Work Integrity

Ever watch the HBO series "The Newsroom"? I just started watching season 1. I know that I am a year behind, but I don't care. I like watching a show when I can view episodes in rapid fashion. No waiting a week for the next episode. Just click on the next one in HBO On Demand and no waiting.

I mention this show because I love how truthful each character is with each other. Sure it is a TV show and people don't talk like that in real life. I feel that is a shame. One thing I appreciate about a person is knowing where I stand with them. I have had only one supervisor in my career in which I knew exactly where I stood with him. No wondering if I was doing a good job. He would tell you. Good or bad he let me know, and I loved it.

I have worked in many team settings in which the truth was rarely told. Sure someone was told the truth about their abilities if it was good news or bad news on an easy target (low on the totem pole), but never if it will be uncomfortable for both parties. So, what ends up happening is poor performers that are not easy targets go on not knowing that they are not living up to standard and many times promoted.

Who suffers? Mostly the high performer who is really low on the totem pole. High performers who are not seen as promotable often carry the team. At least in my experience. I have witnessed time after time someone get a promotion because the team performed well and that person is either good at selling themselves or has the right credentials. Many times the promoted person was the dead weight the team had to carry and still go a good job, but gets all the credit because no one shared the truth of the situation.

I would love to work for a company in which honesty and integrity were not buzz words, but actual values. A place in which an honest exchange does not end up with hurt feelings and a trip to HR. The only place I have seen this happen has been on sports teams I was a member. If my performance was not good enough to be a starter, I rode the bench. I didn't whine and complain to the equivalent of amateur sports HR - my parents. Instead I worked to improve my technique or conditioning or whatever shortcoming I was told I had in hopes of improving enough to get on the field.

Why can't working in an office be the same? "Sorry, Jimmy you don't get a raise because you cannot perform tasks a and b that are critical to your job." Then Jimmy goes and works on tasks a and b to get better at them and improve his skill set. Instead we hide behind a 1 to 5 rating system and give a 2 or 3 in hopes Jimmy gets the picture. It doesn't matter anyway because corporate is giving everyone the same raise dictated by budget constraints. Boy I bet Jimmy really learned his lesson.

Maybe you view this post as someone just bitching. Maybe you are right, but think about it. How many times have you seen someone getting ahead and you know in your heart that they are below average and maybe even terrible at their job? Don't you wish someone was honest with someone up the ladder and the truth was well received? Instead the company will unknowingly suffer from the poor performance. Employees become disenfranchised, moral lowers and productivity falls. That seems so much better that facing the truth. Right?

You Can Go Back Home

I just returned from visiting my parents. They live in Yuma, Colorado. They moved back to Yuma three years ago after a 26 year stint in Salt Lake City, Utah. Yuma is the town I spent most of my school years. I was there fifth grade to high school graduation.

When I graduated high school, I could not wait to get away from that town. I disliked the town and most of the people I went to school with. I could not tell you why, but I did.

I did not visit Yuma until my parents moved back. I would travel about anywhere to see my parents. So, going to Yuma was a small price to pay to see them.

With an accidental step into Facebook, I started to hear from former classmates. At first I just accepted the friend request and continued to ignore Facebook. Until Xbox Live added Facebook functionality. I, on a whim, posted on Facebook from my Xbox mentioning my skill to do it. Immediately a classmate I haven't seen for years asked for my Xbox screen name so we could game together. I complied. We still play first person shooters together and I look forward to the times we get to do that.

Last year just before my Thanksgiving trip to see my parents I mentioned that I would be going to Yuma to my Xbox friend. He said he would also be back to Yuma at that time and we should hang out in person, without a controller in hand. I agreed and we exchanged cell numbers. Another classmate that I have kept in contact with over the years without the help of the internet was also going to be home for the holiday. So, he agreed to meet us and we would have a mini class reunion.

The Friday after Thanksgiving we decided to meet at the local watering hole and catch up. My Xbox classmate invited a couple of other classmates to join us and our numbers grew to five. The two new invites were women that I hardly knew in high school. The fact they remembered me and I them was surprising. We chatted and had a good time that night and I started to feel more of a kinship to my classmates. Probably more than I did during our school days.

Flash forward to last week and I find myself back in Yuma. As usual we spent a lot of time driving to bigger towns for some entertainment. We always do this as Yuma does not have much to offer. On one of the days we were in town we attended a flea market organized by the local credit union. While browsing the tables I ran into a classmate's mother. We had a good conversation. Again, I had another positive moment in Yuma.

While we were talking my mom found one of my classmates that worked at the bank and brought her over. We hadn't seen each other in years. I thought it would be a little awkward since she was my prom date in high school, but it was not. It was actually nice to see her and catch up a little. I think my mom enjoyed this part. She still has our prom photo hanging on the wall in her house. I guess she thought we would end up together. Well, that is not going to happen, but I did start to realize that Yuma and Yuma-ites are not the assholes I remember. Maybe it was me and they were fine. That is probably the more likely scenario, but it feels better to blame them.

Anyway what I am trying to say is that after a year or so of reacquainting myself with the town and the people I spent so much of my past with, I find I do not dislike it anymore. In fact, I look forward to my next visit this Thanksgiving. I guess I can go back home.

UFO Sighting

I have always been fascinated by the paranormal fields. I watch every show about UFOs, bigfoot, ghosts, Bermuda Triangle, etc. I am not sure I could be called a true believer. I have more of a curiosity of the people who have the encounters. My belief was that if you believed hard enough you can see what ever you want in a photo or video or in distant lights in the sky. I, also, believe that a smaller percentage of the encounters just cannot be explained conventionally. Maybe one day we will be able to explain, but for right now we cannot.

I thought that I would never see anything like a UFO or bigfoot in my life. I thought it would be cool if I did, but did not expect it. This brings me to my encounter.

Saturday, June 9, 2012 approximately 10:00 pm.

My wife, her mother, and myself had just spent the day at an event called Symphony in the Flint Hills, and were driving back to Kansas City. We were headed north on I-335 and was just about to the Topeka city limits when I noticed about 7 goldish/yellow lights in a hap hazard formation. I pointed them out to my wife and remarked at how weird those lights seemed. She agreed and we kept an eye on them.

The lights seemed to be about 30 degrees up from the horizon in a cluster of varying altitude. At first I thought it might be a series of radio tower lights, but these were not red. The lights seemed to be more or less hovering. Eventually the lights moved into a horizontal line without seemly changing altitude. I have included a sketch to further illustrate.

My first reaction was to try and explain it away. I thought that it might be night sky divers from Ft. Riley, but the objects did not seemed to be falling. They seem to hover. Though I cannot be 100% sure as I was driving on an interstate highway. So, I am just going to say this is unexplained. Maybe someone who lives in the area has an ordinary explanation for what I saw. 

A day in the life

Monday Recap:

-Got out of bed. This was no small feat I promise.
-had a healthy breakfast. Oh God why can't donuts be healthy?!
-watched Wil Wheaton's new show Tabletop on Youtube. Excellent stuff.
-work (yawn)
-went to Weight Watchers and weighed in. Another 0.8 pounds gone. I wonder where they go.
-had a healthy lunch. Oh God why can't french fries be healthy?!
-more work (more yawns)
-received the game I got in a trade.
-received my check for the money I earned in a bowling tournament. I'm a professional bowler, now.
-worked out for about an hour at the gym. If I keep this up, I'm going to name my arms pythons. Yeah, brother!
-had a healthy dinner. Oh God....nevermind.
-mowed the lawn. Not a euphemism. Sadly.
-killed a jumping spider.
-had an online discussion about the jumping spider and its high AC. (DnD reference, sorry)
-tried to read, but was too restless
-played Modern Warfare 3 until 1 a.m. What? No. I'm not 12.

Distracted

I don't get to spend as much time alone as I would like. Don't get me wrong. I love my wife and cats and friends, but I have always required alone time. Time to recharge. Time to think. Time to reflect.

Recently my Friday lunch hours have become my alone time. Last Friday I went to Half Price Books, browsed and purchased a couple of Legend of Drizzt paperbacks. Since I was close to a Bo Lings Chinese restaurant, I decided to grab some food.

Sitting alone and not talking to anyone I was able to get some much needed brain time. Ideas started flooding in. It was nice. I tried to read one of the paperbacks I just purchased, but new ideas kept me from concentrating on the words I was trying to read. I kept settling on the idea that was generating about a table top RPG (roll playing game.) After some serious thinking and eating (Bo Lings makes the best General Tao's chicken in the city) it was time to head back to the office.

On my way home it started to sink in that I don't get a lot of time to think like this. My world is full of many distractions. Most self imposed, but they are distractions none the less. Usually my alone time is filled with Modern Warfare 3 on the Xbox or surfing the web or tv channels. All those things I consider distractions from using my brain.

I realized that the hour and a half that I was away I had done more real thinking than I probably do in a week. I'm talking personal type of thinking. Work thinking does not count in this example. I came up with ideas for a book and an RPG. Just in 90 minutes. Just think what I could do if I did this for larger chunks of time each week.

So, on my drive back to the home-office I realized I'm too distracted. If I'm not playing a video game or watching tv, I'm probably on twitter (computer or phone) or some other mindless activity. I decided that I was going to take back my brain time. I needed to get back to some creative thinking while recharging my batteries. I used to spend hours drawing, reading, working statistics (don't judge), and other quiet and creative activities. I'm going to try to get those moments going again. If anything it will feel good to be creative again. Wish me luck.

Podcast

Some of the characters spotted at GenCon

Back in August I attended GenCon 2011. I planned on creating a blog post about it, but never managed to get one made. I have plenty of photos show and stories to tell about GenCon, but too much time has gone by that I feel I've missed that bus, but this post does have a GenCon connection. That is why it is mentioned here.

This was my first trip to GenCon. It was me and two of my friends that made the drive together to Indianapolis. One of my friends is a veteran of GenCon and had connections to get us hotel rooms. The only catch was that we would be rooming with people we had never met. I worried that we would get the socially awkward gamer that only leaves mom's basement to attend GenCon. There were plenty of those people there, but luckily none of them were our roommates.

Our roommates happened to be a quartet of guys from the Ottawa, Canada area. Three of them you could tell right of way were firm friends. The fourth was well liked, but always did his own thing. In getting to know our new friends we found out they do a gaming podcast called The Accidental Survivors.

After many conversations about RPG's such as Warhammer and Dungeons and Dragons, we were asked to participate in their podcast. At first it sounded like it would just be to interview us about GenCon. It ended up being that we participated in an actual podcast. The actual podcast can be found here.

I had a great time recording the podcast over Skype with the Accidental Survivors. At the end we were asked if we would like to continue on with the podcast. It was so much fun how could I turn that down.

So far, the podcast has dealt mostly with role playing games such as the aforementioned Warhammer and Dungeons and Dragons. I am more of a board game guy and I know little about role playing games. Fortunately there is talk about adding board games to the list. That would be great.

The second podcast I have participated in was recorded last week and was posted last night. You can find it here. We interviewed Howard Andrew Jones. Howard is an author and an editor at Black Gate. Howard gives some good advice for writers trying to get published. I hope you give it a listen.

Doing this podcast has been a lot of fun and I hope it continues for a long time.

It Has Become a Sickness

A few years back some friends introduced me to the board game Battlestar Galactica. We play it a few times and had a great time. The humans lost most of the time, but we still had fun anyway. I so much fun that I was always ready at a moments notice to play again.

Then Queentuffy and I decided to host some game nights at our house. We had a few games lying around like Apples to Apples and some trivia games. The game nights were huge successes and I started adding to our collection.

I recently found a game group that meets every two weeks and started playing board games with them. They have introduced me to games I had never heard of, but after playing I had to own. Plus I'm always on the prowl to find a game to introduce them to. Which is not easy as these guys are serious gamers and have extensive collections.

I have also been going to thrift shops and garage sales hoping to score the rare find of a good condition game that I want to play. I've picked up a few games going this route.

The bottom line is that in a few short years I have gone from a few household standard games to a pretty big collection. I know it is small in comparison to serious gamers, but I am proud of the collection I have grown.

I didn't know how many I had until I was adding it to Board Game Geek website. I have 54 games as of this writing. You can see my collection here. The problem is I still have a wishlist a mile long. I guess it is good to have goals.

Gen Con

Last year I made a promise to myself that I will attend one of the big geek conferences. I chose to go to Gen Con this year. It is from August 4th to the 7th in Indianapolis. I am pumped. I love to play board games and Gen Con is a board gamers wet dream. I have purchased my four day pass and I'm ready to go.

Lucky for me I will be attending with a veteran of the Con. There will be a trio of us driving from KC. The veteran and two noobs. I plan on being overwhelmed by all there is to see and do. I plan on being sleep deprived, but very happy. I plan on spending too much money and taking a lot of pictures. I will post them here when we return.

This will be my first con of any type. I'm sure there will be things I wish I did or didn't do, but that goes with the territory. My goal is to have a great time and leave the real world behind if only for 4 days.

Tornado

Every Wednesday I have lunch with the guys that I used to work with at my old company. We meet at Buffalo Wild Wings (BWW) around 11:30 am and catch up on the latest. I am usually the last one to show because of my lack luster time management skills. I work from home so there is usually something that has my attention and keeps me from leaving in a timely matter.

This last Wednesday I was ahead of schedule. I managed to get my act together and headed out to meet the guys earlier than usual. It was gray and drizzly when I left the house. Most of the time I don't have the radio on in my car because the commercials make me stabby. This last Wednesday was no exception. I drove to BWW in silence completely unaware of anything going on beyond my field of vision.

The closer I got to BWW the harder it rained. I pulled into the parking lot in a heavy down pour. So, I decided to wait this one out high and dry in my car. I hadn't been there more than a minute when the manager of BWW opened the door and whistled at me to get my attention. When I rolled down the window he yelled, "get inside there is a tornado in the area!" So, I scrambled out of the car, ran in the pouring rain, and joined other wide eyed patrons watching tornado coverage on the big screens.

At the time the tornado coverage was mostly hard to hear reports on cell phones and video of a wall cloud less than a mile from my location. The most unsettling aspect of the coverage was the fact that the wall cloud and pending doom it represents was heading north towards my house.

My first thought was to get home and get the cats into the basement. I knew that driving into the path of a possible tornado was not a good idea. I was stuck watching radar and helicopter video hoping a tornado doesn't wipe out parts of the city. Especially the part that my house sits in. I tried to call Queentuffy, but I had no cell service. She couldn't reach me and I couldn't reach her. As far as she knew I was at the house.

After twenty minutes of watching weather coverage with butterflies in my stomach, we got the all clear and I headed home. Since there wasn't any report of a tornado touchdown or any structural damage, I expected to get home and find everything still standing.

The closer I got to home the clearer the skies became. By the time I pulled onto our street the sun was shining. There wasn't any branches or leaves on the ground that would signal strong winds. The empty trash can was still upright and by the curb waiting for me drag it back into the garage. Everything was as I left it. Whew!

After the terrible tragedy in Joplin, I was a little more on edge about the weather. Thankfully we were spared this time around. The whole episode has taught me to at least have the radio on in the car when driving in inclement weather or get a weather radio. Either way I don't want to be stuck in a BWW watching helplessly, again.

Self Esteem

It is funny/sad how an incident from your childhood can still effect you today. I was always one of the bigger kids at my school. You think that fact would have kept me from being teased, but that was not the case. I was teased so much in school that the mere mention of one the perpetrators names can cause me to slip into a mild depression.

Thanks to Facebook I have come across the ghosts of my past. Those little fuckers that caused me so much pain. Seeing their adult faces does not ease the pain. In fact it had me reliving some painful moments. Here is an example.

I was and continue to be a big guy. You know the kid who had to where husky sized jeans. Even though I was the husky kid I was really good at sports. Way above average in the little town I grew up in.

When I was a freshman in high school, I noticed a lot of the popular jocks had t-shirts on that said "200 pound club" or "250 pound club." I asked my football coach what that was about. He told me that you had to bench press that amount of weight three times in his presence to earn the shirt. I thought this might be a great way to accomplish something I could be proud of and have a shirt to prove it.

At the time I was lucky if I could bench press 100 pounds three times. So, I had some work to do. Being on the football team and the track team gave me ample opportunities to hit the weight room. Also, during the summer the weight room would be open three nights a week as long as there was a teacher to supervise.

I hit the weights hard. I was there at every opportunity. I was there so much that the teachers would ask me if I was going to be there so they new if they had to or not. I lifted before school and after practice. During the summer I was there 3 nights a week, every week.

I made it past the 200 and 250 pound club my sophomore year, but I didn't test out because I wanted to achieve what no one else at my school had done - 300 pounds. I figured that would something I can strut around school about. No one could take that from me.

My junior year I fractured my elbow during a football game. That set me back the entire year. It took six months before I could lift without pain. It took another three months to get back to where I left off.

A few months into my Senior year I was ready to see if I could qualify for the 300 pound club. I met my defensive coach (we called him Chief) and another teacher (I can't remember her name) as a witness after school. After the warm up, I lifted 300 pounds three times with relative ease. My coach pushed me into trying a higher weight. In the end I lifted 350 pounds three times. Chief was great. He told me how he appreciated my hard work and that no one in the history of the weight club at our school had earned the 350 shirt.

Of course I was beaming. I was walking on cloud nine. It took a week to get my shirt. When I did I could not wait to wear it to school. The next morning I wore with pride my hard earned trophy. I could not have been any more proud to wear a t-shirt in my life. Unfortunately the first people I come across at school were my tormentors.

After seeing the shirt, they made jokes that the shirt stood for how much I weighed. They proceeded to tease me at high volumes. By lunch time I had withstood a barrage of fat jokes. It was too much for me (remember I have no self esteem.) I drove home at lunch and changed shirts. I threw my newly acquired prize in the trash. Something that took me three years of hard work to earn was rendered a complete failure in ONE morning.

When I went back to school, I hid in the only safe place - the weight room. I missed all my afternoon classes because I could not stand to be around anyone. I just lay on the wrestling mats and stared at the ceiling until I felt it was safe to go home.

I continued to lift and participate in the sports I had left, but I never really got over the 350 pound club and how easy it was to take away.

My Dad

Last Wednesday my dad had surgery on his right shoulder. He injured it when he flipped his riding lawn mower. I don't know how he did that, but he did. It turned out that injury may have saved his life.

While dad was recovering from his shoulder surgery, he suffered a heart attack. Since the surgery took place in a hospital in a small town, they had to fly him via a helicopter to a hospital in Greeley, CO.

After they stabilized him, they discover he had blood clots in all his arteries. They immediately started him on blood thinners, but that caused internal bleeding from his surgically repaired shoulder. After a back and forth with the blood thinners, they were able to stop the bleeding and begin thinning out the blood clots.

I almost lost my dad that day. Thankfully he is out of the woods and may go home today. What a relief. If dad would have been at work or home instead of in a hospital when he suffered the heart attack, he may not have survived. Interesting how an accident in the summer saved his life this fall. I'm grateful.

I Ain't Afraid of No Ghosts

It seems that there are a lot of families out there in which at least one member has a ghost story to tell. It could be as nice as a visit from a beloved grandparent to as creapy as items missing or moving around on their own. My mom and sister both have quite of few stories of the paranormal they have shared with me over the years.

Unexplained encounters has always fascinated me. I love shows about UFOs, bigfoot, and ghosts. Does that make me crazy or weird? I hope not. I am fascinated by the shows because of the possibility that there are things out there that make us question what we already know. I don't know what to believe for sure, but I am willing to look at any proof someone may have.

John Wornall House

Which brings me to a couple of Saturdays ago. I went on a ghost hunt sponsored by a local paranormal group. The house we were investigating was the John Wornall House. I was joined by Queentuffy, Average Jane, and Alex. Alex and I were in the "I want to believe, but I haven't seen enough proof" camp and Queentuffy and Average Jane were the skeptics. I believe every paranormal investigation needs to have skeptics in attendance.

Cassi, Mykala and Val of Premier Paranormal Research

The hunt was organized by the Premiere Paranormal Research Group. They gave us a quick tour of the equipment and we watched a video. Then we were ready to hunt. They split us up into three groups. The four of us I mentioned before were a group with Val as are investigator/teacher. Alex wanted to start in the scariest part of the house first. So, we started upstairs in the kids room. This room was rumored to have the most activity.

We sat in a circle on the floor of the kids room in silent darkness. We had a voice recorder in the center of the circle and an ir camera to gather any evidence. This was by far the coolest part of the night. We sat there waiting for something to happen. Val would ask questions in hopes that any spirit present would interact with us. Of course, nothing happened. The room did not feel creepy and I never felt uncomfortable to whole time.

The Carriage House

We moved around to different areas of the house including the detached garage they called the "Carriage House." Nothing unexplained happened in any of the other areas either. They was a strange light that passed in front of one of the ir cameras stationed in the kitchen. When I looked at the footage, it looked like light coming in when the door was opened. Even though it was clear to me that is was nothing, others in the group were convinced it was paranormal. Queentuffy labeled them "freaks." She may not have been too far off, but I appreciate their desire to see some evidence.

Though nothing paranormal happened (the evidence is still being reviewed) I had a great time. I can't wait to do it again.

Do you have a parnormal story to tell? If so, I would love for you to share it with me.

Tough Year

This has been a tough year for Queentuffy and I. Queentuffy's dad is still fighting cancer (and doing a great job) and earlier this year my mom was diagnosed with Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Luckily both her dad and my mom are doing great. Mom was declared cancer free at her last PET scan and gets here chemo port removed in 2 weeks. Queentuffy's dad is putting on weight and looks and sounds his best since this all started in June 2009.

Financially it was tough because we had to exist as a one income household for about 6 months. It was rough at times, but we made it through. After we become a two income household again, we refinanced the house and have made a few changes to keep things rolling. We could always do more to save money, but somehow we cannot seem to stay focused.

Now for the good news. I just learned today that we are going to get some of the 10% pay cut back. Only 2%, but I will take it. I hope this trend continues. Being back to where we were in 2008 would be great. It will be nice to plan vacations, again. I hope everyone else is feeling as optimistic as I am.

Passion

Queentuffy and I have been catching up on TV shows via DVD. Our latest is Project Runway (don't judge me.) Though I know nothing of fashion, I like the show. When I was a kid, I wanted all my shirts to have numbers on them similar to football jerseys. Yes, I was that fashion forward.

As I mentioned before, I know nothing of fashion and the industry associated. I still find Project Runway fascinating and entertaining. I don't find the clothes or the judges all that interesting. What I do find interesting is the designers. Watching people follow their passion is great TV.

Watching these passionate people gets me thinking about what makes me passionate. That is where the problem begins. I can't think of anything that I am passionate about. The designers on Project Runway have spent many hours per day for many years perfecting this passionate craft. Some of the designers wanted to do nothing else that they struggled to the point of homelessness to keep the dream alive.

I am a person who has many interests. Nothing I would call a passion. In high school I played sports, was an award winning artist, and gear head (I partially restored a '53 Ford.) Since high school I learned to play the drums and was in and out of a few bands. None of these things kept me engaged enough to be passionate about them.

I wonder if life would be better or worse having a dream you are so passionate about that it is all encompassing. I think this kind of passion makes some people's life worth living. But does it have the same affect on everyone. I don't know the answer to that, but I wish I had a passion to follow. I will keep looking. Maybe one day I will find one.

Modern Warfare 2

So, I have found a new obsession Modern Warfare 2. It seems I'm playing every chance I get. That often means playing until way too late at night. Even though I go to bed bleary eyed, I could have played for hours longer.

My favorite aspect of the game is playing online challenges against real people. I'm not much into playing the part of the game that is the story. I'm sure the story is fine, but I like testing my skill against thumb quick youngsters.

I spend most of the game getting out quicked and dying often. I bought the game months after it was released. That put me behind all the other users. I know that is an excuse for all my dying, but that is my story and I'm sticking with it.

So, if you are ever playing Modern Warfare 2 on Xbox Live, invite me (kipkillagin1) to play. You can rack up a lot of points killing me. It's easy.

Toothache Weekend

I couldn't sleep Tuesday night because my one of my teeth was causing me discomfort. So I made an appointment to see my dentist on Wednesday. My dentist thinks that that tooth is abcessing and sent me to a specialist. Unfortunately, I had a deadline at work and could not see the Endodontist until Monday. At the time it didn't seem like a big deal. Until Friday.

Friday morning I woke up and the tooth felt fine. I had a bowl of cereal and headed for work. During my commute the tooth starting hurting. It hurt all day. The only relief I could get was swishing cold water in my mouth and that only works for a short period of time. I forgot my pain medication at home and Queentuffy was gracious enough to bring it to me. I took two vicodin because I was in severe pain. That made me sick to my stomach and went home early from work.

I could not get any comfort. I went to bed after dinner and couldn't sleep. Queentuffy and I got up around 1 am and watched DVRd American Idol episodes (don't judge us.) I took some more vivodin and tried to go to sleep. Finally at 4 am we decided to go to the emergency room.

The er doc gave me a shot to deaden the pain. That was great. We finally got some sleep after 5 am. I slept until about noon and got up because I was hungry. I had another bowl of cereal. Soon after the tooth started hurting again. I quickly showered and went and had the prescription the er doc gave me filled. I took two percosets and hoped for the best. Another hour passed and I took a third percoset.

We almost went back to the er because nothing was working. Finally the percosets made me sleepy. I went to bed at 3:30 in the afternoon. I slept until 9:30 the next morning. The good news is my tooth doesn't hurt as bad. I think it was the cold of the cereal causing the problem.

Monday I will probably have a root canal. Normally I wouldn't be this excited about having a hole drilled in my tooth, but this is going to be such a relief. I can't wait.

Pancakes

I have never made pancakes from scratch before. Queentuffy and I decided we need to eat more at home. With that decision I realized I wanted to try making pancakes from scratch. I didn't have a recipe. So, I did a search on the web. I decided to try buttermilk pancakes using this recipe. I don't know who Scott Jensen is, but he has a great pancake recipe.

I would have taken pics of the event, but I was focused on not mucking this up I forgot. You'll have to trust me. They were great. The website did a good job of explaining the whole process. A process that was much simpler than I expected. Thankfully.

Queentuffy said we have to add these to our normal dinner rotation. I have to agree. I like these a lot and look forward to having them again. Next time I will add bacon on the side.

My-Verse

According to the Obama campaign it was time for change. Though our change wasn't felt country wide, it still was big for us. That's right we kicked Time Warner Cable to the curb and got AT&T U-Verse.

After months of discussing amongst ourselves and friends who have U-Verse, we decided it was time for a change. Time Warner had been a let down as of late and Queentuffy never liked being "hijacked" by them. Though our cost will be about the same, Queentuffy likes the fact its not Time Warner getting our money.

For me it was the inconsistant internet connection. I'm quite addicted to Xbox Live. I love to play Battlefield 1943, 1 vs 100, and Modern Warfare 2 online. It was pissing me off everytime we lost connection and I got kicked out of the game.

Besides a consistent internet connection there are more things to like that we didn't get with Time Warner. We can record a show on the downstairs dvr and watch it on the upstairs tv. That comes in handy when I record Ghost Hunters. Queentuffy doesn't like the show and now I can watch it when I want to and not wait to be home alone.

We can set the dvr from our phone or work computers. This may not be that big of a deal, but you never know. I remember being out of the house and it dawning on us that we forget to set the dvr. This won't be a problem anymore.

I has the NFL network. I could never understand why Time Warner didn't offer this channel. Now I don't care. AT&T has it. It is nice. Especially during the playoffs. Next season I won't miss any of the NFL network only games. Yes. I'm stoked.

One last cool thing. It could be our imaginations, but I think the picture is much better with AT&T. I don't have a HDTV so I didn't expect too much from picture quality. I am very happy with the picture improvement.

I am happy with the decision. Hopefully we will be happy for years to come.

Christmas Non-Secular

With the holiday season upon us again, I have been nostalgic. I remember that we would be photographed surrounded by our gifts in a before and after setup. As a child, that was what Christmas was to me - a chance to get gifts and be with family.

I remember being disappointed when I found out it was a religious holiday. I have never been a religious person. Not back then. Not now. Santa, Rudolph, Frosty, et al were the major players of this holiday. Tree, lights, cartoons, singing, and decorating were the major activities. And I look back at that time with fondness.

Maybe I was just being a spoiled child. Maybe I wasn't. Life for a five year old is simple and wondrous. I didn't need anything to complicate something so wonderful. Wouldn't it be great to have that feeling back. Being a kid rocked. It rocked harder during the holidays. My toughest tasks back then was trying to figure out what was behind the wrapping paper. I became a master at working the corners and sneaking a peek inside. Sorry, Mom. I cheated and knew a good percentage of my gifts by using this technique.

But that was the fun. No midnight mass. No worrying about credit card bills or being laid off. Just the giddiness of getting gifts, singing carols, and watching the stop motion TV shows like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Who wouldn't want that?

Easy Resolutions

I usually don't do New Year's resolutions. I don't know why. I have many areas of me that I would like to improve. I think setting resolutions that change a person are very difficult to keep. So, I will set some resolutions that will be fun to keep and still improve my life. Here we go.

1. Finish my bachelor's degree. I am only 18 credit hours away. While this doesn't fit in the fun category, it will create more free time to have fun.
2. Workout more. Again, this may not sound like fun. But, I do like to lift weights. I think that is all I did in high school besides play football. Going to the gym to lift is fun. Going to the gym to run not so much.
3. Be a better husband. This will be fun. Queentuffy deserves better than the usual me. So, I will be stepping up in this area.
4. Be a better friend. I have met some great people, and some have become my friend. I am not the most attentive friend. I don't make the phone calls I should or share my true feelings. Logtar can attest to this fact. I promise to be better.
5. Go fishing more. I have a boat and all the equipment and time. I have no excuses. Queentuffy and I will be catching more fish this year.
6. Drums. I have made friends with musicians this year. And they have rekindled my desire to play the drums. It has been 5 or 6 years since I was in a band. Time to dust off the drums and get back into playing. Maybe I will find a band.
7. Find a career I love or at least tolerate. I have put a lot of effort and keeping employed in 2009. This was made significantly harder because I don't like my current career. I will continue with my soul search and item 1 of this list.

Well. That is all I can think of right now. These should be pretty easy to do with the exception of the last item on the list. Wish me luck.