Good Bye 2009, We Hardly Knew Ye

Here it is the last day of 2009. I would be remiss if I didn't recap. First we moved from St Charles, Missouri to Colorado Springs, Colorado. Even though we have settled in and been here longer than we were in Missouri I'm still not feeling as comfortable. I guess I like the humid, green environment of the midwest as opposed to the dry, arid brown of the high plains. I still really like it here though.

My favorite part of the year was in July when Mom and Dad visited. We all wore each other out on the site seeing. Dad bought a motor home this fall so we're hoping they'll make another trip out this summer.

I found out we'll be an Uncle and Aunt again. Little baby Duncan (ha, I joke Bryce) will be downloading next week. I'm excited.

As I type along one thing is apparent, way too much has happened for me to remember and write down. We've spent a great deal of time in hospitals and doctor offices this year. Fortunately there hasn't been anything serious but we spent a lot of money to determine I don't have a brain tumor. The jury is still out on what is bothering Lisa's hand. If the health care really does get worse with the government running it, we're all screwed because they aren't the shining example of efficiency now.

I started taking vitamin D and fish oil for my health. I read online that vitamin D is a good alternative to the flu vaccine and so far it seems to be working. Lisa and everyone I know has been sick, one co-worker even had the swine flu, and I've been fine. Of course having said that...

The economy is still in the toilet despite all the spin from DC. You can agree or not but I find President Obama to be a pretty ineffective leader playing golf while a terrorist tries to blow up a plane on Christmas then blaming the system and George Bush. He just now vetoed his first bill and that was just a formality that didn't mean anything. Three more years, yahoo!

Well, enough of the belly aching. As usual there's not much I can really complain about. I have a great wife, a great dog and the rest of my family is pretty damn great too.

Happy New Year!!!

Rare Aurora Model

An interesting model of the flying sub from "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" that belonged to comic book artist Dave Cockrum. It's very rare with an interesting background.

Christmas 2009 Part I

I hope everyone had as good a Christmas as I did. We took a week off and drove back to Ohio. We've been longing for a road trip for months so we decided to drive rather than fly. Our first day we got up at 3:00 pm, had breakfast at the IHOP. We were trying something different and actually having a good solid meal instead of a bag of chips and a Mountain Dew from the gas station. It worked out nicely. We took our time and hit a winery and Russell Stover's factory outlet. We stopped the night in Columbia Missouri and prepared for the next big leg of the journey, a two hour drive to St Charles. We decided to stay at the Ameristar Casino on the river and do some shopping in the down town area. These were two things we could never really afford while living there. Lisa also surprised me with chocolate covered strawberries and champagne (already in place in the room) for my birthday. She's certainly a romantic. The best surprise was my gift card for Mark Twain Hobbies which is my favorite hobby store. We did our own economic stimulus spending at the stores downtown and then headed to the hotel and casino. I'm not a gambler (although I could spend hours playing Texas Hold'em on my Blackberry) but when staying in a casino you've kind of got to do some gambling. I won $.25 at video poker. There is a decimal point between the dollar sign and two by the way.

After a great start to the trip we took off early the next day. We arrived in Columbus and visted my brother, sister-in-law, and terminally adorable nephew for a few hours. We got to see sweet old Kirby, their German Shepherd Bryce rescued from a life on the streets. He wasn't in very good condition and I had to go out on the porch and give him a cheek rub. I remember how soft his hair was and peaceful and dignified he was. He passed away the next morning and I'm glad I got to say goodbye. He had a good life. After the visit we checked into a rather run down Super 8 across from the Budweiser brewery. I think there was literally us and two other guests. It was as Lisa noted, a good place for a murder mystery to take place.

The next morning we departed for Zanesville and the second part of my story...

Nothing Really, Just An Observation

I just heard Piano Man by Billy Joel. Man I forgot how great a song that is. He's got several dozen great songs but this has got to be his greatest.

Who Knew?

Maybe there is some truth to Liberal claims that we're all a bunch of redneck white supremists. I was sitting around thinking how I might change my Facebook or Twitter avatar to the "Don't Tread On Me" flag. I did a quick Google search and turned up the image. Turns out it's called the Gadsen flag. I just vaguely remember that it along with "Live Free or Die" were two of my favorite slogans from history class and the Revolution. The history of it is here...

Then I stumbled upon this article, which leads me to believe that maybe using it as an avatar wouldn't be a great idea. But I've never been accused of being a great thinker. I imagine militia members work up quite a thirst running around the woods of North Carolina or Idaho training with their "machine guns". I bet they drink beer. I drink beer. Nuts.

Quote of the Day

This quote was on my iGoogle homepage in the Quote of the Day widget, or whatever they call it.

Books to the ceiling,/ Books to the sky,/ My pile of books is a mile high./ How I love them! How I need them!/ I'll have a long beard by the time I read them.
- Arnold Lobel

I like it so I thought I'd post it. Don't know who Arnold Lobel is. I know I could probably "Google" him but sometimes it's fun not knowing.

The Holiday Season

It's starting to feel like Christmas. We've had a week of sub 20 degree weather and a lot of snow here in the Springs. The annual ritual of sending out Christmas cards has been concluded. This year we had picture cards printed up on Kodak.com which helped make things easier.

We're getting ready to head to Ohio at the end of next week. We're really excited about that. I haven't been home in over a year and we are both happy to be taking a road trip.

I'm also looking forward to getting a break from work. I haven't had an honest to God vacation in awhile.

Hopefully you're having a good Christmas season.