Kai

Kai trying to hide from Reggie the Corgi. He is such a goof when he is wanting to be left alone.

Oscar

Kim and Mike's Wedding

Congratualtions KIm and MIke!!!!!

Congratulations Mike and Kim on getting married.

Death Clock

This is fun in a morbid kind of way. It figures out or at least guesses when you are going to die from a few quick choices and starts ticking down the time. It is deathclock.com. Itch your morbid curiousity and hae some fun.

Docterin' the Tadis

For Wade Turner. Enjoy, Dude.

True Friendship

Kim got this as an email and I had to share.

'True' Friendship

None of that Sissy Crap

Are you tired of those sissy 'friendship' poems that always sound good, but never actually come close to reality? Well, here is a series of promises that actually speak of true friendship. You will see no cutesy little smiley faces on this card- Just the stone cold truth of our great friendship.

1. When you are sad -- I will help you get drunk and plot revenge against the sorry bastard who made you sad.

2. When you are blue -- I will try to dislodge whatever is choking you.

3. When you smile -- I will know you are plotting something that I must be involved in.

4. When you are scared -- I will rag on you about it every chance I get.

5. When you are worried -- I will tell you horrible stories about how much worse it could be until you quit whining.

6. When you are confused -- I will use little words.

7. When you are sick -- Stay the hell away from me until you are well again. I don't want whatever you have.

8. When you fall -- I will point and laugh at your clumsy ass.

9. This is my oath .... I pledge it to the end 'Why?' you may ask; 'because you are my friend'.

Friendship is like peeing your pants, everyone can see it, but only you can feel its true warmth.

Remember: A friend will help you move. A really good friend will help you move a body. Let me know if I ever need to bring a shovel...

Send this to 10 of your closest friends, then get depressed because you can only think of 4.

Virtual Bubble Wrap

Everyone loves to pop bubble wrap, right? OK, maybe not everyone but for those who do and don't have enough around the house to keep them amused there is a site that has virtual bubble wrap to pop. You can find it here. Have fun popping.

The Weekly Webness

I noticed that blogger has added a new feature where you can schedule a post to be published at a later date. I thought that this might be a great way to do a series of themed posts at regular intervals. I am going to try to find different things on the web I find neat and have them post every Friday. I don't know how well this is going to work but let us see how this experiment works. First one comes tomorrow.

Music Exercises

I found a great website for some music exercises. It is here at earlymusichicago.org. They have some other neat resources but have not checked those out too much but the music exercises have helped me get better at the recorder.

Survival in the vaccuum of space

Created by OnePlusYou

Cache as Cacher Can

With Kim being off her feet, it has changed how we cache again. It has turned into a solo activity for me. It is a bit different because I have gotten very use to having her along to help find things. It has forced me to start looking better. I don't have that second set of eyes so it is all up to me for finding things. I have been also trying to find things on the fly even more and have not been doing too bad. I actually got to get a string of finds in. I still the company and help that she brings to the hunt.

Got GPSr

Either I have been geocaching far too long or that is an incredible big house if you need coordinates to the bathroom and bedroom.

Mp3 Player

I think it is kinda funny. When CDs first came out, I did not understand them and thought they were over price and did not want or have anything to do with them. Now, in this age of mp3 players and cheap memory, I have one mp3 as my portable music jukebox, a second for listening to podcasts for my talk radio and another one for a music archive. I cam go quit the time without having to reload. It is kinda nice. Keeping in batteries is more of a concern than content to listen to. I may not be the biggest geek but I have my moments.

PDAs

I have gone paperless with my planner for a while by using a Zire 31. It is a great little work horse. It does not have all the latest bells and whistles but that is not really what I need it for. For example, it can not be upgraded for wireless net connection. As neat at that would be, if I needed a wireless connection on the go, i would be probably using the laptop instead and that would have a full keyboard and a normal sized screen.

My wife Kim found an excellent program for my PDA called Handy Shopper. (It's website is here.) It is by far the best freeware I have ever used and one of the best and handy programs I have used period. It is for grocery lists or any sort of list at all. I am using it for a bill pay scheduler and it works great.

I am pondering doing a series of posts dealing with handy pda programs and while have a bias towards the Zire 31 or Palm devices and/or a series on digital devices and programs I enjoy using. I will see how it turns out.

Character Counts

As much as people say you should not judge and people are free to do as they please, these ideas are not entirely true. People are always being judged. When they get hired for a job, they are judged by the skills they have and what they can do for the company. Once hired, whether they are kept at the job and how big of a raise they get is dependent on their performance. This is not always true for life is not always fair. Despite life being unfair and evil sometimes being rewarded, I still would prefer doing the right thing. Deeds you would be ashamed of having everyone know never remain hidden forever. Yes, there are a million reasons that the deed may be desirable but in the long run is it really? A business can cheat its customers but how long will they tolerate being cheated? A person can lie but how long can they keep it up and how long will they be seen as credible?

I am not saying this as a perfect person or one who expects others to be. I do believe in absolute truth and I do believe people strive to follow that truth even though we are all broken imperfect people. I also believe no one is beyond grace and mercy unless they are truly dedicated to wallowing in the cesspool of their making. Yeah I know this is going to offend some. God's power is incredible at changing people's lives. It is up to God to change people but that does not mean that I have to be happy with people's choices but I can say in a loving way that they do not have to stay where they are. I hope this makes some sort of sense.

The Last Few Days

Kim tried going back to work this week and it just did not work out. We got to visit with Torry and that was nice. Also got to see the Embertons. They are great, neat people. I was able to get some rest in as well as some caching, waymarking and benchmark hunting. That was really good for my mental health. It really helped me work off some stress. I also played knightmare chess with Tony Emberton and that helped a lot. I am going to work on having some me time while getting Kim back to health. I can't afford to get burned out. There are some tough times ahead but we are doing a plan of attack and hopefully we can deal with the things ahead. God will provide. It is just scary when you don't see it.

Grateful Plug to FWO

I would like to go on record that I am impressed with Fort Wayne Orthopaedics. They have been very professional and very helpful in getting Kim better and comfortable. Their website is here. They are a class act who has helped us in this stressful time and for that I am grateful..

Back to work

Kim went back to work. Both of us are kinda nervous about how this is going to work out. I am concerned for her and her leg. I am also concerned about how well i can drive. I am not as use to driving around and not use to big city driving. I did well today though. Until later.



Man, I am tired.

The Hunt Continues

I got to find a benchmark today while running some errands. It really felt good to have some fun with all the stress lately. Things will get easier but for now, it can be a bit much.

Wear Sunscreen

WEAR SUNSCREEN
Advice to Graduates
By Mary Schmich (not Kurt Vonnegut)

Wear sunscreen.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.

Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sing.

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.

Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.

Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at
22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.

Get plenty of calcium.

Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.

Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.

Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.

Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.

Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.

Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.

Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts, and recycling it for more than it's worth.
But trust me on the sunscreen.

today'sTHOT===================

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Each of us is a mixture of dust and deity.

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PASS IT ON!
Yeah, you can send this Funny to anybody you want. And, if you're REAL nice, you'll tell them where you got it! www.mikeysFunnies.com

Kim's New Cast

Kim has gone for her first check up. She has been cleared for work with restrictions. She had her stitches taken out and got a sci fi cool looking cast. More to follow.

Kim's Cast -An Update

This is a picture of Kim's cast which she will be losing for another tomorrow. Hopefully she will be cleared for work. She has been getting around more and better. We actually got out to McDonald's yesterday to visit with Linc, Ton and the kids. I was glad we got to see them since we missed the original chance of seeing them due to the injury. Things are looking better but we are not out of the woods yet.

Caching Community

Kim broke her ankle and a couple of cachers has sent us good thoughts and other stuff to help make this time a bit nicer. It is really nice of them. There are some really nice people in the cacher community. It isn't a perfect community by any means. You find the good, the bad and the ugly just like the rest of the world. When you find the good ones, hold on tight, they are a treasure. I think I feel comfortable in the cacher community because I am techno nerd or geek at heart and cachers thrive at being that. Ok, maybe not all cachers but it does not hurt if you are like that. I think I better wrap this up with the point that I am very grateful to those cachers that have made the last little while a bit more bearable.