My Wife, myself, and our friends "wigged out"

This is my Wife's "wig out" bday party . Here are the pictures from what was a great nite. My wife is the good looking one with the pink wig in about all the pictures!! Enjoy!!!

It's going ok.....I think

Well, week one down of my road to quitting the "habit". I did pretty good last week. I only bought two packs of smokes, cut down to 1/2 pack per day, then the weekend rolled around.

We had a party on Saturday night for my wife's 35th birthday. It was a wig party. You were required to wear a wig to get. That post, along with pictures, will be up here soon. But I digress...Saturday I did ok, still under a pack. Sunday I had to get up early to make a 2 hour drive for a volleyball tournament we played in(took second), and I broke down. Had about a whole pack. DAMNIT!!!!!!!

Yesterday I went to see Bear, my "coach" and told him all that happened. He didn't seem too discouraged. The things I told him I have been doing to keep the monster at bay were good, and seemed as if I was well on my way. He also gave me patches, gum, and losenges(sp?). Today I put on the patch, after a smoke, and I haven't had a "craving" since.

This crap is all mental. Is there a physical addiction? More than likely, but its more mental than anything. I find myself wanting a monster(smoke) at times and I direct my attention elsewhere. Sometimes it works for 10 minutes, sometimes and hour or more. I believe I'm doing very well. I've been up since 5 am and have only had the one monster.

I sure would like to have one now, don't ask me why cuz I couldn't tell you. I'm not going to have one though, I've got the patch on. Bear says its like a "day laborer". It does the work(smoking) so you don't have to. I think he may be right. Hopefully I'll be able to fire the "day laborer" and slay the "monster" very soon.......I've got some good ammo for that!

I'm going to quit smoking

I finally did it. Yes, I am a smoker. Have been for the past 16 years. About one pack a day. I would hate to add all that money up to see just how much of it "went up in smoke"(pun intended). I want to be able to play volleyball and other things with my daughter when she gets older, not to mention the instantly added health benefits from not smoking.

Last week I made an appointment with the health district and today was my first "session". My counselor calls himself(maybe everyone calls him) "Bear". Maybe its a play on words, cuz he is a little guy! I went in with an open mind, because you never know what to expect from something like that. Glad I did.

He didn't give me statistics, tell me about all the horrible things that happen to your body when you smoke, or tell me to change my daily habits/routines. He's all about the joy and happiness. Now I'm really not the feel good type person. But the more he talked about happiness and, get this, actually enjoying your happiness, the more sense it made. Towards the end of our first session, he told me one thing that really hit home, and I think will work for me, about quitting smoking:

DON'T MOPE ABOUT! REJOICE!

That makes more sense to me than anything I have ever heard about quitting this horrible habit!! Wish me luck.....for some crazy reason, I don't think I'll need it though...I'll update on this when I can..

I listen, and sometimes call, talk radio

Yes, I am a talk radio junkie!! Sports, politics, news, just about anything except doctor laura(I know I didn't capitalize anything, maybe when she gets a Ph. D. That actually qualifies her to give advice, then I'll give her the capitals....'nother story for 'nother post).

Anyways, my favorite local host is Peter Boyles. He is extremely intelligent, thoughtful, and not afraid to speak his mind. What side of the political spectrum you ask..I'd say about right in the middle, believe it or not. I agree with him on some issues(immigration, homelessness), other things not so much. But at least he makes you think about your own beliefs and where you stand, agree with him or not.

This morning was a kind of tongue-in-cheek show about childhoods and sports you used to play. They were mostly talking about baseball. One guest was talking about being hit and afraid of the baseball. I just had to call and share this story after I heard that!

When I was about 10 years old I played a LOT of baseball. During one game I was hit by a pitch(I was a catcher, and a pretty decent hitter). The next couple of games I kept backing out of the batters box afraid of getting hit by the ball. My father was the coach, and he had a remedy.

One night when he came home from work after we ate, he got an old baseball and put it in the drill press. "What are you doing to the ball?", I asked innocently. "You'll see", was his only reply.

After drilling the hole in the ball, he ran some old clotheshanger wire(yes kids, we used to dry clothes outside on warm days) through the hole and tied a knot in the end so the ball wouldn't come off-then we went to the front yard. He told me to grab a bat and a helmet, which I did still confused. Once in the yard he said,"Take you batting stance." I did. Then he started swinging this baseball-on-a-rope and said,"I want you to take some swings at the ball...Oh, and don't worry, it won't hit you unless I want it to." GRRREEEAAAATT!!!!

Now I don't know how much anyone reading this knows about baseball, like Pete Rose would "un"intentionally get hit to help his team. Let me tell you, after getting whacked with that damn ball about ten times(I wasn't allowed to get out of the way), I wasn't afraid of it anymore!!! I had bruises for a week from that damn ball....kind of makes me wish I had a son to do that to....but I digress...

While sharing this story with the audience, Peter asked the name of my first baseball team I played on, the first baseman's name, third...etc..and the names rolled off my tongue like I had just played with them yesterday. Oh the good ole days. Just one piece of advice. If you see a father and son in their front yard with a baseball-on-a-rope and a helmet and bat, do me two favors: 1) Don't call the cops, the kid has the better weapon and is more afraid of the ball than his Dad(I know from personal experience) and 2)Give me a call please, I'd love to be the one swing the ball next time

I Love where I live!

On January 7th, I got together with three other guys and we played volleyball. No big deal, except we PLAYED OUTSIDE IN THE SAND!!!! It was a balmy 70 degrees in Colorado that day....very unusual, but welcome! The weather here has been strange most all winter. The mountains are getting a TON of snow. In the meantime all we get is wind! Well, we are also getting some pretty mild temperatures.

My only gripe is I wish it would rain. Sure the snow pack will create a bunch of water for next spring/summer, but I don't want to water my landscaping while it January(although I did so last Friday).

Why I love this place is for the reason above....70 in January. Most people think when you live near the Rocky Mountains you have snow all winter long...not true. We get snow sure, but it usually melts within a week or a little longer. These temps allow me to take advantage of the days and play ball with my friends, or take the dog and kid for a walk(don't worry, the leash I use for the kid doesn't go around her neck!). Hopefully it will stay nice for a while, my wife is going to start training for a marathon this week. The marathon is in May. I think the woman is crazy personally, but I am proud she does it! Its a great accomplishment for one of her age!(35).

Well, enough rambling for now. Hopefully something funny/exciting/horrible will happen before the next blog. Sorry I'm not a conspiracy theorist, environmental wacko, or anything of the sort to create interesting reading. This is just my chance to keep a little journal for myself and hopefully(eventually), entertain some folks.

What is the right age?

My daughter(now I'm going to brag), is a very intelligent 9 year old. No, really she is. She scored in the 99th percentile on the verbal portion of our states version of the standardized test thingy(another story for another time). Thank god she takes after her mother in this respect.

Needless to say, she reads very well. The problem is, she found Gameboy. Every month she has a goal to reach for total number of pages read, no matter what the book or material. For December her goal was 675 pages, no big deal for her, except she fell about 200 pages short of her goal.

My wife is freaking out trying to rack her brain, and my daughters, about what other books she could have possibly, read, seen, sniffed, etc. during the past month. In other words, trying to do my daughters work for her. I on the other hand, am under the impression that its my daughters responsibility to do this on her own. Is that right?

Maybe I'm mean, or just expect too much, but I was taught at a young age we are all responsible for our own actions. Is it wrong of me to expect a nine year old to complete her homework/reading assignments on her own? I don't think so. I think its high time for her to start taking responsibility for herself and her actions in a more active role. This is something we have stressed to her for a very long time, but we seem to keep having to try to bail her out of situations. Yeah, my parents no doubt bailed me out of my share of situations, but I paid for it one way or the other. I know that has made me a better person for learning "lessons the hard way".

My daughter and I have already come to one understanding; if she don't make her goal this upcoming month, no Gameboy for a month. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire game will have to be played by yours truly. I wonder if I could play it at work? The customer should understand I can't help them because I have to beat Voldemort, or be Mario and save the princess, etc... Maybe if I do that, my boss will take it away from me.....that'll teach me!!!

Don't Know Much

I don't know how much I will be posting, probably every chance I get. I'll try to use this post for comical annecdotes, updates on my family and friends, my yob, living in Fort Collins, Colorado, and any other little thing that pops into my brain when I get a chance to post something.

Besides, I've always wanted to be on the internet. No matter how trivial it may be. I'm not real techical when it comes to computers, and this was SO easy even I could do it! Well, until I have something meaninful to say...