Monday! Bleah! We are still a man short at the print shop so we are running around like chickens with our heads cut off. We get the stuff that needs to be done that day finished and then try to make a dent in the rest of the stuff that comes piling in. Sheesh!
After work Martha and Delia and I made our way out to Ryan's house to see this minivan he wants to give us for free. At first Dandelion was coming with us, but she freaked about some spider in the car. She screamed and threw off her seat belt while the car was moving all over a little spider! And to top it off there was a cop in the parking lot across from us. He must have been busy because there was no incident with the officer. Needless to say, we took Dandelion back to the house to wait in her room to consider what she had done. The van looks pretty good and runs great. Martha is going to check on insurance and plates to see what the initial outlay is going to set us back. Thank God for overtime at work to help pay for this stuff. On the way home we picked up stuff for chips and sandwiches because it is too hot to cook. Of course, I made some cinnamon quick bread so it still got hot in the house. Oh well, the bread was yummy so who cares?
Then Hell's Kitchen was on and we watched that. I was surprised that he kicked Jen off the show. I really thought that Bonnie was the one to go. Only one more episode to go to see who is the winner. I'm still filling out my application for next season. That would be cool to be on the show! It would be even better to win, but just being on would work.
7/31/07
7/30/07
DAY THIRTY-FIVE
Another Sunday at The Waltz Compound and we are infamous for making those pretty busy days. This was no exception. Still recovering from the mad fun of yesterday's birthday party for Stew we made our way to church. Church was pretty empty. A lot of people weren't there this weekend. No Sunday school because none of my class was there. Matt went down to McDonalds to get breakfast burritos for everyone which was cool. I made the mistake of eating four of them and felt like a beached whale.
Martha sang with the choir and did a great job with the song. Then it was time for children's church downstairs. I was told that there was stuff to teach the kids, but I couldn't find it. I winged it with an episode of Bibleman followed by a little quiz to make sure that the kiddies were paying attention. They hated that part, but they were paying attention and got it all right. Then we went outside to shoot some hoops and then it was the end of the month so it was the kids' turn to do the offering.
After church we went swimming at Ramona Park. Dan and I built this elaborate lagoon with a huge city around it. Dan called it The Asian Empire. Gotta love that imagination. While we were digging we discovered this really big, gruesome bug. It could swim and walk and it could burrow through sand. It was about an inch and a half long. It's front end was these huge claws and looked real nasty. We captured it for a while, but when it was time to go we released it into the wild. I think it was a larva for something else. I'll have to check later to see what it was.
After swimming we went home to grab some lunch and then we were off to see the newest Harry Potter movie. Harry Potter And The Order OF The Phoenix. There were a couple of good trailers for flicks I wouldn't mind seeing. One was called 10,000 B.C.,real epic looking and quite cool. The other was for a thing called Enchanted. It looked hilarious.
The Potter flick was good. I have the advantage of not reading the books so I'm not bias about the films at all. It seemed a little rushed. The character of Luna Lovegood was the funniest thing in the flick. She did a very good job with the part.
After that we went and traded in my defective bike for a new one. I took it for a little test run and there was no grinding or brake issues. I hope it stays that way. If it defaults as well I might be looking into a different bike.
We also went to Target to get a new filter for the vacuum. Then we made our way back home and just hung out until it was time for bed. We sent the kids off with ,little fuss and then Martha and I went to bed. We watched MS. 45. I have always meant to watch this and never got around to it. It was very good and definitely a product of it's time.
Martha sang with the choir and did a great job with the song. Then it was time for children's church downstairs. I was told that there was stuff to teach the kids, but I couldn't find it. I winged it with an episode of Bibleman followed by a little quiz to make sure that the kiddies were paying attention. They hated that part, but they were paying attention and got it all right. Then we went outside to shoot some hoops and then it was the end of the month so it was the kids' turn to do the offering.
After church we went swimming at Ramona Park. Dan and I built this elaborate lagoon with a huge city around it. Dan called it The Asian Empire. Gotta love that imagination. While we were digging we discovered this really big, gruesome bug. It could swim and walk and it could burrow through sand. It was about an inch and a half long. It's front end was these huge claws and looked real nasty. We captured it for a while, but when it was time to go we released it into the wild. I think it was a larva for something else. I'll have to check later to see what it was.
After swimming we went home to grab some lunch and then we were off to see the newest Harry Potter movie. Harry Potter And The Order OF The Phoenix. There were a couple of good trailers for flicks I wouldn't mind seeing. One was called 10,000 B.C.,real epic looking and quite cool. The other was for a thing called Enchanted. It looked hilarious.
The Potter flick was good. I have the advantage of not reading the books so I'm not bias about the films at all. It seemed a little rushed. The character of Luna Lovegood was the funniest thing in the flick. She did a very good job with the part.
After that we went and traded in my defective bike for a new one. I took it for a little test run and there was no grinding or brake issues. I hope it stays that way. If it defaults as well I might be looking into a different bike.
We also went to Target to get a new filter for the vacuum. Then we made our way back home and just hung out until it was time for bed. We sent the kids off with ,little fuss and then Martha and I went to bed. We watched MS. 45. I have always meant to watch this and never got around to it. It was very good and definitely a product of it's time.
7/29/07
DAY THIRTY-FOUR
Saturday! At first I thought we were going to take the kids to Judo, but no one wanted to go to Judo. Martha and I went out and got stuff for Stew's birthday party at The Waltz Compound. First, we ran out to the church and got a table and chairs for the shindig. We ran into the Sackett's who were cleaning up after the Vacation Bible School. It sounds like there were a lot of kids and they had a lot of fun. We couldn't make it because we had no gas or money to drive back and forth to church everyday. While the new house is fantastic, it is about a twenty five minute drive to church one way and the old '81 station wagon sure likes to suck the gas. After that we had some breakfast at Kap's Diner right down the street and I was amazed to see Angela there. Angela is Clayton's wife and Clayton's brother, Mike used to married to my sister, Denise. While we don;t associate with Mike, I like Clayton and I had no idea his wife worked right down the street from where we go to church.
We also stopped at Polderman's Florists so I could give Linc a copy of the newest L'il Jason comic and copies of a couple of Bollywood flicks I recently had to review.
Then we ran around getting stuff for the dogs and stuff for the party and stuff...well, you get the idea.
We got home in time to finish cleaning up and then Stew, Amy,Charlie,Simon and Addison arrived. We grilled burgers and dogs, Simon helped me make drinks for everyone and then the kids played like crazy. I know that Stew's kids must have been having fun because they cried when the found out they were leaving. It had been five hours and it felt like much less than that.
The only mishap was the kids were going down one of the many hills in our extremely uneven yard and Dennis plowed into Addison and knocked her into one of the cars. Dennis is thirteen and Addison is nineteen months old. It looks like she'll escape with nothing more than a bruise. She's a tough kid.
My kids gave Stew the Monty Python autobiography for his birthday. I'm making him a mega Jess Franco set and the case I ordered didn't arrive until today so, he will wait until much later, probably early next week before he gets his present I made.
After the party Martha suggested we take the table and chairs back to the church so, we did. Then we came home and were pretty tired.
It had been a great and tiring day.
I think Simon likes to help me do stuff when he's over. He played with our dog, Cassidy, for a while. He didn't get tired of it either. There's a boy who needs a dog, but until then he can come play with ours.
We also stopped at Polderman's Florists so I could give Linc a copy of the newest L'il Jason comic and copies of a couple of Bollywood flicks I recently had to review.
Then we ran around getting stuff for the dogs and stuff for the party and stuff...well, you get the idea.
We got home in time to finish cleaning up and then Stew, Amy,Charlie,Simon and Addison arrived. We grilled burgers and dogs, Simon helped me make drinks for everyone and then the kids played like crazy. I know that Stew's kids must have been having fun because they cried when the found out they were leaving. It had been five hours and it felt like much less than that.
The only mishap was the kids were going down one of the many hills in our extremely uneven yard and Dennis plowed into Addison and knocked her into one of the cars. Dennis is thirteen and Addison is nineteen months old. It looks like she'll escape with nothing more than a bruise. She's a tough kid.
My kids gave Stew the Monty Python autobiography for his birthday. I'm making him a mega Jess Franco set and the case I ordered didn't arrive until today so, he will wait until much later, probably early next week before he gets his present I made.
After the party Martha suggested we take the table and chairs back to the church so, we did. Then we came home and were pretty tired.
It had been a great and tiring day.
I think Simon likes to help me do stuff when he's over. He played with our dog, Cassidy, for a while. He didn't get tired of it either. There's a boy who needs a dog, but until then he can come play with ours.
DAY THIRTY-THREE
Friday! Payday! I had a few pressing jobs at the job, but then kind of took it easy for the rest of the day. The rest of the week was so hectic I felt like I deserved it. So, not a lot to tell about the day there.
I pedaled home on my bicycle knowing I was trading it in for one that doesn't sound like its grinding coffee this weekend.
Dinner was leftover spaghetti and left over pork and rice. I stir fried that with some broccoli and just baked the spaghetti.
After that was a new episode of Doctor Who. We had no idea that it was the first of a two parter! I hate when that happens. Now we have to wait for another week to see what will happen next.
After that it was time for bed and getting ready for tomorrow. Stew and his family are going to come over for a party.
I pedaled home on my bicycle knowing I was trading it in for one that doesn't sound like its grinding coffee this weekend.
Dinner was leftover spaghetti and left over pork and rice. I stir fried that with some broccoli and just baked the spaghetti.
After that was a new episode of Doctor Who. We had no idea that it was the first of a two parter! I hate when that happens. Now we have to wait for another week to see what will happen next.
After that it was time for bed and getting ready for tomorrow. Stew and his family are going to come over for a party.
7/27/07
DAY THIRTY-TWO
The day before payday and we are swamped at ye old print shop. We get clients sometimes that don't understand how time frames work. They also think they are our only customers. This meant that there was a job that I had to rush through to get done and there was really no margin for error. Of course, just because I got it done doesn't mean that the binders I need to complete it are here yet. Sheesh! Other than that the day went pretty smooth.
Made it home before it started to rain...again! I think God is looking out for me. It's hard to believe that I've been riding my bike back and forth to work for about two months and I've only been through rain in it once. Those odds are impossible.
Dennis was nice enough to start the pork roast for dinner so all I had to do was slice the cantaloupe and make some rice to go with it. It was all excellent and I ate waaaay too much pork roast. I'll probably be full tomorrow. Then Martha decided that she needed Snickers ice cream bars. And, as if on purpose, the remote to the downstairs television stopped working. So, it was off to Meijers for a universal remote and some ice cream for the family. Thankfully, when we got there fudgesicles were a buck a box. This will help keep the children off of Martha's Snickers ice cream bars. By the time we got home it was time to feed the dogs and we all had massive amounts of laundry to put away since Martha was the laundryinator during the day. After all that we watched the reality show Who Wants To Be A Superhero with Stan Lee. Being a comic geek it is always good to see Stan The Man in action. This is the second season and the new crop of potential heroes looks pretty good. He was really putting them through their paces. Next week will be better because we get to see them all in professionally designed costumes. Those are usually pretty cool.
Then it was time for bed and man I was bushed. The overtime will look good on the check and that Bava book by Tim Lucas will look good on my shelf, but it's wearing me down. The upside is that the book weighs in at twelve pounds so it will give me a good forearm workout.
Yipee!
Made it home before it started to rain...again! I think God is looking out for me. It's hard to believe that I've been riding my bike back and forth to work for about two months and I've only been through rain in it once. Those odds are impossible.
Dennis was nice enough to start the pork roast for dinner so all I had to do was slice the cantaloupe and make some rice to go with it. It was all excellent and I ate waaaay too much pork roast. I'll probably be full tomorrow. Then Martha decided that she needed Snickers ice cream bars. And, as if on purpose, the remote to the downstairs television stopped working. So, it was off to Meijers for a universal remote and some ice cream for the family. Thankfully, when we got there fudgesicles were a buck a box. This will help keep the children off of Martha's Snickers ice cream bars. By the time we got home it was time to feed the dogs and we all had massive amounts of laundry to put away since Martha was the laundryinator during the day. After all that we watched the reality show Who Wants To Be A Superhero with Stan Lee. Being a comic geek it is always good to see Stan The Man in action. This is the second season and the new crop of potential heroes looks pretty good. He was really putting them through their paces. Next week will be better because we get to see them all in professionally designed costumes. Those are usually pretty cool.
Then it was time for bed and man I was bushed. The overtime will look good on the check and that Bava book by Tim Lucas will look good on my shelf, but it's wearing me down. The upside is that the book weighs in at twelve pounds so it will give me a good forearm workout.
Yipee!
7/26/07
DAY THIRTY-ONE
Another Wednesday at the print shop. With one man down we are much busier. It's only been three days of open to close, but I can feel then burn out slowly approaching. It will hit a peak and then level off where I get used to it, but for now, it's kind of wearing me out.
Wednesday means print time cards day.
The highlight of my morning was going to Daniel's open house at his school. His teacher seems very nice, but you can tell that the bitch switch lies close to the surface. With some of those kids that might be a good thing. Martha even pointed out to me that most of these kids weren't there because they were stupid. She was asking questions and most of these kids were mouthing the answers as she asked the question. They were there because they were deemed trouble makers. They were there because their teacher during the school year didn't know how to deal with them. We knew that about Daniel's teacher, but sent him to summer school anyway. It's good for him and the extra reinforcement of learning can't hurt. Besides, his teacher, not the one we saw, but the one that does English, thinks Daniels Cthulhu t-shirt is the most awesome thing ever. I was amazed at how young the summer school teachers are! Probably has something to do about tenure.
Anyway, Daniel was very well behaved and glad that we came. After we were done there the fuel light came on so we stopped at Meijer for gas. It kills me to spend 60 bucks to fill the tank of the behemoth. And we had some lunch before I had to go back to the grind.
After I got home it finally rained a little. Nice of it to wait until I got home. On the way home I stopped for some stuff I needed to make spaghetti for dinner. I also got a nice cantaloupe. I have to remember that if I'm lugging this stuff home in my backpack on my bike I need to watch how much stuff I get. My arms were killing me! It was funny that while I was at the store I was looking at ground chuck and this little guy came up to me and in the quietest, most respectful voice I have heard in a while said:
"Excuse me sir, but you're going to need to check you backpack in at the service desk."
I had forgotten I even had it on, I just grinned and said:
"Sure, thing."
You could see the tension just fall from the poor guys body when I said that. I really like looking like a biker some days. Poor guy.
So, I made spaghetti and garlic bread. For some reason we forgot the cantaloupe. If they don't devour it tomorrow while I'm at work we can have it then.
By then it was eight and I wanted to watch a movie from the new 50 pack I got for my birthday. I decided to watch it downstairs because if I went upstairs I was going to fall asleep. I decided on Peter Jackson's BAD TASTE. Always a winner. The kids watched it with me and the boys liked it more than the girls.
By then I was bushed and went up to bed.
This Bava book by Tim Lucas I'm saving for better be worth all this grief.
Wednesday means print time cards day.
The highlight of my morning was going to Daniel's open house at his school. His teacher seems very nice, but you can tell that the bitch switch lies close to the surface. With some of those kids that might be a good thing. Martha even pointed out to me that most of these kids weren't there because they were stupid. She was asking questions and most of these kids were mouthing the answers as she asked the question. They were there because they were deemed trouble makers. They were there because their teacher during the school year didn't know how to deal with them. We knew that about Daniel's teacher, but sent him to summer school anyway. It's good for him and the extra reinforcement of learning can't hurt. Besides, his teacher, not the one we saw, but the one that does English, thinks Daniels Cthulhu t-shirt is the most awesome thing ever. I was amazed at how young the summer school teachers are! Probably has something to do about tenure.
Anyway, Daniel was very well behaved and glad that we came. After we were done there the fuel light came on so we stopped at Meijer for gas. It kills me to spend 60 bucks to fill the tank of the behemoth. And we had some lunch before I had to go back to the grind.
After I got home it finally rained a little. Nice of it to wait until I got home. On the way home I stopped for some stuff I needed to make spaghetti for dinner. I also got a nice cantaloupe. I have to remember that if I'm lugging this stuff home in my backpack on my bike I need to watch how much stuff I get. My arms were killing me! It was funny that while I was at the store I was looking at ground chuck and this little guy came up to me and in the quietest, most respectful voice I have heard in a while said:
"Excuse me sir, but you're going to need to check you backpack in at the service desk."
I had forgotten I even had it on, I just grinned and said:
"Sure, thing."
You could see the tension just fall from the poor guys body when I said that. I really like looking like a biker some days. Poor guy.
So, I made spaghetti and garlic bread. For some reason we forgot the cantaloupe. If they don't devour it tomorrow while I'm at work we can have it then.
By then it was eight and I wanted to watch a movie from the new 50 pack I got for my birthday. I decided to watch it downstairs because if I went upstairs I was going to fall asleep. I decided on Peter Jackson's BAD TASTE. Always a winner. The kids watched it with me and the boys liked it more than the girls.
By then I was bushed and went up to bed.
This Bava book by Tim Lucas I'm saving for better be worth all this grief.
7/25/07
DAY THIRTY
Today at the print shop it was laminating day. This client wanted 700 sheets of paper laminated and the only way we can do it is with the old school pouch laminate. Basically, you have to insert each individual sheet into a plastic pouch and then put the pouch in this special cardstock folder and then send it through the laminator. Seven hundred of those can eat up some serious time. Afterwards, I made little spy notebooks for Dennis, Delia, Dandelion and Dan. Lately, they have been going on spy missions around the yard and I thought it would be fun to give them something to encourage that. Pretty basic, but they all thought they were cool.
Dennis helped with dinner by putting a roast in the oven before I got home. I told him to get the pork roast, but he took out the beef one instead. It was still just fine with sweet potatoes. Everyone liked it.
While we had the dogs out this little terrier neighbor dog made it into our yard. He was pretty fearless, but Mickey and Cassidy would have ate him given the chance so we got them inside fast. He trapped Sweetie outside and thankfully she is afraid of everything so she ran inside. The only reason he was on the loose is that another neighbor dog, Remy, is in heat. Remy is a sweet, little pit bull about a year old who's owners take rotten care of. Martha and I spend more time with that dog than they do. It's a shame because she's a good dog, but the first time she breaks loose and hurts someone they are going to have to put her down just because she's a pit bull. People are stupid when it comes to pit bulls. All dogs want one thing; love. That's it. There are no bad dogs just bad people who make the dogs act the way they do. Hopefully, Remy won't get pregnant because I would hate to see the puppies get hurt.
So, it's getting late and Dan brings me his spy notebook. He asks me to write something in the front page. Thinking nothing of it, I write: Dan The Man is a super spy. He reads it smiles and then asks me to put a box next to what I wrote. Still unsuspecting, I draw a little box in front of the sentence. He then takes the notebook and pen and looks at it for a minute and then checks the box and says, 'Well, that's done."
The kid is a hoot. What can I say?
I tried watching the second Bollywood flick I need to review for Dan Taylor and got through about a third of it before I was too tired. All this overtime is throwing off my schedule. It will be good for the pocketbook just bad for the rest of my life for now.
Oh well.
Dennis helped with dinner by putting a roast in the oven before I got home. I told him to get the pork roast, but he took out the beef one instead. It was still just fine with sweet potatoes. Everyone liked it.
While we had the dogs out this little terrier neighbor dog made it into our yard. He was pretty fearless, but Mickey and Cassidy would have ate him given the chance so we got them inside fast. He trapped Sweetie outside and thankfully she is afraid of everything so she ran inside. The only reason he was on the loose is that another neighbor dog, Remy, is in heat. Remy is a sweet, little pit bull about a year old who's owners take rotten care of. Martha and I spend more time with that dog than they do. It's a shame because she's a good dog, but the first time she breaks loose and hurts someone they are going to have to put her down just because she's a pit bull. People are stupid when it comes to pit bulls. All dogs want one thing; love. That's it. There are no bad dogs just bad people who make the dogs act the way they do. Hopefully, Remy won't get pregnant because I would hate to see the puppies get hurt.
So, it's getting late and Dan brings me his spy notebook. He asks me to write something in the front page. Thinking nothing of it, I write: Dan The Man is a super spy. He reads it smiles and then asks me to put a box next to what I wrote. Still unsuspecting, I draw a little box in front of the sentence. He then takes the notebook and pen and looks at it for a minute and then checks the box and says, 'Well, that's done."
The kid is a hoot. What can I say?
I tried watching the second Bollywood flick I need to review for Dan Taylor and got through about a third of it before I was too tired. All this overtime is throwing off my schedule. It will be good for the pocketbook just bad for the rest of my life for now.
Oh well.
7/24/07
DAY TWENTY-NINE
Mondays! Especially a Monday where my buddy Stew isn't going to be at work anymore. I'm not going to explain suffice to say it ain't cool and there is nothing I can do about it. Believe me I tried and it did no good.
So, that meant twice as much work to do and staying for two hours over my shift. This will be happening on a regular basis for a while. I see the overtime burning me out pretty damned quick. Even when we get a newbie at the shop it will take some time to train them properly.
So, got home and made some biscuits to go with the beef, rice and vegetable soup I made yesterday. The kids liked the biscuits, but there weren't many takers on the soup the second time around. I thought that was a shame because I thought it tasted better the second time around.
I have been trying to do pictures on my other blog, Divine Exploitation www.divineexploitation.blogspot.com, to no avail. I asked my buddies over at the Yahoo Group called Eurotrash Paradise and one of them told me to try Cyberlink Power DVD 7. It worked great so I will be able to get some stills from the movies I'm watching. Normally I just see what I can find over at Google, but some of these flicks are so damned obscure that it doesn't always fare well. This new program will make it a lot less of hassle.
Then we watched Hell's Kitchen. It's getting down to the wire and Chef Ramsay even kicked a guy off the show in the middle of service. It was fun to watch this idiot who really can't cook get the boot. I wasn't happy when Julia was eliminated, but that turned around when Chef Ramsay said he was going to put her through culinary school on his dime. Very cool move by the man. Only three more to go and then we get another winner. They are asking for applicants for the next season and I'm seriously thinking about signing up.
Got ready for bed and taped a special on Templar Knights that was going to start at 11:00 and I knew that I would sleep through. Hopefully, I can watch it tomorrow.
So, that meant twice as much work to do and staying for two hours over my shift. This will be happening on a regular basis for a while. I see the overtime burning me out pretty damned quick. Even when we get a newbie at the shop it will take some time to train them properly.
So, got home and made some biscuits to go with the beef, rice and vegetable soup I made yesterday. The kids liked the biscuits, but there weren't many takers on the soup the second time around. I thought that was a shame because I thought it tasted better the second time around.
I have been trying to do pictures on my other blog, Divine Exploitation www.divineexploitation.blogspot.com, to no avail. I asked my buddies over at the Yahoo Group called Eurotrash Paradise and one of them told me to try Cyberlink Power DVD 7. It worked great so I will be able to get some stills from the movies I'm watching. Normally I just see what I can find over at Google, but some of these flicks are so damned obscure that it doesn't always fare well. This new program will make it a lot less of hassle.
Then we watched Hell's Kitchen. It's getting down to the wire and Chef Ramsay even kicked a guy off the show in the middle of service. It was fun to watch this idiot who really can't cook get the boot. I wasn't happy when Julia was eliminated, but that turned around when Chef Ramsay said he was going to put her through culinary school on his dime. Very cool move by the man. Only three more to go and then we get another winner. They are asking for applicants for the next season and I'm seriously thinking about signing up.
Got ready for bed and taped a special on Templar Knights that was going to start at 11:00 and I knew that I would sleep through. Hopefully, I can watch it tomorrow.
7/23/07
DAY TWENTY-SEVEN
Saturday and we hit the ground running. I took the kids to Judo because, well it's good f0r them, plus it would give Martha time to finish the last Harry Potter book. Dennis, Dan and Dandelion did first session. Dan made his partner cry. I'm not sure why because the new set up at the new dojo puts the Judo kids as far away as they can get and you have to look through the Karate kids. Dennis and Delia did second session and the day was just dragging. Now, during first session I ran to the bank and cashed mine and Dan's birthday checks and grabbed a little breakfast. Then during second session I was becoming bored as were the kids not on the mat. We went for a walk down to Avalon used books and looked for something to read. I love that bookstore. The second you walk in you can smell the old books. I looked for a few different authors and was coming up with squat. This happens quite frequently so I'm pretty used to it. I settled on one of the martian books by Michael Moorcock and we were on our way back to the dojo. When Sensei Joe left and the kids realized that their Sensei's were going to be Bob and Andy, they scattered for the hills. Can't say that I blame them.
On the way home we got some pizza and then went home. I had the kids do some chores while I did a few things around the house. Then I took a nap. I was beat. Later that night I watched a flick called Naked Massacre. I thought it would be a little more exploitative, but it turned out to be disturbing.
Saturday was pretty busy.
On the way home we got some pizza and then went home. I had the kids do some chores while I did a few things around the house. Then I took a nap. I was beat. Later that night I watched a flick called Naked Massacre. I thought it would be a little more exploitative, but it turned out to be disturbing.
Saturday was pretty busy.
DAY TWENTY-EIGHT
Sunday started real slow. We knew that we didn't have any gas in the car to make the trek to church so we slept in. Watched some television. Really did as little as possible. I got up and made everyone breakfast and that went well. Then later in the day we finally got moving. I had to run to the store for gasoline for the mower and dryer sheets for Martha. Of course, now that Wal-Mart has turned into a supercenter they stopped carrying our favorite brand of dryer sheets. I think that Big Lots carries them so we will have to make a special trip to get them. The ones I did pick out smelled like bug spray. I was not real happy with this particular turn of events.
I turned a bunch of leftovers to a beef and rice and vegetable soup that turned out really well. There's enough there fr tomorrow's lunch and dinner if we want so that will make Monday a bit easier.
I did a couple of movie reviews. One for Mark over at CultCuts for Jess Franco's Macumba Sexual. Trippy flick, but so Franco that it works rather well for me. I did a review of Naked Massacre for my own blog. I burnt a couple of movies for Stew's birthday present. I'm still waiting for the DVD case to put them all in and it's making me thing it won't be here by Friday. I checked the Cable Access website to see when and how much the next class I need it going to cost. I am thinking that I might just shoot all my stuff through them until I can afford a camera. I really want to get the horror host thing off the ground soon so that it is in full swing by October.
I decided not to do the haunted house thing this year. What with Stew being let go and having to work extra and an upcoming promotion, I just don't think I would have the time. Oh well, maybe things will settle down next year. Have to wait and see.
Martha and I played Milles Bornes with Delia. She likes the game so maybe we'll have to play more often. Dan wanted to play, but he is a little young. How knows? Maybe we'll try it tomorrow and see how he does. I like card games because they go fast and there's no real setup.
Martha braided Dandelion's hair so she would have curls for school tomorrow. By then it was much too late to do anything but sleep and get ready for going back to work for a new week. Bleah!
I turned a bunch of leftovers to a beef and rice and vegetable soup that turned out really well. There's enough there fr tomorrow's lunch and dinner if we want so that will make Monday a bit easier.
I did a couple of movie reviews. One for Mark over at CultCuts for Jess Franco's Macumba Sexual. Trippy flick, but so Franco that it works rather well for me. I did a review of Naked Massacre for my own blog. I burnt a couple of movies for Stew's birthday present. I'm still waiting for the DVD case to put them all in and it's making me thing it won't be here by Friday. I checked the Cable Access website to see when and how much the next class I need it going to cost. I am thinking that I might just shoot all my stuff through them until I can afford a camera. I really want to get the horror host thing off the ground soon so that it is in full swing by October.
I decided not to do the haunted house thing this year. What with Stew being let go and having to work extra and an upcoming promotion, I just don't think I would have the time. Oh well, maybe things will settle down next year. Have to wait and see.
Martha and I played Milles Bornes with Delia. She likes the game so maybe we'll have to play more often. Dan wanted to play, but he is a little young. How knows? Maybe we'll try it tomorrow and see how he does. I like card games because they go fast and there's no real setup.
Martha braided Dandelion's hair so she would have curls for school tomorrow. By then it was much too late to do anything but sleep and get ready for going back to work for a new week. Bleah!
7/22/07
DAY TWENTY-SIX
Back to work and more of the same. This one job requires me to print out 250 sets of tabs and then separate them into 15 piles of tabs. Good work if you can get it, but it's pretty damned boring. Stew and Josh kept talking about this one guy's name, Jack Manis, at work so much that I started visualizing this politically incorrect, hard boiled private eye. I started a story called Die Another Death and it's pretty damned funny and offensive at the same time. I have another one in the works called The Adventure of The Corn Nut Nigger. It sounds offensive and might be, but it's not what I'm shooting for. I envisioned more of a blaxploitation kind of thing. If I was black I seriously doubt whether it would offend anyone. Maybe I'll balance it out with his sidekick being the Hormel Honky or something. Too soon to really tell.
Left work and shortly after that I was stunned to hear from Stew that he was being let go at work. Fuzzy on the details so I will have to see what I can do about that when I get to work on Monday.
Doctor Who was a new episode and very enjoyable to watch. I thought it was pretty good, but my one complaint was that it always seems that The Doctor is always going to the same places. we didn't get that quite so much with the older Doctor. Oh well, it's still a great show.
Other than that the day was a Friday that I wish was a payday.
Left work and shortly after that I was stunned to hear from Stew that he was being let go at work. Fuzzy on the details so I will have to see what I can do about that when I get to work on Monday.
Doctor Who was a new episode and very enjoyable to watch. I thought it was pretty good, but my one complaint was that it always seems that The Doctor is always going to the same places. we didn't get that quite so much with the older Doctor. Oh well, it's still a great show.
Other than that the day was a Friday that I wish was a payday.
7/20/07
DAY TWENTY-FIVE
Another fun filled day at the print shop. There was a rush job that I got finished in record time, double checked my work and sent it on it's merry way. The person I sent it out to must have been happy because if they weren't, we would have heard about it. Cleaned the shop, scrubbed the counter tops and threw out a bunch of crap that we wouldn't use. Checked all the inventory for the machines and gave the boss a list of stuff that we need. In other words boring, yet essential, mundane stuff that you have to do. It isn't all glamour and flowers here in the world of print. Now that I think of it, it's never glamour and flowers in the world of print. Sigh. Oh well.
Biked home afterwards and we had leftovers. Then the kids were outside using the hose to clean their red wagon. I told them I would help and started spraying the wagon to see if I could get it any cleaner. Of course, it didn't take long before I was spraying the kids. They screamed and squealed with delight and I thought it was a hoot. That was until Martha snuck up on me from behind and soaked me with a pot of water. Never saw it coming. The funny part was she said she soaked herself as much as she got me and I did spray her down all the way back to the house. So, we were all soaked so it was clothes changing time. Martha invited me into the shower to get cleaned up. Yipee! Then we had to make a quick run to the store for dog food and toilet paper. Of course that meant there were Double Stuf Oreos for Martha and I got a bag of Andy Capp Cheddar Fries for myself. I remember when they used to print old Andy Capp cartoons on the back of the bags. They don't do that anymore and it's a shame. I used to like the Hot Fries, but the older I get the less I like those. Martha and I watched Ace Of Cakes. A fun show. I always wondered how much he charged for his cakes so I went online to see. Five hundred bucks! For a cake! Man, it must be cool to have that kind of money to throw around.
After Ace Of Cakes Good Eats was on and I fell asleep.
Biked home afterwards and we had leftovers. Then the kids were outside using the hose to clean their red wagon. I told them I would help and started spraying the wagon to see if I could get it any cleaner. Of course, it didn't take long before I was spraying the kids. They screamed and squealed with delight and I thought it was a hoot. That was until Martha snuck up on me from behind and soaked me with a pot of water. Never saw it coming. The funny part was she said she soaked herself as much as she got me and I did spray her down all the way back to the house. So, we were all soaked so it was clothes changing time. Martha invited me into the shower to get cleaned up. Yipee! Then we had to make a quick run to the store for dog food and toilet paper. Of course that meant there were Double Stuf Oreos for Martha and I got a bag of Andy Capp Cheddar Fries for myself. I remember when they used to print old Andy Capp cartoons on the back of the bags. They don't do that anymore and it's a shame. I used to like the Hot Fries, but the older I get the less I like those. Martha and I watched Ace Of Cakes. A fun show. I always wondered how much he charged for his cakes so I went online to see. Five hundred bucks! For a cake! Man, it must be cool to have that kind of money to throw around.
After Ace Of Cakes Good Eats was on and I fell asleep.
7/19/07
DAY TWENTY-FOUR
Compared to the last two days, work was bliss. I did some inventory and ran the time cards for Pfizer, but that was about it. A really laid back day. Good thing because my left ankle is killing me! I have an appointment at the end of the month to renew my prescriptions so I'll ask the doctor then if it's still giving me a hassle.
Other than that the day at work was uneventful.
I went home, made dinner early, ate and fell asleep until it was time to drive out to the church and pick Delia up. She spent a few days out at the pastor's horse farm and she had a blast. They went to the fair and she rode all the rides as much as she could and ate corn dogs and elephant ears. Of all of my kids I think that Delia truly appreciates and loves the county fairs more than any of the others.
We talked about it all the way home and it's a good half hour drive from church back to The Waltz Compound.
I got home and cleaned and vacuumed the bedroom and that was it for me. I went back to sleep. I woke up for a minute when Martha came to bed. She had been engrossed in her Might and Magic computer game. She really likes that game. Looks hard to me, but what do I know?
I nodded off to some new show where you have to remember the lyrics to a song while you sing karaoke. Seems simple, but there were people having trouble with this. Martha knew all the lyrics. She should go on the show. That would be very cool.
Then it was back to sleep for me. Very tired today. I think I'm recovering from the two days of massive busy.
Other than that the day at work was uneventful.
I went home, made dinner early, ate and fell asleep until it was time to drive out to the church and pick Delia up. She spent a few days out at the pastor's horse farm and she had a blast. They went to the fair and she rode all the rides as much as she could and ate corn dogs and elephant ears. Of all of my kids I think that Delia truly appreciates and loves the county fairs more than any of the others.
We talked about it all the way home and it's a good half hour drive from church back to The Waltz Compound.
I got home and cleaned and vacuumed the bedroom and that was it for me. I went back to sleep. I woke up for a minute when Martha came to bed. She had been engrossed in her Might and Magic computer game. She really likes that game. Looks hard to me, but what do I know?
I nodded off to some new show where you have to remember the lyrics to a song while you sing karaoke. Seems simple, but there were people having trouble with this. Martha knew all the lyrics. She should go on the show. That would be very cool.
Then it was back to sleep for me. Very tired today. I think I'm recovering from the two days of massive busy.
7/18/07
DAY TWENTY-THREE
Today was much like Monday. I was still rushing around to get that job done at work. Martha gave me some good advice though, she said that it will get done as fast as I can get it done and that if they wanted it that soon maybe they should have sent it a lot earlier to get done. I love my wife, smart lady. So, the stress level is down and that's good. Work went by in a flash because I was so busy and then I was off for home. This morning it was raining pretty good and it was my first bike ride in the rain. I got soaked, but we have nice, hot showers at work so it was not a big deal.
When I got home things were pretty laid back. I started making stuffed green peppers because they take quite a while. I burnt a few flicks for people and watched some television. Dan's bee bites from the previous day looked pretty swollen so I dosed him with Benadryl and put him in a baking soda bath. Hopefully that will help.
I watched a flick called Chainsaw Sally for a website I write for called Askew Reviews. Denis Sheenan runs the show there and it's pretty laid back there. The review is less than glowing , however, because the flick wasn't that great. Legendary film director H.G. Lewis was in it and he was fantastic, but the rest of the movie was lame at best.
Later I watched a documentary from the 70's called THE LEGEND OF BIGFOOT. I liked the feel of the flick, but it just came across as a nature documentary with some fake Bigfoot footage and a constant, droning narration. It has a curiosity factor that makes it worth viewing once, but I can honestly say I won't be going back to this flick, ever.
It was kind of muggy even downstairs and the house was just moist. Made sleeping no fun whatsoever.
When I got home things were pretty laid back. I started making stuffed green peppers because they take quite a while. I burnt a few flicks for people and watched some television. Dan's bee bites from the previous day looked pretty swollen so I dosed him with Benadryl and put him in a baking soda bath. Hopefully that will help.
I watched a flick called Chainsaw Sally for a website I write for called Askew Reviews. Denis Sheenan runs the show there and it's pretty laid back there. The review is less than glowing , however, because the flick wasn't that great. Legendary film director H.G. Lewis was in it and he was fantastic, but the rest of the movie was lame at best.
Later I watched a documentary from the 70's called THE LEGEND OF BIGFOOT. I liked the feel of the flick, but it just came across as a nature documentary with some fake Bigfoot footage and a constant, droning narration. It has a curiosity factor that makes it worth viewing once, but I can honestly say I won't be going back to this flick, ever.
It was kind of muggy even downstairs and the house was just moist. Made sleeping no fun whatsoever.
7/17/07
DAY TWENTY-TWO
I'll let all you know a little secret. I actually write these things the day after. Kind of gives me a chance to look at the day in retrospect. So, even though it's Tuesday, I'm chronicling my adventures of Monday.
Man, there are good Mondays and then there was this Monday.
I had a huge project due for one of the people here at the print shop. And everything that could go wrong with it did. Color files printed in black and white. Two sided documents wanted to be one sided. It was not a pretty thing, but it was okay because the person who's job it was said to do my best and get it done.
Then she called back at 2:30 and wanted to know where it was. I explained where I was in the printing and assembling process and suddenly, do your best wasn't what she wanted. She wanted them NOW. Yeah, now didn't happen. They would be finished on Tuesday, early Tuesday, but Tuesday nonetheless.
I even stayed late to get them done. So, to be considerate, I called Martha and told her the situation.
She was, to say the least, not pleased. This puzzled me because overtime means more money. I called her back and she wanted nothing to do with me. Curious, I thought, as I stayed at work and fumed over this horrid job that lay before me.
I left around 4:30, a good hour and a half later than usual, and made my way home. When I got there the house was uncommonly quiet for there being a wife, three kids and just as many dogs that usually roamed the household. Not today, it was quiet. Too quiet.
I made my way up the stairs and found everyone in our bedroom.
It seemed that Dennis and Daniel had decided to explore the woods behind our house. In their explorations they accidentally disturbed a ground nest full of bees. The bees attacked, the boys panicked and chaos ensued.
They ran to the house, bringing the bees with them. Martha yelled at Dennis to get the hose, but that didn't communicate well through the door and Dennis and Daniel came into the house their clothes full of bees. Martha managed to shake them out of their clothes and everyone made a mad dash upstairs to escape the bees. This is important because Dandelion is very allergic to bees. The boys, like their father, are not at all. They sting and burn, but there is no adverse reactions to the bee venom. They both got between ten and fifteen stings apiece.
I did my duties by slaughtering the rest of the bees. They were quite large and I managed to dispatch the trio with a well placed dictionary.
After that Martha and I went to the store and got a huge amount of food. we came home and made chili cheese dogs and potato chips with dip. After that we watched Hell's Kitchen, fed and watered the dogs and let them outside for the night.
I promised Dennis that we would find the nest after night fall and fill it with bleach to dispatch the bees and avoid a repeat performance.
Dennis led me into the back yard, bleach in hand, and we started making our way deeper into the woods.
When I asked him exactly where this nest was he pointed even deeper into the woods. I explained to Dennis that bee's nests occur in nature and they weren't in my yard so I wasn't going to indiscriminately slaughter bees that were just doing their own thing.
Dennis is a nature nut as well and agreed that this was a good idea and they would just give the area a wide berth.
Oh, and when the boys came screaming back into the yard Sweetie, the dog, bullied her way outside to save the boys and managed to get a sting on the nose for her trouble. Sweetie is not allergic to bees either. She's a good dog.
Man, and I thought Sundays were busy.
Man, there are good Mondays and then there was this Monday.
I had a huge project due for one of the people here at the print shop. And everything that could go wrong with it did. Color files printed in black and white. Two sided documents wanted to be one sided. It was not a pretty thing, but it was okay because the person who's job it was said to do my best and get it done.
Then she called back at 2:30 and wanted to know where it was. I explained where I was in the printing and assembling process and suddenly, do your best wasn't what she wanted. She wanted them NOW. Yeah, now didn't happen. They would be finished on Tuesday, early Tuesday, but Tuesday nonetheless.
I even stayed late to get them done. So, to be considerate, I called Martha and told her the situation.
She was, to say the least, not pleased. This puzzled me because overtime means more money. I called her back and she wanted nothing to do with me. Curious, I thought, as I stayed at work and fumed over this horrid job that lay before me.
I left around 4:30, a good hour and a half later than usual, and made my way home. When I got there the house was uncommonly quiet for there being a wife, three kids and just as many dogs that usually roamed the household. Not today, it was quiet. Too quiet.
I made my way up the stairs and found everyone in our bedroom.
It seemed that Dennis and Daniel had decided to explore the woods behind our house. In their explorations they accidentally disturbed a ground nest full of bees. The bees attacked, the boys panicked and chaos ensued.
They ran to the house, bringing the bees with them. Martha yelled at Dennis to get the hose, but that didn't communicate well through the door and Dennis and Daniel came into the house their clothes full of bees. Martha managed to shake them out of their clothes and everyone made a mad dash upstairs to escape the bees. This is important because Dandelion is very allergic to bees. The boys, like their father, are not at all. They sting and burn, but there is no adverse reactions to the bee venom. They both got between ten and fifteen stings apiece.
I did my duties by slaughtering the rest of the bees. They were quite large and I managed to dispatch the trio with a well placed dictionary.
After that Martha and I went to the store and got a huge amount of food. we came home and made chili cheese dogs and potato chips with dip. After that we watched Hell's Kitchen, fed and watered the dogs and let them outside for the night.
I promised Dennis that we would find the nest after night fall and fill it with bleach to dispatch the bees and avoid a repeat performance.
Dennis led me into the back yard, bleach in hand, and we started making our way deeper into the woods.
When I asked him exactly where this nest was he pointed even deeper into the woods. I explained to Dennis that bee's nests occur in nature and they weren't in my yard so I wasn't going to indiscriminately slaughter bees that were just doing their own thing.
Dennis is a nature nut as well and agreed that this was a good idea and they would just give the area a wide berth.
Oh, and when the boys came screaming back into the yard Sweetie, the dog, bullied her way outside to save the boys and managed to get a sting on the nose for her trouble. Sweetie is not allergic to bees either. She's a good dog.
Man, and I thought Sundays were busy.
7/16/07
DAY TWENTY ONE
Sunday morning and the Waltz family is off to church! We got there and it was Jeff Sackett's turn to make breakfast so we got yummy croissant sandwiches and some fresh fruit. My Sunday School lesson was from the book of Zechariah and it concerned repentance. Always a good lesson, but we got sidetracked by the pope's announcement that if your church isn't Catholic it ain't a church. Then we had a group called Soul's Harbor come and sing at the church and they were good, but Martha and I agreed that they come off a little cold and impersonal when they aren't up on stage belting them out. Oh well, what ya gonna do?
After that we went to the lake and did a little swimming and played on the playground. I was pushing the kids on this huge round thingie that is attached by three bulky chains. As I was doing this I started counting and came up with five kids! Since we only have four kids this was a bit of a puzzle, especially since they all looked like mine to begin with. Anyway, I spotted the extra and reminded myself to make sure she didn't accidentally come home with us.
Until I saw her cow of a grumpy ass mother come bark at her and take her away. After that it would have been just fine for her to come home with us. Some people really get on my nerves.
After that we went home and got some food and watched Puss N Boots with Christopher Walken as Puss. Interesting idea and it was fun to watch.
I managed to get a blog done for my friend Curt Purcell for the book; Spider #4: Death And The Spider. It was a little thrill getting my stuff published somewhere else. Especially Curt's blog that gets so much traffic anyway.
Then I had to take Delia back to church so that she could go with Pastor John and his wife Missy. They have a horse farm and she's going to spend a few days out there. I'm a little nervous, but I'm always a little nervous when my kids are away.
When I got back home I watched an older episode of Doctor Who with Martha. It was The Pyramids Of Mars with Tom Baker and The Doctor's companion was Sarah Jane. A really clever episode. Then it was time to hit the hay.
Sundays are always so busy.
After that we went to the lake and did a little swimming and played on the playground. I was pushing the kids on this huge round thingie that is attached by three bulky chains. As I was doing this I started counting and came up with five kids! Since we only have four kids this was a bit of a puzzle, especially since they all looked like mine to begin with. Anyway, I spotted the extra and reminded myself to make sure she didn't accidentally come home with us.
Until I saw her cow of a grumpy ass mother come bark at her and take her away. After that it would have been just fine for her to come home with us. Some people really get on my nerves.
After that we went home and got some food and watched Puss N Boots with Christopher Walken as Puss. Interesting idea and it was fun to watch.
I managed to get a blog done for my friend Curt Purcell for the book; Spider #4: Death And The Spider. It was a little thrill getting my stuff published somewhere else. Especially Curt's blog that gets so much traffic anyway.
Then I had to take Delia back to church so that she could go with Pastor John and his wife Missy. They have a horse farm and she's going to spend a few days out there. I'm a little nervous, but I'm always a little nervous when my kids are away.
When I got back home I watched an older episode of Doctor Who with Martha. It was The Pyramids Of Mars with Tom Baker and The Doctor's companion was Sarah Jane. A really clever episode. Then it was time to hit the hay.
Sundays are always so busy.
DAY TWENTY
Saturday, bleh. We were supposed to get up and go to Judo for the kids. Yeah, we slept in instead. And the car had a bigger problem. It was still overheating. I checked and checked and finally came to the conclusion that it was a stuck thermostat. The thermostat casing was in the most unobtainable place ever and it's summer so I went for the easy fix. I used a screwdriver and a hammer to punch a hole through the thermostat and now it works fine.
Saturday, other than that was laid back. Watched a film that I have to review called Splatter Farm. It's the first film by the Pennsylvania based Polonia Brothers and it's pretty extreme for what it is. I still need to watch it one more time with the commentary because there is nothing more informative than a Polonia Brothers commentary. With the possible exception of a commentary by producer Sam Sherman or film maker H.G. Lewis.
Nothing else really happened.
Saturday, other than that was laid back. Watched a film that I have to review called Splatter Farm. It's the first film by the Pennsylvania based Polonia Brothers and it's pretty extreme for what it is. I still need to watch it one more time with the commentary because there is nothing more informative than a Polonia Brothers commentary. With the possible exception of a commentary by producer Sam Sherman or film maker H.G. Lewis.
Nothing else really happened.
7/14/07
DAY NINETEEN
Friday and payday! It would be more exciting if it wasn't already spent. Oh well, what are you going to do? It was also Friday The 13th and it seemed that the machines at work knew it. The 6100 was broke, again! The Nuvera wasn't working right and, of course, everything had to be done right this minute. On a Friday! Don't these people know that Friday is the slack off day?
When I got home we waited for the littles and then went to see the movie Transformers. It was very cool and I grinned through the whole thing. The lead actor, Shia Lebouef was very good and his costar Meagn Fox was very pretty. The robots were awesome! After all these years we get a live action movie that lives up to my fond memories of the original Transformers. Say what you want about Micheal Bay, this was a great movie and one that we will definitely own when it comes out on DVD.
On the way to the theater the low coolant light kept coming on sporadically. When we arrived at the movies I checked and saw a leak. I thought nothing of it until after the movie was over. We went to Target to get some anti freeze and picked up a Carmel Frappucino for Martha while we were there.
When we got back to the car i saw that it was a simple case of one of the heater hoses coming loose. I thanked Jesus for the lucky break on the car and reattached the hose and we were on our merry way. Tomorrow I will have to check under the hood and make sure there is enough coolant in the car. Yeah, for me.
We got home and I made stir fry for dinner and chocolate pudding for dessert. We watched Good Times on TV Land and Delia thinks that is the funniest show ever. She laughs so hard while we watch that show. I have one disc of it, but I think we'll need the rest from NetFlix in the very near future.
After dinner, the newest episode of Doctor Who was on. This time around, The Doctor and his newest companion, Martha Jones went back to visit Shakespeare. Of course, since it was the doctor we had to have some problem going on. It dealt with these creatures from the beginning of the universe. Funny, the Christmas episode dealt with an ancient race of beings as well. Kind of wondering what is this all leading up to. Have to wait and see. I did think it was funny that we got a BACK TO THE FUTURE reference and well as one about the 7th Harry Potter book.
One last thing; the previews at the theater were plentiful and the ones that stood out the most to me were THE SIMPSONS which was such a sharp, clear picture that it was almost too sharp. There was one for I AM LEGEND starring Will Smith. With Will Smith I have a love/hate relationship. I either like the movies he's in, I, ROBOT, for example. Or I don't THE WILD WILD WEST immediately comes to mind. So, we will have to see. I do like that they are using the actual name of the Richard Matheson story that this is derived from. It's been done twice before. Vincent Price starred in the classic, THE LAST MAN ON EARTH and Charlton Heston did a bizarre turn in OMEGA MAN. Both good flicks in their own right, but not quite right. I can tell you one thing, this was originally supposed to star Arnold Schwarzenegger. He would have butchered this thing. Bruce Willis would have been good in this one.
It was a busy Friday and we only had a brief problem with the car so that is a good thing.
When I got home we waited for the littles and then went to see the movie Transformers. It was very cool and I grinned through the whole thing. The lead actor, Shia Lebouef was very good and his costar Meagn Fox was very pretty. The robots were awesome! After all these years we get a live action movie that lives up to my fond memories of the original Transformers. Say what you want about Micheal Bay, this was a great movie and one that we will definitely own when it comes out on DVD.
On the way to the theater the low coolant light kept coming on sporadically. When we arrived at the movies I checked and saw a leak. I thought nothing of it until after the movie was over. We went to Target to get some anti freeze and picked up a Carmel Frappucino for Martha while we were there.
When we got back to the car i saw that it was a simple case of one of the heater hoses coming loose. I thanked Jesus for the lucky break on the car and reattached the hose and we were on our merry way. Tomorrow I will have to check under the hood and make sure there is enough coolant in the car. Yeah, for me.
We got home and I made stir fry for dinner and chocolate pudding for dessert. We watched Good Times on TV Land and Delia thinks that is the funniest show ever. She laughs so hard while we watch that show. I have one disc of it, but I think we'll need the rest from NetFlix in the very near future.
After dinner, the newest episode of Doctor Who was on. This time around, The Doctor and his newest companion, Martha Jones went back to visit Shakespeare. Of course, since it was the doctor we had to have some problem going on. It dealt with these creatures from the beginning of the universe. Funny, the Christmas episode dealt with an ancient race of beings as well. Kind of wondering what is this all leading up to. Have to wait and see. I did think it was funny that we got a BACK TO THE FUTURE reference and well as one about the 7th Harry Potter book.
One last thing; the previews at the theater were plentiful and the ones that stood out the most to me were THE SIMPSONS which was such a sharp, clear picture that it was almost too sharp. There was one for I AM LEGEND starring Will Smith. With Will Smith I have a love/hate relationship. I either like the movies he's in, I, ROBOT, for example. Or I don't THE WILD WILD WEST immediately comes to mind. So, we will have to see. I do like that they are using the actual name of the Richard Matheson story that this is derived from. It's been done twice before. Vincent Price starred in the classic, THE LAST MAN ON EARTH and Charlton Heston did a bizarre turn in OMEGA MAN. Both good flicks in their own right, but not quite right. I can tell you one thing, this was originally supposed to star Arnold Schwarzenegger. He would have butchered this thing. Bruce Willis would have been good in this one.
It was a busy Friday and we only had a brief problem with the car so that is a good thing.
7/13/07
DAY EIGHTEEN
I decided to restart up my Qigong exercise routine today. I got up early and did the entire routine and then got on my bike and pedaled my way to work. The heat has been gone for a couple of days so it was a nice ride. My youngest daughter, Dandelion, let me borrow her backpack that has much better shoulder straps than the freebie from my previous job at Ameritech has. That coupled with sleeping in my own bed has eliminated that pesky hand numbness that plagued me for the last couple of days.
I brought chocolate chip cookies to work and they were enjoyed by all. I make a darn good cookie if I do say so and that was proved by their conspicuous absence by the end of the day. I got an hour of overtime because we had that open house going on. The smoothies were good and there was no added sugar so I sucked down about three of those things in various fruity combinations. The ladies at the open house were nice enough, but I still had that whole, 'fishbowl on display' feeling about the entire event. Oh well, what are ya gonna do?
I got home and we got ready to go to Judo . Martha and I took Dandelion with us because she is a trouble making instigator and the house runs smoother with her not there when we are not there.
Our regular Sensei, Chris Snyder, wasn't there and for some God awful reason, the guy who actually owns and runs the dojo, Bob Treat, decided to help Sensei Joe run the class.
Yeah, if I wanted mindless exercise I would have stayed in high school gym class. We did learn sliding foot sweeps which I started to get the hang of, but my energy levels seemed a little low. Probably the restarting of my Qigong along with two twenty minute bike rides. I had already exercised three times that day and I was working on my fourth!
Afterwards we stopped at Meijer to pick up some needed stuff and Martha wrote the check over so that we could get some yummy fast food for us and the kids still at home.
After food we went outside and fed the dogs and taught Sweetie to catch the frisbee. Mickey and Cassidy have no desire to catch the frisbee. They prefer the tennis ball. I think tomorrow I'm going to teach Dan how to throw the frisbee because I could tell he was getting frustrated that he couldn't toss it directly to the dog like I could. It should be fun.
By then it was late so we all headed to bed. Martha and I ended the night with a game of Scrabble and I actually won! I never win against her at Scrabble. The rule is if she wants to win we play Scrabble. If I want to win we play Trivial Pursuit. If we don't care we play Mille Borne which has a higher variable of pure luck and draw of the cards going for it.
Quite a busy day. Tomorrow is pay day and we're taking the kids to see the new Transformers movie.
I brought chocolate chip cookies to work and they were enjoyed by all. I make a darn good cookie if I do say so and that was proved by their conspicuous absence by the end of the day. I got an hour of overtime because we had that open house going on. The smoothies were good and there was no added sugar so I sucked down about three of those things in various fruity combinations. The ladies at the open house were nice enough, but I still had that whole, 'fishbowl on display' feeling about the entire event. Oh well, what are ya gonna do?
I got home and we got ready to go to Judo . Martha and I took Dandelion with us because she is a trouble making instigator and the house runs smoother with her not there when we are not there.
Our regular Sensei, Chris Snyder, wasn't there and for some God awful reason, the guy who actually owns and runs the dojo, Bob Treat, decided to help Sensei Joe run the class.
Yeah, if I wanted mindless exercise I would have stayed in high school gym class. We did learn sliding foot sweeps which I started to get the hang of, but my energy levels seemed a little low. Probably the restarting of my Qigong along with two twenty minute bike rides. I had already exercised three times that day and I was working on my fourth!
Afterwards we stopped at Meijer to pick up some needed stuff and Martha wrote the check over so that we could get some yummy fast food for us and the kids still at home.
After food we went outside and fed the dogs and taught Sweetie to catch the frisbee. Mickey and Cassidy have no desire to catch the frisbee. They prefer the tennis ball. I think tomorrow I'm going to teach Dan how to throw the frisbee because I could tell he was getting frustrated that he couldn't toss it directly to the dog like I could. It should be fun.
By then it was late so we all headed to bed. Martha and I ended the night with a game of Scrabble and I actually won! I never win against her at Scrabble. The rule is if she wants to win we play Scrabble. If I want to win we play Trivial Pursuit. If we don't care we play Mille Borne which has a higher variable of pure luck and draw of the cards going for it.
Quite a busy day. Tomorrow is pay day and we're taking the kids to see the new Transformers movie.
7/12/07
DAY SEVENTEEN
Wednesday. Time to get to work and print the Pfizer time cards. Not a huge job, but just annoying. Then, remember I mentioned yesterday that I lost the feeling in a couple of my fingers yesterday? Yeah, it started hitting my whole hand. This freaked me out and being little bit of a hypochondriac I started assuming that I was having some sort of brain storm. This is bad. Bad enough that I went to immediate care to see what was wrong.
The doctor seemed like a big doughy idiot woman. She said if I got any of these other symptoms that I should go immediately to the Emergency Room. So, as we were leaving I started developing those symptoms. Figures. Anyway, the whole thing knocked me out and made me tired so, Martha took me home and I took a little nap on the couch.
After my nap Dennis made pork roast. I helped a little, it was good stuff, but I think I ate too much pork fat. I'll be paying for that tomorrow.
Then we decided to go to the store. Te heel of my left hand was still a little numb, but we picked out some stuff and I decided to grab the ingredients to make cookies for tomorrow's open house. Making cookies seemed to calm me down somewhat. I played Frisbee with the kids in the yard, helped clear some glass from the neighbor dog's area near her dog house. Remy is a pit bull and a good girl. Thanks to Martha she has some semblance of training, but her actual owners are idiots when it comes to dogs. Good thing Remy has us. I noticed her dog food dish was full of some nasty, dirty back fat or something just as gross so, while I was cleaning up the glass I had Delia go and get some dog food and put it in her dish. Remy has food issues so I made sure to get that done while Martha was giving her a little walk.
After the cookies were done I made coffee for the family and we had a cookie and some coffee. It's a carmel blend so it went quite well with the cookies.
Martha decided that she wanted to fold the mountain of clean laundry so I helped her while I watched a show called Code Monkeys. It looks like an 8-bit video game and is done on the video game channel G4. It's quite crude and funny. I might have to give that a go more often.
After folding and putting away our clothes we hit the sack.
It was a day that started out pretty stressful, but ended on a good note.
The doctor seemed like a big doughy idiot woman. She said if I got any of these other symptoms that I should go immediately to the Emergency Room. So, as we were leaving I started developing those symptoms. Figures. Anyway, the whole thing knocked me out and made me tired so, Martha took me home and I took a little nap on the couch.
After my nap Dennis made pork roast. I helped a little, it was good stuff, but I think I ate too much pork fat. I'll be paying for that tomorrow.
Then we decided to go to the store. Te heel of my left hand was still a little numb, but we picked out some stuff and I decided to grab the ingredients to make cookies for tomorrow's open house. Making cookies seemed to calm me down somewhat. I played Frisbee with the kids in the yard, helped clear some glass from the neighbor dog's area near her dog house. Remy is a pit bull and a good girl. Thanks to Martha she has some semblance of training, but her actual owners are idiots when it comes to dogs. Good thing Remy has us. I noticed her dog food dish was full of some nasty, dirty back fat or something just as gross so, while I was cleaning up the glass I had Delia go and get some dog food and put it in her dish. Remy has food issues so I made sure to get that done while Martha was giving her a little walk.
After the cookies were done I made coffee for the family and we had a cookie and some coffee. It's a carmel blend so it went quite well with the cookies.
Martha decided that she wanted to fold the mountain of clean laundry so I helped her while I watched a show called Code Monkeys. It looks like an 8-bit video game and is done on the video game channel G4. It's quite crude and funny. I might have to give that a go more often.
After folding and putting away our clothes we hit the sack.
It was a day that started out pretty stressful, but ended on a good note.
7/11/07
DAY SIXTEEN
Sure, I say that I'm not going to do the historical tidbit anymore and what should rear it's ugly head? That's right, history. It seems that The Pope, Pope Benedict XVI, decided that his church is the ONLY church. According to him, Jesus came to Earth to create HIS church and only HIS church is the true path to salvation. Yeah, this guy is starting to get on my last nerve.
Work was work. I finished working on the latest L'il Jason mini comic. I printed it on a bright green paper and it turned out pretty good. Makes me want to make another one.
Patti, my buddy Larry Stanley's wife, gave me his hospital number and I thought it would be a good idea to give him a call. He's been there for almost three weeks, but he's going home on Friday so that is a good thing. He sounded like he was going stir crazy in there and really enjoyed hearing from me. I'll have to be sure to give him an other call real soon. I'm going to have to send him a care package of movies real soon. Help prevent that dreaded cabin fever.
It was still too hot to sleep upstairs last night, but that is supposed to break tonight and I'll be able to sleep in my own bed again. I hate sleeping on the couch. The cursed thing gives me freakier dreams than are normal, even for me.
Had something weird happen today, but I think I've figured out what it was. I got to work in the morning and went right to work. A rarity for me. Anyway, the ring finger on my left hand went numb and it took a minute to get back to normal. I panicked of course and thought the worst, but it went away pretty quick. Later, when I got home, It happened again, this time on my middle finger on my left hand. This time I shook it violently and it went away pretty quick. I think it's because of my backpack and trying to cram too much stuff in it. There were crease in my arms where the backpack rests. I think I'm pinching a nerve or something. And with already having had carpal tunnel surgery on both hands once I think it might be a contributing factor.
I still think I'm going to set up a doctor's appointment for me in the near future. I have to anyway for my medication so it will be killing two birds with one stone.
I sure am glad it finally cooled off here in the sweltering state of Michigan.
Work was work. I finished working on the latest L'il Jason mini comic. I printed it on a bright green paper and it turned out pretty good. Makes me want to make another one.
Patti, my buddy Larry Stanley's wife, gave me his hospital number and I thought it would be a good idea to give him a call. He's been there for almost three weeks, but he's going home on Friday so that is a good thing. He sounded like he was going stir crazy in there and really enjoyed hearing from me. I'll have to be sure to give him an other call real soon. I'm going to have to send him a care package of movies real soon. Help prevent that dreaded cabin fever.
It was still too hot to sleep upstairs last night, but that is supposed to break tonight and I'll be able to sleep in my own bed again. I hate sleeping on the couch. The cursed thing gives me freakier dreams than are normal, even for me.
Had something weird happen today, but I think I've figured out what it was. I got to work in the morning and went right to work. A rarity for me. Anyway, the ring finger on my left hand went numb and it took a minute to get back to normal. I panicked of course and thought the worst, but it went away pretty quick. Later, when I got home, It happened again, this time on my middle finger on my left hand. This time I shook it violently and it went away pretty quick. I think it's because of my backpack and trying to cram too much stuff in it. There were crease in my arms where the backpack rests. I think I'm pinching a nerve or something. And with already having had carpal tunnel surgery on both hands once I think it might be a contributing factor.
I still think I'm going to set up a doctor's appointment for me in the near future. I have to anyway for my medication so it will be killing two birds with one stone.
I sure am glad it finally cooled off here in the sweltering state of Michigan.
7/10/07
DAY FIFTEEN
A hot weekend led to a hot Monday. It was even hot at six in the morning on my bike ride to work. Between the air conditioning at work set to Arctic at work and the giant humming behemoth that squats in the dining room window at home and manages to keep the downstairs cool, it isn't too bad. Well, the bike rides get a little steamy, but otherwise it's pretty cool. The weather is supposed to break tomorrow and we'll get the obligatory storms.
I spent the whole day building a job that was a huge pain, but then I figured out a way to make it easier when the client approves the proof.
Got home and took a little nap, I was beat mostly from the heat. Dennis wanted to make dinner and I said he could if he washed the dishes. He did it without batting an eye. Dinner was great. He made steak, fried potatoes and carrots and it all turned out really well. Dessert was some junk from the nearby gas station that I biked to.
It was Monday so we watched Hell's Kitchen. Before that I watched the Paul Naschy flick THE WEREWOLF VS. THE VAMPIRE WOMAN. Pretty cool 70's Eurotrash. Dan the Man liked the werewolf. Dan was pretty happy when he got home from school. He was wearing the Cthulu shirt that Stew made him for his birthday. Dan's teacher, Mr. Brown, bowed down to Dan as the Lord of Cthulu. Pretty happy moment for a seven year old when you are proclaimed Lord and Master over a fictious elder god.
We camped out in the livingroom to beat the heat yet again and watched JAWS as we went to sleep.
Another day at The Waltz Compound.
I spent the whole day building a job that was a huge pain, but then I figured out a way to make it easier when the client approves the proof.
Got home and took a little nap, I was beat mostly from the heat. Dennis wanted to make dinner and I said he could if he washed the dishes. He did it without batting an eye. Dinner was great. He made steak, fried potatoes and carrots and it all turned out really well. Dessert was some junk from the nearby gas station that I biked to.
It was Monday so we watched Hell's Kitchen. Before that I watched the Paul Naschy flick THE WEREWOLF VS. THE VAMPIRE WOMAN. Pretty cool 70's Eurotrash. Dan the Man liked the werewolf. Dan was pretty happy when he got home from school. He was wearing the Cthulu shirt that Stew made him for his birthday. Dan's teacher, Mr. Brown, bowed down to Dan as the Lord of Cthulu. Pretty happy moment for a seven year old when you are proclaimed Lord and Master over a fictious elder god.
We camped out in the livingroom to beat the heat yet again and watched JAWS as we went to sleep.
Another day at The Waltz Compound.
7/9/07
DAY FOURTEEN
For a while I was posting some historical factoid for the day. Then I realized that wasn't the object of this particular blog and stopped it. I will include anything that might affect me directly, otherwise I think I've killed that particular aspect of this set of writings.
Anyway, got up nice and early on Sunday morning. Made it to church before everyone except for Pastor John and his wife, Missy. Missy was making yummy breakfast sandwiches so that was good. Sunday school was concerning the book of Haggai. Haggi is one of the minor prophets in the end of the Old Testament. We were focusing primarily on the Jews not rebuilding the temple of God when they returned to Jerusalem. God put a blight on his people in the hopes that they would turn to him in a time of crisis. Didn't happen and after fifteen years he came to Haggai and gave him the message that if you put God first then all other things will fall into place.
There was a lot of really good discussion and I think it went pretty well.
Service was also good. John went into Chronicles for the message and I always like some good old fashioned Old Testament bible study.
After church we went to Little Caesars and got a couple of the five dollar specials and headed to Ramona Park where we were meeting Stew and his clan for some swimming.
We were there for a couple of hours and the kids had a blast. Of course, last time I remembered to sunscreen the top of my bald head, but not my face. This time I sun screened my whole head. That'll teach those pesky rays, I thought to myself. Would have been better if I had sun screened my neck. That's a little crispy.
After that we went home and everyone crashed for a couple of hours. We woke up to watch some FOX cartoons and I made crispy BBQ pork with rice for dinner.
All in all a fun filled day and a great way to beat the heat. Did I mention that the thermometer hit 99 degrees? Yeah, it was pretty hot.
Anyway, got up nice and early on Sunday morning. Made it to church before everyone except for Pastor John and his wife, Missy. Missy was making yummy breakfast sandwiches so that was good. Sunday school was concerning the book of Haggai. Haggi is one of the minor prophets in the end of the Old Testament. We were focusing primarily on the Jews not rebuilding the temple of God when they returned to Jerusalem. God put a blight on his people in the hopes that they would turn to him in a time of crisis. Didn't happen and after fifteen years he came to Haggai and gave him the message that if you put God first then all other things will fall into place.
There was a lot of really good discussion and I think it went pretty well.
Service was also good. John went into Chronicles for the message and I always like some good old fashioned Old Testament bible study.
After church we went to Little Caesars and got a couple of the five dollar specials and headed to Ramona Park where we were meeting Stew and his clan for some swimming.
We were there for a couple of hours and the kids had a blast. Of course, last time I remembered to sunscreen the top of my bald head, but not my face. This time I sun screened my whole head. That'll teach those pesky rays, I thought to myself. Would have been better if I had sun screened my neck. That's a little crispy.
After that we went home and everyone crashed for a couple of hours. We woke up to watch some FOX cartoons and I made crispy BBQ pork with rice for dinner.
All in all a fun filled day and a great way to beat the heat. Did I mention that the thermometer hit 99 degrees? Yeah, it was pretty hot.
7/7/07
DAY THIRTEEN
The kids have Judo every Saturday morning. This Saturday we got up late. I blame myself because I didn't set my alarm. So, their not going was all my fault. Wanted to stay in bed all day, but I had stuff to do. Turner Classic Movies was nice enough to play some old Screwy Squirrel cartoons and that was cool. Before that they had a one reel about illegal betting on horse races. Hugh Beaumont got slapped into a coma by some thugs so it was fun to watch. Never knew that Beaver's dad bet on the ponies.
Then I was up and ready to go. I had to drop off a movie, Bride OF Frank, to a guy I know, Jimmy Stickel down at the library. The kids were up for the drive, but Martha decided to stay home. Jimmy never showed so no flick for him. Dennis and Dandelion got some comics from the library so it wasn't a total waste.
Then we decided to let Dan spend his birthday gift certificate that Joe got him from Fanfare Comics. He bought a new Nintendo Gamecube game called Metroid something or other. Metroid is one of those that has a billion and a half titles out there so it's hard to tell one from the other.
After that we had to take back bottles and pick up some necessity items from the store.
I was grilling corn on the cob and steak for dinner and picked up some charcoal with everything else.
The grilling didn't go so good.
I think I just didn't have enough charcoal to begin with. I got one of those bags that you just throw in there and light and you're good to go. The corn turned out fine, but the steaks got cooked on the indoor grill that sets on top of our stove. Handy little thing that I got for a holiday many moons ago from Martha. Use it all the time. The steaks turned out fine and the corn was great.
After that the kids played some video games while I got everything set up for family movie night. See, I have this buddy named Michael Legge who is also a horror movie host named Dr. Dreck. Anyway, he sends me all his shows on DVD and the kids really like them. Dan especially likes Stu, the big rat who drives Dr. Dreck crazy. Tonight's feature was The Brain Eaters. With a total running time of 60 minutes, this flick from the fifties is great fun with a rocket ship, creatures that control your brain and Leonard Nimoy in an unrecognizable cameo. You know it's him, though. The voice is unmistakable.
This is one of the Dreck's Drive-In specials. They all take place at the drive-in and this week the concession stand owner, Graoner decides to hold a raffle, only she has no idea how to hold a raffle and hilarity ensues. Dr. Dreck reminds me of my younger years when I would watch Shock Theater on the local ABC affiliate and then, if I could get it to come in, I would watch the ABC affiliate out of Mishiwaka, Indiana and check out Double Creature Feature. Shock Theater had The Ghoul out of Detroit as a host for a little while, but my fondest memories of either show had no horror host. Shock Theater had spooky music and a spooky picture of a tree or some such thing. Double Creature Feature had a picture of cartoony monsters and somebody on a synthesizer playing the words 'creature feature' to a funky beat. Pretty cool stuff, but no horror host. Dr. Dreck is my horror host of choice and the kids really like the popcorn and soda and watching Dr. Dreck each weekend. A fun time was had by all.
Tomorrow is church and I have a Sunday School Lesson to prepare so I'm done with this for the night.
Then I was up and ready to go. I had to drop off a movie, Bride OF Frank, to a guy I know, Jimmy Stickel down at the library. The kids were up for the drive, but Martha decided to stay home. Jimmy never showed so no flick for him. Dennis and Dandelion got some comics from the library so it wasn't a total waste.
Then we decided to let Dan spend his birthday gift certificate that Joe got him from Fanfare Comics. He bought a new Nintendo Gamecube game called Metroid something or other. Metroid is one of those that has a billion and a half titles out there so it's hard to tell one from the other.
After that we had to take back bottles and pick up some necessity items from the store.
I was grilling corn on the cob and steak for dinner and picked up some charcoal with everything else.
The grilling didn't go so good.
I think I just didn't have enough charcoal to begin with. I got one of those bags that you just throw in there and light and you're good to go. The corn turned out fine, but the steaks got cooked on the indoor grill that sets on top of our stove. Handy little thing that I got for a holiday many moons ago from Martha. Use it all the time. The steaks turned out fine and the corn was great.
After that the kids played some video games while I got everything set up for family movie night. See, I have this buddy named Michael Legge who is also a horror movie host named Dr. Dreck. Anyway, he sends me all his shows on DVD and the kids really like them. Dan especially likes Stu, the big rat who drives Dr. Dreck crazy. Tonight's feature was The Brain Eaters. With a total running time of 60 minutes, this flick from the fifties is great fun with a rocket ship, creatures that control your brain and Leonard Nimoy in an unrecognizable cameo. You know it's him, though. The voice is unmistakable.
This is one of the Dreck's Drive-In specials. They all take place at the drive-in and this week the concession stand owner, Graoner decides to hold a raffle, only she has no idea how to hold a raffle and hilarity ensues. Dr. Dreck reminds me of my younger years when I would watch Shock Theater on the local ABC affiliate and then, if I could get it to come in, I would watch the ABC affiliate out of Mishiwaka, Indiana and check out Double Creature Feature. Shock Theater had The Ghoul out of Detroit as a host for a little while, but my fondest memories of either show had no horror host. Shock Theater had spooky music and a spooky picture of a tree or some such thing. Double Creature Feature had a picture of cartoony monsters and somebody on a synthesizer playing the words 'creature feature' to a funky beat. Pretty cool stuff, but no horror host. Dr. Dreck is my horror host of choice and the kids really like the popcorn and soda and watching Dr. Dreck each weekend. A fun time was had by all.
Tomorrow is church and I have a Sunday School Lesson to prepare so I'm done with this for the night.
DAY TWELVE
Friday at the shop! Woooooo! Almost the weekend! Of course I have no plans for the weekend so I have no idea what I am excited about. Spent most of the day cleaning the shop so it looks nice and pretty for Tracie when she gets back from her holiday. She wants it to look nice for the lame ass open house we are having on Thursday. Yippee! Did a little drawing for my newest L'il Jason mini comic that I should be able to print sometime next week. Well, except for Thursday. They are even paying me overtime to stay late so that I will be there for the entire party. I am so not thrilled that I will have to be there for the whole thing. I will put on my happy face, but that's about it.
Home was nice and laid back. Not a lot going on and pretty peaceful. Well, as peaceful as it ever gets at the Waltz Compound. The biggest thing was that the Sci Fi Channel was showing the first episode of the new season of Doctor Who. My wife, Martha is a big fan as are we all, but I think she might be the biggest fan in the house. Anyway, they showed the hour and a half long Christmas Special which was very good and went by quickly. The second episode was the official first episode of the third season of the new run of shows. We got The Doctor's newest companion, Martha Jones, and new monsters including these intergalactic police who look like upright rhinos. Very cool stuff. I think this new season is going to be great. I still miss his last companion,. Rose, played by Billie Piper, but she wanted off the show so what are you going to do?
That much excitement from television that we had waited all summer for made me quite tired by the time it was over so we all hit the hay.
Home was nice and laid back. Not a lot going on and pretty peaceful. Well, as peaceful as it ever gets at the Waltz Compound. The biggest thing was that the Sci Fi Channel was showing the first episode of the new season of Doctor Who. My wife, Martha is a big fan as are we all, but I think she might be the biggest fan in the house. Anyway, they showed the hour and a half long Christmas Special which was very good and went by quickly. The second episode was the official first episode of the third season of the new run of shows. We got The Doctor's newest companion, Martha Jones, and new monsters including these intergalactic police who look like upright rhinos. Very cool stuff. I think this new season is going to be great. I still miss his last companion,. Rose, played by Billie Piper, but she wanted off the show so what are you going to do?
That much excitement from television that we had waited all summer for made me quite tired by the time it was over so we all hit the hay.
7/6/07
DAY ELEVEN
Off to work after a holiday is the worst! Especially since the holiday requires you to stay up late to watch fireworks, but I did it. I got up and hauled my groaning frame from bed and onto my bicycle and headed for work. The bicycle ride actually does a great job of waking me up in the morning.
At work I found the 'Honey Do' list left by the boss. We're having a stupid open house next Thursday and we have to clean the print shop for all of our lovely guests. Fun, fun, fun! I spent the day cleaning and goofing off, not particularly in that order.
When I got ready to go home for the day I didn't realize it had gotten so hot! Almost suffocating. Probably that darn humidity that is inherent in living on a peninsula. Oh well.
At home I managed to get some more pages of my zine, Divine Exploitation finished. The interview with director Rock Savage turned out pretty good. Only six more pages and that puppy is finished. Yea!
I used the BBQ chicken from the previous day to make some chicken and rice. It turned out all right, but I expected better for some reason. I also made too much chicken and rice so now it will be the main ingredient in my chicken fried rice tonight. Leftovers can be fun! (Insert sarcasm here.) Other than that it was a laid back evening. I made a quick stop at the store for pudding and cake for the Waltz Compound, but other than that it was relatively uneventful.
I still stayed up too late. Must have thought it was Friday or something. Holidays in the middle of the week tend to throw off my entire week.
At work I found the 'Honey Do' list left by the boss. We're having a stupid open house next Thursday and we have to clean the print shop for all of our lovely guests. Fun, fun, fun! I spent the day cleaning and goofing off, not particularly in that order.
When I got ready to go home for the day I didn't realize it had gotten so hot! Almost suffocating. Probably that darn humidity that is inherent in living on a peninsula. Oh well.
At home I managed to get some more pages of my zine, Divine Exploitation finished. The interview with director Rock Savage turned out pretty good. Only six more pages and that puppy is finished. Yea!
I used the BBQ chicken from the previous day to make some chicken and rice. It turned out all right, but I expected better for some reason. I also made too much chicken and rice so now it will be the main ingredient in my chicken fried rice tonight. Leftovers can be fun! (Insert sarcasm here.) Other than that it was a laid back evening. I made a quick stop at the store for pudding and cake for the Waltz Compound, but other than that it was relatively uneventful.
I still stayed up too late. Must have thought it was Friday or something. Holidays in the middle of the week tend to throw off my entire week.
7/5/07
DAY TEN
The day off! Yippee! Martha and I spent the morning eating apple pie and drinking yummy coffee for breakfast. We did other things, but I'm leaving that up to your imagination. Perverts! Anyway, there was a marathon of the show MONK and I had never seen it before. Great show! Sure, they don't get the Obsessive Compulsive Behavior 100 percent correct, but it's still a fun show to watch.
Then the kids got up so we made real breakfast and that was a good time. Of course since they were all home from school they wanted to play on the computer. I gave them each a half hour and used a timer. They were not pleased with it, but they all figured it was better than nothing. Dandelion was glad because she got to feed her NeoPets before they all died off. Delia looked for music for her MySpace page as did Dennis. Dan, on the other hand, just played violent online games.
Later in the day we grilled chicken and I made macaroni and cheese and stuffing to go with the BBQ chicken. It all turned out great. We finished watching a bootleg copy of the second Fantastic Four movie. For some reason, the DVD player downstairs gives me grief over some DVD's, especially burned ones. The one upstairs in our bedroom worked fine so we finally got to watch the end of the movie. It was a pretty good movie and they managed to capture the comic booky flavor, but all the DVD changing made it hardly worth the effort.
It finally got dark and we went out to watch the fireworks. We are fortunate in that we live on Douglas Avenue just north of Kalamazoo proper. Our big old farmhouse sits up on a hill and we can see the treeline of pretty much all of Kalamazoo. Because of that we can see four or five fireworks displays all at once. It makes me think that it must have looked like that the first Independence day that they fired off fireworks. The whole sky was lit up. OF course, the mosquitoes demanded their fair tribute so my wife, Martha and Dandelion, Dennis and Dan went it pretty early. Delia and I stuck it out the longest. She's a history buff like her old man so I quizzed her on Fourth of July stuff while we watched the fireworks. Her fifth grade class had been doing American history all year so she got most of it right.
She did ask me who invented fireworks and I explained that it was the Chinese. She thought that was nice and we should write them a letter or something to thank them. Yeah, I'll get right on that. Drafting a letter to a foreign country should be fun. Do they just pass it around until everyone has read it. They have a pretty big population so that might take a little time. I'm still not sure how I would do it.
After the fireworks Dan and I headed upstairs to play The Thing on the computer. The Thing is a video game that takes place immediately after the events in the film John Carpenter's The Thing, which is a remake of Howard Hawk's The Thing. Both are based on the story Who Goes There written by John W. Campbell Jr.. Great story and while the first film is a classic science fiction film, I think the remake does a better job of capturing the pure paranoia of the story.
Anyway, the game is one of those shooter games, but you have to think. Dan likes the monsters and it makes him squeal with glee when they jump out of nowhere and growl. The game likes to make you jump and it does a pretty good job of that.
After that it was getting late so I hit the sack at around midnight knowing that I would be paying for it the next day because I had to drag myself into work at 6:00 in the morning and I ride my bike to work every day.
Ooofff!
Then the kids got up so we made real breakfast and that was a good time. Of course since they were all home from school they wanted to play on the computer. I gave them each a half hour and used a timer. They were not pleased with it, but they all figured it was better than nothing. Dandelion was glad because she got to feed her NeoPets before they all died off. Delia looked for music for her MySpace page as did Dennis. Dan, on the other hand, just played violent online games.
Later in the day we grilled chicken and I made macaroni and cheese and stuffing to go with the BBQ chicken. It all turned out great. We finished watching a bootleg copy of the second Fantastic Four movie. For some reason, the DVD player downstairs gives me grief over some DVD's, especially burned ones. The one upstairs in our bedroom worked fine so we finally got to watch the end of the movie. It was a pretty good movie and they managed to capture the comic booky flavor, but all the DVD changing made it hardly worth the effort.
It finally got dark and we went out to watch the fireworks. We are fortunate in that we live on Douglas Avenue just north of Kalamazoo proper. Our big old farmhouse sits up on a hill and we can see the treeline of pretty much all of Kalamazoo. Because of that we can see four or five fireworks displays all at once. It makes me think that it must have looked like that the first Independence day that they fired off fireworks. The whole sky was lit up. OF course, the mosquitoes demanded their fair tribute so my wife, Martha and Dandelion, Dennis and Dan went it pretty early. Delia and I stuck it out the longest. She's a history buff like her old man so I quizzed her on Fourth of July stuff while we watched the fireworks. Her fifth grade class had been doing American history all year so she got most of it right.
She did ask me who invented fireworks and I explained that it was the Chinese. She thought that was nice and we should write them a letter or something to thank them. Yeah, I'll get right on that. Drafting a letter to a foreign country should be fun. Do they just pass it around until everyone has read it. They have a pretty big population so that might take a little time. I'm still not sure how I would do it.
After the fireworks Dan and I headed upstairs to play The Thing on the computer. The Thing is a video game that takes place immediately after the events in the film John Carpenter's The Thing, which is a remake of Howard Hawk's The Thing. Both are based on the story Who Goes There written by John W. Campbell Jr.. Great story and while the first film is a classic science fiction film, I think the remake does a better job of capturing the pure paranoia of the story.
Anyway, the game is one of those shooter games, but you have to think. Dan likes the monsters and it makes him squeal with glee when they jump out of nowhere and growl. The game likes to make you jump and it does a pretty good job of that.
After that it was getting late so I hit the sack at around midnight knowing that I would be paying for it the next day because I had to drag myself into work at 6:00 in the morning and I ride my bike to work every day.
Ooofff!
7/4/07
DAY NINE
The day before a holiday in the middle of the week. The big deal about The 4th of July besides the fact that it's Independence Day is the fireworks. Fireworks are at night. We don't need July 4th off. We need July 5th off. Oh well. Had a huge job to get done and I was working on it for the entire day. Stew helped with it. And it seemed that there were more interruptions because I had to get it done. Enough to drive you crazy! Well, for me it would have been more of a short walk.
When I got home I found out were going to Judo. That was cool and Martha and I got a good work out. We sweated our butts off. I made stir fry for the family using sausage and it turned out real good.
Tomorrow I'll be grilling chicken with my new grill. A nice day off with the family.
When I got home I found out were going to Judo. That was cool and Martha and I got a good work out. We sweated our butts off. I made stir fry for the family using sausage and it turned out real good.
Tomorrow I'll be grilling chicken with my new grill. A nice day off with the family.
7/3/07
DAY EIGHT
I think that it is easier to wait until the next day to write of the previous day's events. So, I'll be doing that until I change my mind.
It was Monday at the print shop and we have this massive job of workbooks that has to be done really quick. To make it worse there are tabs that need to be inserted and then the entire job has to be sent out to be spiral bound. Tomorrow we have to clean the shop for some inane open house. Oh well, beats ditch digging any day.
After work we went to the dojo and the kids did their workout. They all did really good and I was very poud of them. After judo we were off to the compound for BLT's and leftover cold salds from the weekend. And, because it was Monday, it was time to watch Hell's Kitchen. I like the show and I so know I could win that damned thing. I think I will have to put my application in in the near future for consideration of a future season. It is irritating to watch people who profess to be professional chefs and be unable to make a risotto.
Went to bed watching The Crawling Eye courtesy of Dr. Dreck.
It was Monday at the print shop and we have this massive job of workbooks that has to be done really quick. To make it worse there are tabs that need to be inserted and then the entire job has to be sent out to be spiral bound. Tomorrow we have to clean the shop for some inane open house. Oh well, beats ditch digging any day.
After work we went to the dojo and the kids did their workout. They all did really good and I was very poud of them. After judo we were off to the compound for BLT's and leftover cold salds from the weekend. And, because it was Monday, it was time to watch Hell's Kitchen. I like the show and I so know I could win that damned thing. I think I will have to put my application in in the near future for consideration of a future season. It is irritating to watch people who profess to be professional chefs and be unable to make a risotto.
Went to bed watching The Crawling Eye courtesy of Dr. Dreck.
7/2/07
DAY SEVEN
I'm writing this Sunday entry on Monday. Sunday's tend to be a little hectic. What with Sunday school and then service immediatley after. Add to that that I am the Sunday school teacher for the adults, then it can get pretty busy. It was our turn to bring breakfast and it was such a nice day that we brought bagels with cream cheese and some fresh fruit.
We were having a potluck right after service and it was, as usual, amazing. I will say one thing for my congregation; we can cook. I got to help grill burgers and dogs outside while the service was going on. I kind of missed going to service, but Martha filled me in afterward. Sunday School was about the minor prophet Zechariah and his message of humility before the Lord. Good message and my class went from the usual me and Sam to a few other people. That was kind of nice.
After the potluck we stopped at Stew's apartment because he programmed Martha's phone with a picture of David Tennant who is the current incarnation of the BBC chracter, Doctor Who, along with a ring tone of the theme song of the show. She was pretty happy with that.
After that we went home and took naps and then got up and went to the store to fill our freezer with meat.
A busy day, but I had a pretty good time with all of it.
We were having a potluck right after service and it was, as usual, amazing. I will say one thing for my congregation; we can cook. I got to help grill burgers and dogs outside while the service was going on. I kind of missed going to service, but Martha filled me in afterward. Sunday School was about the minor prophet Zechariah and his message of humility before the Lord. Good message and my class went from the usual me and Sam to a few other people. That was kind of nice.
After the potluck we stopped at Stew's apartment because he programmed Martha's phone with a picture of David Tennant who is the current incarnation of the BBC chracter, Doctor Who, along with a ring tone of the theme song of the show. She was pretty happy with that.
After that we went home and took naps and then got up and went to the store to fill our freezer with meat.
A busy day, but I had a pretty good time with all of it.
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