Hold what you got

After my company switched from a government agency to a private company, we started investing in a 401k for our retirement. Lately, the stocks and bonds have been slumping a bit. I have to keep telling myself that I'm invested for the long term and everything will eventually bounce back. It will all be ok.

The best thing about living near I-77

Is occasionally you get passed by cool trucks like this one. Headed up to Mansfield, one assumes. Usually around the Michigan races you'll see a bunch. I saw this one in the review way back behind me, so I drove near the speed limit until it passed me. The camera phone isn't that great, but the real camera was in the house.

Frames of reference

Here are a few pictures of things I've mentioned before in the Blog. It was a little late when I decided to do this, so some are a bit dark.

From the door saga
Broken door:


New Door:



Multiple times I've mentioned weedeating. Here's a picture of the trimmer. I'll try to get a picture of some actual weeds later.


From the tale of the recessed lights This was the only one where I cut a new hole, the rest have previous holes that need refilled or patched.


In this post I talked about the Nuggie Buggie. I tried to get a cool shot, but it's Camry, so there are no cool shots.


Uncool shot #2:

Just add balance to the force, here's a picture of my pickup truck:

Here I talked about getting a new lawn mower. Here's a shot of it.



Posting pictures on dialup is not fun. Hopefully next time I take a notion to snap some pictures, it will be in daylight.

Boss Says No Dice Son, You Gotta Work Late

I'm a few weeks away from the Summertime Blues (da da da dat, da da da dant) but I am working late. When you do stuff in IT, it just goes better with no users on the system.

Friday, we finished installing the door, as previously described. It was in, but it was tight and not exactly right. We got it more close to level and plumb and now it's much better. Then they delivered the new bed. It's tall. The a short visit to the folks, then the Craftsman Truck Series race.

I worked hard Saturday. I ran the weedeater until I was sore. We made a trip to town. Unfortunately the patio furniture Juanita wanted from Big Lots was gone. Here today, gone tomorrow, they say. Then it was off to WalMart, Around the Farm (where it was too crowded, so we left), Bro. Marsh's BBQ for a taste test, Sears, and 84 Lumber. Still patio furniture, but some other odds and ends were picked up. After that, it was time for the Nextel Open/Challenge. Juanita thought Rowdy Shrub's intro was cool, but I thought it was dorky. The rest was what it was.

Sunday was a day of rest. I caught up on a few things on the DVR. I watched parts of the Champ Car Race, Indy qualifying, and the Sports Car race at Mid Ohio. Then I caught the ARCA race from Toledo. It was pretty good. Then I finished reading Identity Crisis as recommended by Dan. It was a good read. Thanks, Dan!

By Bread Alone

There was a new fancy schmancy bread place opened up recent here in the Capital City. My dad put in a order for me to pick him up some raisin bread (not cinnamon raisin bread). They opened the doors at noon and I got there at about 12:15. People were already out the door. I had planned on getting 2 loaves, one for me and Juanita, and one for my folks. By the time I got to the head of the line, there were only about 4 loaves of raisin bread left, so I was nice and only got 1. They also had some oatmeal bread, but they were running low on it too. I'm interested to see how good this bread is and how the demand will be when the new wears off.

Lay Lady Lay

Lay across my king size bed. This evening we went out to the local furniture store and bought new mattress. We got a pretty nice one. You spend $20,000 (or more) on car that you night spend a couple of hours a day in, so why not spend a little on something that you'll spend 8 hours a day in?

You'll also notice a couple of new Nuggie Buddies to your right.

Outlet malls 4, Snakes 0

On our trip, I had only planned on going to 1 nice company dinner with Juanita, so I only packed on set of nice clothes. We ended up going to 3 (one we left early), so I needed something nicer than jeans and t shirts. Off to the outlet mall we went and I ended up with 2 shirts and 2 pairs of pants from Van Heusen.

I was disappointed that there were no Snakes on a plane on any of our flights.

Interestingly, I got through the extra security in Orlando quicker than Juanita got through regular security.

The weekend was filled with trips to visit for Mother's Day.

More later!

Annoyed Grunt

That's what it says in the script when Homer says "Doh" on the Simpsons. So, why might I say that? It seems someone had taken his Driver's License out to take a scan of his picture for some reason. Someone also neglected to put it back into his wallet. Someone also needed his license today when he tried to board the airplane to Florida.
Luckily, Charleston is a small airport and all I had to do was go through a little extra security. I have my work picture ID and my Social Security card, so I should be good to get back. If not, then into Gitmo I go.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Tomorrow, we're heading out to Orlando Florida. Juanita has a work related conference to go to. I haven't made a big deal out of it, because who knows how tired she'll be in the evening and whether she'll want to get out and do anything. I'll just be chilling in the hotel room each day while she's schmoozing folks.

Of course, is it smart to put you are going to be out of town on the interweb? I wonder if anyone knows both the location of my house and my blog. Something to ponder. Oh well, too late now, I guess. Anywho, take the big screen (we want a new plasma, and that would just be a good excuse) but leave everything else.

Roadhouse Blues

Saturday, our plan was to go watch Juanita's niece and nephew play ball. On the trip, we were going to deliver her step mom's Mother's Day present. Unfortunately the kids were sick, so that plan was cancelled. We then decided to take the gift to her aunt to take home to give to Juanita's dad. As we were getting in the car I asked Juanita if she has her house keys. She didn't. I didn't either. Luckily we had planned on replacing the back door to the house anyway. We broke out the back glass and opened it from the inside. Then if was oft to Lowe's after the gift was delivered for a new door. The rest of Saturday was spent installing the new door. It was a pain, but we got in it.

Happy Cinco de Ethel

Here's a picture of one of Ethel's favorite things for her birthday. Dan beat me to the one I really wanted to use.


Todd Bodine says Happy birthday, too!

Smoke on the Water

A deep purple! Sorry folks, but this is the most interesting thing to happen to me for a while.

Here's a phone pic of the bruise

It's poor quality, much like my infielding.

Call me the Iceman

No, not Bobby Drake, Terry Labonte nor King Parsons. Someone was playing third base for his corporate co-ed softball team and took on in the ankle. Unfortunately, the swelling has went down and I can't get a good picture. Oh, well. It was the first game of the year and I played very poorly. There were a lot of people who showed up. Too many, in fact. After a few games it will probably thin down to a reasonable level.

It's Wednesday already?

I am so odd sometimes. My local comics shop is opening late because of all the shipments of new comics coming. I have a light week with only 1 comic coming in.

I preferred Mark Chesnutt's version of Friends in Low Places to Garth Brooks's.
I prefer Kix Brooks to Ronnie Dunn.
Back when I watched wrestling, the guys I liked got nothing, the guys a didn't care for got championships. (apologies to Lance Storm and Disco Inferno, it was all my fault)
I never had any problem with the Star Wars prequels, Star Trek: Nemesis, or Wesley Crusher. In fact, many of the things that nerds and dorks rail upon, I got no problem with.
I shop at WalMart.
I still use dialup at home. This, however, is not by choice. It works plenty fine for general surfing, though. But it makes youtube and itunes a little less useful to me.

Yeah, so I'm odd, what of it?

That wasn't so bad

It turns out that it was a blown fuse in the furnace, so it's been fixed. The service guy had been to the house before we bought it, so he was familiar with the house. He gave us some advice on another issue we had, so it was worth the service fee.

Why do people come and ask me to do things when I'm listening to the rain delayed race on the radio? Not that it matters, because it's tough to follow a restrictor plate race on radio. And what's the deal with people needing stuff done at 4:30?

Tomorrow, I'll be off the WalMart for some new tires for the Nuggie Buggie. Whoo hoo!