DAY THREE HUNDRED AND SEVEN

Another day of fun at work. I worked until six and made my way home where I made Salmon patties and mac and cheese and carrots. Good stuff. Tomorrow is my fasting day to get geared up for my diet for the month of May. The idea is to eat less and less often than I do right now. Thankfully, I have developed a taste for celery so, I'll have to keep plenty of that on hand.
My goal is to get down to two hundred and twenty pounds before my physical on June 11th. I think it should be easy.
I did manage to get ahold of the manufacturer of my broken bike and I sent them digital pictures of the broken wheel to see if they will replace it. Otherwise I'll have to pay to get it fixed and that will probably cost as much as the bike did. Sheesh! In the meantime I think I'm going to have to go back to walking to work. That sucks because it takes about an hour. I don't mind walking that long, but I just get bored. Even with Smodcasts I will probably get bored. Plus, I'm getting to the end of those and soon will be caught up. Then what am I supposed to listen to.
Oh well. watched the other half of STUDENT BODIES with Martha before falling asleep.

DAY THREE HUNDRED AND SIX

Monday and back in the saddle. More overtime, but with the Motor City Comic Con on the way I'm not complaining. Sure, I would rather be doing something else, but who wouldn't?
As for my recent epiphany, how has that been going? I quit Rancho Carne so as soon as I fulfill my obligation I'm done with that. I recognize that I still swear, but am taking the necessary steps to get that out of the way. And I am excited about this Friday because I am on my way to ordering a book that is the first step in realizing my dream of opening my own coffee/video store. Opening a business, any business, is a serious matter so I have no problem taking this one in baby steps.
After work I pedaled home and had four or five spokes shear off my back tire. The bike is unridable in it's current condition. I told Martha when she got home and I emailed the company to see if they would be willing to replace the wheel since I have had the bike for less than a year. Here's to hoping that goes well.
My buddy Stew hooked me up with a new DVD burning program that works great on those hard to burn files. I burnt the flick STUDENT BODIES and started watching it with Martha. She got tired and I paused it so we could finish it tomorrow. I am really happy with the DVD program. Stew is a great pirate.
While I am upset that the bike is knocked out of commission, I realize that it will either get fixed or I will buy a new one. I bought it last year and paid ninety bucks for it. Sure, I couldn't ride in winter, but I got quite a few months out of the bike and I'm willing to bet it was waaaay cheaper for me to ride that than pay for all the gas it would have cost to get me to work. I think I'm back to hoofing it for a little while until I get back in the saddle.
I saw a commercial for this thing called a TRIKKE that looks like fun. Maybe I'll see about getting one of those. Yeah, I'd get a helmet if I got one of those. Thing looks like I could hurt myself pretty good on that thing.

DAY THREE HUNDRED AND FIVE

So, got to sleep in late for the first time in a long time on a Sunday. I still got up pretty early. Forgot to mention that I got my Mach 5 cereal bowl yesterday in the mail. It's a little smaller than I thought it would be, but it's pretty cool.
So, I watched some movies for review and had a blast just laying back and not doing a lot.
We did take all the bottles of the world to the store to put a few bucks in the tank. That should hold us over until tomorrow when I go see my sister for my birthday money. I'm getting it a little early to help make ends barely meet until the cash flow resumes on Thursday. I can hardly wait.
Now, normally, I don't bring up my sex life with Martha, but this one really needed to be told. It's the middle of the afternoon and I'm getting ready to bake peanut butter cookies with Dandelion. I am also cooking a huge pot of my beans and rice that will last for days. Anyway, Martha starts getting frisky and one thing leads to another. All I can say is that I'm glad I locked the door.
Dandelion knocks and says something. I ignore her and go back to what I was doing, but she insists on saying something. I ask her to repeat it, not really listening. Seems there is someone at the front door.
DAMNIT!
I chucked on my shorts and a t shirt. Told Martha I would be right back and went downstairs. It was our landlord, Margaret. Seems she was next door cleaning up another of the houses she owns. She felt the need to be chatty and the whole time I'm thinking, "Man, I would so much rather be upstairs right about now." Plus, I had to strategically hide the damned pup tent I was sporting. She went away eventually and I was able to get back upstairs. Sheesh!
After making cookies, beans and rice and cornbread, I was ready to just relax some more. Martha and I hug out a lot. The two littles and I did some stuff and the big kids got home from their friends' house about seven o'clock. They seemed very happy to see cookies and cornbread muffins.
For a day where we really didn't do a lot we sure did a lot.

DAY THREE HUNDRED AND FOUR

Another Saturday and I get to sleep in late. Can't do much of anything because the gas tank is riding on E and no money for a few days. Oh well. Dennis has planned a birthday party with a bunch of his buddies over. They played video games and ate hot dogs and chips and had ice cream and cake. They had a blast and even though I find a couple of his friends annoying, he looked like he was having a good time.
We already know we aren't going to church because of the gas thing and that's a bummer. Oh well, we get some cash on Thursday and that will be a good thing. Coupled with the fact that May has three paydays and I am working lots of overtime, makes for an alright month.

DAY THREE HUNDRED AND THREE

Friday! Yeah! The boss decided not to come to work today and I did a lot of scanning. There, that pretty much takes care of the work situation for the day. After work, Martha came and picked me up and her, Dandelion and I went to the Borgess Fun Run. None of the other kids wanted to go. We got some free goodies from various people which was nice. Dandelion and I got a new water bottle and that's always a good thing. And it was fun. Well, except I asked if we were running or walking and they both said we would walk. Yeah, then our group hit the starting line and they were off like a shot! Pretty rotten trick if you ask me. Anyway it was good exercise. My right hip is currently killing me so, that's no fun. I've started the planning stages of the giant birthday bash and I got Dustin to agree to come and play the gig. I think I'll be inviting a lot more musicians for this one. I asked Dan if he wanted to invite any of his friends and he said he would pass. He'll change his mind as it gets closer.
Saturday is Dennis' birthday party. Sheesh!

DAY THREE HUNDRED AND TWO

Almost Friday. Still incredibly swamped at work, but there's only so many hours in the day so, I quite worrying about it.
After work I biked it home and then we had to take Delia to her middle school orientation. Yup, my little girl is going into middle school. She and her friend Mariah seemd to like the place. They served cookies and punch so that was cool. I really wasn't all that hungry. I had a salad for lunch that was huge and that really kept me full for quite some time.
Anyway, after spending long, boring hours at the middle school we headed home. Dandelion was a good girl and fed the dogs while we were gone. She's quite the little helper. I hope she doesn't grow out of it.
Anyway, then I wrote for a while and then started watching this moive I have to review called Contour. What I've seen is pretty cool. Have to wait to finish it as I am super tired.

DAY THREE HUNDRED AND ONE

So, rode the bike to work. It had stopped raining which was nice. I got here in one piece. Yesterday was Savannah's day to show up early for work. Today it was Josh's turn. Still waaaay too much to do to get things ready for the move. Plus, people are swamping us with work which makes it that much harder.
After work there was chaos with The Waltz Compound. There was Math Fun Night at Woodward and Martha and all the kiddies went to that. With the exception of Dan and myself. We went to his Blue and Gold banquet for scouts. I had never seen such a spread at a Blue and Gold in my entire life! There were over a hundred people there easy. We brought a pie, but it really wasn't necessary. There were four huge sheet cakes. They had baked ham, a whole turkey that someone had taken the time to debone and someone had smoked two beef briskets. It was quite a spread and Dan and I ate pretty darn good.
After that was over, it lasted for hours. Literally. We got there around five-thirty and didn't leave until around eighty-thirty. But, Dan had fun. He got to be in some skits and do part of the flag ceremony so I could tell that he was having fun.
Then it was time to go home and the rest of the family didn't eat as well as we did so I fed them and got ready for bed. Did some reviews and watched a flick to review for Cult Cuts.
Busy day.

DAY THREE HUNDRED

Coincidentally, also Earth Day and Dennis' birthday. I'm still on the overtime wagon and with three paydays in May I'm looking pretty good. Work is still swamped and will remain so. I look at it as I only have so many hours in the day to do things and if I can't get them done it will have to wait.
I got home and Dennis and Delia's friends Josh and Mariah were there. We gave Dennis all of his goodies and he especially liked the hoodie with the skulls and the skateboard. He dragged it outside immediately and started working out his moves on it.
I made huge BLT's for dinner that everyone enjoyed.
After dinner I took a nap for about an hour. I was tired. Then I got up to feed dogs, let dogs out and get kids to head for bed.
It was a pretty good day

TWO HUNDRED AND NINETY-NINE

Here we go, one more until the big three hundred mark. Anyway, I'm on my way to work this morning and I saw the oddest thing. When I reached downtown proper I cut through the mall near the museum. A few homeless people hang out there and there was this older guy who had trouble keeping his footing and he was slipping in the grass. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why he wouldn't just walk on the cobblestones, but he seemed determined to stay on his course no matter how treacherous it was. Nearby another homeless man slept on one of the benches, oblivious to me or the guy precariously making his way through the grass.
Work was another fun filled day. It seems that the closer we get to the move, the busier we get. Some people are going to be very uinhappy to not get their stuff when our machines are down for a week of the move. I think it's funny.
After work I headed home and ran into a couple I know, Jenny and Dave. I chatted them up for a little while and then finished my bike ride home. The whole day seemed off because we started overtime this week that will last, well for quite some time. Not looking forward to it at all.
I was so happy when I got home to discover that Martha and the two little had made meatloaf and cheesy potatoes along with sweet potatoes for dinner. Martha's meatloaf is the best and I ate waaay too much of it.
After dinner Martha watched the movie, Paulie, while I wrote for an hour. It's a short piece of fiction that is shaping up rather well. It's not finished so I don't want to talk it up too much. I got sixteen hundred words done in an hour which I thought was pretty good for a first draft.
Then it was time to sleep and cuddle into bed with Martha. I am beat.

TWO HUNDRED AND NINETY-EIGHT

It is eight o'clock in the evening here at The Waltz Compound. Usually I wait until the next day, but I didn't feel like it. This morning we headed out to church. Sunday school was relaxed and we had some interesting discussions that managed to touch on the stuff we were supposed to be studying. That was a change of pace.
Then we went to service and it covered Ephesians. It was then that I made a few decisions. Will I stick to them? I would like to think so, but we all fall short and I expect that to happen to me.
Anyway, from now on I have decided to do the following;
Write everyday. And by write I mean things that are being written to sell for money. This is something I don't usually do. This blog is on it's way to winding up and I have every intention to submit it to various publishers when it's finished. It might fly, it might not. Money making writing is now, starting Monday, a thing that will happen every day.
I will stop cursing at home and in public. It's not necessary and I imagine that coming up with more original, descriptive adjectives that don't rely on profanity will be a lot of fun.
I handed in my resignation at Rancho Carne. No more reviewing porn. To be honest, it all seems so damned cookie cutter anyway and gets dull fast. So, that's out.
Now, for the fun one.
I will open a coffee shop. This is something that Martha and I have talked about for a while and I'm tired of talking about it. I have spent the last few hours researching on line and have some initial things going that will help provide more information concerning this endeavor. The place is called Video Cafe and it will incorporate a video store with a coffee shop. There's something like that up on campus, but my idea is more intimate and will actually meld the two concepts. The one up on campus is two separate entities under one roof. Video Cafe will be all inclusive, one place. I think it will work so, now the reading and research begin to see how to do it and how to secure the financing for it. I'm excited and petrified at the same time.
Martha and the big kids should be home from youth group, in fact I can hear them now. Gotta go.

TWO HUNDRED AND NINETY-SEVEN

Saturday and it was Dan's turn to go out with Mom and Dad. We headed off to the free movie and watched MISTER MAGORIUM'S WONDER EMPORIUM. A little sappy, but I thought it was very well done. It was an intimate film without a lot of acotrs and, sure they had some special effects, but it felt like a movie they would have done thirty years ago. I thought they did a great job.
After that we were on our way to fanfare where Dan got some Yu-Gi-Oh cards and other stuff. Then he wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese. I got some coupons off the internet the day before so we saved some serious coin there. Dan had a blast and got some cool prizes with his tickets. He's very good at some of those games.
After that we went and saw FORBIDDEN KINDGOM with Jet Li and Jackie Chan. It was great! Truly a kick butt film. Nothing but pure action and very entertaining at the same time.
After that we headed to Walmart for phone cards and stuff. Martha has this new obsession with kites so we picked up some kites as well. Then, Dan wanted more food so we headed to MCDonalds for soem fast food crap. Hey, it was the kids' day, so what ya gonna do?
Then we headed home for a minute before Dennis and Delia went to their friends' house and Martha and I took Dan and Dandelion to Dino's Coffee Lounge. Seems that the littles' music teacher was going to perform and Dandelion's little friend, Helen was going to be there.
Dino's used to be the coolest record/head shop in the tri county area. It was called Boogie records and it was the place to go for, well everything. Having spent a lot of my misspent youth there I was sad when it got converted to a coffee shop.
Now, I don't mind so much. It had that cool, hippy feel that Boogie had and the music was a lot of tribal percussion and we all loved that. I spotted Paul Sizer there, but it was too crowded to go bother the man. He looked like he was having a good time though. Even Dandelion went out to dance.
After that it was time to head home and wind down. Got church tomorrow.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND NINETY-SIX

Friday, beer day. Could it get any better? Yeah it could. I'm sick of this whole getting ready to move the shop thing. I really don;t like the entire prospect and the people we work for don't seem to get the fact that we are moving and continue to pile work on us. we have this huge job that really starts on Monday and halfway through it we will be changing equipment to boot. The whole thing is irritating me.
After work, Martha and I headed to Harveys. We both got some food and I got my Guinness while Martha got her double Captain Morgan and Sprite. Stew showed up shortly after that. I invited my buddy Matt, but he didn't show. Josh is on some meds that don't let him drink so he didn't want to come and I can't blame him. It would suck to not be able to drink beer while everyone around you is drinking.
Shortly after, Savannah showed up and we all drank and shot the shit and had fun. Martha and I had to leave because the premiere of Doctor Who was on and we had to stop and get pizza for the kids and watch Doctor Who. It was the Christmas special and I thought it was cool. Next week we are getting the regular series and I can't wait to see how that goes.
After all that fun and excitement I was ready for sleepy.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND NINETY-FIVE

So, the print shop is moving in a few weeks and we are getting swamped with jobs! Today I processed about eleven job requests. Usually I'll do three or four in a day, but never eleven. We are so screwed when it comes to moving. Ah well.
After work I biked it home. The weather was beautiful and then we got ready for Judo. we left earlier than usual and made it in plenty of time. Martha hates to be late and I can't say that I blame her. Two of the kids were testing today, not any of my kids, two other kids. The one kid had his own cheering section of parents and grand parents. Pretty cool stuff.
We left after the kids class because two of the guys were testing and we didn't want to make them more nervous. We all headed to Meijer to get things we need and some treats as well.
After that we headed home and took it easy. Martha and I watched Galaxy Quest for bed and then it was time for sleepy time.
Oh, I almost forgot. Sensei Chris gave me a yellow belt. He said that all the time I put in I earned it. Very nice, but I will miss my old white belt.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND NINETY-FOUR

Tuesday and more of the work at Ye Olde Print Shoppe. We are moving the shop in like two weeks and everyone and their mom are putting in orders. Not a good time to be swamped with a huge project on its way. After work I biked my way home and started dinner. Baked chicken with various side dishes. Yummy! After that Martha and I took the littles to the store and we did a little shopping. Chicken was on sale so I got some of that, but there was also a fantastic sale on pork loin. I got a really nice one for seven fifty. I have plans to roast that puppy. While we were at Meijer I decided to pick up my prescriptions that I had dropped off. They said that they had restocked them because it had been six days. I mentioned that it was the sixth day and they kind of shrugged and said they would refill it and it would be ready in ten minutes. I went and did a little more shopping and when we went back, Martha reminded me I had a coupon for a ten dollar off purchase that I had left in the car. I ran back to the car to get it and ran back. The young man and the register said that if the coupon didn't ring up properly in the checkout to come back and see him. Needless to say, it didn't, so back I went.
He apologized profusely and gave me the ten dollar off coupon for future shopping and threw in a twenty dollar coupon along with a few one dollar ones. If you take the cost of my prescriptions they were basically free. Very cool for what started out to be a shitty visit to Meijer. Don't even get me started on the return line. See, I had this can of frosting that when I opened it it looked horribly wrong. We brought it along to the store and I was going to return it while Martha and the littles returned bottles. Yeah, the line had six people in it and there was one guy at the customer service desk and he was helping someone who looked like they were trying to spend their life savings on lottery tickets. I chucked the frosting in the garbage. To illustrate how bad it was, remember the prescription thing? Yeah that took place about fifteen minutes after this and when I walked by the customer service desk to the pharmacy one of the people that I had been in line with was still in line! Yeah, I couldn't do it for a cup of frosting worth a buck fifty. Martha was mad at me and I understood why, but I just couldn't justify burning that much time for a buck fifty. I think the massive coupon thing helped soften that blow a little.
After Meijer we headed for the gas station. It was there that I discovered that the van has a thirty-five gallon tank in it! Yeah, I had to stop at a hundred bucks and it made me weep a little just typing a hundred bucks for gas just there. There are a lot of people getting very rich off the sweat of the average person on the street and I for one am kind of sick of it. According to The Jetsons I was supposed to have this cool, flying car by now. What happened to that?
Then we went home and I got my amazon sales set up and copied one of the flicks that I really want to keep.
After that Martha and I hit the hay and I fell asleep trying to watch this movie.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND NINETY-THREE

What an interesting Monday! I got to work and shortly after I got there, my boss called and said that she would be late. I continued to open the shop and do this and that. BY this and that I mean screw around on the internet. A little while later one of my co workers, Savannah, called and said that she was sick and would be late or not come in at all. Then, at eight o'clock, Josh called and told me he had forgotten his pass and was running home for it.
I guess the old man was the only one on the ball this Monday morning.
Other than that it was a typical day at the shop. Work.
After work I biked it home and made sausage and fried egg sandwiches for everyone. We were going back to Judo after a long hiatus, so I had to make something quick and easy. I actually had leftover baked pasta from the night before.
Judo was fun. I didn't participate, but the kids did. Dennis did second session, but I had the foresight to bring along a board game so Martha and I and the rest of the kids played Escape From New York, The Game! Very fun with the exception that Dan was mad that he didn't win.
After that we headed home and had a snack and hit the hay. I feel asleep watching WWE RAW.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND NINETY-TWO

Got up early and started my stock pot of sausage gravy. I also started in making the huge tray of Jiffy mix biscuits to go with them. Four rolls of sausage, three mild and one medium and a gallon of milk along with some thickening agent, I had one big pot of sausage gravy.
We headed to church and got there a little late, but it was alright. No one liked the little snow flakes that spun around outside, but there was no accumulation so, it was alright.
Sunday school was fun. We talked about a lot of things and are covering Jospeh in Genesis currently.
After Sunday school we headed upstairs and had service which was also good.
Afterwards we went home after a quick stop at Fanfare. Dennis had birthday money burning a hole in his pocket so he had to spend that.
Then we went home and took naps. Sausage gravy and biscuits makes you sleepy.
Later, Martha and Dennis and Delia went to youth group while the littles and I stayed home, watched some television, ate some pasta and then played the Zombies! board game. Dan won and Dandy came in second which put me dead last. I didn't mind, it was fun to play with the littles.
Martha and the two big kids got home and I made them some baked pasta from what I had made for the littles and myself.
Then I spent some time getting the landing gear on the model plane I'm working on. It's a WWII fighter, but I can never remember the name of the darn thing.
Later, we got ready for bed and Martha and I watched Cry Baby. It was funny, after the movie was over we surfed the channels to see what was on and IFC had Female Trouble on. A little John Waters double feature for bed.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND NINETY-ONE

Okay, Saturday and the two big kids aren't home. They're spending the night at friends' houses. Martha and I get the littles up and we head off to Kalamazoo 10 for the free movie. It was The Bee Movie with Jerry Seinfeld. The ten o'clock show is sold out so we get tickets for the eleven o'clock show. We head over to McDonalds for cheap breakfast. Martha and the littles get the pancakes and sausage platter while I opt for the McGrill. The coffee was very yummy even if it was decaf.
Then we headed back to watch the movie. I went in expecting nothing and laughed quite a bit. The littles seemed to like it as well. I think Dan liked the preview for Speed Racer more than the movie.
After the flick we went to the store to pick up a few things and then, since it was cold and rainy, went to pick up the two bigger kids from their friends' house. They weren't happy about it, but we had some house cleanign to do.
Chris and Heather showed up around six or so and they brought pizza. We sat around and ate and talked and hung out for a few hours. Very much fun.
Then it was time to hit the sack. I had to get up early and make breakfast for Sunday school.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND NINETY

So, Friday. Not a payday, but a Friday, nonetheless. Work was work. Got some stuff done, did some stupid online training that was worthless and that was about it. Of course a half hour before I left the building we got hit with a tornado watch. I wasn't too worried. Tornado watches in Michigan are pretty common and nothing usually comes of it. In this case, I got hit with some serious rain about halfway home. Of course I didn't have my poncho on so I took the brunt of it.
After I got home the two big kids were off somewhere. Martha, Dandelion, Daniel and I headed off to pay the electric bill. The we picked up some necessities at the dollar store. Finally we hit Meijer for food thingies.
We got home and I made chili cheese dogs with curly fries. Yummy.
Really, that was the day. Kind of just hung out, watched some television and hung with the littles at The Waltz Compound. Kind of quiet without the other two here.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-NINE

So, Thursday is it? Had a bit of a cold and breezy ride home, but nothing like the drenching I took getting back to The waltz Compound. Thankfully I always keep a collapsible poncho in my backpack so I didn't get as drenched as I could have. After I got home, Martha took off with Barb. I would have known it previously, but Dennis doesn't answer call waiting. Grrrrrrr.
So, I made breakfast for dinner, we had my world famous fried potatoes and maple link sausage and eggs. It was a very popular dinner at The Waltz Compound.
After that I watched some movies, wrote some reviews and fell asleep.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-EIGHT

So, Hump Day. Whoopee! My bike ride was a wee bit chilly on the way in. God Bless Pfizer and their extremely hot showers. A couple of days ago I was at my chiropractors and there was this magazine extolling the virtues of the Goji Berry, or wolfberry if you prefer. Wolfberry sounds like something you use to kill Lon Chaney Jr.. Anyway, I did some other checking of my own and it's one of those superfruits like Mangosteen. Anyway, while I was picking up my flaxseed to go with my oatmeal that I eat every morning, I decided to pick up a bag of Goji Berries. Bright red with an interesting flavor. They are a little pricey at the local food co op so I might check for an alternative method of obtaining them in the future. Definitely better to sweeten my oatmeal with than Splenda.
The bike ride home was pretty much as cold as the one in, but it was still good exercise.
I made some pasta tossed with a little olive oil and parmesean cheese along with some meatballs for dinner. Good stuff, but last time the meatballs barked at me for a couple of days. We'll have to wait and see if that is a repeat performance or not.
After that Martha decided that she wanted a hot fudge sundae from McDonalds so Martha, Dan and Dandelion and I were off for Mickey D's. Delia was at a slumber party and Dennis was at his girlfirend's house.
Dandelion and Dan got a McFlurry, Martha got her sundae and I got a decaf coffee. Have I mentioned that I gave up regular coffee on Monday? Been a little grumpy, but what are ya gonna do? It will pass eventually.
While we were in the van the kids were watching Mystery Science Theater 3000, it was I Accuse My Parents for those of you that need to know.
Anyway, that put me in the mood for some more when we got home so I popped in Hercules and fell asleep to that.
Not a busy day, but a good day.
The best part of it would have to be when my dad called and told me that his prostate cancer was caught early on and that it was not in the bone. Just gotta go in and get that damned prostate out and he'll be right as rain. Very good news and I was happy that he called me to tell me. Thanks to everyone out there that gave their prayers and well wishes for my dad.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-SEVEN

Well, for a Tuesday...it was a Tuesday. I went to work, came home, made chicken and side dishes for dinner. Oh yeah, there was a big box of porn waiting when I got home. Very cool. Martha and the kids cleaned the living room and by cleaned, I mean cleaned. It looks very cool and they are slated to attack the dining room next. Good stuff. Got to ride my bike to work and back which is always a good thing. Listened to my Smodcast both ways. I noticed that Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier have started those back up again. This is good since I'm on broadcast thirty and they have just finished forty-five. If I catch up I have no idea what I'm going to listen to.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-SIX

Another day back at the salt mines. I got a ride from MArtha because my poor bike was sitting at Pfizer all day. It was a very nice day. I burned some flicks that I sold and had to get out. And worked a little, very little.
After work was a lovely bike ride home. It was very nice outside, but I don't expect it to last. Seems there is rain and cold on the way. Rain and cold, you say? Here in Michigan? Preposterous!
Anyway, after I got home Martha, Dandelion and I went to TJ Maxx to meet up with my sister who works there. She was donating to sponsor Delia going to the National American Miss pageant. I haven't seen my sister in a while. She actually looks older than me and she's the baby of the four of us kids. Man, that was rough!
Anyway, after we got home I fired up the grill and barbequed some pork steaks with some BBQ sauce to make them tasty along with a little rice for people who don't like potato salad and potato salad for the rest of us. It was the mustard style that Meijer makes. Good stuff and not as sweet as the other varieties.
Later, King Kong, the original, was on Turner Classic Movies. I always feel sorry for that overgrown ape. You know it ain't his fault. If anyone, I blame the chief of Skull Island. If he hadn't insisted that Kong needed a little blonde trim then the crew of the ship wouldn't have had to go in after her and then he wouldn't have gotten dragged back to New York. I know, if it didn't happen what would be the point? True, but I still feel sorry for Kong everytime I watch that thing.
Then it was time for bed. I fell asleep to the strains of WWE RAW.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-FIVE

Sunday and we were off and running. Seann came along and he liked riding in the new van. Thought it was very cool. Sunday school was nice. Matt made breakfast. After service we had a pot luck and that went well. Lots of yummy food and I ate too much.
After church we wandered home. Seann helped me flip these two huge tubs in the back of the yard. They had collected a lot of water and the last thing I needed was a mosquito breeding ground.
After that it was laze around the house kind of thing. I did some dishes, wrote some film reviews, played some Peggle.
Martha and the bigger kids went to youth group later in the day while I stayed home with the littles.
Not a hectic day which is always nice before you have to go back to work. Martha has the kids all week as it is Spring Break. I feel sorry for her, but I bet she puts them all to work pretty darned quick.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-FOUR

Saturday and it's Dandelion's turn to go on adventures with Martha and I. First stop was the chiropractor. Unfortunately, Ray called after I had started to nod off and he told me when my appointment was, but for the life of me, I couldn't remember in the morning. I blame the Guinness. So, I assumed it was at eight in the AM. Yeah, it was actually, nine-thirty, but I was close.
So, Martha, Dandelion and I went and dropped off this big box that the kids are using in youth group to collect pop cans. After that we went out for breakfast. Then we went to see Ray about my spine. I mentioned my shoulder being messed up from two weeks ago when I was skating on Delia's adventure. He did stuff to it, but now it hurts more. Have to wait and see how that goes.
After that we went to Chuck E Cheese so Dandy could run and play and have big fun. It was a lot of fun and I'm pretty sure that anything Ray did for my spine was wrecked by the time we were done playing in the tubes with Dandy. Martha has bruises on her knees. I don't bruise.
After that we went to the mall to shop. Dandy got a huge book on animals that she really wanted. We went to Stir Max for lunch and ran into Stew and his little son, Simon. We went to Fanfare comics and Dandy got a comic with Jason, Freddy and Ash in it. It was cool. After that it was a trip to Toys R Us where she got the book The Saggy, Baggy Elephant and it came with a stuffed elephant.
That was about all she wrote for us on that day of fun.
Dandy had a blast. Dan is next and I wonder what he will want to do?

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-THREE

Friday, payday, beer day. Doesn't really get much better than that. Josh called in sick to work. We think he has a slipped disc, but we'll have to wait and see. After work, Martha came and got me. We went to McDonald's for some food to keep the alcohol at bay. After that we got to Harvey's about four in the afternoon. Stew and Amy showed up shortly after that and Savannah arrived a little after five. We had much fun and merriment as Stew and I drank beers, I had Guinness and he drank Oberon. Martha and Amy had one drink each. It was a lot of fun to just sit and drink and talk about stuff. After Stew and Amy left Martha and I ordered subs. I had a Philly Cheesesteak that was awesome. The bun was nice and crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside. Lots of sliced roast beef and crispy peppers and onions. They used a nacho cheese sauce for the cheese and it worked very well. With zucchini fries it was the perfect little meal to sit on top of eight pints.
After that we headed home and hit the hay. Tomorrow will be a busy day.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-TWO

Thursday. Meh! Where is Friday?

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-ONE

Hump day at work. Did a rush job for someone that took up the biggest portion of the day. I was doing that on my way out the door. We went to conferences for the three littles. Dan and Dandleion are doing great. Delia, not so much. But, Martha believes that a lot of it has to do with the teacher who neither of us think that much of. So I'm inclined to go with Martha on this one.
Came home and made BBQ chicken and side dishes after which we watched some Frisky Dingo. After that MArtha decided that she needed a treat so we were off. She stopped at Office Max where we got some paper to cover this huge box that the kids at church are going to use for a bottle drive. Then we hit MCDonalds for her hot fudge sundae. I got a cup of decaf and Mickey the dog came along for the ride so we got him a plain hamburger. There was one of those tour buses full of the elderly parked in the parking lot and there was a fire truck and an ambulance there. Hopefully, all was well. Needless to say, the McDonalds was filled with the elderly. They must have been their a while since they weren't clogging up the line. After that we headed home. Then it was time to get ready for bed and hit the hay.Excpet for Dan who had a wicked long nap. I let him sleep in the living room and watched some televsion until he went back to sleep on his own.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND EIGHTY

Tuesday. Another day of fun and frolic. No wait, I must be thinking of someone else. I went to work and worked and then went home. Martha was sweet and came and got me since it decided to snow in the afternoon. It was pretty warm in the morning on my bike ride into work.She was having a craving for Pizza Hut Pan Pizza so we went and got a Super Supreme and some regular pizzas for the littles. We sat and talked and drank ice tea while we waited for the pizzas. It was nice to have that little quiet time to ourselves. The rest of the day was hanging out at The Waltz Compound.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-NINE

Back to the grind. It's pay week so that is cool. Did a lot of little jobs around the shop to get stuff done.
I managed to ride my bike into work and miss the rain entirely. Good for me.
After work I was riding home and it started to sprinkle. Yeah, that turned into a torrential downpour about halfway through my ride. I was soaked down to the bone by the time I got home. Man, there was a lot of rain!
Martha and Delia wet to the dentist office to see if he was interested in sponsoring her in the National American Miss pageant she's going to. He was busy so she'll find out next week.
After that I made some beefy noodle hamburger helper, broccoli and a sliced up a loaf of fresh bread. For dessert we had a cake that I made.
I read some more of TOUGH TO KILL Vol.1. Now, I have to watch all these movies in David Zuzelo and Paul Cooke's book. Bastards.
Fell asleep to Monday Night RAW.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-EIGHT

Sunday and it's off to church. Corky made these yummy biscuit thingies that are stuffed with egg, cheese and sausage. Very nice. Sunday school was fun and we didn't get too far off track. Service was nice and relaxed. Got to be with my second family which is always a nice thing.
After church we stopped at the dollar store to get the littles some stuff. They had this Pirates Of The Carribean Trading Card Game there and it was, surprise, only a buck. These things went for big bank just a little while ago. I picked up two of those and a MArk I Iron Man Pez dispenser.
Yeah, I'm just a kid. What can I say?
After that we headed home and took it easy. Martha and Dennis and Delia went to youth group while I stayed home with the littles. I got a lot of reviews written that I needed to get done which was good.
After that it was just lay back and get ready for bed.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-SEVEN

Got up a little early. There's an Easter egg hunt at church and all the kids are pumped to go. Sure, it's the week after Easter, but we had a foot of snow last week so, the kids are up for the hunt. Stew brought his boys, Charlie and Simon along and they got to color Easter eggs and then hunt for the plastic ones full of candy. They had a blast and I took a lot of pictures for the event.
Afterwards we went to the store to pick up supplies. Stew and Amy were bringing all the kids over to play, hang out and cook on the grill. It was a little chilly, but that didn't stop me from getting some bratwurst on the fire and hot dogs for the kids. There were chips and soda and Stew brought along some Oberon to drink. He even grabbed Rolling Rock for Martha which I thought was nice.
We ate too much, talked a lot. I gave Stew some flicks he needed and the kids played until they were exhausted. All in all it was a fun time had by all.
Afterwards I checked out the free movies on our Cable channel and they had Clerks! Very cool. I turned that on and watched the whole thing. I was a clerk for many years and it's cool to see a flick that reminds me of things I had done myself. I was sort of a combination of a responsible Dante who thought the store would fail without me and the screw this Randall who eats the inventory and makes sure to grab some goodies on the way out the door.
Busy day.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-SIX

Friday and it's not a payday so, no Beer Friday this weekend. Oh well, the work week is at an end and that's all that really matters. Home was good. Did very little. Called my chiropractor and he said he was going to be out of town on Saturday so no adjustment for me. I did get to do my Qigong at work today which was nice. I made a copy of the basic forms that I do and will leave it at work.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FIVE

So, less than a hundred entires to go and this year is getting weirder and weirder. I've been at this for so long I can't even remmeber my original reason for delving into this. why the grumpy? Yeah, just found out my father has prostate cancer. He goes in on Monday to see if it's affected his bones or not. He called my sister to tell her so she could pass on the news. At first I was freaking out about it, but then she said that after he told her, he went golfing.
My father is baptized and believes, as do I, that Jesus Christ is his Lord and Savior. Maybe that's why he's t6aking this better tha, well probably everyone else around him.
I decided to embrace this attitude with him and take this one day at a time like he is. The funny thing about my dad is the older he gets the more he looks like Leonard Nimoy. Kooky, huh? I have a lot of my father's attitudes, but look nothing like him. Not really.
So, that little waiting game has been defused because, well because my dad is going golfing. Good for him.
Didn't get to ride my bike because it's crappy outside. Probably be the same problem tomorrow. I will be glad when Winter is over.
If you read this, say a little prayer for my dad. I say I don't worry, but I do. I'm a worrier, it's in my nature. Pretty sure that's my mom's fault.
In the good news, got my David Zuzelo book, Tough To Kill Vol. 1 and a Bette Davis collection to review for Warner Brothers.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FOUR

Middle of the week and another boring day. Got a call from Sensei Chris wondering where we have been. I think I'll just force the whole thing and we will get back on the Judo horse next week. well, everyone but me. My shoulder is still killing me. Had some lovely cramps from my irritable bowel syndrome. Try to eat healthy and my innards are rebelling.
I was on the phone with my mom when she screamed she had to go. I waited about half an hour and called back. Her boyfriend, Tom, fell and cut himself in the process. He should be fine. More details as they come.
My friend, Mark's wife, Lina is still in the hospital. She needs a lot of prayers. One of my Eurotrash buddies, Bryan Senn, had a tumor removed from his spine. He's doing alright, but in a lot of pain. Seems that a lot of people need prayers lately.
Martha and I went to the store and I am beginning to hate the self check out. You scan all your own stuff and bag it yourself. Why am I paying the same amount for my groceries as the shmuck waiting for full service? Shouldn't I get like a five percent discount since I'm not utilizing a cashier??
I got to ride my bike to work today and that was great. Tomorrow is supposed to be crappy out so, probably no bike ride tomorrow. Too bad as I like to ride my bike. People are complaining about the weather, but it's March and it's Michigan. It's supposed to be crappy until mid-April. I can remember snow much later in the year when I was a kid.
I remmeber when I was a kid that the big, environmental boogeyman was an impending ice age. Now, it's global warming. Ten years from now it will be Global tepidness. Sheesh!
Kind of wish that this was a pay weekend as I missed out on Beer Friday last week due to the weather. Oh well, it will make next week all the more sweeter.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-THREE

So, work was nothing special. I screwed around and ordered free stuff off the internet all day. Fun, fun, fun. Anyway, yesterday the girls had to go to the dentist. No big deal and all was fine. Today was the boys' turn. Yeah, so I got out of work and there was no ride to come and get me. I waited for a little whole and tried to two way Martha. No response. Yeah, it's cold and windy and I got a shitload of stuff that I'm carrying. I waited for a few minutes more. Still no answer from the two way and no answer at The Compound. Now, I was beginning to burn a little. I decided to walk home at that point.
I got to the downtown area and smelled something funny. As I got closer this guy passed me and noticed that I was smelling the air. He said there was a huge gas leak at The Kalamazoo Gazette. Yeah I made an immediate right away from the area and stepped it up a little faster. I almost reached downtown proper when my phone beeped to life. It was Martha looking for me. I explained where I was and that I would meet her at downtown McDonald's. She was cool with that. When she arrived with the two boys in tow I asked what the hold up was. Seems that after the dentist, which took longer than she expected, they decided to get some food. Yeah, and my rocket science of a genius son, Dennis, tried to order it for eating in instead of to go. He'll be getting some extra chores for my lovely, unplanned walk. I don't mind walking, but when I'm not expecting it it makes me old man grumpy.
Anyway, went home, finally and we watched some television. Then Martha and I went to the store to get dinner and filled the gas tank of the new van. Went home and made meatballs, tri color rotini, cheesy garlic bread and some home made tomato sauce to go on the meatballs. Very yummy stuff.
Kind of a weird day. Tomorrow is supposed to be better so I can ride my bike to work. Of course, they are also predicting snow the next two days after that so I might get one bike ride in.
I am officially sick of Winter...again!

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-TWO

Monday and another week at Ye Olde Print Shoppe. Feeling kid of laid back. Not real busy, sort of the calm before the storm as it were. After work was being home with the family at The Waltz Compound. We ate food, watched television and had a laid back day. Kind of glad for a Monday.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-ONE

Sunday morning. It's Easter and we have sunrise service at seven in the AM. Sheesh, is that early! We made it anyway even with stopping off at Meijer to get some fresh fruit for the breakfast thingie that is going on after the service. I helped Missy in the kitchen get everything ready. The morning service was cool. We had a guest speaker who did in the form of a play as the life of Peter and there were songs and he even dressed like the time period. Very cool.
After that there was much eating and I ate waaaay too much.
Then it was time for second service. That was nice too. Kind of sleepy and my shoulder is still bothering me from my fall at Rollerworld yesterday. Man, I better not have torn something in there. I'll give it a couple of days to see what happens.
After church we went home and everyone took a nap.
After nap we went to the store and got stuff for food. We made home made pizza and it was very good. No traditional Easter dinner at The Waltz Compound. No one felt like it after the huige feast at church.
Tehn it was time to get ready for bed and another week. The day went pretty fast.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTY

Slept in and then it was time to check out the lovely fallen snow in the driveway. I had shoveled yesterday and you couldn't tell. It was time to start our fun day with the kid of the moment. This time it's Delia. After I spent a half hour shoveling the driveway full of heavy snow, we went to Rollerworld. Man, it was cold in the building. I realize that it's a glorified poll barn, but they could use a little heat in there. We got some snacks and I managed to fall on my butt and jam my shoulder by catching myself on the way down. In other words, all those years of Judo teaching went out the window. Now, my shoulder is throbbing all the time.
After roller skating we went to The Parlor for yummy food. I got the exccellent pulled pork sandwich. Martha got a BLT and Delia got a huge brownie sundae. Then it was off to see Horton Hears A Who. It was alright and some of it was quite funny, but I think I'll stick with the original.
We made a couple stops at stores to get necessities and then made it home pretty late. It was a busy day and we have two weeks until Dandelion's turn comes around. man, I hope she's ncier about her turn than Delia was. She ran us ragged.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTY-NINE

Friday and sure enough about ten o'clock the snow started and it came with a vengeance. We got the new van a couple of days ago and discovered that it has no balls when it comes to snow. Great. No beer Friday because of the weather. Another strike against this damnable snow. Second day of Spring and we get a foot of snow.
Oh well, could be worse. Not sure how, but it could.
Stayed in and watched the snow fall.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTY-EIGHT

Thursday and all I can think about is this snowstorm that is supposed to be showing up tomorrow. Gee, I just can't wait. Other than that it was business as usual here in The Waltz Compound.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SEVEN

Came to work. The bike ride was nice. I have been listening to Kevin Smith's SModcasts on the way and they are quite entertaining. After work I made it home and Martha and I went to Mall City Motors to look at a van. I have great news! We are getting a van! It's a Dodge 2000 conversion van with captains chairs and a TV/VCR combo and it is very cool. Payments are only 300 a month which isn't bad. After that we went to the store to get stuff for food. I bought all the fixings to make BLTs for everyone and that was awesome.
Doesn't take a lot to make me happy. My cold is starting to go away and all is great in the world.
This is an awful lot of good stuff at once. Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket tomorrow.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SIX

So, work was a hoot. Around eleven I was whisked away by Martha to the dentist. Yeah, I know I went yesterday. That was just to chat about what forms of medieval torture they were going to impose on my oral cavity. My own fault really. That and the condition of dental insurance in the United States, but I digress.
I went in for what is called a root scraping and planing. Fancy name for taking a sharp hook to the years of built up plague on my teeth to prevent the progression of horrendous peritonitis. Yippee! Doesn't that sound like fun? Thankfully, they gave me plenty of Novocaine and the lady doing it, Robyn, was very nice and had a cute Southern accent. So for about an hour and a half she went to town with this thing that vibrates and shoots water, then came the hook. My muscles are going to kill me tomorrow because I clenched up so damned hard for the entire time. I tried to relax, but it didn't work. I was more tense than relaxed for the entire thing. When she told me they were doing two quadrants I assumed it would be the entire bottom or top of my mouth. Wrong! She did the right side. So right in the middle of my front teeth you can see that they have been scraped and polished to perfection, then the other side is just nasty in comparison. Not that the clean side is perfect, but it looks waaay better than the other side. It's like my mouth has become Two Face. so, half of my mouth is evil and the other side is good. Maybe that will continue for a while where one side of my mouth likes spicy food and the other side likes sweet food. Yeah, probably not.
So, after an hour and a half of torture, I went back to work and my mouth was numb which is always fun. And I was starving by the time it wore off. No way I was going to try and eat Ramen noodles with a numb mouth. Yeah, that would have looked incredibly dumb.
After work I biked it home. Made some food for the clan. I took a nap because my adrenalin spiked while I was being tortured.
Woke up in time to watch It's The Easter Beagle Charlie Brown! I must say I was a little disappointed. It didn't seem to have the substance of the Christmas or Halloween episodes. Surprising, since it is a religious holiday and Shultz had no problem with his Christianity in the Christmas episode. Wonder what happened along the way?
Oh well. After that got ready for bed, watched some adult cinema that I found in my yard with Martha and hit the hay.
Thankfully, my next dentist appointment isn't until May 9th. That's a long time to have the Two Face teeth, but what are ya gonna do?

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FIVE

Back in the groove and it's work as usual. I had a dentist appointment, really just a consultation. It went well. Martha came with me which is always nice. The dentist, Dr. McDougall has a plan of attack on my lovely teeth and I was pretty impressed. I was also impressed at how good my dental insurance is. That's nice. Dr. McDougall is female and very nice. Never had a female dentist before. After all the male ones I've had in there doing a crappy job with my teeth, it's nice to get someone who knows what she's doing and isn't trying to rob me in the process. Dentists and veterinarians I swear are after one thing most of the time, your cash.
After that MArtha and I went to the bank to get some cash. We had some lunch at Wendy's and then put gas in the Caddy.
I went back to work for an hour or so and then it was off to Up And Under.
Why, you ask? Well today is St. Patrick's day and Guinness was a buck a half pint. Reason enough to go.
The beer was fine, I put away four half pints which is nothing to me. The place was too sports bar for me. People seemed nice enough, but it was just too...well, sports bar. Never was a big fan of that particular scene.
Anyway, I rode my bike the rest of the way home and did the dishes and made food for everyone. Nothing fancy. Did a couple of film reviews for Rancho Carne and watched some television before nodding off to sleep.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FOUR

Sunday and off to church. We are operating under a deadline with the car we are borrowing. Seems Alice needs it back by April Second. Yippee! I might have to get a temporary vehicle while we shop for what we really want. My buddy, Stew, offered up his van and that would work. We'll have to see how the car shopping business goes this week and the next.
After church we hit a couple of car lots and were nothing but disappointed. One of those we know what we can spend, but finding what we want in that budget is a little tougher than we thought.
Other than that Sunday was a pretty laid back day. Gearing up for going back to work and school for the littles. Yippee!

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTY-THREE

Ah the weekend! Time to relax and sleep in. Well, sort of. They are having the free movies at the local theater so Martha and all the kids and I went to see Are We Done YEt? It's a sequel to Are We There Yet?, which I have never seen. The movie was fun adn it wasn't too crowded so that was a good thing. Before we left for the movie Dan asked me if I had tickets. I said no what tickets? He popped both little biceps and said, tickets to the gun show. Pretty funny. I'll have to thank Chris for that when I see him next.
Ran into Stew and his two little guys, Simon and Charlie. He's got the same creepy crud I do so that is a real hoot. They went to see Horton Hears A Who. Yeah, I'll probably pass on that one. The original cartoon still works for me.
After the flick we took the kids home and then went to the store.
After store we went home and we all cleaned the yard. The snow is gone so we can find all the crap we left out before the snow fell. It gets a little warmer and it will be time to rake the back forty and get it ready for mowing and planting. Sounds like fun? Yeah, not really.
Other than that a pretty uneventful day where we took it easy. I did watch a documentary called The Nomi Song about Klaus Nomi. Sad and fascinating at the same time.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTY-TWO

Thank God it's Friday!!!! We are actually getting caught up at work which is nice. I took it easy at work because, well I felt like it.
After work, Martha and I went to Plainwell to look at a van and they had sold it out from under us. Bummer. We are still looking for a vehicle to get us around and the pickings are pretty darned slim.
Other than that it was pretty uneventful. My bike ride home was nice and the weather is getting better. I like it when it's Spring. Love Fall too. Never fond of the other two extremes, but the transition phases are good stuff.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTY-ONE

Thursday and more work. Still feel under the weather. I rode my bike to work and thought it would be great like yesterday. Yeah, all the muscles that got their workout decided to rebel on the way to work. I still made it, but man, were my legs whupped. It was cute when Martha called me and told me she was comign to get me from work. Seems she forgot that I rode my bike to work. I thought it was sweet and took the ride home.
Other than that it was a typical day of really nothing going on.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTY

It was Purge Day at work today. That means we clean the shop in preparation for the big move in May. Yeah, except I had jobs that were due so they got done. I managed to clean a little, but not as much as I would have wanted.
I rode my bike to work and it was great! I didn't realize how much I missed the damn thing. I didn't even want to stop when I got to work. Just wanted to keep on pedaling.
After work it was much nicer and I pedaled home. Martha had taken Dan to a field trip for scouts to the fish hatchery and they had a blast. Then it was time to head out to Holland to check out these vans we scoped out on line. Yeah, they had one van left and it was a little bit of a disappointment. Guess we'll keep on looking.
Now, three hours earlier I told the kids to clean some house while we were gone. No slave labor or anything, just pick up and make it look less like cattle make frequent runs through our house.
Needless to say, when we got back home from our disappointing ride out to Holland and nothing had been done, I was pissed. I went off and started yelling for them to get a move on. It had been three hours and they did nothing but lay there and watch television.
Yeah, I think that habit is on its way to being broken.
I grilled some chicken breasts and made some rice dish and veggies to go with dinner. Martha said she really liked the way the chickn turned out. Nice and crispy on the outside and juicy in the middle.
Watched some Chris Seaver flicks and hit the sack.
Tommorow is another day.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY-NINE

Still working, still sick. Feel like crap and most people tell me that that this creeping crud lasts for about three weeks. I have two weeks to go then and it royally sucks. Other than that, it was a day.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY-EIGHT

Work was exactly that, work. Whooppee! After work, Martha and I went and looked at vehicles. It was at Express Auto that we decided to fill out a credit application. Yeah, big mistake. We found a van we wanted, but they never told us the price of the thing until after we filled out a mountain of paperwork. Sheesh! What a waste of tiem. I blame myself.
After that we went home to discover that it was literacy night at the school and Dandy wanted to go. So, we went. We said hi to all the teachers that we like and they had all these different kind of soups for us to try. Delia had made a bowl in art class and we bought that.
While we were there I saw someone out of the corner of my eye and knew that I knew her. I siad, if I see her again while we are at the school I would go up and say hi. Could not for the life of me remember her name, but I knew the face. We had worked together at Big Boy about fifteen years ago.
Later I did see her and she remembered me and she told me her name is Krista. I knew it the minute she said it. She remembered my name so, she must be better at that kind of thing. I suck at it personally. It was fun to see her again and it added to the fun when she told me that we have seven year olds in the same class. I asked Dan if he knew her son, Nate and he said that Nate was cool.
Small world, eh?
Got home and there was a mountain of videos from various places to watch. From the hardcore, Misty Mundae flick, Vampire Strangler to the complete Pebbles and Bamm Bamm series when they were teeny boppers. Martha said she got like three packages at different times today. When it rains it pours.
After the school function I went home and we made steak and mashed potatoes and broccoli. Then it was time to take it easy. Busy day and wasting time at Express Auto was the real capper. Wednesday we are going to look at vans that are more in our price range. Yippee!

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY-SEVEN

Got up and was dragging. Still have the sickness and just wanted to sleep. Got up anyway and made our way to church. Church was good. Sunday school went quickly and breakfast was yummy. Sue made a baked apple french toast thingie that was very good. Service was good. We had communion and I got to help with that. After church we headed home. One of the ladies at church told us that they had a friend who was selling a short bus that we were supposed to go look at.
Went home and did very little. Laid down for a nap around two in the afternoon and Martha woke me up around six-thirty! Some nap!
We drove out to Centreville to look at the bus. It was a wreck as far as I was concerned. We took Delia and Dandelion with us so we stopped at McDonalds for dinner. Then we drove forever to get home and that was the end of our day.
Martha and I watched Ski Wolf before nodding off. It was so late because of that damned daylight savings time. I am still feeling like crud.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY-SIX

Saturday morning and our little Dandelion reminded us that we needed to be at the museum for some history thingie. Mrs. Yankee, the principal from the kids' school was there as well as Mr. Brown, Dan's teacher. They had this cool new exhibit of a yurt. A yurt is a dwelling used primarily by Mongolian nomads. I had seen a movie called Cave Of The Yellow Dog that dealt with the nomads of Mongolia and it was fascinating. Kind of cool to get to see a yurt up close after that. I'll have to find that movie and watch it again.
After the museum thing, we went home, dropped off Dandelion and took Dennis out for Chinese food and he got a new video game. It's our new thing that each payday we pick a new kid and go out to do some5thing with the kid. Delia is up next for festivities in two weeks.
After that it was time to grab all the kids and head for Hobby Lobby for craft things to do. I got a new model that should take weeks to put together. Fun, fun, for me anyway. Dan got some space age crystal that you grow. Delia got a rubber prop plane. Dennis got a snap together model and Dandelion got some velvet art to color. Martha found these stuffed keychains that you use yarn to kind of sew them together. Very cool.
We went home and did crafts and then we all got ready for bed. Too bad we lose an hour because of daylight savings time. Bleah!

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FIVE

Friday, payday and, most important, BEER DAY! And, to add icing to an already yummy cake, there is my anniversary to my lovely wife, Martha. We went to Harvey's for yummy Guinness and then it was off to grab a few pizzas for the rugrats before we headed out. Needed to stop at Walmart for phone cards and thn we were charged and ready to go! Of course, since there is nothing to do in town, that sort of sucked. The Art Hop was going on, but it was so damned cold! No movies on that were of any interest. We did make it to Applebee's...in Plainwell. There's a cheap theater there and we thought it might be worth a shot. It wasn't. The Applebee's was nice though. Even though we were both sick we still had a nice time.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FOUR

Thursday and I feel pretty good. Wasn't up all night coughing. Feel much, much better than before. Got some flicks to review in the mail that look, well interesting to say the least.
Made some chicken and rice and broccoli for dinner food. Watched some television with Martha. Really did not do a whole lot today. Still like the feeling good thing.
Later in the day I felt a little crappy but nothing like before.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY-THREE

Wednesday and, as mentioned before, still sick. Came to work anyway and had multiple coughing fits and felt horrible. Yippee for me! Took the car to the scrap heap and got two hundred and fifty bucks for it. Not too bad for a car with a blown engine. After work, Martha and I went to the store and got some food and medication for illness. I saw these things called Cold-Eeze and it sounded like the way to go. Apparently, large amounts of zinc can act like a dessicant to some people. I didn't know that until halfway through one of those logenzes my whole throat and mouth felt like it was going to cave in. I spit it out and drank lots of water to rehydrate myslef. I contacted the company that makes the things and they offered to reimburse me for them. Cool.
Still feel kind of crappy. I am officially sick of being sick. I am also sick of winter.

THE ILLNESS (DAYS TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY-NINE, TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY, TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY-ONE & TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY-TWO

So, this is being written on Wednesday morning. I'm better, but not a lot better. Saturday morning we got the car towed to Muffler Man where they proclaimed its death sentence. Somehow, the oil pump went out and the engine seized up. The car was dead. Now, living paycheck to paycheck this meant that we were really screwed. Really screwed. Then Missy, from church called and asked about church. I told her that we were without a car and unable to make it. She said to give her a minute and she would call us back. When she did call us back she had a ride to church for us in the morning and our friend Alice, also from church, was letting us borrow one of her many cars. I guess it's true what they say about leaving it in God's hands.
The rest of Saturday went by without incident and I noticed that I had a little cough, no big deal.
Sunday we got our ride to church and waiting for us was a nice, white Cadillac courtesy of our personal angel, Alice. Had some fellowship and breakfast and service and still felt pretty good. I mentioned my friend Mark's wife, Lina for the prayer chain. She is still very sick. Then it was off to the homestead.
Later, Martha and Dennis and Delia went to youth group. That went off without a hitch until they tried o come home. The cops decided to put up a speed trap and, while she wasn't speeding, the pretty, white Caddy had expired plates. They let her off with a warning and she came home very flustered. Coincidentally, I started feeling worse with congestion, fever and a cough.
I called Alice and informed her of the situation and she said she would take care of it. Problem solved.
Monday morning came and I felt like crap and went to work. Unfortunately, my coughing fits made it impossible to work so I went home to be ill. Martha was also sick by this time. Not a lot happened for the rest of that day.
Tuesday morning and I knew that I wasn't going to work so I called Josh and he agreed to open for me. Very nice. I could wallow in my misery in peace. Well, except for when Alice came over with the new tags and Martha was still also sick and now Dennis had what we had and Dandelion said she wasn't feeling well either.
To help compound matters I noticed Dennis picking at something on his foot. He had complained about this for a few weeks now and I thought it might have been a wart or some such thing. Then I looked at it. It was oozing pus and there was a hole in the middle. In the hole was something black. Okay, this was not good. He offered to get it out so I let him. He pulled out a quarter inch piece of stiff wire and it was off to the doctor's for a tetanus shot. Thankfully, the doctor's office is only five minutes away. Kids! Sheesh!
I managed to watch a lot of movies in the four days this has taken place. I have to review a lot of them, but just haven't had the effort to sit there and do it. I will tonight most likely. I have managed to cough hard enough and long enough that my ribs are killing me. I still have the worse sinus congestion ever and the coughing isn't so bad if I sit up. Even though I would rather lay down.
As I said in the beginning, it's Wednesday morning and after work Martha and I have to get the old car towed to the junkyard for some much needed cash and clean out the old beast before they come and get it. Not looking forward to that in the slightest. That's it for now. I'll keep everyone posted.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY-EIGHT

Friday, got up, started the car and then shoveled the driveway. Yup, you guessed it. More snow. I am sick of snow. After I was done shoveling I noticed that the car wasn't running. Tried to start it. No go. Jumped it, nothing. Finally, I had to hoof it to work and was very very late. And my beard was full of icicles. The boss called shortly afterward and she had been in a car wreck and, while not hurt, was going to not make it to work. I know what you're thinking. What a crappy day.
That was until lunch when Josh came back from lunch and discovered that a nearby bar was serving twenty nine cent beers in celebration of leap year. Only, he wasn't sure which bar it was. The hunt was on! We finally discovered it was Burdicks Bar and Grill inside The Radisson Hotel. Kind of a fancy place for twenty nine cent glasses of Pabst Blue Ribbon. Yup, PBR is what was on tap.
Josh and I hit the place and seven beers later, staggered out and only spent five bucks including tip. We actually tipped more than we paid for beer.
Went home and tried banging on the starter. That didn't work. We ordered Domino's pizza and watched television.

Stupid car. Tommorow we will get it towed to Muffler Man to see if they can fix it.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY-SEVEN

More work and had to saty late because of this job I am working on. That and Martha had to go to the school and have a conference with the music teacher because Dan The Man is, well, Dan The Man. What can ya do? Then it was off to home where I made whole wheat pasta and sauce. Everyone hated it. Well, except for me, but I'm not that picky of an eater.
Martha went out and did stuff with her buddy Barb so the kids and I watched Horton Hears A Who (the original) and then I watched a Eurospy flick called Target Goldseven. It was pretty damned cool! Very sixties feel to it with that unique European vibe.
After that we fed the doggies, let them out and I got everyone off to bed. Then it was my turn for sleep. Very tired and my eyes are burning. The unique Michigan weather is playing havoc with my sinuses. I am officially ready for Winter to end.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY-SIX

Hump Day and another day in paradise. Work was work. Got stuck with this one demanding project so, nothing else got done. Another yippee for that one. After work went home and made some chicken stir fry that turned out quite nice. Then it was off to Judo. Noth really up for Judo, but did it anyway and did the low impact version. In other words, if I didn't want to do it, I didn't do it and our sensei is fine with that. I don't compete and am not looking for belt advancement.
Back home and we watched some television. Watched the new Justice League animated flick. It was pretty awesome.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY-FIVE

Had snow today so I had to shovel the driveway from Hell and salt it. I should invest in a salt mine or something with the amount of that crap I go through every winter. Got a ride from Martha to work. Work was busy...AGAIN! After work I was informed that we needed to go to the store. We went and got stuff and then zoomed home so I could make the feast of baked chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing and Italian style vegetables. It was very good. Even Dan The Man ate huge portions of stuff. I'm not sure where he was putting it.
Then there's the bad news. John Polonia passed away today. Don't know who he is? That's a shame. He and his twin brother, Mark, are two independent film makers. They started with a gore and twisted fest called SPLATTER FARM back in the shot on video glory days of the eighties. Since then they went on to make over thirty films. They did them all in house and they, while being micro budget, still managed to entertain. Not a bad thing. He was thirty-nine and died of a heart aneurysm. I can express no better who this makes me feel other than saying it sucks. Death is never good, but this really sucks. I was just getting to know these guys. Their films and I interviewed them, for my zine. And now half the team is gone. While I truly hope that Mark will continue to make films, I wouldn't blame him if he didn't.
What a shitty capper to a relatively good day.

DAY TWO HUNDREED AND FORTY-FOUR

Monday and another day in paradise! Yippee! Hey, at least I'm working and have possession of all my faculties. Right? Wait, let me check. Yup, all faculties present and accounted for.
We are getting hammered with work at work. Guess that's why they call it work.
After work I went home and made some yummy food stuff and then it was off to Judo. We did the Judo thing, well I didn't. My toe still hurts and I just didn't feel like it getting worse. Martha didn't either because she felt icky and that's cool.
Came home after Judo, made a snack and watched wrestling for bed.
Kind of busy, but not really busy.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY-THREE

Sunday and up early for church. Stomach still feels oogy and I blame the antibiotics. We'll have to wait and see. If it gets worse I'll have to call the doctor and tell them to think of something else.
Church was fun, hadn't been there in two weeks due to weather and it was good seeing everyone. I finished the Sunday School curriculum for this quarter and we start the new stuff next week. It's actually continuing the study of Genesis so that is cool. Usually these prepared lessons are pretty scattershot so it's nice to see it continuing with Genesis.
After church Martha practiced some music with Sam and they worked out some songs that they might do next week. They want to set up a regular practice day and that would be cool.
After church we went out for Chinese food at Stir Max and then headed to Fanfare Comics to check out all the goodies.
After food we went home and everyone did their own thing. Later, Martha and Delia and Dennis went to church for youth group and the kids had a belated Valentine's thing. Dan and I stayed home. He played Playstation and I wrote some entries for various blogs throughout the net.
Martha and the kids came home and they played SingStar while I wrote some more. Feeling very prolific lately which is a good thing since I have had days where I don't write at all.
Then it was time for sleepy time and we hit the sack.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY-TWO

Saturday and had to get up early. Chiropractor appointment at nine in the AM. Ray is my chiropractor and it was good to get back to seeing him.After the appointment we went out to Big Apple Bagel for coffee and bagels. Martha and I, that is.
Then it was home to work, cleaning the house and whatnot.
We took a break to watch Good Luck Chuck. It was funny and man did it have a lot of tits in it or what?
Kind of an easy day with housework and taking it easy. Oh, I also watched Legend Of The Chupacabra. Funny stuff. I can't wait for the rest of the chupacabra flicks I have in my queue.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY-ONE

Friday and it's payday! I won an auction to get Martha a TARDIS alarm clock and that w3as cool. The fact that it was twnety bucks because it's coming from England kind of blew, but it's still worth it. I paid my Netflix bill and took sixty bucks out of the bank. Yeah, I'm broke.
Made the mistake of taking an antibiotic in the morning on an empty stomach. yeah, tore me up pretty good. probably not a great plan to have the chili for lunch on top of that.
After work Martha and I went to get foody things for the household. She dropped me off at Olde Peninsula to have drinks with Josh and Savannah and her boyfriend, Rich. He seems very nice.
I will never drink that damned Sunset Red beer again. Gave me a wicked hangover, but it's my own damned fault. That will teach me not to stray from the sweet beverage that is Guiness. Blech!
While I was at the bar I noticed that someone had brought a baby into the bar. Now it was after nine in the PM and the smoke was in full force and drinking was in full swing. Would you bring a baby into that? What kind of a moron would do that?
I think I'm headed back to Harvey's on next beer day in two weeks. Go with what is safe I always say.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY

So, Seann came over in the morning to give me a ride to work. I made pancakes for everyone and made sure the coffee was on. Then Seann took me to work and Dennis to school. He came back and took Martha to pick up the car. We made payment arrangements with Mike at Muffler Man, but when she got there at eight in the AM there was just some red headed dipshit that knew nothing of this and she had to wait an hour for Mike to show so she could get the car. Unbelievable!
Work was work, did a bunch of tiny jobs to help clear off the counter.
I had a doctor's appointment for my infected toe and he looked at it said, yup, it's infected. Here's some huge antibiotics. Good thing about antibiotics at Meijer is that they are free. Martha and I had some lunch at Arby's and put some gas in the car. I noticed the new gas cap so I had to look at the new tank. It is very pretty.
Went back to work and did stuff until it was time to go.
Got home and Dennis' friend Torren was there. Delia and those two decided to go over to see Delia's friend, Mariah. I made meatless lasagna and a pot of rice for the picky people in the house for dinner.
These damned antibiotics are drying me out! Guess I'll have to chug the fluids for the next ten days. Yeesh!
Martha and I cleaned our room a little and I went through my film cabinet to see if I could consolidate anything. I threw out a few really crappy movies and discovered that I have three copies of Dracula's Dirty Daughter. Hell, I don't even want one copy of this flick and I have three. Oh well.
Went to sleep watching Heather and Puggly Crucify The Devil. Great flick.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY-NINE

Still have the cold, yippee! Work was work. Martha took the car down to the shop for it's new gas tank that is going to cost five hundred dollars!!! Around noon thirty I decided to call and see how it was going on the tank since they had the car since eight in the AM. Yeah, seems they ordered the wrong part and now the new part wouldn't be there until one in the PM. Crap! That means finding a ride home from work. I would have walked but I couldn't find a hat this morning. And that's another thing. I buy what seems like tens of stocking caps from the dollar store. I buy enough for every member of the household to have one or two of the damned things. Why is it thn that I can never find one. This morning I had to wear my daughter's purple Blue's Clues hat to shovel the driveway. No way I was wearing that thing to work. Are the children eating them or what.
Anyway, I decide to call Seann, my oldest, and ask him for a ride. Yeah, he left his phoen at home and he was at work. I eventually got ahold of him, but it took a little while. He gave me a ride back to The Waltz Compound. Tomorrow he's even going to take me to work and take Martha to get the car in the morning. He'sa good kid.
Dinner was leftover chicken and dumplings and then I just l;aid in bed with Martha and dozed while television was on. After feeding the dogs and getting the littles off to bed Martha and I watched Mr. Bean's Holiday. Funny flick and Rowan Atkinson is a hoot. I was still kind of awake so I decided to see what free flicks were on cable's On Demand service. I fell asleep to the melodious strains of From Dusk Til Dawn. Didn't make it past Benny's World Of Liquor blowing up.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY-EIGHT

Tuesday and still have the coughing sniffles thing going on. I also have an infected hangnail or some such thing on my big toe and I've soaked it and covered it in anti bionic ointment (Yes, I did the typo on purpose) and it's still red. Martha told me to go to the doctors so, I'll be making that call in the morning. Yippee!
Got a lot of writing done. Did a piece of flash fiction for Askew Reviews, did a scene for the movie, wrote a review for Askew and did a piece for both the Penguin Comics blog and the Divine Exploitation blog. I was pretty happy with all the writing I got done as I hadn't done much of that recently. Well, besides this damned thing.
Had a shot of Imperial Whiskey for bed with a little orange juice to help me sleep. Now I am out of Imperial Whiskey and will need to get some more. For medicinal purposes you understand.
Martha is taking the car in for a new gas tank tomorrow and tha should be fun. Fun to the tune of five hundred bucks. Yeesh!
And does anyone know why the spell check is not working here on Blogger? I hit the damned button and get some weird error message. This means I have to go and check what I wrote myself which sucks.
In good news I took the, Which Smurf are you? test and discovered that I am Lazy Smurf. Kinda saw that one coming.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SEVEN

Back to work and my cold is killing me. Coughing, congestion and a wicked back ache if I sit wrong, which is always enjoyable with a job where, sometimes, you have to sit for a while. Sheesh!
Went home and made yummy food for the clan. Nothing special. Then it was time to sit in place and vibrate until eight o'clock rolled around. You see I have an addiction. It's a television series called Prison Break and this was the season finale of season three. It is bad enough that because of the writer's strike I was only getting thirteen episodes this season instead of the more normal twnety-one, but there is nothing I can do about it.
In the end, how was the episode? It was good. There was a lot left open for season four, but there was a lot of closure as well. If they ended it here, would it work? Kind of. I wouldn't be happy about it, but it would work. Man, I hope they come back next season.
Watched a little wrestling before nodding off. Coughing sucks.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SIX

All night coughing and we did not go to church. The roads seemed pretty treacherous and it rained all day. Maybe that will melt some of the damnable ice that seems to want to choke the life out of my poor driveway. We were supposed to take Dennis and his girlfriend Mariah to the movies, but her mom made her do chores and they had to cancel. Martha and I went out for Chinese food and did a little shopping. Then we brought home pizza to the kiddies.
We watched HOT ROD which was very funny and silly and then it was time to hit the hay. Still have this lovely congestion and cough, but I did pick up some Ricola and Vitamin C drops. Along with some green tea to sip on. Hopefully, I will get more sleep tonight because tomorrow is work and we have to take the car into the shop. Oh, I didn't mention that the car has a leak in the bottom of the gas tank? Yeah, of course it does. Now we need to see what that is going to cost us.
Sheesh!

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIVE

Okay, got to sleep in. Still feel a little crappy, but it's date night so that will be fun. Of course we had to run to the store and we had Dandelion with us. She needed new boots for the remainder of winter and Meijer had a sale where you buy one pair of shoes, boots included, and you get the second pair for a buck. I got a nice pair of brown, leather loafers.
We had to go get Dennis from his girlfriends house. He was trying to get to go to the movies before we left, but it was again lack of planning that worked against him.
we went to the park to meet Dawn then we went to The Metro to meet Chris and Heather. They brought along Chris' cousin, Mandy and we all ate really yummy food. I had the fish and chips and a couple of pints of Guiness. A few of us decided to do this shot called Pussy Pants. It's a girl drink with lemon vodka, Chambord and some sour mix. Tasted like kool aid to me.
After Dinner, Dawn and Martha and I went to The Whole Art Theater to watch an improv group called Crawlspace Eviction. They were funny as always. After that we headed to Harvey's and had a couple of drinks. I saw Neil Bryer there and we chatted for a minute. One of my old work buddies, Jenny, was there as well and we talked for a while. It was good seeing those guys again.
After that it was home again, home again where I had a coughing fit for most of the night and not much in the way of sleep. Yipee! I blame the cold air and the smoky bar for most of it.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FOUR

Friday, but no payday. Martha and I are going out tomorrow night with Chris, Heather and Dawn so it's sort of a quiet laid back sort of day. Work was work and then we went to the store for some stuff. Back home was quiet, well as quiet as you can get with four kids in the house. Netflix showed up so there is some weekend entertainment there. Still feel a little crappy.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY-THREE

Back to work after two days off due to illness. I busted my hump to get a bunch of stuff done. My back is still killing me and I still have the lovely cough and congestion so, wheeee! Oh well, work was hectic, but I cruised at three no matter what.
Got stuff at the store to make steak. Martha made these amazing stuffed mushroom caps with cream cheese, curry powder and walnuts to name a few ingredients. Ate yummy food and then I was ready to hit the sack. The day wore me out. I am recuperating, but it ain't happening overnight.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY-TWO

Wow! Still feel like crap! Got a wicked congestion cough going on and I did something to my lower back. No running around today. I stayed in bed and recuperated as best as I could. I know that I am going to work tomorrow so I need the rest. Watched a lot of movies and just vegetated

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY-ONE

Woke up and felt like shit. Shoveled the driveway and felt worse. I had to jump the car to get it to start. That was when something in my lower back said I was done and my throat was killing me and I felt feverish.
I called in sick. Josh was good enough to open for me. Later Martha had to run a couple of errands so, I decided to go along for the ride. Yeah, I was pretty much dying halfway through that. We got licenses for the doggies and she bought me lunch at this little place called Julianne's that makes hot roast beef sandwiches with actual chunks of roast beef not that sliced crap.
Then it was off to the store to get things and then back home to rest. The little trip took a lot out of me. We'll have to see how tomorrow is.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY

Monday and back at the grind. Tarcie wasn't there, she had the day off. I had a rush job that took my entire shift which was no fun. After work it was still monumentaily shitty outside. I walked to work, which concerned me with the wind chill, but turned out fine. The walk home was better, but I knew with that much walking I was no way going to Judo. Just stayed home and made food for everyone and watched Prison Break. Prison Break is that one show that I always watch. I haven't missed an episode in three seasons and we only get one more episode for this season. I do not see how they can wrap it all up in one more hour, but you know nthere will be a major cliffhanger for season four.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-NINE

Yup, crappy weather, 20 degrees below zero with the wind chill. Yup, no chruch today. We took it major easy. I made food a couple of times through the day and I watched a lot of movies and wrote some reviews for the people I write for. Hopefully, it will be nicer for work tomorrow, but I ain't holding my breath.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-EIGHT

Saturday started pretty slow. I was in the living room and the phone started ringing. MArtha grabbed it, looked at the caller ID and told me it was Seann. Now, before I go on, let me explain something;
Seann's friend George got ahold of his cell phone and left a message so that when you call it explains that while Seann can't come to the phone right now he does indeed love the cock. So, when Seann calls I say, "Hey, cocklover!" And I think this is pretty damned funny. Anyway, Martha hands me the phone and says it's Seann and I answer it with the cocklover phrase.
Yeah, then Dennis' thirteen year old girlfriend says in a really quiet voice. "Is Dennis there?" Yeah, that wasn't good. Martha thought it was fuinnier than Hell however. Later we took the kids out to buy video games and then they turned into obnoxious jerks so we took them home and Martha and I went out instead. Man, for some reason all the restaurants were busy!
We ended up at Applebee's and the snow was coming down pretty fast and furious. For some reason our service blew and he headed out as quickly as possible. I wrote a letter to Applebee's explaining how it was the worst experience that we ever had there. Have to wait and see how that goes.
We went to Walmart and bought a few things then stopped at Starbucks. MArtha got a Vanilla Latte and I got some Komodo Dragon coffee. We shared some banna walnut cake and a piece of lemon pound cake. It was nice and relaxing and the best time of the day for me.
Then we made it home through the ever increasing snow...almost.
Going up Patterson we noticed that a couple of cars couldn't make it up the small hill. We needed to turn around and cut through the Life Center Church's parking lot to get back on Douglas and away from people that can't drive up a hill. As went to turn around we saw a car trying to make a left and it went straight and crashed onto the little traffic island. What a shmuck! Martha and I thought.
We made it onto Douglas and were headed past the crash site. That was when Martha pointed out that it was Seann!
The car was fine and there were a lot of people there so we were able to push it out. Some of the people there offered to give me a ride home, but I thought it was safer to walk the block instead of risking getting into someone's car. Especially Seann's!
I fell three times on the way home which was not good, but the road was that slippery.
I got home and said that with the incoming Arctic wind we would probably have no church in the morning.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SEVEN

Okay, it's payday and the day starts off with a hoot. First I get to work and there is this box of stuff that I was scanning. Yeah, it's missing. Come to find out that since I left it on the trash can it was fair game for our janitorial staff. Seems that since it wasn't in the damned can they could have asked, but it's too late for that now.
So, that put me in a foul mood. Then I realized that Dan The Man had a field trip after I got out of work so there went beers after work. Oh the day just keeps getting better and better.
Rob brought in donuts so that was a ray of sunshine.
After work Martha and Dan and I went to the airport so that the scouts could learn about airplanes. Yeah, there was about seventy five of us there and it was, without a doubt, the most disorganized thing we have ever been to. We actually snuck out early by bribing Dan with candy.
We stopped at the Circle K and Dan got some candy as did Martha and then I got some Red Stripe lager.
We went home and talked about goig out, but by then it was too late and the dogs needed feeding.
I drank the Red Stripe, the a Bell's Winter White Ale followed up with two Rolling Rocks. We are now officially out of beer at the house.
Martha and Dan and Delia and Dandelion and I decided to sing every song in the Singstar '80s game. It's fun. If you haven't played it, it comes with two microphones and it plays music videos with the words and you have to hit the proper pitch to score points. I rocked out a couple of them, particularly You Spin Me Round by Dead or Alive and Tainted Love by Soft Cell. Of course I owned I Ran by Flock OF Seagulls and by the time we finished it was around eleven in the PM and we were all very hoarse from all that singing. I don't know how rock stars do it.
So, Martha salvaged what could have ended on a very sour note for me and that is why she is the best wife in all of creation. I'll have a headache tomorrow from mixing all those beers, but it was still a lot of fun.
Sleep now.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIX

One more day to payday. Yippee! Work was more of the same and then I went home to being with the family. Nothing really stuck out to make the day anything more exceptional than the others so I think I'll leave it at that.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE

Wednesday and hump day. I walked to work which is fine. Good exercise and I get to listen to my Smodcast. Those are very entertaining and I will be sad when I have burnt through the backlog. Sure, Kevin and Scott could do more of them, but they are in production on a movie so, I'm not holding my breath.
Work was another day of printing a lot of stuff. Yup, printing stuff, who would have thought, huh?
The weather was nasty and slippery and crappy so there was no Judo after work which sucked. Stayed home and did a whole lot of nothing.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FOUR

So, I'm a good doobie at work. I have oatmeal with ground flaxseed for breakfast, sardines and celery for lunch. But, then I have this overwhelming urge for burgers after work. Martha agrees and we go to Burger King. Now, they weren't really busy, but they were busy enough and there were only three people working, including the manager. My order took forever. Of course I was ordering for six people, but come on! Maybe they should have more people working in case they do get busy. Minimum of five. Three didn't really cut it.
Anyway, We went home and ate waaaay too much and then Martha went upsatirs to sleep and I hung out with the kids and fell asleep on the couch. Felt good, but I woke up pretty stiff.
After the kids went to bed I signed up for the Disney's Pirates Of The Carribbean online game. It was fun and free which is always nice. Sure, they want you to upgrade to a premimum package, but I'm happy with the basic game. Martha designed a character as well and she really liked the game.
Did I emntion that there was porn in the mail? Life is good.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-THREE

Back to work and I feel like crap. Went home and did the dishes and made food and didn't go to Judo. Just wanted to sleep, but couldn't. Just a bleah kind of day where nothing happened.
The only thing that I remember sticking out was that the new episode of Prison Break was on and it was good as always. The bad girl, Gretchen fascinates me in that she is drop dead gorgeous, but so damned evil that there is no attraction there at all. But then there is. Weird, huh? All I know that the woman in smoking and I want to see her dead at the same time. Just good television I guess

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-TWO

Sunday morning and we have to go to church. Well, don't 'have' to go, but want to go. I made a huge breakfast casserole for Sunday School and hopefully , everyone will like it.
After church we went home and took it easy befofre the Super Bowl. We were invited out to Alice's house because Brooke, who teaches youth group, wanted the kids to come out there.
Alice showed me her basement and everything in it and she even gave me some of those lurid true crime magazines from the fities. She said that she has more of them and when she finds them they are mine. I'm considering doing a series of articles on the magazines for Curt's Groovy Age blog. They would fit right in with the whole feel of the blog.
Then after half time the kids started to get cranky and we decided to go home. The commercials were the best part of the half of the game that I saw.
Got home and called it a night.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-ONE

Saturday and we have absolutely nothing to do. Later we need to go to the store to get stuff for church breakfast, but that ain't until later so, it's being lazy and hanging out at The Waltz Compound.
I tried making Dazzle work to edit videotape and that went horribly. I'll keep plugging away at it and taking a class at cable access will make a huge difference. Later we did go to the store.
Have I mentioned that Dennis has a girlfriend. Yeah, she's twelve and looks sixteen. Thankfully, Dennis has had the talk, but I still bought him some condoms. It's one of those I would rather he didn't, but if he does then he needs to not have any little Dennis' walking around the world. At least not until after college. He was slightly embarrassed, but I could see that he thought it was funny that his old dad worried about that sort of thing.
Man, this is one of those rather avoid it kind of things, but avoiding it leads to my premature grandparenthood. Not ready for that yet.
Church tomorrow. Need sleep.

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY

Friday and no payday so no Guiness day. Insert sad face here. Lots of snow and school got cancelled again. I decided that since no one but me had to be out in this crap that I would hoof it to work. Man, the snow was heavy! I do love my mp3 player and that I can listen to SModcasts on the way to work. Kind of makes my day.
Work was work, nothing special to report. They had a free pizza thing and it was pizza from the cafeteria so, it was pretty good. I ate three pieces and it sat in my stomach like a brick and made me loggy for the rest of the day. Bleah!
Went home and hung out with Martha and the kids. Watched some television. Pretty normal kind of day.

TWO HUNDRED AND NINETEEN

It snowed a lot during the night and kids had school so, I needed to shovel the driveway. This meant that I would not have time to walk to work so, I got in the shower and got ready for work. I was done with my shower and headed downstairs for clothes when I spied our cat, Pashmina, on the stairs. She was just sitting their staring intently at something. At first glance I saw that it was a piece of carpet that must have frayed loose and was sticking out on the stairs.
Then I looked again.
Have I mentioned that we have a cornsnake named Rufus Xavier Sarsparilla? Yeah, it was the damn snake and they were having a stare down contest and neither of them was giving an inch. I have to give the snake props since he weighs a couple of ounces in comparison to the pounds that the cat tips the scales at. I scooped him up and went to take him to Martha.
That was it as far as I was concerned. I went back down the stairs and thought it a little odd that Pashmina hadn't moved from her spot. I called her name and went to pet her at the same time. Yeah, the second my hand made contact with her fur she shot up in the air like a rocket. Man, she was in the zone.
Work was work and really, the rest of the day paled in comparison to my early morning adrenaline rush. It makes me wonder how long Rufus had been out of his cage and what else he had done. I mean, he had to get out of the tank, down the cabinet it rests on out of the room past three dogs and under the door. And why pick the stairs? We have an upstairs bathroom wih plenty of reptile friendly places. I also have no idea how long he had been out. He got lucky that Pashmina decided that he wasn't kibble.

TWO HUNDRED AND EIGHTEEN

Okay, the Arctic wind I mentioned yesterday came on us liek a vengeance here in Michigan. Five hundred schools closed across the state and we got a pretty big state. With the wind chill it was around negative fifteen degrees outside.
Yeah, so I decided to walk to work.
YEah, I know, crazy, but I had on sufficient layers to make sure I was warm and toasty. I had my huge scarf and really warm gloves so, coupled with my beard I had part of one cheek get a little chilly. Not to damned shabby if you ask me. Plus, I had my mp3 player so all was well in the winter wonderland we call Michigan.
Besides, I'll let you in on a secret.
I wasn't the craziest person out in it yesterday.
Picture this, it's cold as I mentioned, there's snow and the wind is hitting around forty miles an hour. Thankfully, I had the wind at my back. As I get downtown I see the one thing that clinches that I wasn't crazy for walking.
There on one of the main streets of Kalamazoo which is also a one way street, headed the wrong way down the street is.....a guy on a bicycle.
Yup, just when you think you've done all you can to get the crazy award, along comes some crazier bastard to snatch it from your hand.
Work was okay and I managed a little overtime which is always nice. Savannah gave me a ride home which was very nice of her.
I got home and did the dishes, made a huge steaming pot of chicken and noodles which was yummy and Martha and I put the boys' furniture back in their room. After all that busy I made a choclate cake which was a big hit and then Martha and I went to bed and watched RESIDENT EVIL:EXTINCTION. I thought it was pretty good and really would like to see how they manage to pull off another one. They left it open for one and I, for one, can not wait to see what's next. What can I say? You get gtore, zombies and the incredibly hot Milla Jovovich. Doesn't get much better than that in movie land if you ask me.