Christmas 08

With sick kids and sick parents, we toiled through Christmas this year. Luckily, the runny noses and fevers weren't enough to ruin the kids spirits. Serenity really got a kick out of opening presents this year. We tried to keep it low key since Hayden and Seri have more than enough toys as it is. Hayden still ended up with about 10 toys in his closet that we will dole out throughout the rest of the year. Serenity got really excited about every present... which was really cute.


Out of everything Hayden got, he played with his harmonica the most that morning... which was pretty annoying. Once I got his space toys out and assembled the harmonica found a new home in a far off kitchen cupboard.


The next day the kids were actually feeling pretty good so we went and fed the ducks and rode the train.


Seri hated the train. It might have been that she was a little hungry but... she was not feeling the ride at all.


So now we have a little time to clean and re-coop before Mom and Dad come down. I can't wait to get out of here and take our cruise. Of course, we'll be broke when we get back and I'll start my latest run of courses a week late... which will suck, but it'll be worth it!

Merry Christmas!

So for Christmas I'm sick and so are Joy and both of the kids. Yep... it's going to be a fun time at the Arnold house this year! The good news is that we have a perfectly good excuse for not going anywhere for the holidays... also, childrens Tylenol knocks the kids right out. It looks like I'll be warming myself to the glow of some Fallout 3 for the holidays!! In semi-unrelated news... Batman was a mean drunk.

I get mad when...

I go to my brothers blog and see pictures of other people hanging out with him and having fun while I'm stuck in San Antonio. There I said it.


Not that I want to move back there and give up the chance of ever having... you know... a job and all, I just wish we lived next to each other. It would also be cool to live in a place that isn't 80 degrees one day and 40 the next. I know what your thinking... "80 degrees would be awesome right now!" That may be true but, I've been sick for a month now and I think the drastic weather change isn't helping. Yeah, I just started getting a cold for Christmas. It's one of the achy joints, stuffy head... NightQuil colds. In the words of my old supervisor, I feel like hammered shit. At least we have a ton of cleaning to do before Mom and Dad come down. Can't have them thinking that we live like we... um... do now can we?

In other news, I got to play some paintball this weekend! It was great and I had a blast. Of course, now I'm sick. I think it's my body's way of telling me that fat guys aren't suppose to attempt to play paintball!

Hayden did awesome in gymnastics this weekend and I think he's really starting to gain a good amount of balance. It's really obvious when he plays with other kids his age. Currently his class is just him, a 7 yr old and a 9 yr old. He regularly outshines the 7 yr old and can almost keep up with the 9 yr old... so good times. Ok, gotta run. I have to find a unique way to make hot dogs and mac-and-cheese for the 100th time. (a cook book might be a good Christmas gift BTW... one with lots of pictures... written for someone who can burn ice would also be preferable!!)

Have some free brain to spare?

This is the song that has been stuck in my head the last couple days...



It's a band called the Ting Tings and they perform this song for Serenitys favorite show Yo Gabba Gabba. Noggin also plays the song about once every few hours so I get a lot of exposure to it. It's really catchy, but it's not that cool when you spend most of your day singing "Happy birthday". I warn you that it's weird and it'll stick in your head for a good long while.

In other news, a boy in Haydens class told him that he was white (he's pretty much the only white kid in his class) He responded that he's not white... he's lots of colors! His hair is blond and his eyes are brown and his tongue is red!

That's my boy.

The night owl

Serenity is a night person. I'm having the hardest time getting her to bed lately. Here she is enjoying some cut up apples at around 11 pm last night. Joy offered to stay up with her but I decided to have a little talk with my daughter before I turned in. I asked her if she liked her apples and she said yes. Then I asked her if she was tired and she said no. I told her that she should be in bed and she said no. So I told her that I was going to bed and she said bye-bye. Having a daughter is tough. When Hayden was this age I'd just duct tape him to his headboard and then go to bed... problem solved!


I got some new office furniture. I decided to adorn it with some of my Air Force memorabilia. Most of the awards are for 'best looking in squadron' and 'most humble'... you know, no big deal. I have a ton more books, I just have to put them up there. See, some people on XBox Live are literate after all!


My favorite part is that I feel all official now. I mean, I have an office with a window and everything... at home at least. I'm still in the windowless dungeon at work but... at least it's my windowless dungeon! Thanks Career-Point!

Ok... back on track.

So, I haven't posted anything in a long... long time. I have some great excuses lined up so, lets get into what's been going on the past month.

First of all, I turned 31. It was a pretty rough day. I have just enough leave to go on our cruise in January so I worked on my B-day. I had nothing go right all day and then caught some stomach bug and spent the second half of the day with my own special waste basket on hand at all times. I ended up throwing the whole thing in the dumpster at the end of the day... I didn't want the cleaning lady to deal with it and I didn't care enough to find a new bag for the can... so that's what you get.

Anyway, I get home and I'm happy to find out that Buffalo is playing a Monday night game. They lost so bad that I turned it off at the half. Yep, one of the few Bills game that I get to watch and they sucked eggs all night.

After the B-day I really spent about a month being sick! I caught a stomach bug which I gave to Joy, just in time to get a cold from Seri who I then gave to Hayden. This last month has been terrible. We've literally all been sick all the time for so long that I'm starting to forget what healthy feels like!

So, then it comes time for the Christmas decorations. We've had 4 Christmases in this house so far and each time I put up lights and all sorts of stuff. This year I decide that I'll do a tree... and a wreath. Done and done. Well, this happens to be the year that my whole neighborhood decides to do an all out decorating extravaganza! I mean, even my next-door neighbors, who can't water their lawn or even find time to mow it put up lights!! Joys ticked... but she knows where the ladder is so, I'm going to ride it out!

It hasn't all been bad news, we got what should be the last of the furniture purchases for the house. I got a great new desk for the PC, which is pretty awesome. I'll get some pics up soon. It's just nice to have all that taken care of and, more importantly... paid off! Well, almost anyway.

I did pass my Java class. Once again, I found out that I can wait till the last day and do two weeks of homework if I stay up all night.... so that's how I got through. Not really smart but, I got an A so... I'm not complaining! Now, if only I can cram my guitar lessons into one night I'd be set.

We really did a ton of stuff, I've just been swamped lately. Mom and Dad are coming down after New Years and we have the cruise coming up really soon to. I'll get some pictures of the kids up as well. As for now... I'm going to get some sleep!

And now for something completely different.

I swear that I'll have a relevant post here soon! I've just been swamped! In the mean time, enjoy some Bruce Lee nunchuck ping pong!

Epic box

Try and not get carried away with this... I dare you.

(on a personal note... Joy didn't find this even remotely as awesome as I did. Honestly, sometimes I don't think she really gets the Internet. I mean, this is what it is made for!)

But I was also a minor in philosophy!!

Why I am going to fail my programming class.

I just had to use Star Wars as an example...

Haydens first fieldtrip to the zoo.

Hayden had his first field trip with his kindergarten class today. It was to the zoo, which we've been to about 100 times, but it was still fun. He got to ride on a bus for the first time. It would have been awesome to ride with him but for some stupid reason we had to ride on a different bus. They had to keep the classes together and we had too many parents so all the parents rode on one bus and all the kids on another. Like I said... it was really stupid. Oh well, he was really excited so I let it slide.


Hayden got teamed up with this boy named Chris. Chris is very introverted and I spent most of the day trying to make him laugh... or even respond to what was going on. He would just sit around while Hayden and the other kids played. It was pretty sad to watch really. Chris had never been to the zoo, which was actually common among Hayden's fellow students. I was pretty shocked because the zoo is pretty cheap and these kids were 5 and 6. How can you live in a city with a pretty nice zoo for 6 years and not take your kids? Oh well, I guess that should be expected.


Hayden got to see the snakes, which are his favorite. Whenever we go to the zoo, this one of the highlights.


They also have a new Africa exhibit. It's really well done, with a lot of fish (which is a shocker to me, being that it was an Africa exhibit) and some fossils and whatnot.


Afterwards, all the kids were beat down tired. We got back to the school at 2:30 and we weren't suppose to leave the class till 3:00. I asked the teacher and she said that it would be 'frowned upon' if I took Hayden earlier. Luckily, I'm a sociopath and I don't care what they 'frown upon' unless it negatively affects my son. So I asked if they would be doing any work for the last half hour. She said no, so I left with Hayden at 2:30. The funny thing was, out of 7 parents there... I was the only one to do this. I'm telling you, San Antonio is the village of the idiots.


When Hayden finally got home he was dragging. So we got home, did his reading homework and pretty much relaxed until bedtime. Unfortunately, nobody explained to Serenity that we were tired. She came home from Grandma's ready to tear the house apart. In the end Hayden lounged while I played Seri out until she took a nap, which I used to make dinner. Not the most relaxing afternoon ever, but it was worth it.

Now speaking San Antonio and our high standard of intellect, I think that the parents of one of Haydens classmates were illiterate. I'm not being funny here, both the mom and the dad did not jive on the reading. I've never met an illiterate person before and I have a hard time imagining how someone who can't read can function in our society. I've seen the specials on TV where the plumber or other blue collar worker is a good father and husband, and then gets found out by the protagonist of the show, much to his embarrassment. Then he attends a 'reading class' (or some other convenient plot device) and the show ends with him telling one of his kids "No, tonight daddy will read you a story!" Yay! tears!! It's funny because the illiterate person is always a white 30 yr old man. Never a minority and never a female. Just an interesting sideline.

Anyway, I view being illiterate as not speaking the native tongue in the country you live in. When I've been on foreign soil , I've always tried to get at least enough of the local dialect to get around. Honestly, it's hard not to. So, when I see people who actually need the other language options that are usually given, I'm pretty confused as to how the manage on day to day events. When it comes to reading... there isn't always a picture option so, what do these people do? Wouldn't they just screw up everything they touch? Case in point, when we first got there ever kid had a name tag. They put their kids on upside down. Now, that might have been just for laughs but it caught my attention.

After we got to the zoo, we went to the bald eagle exhibit. The zoo has an eagle that had been shot by assholes and was rescued and nursed backed to health. Unfortunately, it can never fly again due to it's injuries, so they have it in an open area of the zoo with just a fence in between us and the bird. I think eagles are very beautiful birds and it sucks to see one that cannot fly or even fully open up it's impressive wing span.

This being the case at our zoo, there is a huge sign explaining the birds history and resulting injuries and explaining it's open pen as well. The alleged illiterate father stared at this sign for about 15 minutes before being asked by his wife why the eagle was not in a cage. Well, she actually said "Why don't that bird got no fence around it?" He responded that the bird must be free to fly around but then returns of it's own accord because of it's familiar nesting ground. Ok... it was really "He goes in the air and shit, but then he comes home 'cause that's his home... so he knows it." After that, I had to know the truth.

Thinking quickly, I devised a fool proof plan to check to see if these people could actually read. I decided to try to put them in situations where they would read stuff, and then see if they did. It was a masterpiece in ingenuity. With my plan laid out, I quickly got to work. I became the most inquisitive person ever. I would wait till they seemed to be looking at any sign and then ask a question about it. The deciding event happened right before the reptile house when the illiterate dad was starring at the huge sign on the reptile house that said "Reptile House". I asked him "Where is the Reptile House." and he said "I don't know, I don't think they got one of those."

So there you go, it's not scientific proof but it's good enough for me. I know what you're thinking... who cares. In my defense, we were there for 6 hours and I ticked off the teachers in the first 10 minutes so I had to keep myself entertained. How did I tick them off? I asked if when they see a private school on a field trip do they rumble. She said that they don't condone fighting in kindergarten. I respond that I meant like West Side Story fighting... you know, dance fighting, like all those people in San Fransisco are doing now that prop 8 has passed.

Yep... that was a good one. Oh, BTW... 99.4 on the GPS. I'm going to get in the wifes car to get it in the 120's... then I'll have to start getting inventive. I think I'll go the airliner route next.

Air Force Hand Signals

Sing along!!

Off we go, into the wild blue something!
There's some girls... way over there!
Where's the fridge? Is it in the day room?
While you're there, grab me a beer!
Off to bed, at the hotel we rented.
Gotta love that mini-bar!!
We're the smartest ones, just don't give us guns! HEY!
Nothing can stop the US Air Force!!

(Just to clarify, I loved serving in the Air Force and it is because of what I learned there that I stand where I am today. That being said, I think it's important to laugh whenever you get a chance. So, if you served your country, feel free to laugh. If you didn't, go get a gun and shoot something!)

Well, let's see how this plays out.

I wasn't really crazy about either candidate. I actually think that privatizing social security isn't a horrible idea... and I do think that Obama's health care plan has some merit. On the other hand, I know what tax bracket Joy and I sit in and I know we're about to get whacked. Once again, I didn't vote. McCain won Texas by 55% so... it would have been a nice break from work, but that's about it. My parents voted for McCain... in New York where Obama won by 62%. You have to love the electoral college! Well, that's a different post.

Anyway, I hope that Obama can turn this country around, and really I hope that his election helps ease racial tension in this nation... if his presidency only does that then it's worth it!

Halloween 2008

Halloween is finally over. This year, instead of hosting it at our house we went to a friends for a small party and some food. Hayden was dressed as a Jedi and Serenity was Princess Lea.


Here's a good picture of Seri in her outfit. Pay no attention to the look that Hayden is giving his friend Gordon.


After some food and playing in our friends backyard we hit the streets. Serenity was insistent upon walking up to every house. The only problem was that at the first house she was allowed to grab whatever she wanted from the candy bowl and decided that it was the rule for every house thereafter. So, she would just walk up to a house and start grabbing whatever candy she could find.


After trick-or-treating we headed back to the house. Serenity then proceeded to drink three apple juice boxes in quick order.


After that she found the doggy door and was pretty much enthralled for the rest of the night.


All in all, it was a great time. Joy had to work so I ended up trying to corral two kids in a house full of kids... which was rather challenging. I think that when it was all over we were all very much glad to get home and get some sleep!

The GPS made me do it!

The Garmin that Joy got me has this cool feature where it keeps track of all sorts of stats for you. It measures your average speed, the amount of time you have spent moving, the amount of time you have spent stopped... and the top speed that it has traveled.


When I first checked this out I was at a measly 80.2 mph for a max speed. Of course I couldn't let this stand. So I found a lonely stretch of road and set a more respectable 92.1 mph as my max speed. It would have been faster but I'm in the truck and it has a governor on it. Joy's car doesn't though! I think I've gotten the car up to 110 if I remember correctly.


Well, we'll see this weekend if I can't up the stats a little bit. After that I'll have to rely on more devious means to get the speed higher... I wonder if I can get a good enough signal on an airplane? I have a trip to either Baltimore or San Mateo, CA coming up soon, we also have a trip to Japan planned out for next fall as well. It'd be nice to have a max speed of 560 mph to show off!

The hand-me-downs

Seri is starting the feel the pains of having an older brother. She's getting his hand-me-down clothes to play in.


For now she's cool with it. Honestly, it's just for when she's inside. Joy would kill me if she was dressed like that when she meets the public. In fact, we just got her some new shoes which are her princess shoes and I think she really gets into dressing up. After Halloween I'll get some pictures in of her princess Lea costume. She didn't want to take it off when we put her in it.


One good thing about San Antonio is that you can grill comfortably well into November. This is really my favorite time of year for this place. I say this place because... I really would like to be anywhere else but, while I'm here I try to make the best of it. We finally got to air out the house as well. It was cool enough to have all the windows open for most of the weekend.


Well, that's about it for now. Halloween is coming up and I'm stoked. We're going to a party this year so it should be fun. I'll get pictures of the kids... I promise!!

It's almost scary really...

I'm usually don't like talking politics but, I am so sick of going to church and hearing that Obama is a horrible Muslim and McCain is a wonderful Christian. I can't believe that people can be just lead by the nose like this. It's just stupid to think that Obama can go to a church for more than 20 years just to deceive America into electing a terrorist as President and at the same time think that McCain goes to church solely for the religious experience and that it has nothing to do with his political career. How can people be so blinded?!? I'm not saying that Obama is a better candidate or even a better person, but every four years it seems that the 'Christian Majority" gets behind one candidate and all of a sudden he is Gods divine messenger for the US, while the other candidate is Satan's minion. Honestly, it's getting pretty stupid. Let me spell it out for you. Politicians lie about pretty much everything. When a senator kisses your baby, it's not because he's into babies... or just a good kind-hearted guy. It's because it's a photo-op. When a candidate gives a moving speech, it's not because he is an articulate person... it's because he hired a good team of writers. When a candidate says that he prays every night just like you do, he's saying it because there's millions of idiots out there that will buy it and vote for him based on that alone. Wake up.

The Stink in Farts Controls Blood Pressure

Read the article here.

I knew it. I happen to have a blood pressure of 5 over 13. Oh yeah.

The new Xbox Menu

The new Xbox 360 menu is soon to be upon us. I'm a little worried about loosing the ability of adding in my own background. For some reason I just find it hilarious to put Mario on the Xbox.


In other news I crashed the web server. For those of you who use it... it's back up and good as new. Luckily I didn't loose anything. It happened on the same day that Joy bought me my new Garmin GPS. It's awesome. The best thing about it is that you can change the voice from American English to either Australian English or British English. I started out with Australian but got sick of hearing about every wallabee crossing in San Antonio so I settled on British English. Since this is the last weekend before Halloween, I think I'll actually put some decorations out. I'm worried about not being home to hand out candy but I think I'll just give our bags to the neighbors and let them hand it out. We're going to a friends to trick-or-treat and have a little get together as well... so it should be fun. Hayden is going Anakin Skywalker and Serenity is going as Princess Amadalla. I'll be going as awesome. I'll get some pictures of the kids so be sure to check it out!

Kid. Candy Store.

In my recent experience... there is a definite reason that the saying "like a kid in a candy store." has been used for so many years. When you actually take a kid, preferably a young one, and put them in a candy store... the result is rather unique. Now, I think my kids are rather well behaved. Serenity is probably one of the few 1 yr old's that will stay in a corner for 5 whole minutes. But, when she saw all those bins of candy that were right at eye level for her, she lost her little mind!



She ran and ran, just amazed at the amount of candy in front of her... it was really cute, and then she figured out how to open them! We purchased about $5.00 worth of candy... Serenity probably ate $3.00 worth of candy while we were in there. That's my girl!

We also made Hayden's Jack-o-lantern. He drew it himself and I cut it out. I think it came out pretty well.


He insisted on fangs... which I think complement the evil eyes nicely. We fill them with glow sticks for safety. Not the kids safety mind you, we do it for my safety. I'm a little retarded when it comes to fire (reference 'Fire in backyard 2008). It has a cool affect anyway.


There is a good chance that I will put up all our Halloween decorations while cleaning the house and mowing the lawn. There's a better chance that I'll just play with the kids all day and have fun instead. Guess which one I'm rooting for!

Remember the Rovio?

Now you can control it with your Wiimote...



I do not see coincidence, I see providence.

"I am your father... and I'm kind of a jerk too."

Enjoy.

"You are all individuals."... "I'm not!"

I saw this on Yahoo and it cracked me up.


"Embrace your individuality by doing what we tell you to!"

That reminds me of a movie called Idiocracy. Now, it didn't do that great in the theaters but it was a really funny movie.

The movie starts by showing how an intelligent couple keeps putting off having kids for the right time and eventually die without having any offspring. Meanwhile, a white trash family has tons of kids and their kids are getting pregnant while still teenagers. This leads to the trend of dumb people over populating the Earth over time. It's like revers evolution.

Anyway, this guy who is the most average guy around the turn of the century. The gov't want to do some kind of experiment on him for something and they freeze him. Then the program gets shut down and he sleeps for 500 years instead of just 1.

When he wakes up, the average intelligence has degraded to a point that he is the smartest man alive. It's a dark comedy and it's pretty crass but I think it's funny. Well, now I pretty much spend every day here in San Antonio, or as I like to call it... the village of idiots, and feel that I'm stuck in that movie.

Today at work we had a guy come in to change out any blown lights in the office. He walks by one of our engineers door, dragging this huge box of florescent tubes and the engineer asks him whats he doing. The guy answers that he's changing out blown out lights for new ones. Then the engineer looks straight up for a while... and then goes "My lights good."

Seriously?!?! If it is not dark in your office... then your light is good. On top of that... the guy was in his office. Did he really need to be told that the light was on? Scary stuff man.

So you think that you want kids?

I come home today to this.


Serenity got into the bathroom and went right for the Q-tips. I started cleaning it up and then saw the coup de grâce.


I swear that this was not a plant. Serenity had found a toothbrush and decided to 'hold on' to it for later. She is starting to use her diaper as a impromptu pocket. What made it really funny was that it was Joy's toothbrush!

Go parenting!

Dryer repair 101

The dryer decided to give up the ghost over the weekend and I finally had a chance to check it out. I quickly determined that it wasn't working due to the thing not making any noise. Based off of this acute analysis I decided to take it apart. You know that feeling you get when you're about half way through something and then you realize that you're an idiot when it comes to mechanical stuff... yeah, good times.


Everything was going swimmingly, so I decided it was time to cut myself. You know... to liven things up. My dad always says 'If you're not bleeding, then you're not trying hard enough!' Well, it sounds like something he'd say anyway.


Honestly, I was guessing that there was some kind of fuse that burned out and I was right. There's a thermal fuse right on the heating coil. It's that thing with the green sticker on it. You can get at it by popping the top off the dryer and then breaking all the bones in your hand so you can fit it in this little crevice in order to unscrew that thing.


The best part was that stupid thing cost $37.00!! I decided to obtain one another way so mine cost nothing... but is a 210 F thermal fuse instead of the 260 F one that was there originally. So, I might be replacing it again soon. I ran it on back to back 1 hour jobs so see if it'd die and it was good to go. I ran it empty which might affect the temperature near the fuse, as opposed to being full of undies, but... at least it works.

So, at the end of the day I found out that I can fix stuff, if I have enough free time. I also found out that dryers come with approximately 3 extra screws for some reason. Weird huh?

Hayden Kenobi? I wonder if he means old Hayden Kenobi?

Yeah, my son is a Jedi.


What's your kid going to be? Probably some kind of non-lightsaber wielding pirate or something... lame.


I'm having a hard time not buying myself this costume. If I had one... I'd wear it to work everyday and just tell my users "This is not the e-mail you're looking for." Knowing my guys... it might just work!

Need it.

It's the Rovio from WowWee. It's a WiFi robot that has a webcam and hosts it's own webpage to monitor your house. You login and then tell the robot where to go and what to look at. It can also charge itself so it won't run out of juice while you're away.

Here's some Youtube on it.



Now, I'm not posting this in hopes that someone might buy it for me... it's just to further demonstrate why I cannot be left alone watching commercials! What possible reason do I have to buy a $300 robot? Especially when I really just want to see if I can flash the OS and make it do other stuff. I wonder if I can mount a paintball gun to it?

Comercials and you.

Over the last couple of months I've been on a mission to eliminate commercials from my life... well, as much as humanly possible. This all started with Noggin. Noggin is a 24 hr a day pre-school channel with no commercials. Now, Hayden isn't much of a whiner and we're going on 5 years now without a department store meltdown or any other temper tantrum but, I did notice the the lack of commercials have stemmed the 'I wants' down to almost nothing. That's pretty cool. I started to think about how much the average person is bombarded with advertising in a given day. Now that Joy and I have more expendable income it's hard not to run out and buy the latest do-dad that catches my eye. Truthfully, I'm just tired of having to sit through so many stupid commercials.

The worst thing is that most commercials these days seem to be aimed at idiots. If I have to watch another commercial where the moronic husband can't comprehend some obvious fact, and then needs his wife to explain it to him... all the time shaking her head as if to say "I know I should just let him drown in his soup but... that's the average middle age white male for you!" Yeah... I get ticked.

Anyway, I started with just not watching TV, but I don't have that kind of willpower. So, I tried using Hulu. It's a great site that has the latest episodes of my favorite shows with only one commercial per break. Also, since I can stream it to the Xbox 360 using Playon whenever I want, I don't have to plan my day around a certain time or rely on my craptacular DVR from Time Waner. The DVR only records shows that I ask it to... if it feels like it... and there's a full moon... Tuesdays only.

Well, Hulu is cool and all but it's not High Def and I've had some streaming problems with them. So, I decided that bit torrent is still the best way to get what I want. Currently I'm watching House, The Unit and Chuck. I can get all the latest episodes in high def, with no commercials, the night that they air. Pretty sweet huh?

BTW, if you're not watching House yet, you should. I usually wait till I'm 3 episodes deep and then brew up some Earl Grey tea, watch them all in a row and then pretend to be smart for a while. It's all good.

In other news, Mega Man 9 is out. It's a throw back to the old school 8 bit days and it's awesome!! I'm totally hooked on it. The guys over at Penny Arcade made up this comic which pretty much sums up Mega Man 9 for me.


Unfortunately, I am the only one in the family that has the gamer gene. I have a brother-in-law with a weird WoW growth but that's not the same thing. I just can't drop to that level. Honestly, he won't get all retarded and foamy at the mouth over Force Unleashed with me. I mean... I stabbed a Rancor in the eye. It it's freaking EYE! It was epic. If I could I'd buy a shirt that says 'I throw Wookies.' which pretty much sums up why Joy does all my cloths shopping for me.

While I was looking for that comic I also stumbled onto this one... which pretty much sums up everything that is wrong with having me raise a child.


Ok, that's all I got for now. Oh, Hayden's going to be a good Jedi for Halloween and Serenity is going to be Princess Lea. I'm taking Hayden to the Renaissance Festival next week and I'm going to let him wear his Jedi costume... so that should rock. I'll get some pictures. Lastly, I recently discovered that If I wear my wife's bra on my head I can make it look like a pope hat. The more you know...

Wario... shake it!

I don't know if you know Wario but he's the anti-Mario in Nintendo land. He is still my favorite character in Super Mario Kart because when you select him he says "I'm Wario, I'm gonna win!" For some reason, I really think that rocks.

Anyway, they came out with this cool ad for the new Wario game on the Wii... which I am going out to get right now. Trust me, it's worth the watch.

Check it out here.

This is my daughter

Serentiy has recently appeared upstairs despite there being a baby gate at the bottom of the stairs. We finally found out how she does it.

She pushes the foot stool over to the gate and then scales it. You have got to see this to believe it.




Yep, she's only one and a half. Just imagine how much trouble she's going to be at three!

I need more paintball... er cowbell!

Here's the pictures I promised of our paintball outing. I really love playing. Paintball is one of those games that make you really feel alive while at the same time painfully reminding you how fat and old you are. Luckily, I held my own and IMO whooped up on some of the guys in the office. Enough so that I can be a little smug about it at work. Not that I would, of course... I'm just too nice of a guy to point out bruises that I happened to have doled out.

The name of the game in paintball is cover... the other name is angles... oh, and there's extra paint and also not using a rental gun... well, you get the idea.


Towards the end we were running out of paint, so I'd grab a gun off of someone if they were out and leaving the field. It was pretty cool because I went through 3 guns that game. It was kind of like Call of Duty, but with slightly less Germans.


This is LtCol Barker. He's been with us for about 4 weeks now. In the first game I shot him on one side of his head and on the last game I shot him on the other... I'm pretty proud of that.


The guys in this picture are John and Ian. John is my fellow fat kid and Ian's the dumb one. He actually got caught cheating by wiping off paint after he was shot in an office paintball game. He also shot our boss in the back about 5 times... and they were on the same team. I guess he forgot that he has to work with these guys... which is why he is the dumb one.


Well, that's it for pictures. I'm going to try and make it out there this Sunday if I can. We'll see if I can get a chance.

In other news, it's rumored that Activision dumped ghost busters and as game, which sucks. The Force Unleashed is still really good. All I have to say is Jar-Jar frozen in carbonite. Yeah, that just happened.

The Force Unleashed

I got the Force Unleashed yesterday and played it for a couple of hours. It got really bad reviews but... I really like it. It might be that I just haven't gotten far enough to embrace the suck yet, or it might also have to do with me dreaming about Star Wars pretty much every night, but it's a really fun game.


If you're in the market I'd suggest it as a buy. It doesn't live up to the hype and there are some problems with the game play but nothing that ruins the game IMO. I guess I'm in the minority with that opinion, but I stick by my decision.

Walking the streets.

I finally got a day to walk around NYC. It was pretty fun, but it would have been better with Joy. Here are some of the places that I got to see. You can click on them to get bigger pictures.

Here's Radio City Music Hall


St Patrick's Cathedral


The Apple Store


Time Square



A Lego Statue of Liberty in Toys R Us


The New York Public Library


Rockefeller Center


And Serenity in her I love NY shirt.



I started out in Penn Station and walked to Time Square. From there I went to 5th ave and walked up it to Central Park. After that I was pretty hungry so I stopped in some restaurant and has a great grilled salmon with some good egg rolls and a martini. I had a 90 dollar per diem since the salesmen I was with took me out to dinner the night before. I tried to spend it all but didn't quite make it.

After that I was way too full to walk all the way back. That's when I saw one of those bike taxis flying down the street and I knew I had to try it.



My guy was being really conservative, and I was a little disappointed. Then, of course, I put the camera away and he ran a red light and almost got us hit by a bus. My perfect photographers timing shines through once again.

It was a really good time. I got back to the hotel and just passed out cold. Joy and I are going to try and go again in November or maybe after our cruise... so next summer. I really don't want to go when it's hot. It was 70 most of the time I was there this time and it was awesome. The subway still smelled like feet, but other than that it was all good.

Next time I'm going to try to get my company to send me to DC. I do have a 2 week training class coming up in February or March but I think it's in Arkansas or some other place I don't want to go.

It was so good to get back and see the kids. I can definitely recommend leaving your kids for a week every once in a while. It helps you forget how much of a pain they can be. It's very refreshing.

While I was gone, Hayden caught some kind of rash and needed to go on antibiotics for it. He had it on the back of his neck so the MIL cut the little hanging strap off of his backpack because she believed that it was rubbing his neck and causing the rash. I swear, I turn around for one second and that lady is breaking my stuff! I was pretty pissed off about it, just because it's so senseless but, she was only trying to help, so I guess it's not a big deal.

Well, we're going to go to Fredericksburg today and buy some Holloween stuff. I'll get some pictures of the kids eating German food.