Something to do.

Kibby is good at what she does.

2009-11-12T07:38:00.001-06:00

Yesterday Kibby called me to tell me about their company meeting. The wife of a patient of hers came to the meeting and made a speech about how great Kibby is and how great Houston Hospice is. The gave Kibby flowers, a card with money and brought lunch for everyone. She was embarrassed. I sent an email to her Mom and Wayne telling them about it.

2009-11-12T07:29:00.001-06:00

Not loving my job so much today. At least its Thursday.

I love me

2009-11-10T22:32:00.000-06:00

I love me. I see me in the mirror and wish I could be my friend. I judge me but I judge me with bias. I would be my best friend if I could hang out with myself.

2009-11-10T10:01:00.001-06:00

Things always change. Nothing stays the same. Some things seem to never change but they just last a long time.

2009-11-10T06:11:00.001-06:00

I am looking forward to an easy day. Today I love my job.

You Still There

2009-11-09T13:32:00.002-06:00

I can’t believe this is still here. I haven’t even looked at this blog since my last entry. Too bad I didn’t keep it up. I am glad I did write until the time I left my last job. That was nostalgic to read. Well here I am again with some time on my hands and a computer in front of me. At my old job I sat in front of a computer all day and had lots of free time. Now I still have free time sometimes but don’t always have a computer in front of me. I see that I can post with my cell phone now. Maybe I will pick this back up. Kibby was the only one that read it in the past and that will probably be true again. Anyway that’s probably good. I might be too embarrassed to find that someone else was reading my boring ramblings. I'm not really that interesting I just like to write.

Things have changed.

2006-04-20T22:07:00.000-05:00

I guess it’s obvious that I had too much time on my hands at my old job. Well that’s all changed.

An entry from my journal.

2005-11-24T21:08:00.000-06:00

Thursday, November 24, 2005
6:50 PM
    Keith said to come to his office at about eleven and he would take me to the gate. I called his office at eleven and he wasn’t there. We figured he was at lunch. I called a few more times and sometime after twelve he answered. He asked if I was ready. I said I had to wait for Hoppy and that when he said yesterday if things are going good maybe we can get out of here at noon I thought he meant everyone. He said he thought I was just joking when I said that Hoppy and I had ridden together. He said he was waiting to hear if shelter two had passed. I went out and looked for Myron. They weren’t in the plant. I went out again and found him. He said it passed. When I got back to the trailer Hoppy was getting on his bike. Mike told me that Keith said we could go. I shook Mikes hand and told him I had fun, bye and thanks for everything. I went to Keith’s office and we locked my bike up and walked to the gate On the way he said you f**kers planned this. I laughed. He badged me out with my badge and he said good luck and he really hates to see me go. I said I had fun and we shook hands. Hoppy was waiting at the car. One the way home Hoppy talked about the Yokogawa analyzers a big part of the way home. I was thinking this might be the last time we ever talk to each other in person and he is talking about analyzers that I don’t care about. He seemed sad on the way home. I think he feels sad that he is stuck there and also I think he is sad because I am leaving. That might be in my head but it seemed that way. When we got to his house he told me good luck and we shook hands. I said one of us needs to get a boat so we can go fishing. He said it would have to be me because he works for a shitty company.
    On the way home it was a little sad but I was so happy about my new job, four tens, and four days off. Kibby had called me before we left to ask me if I would stop and get her some sage and ice. I stopped at HEB. They were out of a lot of things and there were about six people at the spice rack looking for things. There was a worker there to help and he went to get me some sage and restock. When I got home Kibby asked me if I was sad and I said a little but its hard to be sad when I’m so happy. Kibby was getting her cook on. I took Stevie out with me and got the creepy crawler started and mowed the yard, weed eated and blowed. I took my shower and Kibby sent me to HEB for eggs, milk and to take The Skeleton Key back. I got The Longest Yard. When Kibby got everything done that she was going to do we watched it and went to bed. The outside alarm went off at ten thirty.
   This morning we got up at about six thirty and got started cooking and cleaning. Kibby had gotten up at about five and put the turkey in the oven. Gary, Stacey, Kasey and Kelly got here at about noon. Mom and day got here about twenty minutes later. Kibby cut her finger by putting it in the dish water right when the birds got here. I had written a prayer working on it off and on while I worked writing and memorizing. Here is the prayer I wrote.

   Dear Heavenly Father, we are here to thank you for your abundant love.
   Thank you Father for loving your children even when we are disobedient.
   Thank you for our health and happiness.
   Thank you God for our redemption through the blood of your son Jesus Christ.
   Thank God for this day of Thanksgiving and this wonderful meal prepared by loving    hands.
   Thank you for being with us every moment and for the things you have done for we are    truly blessed
   In Jesus name we give these thanks Amen.

   I choked up towards the end so I was going to end it the best I could but I remembered. Dinner was so wonderful. Kibby is such a good cook. Stacey brought a pumpkin layer desert she called trifle. Mom brought two pecan pies and two pumpkin. It was very nice to have everyone here. Kibby really enjoyed entertaining. After dinner we all sat in the living room and the kids made their Christmas lists. Kibby asked me if I would go get her a news paper. I suggested that Mandy went. She did and after about thirty minutes Kibby asked me if I had my cell phone. A few minutes after Mandy called to say her car wouldn’t start. Dad said I could take his car and Gary, Kael and Kelly went with us. We found that the battery cables were not getting a good connection. Gary rode with Mandy. When we got home we visited more and at about five thirty or so everyone started getting ready to go home. Kalie rode with Mom and Dad so she could go to her Grandmothers. We cleaned up, I put the turkey in baggies, now Kibby is planning the morning shopping spree and I am sitting here in my chair. Mandy was having trouble with a video game so I tried to help. It is a playstation one game so I think there are compatibility issues. Stevie was of course the center of attention today. Everybody loves Stevie.
    I may have changed some of the wording to exclude names and specific places so this is a more generic version of my journal entry. Also there are some details that will only be in the master copy.

An entry from my journal.

2005-11-23T07:20:00.000-06:00

Wednesday, November 23, 2005
6:27 AM
    What a trip. The last day. The last time I come into the gate. The last time I unlock my bike and ride it to the office. The last time I sit here and write in my journal with this computer. The last time I sit here all day and play on it. That’s some of the things I have been thinking about this morning as I come in for the last time. Its kind of a trip. I am savoring every moment. I have loved this job and this computer and I may miss it. I will be glad when I know I am going to love my new job.
    I had asked Keith if I could have my bike when I gave my notice and he said no. I like that bike. It is a Summit Workhorse from. I might have to buy me one. Yesterday after my going away lunch I played like old times. The controls to my web sites were web sensed so I couldn’t do that. It changes from day to day. I ended up reading blogs for the rest of the day, which was only a couple of hours. Keith told me yesterday that if things were going good today we might get out of here at noon.
    When I got home yesterday Kibby suggested we go out to eat. I had anticipated it with all of the cooking she has been and will be doing today. We went to Hunan Gardens. I had General Tao's chicken and Kibby had Shrimp with Lobster sauce. Stevie shared with us. The food was very good. Of course it was too much to eat and Kibby said there was no room in the refrigerator so we couldn’t take it home. I made sure none got wasted. Then Stevie and I walked next door to Famous Footwear and Kibby walked to HEB to get some stuff she needed and a movie. Stevie and I got in the van and parked closer to HEB and went in to find Kibby. I pushed Stevie in a truck buggy all over the store and decided we must have missed her. We found her at the movie machine. We went home and started watching The Skeleton Key. At eight I had to go to the Wicks and get the table and chairs Kibby asked to borrow. The we tried some of Kibby's fudge, which is the best I have ever had, finished the movie and went to bed. The movie was pretty good. I am planning to not leave this office until its time to turn my stuff in and then to go home. I will certainly not put FRC's on this morning or do anything work related besides tuning in my stuff. I may not be publishing my journal everyday since I won’t be sitting here at this computer. I can’t see taking the time at home to do it everyday. The first three weeks at my new job are supposed to be training and orientation so I probably won’t be doing it there and I don’t know what kind of time I will have on my hands there.
9:50 AM
    I've made all my rounds telling everyone bye. Now I am just waiting.

    I may have changed some of the wording to exclude names and specific places so this is a more generic version of my journal entry. Also there are some details that will only be in the master copy.

An entry from my journal.

2005-11-22T08:40:00.000-06:00

Tuesday, November 22, 2005
6:34 AM
    One of the last two days I will sit at this desk. I am mostly feeling fortunate and favored. I realize that this job and the one I'm going to next was part of Gods plan for my career and that I really just followed my nose. Still I can’t help the feeling of accomplishment I have. Sometimes I wonder if I am addicted to that feeling. I don’t think I am someone that can work at one place for twenty years. I have never left a company without a reason though sometimes the reasons have been because I just didn't like my job. I love where I am now but I have been offered more money, better benefits and fifty more days off per year. I hope I love it there. I think I will. Stay tuned.
    Yesterday was like old times. I sat around here and did mostly nothing all day like I plan to do today and tomorrow. I did have to go out and prove the 7D51 moisture analyzer but that’s about it. That’s mostly what I have done the three years I have been here. I do some PM's and occasionally fix one every now and then when they break. I find lots of things to do on the Internet. I do my bills. Learn how to do things I am interested in. I work on my web sites and make new ones. I read. I hardly ever get board. The only reason we have been so busy lately is because of the seven day drift testing. Things will get back to normal around here. I can’t believe I am leaving this job. I'm not really looking forward to tomorrow. I am looking forward to the four day holiday but not to saying good bye to everyone here. There are some people I will probably keep in touch with for a year or so by email and then that will fade away like always. There is only one person here I believe I might see now and then after tomorrow. I'm hoping to give him and some others inside info so they might come too. I believe there are only a few that might have a chance though. I hope I see Dave again but he lives far enough away that it seems unlikely unless he comes where im going. I believe that’s a possibility.
    When I got home Kibby had beef and bean tostados made. They were so good. Then of course I had some ice cream. After that we went to Walmart to get some of the things Kibby needs for Thanksgiving dinner. I got a new alarm clock, two one dollar calculators and some batteries. When we got home I tried and failed to remember how to upload the recordings off of my voice recorder. I recorded people yesterday and I wanted to do it again but the memory is full. I made some phones and went to bed. The outside alarm didn't go off last night.
    This morning Dave brought in sausage dogs, chili and a cheese cake for my going away party.
    I took pictures Saturday and Sunday to supplement my memory.
    It feels like I'm working on a holiday. Man I wish I was at home with Kibby and Stevie.
    I may have changed some of the wording to exclude names and specific places so this is a more generic version of my journal entry. Also there are some details that will only be in the master copy.

An entry from my journal.

2005-11-21T07:24:00.000-06:00

Monday, November 21, 2005
6:33 AM
    Yesterday I baby sat the CEMS again and used Rubio's truck to bring some ultra zero gas to shelter one. Henry got here at around nine or so and set his lap top up on the table behind me like every day. One of the times when I came in and he was the only one here his eyes were super red and I said wake up and he said yea right. Later he asked me what I had been working on so hard all morning. I gave him a brief description and left to do something. When I got back I asked him what are you working on so hard at this lap top all day. We all suspect he is milking the overtime to the best of his ability. He said he was checking trends and looking for discrepancies. He showed me an excel chart and he was obviously playing and doing something to justify his time. He asked Mike if he would go to shelter three and retrieve the data from the ADM for him. I went down there and he was trying to figure out how to do it. I told him I would do it and he could go to shelter one and get the tests started. When I finished getting the data I bought the lap top to shelter one and no one was there. I left to bring the data to Henry and on the way there I saw Mike hauling ass on his three wheel bike back to shelter one with Myron behind him. When I passed Mike he shouted, "I f**ked up." I brought the data to henry then went back to shelter one. Mike had accidentally started a cal instead of a val. You can’t stop it without a password that is used just for that and a few other special purposes and if it finished the cal with out stopping it would mess up all of the cal values. Myron stopped it in time and got it back up in time. Mike called out the data and I entered it into the spreadsheet. There are twelve components of interest, nine eight hundred second cycles and three analyzers we are testing in shelter one. So over around three hours including preparation I have to enter data in to three hundred and twenty four cells while Mike calls them out. When we finished I left Mike to finish up. He said he was going to stay late.
    On the way home I stopped at Walgreen's and got me some cough drops. When I got home Kibby was making spaghetti. Kibby, Stevie and I ate. The spaghetti and salad was superb. After dinner we had some of the best banana bread I have ever had. Kibby has made it many times but this was the best. After dinner Kibby and Stevie walked and I rode my bike on the greenbelt. I showed Stevie how to ride a wheely and how to skid around in a circle on a bike. He and Kibby where impressed. Later Kibby told me she was impressed and that I am still a young man. On the way back I rode with Stevie on my handle bars and Kibby ran. When we got back Stevie and I started putting my stereo back in my truck. I got it back in easily with the butt splices I got from work earlier but when I turned it on it didn't come one. I pulled it back out and found that the yellow "battery" wire was dead. Stevie had gotten his candy cane that Kibby had bought him earlier in the day out of the van and had been eating it in the truck. He got it on the seat. That was ok but then he started not wanting to mind me. I took him back in and got my book out and started checking fuses. None were blown. I did a little trouble shooting then decided to just wire the power and the battery wire together and fix it later. So every time I turn the truck off the stereo looses its programming. Ill fix it on one of my Fridays off. Then Stevie and I watched part of a silent movie on AMC. It was cool. We both laughed. I especially liked it because of the real life background scenes of people in model T's , traffic, people walking… Stevie had gotten comfortable and seemed to be falling asleep on me. Kibby got out of the shower and he got up and went to her and she put him to bed. I was starting to fall asleep and Kibby called from the bedroom to tell me that Desperate Housewives was on. I turned to it and when a commercial came on I went to the bedroom and watched it with her. Then we watched Gray's Anatomy. I was getting ready to take my shower and Kibby asked me where I was going. We, well you know.
    The outside alarm went off at about three as usual. I didn't see anything but the other night I saw a raccoon go through the space in the little gate to the pool. When I am sleeping good I, this even seems weird to me, for some reason I like getting up to see what set off my alarm. It is really loud and I feel sorry for everyone else. I am going to take it off the door alarm and wire it into the security system. That way it will not be as loud, I won’t have to go as far to disarm it, just to the pad by my bed room door, and I will only have to disarm one thing. Also it will set off the door chime when someone pulls into the driveway at night when the alarm is not on.
    11:43 AM
    I called Keith to ask him if I would get paid holiday pay for Thursday and Friday. He said it was an HR question. I called the head of payroll and she said she was new and wasn’t sure but she thought I would have to work the next scheduled work day to get holiday pay. If that is the case or if we aren't working Saturday and Sunday anyway then Wednesday is my last day here. It was different thinking Sunday would be my last day, that seemed far away. Now I have two days left after today, four days off for the holidays and Monday I start the next step in my career. I have been talking to my friends more than I do in a typical day. I am going to miss some people here.

    I may have changed some of the wording to exclude names and specific places so this is a more generic version of my journal entry. Also there are some details that will only be in the master copy.

An entry from my journal.

2005-11-20T07:45:00.000-06:00

Saturday, November 19, 2005
10:25 AM
    Feeling better today. Not wonderful but better. Yesterday I did the CGA on the Frame 5. Then I went for my exit interview. When I got back to the office I saw that the HR lady had changed the time from two to two thirty. I went at two anyway to see if we could get it over with. She said she was sorry she had to change the time and that she had sent me a revised time. I came back at two thirty and she got there at about two forty two. It was an enjoyable experience. She asked me a list of standard questions and then asked some of her own. I was able to complain about some of the things that I and everyone I work with believes are not right. I'm not sure what it is but I have always enjoyed quitting a job. When the interview was over it was about three and my coworker and I left.
   When I got home Kibby was making taco soup. While she was cooking Stevie and I went out to check out the van. As I am writing this Kibby is on her way to the farm with the kids to leave them there until Thanksgiving. I checked the water and decided to put the stereo from my truck in the van so she wouldn’t have to make the six hour trip in silence. Hers was stolen a few weeks ago and I haven't gotten around to replacing it. I got started and Kourt came out to play. She was playing with Stevie. She was on Kael's scooter and Stevie was on Kalie's. She decided to go in and she told me so I was watching Stevie again. I have so far felt confident checking on Stevie every now and then when we are out side. I was working on the van and looked around for Stevie. It had only been seconds. I usually have the door to the pool from the garage closed but it was open. I ran back there and didn't see him. I ran into the house and called for Kourt. She was in but she said she didn't bring Stevie in. I ran out side and Kibby ran out calling for him. She looked in the pool and around the sides of the house. The girls went out into the street and started for the woods. I said he's not there. They turned around to come back and one of them saw Stevie on the scooter down by the Wicks house. That is about five houses down. They ran down there and got him. The reason I said he wasn’t in the woods was because I was under the naive impression that he would be too scared to go that far from the house. What a lesson learned. And what a blessing. Thank you God.
   After that scare I went back to working on the van and then it was time to eat. I love Kibby's taco soup. It is always excellent. Kibby bought new bowls yesterday. They are nice and luxurious. They have grapes on the side and came from Bed Bath and Beyond. After dinner I went back out and finished putting the stereo in the van. It was more of a job than I had planned. I have done it many times but it just turned out to be one of those jobs. When I got through Kibby took Kael to Walmart to get some pull-ups. When she got home I was ready for bed. I had another fitful night coughing and blowing my nose. The cat set off the outside alarm again but this time I chased him away and said get out of her in an angry voice. I hope he doesn’t come back for a while.
   I'm at work now. First thing this morning after sitting around for an hour Hoppy and I had to change the CPU card in the 4D7OH then I watched the CEMS validate and had to cal one of them. Hoppy and I are thinking about going to Grand Prize BBQ for lunch.

Sunday, November 20, 2005
7:04 AM
   Yesterday we went to Grand prize but they weren't open so we went to Papa's BBQ. It was really good but no better than Grand Prize and more expensive. One reason it cost much more than Grand Prize is because I bought this gigantic piece of cheese cake. Saweet! After that we started day four of the testing on shelter one. When we were about half way though Myron came over to tell us that the guy working with him didn't start the purge in time and caused one of the analyzers in shelter two to fail. A few minutes later Keith called from his hunting trip to ask how things were going. I bet he wished he hadn't even called. Keith will have to make the call but it looks like we will be doing testing through the holidays. That’s good for me though because if I don’t work after the holidays they won’t pay me for Thursday and Friday. Shelter one went fine. Today Hoppy is off and Mike and I are here. The testing doesn’t start until around noon but we have the opportunity to be here all day. They are planning to restart the testing on the failed analyzer this morning so if I do have to work Saturday or Sunday I will only have to be here about four hours.
   On the way home I stopped at Randals to get cough drops and beer. I called Kibby to see if she wanted anything and she said she would like some wine and something from the central market. I told her I was at Randals and she said just the wine then. They didn't have her wine, Jacob's Creek Shiraz Cabernet, so I went to Spec's. Then I went to HEB and got beer, ice cream, cough drops and over to the Central Market. I tasted a few of the things and bought Kibby and I a chicken Cordon Bleu, a chicken parmesan, and two servings of grilled asparagus.
   When I got home we ate. The chicken was good. It was chicken. I was a little disappointed in the Cordon Bleu. It had bacon in the middle and I was expected ham. The parmesan was good but I would have liked more sauce. I wouldn’t be so critical but the two chicken servings were five dollars apiece and the asparagus was about three. That’s not really that bad but my expectations were maybe a little too high. The asparagus was wonderful. I wish I had gotten more.
   After dinner we ate some ice cream and I started watching Discovery and she watched something in the bedroom. Then I watched The Wedding Singer and went to bed.
   I slept better last night. Instead of waking up every hour I only remember waking up a few times. The outside alarm went off at about two and I looked out and saw a raccoon walking away. I reset it and it went off again a few minutes later. I looked out the window for the raccoon but didn't see him. I went out and saw him over by the trash cans. I chased him away, went back in and reset the alarm. I guess I need to adjust the sensitivity.

    I may have changed some of the wording to exclude names and specific places so this is a more generic version of my journal entry.

An entry from my journal.

2005-11-18T07:24:00.000-06:00

Friday, November 18, 2005
6:51 AM
    Miserably sick. I haven’t gotten a good nights sleep in days. Working eleven hours a day and driving two. I am so looking forward to the overtime being over. I am so grateful for it though. We are going to have a good Christmas. So far I have worked 56 hours overtime in the last four weeks. My last check should have 35 hours or so. I'm pretty sure that is more overtime than I have made in the whole three years I have been here. Not that I haven't had opportunities, I just don't like overtime. I didn't have much choice this time.
    Yesterday I did the CGA (cal gas audit) testing on the Dehydro One CEMS. It took me until eleven thirty to remember what I could and figure out the rest and start the testing. After that it went pretty good. The Nox analyzer on the Feed Heater failed and I had to really keep up with the rest of the analyzers to get them to pass. I increased the timing on the one that failed and it passed perfectly. Today I am supposed to do the Frame 5 CEMS. It will be a so easy breeze with nothing to figure out.
    I am supposed to go on an exit interview today at two. The guy I car pool with and I are planning to leave at three today. What a treat. He asked our supervisor yesterday and he agreed. We will get paid until four.
    When I got home My wife had roast beef with potatoes and carrots. That hit the spot. I have been noticing that I say about the same things about Kibby's cooking. I am so lucky to be treated so well. I just went to some restaurant review sites and got some more words to use in the future.
Fantastic, Tantalizing, Excellent, Superb, Amazing, Lovely,
Delicious, Pleasurable, Outstanding, Dynamite are some words I may use in the future.
    I am almost always so pleased I thought might use some more creative language. After we ate I watched some of The Apprentice with Kibby until I started falling asleep. Then I went to bed. It seemed I woke up every hour until about four and I couldn’t go back to sleep. The out side alarm went off at about three and Kibby saw a cat running away.
    It is hard to do anything right now because I feel so bad. I have a hard time getting my shoes and socks on. Everything I do I have to figure out. My mind is working so slowly.
    I am looking forward to my first day at my new job. The last day here will be a little sad but I cant wait to get where I'm going. I believe it is going to be the best job I have ever had and will obviously be the right choice.

    I have changed some of the wording to exclude names and specific places so this is a more generic version of my journal entry.

    Oh and Duh. I figured out the next day no one is actually reading my blog. Someone has my blog on some kind of automatic thing that comments on every entry of my blog and then solicits me by email. They will try anything.

Someone read my blog.

2005-09-28T08:05:00.000-05:00

I don’t know if it has happened before because I have never had any indication, but now I know. Someone has read my blog. I got an email saying, "I came across your blog and thought you might like this." There was a link attached for a web site. When I clicked on the link I found that it was websensed. Websence is a program that the company I work for uses to block us from going to websites that they choose to block. When I clicked on the link the websense page popped up and, "said personals and dating are blocked at this time." Its probably good that it was blocked. I might have seen something I wish I hadn't. I doubt that anyone would come back to read anything else once they have been here. Maybe I will try to write something more interesting.

haven’t written in a while

2005-06-16T15:53:00.000-05:00

I haven’t written in a while because I have been so busy and no one reads this anyway. I have a few minutes so I thought I would write just to keep this blog from being deleted. I usually have some personal time during the day but that hasn’t happened very much lately. It’s a good thing really. I do enjoy having time to do what I want to do but the day surely goes by quickly when you are busy. Also I have accomplished much in my career since I last wrote. But now its time for me to go home.

2005-05-20T11:30:00.000-05:00

Zero turning radius, front and rear HEMI engines.
Click here to see the Jeep Hurricane concept car.

Less than inspirational

2005-05-17T08:17:00.000-05:00

I have so far tried to keep this blog light and inspirational but I don’t always feel inspired. I am thinking about starting another one so I can write less inspiring things when I feel the inclination. I haven’t had any indication that my kids read this but I did send them the URL in an email. I might start another one that is more mature. I wouldn’t write anything that I wouldn’t want the people at my church to read but there are things that I might write that are too worldly for my children's innocence. I don’t even like it when they see the local news. We live near a big city so atrocities are committed and reported almost on a daily basis. We see these things on the news so often that what should be and would have been shocking when I was a kid has little or no shock value. I will try to keep it light here so that is all I will say but I do feel today like starting another blog.

The Island

2005-05-16T10:37:00.000-05:00

    Have you ever felt like a castaway. Pretend you are stranded on an island with plenty of food, water and everything you need to stay alive. You have no way to get off the island or to contact anyone outside of the island. You don’t even know if there is anyone outside the island? Imagine you were born on this island and your ancestors were born there. No one is old enough to remember how you got there. All you know is everything you have learned from other people and from living on your island. You do have a book though. The book is thousands of years old. You were hearing stories from this book since you were a baby. Now you read this book to get some insight as to what is going on, who you are, why you are here and what you are supposed to do.
    There are some people on the island that don’t believe what the book says. The book says that there is someone that created you, your island and everything else. They believe that no one is that great and that everything just happened by chance. They believe that life is just what you can see and that when it is over it is just over. Some of the people that don’t believe what the book says are good people and just want to live there lives as best they can with out hurting others.
    Some of the people that don’t believe have no hope. They are frustrated by not knowing why they are here. They don’t know why there life is so hard and then they just die. They are afraid to die. The ones that believe don’t want to die but some of them are less afraid and they believe that when they do they will start their real life. They love this life but their book tells them that what happens next is so much better. Every one is afraid sometimes. Some are more afraid than others. Everyone knows that this life goes by so fast and that the older you get the faster the time passes. Some are comforted knowing that this is not all there is.

Today is my lucky day.

2005-05-13T14:06:00.000-05:00

    Its Friday, I feel good, I'm having a good easy day. Things are going my way. My daughter asked me weeks ago to help her make a science project. When our lawnmower crapped out we thought about using it for the science project. I thought I would take the motor apart, clean it at the car wash, cut a slice off the side to show the inside moving parts and bolt it to a board. I put it on my list but my list is long and the priorities change daily.
    If you happen to have something you need me to do you might want to remind me frequently to keep it high on the list. She reminded me yesterday evening around seven o'clock that her project was due today. We had a backup plan. We had also been talking about demonstrating the conductivity of water. We happened to have everything we needed for the backup project so we proceeded. We took two half liter water bottles and poked two holes in the top of both. Then I ran two wires through the holes at different lengths and stripped the ends. My daughter filled the bottles with tap water and put salt in one of them. I attached alligator clips to the ends of the wire that were coming out of the tops of the caps. We were able to prove that electricity will travel through water but we didn’t get the results we expected.
    We both were sure that salt, a molecule made of sodium and chlorine atoms, would conduct electricity better than the plain tap water. Sodium is a metal. We put an ohmmeter on the wire going into the plain tap water and then into the tap water with salt. The salted water had a higher resistance than the plain. We went to the net and found similar experiments where the salt water was a better conductor. Also when we shook the bottle with the salted water the resistance increased. We decided that it was too late to do anymore and she would ask her science teacher in the morning. I got the following feedback this morning on the phone from my wife. "He is the coolest dad in the world. Not many dads would let his daughter bring an expensive multi meter to school." Maybe today will be her lucky and the presentation went well and she found out why her experiment behaved the way it did.

Monday, May 16, 2005
10:45 AM
This is a follow up. Her teacher told her it was because we used iodized salt.

A Happy Life

2005-05-12T09:30:00.000-05:00

    I just want to say that I am one of the lucky ones. Of course there are things I would like to have that I can't afford. There are things I would like to do that I can’t afford to do. I have to budget my money and save for my retirement.
    On the other hand I don’t really need anything that I don’t already have and I have almost everything I could possibly want. I have a young beautiful wife that is a wonderful cook. I am so well loved and taken care of. We have been together for six years and are in love with each other. It hasn’t always been easy. We went through tough times learning how to be married and how to stay married. We are still learning but it is easier now that we have some marriage skills. There were times when we tolerated each other and times when we thought we couldn’t. Now we hold hands a lot and long for each other's touch like when we were dating. I'm not saying it is just like it was in the beginning. I am saying that back then we were falling in love and now we are really in love with each other.
    We have great kids. They love us. I feel like we are good parents for our age and we are constantly learning how to parent. The youngest of our children have the advantage of the parenting skills we have learned with the older ones.
    We are not perfect. We do our best to teach them how to live a happy life with what we hope is the right amount of discipline, love and affection with the knowledge that having God in your life is the only way to lead a fulfilled happy life.
    No mater how much wealth you accumulate there will still be material things to peruse. Those things are insignificant if you are loved and your needs are met.

A Wannabe Writer

2005-05-11T15:24:00.000-05:00

I like to write. I do not presume I will ever be paid for anything I write though it is a favorite fantasy of mine. I know I could fill a book with words and I believe I could actually write something that someone would want to finish once they started. I have always enjoyed a vivid and productive imagination. It has always been easy for me to make things up. I'm not talking about lying. I am a terrible liar. I don’t mean I'm terrible because I lie a lot. I mean I suck at it and I have lots of guilt after I tell a lie. Well that’s another story that I think I will write about for another day. Anyway I love to read fiction. You know action, drama, horror and anything but romance. I like a little romance in the stories I read but I have never read a novel with a drawing of a love scene on the cover. Maybe it’s the same thing as my reluctance to try sushi. I can’t say I don’t like it because I have never tried it. I don’t think I would like either so it will probably be a while before I find out. Some of the books I have read I feel are from a genius beyond my capabilities. But sometimes I read a book and think, "I can do better than that." So far I have only one fan. She reads everything I present to her, sometimes while I am watching, and gives me feedback that makes me feel like I have really done something.

Road Rage

2005-05-10T09:39:00.000-05:00

    I enjoy my thirty five minute commute to work and home everyday. I never get in a hurry. I never cut anyone off. I rarely pass or even change lanes. I have a set route that only changes when obstructed by an occurrence beyond my control. There is only one thing that can get me excited when I am minding my own business on the road. Tailgaters. When I have claimed my personal space in the slowest lane possible, no one has the right to ride my bumper. If I were in the fast lane this might be acceptable but when some person that slept late, left late and drank too much coffee to make up for a lack of sleep gets on my tail, my Zen is disturbed. I am not looking for trouble so I have various steps from subtle to less subtle depending on how tenacious the driver is.
    One Monday morning recently I was doing fine. I was listening to my favorite talk show on satellite radio half way to work and the traffic was lighter than usual. Coming up to the onramp of the loop the traffic always slows and bunches up at this time of morning. As it did I saw a young man in an old brown Dodge pickup truck with blue doors cutting and whipping through the lanes trying to keep his momentum. I was still traveling sixty miles per hour but that wasn’t fast enough for this driver. He got on my tail. I used my most subtle procedure for deterring a tailgater and let off the gas just enough to make my speed slower than my neighbors. That wasn’t good enough. As he got closer to my bumper I gently tapped on the brakes just enough to light my tail lights and not slow down too drastically. By then I was a little offended. For reasons that only he knew he was still on my bumper even though I was driving slower than the traffic around me. I am as territorial as any man and I also enjoy my coffee in the morning. The combination of caffeine and adrenaline creates a cocktail in the blood stream that can drastically accelerate anger. Well it did for me that Monday morning anyway. I didn’t slam on the brakes. I only pushed them hard enough to get his attention. Enough to let him know I was not going to just look forward and pretend everything was fine. Our bumpers bumped fairly hard. I was sure there must have been some damage. There was an opening in the traffic and he took it. As he passed me he made a rude hand gesture. I pulled in behind him and followed him off of the interstate onto the loop. As we left the interstate the traffic opened up. He started to leave me behind but my little old truck will do a good ninety miles an hour. I pulled up beside him and motioned him to pull over. He made his rude gesture at me again and ran me into the next lane. I in turn ran the car to my right into the shoulder. I punched it to try to pass him as the lane I was in was about to exit the freeway. My four cylinder didn’t stand a chance against his v eight and I chose to leave the freeway over the choice of hitting the shock absorbing barrels. As I left the freeway I guess I was probably decelerating from ninety because I couldn’t look at the speedometer and I had been going at my trucks top speed. The memory is a blur now but I do remember smoke coming from my tires and my emotions shifting from anger to terror as I tried to keep from killing myself and the innocent person I was about to plow into on the exit ramp.
    Post analytical insight comes naturally to me at an age that should bring the calm mature judgment that would have allowed me to avoid such a shameful display of childish ignorance. I feel better now. Yesterday a tractor-trailer rig was riding my bumper. I changed lanes and let him through.

Amateur Writers Curse

2005-05-09T12:00:00.000-05:00

I am starting to think I a have a curse that prevents me from writing. I sit here for hours sometimes researching, reading and playing on the internet uninterrupted. Then when I am inspired to write someone wants to talk to me or other people in my general area want to talk to each other. I was reading peoples blogged novels at http://nanoblogmo.blogspot.com/ . There they try to write fifty thousand words in a month. I was reading one where the author complained about having no time to write at all. I know the feeling. I would never attempt fifty thousand words in a month but I would be happy if I ever achieved fifty thousand words in one document other than my personal journal. I know I can do it but there are so many excuses available to me. Its hard enough to read a novel with constant distractions let alone write one. I find the best time for me is when I can go to bed a couple of hours early and get up a couple of hours early. I know I could put together fifty thousand words in a year but I am afraid I would forget the plot.

What happened

2005-05-06T11:26:00.000-05:00

Wow, I guess I forgot about it for a couple of days. I'm sure no one is reading or will ever read this anyway.
I had some cool dreams this morning when my alarm went off and I went back to sleep waiting for the next alarm. I dreamed that I was in a house similar to the house and neighborhood I lived in two houses ago. That neighborhood is really old with small three bedroom houses. I hear it was a nice neighborhood forty years ago but it has no deed restrictions and is in the middle of a city. It was my first house. In my dream my teenaged brother-in-laws were there. I was doing some kind of wiring repair. Something arced and two transformers blew separately on opposite sides of the neighborhood. It was night so there were bright flashes to go with the booms. Then I think I had to leave or something and I told them to leave. I said I wasn’t going to leave them there without my wife there. I started to call her and they left.
There were many but I can only remember two. In the other one I told someone or heard someone telling someone that all you had to do to get Satan out of you was to say "Satan get out of me" and he would have to leave. I saw a person say it and go up into the sky but low enough where I could see them perfectly. It was probably about thirty feet or so. I knew Satan had left him but I didn’t see anything and I was disappointed. Then someone else said it and went into the sky. I actually saw something white but blurry like a ghost or something leave his body.

Air Powered Cars

2005-05-03T12:48:00.000-05:00

Wow I guess I missed this one. I was checking out the big list on www.howstuffworks.com and read about cars that run on compressed air. I went to the site of a company that makes them and found that theirs go sixty eight-mph and will travel 124 mi. before refueling. I want one. I read that they will be selling them in the US soon. I drive thirty-five miles to work every morning and thirty-five home. I'm sure they will be too expensive at first compared to the fuel savings. Wow, hook it up to the compressor at home at night and never have to buy gasoline.

Click here to see the MDI Air Car.

Click here to see the air car at howstuffworks.com.

Feeling good

2005-05-02T12:56:00.000-05:00

I'm feeling really good today. I usually do. I have highs and lows but my highs last much longer that my lows. My lows are mostly unsubstantiated and I usually don't even know why I am feeling down. My lows seldom last for more than a day or two. I have a skip along la ti da philosophy and I seldom worry about anything for long. It is mostly a gift I was born with but I do work to enhance the quality. Anyway I feel really good today.

Spell Check

2005-04-28T14:10:00.000-05:00

Have you ever noticed how spell check reflects the progress of terminology? It will recognize "email" but not "weblog" or "blog". Well I guess if you think about it spell check hasn’t been around that long. I guess before MS Word you needed a current dictionary.

I Steven W. Smith promise that I will try to write in this blog at least five days a week for a period long enough to realize that no one cares.

2005-04-27T10:39:00.000-05:00

Fellow Bloggers and Blogger Readers,
With all of the talk of blogging I have heard lately, and with the enjoyment I get out of making stuff up, I thought I would make my mark on history as so many bloggers before me have done. This blog is purely for my own enjoyment. I do not expect that anyone will ever read it or even find it. Therefore, I am inclined to write whatever I want that might entertain me.
Thank you.