Sunday, December 28, 2008

What a weekend!

My wife's niece Kelly got married on 12/27/2008 to Brian. Kelly had always wanted a winter wedding so off we went to beautiful Highland Indiana on the 26th. What made it interesting was the ice storm that went through on the night of the 25th...

We delayed leaving an hour as several of the roads we would take were having issues. Lots of accidents. Lots and lots. Finally got on the road around 10:45 and all was good...till we hit Halsted and I-294S. Traffic stopped. Not slowed but stopped. A truck had jack knifed at Calumet and 294 and only one lane was open. Going from 5 to 1 was not pleasing so I went south on Halsted and worked my way over to Kelly's parents house. The ice was 2 inches thick on the drive way. Kelly's father Matt had chipped out enough for me to unload my elderly father-in-law and his wife safely. Soon the women headed off to the nail salon, thing1 went with Matt to get their tuxes and I took the old folks to the hotel and got them settled. I even got to relax for an hour or so. Whee. Fired up the laptop and tried to use the hotel wireless. Slow. Very slow.

It was soon time for the rehearsal. Got the old folks moving and headed up Indianapolis Blvd. Rain. Lots of ice everywhere. Potholes the size of Yugos. Fun. The parking lot at the church was covered with 2 inches of ice. My father-in-laws wife uses a cane and had lotsa fun getting into the church. Afterwards the rain picked up as we headed back to the hotel. Wedding day morning brought even more rain. And no more ice. Matt's driveway was clear when I dropped off the girls to get their hair done. Later on at the church the ice was gone as well. It was windy and raining but at least there was no ice.

And soon Kelly and Brian were married. Beautiful service using the best of the two ministers present. And it was off to the reception. Well - once the limo got out of the way. It was blocking the egress from the handicapped spots. Once there we were treated to wonderful food and music to dance to. Even thing1 got dragged out on the dance floor. Thing2 wouldn't stop dancing! The bridal party was on the floor for every dance. So were a couple of the under 5 crowd. Jack and Riley latched on to each other even though they had never met and had a blast.

Soon the midnight hour approached and we went to the hotel. Sleep came quickly...

We woke to sunshine this morning. It was chilly and windy but the sun felt so good. As we got closer to home we noticed that the foot of snow that was there on Friday was gone. We have the remnants of a few snow banks but otherwise it's all gone. Buffy was at home with a family friend and appeared to have had a good weekend.

Home sweet home.

Kelly and Brian

Married 12/27/2008



A couple of guys

Thing1 and his grandfather

Thing 2

Cleans up rather well

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Christmas Presents

My incredibly generous wife bought me a Canon EOS 450 DSLR. Surprised me.

The last time she bought me a camera was 3 jobs and 21 years ago (for Christmas) when she bought me a Canon EOS 650 SLR. Took my 70 to 210 lens and tried it on the DSLR. Works great. Buffy was nice enough to pose.



I love toys!

Merry Christmas

To all.



Buffy spent the time opening presents chewing on a bone.

Friday, December 05, 2008

A Gift for Lego Fans



Available (well backordered) at Brick Arms.

Even better - it offends Islamofacists.

Thursday, December 04, 2008

Five Second Christmas Lights

Making the rounds at work

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

The day after

The wife, happy with her performance at the range yesterday, decides to take a couple of targets in with her to work today. A few of her coworkers are gun owners so she wants to show off.

One of the other nurses is a far left clueless lib. Real far left. Anyway my wife texts me with her reaction:

    "she was repulsed"

I guess the sight of paper with .22 holes in it is just too much for some people!

Monday, November 24, 2008

A Great Day

My wife and I both took the day off to spend together. She had been talking about going shooting with me and, since weekends at the local indoor range is a zoo, we went today. She hadn't really shot a gun since the late 80's. Bought me several in that time but never pulled the trigger herself.

Got to the range just after they opened, signed in, got ready. She decided to shoot my Ruger Mark II. Showed her how to load, safety, etc. Explained that the Clark trigger on the pistol is really light and let her go. Within a couple of magazines she was shooting decent groups. 250 rounds later she was grinning and planning on taking a couple of her targets to work on Tuesday to show off. Me - I just put 250 rounds through my CZ-75 and Glock 17. Spent a lot of time on different shooting grips and pistol positions. I find that I shoot a lot better if I bring the pistol a little closer to my eyes.

Did some Christmas shopping after shooting. Found some deals on gifts for Thing2. Stopped at Claim Jumpers for lunch. They had a prime rib open face sandwich on special. Yumm. The potatoes were mashed and then deep fried like pancakes. So awesome.

And then it was time for conferences at school. Thing2 is doing pretty good. Some issues in Algebra but otherwise the teachers were happy.

What a nice day!

This is just the Marines

From the comments posted here:

    I don't get it. I mean where's the news here? Marines are outnumbered and attacked. Marines attack in response. Enemy die in large numbers. Enemy abandon weapons and run away bravely. Marines hand out candy. That's it? This is not news people. This is just the Marines.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

National Ammo Day

It snuck up on me again - which is strange given it's only 4 days after my wife's birthday.

I did my part.



500 rounds of Remington and 100 rounds of Winchester. The wife and I are going shooting on Monday so most of this will probably be gone soon...

Who cares!

It's not too late to do your part. National Ammo Day.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Veterans Day

My first job out of college was at a hospital. My group was attached to the facilities maintenance department which was heavily populated with Vietnam veterans as well as a few Korean War vets. We had every thing from regular soldiers to a Green Beret to a SeeBee to a much decorated Air Force fighter pilot. An interesting group. There were a few of us (about 20%) that had not served so on Veterans Day, when the Veterans had the day off with pay, we had to carry the load. No bitching - just do the work. Similar to (but in no way equal to) what we ask those who wear the uniform to do.

Veterans Day is a day to honor those who have served. Like Memorial Day it is not one for protest.

To all those who have served I offer up two simple words:

Thank You

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Quote of the day

From a post on hotair.com

    “Americans grew tired of being thought to be dumb by the rest of the world, so they went to the polls and removed all doubt.”

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Watching the Election returns

Thing1 is clinging to his guns and his Bible



The real guns were secure so he used what was available...

Voting

1980 was my first year to vote as I turned 18 in 79. This year Thing1 voted in his first presidential election.

My wife and I went to vote together this morning at 6:00am. There was a line when we got there at 6:01 for all three precincts. I haven’t seen that since 2000. Traffic was light on the way to work. I guess everyone is voting!

So get out there and Vote! I'd prefer it if you selected McCain/Palin. Consider it a belated birthday gift to me. :-)

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

So Sad

Not really

US troops kill No. 2 leader of al-Qaida in Iraq

It's actually the kind of thing that can make you smile.

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Not a Fan

But a blower motor resistor.

Thing1 was complaining about only have 2 of the 4 fan speeds on his A/C in his car. A quick Google and it appeared it was the blower motor resistor. No problem. The online instructions looked pretty simple and 5 minutes at rockauto.com had a new resisitor on the way.

Took things apart this morning. What a pain. First you need a 5.5mm socket - Had that. A 1/4 inch swivel would have been nice but no such luck. The motor came out quickly and I could see the resistor.



It's down in the footwell above the motor. And one of the screws is against the firewall with no room to get the socket wrench in there. Grrr. Just moving the resistor 90 degrees to the right or left would have made this a 5 minute (rather than 2 hour) job.



But now it's done. 4 fan speeds. A happy Thing1.

Friday, September 19, 2008

New Toys

I went to the Chicago Custom Knife Show last weekend looking for something to use in the kitchen. Didn't have much luck but I did pick up a couple of inexpensive fixed blades.

This one is just over 4.5 inches long including a 1.25 inch blade. Very light and handy. The maker, James Krause, and his wife were very nice people to talk with - which made spending money with them quite easy. I even got a thank you card in the mail yesterday. Impressive.



This is just as a simple hunter from Mark Nevling. I have a number of these (even though I don't hunt). The finish isn't quite up there but the price was right - especially compared to other sub $150.00 knives at the show. The blade is not stainless, which means it can rust. When inspecting it I noticed a small speck of rust on the back side. The maker took 20% off the price since I didn't want to wait for him to clean it up. Sold! Perfect for me.



This is probably my last Chicago Custom Knife Show as it's moving to downtown Chicago next year. I do my best to not spend any money in Chicago proper. A number of vendors weren't happy about the change either. We'll see what 2010 brings.

Free loader

Walking out to the car after work I noticed something on my antenna topper.



Looking a bit more closely it appears to be a spider. And he's been riding along for awhile.



Cool

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Afraid of the rain

Like a lot of areas we got a bit of rain over the weekend - ~8.5 inches of it. At one time the main road through our subdivision was had over 8 inches of standing water. Some cars went slow. Big trucks went fast. This truck tried to keep it's tires dry.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

I Vote



I cling to my Bible as well.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

No surprise here

Nothing about 9/11 at Google.

Do you remember?



I still do. 9/11/2001 still seems like it was yesterday.

Planes crashing, people jumping, towers falling, me crying.

I remember prayer, hope, and sacrifice. I remember the quiet of the days afterward when no planes were in the air.

I remember the sonic boom when two Illinois Air National Guard planes went supersonic because some idiot ignored the no fly rule. I remember Thing1 being scared as he thought another attack was underway.

I remember people being proud to be Americans and flying their flags.

I will always remember Kathy Bantis.

Please don't forget the 2996.

I hope I never forget.


2004,2006,2007

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Why I like Sarah Palin

    Just the other day, our opponent brought up earmarks, and frankly I was surprised that he did, considering his record on earmarks. I didn’t think he’d want to go there. In just three years, our opponent has requested nearly a billion dollars in earmarks, and that’s about a million dollars every working day.

    We reformed the abuses of earmarks in our state, and it was while our opponent was requesting a billion dollars in earmarks as a Senatorial privilege. What I was doing was vetoing half a billion dollars as an executive responsibility.


More at Hot Air

Saturday, September 06, 2008

Sarah Palin Fact of the Day

via email

    Selection of Sarah Palin retroactively makes the theme of the 2008
    Democratic National Convention: "Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead".

Friday, September 05, 2008

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Roger That

Sarah Palin Fact of the Day

    Death once had a near-Sarah Palin experience


Sarah Palin Facts

Obamessiah is going to turn into an Obamakakis

mcg commenting over at Althouse

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

The HD candidate of choice


    Sarah Palin: the HD candidate of choice! And I thought women’s beach volleyball was the pinnacle of HD viewing.


In the comments

Monday, September 01, 2008

Over



Got this in a email from a family member. I was more against Obama then for McCain but Palin is an awesome pick. She makes McCain electable for me rather than the lesser of two evils.

Given what has happened today - I wonder if the press, official and otherwise, will leave her kids alone?

Play Some Skynrd

The opening band last Friday night requested that this song be recorded.



Slamabama

Sunday, August 31, 2008

A Fun 25th

The wife and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary on August 27th. While I'm not sure how my wife puts up with me it's easy for me to feel blessed that she does.

We went out for lunch on the day. However the 29th turned out to be the day she really liked. Montgomery Gentry was playing in Rockford, Il. I bought tickets from a scalper broker on the 28th. Front row. Similar to the last time we were there.



The show was fun. The boys know how to put on a performance.







Since it was our anniversary we decided to try something. We made a sign asking Eddie Montgomery for a anniversary present.

He was nice enough to answer our request.



There was a bit of an issue with some A** who came flying in from the side and grabbed the hat when Eddie was tossing it to us. We separated him from the hat and security escorted him out. (It pays to make friends with the security guards) Everyone around us had seen the sign and knew what was going on so a number of people had our backs.

We stayed around after the show for a bit - talking to Bo and K-Man. We even got on the Jim Beam bus for a bit and had a beer with a few of the boys. Real nice people. Soon it was 1:15 am and it was time to go home. A long tiring day. But my sweetie is happy and that makes it worth it.

BTW - Eddie - you saved me several thousand dollars. Thanks!

How to save the government Millions

From my father-in-law:

How to save the government MILLIONS

A president's pension currently is $191,300 per year. Assuming the next president lives to age 80. Sen. McCain would receive ZERO pension as he would reach 80 at the end of two terms as president. Sen. Obama would be retired for 26 years after two terms and would receive $4,973,800 in pension.

Therefore, it would certainly make economic sense to elect McCain in November.

How's that for non partisan thinking???

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Sarah Palin Facts

Here

Personally I think this was a bold choice by McCain. I can move from voting against Obama to voting for McCain/Palin.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

How to start each day with a positive outlook


  1. Open a new file in your computer.
  2. Name it 'Barack Obama'.
  3. Send it to the Recycle Bin.
  4. Empty the Recycle Bin.
  5. Your PC will ask you, 'Do you really want to get rid of 'Barack Obama?'
  6. Firmly Click 'Yes.'
  7. Feel better?


Good! - Tomorrow it's Nancy Pelosi's turn

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Nothing Says Change

Like a Senior Citizen who's been in office since the Nixon Administration



I love NewsBusted.

Monday, August 25, 2008

This could be my father-in-law

From a list I'm on:


    Now that I'm retired, working people, frequently ask what I do to make my days interesting.

    Well, for example, the other day I went downtown to go to the News Stand for the Wall Street Journal so I could track my investments I was only in there for about 5 minutes. When I came out, there was a cop writing out a parking ticket.

    I said to him, 'Come on, man, don't you have anything better to do than write a retired person a ticket? Why aren't you out chasing crooks or child molesters...that's out of your league, obviously!!!

    He ignored me and continued writing the ticket. I called him a 'Nazi.' He glared at me and wrote another ticket for having worn tires.

    So I called him 'Barney Fife'.

    He finished the second ticket and put it on the windshield with the first. Then he wrote a third ticket. This went on for about 20 minutes. The more I abused him, the more tickets he wrote.

    Personally, I didn't care..... I came downtown on the senior's bus. The car that he was putting the tickets on had a bumper sticker that said 'Obama in '08.'

    I try to have a little fun each day now that I'm retired. It's important to my health!

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Geeks with Guns

Hmmm - I'm a Geek. And I own guns. A site just for people like me.

I feel special!

Gold

Here's a couple of U.S. Gold Medal winners that you probably havn't heard of:

Skeet - U.S. Army Pfc. Vincent Hancock

Double Trap - Spc. Walton Glenn Eller III, of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit. Images of Eller

Go Granny Go

This put a smile on my face. Great way to start the day after yesterday.

Elderly Woman Grabs Gun, Holds Would-Be Burglar At Bay

Thursday, August 14, 2008

It's better to burn out

Shredding tires is fun. I wish I had the cash to do this.

91% Male

Thats what my browser history says (at work anyways). I'll have to see what the Gender Estimator thinks of my home system.

    Likelihood of you being FEMALE is 9%
    Likelihood of you being MALE is 91%

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

In Plain Sight

    "Bullets. You can never have too many bullets. It's my bullet room."


Mary Shannon as played by Mary McCormack in the episode Good Cop, Dead Cop

Another one bites the dust

    The Evanston City Council voted 7-1 Monday night to repeal a handgun ban in the city.

    Previously, an ordinance on the books banned handguns in the town.

    The move comes in response to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned a similar handgun ban, saying it was unconstitutional.

    Both Morton Grove and Wilmette overturned their handgun bans following the high court's ruling.

More here

That leaves Oak Park and Chicago with handgun bans here in the once great state of Illinois.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Friends don't let friends

The wife picked these up for her and I while we were in D.C.



On Saturday she was at a store picking up some greeting cards and had this button on her purse. The clerk saw it, smiled, and asked the wife where she got it as she wanted them for herself and her husband. She seemed to be disappointed when the wife said D.C.

The person behind my wife, listening to the conversation, asked to see the button. After seeing it he wanted the buttons for himself and his friends.

Made my day!

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Seen in DC

I saw this shirt while walking around the reflecting pond.

Saturday, August 09, 2008

Another Critter

Found this one while trimming some branches.

Busy Bees

We got a bit of rain today and after the sun came out - well so did the bumble bees. I love to sit and watch them work.









Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Words to remember

As we walked through the various memorials I was trying to explain to Thing2 the sacrifice made by those whom the memorials were built for.







This image, from the Korean War Memorial, is exactly what I was trying to say.

Words from GW

George Washington that is.



I agree. Its not perfect but it's better than anything else out there.

made it to Arlington

We were wandering through Arlington National Cemetery and came across this marker. Same as tens of thousands of others except for those three words - "Medal Of Honor".



Sgt. Eggers story is here.

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Home at last



We were listening to a Chicagoland radio station as we got closer to home and they cut in with a tornado warning for our town - ~100 miles away. The wife called her dad and the storms were nasty and moving fast. Since we were so close to my sister-in-laws house we stopped there and waited out the storm. Good thing as it was bad. Even had a tornado a few blocks away. After it passed we headed home.

No power once we got there. That came back around 2:00am. Internet access around 10:00am. Nice vacation but I'm glad to be home

Sunday, August 03, 2008

On the way home

On the way home now. We're near a lake and a noisy musuem.



The GPS was helpful today. Readings maps to find the hotel is so yesterday!

OTOH the GPS allowed us to find the wife's moms home in the middle of nowhere, PA and get back to the interstate.

In the middle of nowhere

Really. No Where. It's so close to no where that the nearest Wal-Mart is a 25 minute drive.



On the other hand once your GPS knows where your condo is you can go exploring. That is a blast!

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Day 2

Driving to a city for the first time is best with a GPS.

I took a spur rather than the main expressway and ended up in a major traffic jam. The GPS said "recalculating" and we were at our first destination in DC in a few minutes. Great little toy.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Road Trip

Hit the road for a little vacation with the whole family.



Driving with a GPS is fun. This is the end of day 1.

Friday, July 18, 2008

I forgot my first name

From the Price is Right this morning:

A new contestant was being called down. It took the announcer four tries to get the guy to notice he was being called. When host Drew Carey asked what the contestant what he does, he said he's a Marine. Drew (a former Marine Corp Reservist) comes back with "That's why you didn't respond. When you're in the Marines, you completely forget your first name."

Test Post

Testing the RSS feed into Sharepoint at work

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Friday, July 11, 2008

Buckets of rain going sideways

Thats how the Daily Herald described the rain that descended on Chicagoland Speedway last night to cancel qualifying for the Lifelock 400. And we were in the middle of it...

I was in the stands with Thing1 and Thing2 waiting for the track to dry so that qualifying could start. The wife was outside waiting for the free concert to begin.

This was her view.



This was mine.



And after the first wave.



Thing1 said it was more like barrels of rain going sideways. It was pretty impressive. We hung out under the bleachers and still needed raingear to stay dry. Once it slowed down we headed out to find the van and head home. It was fun listening to the GPS give directions - this was helpful as the rain was still coming down hard and not all the road signs were easy to see.

Monday, July 07, 2008

Chris Calloway - My Last Goodbye

The wife wanted to go see Chase Daniels and Western Star (again). Since they were playing in the next town (for free!) we went over last night and listened.

Chris Calloway, who plays keys and guitar, performed one of his own songs. Pretty good stuff.

Saturday, July 05, 2008

Fireworks

The finale from the fireworks in my town.



For the longest time Thing2, whose birthday is July 5th, thought the fireworks were for her...

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Further proof

Further proof I'm living in the wrong state.

    Ellen Carrington, 21, who was crowned Miss Tennessee on Saturday night, has a concealed weapons permit.

    "I have a Smith & Wesson .40-caliber," Carrington told reporters on Sunday...


It's good to see that she was raised to take care of herself. Well done Dad!

Monday, June 23, 2008

The finger?

Is Kyle Busch giving the crowd the finger after winning the Toyota Sav-Mart 350 at Sonoma?

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Juan Pablo Montoya

I'm not a fan of JPM in any way so this performance by Jim Tavare on Last Comic Standing was priceless.

Friday, June 13, 2008

CMA Fest - Day 2

2:30am was way too late to go to bed. At least for someone as old as me. The wife wanted to go back to the convention center for pics so we were up at 8:30 for breakfast. In downtown Nashville by 10:30. I decided to try and park closer to the river. Found a parking garage near 3rd and Commerce. Much closer than on Day 1.

Saw more people in the convention center. Even Alan Jacksons hat. Jessica Simpson was there promoting a Country CD. Kellie Pickler as well. Two truly beautiful women. Brooks and Dunn had a booth there but since they were not playing at the fest (something about money - funny coming from millionaires...) there was not a whole lot of traffic at the booth. Kind of reminded me of Juan Pablo Montoya's trailer at Chicagoland Speedway last July. Hunger started to set it so we went off looking for barbecue.

And had no luck. Lots of busy restaurants. We ended up at Coyote Ugly (again) and took in the lunch buffet. It was pretty tasty. Then it was time for cold beer and hot women. The singing Coyotes were there as well and quite enjoyable. Lil and Jacqui were behind the bar taking in the show. As we left I managed to get a picture with the two of them.



With shade on the river front we went and watched the performers there for a while. Soon it was time for the nightly show. Lady Antellum, the beautiful and sassy Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, Josh Turner, Julianne Hough, Faith Hill, and 'special' guest Keith Urban performed. Keith ran into the crowd while playing guitar. One really lucky fan held up a sharpie and got a autographed guitar for her effort. Soon it was midnight and the show was over. Whew. Headed back across the bridge for some refreshment. Ended up with ice cream. It was perfect.

Around 1:00am we headed for the car and noticed something that we had never seen before in Nashville. My wife referred to them as 'angry urban youth out looking for trouble'. To be they were black teens out looking for an easy target. I'm not sure that a drunk redneck would have been the smartest choice. More about these folks later.

Time for sleep.

Big Day for Thing1

He has his first job interview. It should be interesting. Hopefully educational too.


    Update: It seemed to go well. Thing1 reports that it was more like a intro to the interview rather than the interview. If he decides he's interested in working at the school he can meet with another person at the school in July. We'll see.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

More of Day 1 at CMA 2008

After watching the Air Mutts I found the wife at the convention center. She was trying to get pictures of some of her favorite stars. Some of the folks there were waiting hours in the 'hopeful' line in an attempt to get a signature. Thats dedication.

After that it was off to Coyote Ugly. I'm not big into the bar scene but this is a fun place. Beautiful girls tending bar, BMF's keeping the peace, excellent entertainment, and reasonable beer.

Now that the sun was getting lower in the sky we went over to the riverfront stage. The last 20 feet or so of the lawn was now in the shade and made the bands so much more enjoyable than sitting in the sun.

As evening approached we headed across the bridge to LP Field. We ran into the Nashville Metro PD Mounted Police at the peak of the bridge. One of the officers was the same man we talked to last year. Once the wife mentioned that the conversation really got going. Officers Stockdale and Dzirany (along with Storm and Henry) were a blast to talk to. The horses loved the attention. And according to Officer Stockdale, Storm loves the post show fireworks.

The show started promptly at 7:45. Shocking. :-). The National Anthem as well as a F18 flyover was a great way to start. Montgomery Gentry, Kellie Pickler, Taylor Swift, and Sugarland were among the performers along with 'surprise' guest Rascal Flatt. Four hours later it was over. The wife really enjoyed MG and Sugarland. Taylor Swift has excellent stage presence. If she stays out of trouble as she grows up I think she will rule country music.

For someone like me, who isn't a big fan of country music, this was a pretty good show. Most of the artists are great on stage and know how to handle a crowd. We'll see what Friday brings.

After the show we headed back over the bridge and started looking for an open bar with a decent band. Found both at Legends. The beer was cold and the music was good. All of the sudden it was 2:00am and us old people were tired. Time to find the car and the hotel. In that order...

Flying Dogs

As mentioned below - furry things to watch.



The entire Air Mutts show is worth your time if they are in your area. The neat thing about the dogs is that they are either adopted or rescued.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

VMFA-224 flyover at CMA Fest

We were treated to this every night to start the show.



It was much louder in person.

I'm not a country boy

The wife is a big fan of country music. I, on the other hand, am not. There are a few country artists that I like but for the most part it's just not for me. So when she decided a few weeks ago that she wanted to go to the 2008 CMAFest in Nashville I was like - can you take your sister?

Well - her sister, thanks to snow days, was still going to be teaching when the festival started on June 5th. Bummer for me.

So she booked a motel room for 5 nights and started looking for tickets. She had first looked for packages that had club level seats (private 'facilities' as well as concessions) and the prices were $700 per person. A bit pricey so she got a cheap motel. Now it was ticket time. E-Bay came to the rescue. She found a pair of club level seats that had no bids on it and was due to expire in a day. Set a watch on it and ended up winning the auction. Got $280 worth of tickets for $175. Not a bad deal.

(attentive readers might notice that 'she' has been doing the work. Not being a fan has its rewards...)

So we had a motel and tickets. Nashville is 500 miles from home so gas wasn't terrible. 8 hours of driving and we were there. Music City. Not our first time there so we kind of know our way around. OTOH we never had to try and park when there are 150,000 of our closest friends there looking for parking as well....

I'll say this for Nashville - it's a easy city to get around in. Just remember that you can circle the city using 24, 40, and 65 so if you miss an exit you can just loop around. Not that I ever had to that before...

Day 1 meant dropping off the wife at the Trace Adkins fan club party. (more on that later). I went back to the motel (after scoping out parking and exits out of the city) and waited for her to call me back. Since the show ended up running late I went downtown to look for a parking spot as she was going to take a cab. Parking was easier than expected and I got to wait. Luckily there was something fun (and furry to watch)...

Sunday, June 01, 2008

Dog meets food

Buffy was a bit hungry and decided not to wait for dinner...

Sunday, May 25, 2008

He has a way with words

Chris Muir that is. Pretty good cartoonist as well.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

He's a Graduate!

Thing1 was graduated on May 17th, 2008 with a BA in Elementary Education.



The last 3.75 years flew bye. I don't feel old enough to have a college graduate for a son.

We spent the last couple of weeks moving his stuff home.





Soon he'll be able to use his bed again.

Now to get him a job and out of the house!