Sunday, November 30, 2008

Free Christmas Tree

Yesterday we left the house with the goal of getting a Christmas tree. We really had 3 options. We could go to Lowes and buy a tree and use our Lowes card with has a $300 balance in our favor. Or we could go back to the local tree place that a friend of mine owns and work out a trade. We discussed going to a cut it down yourself place as well.

The last 4 years we have gotten our tree from this place in exchange for auto details. 2 years ago we got a $139 noble fir, the most expensive tree I've ever had. This year we found a 10 foot tall douglas fir and worked out a deal for 2 future auto details. I actually owed a detail to the co-owner, the father in law, so I detailed his 2 door Lexus convertible. Nice doing a 2 door, smaller car compared to an SUV.

The tree looks great. My wife decorated it with red and white lights along with red and silver ornaments. Simple, yet attractive.

Friday, November 28, 2008

Break is Almost Over

We had a nice dinner yesterday. A friend and her son came by as her husband had to work at the firehouse. So we didn't get shut out on visitors this year. Other than that it was just the 4 of us. The wife worked hard as if many people were coming over. We ended up with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, homemade rolls my son helped make, a pumpkin cheese cake, an apple pie that my daughter helped make. Our dine time was about 3pm so I was able to eat again after my 5pm nap.

Well, as of 4:15 pm today I consider my break over. Even though I still have Saturday and Sunday I consider my break over when the last minute that I would work expires.

3 weeks and then we're off for 2 whole weeks. Nice to be a teacher.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

The Good: Movies-Saw Bolt yesterday with my family and it was pretty good. I also went last night with 2 friends to see The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. It too was very good, although on the sad side.

The Bad: Went to the gym 8 days in a row, but still gained weight this week.

The Ugly: Played a CD that the coach gave me that was supposed to be clean and the 2nd song has the F word a few times along with a few other choice words. A parent from the visiting team pointed this out to me as I wasn't really listening that close as I gathered the line ups.

Happy Thanksgiving: We stayed home so if you are bored come on over.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Announcing Music

I walked into my first boys varsity gig of the season Tuesday night and saw the guy who covers for me when I can't announce. The first thing I asked was, "How long before they(the boys players) give me a Cd to play for warm up?"

No sooner than my feet hit the court 3 varsity players asked if I would play a CD they made. "Play number 10, it's the clean version." They brought out a CD player so I could listen to it during the Junior Varsity game. I listened to it and it was In This Crazy World by Young Jeezy. The explicit version has the "N" word, the "F" word, "D" and "SH". The clean version you can her the "D"s and "SH"s.

I brought the CD home and really an offended that they would try to pull this crap on me and have me play this in front of families and little kids. I probably won't accept another CD from them the rest of the year. I should burn a CD full of Frank Sinatra and the Beach Boys for them to warm up to just to show them.

Good thing is the Coach backs me 100%.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

553

This is my 553rd blogger post. I'm slowly closing in on Barry Bonds. About 200 more posts. If you add this to the many that I posted on tblog and I'm sure I'm approaching 1000 entries. I've always thought about going back and printing 10 a day until I'm done and put the entries into a binder, thus creating sort of a blog biography. I'm curious to see how my style in sharing has changed over time and how along the way you pick up different blogger friends.

Top 5 Things Going On Right Now
5. 3 more days of school before the break
4. Lost 3 pounds this week. Closing in on the 200 pound barrier.
3. Love my teaching position this year. The kids are great.
2. Currently narrowing in on which church to attend regularly. See link.
1. Got an email from GM today asking me to contact congress.

Friday, November 14, 2008

B.A.C.

Last Saturday my wife and I stopped by the local animal shelter, SPCA, and casually looked at cats and dogs. We are not in the market for a pet, at least I'm not, but we still like going. At least we're not wasting someone's time like we would if we just went around test driving cars. On the way out we saw someone in the adoption process and one of the things on the contract states that you will not sell the animal or put the pet up for adoption online. First of all, OOOPS! That's what we did with our siamese cat when we got hardwood floors and it was scratching them. I heard the lady say that the policy is to simply return the pet to the SPCA so they can put it back up for adoption.

As we were leaving my wife cracked a funny. She said if you did that you would have bad animal credit. Funny, but she's probably right. If you return the pet you'd probably ruin your chances of adopting from the SPCA again. Kind of like turning your car into the bank because you can't afford the payments anymore.

Wow, bad animal credit(BAC).

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Cling to the Word

I remember being in church when I was a kid and a teenager and couldn't wait for the sermon to get over so we could get out and get lunch. Once I was old enough to drive myself I would often come from Sunday School class, walk into the sanctuary, get my hugs from the old ladies, shake the hands of the deacons and then walk right out the back door. The Sunday School part made me eligible for sports( 2 of 4 Sundays required).

In the early 90's a young pastor and his family moved to St. Louis and became our pastor at MBC. This was the first time in my life that I actually listened to sermons with a purpose. It helped that I liked this guy and he was kind of a mentor for me and my friends and we spent all of our time with him and his family. He also pastored our wedding and when my wife and I moved to Texas in 1996 he ended up in Texas, which was his home state. He had us check out a church in Garland that was courting him to pastor their church.

It was a nice time in my life before children that he pastored a church close enough for my wife and I to attend. We started a young married without children class and we had a special 3 years at this church as well.

My wife and I moved to Missouri in 2000 and back to Texas in 2002. We decided that the 20 mile drive would not be in our best interest, especially since we had children, so we found a church close to home. We've spent the past 6 years at 2 different churches and I've never really clung to the word of a pastor like I have of this pastor friend.

When he called Sunday night checking in on me and how our church hunt was going he did inform me that his sermons were available online. My wife and I haven't fully settled on a full time church to commit to and she mentioned going back to this church again. After listening to his "pre-election" sermon that had no slant on how to vote, unlike my last church, I could see us visiting this church on a regular basis again. The nice thing is many of our friends from 10 years ago are still there, albeit with 2-3 children now.

I just want to get up on Sundays and cling to God's word from someone who speaks a message that is practical and applicable. I can't use gas prices as an excuse not to drive now.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Not Much To Say

I've fallen down on the job blogging lately. Not much happened this weekend. Played cards Friday night. Spent about 3 hours Saturday with the wife and WITHOUT the kids. A friend from school kept them. Neighborhood bible study Saturday night and church with my son on Sunday. Had great pizza at www.durkinspizza.com . A simple pizzeria with tasty pizza at a cheap price. Got a phone call from a former pastor/mentor Sunday night. Haven't settled on a home church just yet.

Rainy Monday, my first basketball game Tuesday night. Burned myself 3 new CD's. Basketball season is upon us!

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Jury Duty

I skirted jury duty for 28 years and finally this week I had to serve. Some of that could be due to the fact that my wife and I lived in 7 places the first 7 years of our marriage. We have currently been in this house for 6+ years and it caught up with me.

I actually got my summons back in August but postponed serving due to teacher inservice commitments before school started. I planned a day off from school and had a lesson that was easy for a substitute to implement.

I arrived at 8:05, but didn't have to be there until 8:30. All potential jurors were filed into a large room with at least 400 chairs and the room ended up being full. We watched a powerpoint and a 15 minute video showing us what to expect. Finally about 10am a lady came in with 2 sheets of paper and called somewhere between 25-40 people per group and called 2 groups. My name was not called. After the last group was lead to a court room we were released. It was 10:37. Part of me wanted to experience being a juror though.

I had heard many stories of people being let go early so I was planning my FREE day. I was hoping to make a 10am Weight Watchers meeting, but was about 30 minutes too late. So on the way home I stopped and washed my truck. It was still before 11am so I figured I could take lunch to my wife. I surprised her and had lunch with her at 11:45. After lunch I came home for about 30 minutes to get workout clothes. I watched "W" at the $3.25 show and DID NOT order popcorn. Had I made the 10am weigh in I guarantee you I would have splurged for the $10 large combo. After the movie I went and picked my daughter up and went to the gym. 2 miles on the treadmill, 15 minutes in the dry sauna, 5 in the hot tub and then on to Weight Watchers. I lost 1.8 pounds of the 3.4 I had gained* the 2 weeks prior(St. Louis food).

It was nice having a free day!

*I have a deal with my students that they receive a reward on any Tuesday following a gain and I've only had to pay one time. Talk about accountability. It will not happen again.

Monday, November 03, 2008

College Football

The offer: I got an email Friday from my good friend CB, a.k.a "me" when commenting saying he could possibly have an extra ticket to the Oklahoma vs. Nebraska football game in Norman, Oklahoma. It worked out that he didn't have an extra ticket, but with the wife's blessing we found a single $87 ticket on EBAY for $29.

The trip: We left around 10am and after stopping 4 times for sunglasses, an OU hat, a long sleeve shirt and a remote for our TV so we turned a 2 1/2 hour trip into a 3 1/2 trip. We checked into our hotel and made it to start tailgating around 2:30pm.

Tailgating: Cold drinks, plenty of sunshine, grilled burgers and dogs and bean bag toss game.

The game: My seat was near the end zone and 33 rows up. Pretty good seat next to grandma. I ended up leaving 1/2 way thru the 2nd quarter when OU held a 35-0 lead. Just being inside the stadium with so many loyal and crazy fans was worth the $29.,

On my own: Wanted to find this pizza place my neighbor recommended, no such luck. I ended up back at the outdoor courtyard by O'connells. They had a jumbotron with the game on. When it was over we were treated to the ended of the Texas Tech/Texas game. WOW!

Midnight: Right as we were leaving I ordered the largest funnel cake I've ever seen. It only cost $5.50, but if I bought one this large at Six Flags it may have cost over $50. It was HUGE....and good. I nibbled at it as we walked back to our truck. 3 out of 5 of our party wanted to go to the nearby casino.

Casino: I've been to Vegas one time and have been to 2 different casinos in Oklahoma so going to this one wasn't going to be anything new for me. I did find out that casinos may be the last place on earth where people can smoke indoors. I ended up walking around and ended up putting $2 into a video poker game. That was enough for me. After we left I found out that our driver would have been just as happy going back to the hotel room instead of going. Darn it.

The Hotel: $90 for a basic room. This was a real old Motel 8 that was slowly being renovated. Our room was clean but it had its flaws. The bathroom light took about a minute to actually turn on. This set up a few peeing in the dark adventures. I couldn't get the shower to turn off. The bathroom door was warped and really didn't lock. Somehow I ened up with the queen sized bed and the other 2 guests took up a roll away cot and a blow up mattress. Thanks guys!

Sunday: We did get to sleep an extra hour. It was badly needed after staying out so late. I ended up getting home about 1pm.

Overall: Good trip and I'm glad I went. It is not an every weekend type of thing. Maybe if I were an OU fan.