<rss version="2.0">

<channel>
<title>jtgjr007's Blog - 2old2play</title>
<link>http://blog.2old2play.com/jtgjr007</link>
<description>jtgjr007's Blog</description>
<language>en-us</language>
<image>
  <url>http://www.2old2play.com/images/blogrss.php?uid=1196</url>
  <title>jtgjr007's Blog</title>
  <link>http://blog.2old2play.com/jtgjr007</link>
</image>
<item><title>I&amp;#39;m the Coolest Dad in the World...</title><link>http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;b_id=27741&amp;g_num=1196</link><description>&lt;p&gt;My boys and I like to go to the races on Friday night. I have a couple friends that race in the Pure Stock class, so we go and watch most weeks. Early on this season, there was a raffle for a chance to win a motorcycle. A Kawasaki 110 cc dirt bike. My kids begged and begged for a ticket, and my oldest son has wanted a dirt bike since before he could even say dirt bike. So, I gave in and bought a $5 ticket. That was almost 4 months ago.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Saturday night I&amp;#39;m sitting on the couch watching TV and my phone rings, it&amp;#39;s my friend Nick who is out at the races for the final race of the season:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Nick: &amp;quot;Ted did you enter a raffle at the race track?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Me: &amp;quot;Yeah, why?&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Nick: &amp;quot;Well, they&amp;#39;re calling your name as the winner.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Me: &amp;quot;I&amp;#39;ll be there in 20 minutes!&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So, I tell my wife I won a motorcycle and rush out the door. I get to the races to claim my prize, and i realize that I don&amp;#39;t have the ticket stub anymore. My allet got ruined at the lake one day and I threw it away...(See my previous blog about the tornado, my wallet got wet in the mayhem.) I convince them that I am the droid they&amp;#39;re looking for. Anyway, here are some pics...&lt;img src=&quot;http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k212/jtgjr007/NewMotorcycle009.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k212/jtgjr007/NewMotorcycle015.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k212/jtgjr007/NewMotorcycle016.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;amp;b_id=27741&amp;amp;g_num=1196&quot;&gt;[3 Comments]&lt;/a&gt;</description><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;b_id=27741&amp;g_num=1196</guid></item><item><title>Tornados and Sailboats don&amp;#39;t mix...</title><link>http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;b_id=26773&amp;g_num=1196</link><description>&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Sir, were they wearing life jackets?&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;What are their names?&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Where is the last place&amp;nbsp; you actually saw them?&amp;quot; &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The questions were rattled off in machne gun fashion by the Serch and Rescue paramedic. I must have had a dazed look on my face because she grabbed my shoulder and shook me into the moment.&amp;nbsp; These aren&amp;#39;t questions that I should be answering, this stuff only hapens in the movies right? I quickly came to my senses and answered the questions that were asked of me. My mind began to race again, &amp;quot;Where is my wife? Why haven&amp;#39;t they found her? She should have swam in this direction. What am I going to say to my boys if the worst is true?&amp;quot; &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Let me back up...&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;It was a nice sunny afternoon. Labor Day Monday and I had just seen my Mom and neices off as they began their 3 hour drive back home after visiting us for the weekend. About two in the afternoon we decided to go out to the lake and get a little sailing in probably for the last time this summer. Little did we know. We packed everyone up in the Jeep, me my wife Andi, and our two boys Connor and Gavin. The lake was emptying out for the weekend, and we found our usual spot on the beach and were glad to have most of the lake to our selves. My in laws were already their rigging up their little dingy, and my wifes&amp;#39; brother and family pulled in right behind us with their catamaran. The kids all played on the beach while the guys sailed around and took the kids out one at a time for their rides on the boats. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;MY wife loves to sail, and I&amp;#39;m more of a ski-boat guy. Our boat has been in the shop this summer, so I was more than content to let my wife go sailing while I stayed on the beach and played with the kids. My wife and her dad go out in the dingy and about the same time, my brother in law takes his 4 year old out on the cat for a quick ride. I&amp;#39;m relaxing on the beach in my lawn chair, trying to recouperate from playing in the water or the last 30 minutes with my boys. The sky turns dark and my mother in law and sister in law remark that we might &amp;nbsp; be in for a little rain. The wind picks up a little bit and the rain sarts so my sister in law takes her baby to the car, and I tell my boys to start picking up their toys. Within 30 seconds it goes from a little breezy to &amp;quot;What&amp;#39;s that sound?&amp;quot; I look up to see the sky turn green and just then a branch 10-12 inches in diameter falls from a tree and lands just feet from my Jeep. The wind hits like a wall of concrete as I put my kids in the car and chaos erupts all around us. MY brother in law just now reaches the beach and his wife runs down and grabs their youngest son and heads for their car. My kids are crying as the car shakes violently in the wind. As I open my door to go help get the cat on the beach and bring her sails down, I hear my kidspleading with me not to go out there.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I run down the beach to help my brother in law, but the wind is so strong that the riging is all tangled up and the sails won&amp;#39;t come down. He is dong his best to get it untangled and I&amp;#39;m trying to hold the boat steady, but the gusts of wind life us several feet off the ground and the rigging is hopeless. We hold on for a few more minutes, hoping the wind passes. My hands are raw from gripping the cables and the rope. My face and legs are stinging from the wind whipped sand cutting into my flesh. Then I remembered my wife and father in law. Where are they? I look out into the water and see theri boat is capsized and see no sign of them. The visibility is so poor. I yell at Matt, both of us still helplessly clinging to the cat, &amp;quot;We have to let it go! Dad and Andi are still in the water!&amp;quot; On the count of three we both jump to the side jsut as a gust of wind comes, the cat is launched into the air and it tumbles down the beach. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Just then I remember that my kids are in the car alone so I hurry back to them. Thry&amp;#39;re both crying and scared that the car is going to get hit by a tree. Then panic sets in. &amp;quot;Where&amp;#39;s Mom? Is she in another car?&amp;quot; Dad where&amp;#39;s Mommy!?!?&amp;quot; I tell them that she&amp;#39;s going to be fine, but I&amp;#39;m not sure if I believed it myself. I see my brother in law flag down a ski boat and convince them to go out and search for them. I try to calm the kids as I move the Jeep down the beach for a better view and away from the large trees that seem prone to falling over all the sudden. After sever al tense minutes, the boat comes back into view and the guys are jumping out onto the dock. There&amp;#39;s my brother in law, but he&amp;#39;s the last one out of the boat! Where is my wife? Where&amp;#39;s Grandpa? Why would they come back to the dock without them? They&amp;#39;re out there and they need our help! I run over to the dock, the force of the wind almost knocing me down. Matt explains that they didn&amp;#39;t see anything, they must have swam to the shore over on the next point. The owner of the ski-boat panicked in the large waves and gave up on the search.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;He&amp;#39;s still saying something as I run back to the Jeep. They might be giving up on te search but I&amp;#39;m not. I head off the beach and out the parking lot to go around to the other boat dock near where they might have swam for the shore. As I near the main intersection I see a line of cars and campers and trucks. Why are all these people sitting here? &amp;quot;Move!&amp;quot; I shout. &amp;quot;Get out of my way!&amp;quot; I pass the line of cars and make my way up to the main road and I see the problem.&amp;nbsp; A power line is down across the road and we&amp;#39;re stuck. Well, they&amp;#39;re stuck, I&amp;#39;m in a Jeep. I pull into the ditch as close to the broken power pole as possible and there&amp;#39;s just enough room to squeeze through. Bystanders are yelling at me and one guy jumps in front of my Jeep and flags me down. I lay on the horn and almost run the poor guy over (later my kids would tell me that I called the guy an asshole, but I don&amp;#39;t remember that...).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I make my way over to the next road, and into the camp ground and towards the dock where I need to go. I see a dirt trail that goes off in the direction farther down the point. I take the trail thinking that it might get me farther out and closer to where the boat turned over and hopefully to where they would have swam to shore. After a few hundred&amp;nbsp; yards of dodging fallen trees and sink holes, I stop. There&amp;#39;s&amp;nbsp; a huge tree in the road and I can&amp;#39;t go any farther. I tell the kids to stay in the car. While I look for Mom and Grandpa on the beach where they might have swam too. I take off on foot, the wind is much calmer but it&amp;#39;s starting to rain and hail pretty hard. I make my way a few hundred more yards towards the beach and see...nothing. I run up and down the shore as far as I can in one direction and then again the other way. No sign of them. No foot prints. No one swimming or floating in the water waving for help. For the first time I actually fear the worst. My eyes fill with tears and I shout at the top of my lungs, &amp;quot;Andiii ! Andiii ! Where are you? You can&amp;#39;t leave me!!!!!&amp;quot;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The tears come hard and fast as I stand there on the beach with my hands on my knees and head hung low, sobbing. &amp;quot;No...No!...NOO!!!&amp;quot; This can&amp;#39;t be for real. This isn&amp;#39;t happening. Then I hear something. A sound that slaps me in the face and sobers me. Sirens. Geting closer, coming my way. I run back in the direction of my Jeep where my boys are. Then I see a volunteer firefighter running towards me. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Sir, are you o.k.? Are you hurt?&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;No, I&amp;#39;m fine. That&amp;#39;s my car and my kids. My wifes was on a sailboat when the storm hit. I can&amp;#39;t find her. I don&amp;#39;t see her anywhere!&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Sir, were they wearing life jackets?&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;What are their names?&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Where is the last place&amp;nbsp; you actually saw them?&amp;quot; &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I answer their questions and now there are 10 of them combing the beaches calling out for them.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Nothing.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;No response.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Nothing in sight.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I get in the car to comfort the boys. I explain that the rescue workers are here, everything is going to be fine. I&amp;#39;m sure they&amp;#39;ll find Mommy and Grandpa. They&amp;#39;re good swimmers...&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I don&amp;#39;t believer a word I&amp;#39;m telling them. It&amp;#39;s been at least 30 minutes since the storm hit. I&amp;#39;m in shock. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Then the unthinkable happens. My cell phone rings. Three&amp;#39;s no service out here. The phones have never worked at the lake. It&amp;#39;s my sister in laws&amp;#39; number.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;sadfnbljhuihreubg&amp;nbsp; you there? lghblkjbnfgjkn jkblsakjbkljuuioqwrt them. lsduahfuhrgn jfhuqpwureth found them.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The signal isn&amp;#39;t good, but those two words are all that mattered. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;found them&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Found them!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I run over to the ambulance and tell the paramedic that I got a call and I think they found them. &amp;quot;I don&amp;#39;t know how I got a signal, but my sister in law called and I think they found them. They&amp;#39;re at the light house. Do you have any units over there you can call on the radio?&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;No, they don&amp;#39;t. All units are over here, looking for them. The Fire Chief grabs a state trooper and they jump in the squad car and motion for me to follow them. We make our way through the broken limbs and downed trees. Around the fallen power lines and line of traffic. Past some damaged campers and more destruction. The five minute drive seemed to take 2 days. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;We pulled up to the same spot on the beach where the rest of the family was and there was the most beautiful sight I&amp;#39;ve ever seen. Cold, shivering, soaked, wide-eyed from shock, wind blown and purple lips and cheeks wrapped in a blanket was my wife. I ran to her and took her and hugged her tight for eternity. When she finally speaks she says, &amp;quot;Miss me Much?&amp;quot; We both start to laugh and cry, the boys jump out of the car and run over and we all hug.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Everyone was fine. There were no injuries at the lake that day. Lot&amp;#39;s of property damage. A couple of mangled sail boats, but everyone was fine.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;After I left our spot on the beach to go to the other side of the lake, Matt found one more person in a ski-boat. They went back out looking for Scott and Andi. This guys wife just happened to have some binoculars in the car. They went up to a high spot on the shore and spotted my wife and her dad floating in the middle of the lake waving their arms. Then she called her husband on the boat and told them where to go. It&amp;#39;s the only time any of us can remember cell phones working at the lake.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Here are a couple of photos taken after the fact. And a link to a news story about the storm.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.kneb.com/news/index/bdea1740-0c01-4cd1-b3cf-4df3e86c9eae&quot;&gt;www.kneb.com/news/index/bdea1740-0c01-4cd1-b3cf-4df3e86c9eae&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The catamaran.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k212/jtgjr007/n1129253468_30114146_4893.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k212/jtgjr007/n1129253468_30114147_5886.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The branch that narrowly misssed my Jeep.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k212/jtgjr007/n1129253468_30114149_8908.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Misc. damage shots.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k212/jtgjr007/Aug2008020.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k212/jtgjr007/Aug2008022.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k212/jtgjr007/Aug2008021.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;amp;b_id=26773&amp;amp;g_num=1196&quot;&gt;[6 Comments]&lt;/a&gt;</description><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;b_id=26773&amp;g_num=1196</guid></item><item><title>Memorial Day</title><link>http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;b_id=23832&amp;g_num=1196</link><description>Here&amp;#39;s a little snippet of what I&amp;#39;m going to be preaching about this Sunday. If you&amp;#39;re in Western Nebraska on you&amp;#39;re 3 day weekend (why would you be?) feel free to stop in for the full version!&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;note_content clearfix&quot;&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Yeah! A 3 day weekend. That&amp;rsquo;s all most people think about on Memorial Day, that and furniture sales&amp;hellip;&lt;br /&gt;
But Memorial Day is about remembering those who have given their lives to protect our freedoms. As important as that is to remember, it&amp;rsquo;s difficult for me to get too political from the pulpit. I just don&amp;rsquo;t think it&amp;rsquo;s the appropriate place.In Deuteronomy 6, God gives us some things we, as Christians need to remember. All of them designed to impress on our families the importance God has in our lives (go read it for yourself). If we fail to hear God&amp;rsquo;s advice here, we can turn our families away from the Church.&lt;br /&gt;
With that in mind here&amp;rsquo;s my top 10 list.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;THE TOP 10 WAYS TO TURN OFF YOUR KIDS TO CHURCH &lt;br /&gt;
10. Schedule personal or family events to conflict with church services and activities.&lt;br /&gt;
9. Don&amp;rsquo;t get too close to anyone in church. Refrain from developing deep meaningful relationships with other Christians.&lt;br /&gt;
8. Look often at your watch and tap it to see if it&amp;rsquo;s working during church. Then complain bitterly, look annoyed, and freak out when church lasts longer than you think it should.&lt;br /&gt;
7. Tithe and financially support your church and its missions with the same enthusiasm you pay taxes.&lt;br /&gt;
6. Do the best you can to make sure the kids arrive on time to soccer lessons and school events, but don&amp;rsquo;t worry if they miss or are late to church.&lt;br /&gt;
5. Bring your family to church only when a.) you have nothing better to do; b.) you have a personal need; c.) you feel really guilty.&lt;br /&gt;
4. Don&amp;rsquo;t volunteer for anything or make any kind of long term commitment at church.&lt;br /&gt;
3. Change churches every few years.&lt;br /&gt;
2. Remind your kids how imperfect your church leaders are and regularly point out their mistakes.&lt;br /&gt;
1. And whatever you do, don&amp;rsquo;t let church influence the way you live your life.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Have a great weekend!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;JT &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;amp;b_id=23832&amp;amp;g_num=1196&quot;&gt;[6 Comments]&lt;/a&gt;</description><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;b_id=23832&amp;g_num=1196</guid></item><item><title>Happy B-Day!!!</title><link>http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;b_id=23773&amp;g_num=1196</link><description>Well, let me preface this by saying that my son is fascinated by ninjas. He&amp;#39;s been a ninja for the past 4 Halloweens; he&amp;#39;s wanted a ninja themed birthday party since he was old enough to say &amp;quot;ninja&amp;quot;. I suppose his pre-occupation with ninjas, is partially due to the fact that he was born in Japan, but that&amp;#39;s another story. This year for his birthday I asked him what he wanted. Of course he said, &amp;quot;Ninja stuff!&amp;quot; Having enough with the ninja talk (he tells people that he gets up in the middle of the night for ninja practice), I told him I would find some pink &amp;quot;Barbie&amp;quot; ninja weapons. Well, I decided to just wrap his gift in some Barbie paper instead of actually buying Barbies for him, but this was as close as I could get. It worked a little too well, he cried for ten minutes and almost wouldn&amp;#39;t even open the present!&lt;br /&gt;
I&amp;#39;m such a cool Dad...&lt;img src=&quot;http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k212/jtgjr007/May2008094.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;amp;b_id=23773&amp;amp;g_num=1196&quot;&gt;[13 Comments]&lt;/a&gt;</description><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;b_id=23773&amp;g_num=1196</guid></item><item><title>Halo 3 Sucks...</title><link>http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;b_id=18313&amp;g_num=1196</link><description>&lt;p&gt;O.K. not really, but that seems to be the one thing you can&amp;#39;t say around here without causing an uproar. I don&amp;#39;t spend as much time on 2o2p as I used too, maybe it&amp;#39;s because I changed jobs and can&amp;#39;t surf all day, maybe it&amp;#39;s because my H2 clan has been disembowled by WoW and H3 doesn&amp;#39;t have clan support, maybe it&amp;#39;s because Halo 3 hasn&amp;#39;t pulled me in the way H2 did. I don&amp;#39;t know. What I do know is that there seems to be a large amount of....animosity (if that&amp;#39;s the right word) between the hard core H3 players and those of us who aren&amp;#39;t. Any time someone says, &amp;quot;Halo 3 has problems.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;The melee system sucks.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Something&amp;#39;s wrong with the sniper.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;I threw Halo 3 int the trash.&amp;quot; or whatever, it eventualy turn into a heated arguement and the thread gets locked. Now, I know that there&amp;#39;s no place for name calling on the site, but a lot of people are VERY protective about their precious Halo3. Don&amp;#39;t get me wrong, I stood in line to buy the game. I finished it in 2 days. I play MM several times a week. I like the game. But you have to admit that it&amp;#39;s not the be-all end-all of FPS&amp;#39;s. HALO3 has problems people!!!! Don&amp;#39;t take it personally, it&amp;#39;s&amp;nbsp;not a slight against your character if someone doesn&amp;#39;t like the game.&amp;nbsp; I know that this site is&amp;nbsp;full of people who came here because of Halo, I&amp;#39;m one of them. But&amp;nbsp;the attitude of some of the hard-core, elite,&amp;nbsp;competitive players from the site have is just childish. Defending the game is one thing, but when someone has a complaint and the only response is, &amp;quot;Well, you just suck and can&amp;#39;t snipe/melee/???? properly. YOU NOOB.&amp;quot; Then it&amp;#39;s you who needs to remove the stick from the anal cavity. Not the other way around. Halo 3 is not perfect. Sure, some of my issues with the game&amp;nbsp;come down to a matter of taste, but&amp;nbsp;there are some problems. To suggest otherwise and to create divisions in the community because you&amp;#39;d rather call people noobs instead of&amp;nbsp;actually playing with them is contrary to the&amp;nbsp;very reason the site was created in the first place. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;There, I&amp;#39;ve said my piece. Flame away.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;amp;b_id=18313&amp;amp;g_num=1196&quot;&gt;[5 Comments]&lt;/a&gt;</description><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;b_id=18313&amp;g_num=1196</guid></item><item><title>Hit and Run.</title><link>http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;b_id=10710&amp;g_num=1196</link><description>&lt;p&gt;Well, Life sure has a funny way of going about things. They usually say that bad things happen in threes, so I should have been expecting this...&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;1. Last Sunday, me and the fam get ready to go to church. We get out to the car and lo and behold we got egged the night before. Not a big deal in its own right, but i had left the windows down since it was nice on Saturday so the inside of the car is covered in a six eg omelette. We had to put soem towels on the seats s owe could even get to chuech, then it took us four hours to clean the inside of the car on sunday afternoon. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;2. As we aregetting rady for bed on Sunday night, I go downstairs to check on a load of laundry we started earlier. Lo and behold our basement is now a wading pool for the kids! There is literally an inch of water on the floor. We trace the leal to an underground sprinkler line and get it shut off and stay up unti lthe wee hours of the morning making friends with a shop vac and a mop.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Just when you think it&amp;#39;s safe to go about your normal life again, we made the mistake of saying, &amp;quot;What else could go wrong?&amp;quot;. I strongly advise you to NEVER ASK THIS QUESTION!!!!.&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;Which brings me to ....&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;3. Wednesday night we put the kids to bed and my wife and I are on the couch enjoying an episode of NCIS that we Tivoed earlier. We are atartled by a large crash outside the house and we jump up and run outside (barefoot). A F150 rearended my Mustang which rearended my wifes Jeep and both cars are about 15 feet ahead of where I had left them, and the Mustang is now in my front lawn. As the truck backs up off the rear of my car, I&amp;#39;m standing there waiting for the driver to get out of the car. And&amp;nbsp; he&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; drives&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; off!!!&amp;nbsp; As he starts to pull away my wife is calling 911 and I&amp;#39;m running down the street pounding on the side of this truck (barefoot) yelling obscenities at the driver. Wel, the truck is gone, the cops show up and fill out a report, and so far they haven&amp;#39;t caught the guy.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;We have full coverage on my wifes Jeep so it&amp;#39;s in the shop getting fixed now.&amp;nbsp; The Mustang only has liability since it&amp;#39;s an &amp;#39;88. So as you can see, unless they catch the guy responsible, I&amp;#39;m S.O.L.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;&quot; src=&quot;http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k212/jtgjr007/Mustang/2007_0504Mustang0022.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;&quot; src=&quot;http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k212/jtgjr007/Mustang/2007_0504Mustang0019.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;&quot; src=&quot;http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k212/jtgjr007/Mustang/2007_0504Mustang0018.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;amp;b_id=10710&amp;amp;g_num=1196&quot;&gt;[6 Comments]&lt;/a&gt;</description><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;b_id=10710&amp;g_num=1196</guid></item><item><title>That&amp;#39;s the last straw!</title><link>http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;b_id=9614&amp;g_num=1196</link><description>Well, not really, but things are begining to test my patience. My wife left this morning to go to Mexico for a  week. She is taking 30 high-school kids on a mission trip to Chihuahua Mexico to do some work at an oprphanage. This is the 3rd year she has gone on this trip and she really enjoys going, but it means that me and the boys are all on our own for 10 days; between soccer and work and school I&amp;#39;ll be pretty busy. 

I was kind of looking forward to getting some extra game time in this week, but...wait for it... the XBOX decided to take a trip down the crapper. It won&amp;#39;t read any disc I put in. I blew some Dust Off through it, same thing. I took it apart and cleaned the lens with e Q tip and....nothing, it won&amp;#39;t even read a brand new disc. I think it&amp;#39;s toast.

I was planning on getting as 360 soon, and with the announcementof the Elite this is all the incentive I need.  Now i just have to wait a month or so until I can get my hands on one.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;amp;b_id=9614&amp;amp;g_num=1196&quot;&gt;[1 Comments]&lt;/a&gt;</description><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;b_id=9614&amp;g_num=1196</guid></item><item><title>The ongoing saga...</title><link>http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;b_id=6372&amp;g_num=1196</link><description>&lt;p&gt;Well, I hope that everyone had a great Christmas and New Year. Our family had a good time even though we had t ocancel our trip to se my mom because of the blizard that hit the midwest last week. The kids were dissappointed that they didn&amp;#39;t get to see grandma for Christmas but we&amp;#39;ll take a trip sometime next month.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#39;m still getiing used to my new job, working at Target isn&amp;#39;t what I thought I&amp;#39;d be doing at the age of 35, but in all honesty, I haven&amp;#39;t slept better in years. I never knew how much stress my old job was causing. The money isn&amp;#39;t what it used to be, but I actually like going to work now! On a related note, I got promoted (not hard to do when most of my co-workers are high school and college age flunkies)! Starting monday I&amp;#39;m going to be in charge of the Electronics and Entertainment (music movies and books) and most importantly video games! I&amp;#39;m looking forward to it, and the normal schedule that will accompany the new position. No more going to work at 4:00 am, which means that I can stay up past 8:00 now and hopefully get some Halo time in. I hope my felow geezers don&amp;#39;t have a heart attavk when I actually show up on line!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;amp;b_id=6372&amp;amp;g_num=1196&quot;&gt;[1 Comments]&lt;/a&gt;</description><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;b_id=6372&amp;g_num=1196</guid></item><item><title>Not all bad.</title><link>http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;b_id=5490&amp;g_num=1196</link><description>&lt;p&gt;Well, alot of interesting things have been happening in my life recently. Most notably was the loss of my job and having to find someplace else to work rather suddenly. So, I&amp;#39;ve been at my new job at Target for about a month now, and it&amp;#39;s not actually that bad. Sure, I don&amp;#39;t make near the amount of money I used to, but the bills are still getiing paid, so it&amp;#39;s all good. Ienjoy the people I work with, and the job is actually fun. Is that what happens over time? The more you make in a job, the less fun it is?&amp;nbsp; Several people (friends and family alike) have commented on how much happier I seem since I&amp;#39;ve switched jobs. I guess Iv&amp;#39;e noticed it too.&amp;nbsp; I have more time to spend with my kids since I&amp;#39;m home in the afternoons to pick them up from school and I really&amp;nbsp;enjoy having &amp;quot;play&amp;quot; time with them instead of the usual eat dinner go to bed routine that my other job afforded me. What does the future hold? I don&amp;#39;t know, but i&amp;#39;ve got a few ideas and it definately helped open my eyes to some new possibilities now that I&amp;#39;m not locked into any particular job just for the money.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Sometimes, the most profound lessons can be learned from kids. The other evening as we sat down for dinner, my 6 year old wanted to say the blessing. It went something along the lines of, &amp;quot;...thank you God for my Mom, Dad and little brother. Thanks for the food, thank you for the XBOX and Lego Star Wars and thanks for all our needs. Amen&amp;quot;. I know that he meant to say &amp;quot;thanks for meeting all of our needs&amp;quot;, but it got me thinking. Am I thankful for my needs? If I didn&amp;#39;t need anything then I wouldn&amp;#39;t have&amp;nbsp; to rely on God for providing for me. If life was always a field of daisys, then would I ever be thankful for what I had? Do the tough times in life make me thankful for God&amp;#39;s grace and provision, or do they make me resentful?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The book of James tells us, &amp;quot;Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.&amp;quot; At first glance this advice seems ridiculous, be happy when things go bad? But in the long run, that&amp;#39;s what&amp;nbsp;we need to do because it is a chance for us to rely on&amp;nbsp;God to provide for us, and it;s a chance for us to becoem mature and complete. I don&amp;#39;t know about you, but I don&amp;#39;t want to be immature and incomplete.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Thanks God, for all my needs. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;amp;b_id=5490&amp;amp;g_num=1196&quot;&gt;[2 Comments]&lt;/a&gt;</description><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;b_id=5490&amp;g_num=1196</guid></item><item><title>Battle of the Cliches&amp;#39;.</title><link>http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;b_id=4987&amp;g_num=1196</link><description>&lt;p&gt;For my current situation, many cliches can be used fairly accurately. &amp;quot;What comes around goes around.&amp;quot;&amp;nbsp; &amp;quot;A roling stone gathers no moss.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;What goes up must come down.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Don&amp;#39;t bite the hand that feeds you.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;&amp;quot;Why ask why?&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Let me explain a little. About two years ago my wife got a dream job offer. We were living in my hometown, just bought a house 2 years prior and I had a job that I loved.&amp;nbsp; I worked at a blood bank in charge of the Hospital Services department. I was good at the ajob and it gave me a sense of satisfaction knowing that I was helping to provide a valuable service to the community. This dream job that my wife was offered would require us to move.&amp;nbsp;All in all, I knew it was the best thing for the family despite al the things that were going well for us in our curent situation, so I somewhat reluctantly&amp;nbsp;agreed that she should take the job. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;We moved about 200 miles away and my wife loves her job still. For several reasons, I wasn&amp;#39;t able to get hired at the hospital in this town and I ended up taking a job at a local factory that made hydraulic couplings. I worked in the office with the enginering department doing inventory management and production control. It was a boring job for a crooked company that offered no sense of&amp;nbsp; satisfaction. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;3 weeks ago &amp;nbsp;I was let go from that job (it was a long time in the works ).&amp;nbsp; I looked and looked for some other good job, but every interview I had I felt like I had the scarlett letter &amp;quot;T&amp;quot;&amp;nbsp;painted on my forhead since I was terminated from my last job.&amp;nbsp; I needed a job quick since the bills were piling up, and the first place that offered me a job was...Target. TARGET???!!&amp;nbsp; I&amp;#39;m working at friggin Target! I can&amp;#39;t believe this. I&amp;#39;m 35 and college educated and I&amp;#39;m working at Target for 8 frickin dollars an hour.!!! Oh how that mighty have fallen. Well, there&amp;#39;s another cliche&amp;#39; that works too. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I guess there is a bright side to all of this...discontentment.&amp;nbsp;Being discontent is probably a good thing. It makes us think and forces us to take a &amp;quot;personal inventory&amp;quot; and my Counselor friend would say. Through this discontentment Ihave decided to make a few changes. I am going to start my own business and I&amp;#39;m working on setting goals in order to make that happen. I have been thinking about doing this for quite some time, but never realy had the proper motivation until now.&amp;nbsp;So, I guess that every cloud does have a silver lining.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Oh look, another cliche&amp;#39;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;amp;b_id=4987&amp;amp;g_num=1196&quot;&gt;[3 Comments]&lt;/a&gt;</description><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;b_id=4987&amp;g_num=1196</guid></item><item><title>Where in the world is JT?</title><link>http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;b_id=4462&amp;g_num=1196</link><description>&lt;p&gt;Well, this past week sure has been interesting. If you call loosing your job and falling into a fit of depression interesting.&amp;nbsp; I was let go from my job last Thursday without warning. I&amp;#39;ll spare you the details except to say that it was a litle unfair and they were trying to make set an example. I never really liked that job, but I could have probably fought to keep it. In the end, though&amp;nbsp;I&amp;#39;m better off. So the task at hand this week has been to find a new job. I hate job hunting. This is the first time I&amp;#39;ve ever been &amp;quot;let go&amp;quot; from a job, and I feel like I have a big scarlett letter on my forehead. I&amp;#39;ve had a few interviews, and two jobs look promising, so let&amp;#39;s just hope that something happens soon. I need the money.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;amp;b_id=4462&amp;amp;g_num=1196&quot;&gt;[6 Comments]&lt;/a&gt;</description><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;b_id=4462&amp;g_num=1196</guid></item><item><title>My wife is more popular than I am.</title><link>http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;b_id=3822&amp;g_num=1196</link><description>MY wife as the director of admissions for a small Christian college. On Wednesday, she had a speaking engagement for a local business club. Evidently she has a really clever speech that she gives about leadership and education. In this speech she makes fun of me for being a sci-fi geek. I&amp;#39;ve never heard the speech, but it was so popular with the crowd at the luncheon, that it made the front page of our newspaper! Needless to say, her boss is very happy for the publicity. I think my wife is awesome and I&amp;#39;m glad that she has a job she loves and excells at. I&amp;#39;m a little torn because her popularity is at my expense though! The article is not up on theh papers&amp;#39; web page so I can&amp;#39;t post a link, but I&amp;#39;m proud of her nontheless.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;amp;b_id=3822&amp;amp;g_num=1196&quot;&gt;[4 Comments]&lt;/a&gt;</description><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;b_id=3822&amp;g_num=1196</guid></item><item><title>Invasion of the Mountain Lions!</title><link>http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;b_id=3722&amp;g_num=1196</link><description>A mountain lion was killed Monday justa few feet from my son&amp;#39;s preschool. Makes you think&amp;nbsp; a little.&lt;br /&gt;Here&amp;#39;s the story. http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Forums&amp;amp;file=viewtopic&amp;amp;t=20489&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;amp;b_id=3722&amp;amp;g_num=1196&quot;&gt;[0 Comments]&lt;/a&gt;</description><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;b_id=3722&amp;g_num=1196</guid></item><item><title>I&amp;#39;ve Created a Monster</title><link>http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;b_id=3616&amp;g_num=1196</link><description>Friday night we went to Target to buy the movie, &amp;quot;Over the Hedge.&amp;quot; My son said that the TV told him it was on DVD now. Well, the release date actually turns out to be Oct. 17th. That&amp;#39;s what I get for listening to a 6 year old. Not wanting to waste a trip to the store, we start looking through the games section and my wife points out &amp;quot;Lego Star Wars&amp;quot; in the clearance rack. I&amp;#39;ve been thinking of getting this for the boys, and since some of the guys on the site said it was great for kids, I thought it would make a good Christmas gift. Well my wife really wanted to get it, which is odd, so we did. We helped the kids play it for a while until bed time and they had a blast. Then my wife and I played it for 3 hours. She&amp;#39;s a maniac. She has some strange obsession with collecting every singe kit piece and getting all the money we can. I&amp;#39;ve started calling her &amp;quot;Mr. Crabs&amp;quot; for her newfound money gathering abilities. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Over the course of the weekend we&amp;#39;ve played that game for at least 15 hours. I still have 3 movies from Netflix I havent watched. Worst of all, she made me bring the XBOX upstairs to the &amp;quot;good&amp;quot; TV. (She never liked that idea when I suggetsed it for playing Halo.) I don&amp;#39;t have internet at that TV, so I haven&amp;#39;t been on LIVE for 4 days now!&amp;nbsp; It looks like I have some wiring to do tonight if the whole family is going to be happy. She&amp;#39;s even talking about his and hers 360&amp;#39;s since we won&amp;#39;t be able to share!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;amp;b_id=3616&amp;amp;g_num=1196&quot;&gt;[4 Comments]&lt;/a&gt;</description><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;b_id=3616&amp;g_num=1196</guid></item><item><title>Story Time With Uncle Ted</title><link>http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;b_id=3549&amp;g_num=1196</link><description>My office is usually pretty quiet on Fridays. I have a desk in the engineering office, it&amp;#39;s right on the shop floor, so right outside my door are loud lathes and mills and forkliftfs and stuff. Most of the operators work 12 hour shifts during the week and they all leave by noon on Friday. Some of the engineers work the same kind of schedule, so it&amp;#39;s lound in here most days with all the operators coming in to ask questions of the engineers, the line inspectors coming in to talk to the Quality manager (next desk over from me) and various department heads coming in to talk to me about whatever. So, I look forward to Fridays when it&amp;#39;s a little more quiet.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Lately though, it hasn&amp;#39;t been so quiet on Fridays. Down at te other end of the office, 30 feet away from me is this engineer. He&amp;#39;s a loud, boisterous, know it all, pompous, 500 lb (serious), chip on his shoulder, jerk that likes the sound of his own voice. Which is LOUD.&amp;nbsp; He likes to BS with everyone, but lately I think he&amp;#39;s getting lonely on Fridays. This guy also happens to have the same first name as me. So now I&amp;#39;m known as &amp;quot;Little Ted&amp;quot; (for obvious reasons). Great.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;For the past few Fridays, he has been especially loud and obnoxious. The operators have started going to other people with their questions because&amp;nbsp; they&amp;#39;ll have to sit through some 15 minutes or so of BS about his days in the navy, or going to the strip club last weekend or whatever. And he tells his stories at full volume with lots of laughter, lots of BS and stuff that you know isn&amp;#39;t true. For example he only shaved one side of his face for a week and tried to convince everyone that it&amp;#39;s because he was bi-polar.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Um...yeah.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Anyway, the other Ted is gone today so I can enjoy the rest of my day. Yeah! But I&amp;#39;m leaving at noon. Oh well, can&amp;#39;t win &amp;#39;em all.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;amp;b_id=3549&amp;amp;g_num=1196&quot;&gt;[0 Comments]&lt;/a&gt;</description><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Gamers&amp;ws=ws_comments&amp;b_id=3549&amp;g_num=1196</guid></item></channel></rss>