The Up and Down Times

Pain!

2007-06-08T16:33:00.001-05:00

I am in so much pain at the moment. I had neck surgery to fuse three discs in my neck back on April 26th and the recovery is slow. I thought I was getting better, but I have been having some real issues with pain in my back between my shoulder blades the past couple of days. I hope this goes away soon.

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-24T16:54:00.001-06:00

I wanted to take a moment and wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. I hope that everyone has a safe and happy holiday season.

Technorati Tags: Christmas

"Digital" Bill will be missed!

2006-10-07T00:53:00.000-05:00

My thoughts and prayers go out to the family of "Digital" Bill Douthett. "Digital" Bill was the voice behind the Wizards of Technology podcasts. He was a very interesting and knowledgeable person. He had a great knack for injecting some humor in our daily headache of technology. This is why I started listening to his podcasts and the reason that I did "stay subscribed", as Bill liked to say.

"Digital" Bill passed away on Wednesday, October 4, 2006.

I pray that Bill is with the Lord today and that He comfort Bill's family.

Shooting the Bikes

2006-09-21T23:24:00.000-05:00

We are having an outing tomorrow for our IT staff at work. The plan is to check out the qualifying for the WERA National Challenge Series and the motorcycle museum at Barber Motorsports Park.

This will be the first time that I get to photograph motorcycles. It should be an interesting day. I will post a pick or two Saturday evening.

Technorati Tags: motorcycle, WERA, photography

POD is empty!

2006-07-23T23:57:00.000-05:00

My wife and I emptied the POD today and it will be picked up Tuesday. A lot of the boxes are Christmas decorations, so that can stay packed up for now. Some of the boxes are our sons baby clothes, so that can stay packed up as well.

We need to go through what is left, try to throw away some of the junk that we do not need to keep, and put the rest where it belongs.

See more progress on: finish unpacking

Finish unpacking and enjoy the new home

2006-07-20T10:55:00.000-05:00

I isn’t that I want to do this as much as I need to do this. Well, I need to help my wife do this so that she does not end up unpacking everything.

Wait… she will not unpack everything. She will unpack her stuff and mine will still be in boxes. :)

Seriously, we just got hot water recently after being in the house two weeks. We can finally start enjoying it now. Unpacking is just a part of that process.

See more progress on: finish unpacking

Continued Moving ...

2006-07-08T23:45:00.000-05:00

We continued moving items from my wife's parents home to the new house today. We are probably about 95% moved with 5% unpacked at this point. :)

We currently have boxes stacked everywhere you look in the house. Unfortunately, our real jobs have to be taken care of as well, so we unpack as we can.

My wife is feeling more at home, because she was finally able to run the washing machine and dryer. She has a large up-right pair that she has not been able to use for around six months until this weekend. She was also very excited about cooking this morning now that the gas has been finally connected.

First night...

2006-07-07T23:04:00.000-05:00

I guess I can mark this goal as done since we are going to stay in the new house tonight for the first night. We still have a lot of unpacking to do, but that will take a while anyway. At least we are now in the house and not having to stay with my wife’s parents.

See more progress on: Get moved into our new house after setup

water in the basement

2006-07-04T22:58:00.000-05:00

My wife and I went to unload some more boxes in the new house today. We did not want to find what we found, though. There was a lot of water in the basement where it had come in from the 90+ minutes of rain that we got yesterday afternoon. We went back last night, but we did not go to the far end of the basement, so we did not know about it until this morning.

Luckily, it is not a leak issue, but more of where someone forgot to seal the area around the waste pipe where it goes through the sleeve that was put into the poured concrete basement walls. The water came in around that area.

See more progress on: Get moved into our new house after setup

Still moving ...

2006-07-03T23:14:00.000-05:00

I hate this part of it all. We moved a lot more of our stuff that we had stored at my wife’s parent’s home to our new house today. My wife finally has her refrigerator and freezer in the kitchen where it belongs.

On top of that, our POD was delivered today. We started trying to empty it, but at noon, it was around 100 degrees outside. It has been way too hot lately for this time of year.

Everything came to a halt around 6:00 p.m. this evening, though. It started raining and did not quit for over 90 minutes. This is the first real rain we have had since the first of May.

See more progress on: Get moved into our new house after setup

Moving, moving, moving...

2006-07-01T22:16:00.000-05:00

... keep those boxes moving… wait… you aren’t going to see anyone riding around on horses herding up boxes here! :)

Seriously, being in a new house is exciting, but having to move into a new house is not. This was a very long day of moving boxes, but we completely emptied two storage units today saving us $156 per month. We now just have the POD left to empty out. It will be delivered to the new house Monday. Boy, what a blast of a Fourth of July I am going to have! hahahaha

See more progress on: Get moved into our new house after setup

Closed!

2006-06-30T23:10:00.000-05:00

The day came and the day has gone. We did close on the new house today and started moving in tonight. I hate paying out all that money. :(

Everything was completed today on the inside as far as the finishing work goes. Gas will be hooked up tomorrow morning.

HughesNet came out today and installed the dish for our broadband satellite internet service, but there was an equipment problem, so the installer has to come back tomorrow morning to finish up.

Moving continues throughout the weekend. Everyone is invited to help! :)

See more progress on: Get moved into our new house after setup

Closing this week

2006-06-27T20:40:00.000-05:00

It looks like we will be closing this Friday, unless something happens. I am very excited about this, but a little depressed as well. Once we close, I know that I will have to start moving all that furniture and those boxes.

See more progress on: Get moved into our new house after setup

Closing pushed back

2006-06-26T13:48:00.000-05:00

Things come up that were unforeseen and delays happen. It looks like our closing will be pushed back a few days. There are some more things that have to be done before we can close.

I am also waiting on the phone company to come out and fix their screw up with the phone line installation. Of course, they want to charge me for that.

See more progress on: Get moved into our new house after setup

Church sign

2006-06-25T22:13:00.000-05:00

We should be receptive to all people who visit our churches, not just those that should “fit” with the church. I saw this sign today while driving. It pretty much says it all.

See more progress on: be a better Christian

Things moving quickly!

2006-06-21T00:06:00.000-05:00

More work done on the front porch and saddle roof today. The dozer work was just about completed. Air conditioning should be installed Friday. Yea!! It is hot!!

We were told today that if all goes according to plan, closing will be next Wednesday.

See more progress on: Get moved into our new house after setup

Finishing work almost complete

2006-06-18T12:06:00.000-05:00

The finishing work inside the house is almost complete now. The biggest thing left inside now is the oak banister and handrail, and carpeting for the stairwell. The rest of the house is ready to be moved in to pretty much.

Work was done on the front yard to make it a little smoother and to control runoff from the field from which our three acres was carved out.

Check out photos on my .Mac page… Home Photos

See more progress on: Get moved into our new house after setup

misty sunrise

2006-06-14T10:57:00.000-05:00

misty sunrise
Originally uploaded by adrians_art.

I do not usually post about photos from other people, but I saw this particular photo on Flickr today and I just cannot resist. This is one of the most stunning photos that I have ever seen. Absollutely beautiful.

Finishing work to start

2006-06-09T00:20:00.000-05:00

The contractor called today. Wood for the front deck and saddle roof was to be delivered today. We also found out that the finishing work will begin tomorrow and the team is scheduled to be at our location until the work is complete.

The pace is picking up!

See more progress on: Get moved into our new house after setup

Power and Water - complete

2006-06-06T23:19:00.000-05:00

I drove to the new home place after work today. I was happy to find that the plumbing work is complete. Alabama Power also came out and ran the last drop to the house and set the meter today. The finishing work can now be done on our house!

See more progress on: Get moved into our new house after setup

Power and Water

2006-06-06T00:10:00.000-05:00

The plumbing work was started today and should be finished Tuesday. AL Power will also be setting the meter for our power Tuesday. After this, the finishing work can be completed inside.

See more progress on: Get moved into our new house after setup

House delivered and set up

2006-05-18T17:49:00.000-05:00

The pieces of the house were delivered yesterday and they were setup with the crane today. It was an incredible site to see that took a major portion of the entire day. The next steps are for the crew to go in and do the finish work.

See more progress on: Get moved into our new house after setup

Setup date set for new house!

2006-05-15T09:21:00.000-05:00

The contractor called to let us know that if all goes well with the weather, the crane will be available and our modular home will be delivered this coming Wednesday with setup to take place Thursday!

See more progress on: Get moved into our new house after setup

Close to moving again

2006-05-09T21:28:00.000-05:00

We just need two days of back-to-back nice weather so that the contractors can get a crane out to set our house on the basement. The driveway is covered in rock and looking good. The poured walls are finished with a nice, smooth floor for the basement. The power company set the poles and run the lines today for power. Hopefully we will be in the new house in a few weeks.

sleep study results

2006-03-09T20:00:00.000-06:00

I went to the sleep study center last night to be retested after having used my CPAP device for about six years. I got a call from the doctor up in the morning telling me the results.

It appears that my sleep apnea condition has worsened. Instead of a CPAP machine which blows constant air pressure, I will now be using a Bi-PAP machine because the pressures are going to double from 8 cm/sec to 16 cm/sec. The Bi-PAP machine will actually reduce the pressure on the exhale to make it easier for breathing.

This was a little disheartening, but at least I know why I have been sleepy in the afternoons lately.

See more progress on: Sleep 8 hours every night

very tiring

2006-01-21T22:09:00.000-06:00

I hate moving. This is the sixth time that my wife and I have moved since we got married just over almost 11 years ago. We finally got everything out of the house, got it cleaned, and I pulled out with the last load on my truck at 5:15 p.m. today. I am so tired, it is indescribable right now.

Unfortunately, we have to do this one more time as this move was temporary. We are staying with my wife’s parents until our new home is ready in a couple of months. :)

See more progress on: Prepare for our upcoming move

Church Marketing

2006-01-10T00:00:00.000-06:00

I was listening to the latest podcast released by pixelZion tonight. It was regarding the marketing of one's church. Jessie interviews Kevin Hendricks from ChurchMarketingStinks.com. Do not let the name dissuade you. The podcast and their web site are very informative.

Technorati Tags: church, marketing

Complete

2006-01-08T20:41:00.000-06:00

We have finally finished our bathroom renovation. Unfortunately, someone else really gets to enjoy it, but it is still mine for the next two weeks. :)

I will have to take a couple of photos and post them on my Flickr account later.

See more progress on: Renovate my bathroom

Fantastic day!

2006-01-02T20:09:00.000-06:00

What a great day today here in the South. In my area of Alabama, we got a little rain last night, but we did not get any of the severe weather that had been predicted. The high temperature today was around 75 degrees. The weather was absolutely beautiful.

The other great part of the day was the win by Alabama in the Capital One Bowl Cotton Bowl against Texas Tech. Somehow, that ball went over the crossbar at the end of the game. I believe it had wings on it. Roll Tide! :)

Christmas Gifts

2005-12-16T00:26:00.000-06:00

What is the best Christmas gift that you have ever received? Was it a special fire truck, a puppy, or maybe just getting to see someone special that you have not seen in a long time? Christmas isn't always about the tangible gifts as explained by Barb on Tidbits and Treasures.

The Best Christmas Present Under The Tree

Technorati Tags: Christmas, Family

vanity work

2005-12-12T21:59:00.000-06:00

My wife and I went by Lowe’s tonight after work to figure out how we want to handle the vanity. We have decided that we are going to go with a 24” vanity instead of the 30” vanity that was there previously. This way, the vanity does not butt directly up to the shower and prevents water damage to the vanity now that we have a shower curtain instead of doors.

Because of this change, we will have to do a little tile work to fill in around the base of the vanity. I believe we are going to go with a decorative tile with a Greek Key look which will match the wallpaper that is on the wall.

See more progress on: Renovate my bathroom

No church on Christmas?

2005-12-06T23:25:00.000-06:00

This is a little disturbing. According to an article on CNN, some of the megachurches around the country are planning to close their doors based on their thoughts that attendance would be low. Well, so what if it is low. Open the doors for all who will attend.

Our church will be having a service on Christmas Day and my family will be there to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

read more

Shower complete

2005-12-05T11:57:00.000-06:00

The shower renovation is now complete. The work on this was done by FastBath this past Friday. It looks great. I need to take a picture and post it soon.

See more progress on: Renovate my bathroom

removed the vanity

2005-11-25T16:44:00.000-06:00

My father-in-law came over this morning and we removed the old vanity in the bathroom. This has to be done before the company can come in next week to do the work on the shower.

This work turns out to be well worth it. The old drain pipes were metal and they had rusted out pretty bad on the inside over the 30+ years that the house has been around. I put my thumb through one of the p-trap pieces when I was taking it apart this morning.

See more progress on: Renovate my bathroom

Happy Thanksgiving

2005-11-24T10:34:00.000-06:00

Thanksgiving Day in the United States. It is a great time for family, food, and, of course, football. I hope everyone has a happy and safe holiday!

Ready for installation

2005-11-19T22:15:00.000-06:00

The company who is redoing the shower called today to let us know that the custom built shower is ready for installation. Because of my work schedule and the holidays, however, it will not be installed until December 2nd.

I will be working the Friday after Thanksgiving on the vanity. It has to be removed before the shower can be installed. We will be replacing the old vanity with a new one that includes drawers and a new one-piece Corian top with molded sink.

See more progress on: Renovate my bathroom

30 GB iPod with Video

2005-11-17T00:11:00.000-06:00

I purchased a new iPod earlier this week. I got the 5th generation iPod with video (30 GB). This thing is great. Compared to my iPod mini, I can put all of my current music library, podcasts, and videos onto the iPod and still have 15 GB free.

See more progress on: get an ipod

How to stop Hollywood and Congress from trampling on your constitutional rights

2005-11-16T12:30:00.000-06:00

How to stop Hollywood and Congress from trampling on your constitutional rights by ZDNet's David Berlind -- Earlier today, I wrote a blog entry entitled The day the broadcast died. It talks about how the RSS subscription protocol has been married to TV programming in a way that could completely disintermediate the current channels of TV program distribution. In response, you should expect the entertainment industry to pursue every avenue at its [...]

Bathroom renovation

2005-11-10T22:30:00.000-06:00

My wife and I recently found some water damage on the underside of our floor when we were in the basement. We found that our shower had just started leaking. Because of this, we have decided to renovate the bathroom.

The first step was to get someone in to give us an estimate on completely redoing the shower area. It is a domed shower done in tile currently. We are having someone come in who is going to cover the existing tile in acrylic. It will be one smooth surface all the way around including the ceiling.

We went to our local Lowe’s tonight and got some pricing on a new vanity and basin. We will be taking out the old vanity and installing the new one ourselves.

Everything should look pretty good when we are finished with it.

See more progress on: Renovate my bathroom

Favorite place to stay on vacation

2005-10-30T01:48:00.000-06:00

Pigeon Forge is my family’s favorite place to stay when we go on vacation to the mountains. We did a lot more walking this time than we usually do. We came across a very good place to eat called The Old Mill Restaurant. Unfortunately, the wait here is really long because it is a very popular place.

See more progress on: Pigeon Forge

work time, play time

2005-10-11T23:02:00.000-05:00

My wife called me at work today and asked about a rake. My son wanted to rake leaves. She called me back a little while later after getting the rake for him and told me that she knew why he wanted to rake leaves. He raked up a big pile of leaves and then threw the rake aside so that he could run and jump into them. :)

When I got home from work, he took me to the backyard to show me the pile that he had raked up. We ended up playing soccer for a while and had a lot of fun.

See more progress on: be a good father

promises, promises

2005-09-13T12:45:00.000-05:00

I have not been living up to this goal lately. I have promised my son that I would do a few things for him, but I have not done those things yet. Some reasons for this have to do with the way that he acts sometimes. We all know how kids can be.

Other reasons have to do with the fact that I spend entirely too much time on the computer. He said something to me the other night that made me think about it a lot. I had promised him that I would setup the XBox now that we have our new carpet installed. I did not get to it that night and he asked me about it again when it was time for him to go to bed.

I told him that I would not be setting it up that night, but I would get to it. As I was headed down to the computer room, he asked me what was more important “him or the computer”.

Today, my plans are to go home, change out of my work clothes, grab a football, and toss it around with him for a while.

See more progress on: be a good father | tags: parenting, children

Hurricane relief?

2005-09-10T00:55:00.000-05:00

I was listening to the Slashdot Review podcast a little while ago and it mentioned a story on Slashdot where FEMA is requiring people to use Internet Explorer to file a claim. I guess if you are a Mac or Linux user and have survived the hurricane, then you are out of luck for filing a claim.

read more | tags: FEMA, Hurricane Katrina, Internet Explorer, apple, Mac, Linux, stupidity

Air Force banning promotion of religion

2005-09-05T23:07:00.001-05:00

I just read a news bite on Fox News that points to an article at the N.Y. Times which talks about the Air Force's decision to ban the promotion of religion in any official communications or functions.

read more | tags: religion, faith, Air Force

What the ...

2005-09-04T23:25:00.000-05:00

OK... let me get this straight. Mayor Nolin is standing in front of the camera in New Orleans yelling, screaming, and cursing the federal government about no action, yet he has several hundred buses sitting in a flooded area that could have been used to get people out of the area? Where were these buses Tuesday morning? The A.P. has published a photo of this.

view photo | tags: New Orleans, hurricane katrina

Digital Rebel (300D)

2005-09-04T17:58:00.000-05:00

My father just picked up a steal on a Canon Digital Rebel. This is the original (300D), not the XT (350D) model. I got to play around with it today a little when he dropped by to try out my 75-300 mm lens on it. One thing that I noticed real quickly is that the 300D is a lot bigger and a little heavier than my Canon EOS Rebel G (film camera).

Unfortunately, my father is going to have to send the camera off, because we finally figured out why someone took it back to the location where he got it. It will not fire a shot when the lens is set in AF (auto-focus) mode. According to posts that I have found on a few forums, the original Digital Rebel had an issue with the secondary auto-focus pin breaking after a few months of use. One person’s description of the problem was exactly what we were seeing here. :(

Nonetheless, it does take some pretty nice pictures in manual mode. I believe he is probably going to keep it and use it in manual mode for the next few weeks until my nephews high school football season is over and then send it off to be repaired under warranty.

This pretty much seals my desire on the Digital Rebel, but I will be getting the 8 megapixel XT model, though. :)

See more progress on: Save for/Buy a Canon Digital Rebel XT

tags: camera, Canon, Digital Rebel, Digital Rebel XT

From bad to worse!

2005-09-02T17:21:00.000-05:00

NBC News is reporting that a bus carrying evacuees from New Orleans to a location in Texas has crashed and overturned. At least one of the refugees has died in this accident.

read more | tags New Orleans

Gasoline situation

2005-09-01T23:43:00.000-05:00

The situation with gasoline prices has gotten out of control. It went up about 30 cents per gallon last night in our area. By the time I got home from work, It had gone up another 20 cents per gallon. I know it is bad in other places, but $2.99 per gallon is very high for Alabama.

I just came across this picture on FoxNews.com that is absolutely absurd, however. This is at a BP station in Stockbridge, Georgia. I cannot see where this is anything other than price gouging.

Update: I just received a link to a page on Snopes regarding this picture. It turns out that this was in fact true, but it only lasted for a day as the Governor of Georgia enacted legislation to bring sanctions against retailers who were in the practice of price-gouging.

read more | tags: gasoline, price gouging

Crisis that hurts us all

2005-08-31T20:57:00.000-05:00

Hurricane Katrina struck a very fatal blow to locations on the Gulf coast. Places that use to be bustling and full of life are now just a spot of dirt on the map. I saw pictures today that looked like a atomic bomb went off around Gulfport, Mississippi.

Unfortunately, this is a disaster that is already putting a strain on the rest of the country. I saw reports of gaoline selling for almost $4.00 per gallon in Chicago today. One reporter on MSNBC reported that she happily paid $35.00 for five gallons of gas on her way out of Baton Rouge to Houston. I will let you do the math on that one.

Tonight, I got a taste of what my parents probably experienced in 1973 and 1979. I remember the oil crisis of 1979. We had the long lines and irritated consumers. We have that again now. I experienced this tonight when I stopped to fill up my car on the way to church. Our local gasoline station was stacked three deep at each of its eight pumps. By the time that I got to the pump to fill up, they had already run out of regular and mid-grades. At $2.67 per gallon, their premium was still OK for my car, because it was cheaper than regular at any other station around.

Things will probably get worse before they get better over the next few months. This is truly a crisis that hurts us all.

Need gas?

2005-08-30T12:38:00.000-05:00

This is a photo of a gas tank left on the interstate after hurricane Katrina passed through Mobile.

Buying a house

2005-08-25T22:27:00.000-05:00

Well, I guess it is somewhat official. We signed the contract and put down $1000 in earnest money tonight for the home that we are going to buy once our current home is sold and the new one is completed. These are exciting times! :)

prayers are answered

2005-08-16T00:00:00.000-05:00

During my prayer time last night, I asked God to take control of our situation with the sale of our house. If I asked Him to send someone to us if He felt it was best for us at this time.

At 1:05 p.m. today, I got a phone call from our selling agent. He had a guy driving 165 miles this afternoon to look at the house. It turns out that the man’s wife just got a job about 20 minutes down the road from where I live. She has been staying with her mother, who lives less than five minutes from me, during the week to go to work and then driving that 165 miles back home on the weekend.

Some people will say that this is just coincidence. I like to believe otherwise.

See more progress on: pray more

tags: prayer, Christ, personal growth

Who is a Christian?

2005-08-14T00:58:00.000-05:00

Have you ever stopped to think whether or not a particular person is a Christian? Have you ever said to yourself, "No, that person couldn't be a Christian" because of the way that someone is dressed or the way they act?

A person's actions do not convey whether or not they are saved by grace. They do, however, convey one's current relationship with Christ and those very actions can weigh heavily on another non-believer. For instance, if I talked with you very seriously about the grace of God and what it means to have the joy of Christ, but later you see me how partying and drinking, what does that say to you about my witness?

We should never judge another person no matter if we know they are a Christian or not. I am sure at one time or another, we have all been guilty of this. I know that I am and I would be committing a sin here and now if I said otherwise.

Considering this, it was with great excitement tonight when I came across a link under the Technorati tag of Jesus entitled "salty dogma". This blog entry refers to a piece that Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in Los Angeles, sent to the staff of his church. This piece of an excerpt from an interview that someone had with Bono, the lead singer for the rock band U2.

Update: I came across another blog entry regarding the same interview. I have linked to it below as well.

read "salty dog" | read "Judging Bono"

tags: jesus, Bono

Fantastic movie!

2005-08-13T23:48:00.000-05:00

Matthew and I watched “The Incredibles” this evening. This movie is absolutely fantastic. I loved it. There were times when I was rolling. Since Matthew had seen the movie in the theater, I would ask him a question every once in a while. He would just give me one of those sarcastic “what do you mean” looks and then say, “Daddy just keep watching”. :)

See more progress on: Watch “The Incredibles” with my son

Spoken Word Bibles

2005-08-13T03:00:00.000-05:00

I was looking around for spoken versions of the Bible tonight and I came across a couple of good sites. The first site is AudioTreasure. This site has the spoken Word in MP3 format. You can download it and listen to it whenever you like.

The second site is Audio-Bible. This site uses streaming Real audio that is narrated by Alexander Scourby. You can read along with the passages on the site as you listen to the spoken Word.

Neither site will ever replace sitting down with a Bible and reading, but they could come in useful for someone on the go or in a situation where a physical Bible is not handy.

Tags: bible, audio

Learning from the young ones ...

2005-08-09T23:04:00.000-05:00

I came across a blog post on a blog that I just started reading this week. It is short, but it really hits home to what it means to put your trust in God.

Butt First

See more progress on: Grow in Christ

Dinner

2005-08-09T23:03:00.000-05:00

My wife has had to pick up some extra work as of late due to a technical glitch at the company for which she is doing some work. Luckily, she is getting paid again for everything that she already did previously, because it was someone else who messed up. This is a bad thing because she has been so busy, but it is a good thing after she told me how much it would be worth to us this morning. :)

Anyway, because she has been so busy, I asked her to take a break for dinner and I took her and my son out for dinner. We let Matthew choose where he wanted to go and this six year old chose Chinese. He loves Chinese food. Since my wife and I both do as well, it turned out to be a very good family meal.

See more progress on: spend more time with my family

Undone

2005-08-09T21:46:00.000-05:00

I came across a very interesting podcast about life, religion, and how to live life the right way... for God. Ryan Dobson, the author of Be Tolerant and To Die For, uses his hand-on knowledge of youth culture to relate to young people and help them understand how to live for Christ.

Ryan Dobson's Undone

Tags: Ryan Dobson, religion, Christianity, podcast

The one you love!

2005-08-08T22:53:00.000-05:00

I really love my wife. If I said that we never have any problems, then I would be telling a pretty big lie as would any married couple. I just came across a CNN article that is just too much. I can understand wanting to get rid of your wife without doing anything bad, but this takes the cake. :)

read | marriage

Ready to sell

2005-08-08T22:05:00.000-05:00

My home is now on the market. Our agent listed the house today. I hope it sells right about the time that the new house is ready, but hey... if it sells next week, that is good too. That would be a very good problem to have. :)

Results are good

2005-07-30T00:56:00.000-05:00

I had to go to have another test this week since the ultrascan last week that I had on my gall bladder was not definitive. The test that I had this week was a Hydascan. Basically, this is a nuclear X-ray. The technician shot some kind of nuclear liquid into my blood stream. This stuff had a half life of 6 hours, so I was radioactive for most of the evening after the test. :)

Anyway, I had to lay on this small table, like an emergency backboard, under this huge camera that was about four inches from my chest. The hardest part was being completely still for an hour. After the first thirty minutes of taking a three minute picture every five minutes, the technician shot me up with what she called "my big fat cheeseburger with no calories". hahaha

It hit me quick and hard. After a few minutes of continuous picture taking, she said that I could get up from the test early. My gall bladder emptied just as it should have.

I got a call from the doctor Thursday after he got the results from the radiologist. Everything looks normal with my gall bladder. He said that he could refer me for an upper endoscopy, but at this point, I am not interested in getting the scope down my throat.

When I first started having my symptoms, I prayed about it and changed my diet a little. I have not actually had any problems that I was having for about three weeks.

Green Eggs and Ham

2005-07-13T01:08:00.000-05:00

My 6 year old son came into my room tonight while I was hanging up my shirts and said that he wanted me to read to him. I told him to get his Bible and I would read a couple of stories from that. He really likes that. He walked away and when he came back, he said that he had changed his mind. He wanted to read to me instead.

What do you think he wanted to read? Yep... Dr. Suess' Green Eggs and Ham. He started reading the book and it brought back old memories. I told him that this was my favorite book when I was growing up. I believe my mother still has my copy of this book at her house.

I am happy to see that things like this still continue to be a child pleaser 30+ years later. :)

Blood Work

2005-07-13T01:04:00.001-05:00

When I went to the doctor the other day, they took my blood to determine if the health issue that I currently have is caused by something other than the gall bladder. The nurse called today with those results. Everything was normal. So, I guess I now have to wait until my doctor gets the pictures from my gall bladder ultrasound to find out whether or not I am indeed going to need gall bladder surgery.

Work Day at the Church

2005-07-13T01:04:00.000-05:00

The morning started out at 8:00 a.m. with breakfast. Our local Jack's Restaurant donated biscuits. We had about 20 people out for our work day today. It was good to see a large crowd come out to work, because we can usually get more done.

We completed quite a few tasks including changing out a broken commode, cleaning and reinstalling some gutters, pressure washing the sidewalks, replacing a door closer, and cutting the grass.

I got to do one of the jobs that was indoors. Unfortunately, it is probably one of the most humbling jobs I have ever done. I had to spend time over a used commode changing out the broken lid. Don't laugh! This was not a fun job, but somebody had to do it. :)

All in all, it was a great day of fellowship and work at God's house with some good people.

Buying the Taj Mahal

2005-07-07T19:19:00.000-05:00

Early last week, my wife walked through a house in a very nice neighborhood near where we want to put our son in school. After she walked through the house and fell in love with it, the builder told her that someone was closing on the house the following day. What luck!

Well, he made her feel a little better when he said that he had planned to build the same house just two lots over from where she saw that one. So, we took off last Saturday to meet the builder. Great guy. We went through the plans since I had not see the house. I loved it a first site. We made a few changes that we would like to see in the house.

Early this week, our mortgage guy called us to get some information so he could start the process of getting pre-approved. Since we had not heard from him in a couple of days, my wife called him this afternoon to find out where we stood. He told her on the phone that we could buy the Taj Mahal if we wanted it.

I said to her, of course, that is considering our credit scores, not what we can afford. Needless to say, we have done the math. We will be able to afford what she looked at last week. This is an exciting time!

Going Under the Knife

2005-07-07T12:25:00.000-05:00

I went to the doctor this morning for a follow-up from a visit that I had four months ago when I was diagnosed with high blood pressure. I have recently been having problems very soon after eating fried foods. After telling the doctor this, he said that I probably have Dumping Syndrome.

From what the doctor was telling me this usually caused when the gall bladder leaks fluid when a sudden rush of fatty foods comes through the system. Sometimes, it can be treated with drugs, but more often than not, people have their gall bladder removed.

Right before the doctor let me go today, he told me to say goodbye to my gall bladder. :)

A wiki definition of Dumping Syndrome is available. There is also more information about the disease at eMedicine.

Helping Family

2005-07-04T22:44:00.000-05:00

My father-in-law asked me earlier in the weekend if I was interested in using a portable building, but I would have to help him move it. Reluctantly, I agreed to help out. Before it was all over, he was the one saying that he wishes he had never gotten us into this mess.

We had to move a very heavy, site-built building by jacking it up and putting it on a dove-tail trailer so we could move it to my house. Unfortunately, the several thousand pound trailer had to be backed up a hill to the building. The truck we were using has pretty fat tires on the back, so with the slightly damp ground, it was just not happening.

To make a long story short, it took us 10 hours just to get it on the trailer. It fell a few times, almost slid off the trailer, about fell on my arm once, and kicked a support beam up and knocked my father-in-law in the head. We still have to get it out of the area where we put it on the trailer and then move it over to my house.

None of this was worth it, but at least we did not pay any money for the building. :)

Cookout with the Choir

2005-07-03T22:40:00.000-05:00

We had a great early July 4th cookout at Brother Jeff's today.

Since we did not have church tonight, the minister of music at our church (First Baptist Church Graysville) invited all of the members of the choir and the sound engineers to his house for an early July 4th cookout. Brother Jeff handled all of the cooking while everyone else had great fellowship and relaxed. Of course, the little ones, Luke and Lance Kelly, stole the show. They are the five month old grandsons of Brother Jeff and his wife Vicki. They are just cute as can be.

Everyone had a great time. Some of us ate a little too much food, but all in all, it was a great time of fellowship.