Blue Heaven

I got on the computer this morning and found that this picture was the wall paper on my desktop. Katlin put it on last night after I went to bed. It's a picture that Katlin and I took in Cozumel at a state park called Chankanaab. We were snorkeling in about 30 feet of water and came upon this statue of Jesus. The statue was donated to the people of Cozumel by Jacque Cousteau. It was a really cool experience to be swimming along and come upon this site. I still get the chills when I think about it.

Don't Have a Cow Man

I ran accross this picture of a guy we saw on the cruise ship. It's kind of hard to tell but this is a tattoo that he had on his belly. As you can tell he was quite a large man (and no it's not me). The tattoo is Bart Simpson bending over with his pants down shooting the moon. Please take note of where this guys belly button is in reference to the tattoo. He said that when his grandkids came over he would stick a tootsie roll in his belly button and tell his grandkids that Bart had a present for them. That's just wrong...even for me. Happy New Years.

Kiel's New Toy

Here we are sitting down to eat Christmas dinner. Kiel got a new toy (Palm Zire) for Christmas that takes pictures and video, so we thought we would try it out. Mom (Rose Mary), Me (Ron), Dad (Butch), Katlin and Kathy. Please note the gianormous steak on my plate that I will devour shortly after this picture is taken. Hope your Christmas dinner was as good as mine.

Merry Christmas!!!

We just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! Hope everyone has a great day and gets what they want on this Christmas day. My parents should be here any minute so we can exchange presents. Appreciate the day and enjoy the ones you share it with....

Road Trip

Yesterday Kiel, Katlin and I went to Mobile, Alabama to the GMAC Bowl (football game). The three of us haven’t had a road trip adventure in awhile so we were due. We left after Kat’s orthodontist appointment, which after the adjustments put him in a fine mood. Before we left, Kat and I checked the weather and noticed that there was an 80 percent chance of thunderstorms for our trip to Mobile and during the game. Given that we had nothing else going on, we still decided to press on and go to the game.

We took Kiel’s car and he drove. Letting him drive for me is tough. Especially in the conditions we encountered. To say that it “rained” on the way to Mobile would be an understatement. It poured buckets – hard driving, can’t see while driving type of rain. The rain came down hard the entire way to Mobile. When we got to Pensacola we decided to stop and eat and decide if we wanted to continue to Mobile or turnaround and go home. The thought of sitting outside in a monsoon for three hours didn’t thrill me. We stopped and ate at one our favorite restaurants, McGuire’s Irish Pub. This place is awesome – if you’re ever in Destin or Pensacola, FL I highly suggest checking it out.

Anyhow, the food at McGuire’s is excellent. The portions that they give are ridiculously huge. We all had the 18 cent a bowl – Senate Bean Soup. Then we couldn’t help but try the “Assorted Fried Cheese’s” – with a menu name like that how can you resist? Kiel and I each got their hamburgers. But Katlin took a different route. He publicly declared that he was “going for the Meat Sweats”. So he ordered the “Sausage Platter". A huge platter covered in Sauerkraut and German Potato Salad and topped with four of the most gianormous sausages you’ve ever seen. These things were the size of my forearms. These things were so big that they were scary. (Please keep it clean). He did a pretty good job of dismantling these things. He ate about 2 ½ of them, which may not sound like a lot but given the size of these things it was.

After we ate we got in the car and decided to go on to Mobile. The rain had let up some what and we took at as good sign. The closer we got to Mobile the less it rained. About 20 minutes from the stadium the rain stopped and cleared up. Got to the stadium and couldn’t find a place to park. We paid some lady, in a very questionable neighborhood $6 to park in her front yard. Kiel was freaking out, he was afraid that his car was going to stolen or stripped – but not to worry it was fine. Got in the stadium, found our seats and sat down. As soon as we did – the heavens opened up and didn’t stop. The false sense of security of the rain stopping tricked us. So we put our ponchos on and sat in the rain and watched the game – in the rain. The ponchos worked for a little while but once we stood up or moved the water got inside and soaked our pants. By the end of the game we were all soaked from our underwear down. I kept looking for a reason to leave but the game was good! We left with about nine minutes left in the fourth quarter the game was decided and we left. I drove home and both Kiel and Katlin stripped down to their underwear for the drive home. We brought stadium blankets so they covered up with them. We got home about 2:00AM in the morning and slept until about 10:00AM this morning. Despite the rain, we had a great time. I’m glad we stuck it out and I’d actually do it again. Dinner was great, the game was great – the rain sucked but we didn’t let it get to us. Road trips are fun I’m ready for the next one, as long as I can go with my boys.

Ready For Christmas...

All the presents have been bought and wrapped. The tree and house have been decorated. We've attended all the holiday parties. We've finished baking all the cookies and rum cakes. Everything is pretty much ready for Christmas. Now that all the essentials are taken care of (except for writing the holiday letter) we can start to enjoy the holidays. It sure seems like alot of work goes into enjoying the holidays. As Kathy's brother David likes to say "It's too much work to have fun." Sometimes I think he's right. I'm not trying to be a Scrooge but the holidays can be a lot of work for everyone. Shopping and Buying and Wrapping and Shopping and Decorating and Baking and Shopping and Parties and you get the point. I can handle most of it but the shopping, I do not like to shop unless it's on the Internet then it's fun. I just don't think it is intended to be this stressful.

Kat and I went shopping today, while Kathy and Kiel worked. We didn't do too well. We bought more for ourselves than Christmas presents for others. I think we missed the point. Actually we did buy a couple of things for others but it was tough. Like I said, I'm not a shopper, I'm a hunter. I know what I want and then I "hunt" for it - none of this looking around crap, that's for girls. But the hunting becomes tough when you don't know what you're hunting for like today. Then it became shopping, which sucked. Some how we survived, I think mainly because when we couldn't figure out what to do we went and ate. Anyhow it's over except for stocking stuffers which can't be that bad can it?

Tomorrow (Wed, Dec 22nd) Kiel, Katlin and myself are taking a road trip to Mobile, AL. Mobile is about 3 hours away. We are going to go to the GMAC Bowl Football Game. Don't ask me who is playing but we are going just to go. We will leave after Kat's ortho appt. and we'll get home real late. The game will be on ESPN at 7:00PM so if you turn the channels and see it on that's where we'll be. On Friday, Christmas Eve we are going to go about an hour west of here to Destin and hang out and go to the movies. Then head to my parents(our old house) that evening for homemade spagehetti and meatballs. Sound be fun. Then on Christmas Day my parents will come over and we'll open presents and have the traditional Christmas dinner of steaks. And that will pretty much be it. Pretty low key but that's fine with me.

If you're traveling be safe, it's going to be crazy on the roads and in the air. I'll post more before this weekend but if I don't talk to you before then - Have a very Merry Christmas! Enjoy!

Kiel and Katlin - Formal Night

Kiel and Katlin on board ship for formal night during our cruise this past October.

X-Ray Vision

My kids like to make fun of me. That’s Okay – I deserve it. After all the years of teasing and ridiculing my kids, I am finally beginning to receive my comeuppance. They have found that there is strength in numbers and have figured out how to “get to the old man”. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a step slower than I was or that my mind isn’t as sharp as it once was. My kids know this too and take full advantage of it.

A couple of weeks ago we were sitting at the table eating dinner and I tossed out the question “Is the garage door closed?” To me it didn’t seem like that it was that dumb of a question. But my family thought it was the stupidest thing they had ever heard. They all kind of looked at each other and Kiel finally said “Gee Dad I don’t know let me get out my X-Ray Vision”. Smart Alec. I then realized what they were thinking– we’re inside the house, how are we supposed to know, we can’t see through the walls etc. I get their point but it is a new house and we’re not used to having a garage or garage door that needs to be closed. I knew someone had recently passed through the garage and it wasn’t me. I was hoping that someone would be kind enough to say “Yeah Dad I closed it when I came in.” or at least an “I’m not sure”. But instead I got grief.

What I didn’t mention was that when Kiel made his X-Ray vision statement that he also made “glasses” out of his fingers and put them up to eyes. His own X-Ray vision goggles. But instead of regular finger glasses, he turns his wrist towards face so the palms of his hands touch his forehead. They are kind of like backwards or upside down glasses. He looks really goofy when he does it, which is why he does it. So the rest of the night whenever I asked a question, Kiel would make his stupid glasses, make a stupid voice and say “X-Ray Vision”.

“Anything good on TV tonight?” – X-Ray Vision
“Could someone bring me some more toilet paper?” – X-Ray Vision
“Anybody using the computer?” – X-Ray Vision

This continued all night long. Kathy and Katlin would laugh until soda came out their nose. They thought it was the funniest thing they had ever seen. Kiel knew that this was getting under my skin – which is why he kept doing it. The more he did it the more they laughed. The more they laughed the madder I got. They madder I got they more they laughed. It was a vicious circle.

Then gang mentality kicked in and my wife got brave. She decided to get in on the fun and make fun of me as well. Only one problem, she has very short arms. So she can’t make the “X-Ray Vision” goggles. Her arms simply don’t turn around enough - their to stubby. She tried really hard to it but she couldn’t. So now instead of laughing at me, we are now all laughing at Kathy who is struggling to make these stupid glasses out of her fingers. She could get one side but not the other or she would contort he face in hopes that would help. It was quite pathetic actually. Ever seen anybody try to put a contact in their eye and they drop their jaw in hopes of stretching their face to get the contact in? This is what she did but only worse – Ugly, Very Ugly. She even thought that standing on her tiptoes would help. Bless her heart…she tried. I thought she was going to break her arm trying to make these stupid things.

Here's a picture of all of them, Kathy's an X-Ray vision disaster. It's not for the faint of heart. Look only if you if you have an empty stomach...

Following Orders

Here is Kiel's final project for his Computer Imaging class. He called it "Following Orders" and as you can tell it follows the Star Wars theme.

Bad Advice

I always get a bit nervous when someone tells me “Let me give you a piece of advice…” I almost want to turn and run when I hear those words. Maybe it’s because when I usually hear those words the advice that follows is usually ends up being petty bad. I say this to ask all of you this question: What is the worst piece of advice you have ever received? Not the worst advice you've given or the best you received, we’ll save that for another time. But what is the worst advice someone has given you. What is something that someone told you on good faith that you believed, tried and found that it was absolute rubbish? What is the thing that you tried because someone said it would work only to find that you could have went your whole life without doing it?

I’ve been thinking about it and I know what mine is. Many years ago a well meaning friend said that when it comes to church and my relationship God that I needed to “Fake it til you Make it”. Now I’ve heard that phrase quite a bit through the years (as I’m sure you have) but I never thought about applying it to church or my relationship with God. I did as she suggested. Big Mistake. Huge Mistake. Worst Mistake Ever. The problem I found was that if you try to fake your relationship at church or with God you will never make it. I thought by putting on a smile, wearing my good clothes on Sunday, saying the right things, attending when I should that I would some day “Make It”. Guess what? I never did. I found out that you can’t fake a relationship with God. It’s either real or it’s fake. And if it’s fake it will ultimately be exposed. Now, I don’t blame my friend for the advice she gave me. It was all she knew, the concept of being “Real” with God was completely foreign to her. I blame myself for wanting a quick fix instead of wanting to invest time in relationship with God. Faking it til you make it may work in some situations but not with God. I became so frustrated and disappointed in myself, church and God - that I almost gave up. I wasted a lot time time trying the fake it til you make it advice. Let Me Give You a Piece of Advice…..Don't try it.

Ok...I showed you mine, so now it’s your turn to show me yours. What’s the worst piece of advice you have ever received? I’m curious to hear how you were led astray.....

Nothing Really

Hope everyone is well and getting ready for Christmas. We got our Christmas tree Sunday after church. We decorated it Sunday night, it looks nice. We even hung our stockings by the chimney with care. Nothing new or major to report. Kiel is at his 'new' girlfriends house - Emily. Don't know if he would appreciate me reporting that or if he would dispute it. But it sure seems like it. This semester of school is starting to wrap up for both the boys. They are looking forward to the Christmas break. No real plans over the holidays, just stay home, hang out and enjoy. Have a couple of Christmas parties this weekend which can always be interesting. Like I said not much happening - we just wanted to say hey.

3 Hour Tour

Ok this is a really sad confession. I wasted 2 hours of my life the other night watching a new TV series called the “Real Gilligan’s Island”. For those of you who haven’t heard, it’s a reality show based on the old Gilligan’s Island TV series. They actually had auditions and cast people in the role of each person from the original show. But they had to be the real life counterpart to the old TV series role. So in order to be the professor on this show you had to be a real life professor. To be the Skipper on the show you had to be a real life boat captain and so on. They then put them on a tropical island, like the TV show. If that wasn’t bad enough, they had two sets of “Castaways” compete against each other to be the next Gilligan or Skipper on the reality version. Then after all the castaways are selected they will compete against each other to see who gets “rescued” from the island and wins the Grand Prize. Somebody actually gets paid to think this stuff up? Yep and I watched it.

As if I haven’t had enough of the original and reruns through the years. It not like I haven’t seen every episode of original series ten times (including black and white) or seen the made for TV movie. I’m not even really that much of fan. But when you grow up in the late 60’s and early 70’s without cable TV and only have three local channels, you watch what you can. I was miffed when Katlin (my 15 year old) asked me what I was watching. I explained it to him and he said “Why?” Now that’s a really good question - one I wasn’t prepared to answer. But I realized that he wasn’t even familiar with the original series! So I had to explain the premise of the original so he would understand the rip off. Didn’t work, he lasted about 5 minutes. I thought this is why Nick at Night or TV Land existed, so the younger generation would be brought up to speed on these old TV shows? Guess it goes to show that only people my age must be watching what's on these channels.

It stymies me that I was able to get engrossed in a totally contrived rip off of the original. It bothers me to think that I’m probably the exact demographic they had in mind when they were thinking this crap up. I hate to be predictable. But it was like a car wreck. I couldn’t help myself – I had to look. I watched as the two professors went at it in head-to-head competition, with the loser “being banished to the other side of the island”. Say it isn’t so! Yep the Openly-Gay-Professor-Wannabee-With-Several-College-Degrees lost to the professor who looks like the Monopoly Man. I sat on the edge of my seat as one of the Skippers had what appeared to be a heart attack (no kidding) and had to be airlifted to get medical treatment. I was nearly brought to tears when he came back to say good bye to both sets of castaways. In an act of matchless class, he gave his Skippers cap to the remaining Skipper. I was hoping the gloves would come off when both sets of REAL millionaire wives got in a cat fight. The one millionaire lady whose net worth is less than three million tore into the other millionaire lady whose net worth is over 500 million because she borrowed her daughter’s feather boa without asking. Who says the rich are petty? This is engaging stuff. It was for me anyhow. I tried to pull away but I was numb with disbelief. I couldn’t believe it when one of the millionaire guys paid one of the fake Mary Ann’s twenty bucks for an hour long massage. There is no way that Thurston Howell the third would make such an indecent proposal! Nor would the “real” Mary Ann compromise herself and accept this shameless offer, she has too much dignity. Nor would Gilligan or Ginger rip their clothes for comfort like these posers did. The were able to make it through each and every half hour show without sweating or complaining, thank you very much. I guess I’m just too much of a purist. Sorry Gotta go – “Wife Swap” will be on soon.