aimzb's Blog - 2old2play

How You Can Make a Difference

It has been way too long since I have done a blog about a charity. I'm a big time slacker. I know. Stupid work. I am really starting to hate my job. But, that is another blog for another day.

Some of you probably already know about this, but I want to make everyone aware of it. If you like ice cream at all, and especially Blizzards from Dairy Queen, be sure to go get one tomorrow. Tomorrow is DQ's miracle treat day. All profits made from the sale of Blizzards all day long tomorrow at all DQ's will be donated to the Children's Miracle Network. Definitely a worthy cause. And a very easy (and tasty) way to make a difference in a child's life.

For more info:

www.dairyqueen.com/us-en/news/childrens-miracle-network-benefit-from-blizzards/ - 13k -

[3 Comments]

What does every GameTruck worker want?

Well, a vending machine that dispenses little kids, of course!

Automat Arrest

[1 Comments]

Why All the Hoopla?!?

Everyone excuse me for being a big whiny baby biatch here for a minute, but seriously, what was the big freakin la-di-da about the quake in Cali?

We had a quake here in April that was roughly the same magnitude and was felt over 450 miles away (in both Atlanta and Canada). Don't even get me started on the fact that it actually caused structural damage and injuries as far away as St. Louis and Louisville as well!!! All of that and it gets all of a 5 minute blurb on CNN. One hits the LA area, where people and structures are actually prepared for something like that, and it is on CNN for 4 hours straight! I do realize LA is the second center of the universe (behind NY), but good grief. Pretty much everyone out there seems to feel the same way. It wasn't that big of a deal people.

Yes. We have earthquakes here almost as often as they have them on the West Coast. But, ours are generally somewhere in the 3-4 range. Once a year or so we will have one around a 5. Nothing close to the intensity of the ones on the left side of the country (but I do find it both interesting and scary that the USGS is calling for a bigger and sooner one for us as compared to the left coast- magnitude 8 vs. 7 and occuring by 2040 vs. 2050)). Again, begging the question, what was the big freakin deal?

Again, excuse my belly aching. I'm stuck in a hotel room 8 hours from home in BFE Illinois near the Iowa state line. With all apologies to anyone that may live in this area, I have good cause to be in a pissy mood. Also, my apologies to anyone that was affected by the quake. Its scary and it sucks. I know.

[3 Comments]

For You Music Fans

I can not believe I have not blogged this yet.

www.ronaldjenkees.com

He's a friend from this area that does some amazing stuff that is all 100% original. He has a CD of his own out that is really good (and an interesting mix of different styles). If any of you are ESPN fanatics and listen to Bill Simmons podcast (The BS Report) he did the intro/theme song for that as well as a few other theme/music things for ESPN. He is unbelievably talented and I got pimp his site for him. If you want some samples of his music you can also check his youtube channel out. Leave me (or him) comments if you enjoy the stuff.

By the way, the persona on his videos is all show. He isn't that "slow".

[0 Comments]

Am I That Good?

So last night I was boring the mess out of my wife talking about all the goings on at E3. M$ big announcements about this and that, and especially about streaming/downloading Netflix movies. The wifey proceeds to ask me if all the movies from Netflix would be available in HD. I told her I was pretty sure they wouldn't be, at least not initially(truthfully, I have no idea). So she starts going on and on about how much she enjoys watching stuff in HD and how she hates that all of our channels from Dish are not in HD and how she wishes we could watch movies we rented in HD. Holy Crap! OPEN DOOR!!!!!

We have looked at Blu-Ray players several times and have decided together that they are not worth the cost, at least right now. After she made that comment, I again mentioned Blu-Ray players and she again noted the cost and how she doesn't want to pay $400-$500 for one that could be obsolete in 3-5 years due to updates in firmware, etc. So, I casually mention the PS3 (for the third or fourth time) and it having a Blu-Ray player as well as online capabilities and the capability to regulalry update through the PSN.

Low and behold, I think it worked. I've spent the last 3 months pumping her up about the need to get a Blu-Ray to be able to truly appreciate watching movies on our new(ish) TV. I have also spent the past few months going on and on about firmware updates for stand alone Blu-Ray players and the constantly changing technology and the need to have one that can adapt to the changing technology(isert casual mention of the PS3 here). A dash of truth mixed in with a lot of smoke. I think all my work has finally paid off. The wifey just texted me here at work with a link to an Ebay auction for a PS3 that ends in a day or so and is still below $150. We won't be getting one from Ebay. But at least she is spending her free time at work looking for a PS3.

Dadgummit I am good. I think. Knowing her she just wants to do this for me and is letting me think I am that good to pump up my ego.

Don't let your wives fool you fellas. Just cause they married you doesn't mean they aren't as conniving as ever. They just use their powers more for good than evil once you reel them in.

[3 Comments]

Lemme Tell You a Story About (Myself and) a Man Named Jedd

I'm stuck in a horrifically boring meeting this afternoon and I refuse to pay attention. Ya'll get the benefit (if you can really even call it that) of a small chapter out of my past.

I've known Jedd my entire life. We were born in the same town. Went to the same schools and to the same church. We even have the same last name (but aren't related, as far as we know). Jedd was in my wedding and I in his(even though his was at the county courthouse). We were always pretty good friends, but didn't become great friends until college.

Jedd is, and always has been, a redneck. A country bumpkin. A hillbilly. If you haven't been around him much, you couldn't understand a word he says. He makes Boomhower (from King of the Hill) sound like royal socialite from England. In college he and I did more huntin, muddin, and drinkin than we did studyin. There is no way I can fully describe his backwoods redneckishness. Best way is to say he makes Noopy come across as being sane and civilized.

But Jedd is (and was) smart. Not like made A's and B's and a 26 on the ACT smart. But, more along the lines of this kind of smart- He is the head of IT and Wireless security for NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL. It still blows me away to talk to him on the phone and to hear the southern drawl and yet have an amazingly intellectual conversation.

Even more importantly than that, though, Jedd is a good person.

After finishing undergrad, Jedd went straight to work in NASA's IT department in Huntsville. I bounced around from place to place perpetually getting burned out in the social service field. I eventually ended up in Cullman, AL, half an hour or so South of Jedd. We reconnected and hung out all the time. He introduced me to the Xbox. If nothing else, he is a good man for having done that.

After several months of living a few miles apart and continually receiving crap from both of our parents for not coming home to visit, we decided to head back to good ole Henderson, TN to visit our families and long lost peeps. We spent a long weekend there. Had a great time and saw lots of folks we grew up with that neither of us had seen in quite a while.

We headed back home Sunday after church so we could get back in time to get a few hours of gaming in before having to go back to work on Monday. We were driving my freshly detailed (and slightly pimped out) Mustang. As was usually the case then, every other red light was a drag race and we would occasionally get passed by some idiot trying to prove a point by blowing by us as I had the cruise set at 60. For whatever reason, the day was abnormally worse as far as both the number of idiots on the road as well as the number of rednecks wanting to race.

After a couple of hours on the road we decided to stop in the small town of Moulton, AL. We weren't far from home, but we both had to pee like nobody's business and we both needed to restock on the dip. As we were walking out of the gas station, a guy pulls in driving a ridiculously overpimped white trash (sorry Brains, that's what we call 'em here) Camaro. He is followed by an equally ridiculous 4x4 Silverado. They have a quick "who can be the bigger idiot" contest redlining the engine while in nuetral and then both run into the gas station while leaving their vehicles running. I can not explain to you how hard it was not to do something to one or both of those vehicles, but we refrained.

So we get back on the road to head on home. We get a few miles down the road and I notice the Camaro very quickly gaining on us. "Of course." I think to myself. I go ahead and slow down to 50 knowing he is inevitably going to be retarded and blow by me, whether the road is clear or not, so I just decide to make it easier and safer for him, us, and everyone on the road. Sure enough, he comes up behind us, slows down enough just to hesitate behind us and rev his engine to make sure we know he is there, and then proceeds fly around us sticking the left rear tire slightly off the road, fishtailing for a good 5 seconds, and then flying off into the horizon.

Jedd and I had become so transfixed by this moron's attempt to bring about his (and anyone else on the road's) early demise, we had not even noticed the monster truck porportioned Silverado quickly approaching us from the rear. He too was approaching quickly and I again slowed to 50 to do my best to put him in the best position to not kill himself or anyone else. As he came in behind us we crossed in to a no passing zone as we were approaching an intersection with a small county road. I gave the driver of the truck some credit as he started to pull out around us, but quickly tucked back in on our tail. But my initial assessment of this young man's intelligence was quickly proven incorrect as within a few seconds of deciding not to roll on by us, he changed his mind. That decision changed many many lives.

As the Silverado pokes it's nose around us I look ahead and absolutely freak out. A small Nissan pickup has pulled to the intersection of the crossing road. Apparently he does not see us coming. Oh no! He definitely does not see us coming! The little Nissan pulls out and I immediately lock up the brakes. There is no way I'm getting stopped in time. It just ain't gonna happen. So I hit the ditch. Thankfully it is a shallow and wide ditch. But it is still a ditch. And it still ends at the cross road. Dadgummit. I veer to the right as much as I can without hitting the trees, stay on the brakes as much as I can without locking them up, and hold my breath as we hit the intersection. The air time was minimal as I had gotten us slowed to about 25, but the scary part was initially hitting that incline up to the road without knowing what was on the other side. Thankfully, it was nothing but an empty parking lot for a little country gas station. We landed, came to a stop, and finally started to breathe again.

It is rather amazing that I didn't run us into a tree or who knows what else as we rolled through that ditch. I really wasn't watching anything in or near us in that ditch. That's because I could not take my eyes off the horror that was unfolding on the road. Neither one saw the other. The Nissan rolled on out into the intersection. The Silverado didn't hit his brakes at all. Or at least if he did, it didn't make a noticeable difference in his speed. There are no real adjectives out there to describe what we saw and heard. Gruesome. Heart-stopping. Deafening. The midpoint of the Silverado's grill hit square with the little Nissan's driver side door. The Nissan skidded sideways with the Silverado pushing it like a snow plow for a good ten feet. The Nissan then rolled on to it's side and then upside down. As the Nissan was flipping the Silverado pulled up, on top of, and then completely over the Nissan. As the Silverado mowed over the top of the Nissan it continued it's flip eventually ending up on it's now flat tires. It probably only lasted 10 seconds or so. Metal crunching, glass breaking, tires squeeling. It is amazing how the mind slows down your perception of events like this so you are able to process it as it is happening.

Everything is silent. A good 30 seconds of silence. And then movement. Not in either of the trucks. It is Jedd. He has unbuckled and getting out of the car and yelling at me to come on. Huh? What? Oh crap! We gotta go help.

Jedd beats me to the mangled mess of metal by two or three steps. We went to the Nissan first. There was blood everywhere. It was an older couple and neither were conscious. For whatever reason we tried to open the driver side door first. I guess because it was the side we got to first. Talk about futile. That door would have been easier to open if it were welded shut. As we run around to the other side an older fella comes out of the gas station and lets us know he has called 911 and that he is going to get a fire extinguisher. Why is he going to get fire extinguisher? With our focus solely on figuring out how to help this couple, we had not even realized that the front of the Nissan was on fire. This is bad. This is very very bad. No more time to think. We just started moving. Somehow (adrenaline is an amazing hormone) we managed to rip the passenger side door off the Nissan. Notice I said off. Not open. We literally separated the door from the cab. As we do this the older lady comes to. She is screaming. Not yelling. Screaming. "Help me Jesus!" Over and over. I get her unbuckled and grab her by her shoulders as Jedd grabs her feet. We carry her to the parking lot across the road and lay her down. Jedd tells her we are going to get her husband and that an ambulance will be here shortly. "Help me Jesus!" was her reply.

We turn to run back to the Nissan only to see the entire front end engulfed in flames. Jedd and I look at each other. We could both see the other debating what to do. After only a few seconds Jedds says to me, "Ready to lay down your life for another?" He turns and runs to the Nissan. I stand there in disbelief for a second or two, then run to help. I don't really remember how we got him out of that cab. The top of it was caved in and his left foot was stuck in the mangled metal. I do remember it was hot. Unbearably hot. But, we did get him out. As we laid him down next to his wife, we look over at the Silverado. Another couple of guys had stopped and were pulling the driver out. He was conscious, but bloodied as well. As I turn back to check on the older couple I am literally knocked to the ground. Dazed, I get to my knees and quickly realize I can hear nothing but ringing. Jedd is laying across the older couple in what I later found out was an attempt to protect them. He gets up. Deaf and dazed like myself, we turn to look at the wreck. The gas tank. Not a full 30 seconds after we pulled this gentleman from that truck had it exploded into a ball of flames. God certainly had been watching over us.

As our hearing starts to come back we hear the very faint wail of sirens. Finally. An ambulance. We turn our attention back to the older couple. The woman has apparently blacked out. Either that or she had decided to say her prayers silently at this point. The man was still unconscious. Too unconscious. Jedd had already noticed and was kneeling down next to him. Uh oh. Not breathing. No pulse. We immediately started CPR. Me doing chest compressions. Jedd doing rescue breathing. For whatever weird reason, it seemed like time had sped up. Instead of things moving in slow motion, as they had been, time was moving too fast. How long ago did he stop breathing? Why is the ambulance taking so long? How have we been doing CPR for 5 minutes already?

The ambulance finally arrives and the paramedics take over. They load the man into the first ambulance and the woman into a second one. The third ambulance takes the driver of the Silverado off and the firefighters put out the blaze. A fourth ambulance treats Jedd and I for minor burns and smoke inhalation. We give our statement to the troopers and head on our way.

I dropped Jedd off at his house and headed on home. We didn't really talk much about what happened that day for several months. The old man pulled through eventually. He was in the hospital for several months. The old woman was in and out of the hospital for several months due to having to have multiple surgeries. They called both Jedd and I a few months later and took us both out to dinner. They were very kind and gracious, and of course, repeatedly thanked us.

Neither Jedd nor I really gave any thought to it. We just kind of reacted to the situation. But I have to say, I'm not sure I would have run back to that burning truck if Jedd hadn't been there.

Good people like that are hard to find now days, and that's a real shame.

[7 Comments]

Not Much More than Friday's Blog

Still haven't had time to find a good charity to put up here. It is that time of year for Cancer walks, etc. If there is one in your area, throw $5 or $10 their way. It is amazing how lots of people giving little amounts like that adds up. It is funny how much I say "every little bit counts" around the office about the donations of $5 or $10 we get. We have a couple that sends us $5 for every obituary in their local paper (in honor of the person who passed away). Last year that added up to $475. That is certainly nothing to sneeze at.

***********************

Hello, Comcast? Are you people retarded? Yep. My interent went down again yesterday. It was only for an hour or so. But dadgummit if it was during some prime gaming time. The wifey almost always takes a nap on Sunday afternoons. I always fire up the 360 then. Well about 1:30 she heads toward the bedroom with her stuffed animal of a dog and I fire things up. Get a couple of matches in and suddenly, BAM! Connection Interrupted. Stupid host leaving the game. But wait. It hasn't sent me back to the lobby. Crap. It's frozen up. "Disconnected from Xbox Live" pops up. WTF?!? I go check the modem. No signal. Again. So I go call Comcast. It must be bad this time. Busy signal the first three times and then I finally get through. Sit on hold for 20 minutes and I just give up and go out to the shed to work on finishing the table I am working on. Come back in later and everything is fine. Oh how I dream of a day I can get a decent connection for less than $60 a month and it actually be reliable.

[3 Comments]

Just Cause

Everybody else seems to be throwing blogs up left and right, so I figured I'd follow CarnivalAngel's lead and throw one up to just for the heck of it. Nothing crazy going on(actually, things are insane right now but the timing isn't quite right for me to mention it to the public yet. Big things going on here with major change in the wind. More to come when the timing is right and more details are available.) and I haven't had time to do any research to throw up another blog about a deserving lesser known charity.

So here's a blog about nothing for everyone to give a big fat WTF?!? to and waste 5 minutes of their day reading. I got nothin. Seriously. Nothin.

[4 Comments]

Comcast, oh how I love thee...

...let me count the ways.

[Rant]

My wife sent me an email a week or two ago with a link to some story about the worst rated companies in the US as far as customer service goes. I can not for the life of me remember what the top three were, but I definitely remember number 4: Comcast. Way to go guys! Well earned recognition.

Yesterday I get home from work and fall into the somewhat usual routine: help the wifey with supper, eat, play the Wii for an hour or so (Have any of you played the target shooting game on Wii Play? I absolutely can not seem to beat my wife at that game. Frustrating!), pop some popcorn, and watch Deadliest Catch. The show ends and the wifey heads for the shower and I get ready to fire up some CoD4. The box fires up and I notice it does not automatically sign me in to XBL. Hmmmm, weird. So I go to the blade try to sign in and it gives me the normal error connection of not being able to connect to the internetz. Weird again. So I get up and go check the modem. Even weirder. It isn't getting a signal. So I reboot it a few times, check all the wires, and go outside to check the connection to the house. All appear to be in good working order.

[Flashback]

We signed up with Comcast when we moved here because we do not have, or want, home phone service. Trying to get DSL without home phone service absolutely confused the mess out of the lady I talked to at AT&T, even though I was only calling for an accurate price quote. We went with Comcast mostly because of the faster connection. We lucked out and signed up at a time when they were doing some special deals for new customers. We were supposed to get a $100 rebate as a new customer as well as a $75 credit on our bill since we have our own modem. Well, after three months we had seen neither of those, so I called Comcast. Bla bla bla about rebates and credits being handled by different divisions and companies, three Comcast reps and two hours later, we finally get things settled. The rebate and credit special had ended and they had no way to get either to us in their system. So they worked out a deal with us. We would receive a one-time "special credit" on our bill for the $75. Cool, no big deal. Instead of issuing another one-time credit, they wanted to do a a $10 credit over ten months instead of the other rebate. Once again, no huge deal. But, to do that, they had to put on our regular bill that we had signed up for basic cable service ($9 a month) and the give us a $19 credit. Why? It was the only way at the time to issue more than one credit on the bill. Why did they not just wait until the next month to start the $10 credit? Because the system would not allow the to issue credits for more than one month without an appropriate reason (code). The set-up they did for us, was part of a regular deal they run to get more people to order cable TV with their internet, or vice-versa. [/Flashback]

In the time since we got the service, I have had to call Comcast 7 times due to service dropping. Each time I go through the same bla bla bla of resetting my modem and checking the cables on the phone with them before they finally agree to send a tech out. Then, I have to take half a day off because they refuse to schedule a specific time and will only give you the "before noon" or "after noon" window. Each time the tech comes out. Goes through the same crap with the modem and computer. Reruns my interior lines. Checks the exterior lines. Then runs a new line to the house or replaces the line that runs to the line outside the house. I really think they have probably replaced something along the lines of 500 feet of cable in the 7 times they have been out to the house. Why they can't do regularly shceduled line maintenance is absolutely beyond me.

A couple of weeks ago, we got our most recent bill and noticed the $19 credit was suddenly gone from it. This wouldn't have been a big deal except they left the TV service on the bill. So I call again and after an hour or so of talking with three more reps, I finally get things settled. The next time I fire up the comp for the wifey, she notices it is taking quite a bit longer for her to download TV shows from iTunes. So I hop on and go to the normal speed testing sites. WTF?!? My download speed is now half what it once was(10-12K) and my upload speed is a quarter of what it was(1-2K)!

Once again I hop on the phone with Comcast. They are absolutely clueless as to what I am even talking about. After an hour and a half and five different reps, I give up for the night. The wifey and I leave town for the weekend after that and get home Sunday night to once again discover we have no internet. I go through the normal rigamaro with the poor idiot on the other end of the line from Comcast and again plan a half a day away from work waiting for the tech to show up and spend 45 minutes going through messing with my modem and comp (the best part of all this is that same look I get when they ask me the brand of my comp and I tell them I built it. for whatever reason that blows every single one of them away.), checks the interior line, and then checks the wall jack. Low and behold the problem was actually inside my house this time. Apparently the house was hit by lightening over the weekend and it completely fried and melted the jack. Thankfully I always unplug and unhook everything when we go away for the week (during the stormy months) and it didn't affect anything else. But man, that jack was jacked up. So he replaces the jack and reconnects everything and we are good to go. Before he left I asked him about my connection speed dropping. He asked if we had TV or phone service with Comcast and I told him the whole deal with having but not having TV. He said that was the reason in the drop in speeds. He informed me that Comcast does not advertise it and that the phone reps are told not to speak of it, but Comcast has a teired speed system. He als informed me that they use this teir system as an added bonus to those that order other services with them. No one mentions it and the reps do not even know about it, but if you have internet and one other service, your speed get bumped up a notch. If you add phone service, it gets bumped up again. So, with the TV service getting dropped from our bill, we got bumped back down. He said there wasn't anything I could do about it outside of adding back the TV service. What the crap?!? At the very least give me a heads up about this.

So now I am down to being a borderline host for matches, at best, and have real issues in 9v9 rooms when I never had issues before. But it gets better. The wifey and I go out of town again this weekend. We come home to a very slow connection. I call again and they run through a few things over the phone and whatever they did seemed to work. For a day. Get home Monday and it is out again. As I sit on hold for a few minutes and as the rep asks me for my account number the connection comes back. The rep recommends having someone come out again, just in case. At this point I was fed up with all of this and tell him the tech is going to come out to our house Tuesday afternoon after I get home at 5 and he better fix the problem immediately or I am going on a negative PR rampage like they have never seen. The poor guy tries his best to calm the agitated customer down while explaining that they do not schedule specific times for home service. So I set up the "after noon appointment" for Tuesday and the rep agrees to note on the work order that no one will be home until 4 (I compromised a little).

So I get home yesterday around 3:45 and notice the connection is completely gone again. So I sit and wait for the tech to show up. And I wait. And wait. Finally at 5 I am boiling mad and pick up the phone and once again call Comcast (I now have their 800 number on speed dial on my phone). The rep I talk to tells me the tech cam by our house yesterday and no one was home. I ask what time he came by. 1:15. I absolutely exploded on this poor fella. After a minute or two of literally screaming at him I regain my composure, explain to him the history I have with Comcast, and again request that a tech come by some time after 4. He gives me his personal garauntee that the tech will not be at our house today until after 4. We'll see. If not, look for TV, radio, and print ads in a city near you denouncing Comcast and their horrible customer service.

I hate Comcast. Time to look at DSL again.

[/Rant]

[2 Comments]

Per JBF's Request

My apologies for the double post. But, apparently, good ole Johnny Boy wants something a little more contraversial. And so, I oblige.

My NCAA Football pre-season Top 10:

1. Georgia- Everybody knows it, just admit it.
2. Florida- As much as it pains me, yes, they are that good.
3. Oklahoma- Stoops ball will be back in rarified air this year.
4. Auburn- Remember a couple of years ago when Auburn had 3 tailbacks that all went in the first round of the NFL draft? Translate that to their defense this year.
5. USC- Yes. Again.
6. West Virginia- Legitimate? I think they have given a definitive yes to that question.
7. Texas- Waaaay underrated right now.
8. LSU- Yes. Even with issues at QB
9. UT- It looks like everyone will have recovered from Spring and Summer injuries. That's bad news for the rest of the SEC.
10. Kansas- Yep. You heard me. Mizzou showed them how to play in a big game last year. They'll remember that this year and will have an even better ground game.

OVERRATED

Ohio State- My apologies to 626 and others. I just can not put them anywhere in the Top Ten after what has happened each of the past two years. I have real questions about their offense as well.
Clemson- Too weak on defense and I still don't think this Bowden can coach.
Texas Tech- Too many distractions this summer along with no defense. They'll out score most opponents, until they run into another high powered offense that is balanced by a decent defense (@Kansas and @Oklahoma along with Texas at home equals three definite losses).
BYU- I just don't see it. Add in the suspension of their starting fullback and they'll be lucky to rush for 1000 yards as a team.

[3 Comments]

I Don't Care for Halo

If nothing else, I figured that title would get at least a few people's attention. To be honest, that title statement is putting it mildly. I really just don't like that game. I played the original all of maybe 5 times, if that. I truly do not understand the appeal. Well, I do understand it a little. It is an FPS, which I do love. Beyond that, I truly do not understand the installed fan base there. But that really isn' the point of today's blog.

Despite my distaste for that game, the folks at 2old2playhalo are doing a wonderful thing right now. If you don't know anything about their pwnathon, start with this blog and go from there:

http://www.2old2play.com/Blog/Pwnathon2o2p

You should also check out the current auction going on for a personalized key chain here:

http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=45844

I'll be honest that I know next to nothing about PKD or the search for a cure. But when the folks here at this site are doing something like this to help those in need, I am definitely behind it. Even if I think Haloz is teh ghey.

[5 Comments]

Do a Little Something for the Kids

How You Can Make a Difference

When I was in college (meaning when I was younger, stupider, and generally drunk all the time), the group of friends I ran around with had a one-liner we used all the time that we thought was just hilarious. Whenever we were leaving the group or generally just going somewhere and didn't want to mess with telling the others where we were going, or some times to just be a general butt and leave folks hanging as we left a party or something of the sort, we would tell everyone we were "going to do something for the kids". Like I said, we were young, stupid, and usually drunk. It eventually turned into a euphimism for when we were going to the bathroom, and of course led to discussions of how much we just did for the kids or (especially after particularly eventful parties) how we were going to be helping out the kids all day long. Of course it eventually became what we told anyone any time we were asked where we were going and just generally became our standard answer to almost any question, even if it didn't make any sense. Like I said, we thought it was hilarious. And again, I readily admit we were stupid.

Looking back at that, I find my career choice awefully ironic. Once I finally sobered up and got my head on straight, I went into social work, and eventually counseling. I've been out of undergrad for 11 years now. It really is funny that, with a brief 16 month exception of working for the government, I've spent my entire career working with kids.

What is not so funny is what I have seen over those 11 years. What is even worse is how I am no longer surprised at what adults, and especially parents, can do to children. What really gets me is the fact that it still happens. A lot.

So I have dedicated roughly 10 years of my life to helping those kids. I very much realize and understand that not everyone is capable of doing what I do. I even more understand that not many folks have any desire to do what I do. No sugar coating here. It is depressing. Horribly so some times.

But, there are ways to help. Despite the fact that 99% of the people in our society recognize that there are millions of children in our country alone that need help, federal and state funding comes nowhere close to covering the cost of helping these kids. At the agency I run, our budget for the fiscal year that is about to end was just shy of $2,000,000. The kids we work with are all in the custody of the state of Kentucky and we are paid by the state for caring for and working with these children. But, what we have received from the state thus far this year only covers about 85% of our costs. That leaves us with a defecit of roughly $300,000 for this year alone.

So where does that $300,000 come from. Well that is where those of you out there that want to make a difference come in. Last year we received just shy of $300,000 in donations from individuals and churches. With that money, we were able to help 9 kids we would not have been able to help without those donations. With that money, every single kid that was with us had the best Christmas they had ever had (and that is a quote from every one of them). With that money, our kids were able to have a hot meal three times a day (once again something most of them had never experienced). With that money, these kids had a bed to sleep on, someone to watch over them, someone to counsel them, someone to take them to church, someone to pat them on the back and say good job. The little things most of us take for granted that they had never, or rarely, experienced. And you have the opportunity to be a part of that.

So what exactly can you do? Make a donation. Volunteer your time. You don't even have to work directly with the kids, if that scares you (and it very much does scare some people. Help with a project. If you want to help the organization I work for, great! I'm not going to discourage that in any way. Check out our website at www.npfc.net. There is info there on contacting me as well as a way to donate through Paypal. But, I would also encourage you to look locally for a place to support. 91% of our donations come from local individuals and churches. Local support is key for us, and any organization similar to ours. Do a google search, or just ask around. You'd be surprised at the number of agencies near you that are dying off due to lack of support.

So go do a little something for the kids. It is one way you can make a difference.

[1 Comments]

Changing Things Up

Up to this point, I have basically used this blog as a dump for my random ramblings and daily life type stuff. I'm sure some folks have enjoyed it at least a little, but I think it is time to make a change to how I do this.

I truly absolutely am so glad to have discovered this site and community. I love my clan and consider myself blessed to "know" so many of them. So, in some small effort to give back to the site and my clan, I am changing up what I will be putting in my blog from now on. Occasionally I will still put the real life stuff in here, especially when I think it is something that will be uplifting or beneficial to folks here. But, other than that, I am going to begin focusing my blog on things more philanthropic. (I also must admit I was inspired to this by several of you fellow bloggers that run a reoccurring theme in your blogs as I, and others, gain a great deal from this on a regular basis).

From now on I am going to be posting (as often as I can) various charities and efforts I believe need more attention from the public at large, and therefore, each of you. I know this in reality will not fully benefit the actual site in any way. And also, it really won't be of great benefit to each, or any, of you. But, it hopefully will be of great benefit to those that I make note of in here, and (once again hopefully) will be of great benefit to each of you as you are given the opportunity to learn a little more about those less fortunate and those you can do something to help.

Each of us that are members of this site are truly blessed. Granted, we all have our rough patches. Some are worse than others. But, if you own a video game system, have access to the internet, and have the time to keep up with this blog, you are truly blessed. And so, what I am proposing is this: read my blog as I have the time to post. If something touches your heart, reach out to it. I will post all the information I can find and leave the rest up to you. No guilt trips or solicitation. Just a simple "here it is". Most of us are oblivious to the many many things that affect our fellow man on a daily basis. I simply want to use this blog as a means of bringing light to some of those things, if for no other reason than to just make people aware.

And so here it is. My first post of "how you can make a difference".

Many, if not most, of you are aware of the fighting spirit of Megan. But, for those of you not aware, you need to read through this blog: http://www.2old2play.com/Blog/JollyRoger
Or this blog: http://lcwhitlock.com/megan/blog/?page_id=2
I greatly admire JR for his faith and even more so admire young Megan for her fighting spirit. Mitochondrial Disease is a nasty disease. What's worse is the limited treatment available to those that suffer from it. So how can you make a difference? First and foremost, pray. For any and every person fighting this disease. For Megan, JR, and his family. To help those suffering, consider a donation to the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation. You can find more information about the disease and how to help here: http://www.umdf.org/site/c.dnJEKLNqFoG/b.3041929/

[3 Comments]

Vacation Pics

Everybody knows the worst thing about taking a vacation is going back to work. Being gone for better than two weeks has absolutely killed me. I still haven't gotten my clock adjusted and am waking up between 5 and 6 every morning. So, to play catch-up better, I'm just heading on into work. Great for getting caught up. Bad for stress level.

As promised, and requested by others, here are some vacation pics. I apologize for not detailing where and what they are. Most are self-explanatory though. If you just have to know what or where one is, post a comment and I'll reply. Here they are. 45 of the 1200 pics we took.

[4 Comments]

Well I Made It Back

Ahhhhhh home.

Vacations are great. They really are. But you know things are right in your life when you start the journey home and realize you are very much looking forward to getting home and back to the routine of every day life.

Crap there is a lot to report on here from the vacation. We packed a lot of stuff in to two weeks. Most of it was really really great. A little of it sucked major donkey balls, though.

The highlight of the trip was seeing my wife's face when we walked into the Sistene Chapel. I had been there before, but was still once again blown away by the talent of Michealangelo. This was the number one thing my wife wanted to see, and she was not at all disappointed by it. We walked through the door into the chapel and she smiled this huge smile and just stared at the ceiling. And then a small tear rolls down her cheek. It was great. And yes, I am a girly man.

The low light of the trip had to be the beginning of it. And now, for your entertainment, the first story about the trip...

I've mentioned before, we had been planning this trip for close to a year and a half, saving for it for almost a year. That Friday got here and we both woke up earlier raring to go. We loaded up the vehicle and took off for Nashville. We met my parents at an aunt's house and loaded up to head to the airport.

My dad is a veteran on international travel, as am I. Between the two of us we have hit every continent (except Antarctica) and 59 different countries. The number one rule for both of us when taking an international flight? Get there plenty early. 9 times out of 10 something will go wrong and cause a delay. Usually it is something minor and only delays to 10-20 minutes. Other times it is major and if you are not at the airport in plenty of time, you will miss your flight. But this time, it would not have mattered how early we got to the airport.

So anyway, we get there, get all checked in, grab some lunch, clear security, and head down to the gate. Too easy. Hmmmm..... The time comes and the wifey is about to bust. We hop on the plane heading to Atlanta to meet my sis and brother-in-law and then on to Paris. But, something is wrong. Everyone gets on board, the shut the door to the plane, and then we just sit. 20 minutes just sitting there. No news from a flight attendant or anyone. Just sitting. We finally start to move and taxi over to the runway. The captain lets us no we are cleared to take off and he lines us up on the runway. The lights flicker for a second, feel the brakes lock up, and then those big ole turbines start to spool up and... BOOOOOOOOM!!!!

As I've mentioned in a previous blog, I don't cuss. But HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!! I'm on an airplane that is about to head down the runway for take-off and a freaking engine just exploded. You heard me right. The engine blew up.

After 45 minutes of sitting on the runway we are finally towed back to the gate. The captain announces that on O-ring completely blew out in one of the engines and that the plane we were just on is completely inoperable. So we have to wait for a whole nother plane to come in from ATL before we can take off.

Rest of the story cut short... we were scheduled to leave Nashville at 3:30 and then leave ATL at 9:00. We didn't fly out of Nashville until 8:45, and of course missed our flight. Sis and bro-in-law headed on to Paris and we spent the first night of our vacation in a hotel in Atlanta. Not a great way to start a vacation.

All of that was a big ole not good. But at least we weren't in the air when that O-ring blew. That certainly would have been a much bigger not good. Echo, if you happen to read this, that pic you posted in the forum is just a little too ironic.

More stories to come. Pics will follow as well. For now I am trying to play catch up at work and get over the horrendous jet lag. My internal clock is off by 8 hours. The wifey has been in bed by 8 each of the past two nights. We both have been wide awake by 4 each of the last two mornings. It is good to be home, though. Good to reconnect to you folks here.

[2 Comments]