What can one do with a Blog?

Well, you can do as i do and type out nonsense for days at a time, then forget that you have a Blog and NEVER write there..

You can start a usefull Blog something like www.airsoftmissions.com and then promptly find that you are spending time doing other things instead of actually Blogging on a site that can make you money...

You can make a picture Blog, these are some of my favorites! Pictures of various "Fails" or of cute cats doing silly things with even more silly captions..

You can dedicate an entire Blog to Real Estate Photos with our friend the White Lawn Chair in them, awesome site FTW...

Oh the Blogging we could do...

BLAH!

Took a week off and this is what im left with?!

Well here i sit typing on the personal confuser while there are 6 count them 1,2,3,4,5 & 6 kids running around both in and out of the house... In fact just now 2 boys ran in the front door, and asked, "hey, whats a good spot to hide?" to which i replied nothing, sheer silence and a deep stare at them, to which they then hurriedly walked away.. AWESOME!

So how did all this start, well i have 2 kids, thats how it started! :]

Anyway, Its a beautiful Saturday afternoon and i just cant bring myself to do anything worthwhile today. I would love to hammer out the basement and get that off my list of "To-Do's" but for some reason i just cant do it. *sigh....

oh well, off to do something less creative than typing on the computer...... yay me.... :/

whack a Mac!

So as many of you know, i have recently become a "Mac". After years of hating, i gave under the pressure of receiving one after a loved one passed (my mother in law).

Its just so cute, you want to treat it like one of the family. Ours is a 20 in. iMac and its sooooo shiny...

But alas there are issues that, as a life long PC lover, i cannot get over.

Firstly, the whole no software thing is really starting to bug me... I have always used Quicken for my finances, and the only available quicken for the Mac is 2007 and its $70... seriously $70 for an unsupported piece of software thats 3 years old? come ON!

Games are also kind of available for it, but they are typically $10 more than their PC counterparts.. stupid games..

but for some reason i still like the thing, maybe its the fact that its soooo stinking hard to find out how to change simple things.. maybe its just the challenge its self, i dont know, but i do know i love it!

But for now, shes not the only computer in my house, i still have my PC waiting patiently for the day that Windows 7 will be installed on him so that he can trounce the Mac!

Hold on little buddy hold on...

Monday morning blues

So here it is monday already... well actually its 12.25 monday morning, but hey whos keeping track...

So what does this week hold in store for me? Not too sure actually, what i do know is that im going to add an additional hour of helping out at my kids school to my already packed schedule. I know, i know im a glutton for punishment, but hey, its my kids, you know?! I spend 2 hours there a week listening to kids in my sons class read to me aloud and now i will spend 3 hours there a week listening to 2 hours of 5th graders reading and 1 hour of 2nd graders reading to me... WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

oh well, i like it so eat it! :-]

Vacuum of time and space

Well here it is another day and its another day that i feel i have completely wasted...

Why is that?

Sure there are things that i get done, things that i HAVE to get done, but for the most part i feel as though my head is in a box of smoke and i just cant quite see out to get out...

Perhaps its lack of sleep, though i have friends that weigh in on both sides of that one.

Perhaps its lack of a proper diet, well actually, you read Calitron right?

Perhaps, no actually im sure that its because of the lack of coffee flowing through me.

I contend that Coffee acts as a vortex allowing energy to be zapped out of Me in another universe, yes, YES! and someone, in one of my own, alternate universes is using coffee to drain me of MY energy, i will have none of this!!!!

.............

Stooooooopid lights!!!

So i had read in an article a month or so about how the city of Champaign was going to hire someone to inspect how our stoplights work against the flow of traffic here in town. Now i have no idea if this "study" has begun yet but what i do know is that someone is messin' up the lights BAD on Prospect Ave.... every stupid light is shorter...

I even saw the line of cars getting of the interstate at Prospect backed up almost to I74.... as if there arnt enough accidents on 74.

Christmas traffic beware.

Cruiser Bruiser Blue....

Dear Cruiser Bruiser Blue,

Please relocate your car as it has begun getting dangerous in our car as we pass by every morning.. Thank you,

P.S. If you could also mention to Slug Bug Red to relocate for the afternoon trip home,

Thanks,

Dad

Thought of the day...

I want Mediocrity!

Here it is as defined by merriam-webster.com

1 a : the quality or state of being mediocre b : moderate ability or value
2 : a mediocre person

Seriously people, its a two part argument.

Firstly, if being better than Mediocre is just being Outstanding, then let me rule in my Mediocrity!

I dont so much appreciate the word Mediocre, as it has always reminded me of tapioca, but Mediocrity, now thats a word that inspires! It says "Hey, you over there, you the overachiever, here i am not overachieving and im having a good time not doing what you are doing because i...." well you get the jest of the conversation.

Thats argument #1, it just plain sounds better!

Now on to #2

Look at the actual definition, "Moderate ability or value", Hmmm, kinda sounds humbling doesnt it? Sure there are things that we are all good at in fact there are things that we all may excel at, thats not what im trying to get at here. What i want to say is that i want to be humbled by God, i want not only Him to see it but others around me as well, and i want to be it without thinking about it, without trying to strive to be IT.

Heres something to ponder. Think about how you would answer these questions and then think about how Jesus would...

How do you see yourself?

How do you want others to see you?

Im good with having a "moderate ability or value" are you?

Enter Sandman

OK PEOPLE!

Ive had it.... For the last several weeks my children, my lovely little children, have become absolutly unbearable at bedtime. They just will NOT go to bed at the predetermined time.

Now, perhaps you can help me here, I have set up a bedtime of 8.30 for both of my children. Is it an unreasonable time for them? Realisticly the time is for my daughter who is 7, my son who is 10 actually knows that if he is in his bed reading by 8.30 then im not going to be to bent out of shape about it. Its the Girl... she will sit and sing and sing and sing and just NOT quiet herself... I mean seriously.

Lets take a look at our day, school is out at 2.45 and we get home around 3.15 at the latest. I try and let the kids decompress for between 15 and 30 min. with a snack and something that THEY want to do. After the decompression we begin the homework. Dinner is served around 5-6 and between 6.30 and 7.30 its bath time, and at around 8.00 its chill time in their own rooms till bed at 8.30.

So what are your nightly rituals?

What has worked for you?

What has backfired?

Talk amongst yourselves....

~ Chocotaco

Food and the amazing Calitron...

Ahhhh, so much time has passed since my last visit here.. where to begin?

I did actually quit smoking this year, in April actually. Thats a whole other topic for another day...

Since i managed to kick the sticks to the curb i started gaining MASSIVE amounts of weight (nah, not really but i was creeping up there.). I decided to start actually taking care of myself, eating right watching my caloric intake, and just generally being smart with what im eating.

So far so good, im down quite a bit in a short time and hope that by adding *gasp* exercise i will actually start feeling better about my weight!

SO with that said, stick with me here as i work out my blogitude and figure out a formula that works with my writing style... which if one were to classify it (and i hope no one does), it would be in the "Word Vomit" category...

Till next time, Woof....

Death of a salesman

Well after 15+ years I have left my best friend. He has always been there for me, when time were tough I could count on him to be there and give me support, when times were good, he was always there to encourage me to do more. But each time we met I began to feel worse and worse, until I had enough! I am tired of the smell my old friend leaves behind, im tired of the pain in my chest I have with every breath, and im fed up with not being able to walk without getting winded… im angry at him for the years of abuse that I was fully aware of but couldn’t do anything about.

Im done!

Some days are better than others, I will say that I have in fact seen my friend since we parted ways, but the relation ship is clearly over. With a little bit of grace from God, maybe I will be able to be around for my kids graduation, or when they get married! God willing, I will be there whether they want me there or not! :-)
I must thank my friends for their support and their help with rationalizing my loss and helping me understand that its not ok to be abused like I was!
Alcoholics have a saying; “one day at a time” for me it seems to be “one more breath”

The Phish and the Cave

its been a while... but im back!!! Saving the world from having to read blogs with actual meaning, blogs with good pictures and fantastic thought provoking... um... THOUGHTS!!!
Thats right im going to tell you about what i affectionately call 'the Cave', the 'Cave' was once a scary and unlikely place to find me, but after countless hours its livable, its nice and cool all the time, and best part is that no one knows what im doing down here!!!

Ghost Hunters Live!

Last year brought me to a great new level to ghost hunters, it was ghost hunters live - 2006, this year it is just as good! you can watch it on tv AND watch live streaming video from their web site! as always its well worth staying up till 2am!!!

Smoking, not just for the cool kids anymore?

Well, after about 15 years (give or take a year) i have decided that its time for me to start thinking about quitting. This one is a real tough one for me as cigarettes have always been there for me, almost like a best friend (only they are trying to kill me). they have always been there, my grandfathers death, they were at the ready,
at my wedding (left alot outside the church (sorry randy)), at my children’s birth (ok well not technically AT their birth), on long drives to sales call they have always helped me pass the time. but now its time to let them go. the past 3 weeks i have been cutting back and monitoring my smoking Via an excel file, the first 2 weeks just 15 per day (as opposed to the usual 30+), then the past week 10 per day. it is getting easier to go now between smoking but im getting sick of the wait and reward Pavlov system that ive got myself on. i also have drastically cut back my soda intake to 2 32oz Dr. Peppers a day this as opposed to the 10-12 that i was drinking EVERY day! this additional cut back has not helped my copping with smoking but im preparing myself for the big day (T.B.A.). as much as i love smoking i hate it as well (i think any smoker will tell you that), i just hope that its a nice quick death to an old friend!

Dual Monitors, greedy or just usefull

you know, i got this sweet SLI setup on my main computer, but about 2 months after having it set up one of my cards went on the fritz, it would work fine with just normal operation but with games, no way. so it started as a joke, im going to use a second monitor! can i tell you people, if you have the room on your desk, DO IT!
its great, when im doing bills, i can put one window on one monitor and quicken on the other, its truly a wonder of technology! It also works great if you have a T.V. tuner, then you can watch the game or your favorite show (maybe Magnum P.I.) on one screen while you are working on the other screen!!! i dont think its too much to ask to have an extra monitor (or 2) added to your work place either, tell your employers how it will boost both moral and productivity!

hey, how did that phish get in here?

I have always been a fan of alias names, especially when playing video games, even from the beginning of my gamming life, i use to use the alias of Zeke Kaufman for games like Police Quest (one, two & three). More recently i have acquired the alias of Dr. Phish, some just call me the Doctor, but most have shortened this down to just
Phish, Phishy, etc... i started using this alias years ago when ordering free automotive magazines, under the name of John Phishman (after THE John Fishman). Latter i added Dr. to my name to give me some street cred. at one point i even got an invitation to a gala ball for president bush! but now im known simply as just The Phish. so thats where my nickname came from! (as if you cared)

Shredders, Love em' or shred em'

About 6 weeks ago my shredder died, not a nice death that a good quality shredder should hope to die, no this death was from choking. It was horrible, i wsa just going along shredding and then it happened, it started knocking and shaking then its world ended, no smoke, no fire, no explosions, it just locked up.
She got a great burial, 1 new garbage bag all to herself, and that was it.
That is until today. I was minding my own business when out of the blue this 19lb. tiny beast reared its ugly box twards me. She was beautiful. I fired her up right their in the store, nice and quiet, it even left beautiful tiny confetti type papers! I had to have her, i bought her and now she is at home, ive given it a good workout today, no signs of weakness! I even gave her a good lubbing (she liked that) she was even quieter after that!
im in love with a shredder (do, do!)

Bishop's Buffet and the tasty pie

Once apon a time, in a sleepy little town called Champaign, there lived a little boy. This little boy LOVED French Silk Pies from Bishop's!
Then one dark and stormy night evil corporate America came to the boys mall and said
"i will make a food court here, for ALL to enjoy", and the boy was sad, for Bishops was gone, and left in its wake a slathering of fast food butchers...
Then many many years later the boy found a new place, a place that specialized in pies and bakery type delectables, and he did find a new French Silk Pie, and he was pleased.

Prayer. No your doing it wrong!

Listen, i am by far NOT the best at blogging. im not even good at making complete sentances,
let alone being the most authorative on biblical scripture, but...
My church has recently began a study on prayer, how to pray, the right way and the wrong way. Is that really right? I mean lets think about this, let say my neigbor who has never prayed before, decides that he is going to pray for his sick wife, does God just not turn on his freqency and not listen? I really doubt it. I know that the deciples ASKED Jesus "Lord teach us to pray like you", what happened before they asked, did they not pray??? Sure they did. I just think that its not how you pray but that you pray, period. I will expound on this at a later date.
~Josh