significantly more than my current one, we had approached this issue with the "wait and see" mindset. Then one day, it hit us: we bought our house over five years ago and, since then, the market has changed. A lot. We decided to talk to family friend/realtor and get his opinion.

Last Monday, January 30th, the realtor came over and took a quick look over our house. After seeing our house, he seemed genuinely confident that he could sell it. The following Thursday, February 2nd, we signed some paperwork putting our house on the market.

Over the course of the next few days, we started looking at houses. One that's sort of in our neighborhood particularly caught our eye. But we kept seeing several other houses. Joy and I both kept comparing every house we saw back to the one in our neighborhood. No other house stuck out to us. After much discussion, prayer, and driving around, we decided to put a contract on the aforementioned house in our neighborhood on this past Monday, February 6th with the contingency being that we don't buy it until we sell our house.

I should mention that since the Thursday that our house went on the market we have had several people come in and see our home. Of these people, our realtor told us about a guy he's been working with for about a year. As a potential buyer, he has seen over fifty properties but couldn't make up his mind. Well, wouldn't you know it but he put a contract on our house yesterday, February 10th!

To sum it all up, we put our house on the market on February 2nd and eight days later it's sold (pending a ton of paperwork)! I should mention that the price we sold it for is almost twice what we originally paid for it. In other words, we should be able to pay most of our bills off when we move into the new house. We are set to close on our house on March 30th and he is set to close on ours on March 23rd. I am still in a little bit of shock that it worked out this way. I expected to be waiting around for a while until we sold. Now, all we have to worry about is the appraisal and home inspection on our house. Or do we? All the things I've been worrying about during this time have ended with it being obvious that I had no need to worry. Thank you Lord for the way you work things out so perfectly.

Anyway, I'll try to stay more updated with the whole house thing and I'll try to document it with pictures.

Well... BYE!

Some Recent Pictures

Our Jeep parked on the beach at the Oregon Inlet, NC.

Also found at the beach. I'm not sure what kind of animal this belonged to, but I'm almost 100% positive that it was a magical creature. A griffin perhaps.

This is what was left of some sort of shark. I'm guessing a sand shark since we found it lying in the sand. That's pretty logical.

I love black and white photography and I love this picture of Molly.

Hey, it's nature's candy necklace! Yum!

We drove by the cottage that we stayed in last August. Just for spite, we knocked the trash can over. That'll show 'em.

This is the hotel where Joy and I spent our honeymoon. Ten years ago next month.

Molly and Caleb playing on the sand dunes in Nags Head. I guess it's technically called "Jockey's Ridge".

I just finished burying my kids in the sand in this picture. Look! You can hardly see them! (I'm kidding of course.)

Molly and Caleb on the dunes again.

Joy on the phone at the sand dunes.

Joy on the phone (again) with Caleb. On the dunes, by the way.

She loves cheesing it up for the camera.

Joy at the dunes. Umm, on the phone again.

I think it's safe to say that we take a lot of pictures.

Mommy with the kids. She's not on the phone this time. Oh wait. Yes she is. She has the hands free set in her ear.

A fitting end to this series of pictures. Joy, Molly, and Caleb ascending the hill.

Stuff We're Doing Today

Today we're going to drive down to Nags Head, NC for the day. I've always liked going down there in the "off-season" because it's not as crazy busy. Also, this is gonna be my chance to have a little fun driving out on the beach with our Jeep Wrangler. I've been wanting to try out the four wheel drive on this one. We used to have a 1992 Jeep Wrangler and we had a lot of fun driving off road with that one.

Due to a number of reasons, we had to sell our beloved Jeep shortly after our daughter was born in 1999. Then, about five months ago we were shopping for a new car. My wife and I said, "Well, we've always been saying that we really want to get another Jeep whenever we can. This is our chance. Maybe the stuff people do in their lives don't amount to hill of beans. But this is our hill and these are our beans."

Okay, I stole the bit about the "hill of beans" from Naked Gun but you get the idea. I'll be sure to post some pictures of the emergency tow that I'm sure we'll require once our Jeep gets stuck on the Oregon Inlet in NC.

See ya!

Lotsa Gaps

I've gotten a little lazy when it comes to updating this blog. Maybe I need some sort of reason to keep posting here? I don't, really, but here I am anyway.

I finally got my Xbox 360 (no thanks to Gamestop) and I must say that I'm really enjoying it. The most ingenious thing that Microsoft did was to integrate Xbox Live Arcade so perfectly into the console. I'm not ashamed to say that I love Zuma, one very addictive Live Arcade title. My wife is hooked on it as well.

I got Perfect Dark Zero and it's pretty good. The strange thing was that when I decided to thumb through the game's manual, I noticed that the pages are all out of order. Bear in mind that this is not a "pre-owned" game. This was brand new, out of the shrink wrap and the manual is screwed up and is apparently missing at least four pages! Not that care all that much.

Maybe I could sell it on eBay?

The Moon

I saw the moon tonight and it struck me how the earth and the moon face each other. In sight but unreachable. The moon, shining brightest in the darkest night then forgotten the next day. Quietly fading away under the blinding brightness of the sun.

I thought how strange it must be to know your life's work may go unrecognized by the world but still hold so much purpose. But, maybe that doesn't really matter. The value of your life is not in the eye of the world; the world is fickle. Your life is important to God whether or not the world gives you a second thought.