Of Missing Cats and Thank Yous

 

Back ground info: 3 years ago we got two cats Cookie and Butterscotch. Makayla loves the cats. Last year we kicked the cats out of the house because there were peeing on the furniture. Makayla loves the cats. The cats still hang around the house and mostly like the kids. Did I mention that Makayla loves the cats.

About three weeks ago Cookie went missing. (Not completely unusual.) Makayla has spent many a day calling out the windows for the missing cat.

Bed time on April 5 was just like any other (mildly controlled chaos). I was tucking the four older kids into there beds when I found Makayla crying. When asked why she was crying the reply came through sobs and tears, “Cookie has been gone for three weeks and I made tomorrow, (April 6th), the cats birthday.” I told her I was sorry and that she needed to go to bed and went downstairs. After completing my preparations for bed I went upstairs. Makayla was still sitting up in her bed crying. This time instead of getting upset or telling her to be quiet and go to sleep, (usual approach), I went to her bedside wrapped my arms around her, hugged, and told her that Cookie was probably off on some grand adventure like in the movie “Incredible Journey” and was just taking her time returning, (it’s happened before with Butterscotch). My words didn’t seem to have any effect.

I left her with another big hug and went to say my prayers before bed. After I finished talking with my Heavenly Father I found Makayla standing at my door way. “Go back to bed” would usually be the response but I took a deep breath and asked “what do you need Makayla.” She came around the bed and gave me a big hug and said “Thank you. You really comforted me.” We said good night to each other (again) and went to bed. I laid in my bed and knew that my daughter really loves me, Her Dad. I said another silent prayer and thanked God for this small opportunity that I was presented with.

Being a father is Great!!

A video Journey: Courtesy of You tube

Checking my email this morning became a neat journey. A video, from my mail provider main info page ,title caught my eye. I clicked on the video and waited…. and waited…. and waited some more… I decided to drop that attempt and head over to “YouTube”. There I searched for the failed video and found it.

Here it is:

the video I started my journey with

Pretty cool huh… what do you mean you didn’t watch it… how are you supposed to follow me on this journey if you don’t participate?

after that I looke at the suggested videos on the right and found this one:

same guy on the tonight show

then saw that he was also on the tonight show with Johnny Carson:

I then found the ultimate juggler, to me at least.

What originally caught my eye was the unusual use of juggling. With a piano? I am a very unpracticed juggler, so the idea of adding another element hasn’t crossed my mind. Now take what the last video did just blows my mind. the amount of control and patience just amazes me.

Makayla saw the videos, (she took the journey with me). She liked the piano juggling, and was floored, wowed, and speechless at the last.

I know juggling takes practice, practice, practice, practice, and more practice. But it is fun to do.

Hope you enjoyed this small and free video journey as much as I did… 

practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, lots of stinking practice…

My Theory on Aging

 

There is something that happens once a year that many people fear. This annual occurrence threatens the way of life for some. many hide behind falsehoods and justifications.

What is this horror of horrors that many are so afraid of? It is the annual Birth-Day. That's right the yearly ritual of aging, getting older,continuing up/down the hill

What is aging? It is the process in which are bodies tell us we can no longer do the thing we want to do, and have difficulty doing the things we must do, I.E. work, play with kids, grand kids, or keep up with the younger crowd.

This aging process is inescapable for all who live on Earth. It’s a fact of life. We don’t typically feel our age until the great age of “__”,(fill in your own “Great Age”).

In my professional** opinion age is a matter of mental projections. As our yearly number increases we hear more comments that remind us of how old we “should feel”. Phrases like, “Your old”, and “how's it feel to be old?”, or “old Geezer”, don’t help with our mental state. The more you hear and Listen to these comments the more you feel your age. So what do you do when you hear these things…ignore them for the most part…continue thinking young thoughts…act young were appropriate.

I am currently “xx” number of years old. (notice my lack of acceptance for my real age). I try to ignore all signs of aging as a matter of course. the other day while I was riding with another driver, I was climbing in and out of the back of the truck like I did it every day, (which I do, so it was no big deal for me). The driver I was with was impressed that I moved so “easily”. He asked how old I was, (weird question). I continually deny my age.

At some point age catches up with people. That is when you are allowed to use age as an excuse.

 

In closing I just want to reiterate my theory: “It’s all in your head”, (at least until you hit the age of “__”).

 

 

**My P.H.D. came from the same place I got my drivers licencse, Perfect parent of the year award, perfect attendance award…for the last 15 years, and my “spy” permit… Al’s awards and more. “Where success is just a payment away”.

 

Jason

Computer Fun!

 

Today is update Tuesday. After my wife's computer updated and then restarted she found a new program installed on her computer “Antivirus Pro”. We don’t own this program have never heard of this program, and definitely didn't download it. Tristan was no longer able to use the Internet, run many of her programs, restore to an earlier point, or even run her virus scanner. the one thing we could do was reinstall windows….. What Fun!!

 

The good news is that Tristan had just backed up her important files to DVD's so her data was saved.

So let the fun begin….I think it is great fun to do a clean install of windows… you get to pick and choose (from the mass amount of programs that you have installed over time), the ones you actually use.

We started by reinstalling Windows. Then we started on the fun task of figuring out which programs Tristan needs/wants. Some we had, (on various hard drives and flash drives around the house, (that is my fault, I like storage),  others were included with the restore disks that came with the computer, and some we had to go rooting around the net for.

 

As I helped with the reinstallation of every thing, we discovered a couple of programs, (we had difficulty with before hand), that worked this time around, (made my wife happy!!). It is now 7:45 PM and Tristan's computer is just about finished.

 

Here are some suggestions for heavy content creators or picture takers…and all who could possibly get a virus.

• Install a security program and turn on windows fire wall

The program I use is Microsoft Security Essentials

This Idea comes from “The DAM Book: Digital Asset Management”

• Back up…There is a three step process to backing up

1. make 3 copies of your data
2. put it on 2 different kinds of media I.E. hard drive cd DVD.
3. have an off site back up (on the web or at your office or at a parents house

Remember that one copy is not a backup and don’t make a copy then delete the original because you will still only have one copy.

For a great article on backing up visit dpbestflow.org 

• Get a password manager

 

The one I use and recommend is Last Pass.

Last Pass not only remembers your password for every site you save to it, but it remembers websites and logins for those sites.  Last pass will even generate secure passwords for you. All you need is to set a master password and let last pass do the rest.

This is what my password vault looks like (yes I did edit the contents so you cant see some of my user names).

 

By clicking on the links on the left it will automatically take you to the site and log you in.

 

Please let me know what your suggestions for a good computing experience are.

 

Jason

Christmas in July

 

Why were my wife and I up till 12:30 last night? Well we weren’t wrapping presents or making gifts. We weren’t Watching a movie together. It turns out that we weren’t doing anything normal parents of five with one on the way should be doing on a long Friday after the kids are asleep, (I.E. sleeping).

We decided that it was time to go through the thousands, (seems like it sometimes), of toys that have accumulated in our house over the last 9 1/2 years. I brought all of their toys from the two bedrooms downstairs, brought all the toys stored in the attic. After all the toys were gathered, (we started around 9:30), we spent an exhausting hour and a half to two hours going through toys and deciding what to keep, what to toss, and what to give to Good Will.

This is the total of all the toys in the house not counting Legos or Duplos which we are keeping forever. The big green tub close to the white door is full of Little people which we are also keeping forever.

 

We discovered that we had way to many toys from fast food joints. Lots of broken or parts missing toys were found and lots of toys that don’t get played with.

At some point in the evening I was sent out on a food run, Taco Bell and Dairy Queen… What it was hard work…lots to carry down stairs.

 

When All was said and done we ended up with no broken or parts missing toys, no happy meal toys, and no unwanted toys.

This is what the load to Good Will looked like: 10 boxes and 1 basket

 

Needless to say the kids never saw what got trashed or donated so they can’t miss it. There was great excitement this morning, (like Christmas type excitement), as the kids woke up to find all the toys downstairs. The excitement grew as we took the toys to there rooms and started putting them away in closets and on shelves.

 

End result: Two very tired parents, Five happy kids, Less mess…for now…

 

Jason

Weird Eating habits

Eating is a fact of life. Every one has to eat. The one thing that sets us apart from each other is how the food gets to our mouths. From straws to forks to spoons it gets there, some how. People have different methods; the fork everything method, it's opposite of spooning everything, to the two utensil shoveling method (very messy I might add).

I like the fork every thing method even for applesauce. Now when it comes to foods that require a spoon, (like ice cream and soup), I have an odd habit, as pointed out by my lovely wife, I will put the spoon to my mouth and then, turn the spoon over and scrape the food off toward my tongue. Why such an unusual eating habit? It's simple enough for me. I have sensitive teeth. The idea of hot or cold food touching my front teeth makes me cringe. In reality it is quite uncomfortable.

Another lesser habit I have involves ketchup. I like it on my grill cheese sandwich, on my potato chips (i.e. ketchup chips out of the bag). Funny enough everything else use ketchup for seems pretty normal to me.
What are some of your weird eating habits? Leave me a comment and let me know.

Jason

All I need to know about life I learned from the movies….

Bad guys-

-When confronting bad guys in costume (i.e. full body armor with matching helmet) remember that they can't shoot straight so you can run straight to cover (car, building, around a corner, or over a hill).

-When sneaking up behind bad guys reach around and cover their mouth so they can't yell/scream.

-A karate chop to the neck always works

-Bad guy bosses love to talk... So you can always find out what their secret plans are...you just need to find that one really easy way to escape and then ruin the bad guys day.

-The hide out is almost always below ground, dark and grimy, unless the baddy is super rich and powerful already then it is a pent house apartment or CEOs office.

-Bad guys always lose....after about two hours of action.

Driving:

-There are two types of cars; really cool and fast cars, and really old cars you know will just be torn up, scraped up, damaged beyond repair, or be destroyed in a spectacular explosion.

-When bad guys drive they plow through traffic. When the good guy drive they weave through traffic..... Leaving other drivers to plow into other cars/buildings/or poles.

-The car always seems to run out of gas at the gas station.

-Any car can make a spectacular jump. Only the cool ones survive the jump and keep going.

-When being chased... Jump over a river... The other car will do one of two things; try to jump and end up in the river, or plow nose first in to the river.

 

-Dating:

-When making dinner for a date.... Don't forget the begets.

-always dress to impress, apply copious amounts of make-up, and make a fashionably late entrance.

-There's always a spark

-Espionage/Spies

       - Always carry a blank cd to copy important secret  information,    (you never know when you will get another chance).

-See bad guys above…

-Don’t get Caught…..If you do get caught “Mums” the word.

So in life; go to work find corrupt entity, get caught, run like crazy, fall down, getup, run, run, run, get into car drive really fast weaving in and out of traffic. Find co-pilot, drive to motel, stay the night in fear and terror. Run, drive fast again, jump a river, out maneuver the following car by e-brake turning into an alley that just fits your car but the SUV has to find another route giving you time to get to headquarters and spill the beans thereby ruining the bad guys day.