His Side

4/29/04 - I'm so glad Friends was on tonight. No, really I am. I'm happy because it means there's only one more episode left. After that final episode, my wife and I will be unshackled from the TV on Thursday nights. I bet Fox is totally going to screw up our escape by moving The OC to Thursdays.

So who do you think is a bigger nerd? Stacey for watching Friends or me for reading The Hobbit while Stacey was watching Friends? What exciting lives we lead.

Some good news: I got a nice fat raise today. I'm staying one step ahead of you, Mr. Inflation! With this extra money, we might buy more goats (we need 2 - one named Sam and one named Ronnie) or an extra house when we move to Mississippi. I'm going to pull a Dave Barry and state that "Mr. Inflation" would make a great name for a band.

4/27/04 - Nothing much new today. I moved my blog from bravenet to blogger.com. The interface is simpler and the page looks a lot less cluttered. Maybe now I'll use it.

4/26/04 - How can you laugh at me and my dreams of following in Crocodile Dundee's footsteps?!

4/25/04 - I'm still waiting for my offer letter. I wonder if human resource departments know how much anxiety they create for spouses.

Cousin Veronica totally loves goats, so we're going to get a goat or two. One of them will be named Sam.

Stacey's been away all weekend at a women's retreat. I've taken the opportunity to increase the stock price of Blockbuster. Friday night I rented Fear of the Dark and Returner. Fear of the Dark, while not only being an Iron Maiden album, is a movie that touts itself as a horror film in the same tradition as The Ring and Sixth Sense. After the first ten minutes of the movie I was thinking to myself "What were they thinking? They should be sued by M. Night Shyamalan for slander." This flick was more like a two hour long episode of R. L. Stein's Goosebumps.

The next film, Returner, is an import from Japan. Think Independence Day + Terminator 2 + ET. This one stands out to me from the typical live action stuff you see coming out of Japan.

Stacey hates anime, so I wait until she's out of town so I don't have to subject her to it. Movie #3, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, starts our anime segment. Mike recommended this one to me. It's pretty good, but it helps if you've seen any episodes of the TV series. Basically it's a show about 4 bounty hunters in the not too distant future. It's a little film noir and a little Japan-pop goofiness. If you're a fan of either Bladerunner or Shadowrun, then you'd probably like this.

Fourth and final film this weekend was Spirited Away. This was either the most successful film or the most successful animated film ever in Japan. It was in theaters in the U.S. for a while. It's far from your typical Robotech / Dragonball Z / Neon Genesis Evangeleon / Dragon Warrior anime. Recommended for anyone who likes a movie off the beaten path. I might even get Stacey to watch this one.

4/20/04 - I'm going to get close to forty hours of overtime this week. If I keep this up, we could afford to buy a house in California. Just kidding, we're still moving, and no one can afford a house in California. Ever.  I'm still waiting for my offer letter and relocation information package to arrive in the mail. I hope our mailbox-challenged mailman doesn't decide to pick the day they do arrive to shred all of our letters.

A Daily Shoutout™ to our friend Dave in Afghanistan who's getting to come home (for good I think/hope) on May 27th.

I'm totally over the asterisks now. I've got to stay edgy.

Something to think about: http://users.wolfcrews.com/toys/vikings/

4/17/04 - I had to work about half a day today. It's all good though - I'm getting overtime, which I'm going to invest in cattle, and I got to see "The Punisher" tonight. The kid sitting behind Stacey keeps kicking her seat so she finally turns around and tells him to quit or she's going to go back there and bring the noise. I'm thinking "Wow baby, who do you think he is? The mailman?"

It rained today, which is very newsworthy in southern California. A lot of people around here don't know how to drive on wet roads. Case in the point: the guy I saw on the way to work this morning who slid back and forth across 3 lanes of highway for about 8 seconds before spinning full circle 4 or 5 times, hopping up on a sidewalk, and finally coming to a stop about a foot from a brick wall. Here is my artistic rendering of his path. I was going to help the guy, but before I could park and get out of my car, he took off down the street with a flat tire and a bent axle.

I have to work all day tomorrow. I hope my manager buys us lunch again. He paid for lunch today - we had Quizno's. Quizno's is like Subway or Blimpie but ten times better. They toast their sandwiches too. They used to have funny commercials that would say stuff like "Comparing an ordinary sandwich to Quizno's oven toasted subs like pitting a group of accountants against deadly trained ninjas". Those commercials weren't good enough, so they came up with these new commercials with deformed rat-monkey-things that sing about Quizno's sandwiches. My point is, despite the rat-monkeys, I still like their sandwiches. They're THAT good.

4/15/04 - Since we're going to be mooving to the country (groan), I think it would behoove us get a cow (stop you're killing me). I won't have to cut the grass and we'll get fresh milk and butter. And when people tell me not to have a cow I can retort "Hey man, I do HAVE a cow! What are you going to do about it?". Anyone know how much cows cost? Amazingly there's no livestock section on Ebay. Askjeeves is no help either. If I buy a cow, will I need a barn too? Or can the cow hang out in the garage? Can I get Frappuccinos by feeding the cow coffee beans? I hope that answer to the last question is yes, cuz there ain't no Starbucks in Forest, Mississippi. I need a "Dairy Cows for Dummies" book.

4/15/04 - I'm still waiting for my refund. What's the hold up, fellas?

4/11/04 - I moved old news to a separate page to shorten the main page. Also added a contact form to the bottom of this page. Let me pretend it's useful by sending us a message, ok? :)

BTW, Happy Easter.

4/9/04 - So I got to work in time to make my conference call to the two guys that are making the decision to hire me. I called at precisely 09:00 pacific time - the time we'd agreed to yesterday. So I dialed, the phone rings... and I got voicemail. Nooo! "Maybe the first guy's in the bathroom and the other guy won't answer the first guy's phone" I thought. So I waited about ten minutes and called back. Voicemail again. Noooo! I left a message and moved on with the rest of my day. I had a meeting with a co-worker at 10:00 and she said to me "Hey, I hear a rumor that you're transferring." I replied "It's not just a rumor I hope." Hah hah I'm clever. So I waited until 11:30 and called back. The receptionist that usually answers didn''t pick up. "Self, what's going on? No one is manning the helm. Is there a coup d'office taking place?" I wondered. So I waited a few more minutes, trying to convince myself that my previous attempt at communications failed simply because of an electronics glitch, but in the deepest recesses of my being I dreaded that something... some event... more sinister than I could imagine was unfolding around me. With trembling fingers I dialed the number once again. The ringing ensued. A strange, new sound startled me and grabbed my attention. Someone... or some THING... was calling me on line two. I hesitated for a moment before pushing the button that would drop my first call, the call that could either be my future or my doom, and picked up the second call...

It was the first guy! I told him that I had been on the other line trying to call him. We had a great laugh over it. Well, not really a laugh. I don't want to drag this story out or anything so...

I GOT THE JOB!!!

I'm going to get the official offer letter next week and the HR department is going to send me information about the relocation company that they use, the benefits package, etc. Right now the plan is to stay here through May until my current project is finished and then move sometime in June.

4/8/04 - I didn't get a chance to update yesterday - fell asleep while waiting my turn for the computer. I should have known my trendy asterisk would get nixed. Stacey makes all of the decorating decisions. I'll just have to make this the trendy side of the street... by street I mean this page.. because this page is divided into two sides... like a street. Moving on...

Speaking of trendy, I'm starting a weblog for my own musing and rants. I'll leave the rants page here for Stacey.

I also plan to add an e-mail form to send mail to either of us. It's a little nicer for those that don't have an e-mail client on their computer and have to use hotmail or yahoo mail or something like that.

Axel! I'm sorry to hear about your motorcycle accident. We hope you're feeling better.

Tomorrow I'm having a conference call with two of the people that are going to decide if I can get a job transfer. I hope it's good news - they don't need two people to tell me "No", right?

4/6/04 - Updated the New PC Project page. Click the link and see what a geek I am :)

4/6/04 - Bored. Added trendy new asterisk to the title of this site. My hard work should pay off with dozens of new visitors.

4/6/04 - Never, ever, leave a sharp knife the silverware rack with the edge facing up. Didn't Veronica also have a close call with a knife last month?

4/6/04 - Things are getting pretty crazy at work. We're supposed to finish our project by the middle of May and get the thing sent out to our customer. Thing is almost every day, while we're supposed to be testing and retesting everything to get this thing (sorry I have to be vague) sold off, we find some bug that somehow slipped underneath our noses, and I have a large nose.

4/5/04 - We have another friend who's been in Afghanistan for about nine months. He's on a short leave, but has to return to the middle east pretty soon, leaving his wife again. We've been worried about his safety, so this news about Terri's brother packs a double whammy for us. Not to mention Terri.

4/3/04 - We sold the car today! Goodbye little Focus, we'll miss you.

4/2/04 - The computer table fell apart tonight, at least the part that holds the keyboard. I think that's God's way of telling me to go to bed.

4/2/04 - I added the photo pages from our trips to Fernley, NV and Solvang, CA. I also changed the navigation bar on all of the other pages.

4/2/04 - Dang, you got your shout-outs out to Emily and Ronnie before I could. Happy birthday and congratulations to the appropriate parties in any case.

4/1/04 - Forsooth! Herewith is my list of daily "shout outs". To my friend Cristi who lives in Zurich (most of the time) and is super cool, go in peace with your shout out. To my cousin-in-law Veronica doomed to boredom in class while yearning for the Ferndale countryside, shout out indeed.

4/1/04 - Happy Fool's Day - Just 14 more days to pay your danegeld. I used H&R Block's TaxCut software this year. It's a lot more "fun" than filling out the slave page by hand, plus it's practically free after all the rebates. You can print out everything when you're done and mail it in, or file it electronically, but that's an extra $30 or so. Paper is cheap, and so am I.

Her Side

4/29/04 - Here's a great article regarding my most recent rant.  Not that they don't display their own flaming rhetoric, but they really did their research into the e-mail.  Just skip over all the we-hate-Republicans whining and get to the beef. 

The second to last episode of Friends is on tonight.  I AM NOT MISSING IT.  I recorded it last week, but my VCR somehow screwed up the tape, and I missed it and had to get a synopsis from Terri.  If Ross and Rachel don't wind up together, I will definitely feel incomplete for the rest of my life.  We'll find out next week. 

4/28/04 - So, do y'all think I should do a blog too, or should I continue with my current format?  Drew thinks the website is for news only.  I say people obviously want to read my random murmurings because I have a few regular readers. (Namely, Alyson and Cousin Veronica.)  So, what do you think, dear readers?  Should I change to a blog format and save this part of the page for news only, or should I continue with my current format?

As much as Drew would hate this story, I say GOOD!!!!!!

Edward Scissorhands' baby mama.

Funny quote of the day... and I paraphrase...:  Barbara Walters, on The View, on not getting into a sorority in junior high:  "Had I only made it into that sorority, I would have made something out of my life!" 

New rant, by the way.  Warning:  It's anti-war.  I know some of y'all hate that.

4/26/04 - Sometimes Drew wakes up and says really funny, out of nowhere things.  Occasionally, I engage him to see what else he'll say.  Last night, however, I could hardly stifle my laughter when he woke up and said "Dun-dun-dun-Dundee!  Totally.  Back to me!"  I gotta seriously wonder what he was dreaming about.

4/25/04 - Shout out to my ex-boyfriend-but-still-friend-because-we-call-each-other-every-six-months-or-so Tony, who was married yesterday to his girlfriend Holly!  Serious congrats to you two crazy kids!  Maseltov!

Sorry for the departure of no warning.  I went to a women's retreat all weekend in Thousand Oaks and didn't have time to say goodbye before I left.  My apologies to my jonesin' cousin Veronica.  Apparently, my husband had a good time while I was away.  I do hate anime.

I had an incredible time this weekend.  It's so much fun doing absolutely nothing with some of the greatest girlfriends in the world.  Don't tell the organizers of the retreat I said that.  We ditched Friday night and Sunday morning, and sorta half-heartedly attended Saturday's sessions.  But boy, did we get tan.  And GREAT room service.  And awesome memories.  Can't wait for Palm Springs May (or June) '04, ladies!  I do have some rants to add to my rants page. 

Like I said, we ditched Friday night.  Right after we got our nametags, goody bags, and a few songs belted out, we went  to Terri and Kelli's room and ordered room service, which was to be there in 20 minutes.  30 minutes go by... 40 minutes... 50 minutes?  We were kinda wrapped up in the Danielle Steele movie du jour, but we were SERIOUSLY hungry.  So Terri calls room service, who then tells her that since the room was showing up vacant, they didn't make the food (mind you, they neither called back nor called the front desk to verify).  We were all a little grumpy at this, but Terri says she'll call them back after we determine whether or not we want their food.  We discuss, decide we do want what we ordered, and Alyson calls back.  Kelli and I were going all peanut gallery on poor Alyson, saying things like "Free food.  Free food now.  At least free desserts."  After Alyson hangs up without doing any bartering, she explains that since we were there with the church, she didn't want to cause any problems.  I told her that it's not causing a problem, it was their mistake. 

I called back, explaining that a sizable discount was in order, and free would make me really happy.  The nice lady agreed, and we got free room service.  ROCK!  It was gooood, too.  Mistakes happen, but when a restaurant makes up so wonderfully for their mistake, I can't say anything bad about them. 

 I stayed on my diet in the face of meatloaf, garlic mashed potatoes, chocolate chip cookies, brownies, crème brulee, muffins, rice crispie treats, chicken penne, lasagna, and hash browns.  OY, what a weekend.  But hey, good times with the free room service!

4/21/04 - Now that Drew has completely scrapped the blue for boy, pink for girl motif and gone with the hot dog with mustard motif, I'll have to make myself another color.

We saw Kill Bill Volume 2 today, since my man got off work earlier than teenagers and jerks come crawling out of their caves.  It was really good, but different in many ways from Volume 1. 

Shoutout to my girl Alyson for all she's accomplished and all she will accomplish.  You go girrrrl.  Jessica's proud of you too.

Some things perplexed me today.  1.  People whose license plate covers say "Ask me now!"  I've seen this for various weight loss products, Noni juice, and salvation advertisements.  While I'm down for salvation through Jesus Christ, I hope nobody takes the person with the "Get saved now, ask me how" license plate cover literally...  "CHRISTIAN DUDE!  PULL OVER!"  2.  People who put campaign or short-term political issue bumper stickers on their cars.  I have a pro-life bumper sticker.  I chose it because if things do or don't go my way in that particular issue, my bumper sticker will still be valid.  I have to kinda giggle at the Deaniacs whose bumper stickers are now void, 7 months before the election they wanted him to win.  10 years from now, they'll still have that car, still have that bumper sticker, and Dean still won't be president.  What a waste of a bumper.  Then there's the "No War On Iraq" bumper stickers.  The war happened, and you have a huge bumper sticker that preemptively disagrees with it.  Greeeat.  And argh, the "Yes on Prop" fill-in-the-number... why affix your permanent support for them on your car when nobody will remember what the heck it was for 10 years from now??  (By the way, I was gonna make this a rant, but couldn't figure out how, and Drew is sleeping.  My apologies.)

4/20/04 - I went to get my mail today (a little crumpled, but I'll let this one go) and I got an envelope full of coupons.  Similar to Val-Pak but from a different company.  On the back of the envelope, it said "It is required by law for this envelope to be put in your mailbox.  If it is not, call" a number.  You got it.  If that envelope is not in my mailbox next time, I'll make darn sure to call you.  When I don't have the number.  You bet. 

I got a new cell phone, a Samsung 427.  It's got a color screen and polyphonic ring tones.  Although I miss the ability to have my phone just RING, and I miss my "Smooth Criminal" monophonic ring tone, I need some better ring tones than the ones on there right now.  I'd like Sweet Home Alabama, but can't figure out how to get it on my cell phone, so I'll stick with the most basic ring I can find. 

4/19/04 - I hate the insert key on the keyboard.  I don't want my next computer to have one. 

So Drew and I organized the garage on Saturday, what a GREAT feeling.  Now everything I have is organized and I have ideas as to what I do and don't have.  I hate clutter.  All I gotta do now is pack.  And move.  And find a house.  And unpack.  And have a housewarming party.  And go to Indiana, North Carolina, Virginia, New York, and Florida (not in any particular order).  Can't wait till my road trip blitz!  Who's coming with me?

Too bad Jennifer has already found a wedding dress.  Here's a perfect one.

4/18/04 -  I did not say "bring the noise."  Good heavens, dear.  That's so late 90's.  To be fair, I turned around and asked him nicely, though with a little bite in my voice, to stop kicking my seat.  After I turned around, I could hear him and his girlfriend giggling.  Not two minutes later, the kicking started again.  I chalked the first two kicks up to an accident, then after the third one, I was quite a bit more stern when I turned around.  He sure didn't giggle after I was done.  And, bonus, he hauled booty out of the theater after the movie was over. 

That's a huge reason I don't go see mainstream movies at the theaters around here.  Jerks are just amplified.  It is NOT hard to remember to turn off your cell phone, let alone not answer it and talk on it.  It's not hard to shut up and just watch the movie.  It's not hard to leave your age-inappropriate children at home with a babysitter.  And please, for goodness' sakes, don't ruin the movie for hundreds of other people if you can't afford the babysitter. 

This is why I see mostly indie movies.  Not a whole lot of people there, and those who are there are there for the enjoyment of the movie and have respect for the other people there.  Most of them aren't there because their parents gave them a 20 to get out of the house.

4/17/04 - YAY!  My daddy signed my guestbook!  Now all four of my parents are on there!  Thanks, parents!  Somehow, we have to get my mother in law on there...  It's my fault Drew hasn't updated... I'm usually on the computer so late that he can't get on.  Anyway, more later, I'm going on a date! 

4/16/04 part deux - So I went to Costco and did some chores and lunch, and the screeching started again, so I ran outside to catch the scene.  It was pretty cool.  Stunt drivers galore, tire marks all over the street, near-crashes, nail-biting...  I got the inside scoop from a guy in the crew trying to keep people from walking down the street into the scene.  Nice guy.  So for those of you that watch "24," whenever Jack and the anti-terrorism squad (or whatever they're called) in their big black SUVs chase a bad guy in a Leganza (or something similar) onto the lawn of a highschool and the bad guy jumps out of the car and runs in the building and Jack runs after him... and then all the subsequent scenes at that building... that's what I just watched.  Now I gotta start watching "24"

4/16/04 - Downside to filming on my street... For over an hour now (it's 10:05 am), at least every five minutes, someone is filming a screeching tire car scene.  Over and over and over again.  Every five minutes, screeeeeeeeeeeech. 

Bet that won't happen in Forest. 

Can we have a couple chickens, too?  It'd save us a couple bokbokboks on eggs.  How about a goat?  Frank has some, they're not baa-aa-aad.  I looked up cattle prices, and I'm seeing bulls for anywhere from $1000 to $2500.  Dairy heifers have to be less than that, right? 

There went another screech.  It's 10:12.  Good times.  Maybe I'll shut up and go watch it or something - that'd be pretty cool.  Yeah, I'll do that.  Bye!

4/15/04 - Drew, my dear, it seems we've created addicts.  Six people told me today alone to update the website.  That's so cool.  Sorry it took so long, but surely I update much more than my cousins.  I added new advice to my advice column - thanks to Anonymous for the scandalous fodder.  Also, my modest man added some commentary to his web journal that's pretty educational.  He's so smart. 

Item one on my "Things You'll Never See in Forest, Mississippi" list.  Today, I was driving to the grocery store to pick up things for my Portobello cap pizzas, and who do I see across the street but my old friend Kiefer Sutherland chillin' on the front lawn of the high school.  For those of you who don't know, there's a high school across the street from my apartment that's very popular for small-screen sets.  "Joan of Arcadia" and "Boston Public" film there regularly, "The O.C." has filmed there a few times, "Beverly Hills, 90210" used to film there, and just today, "24."  I also caught a cell phone commercial that was filmed there.  I wonder if Kiefer's ever been to Forest.  "Whut tha hail kinda name's Keefer?  C'mere, Bubba John Jill-Bob, learn this Yankee a real name!"

I got in a yelling match yesterday with a mailman who doesn't speaka-the-ingles very well.  At least once a week, I get my mail crammed into my mailbox and often have to rip it out as it's trapped in a little space between the mailbox and the wall.  He said the mailbox is too small.  I couldn't care less how small it is - it's big enough to fit the 3 legal sized envelopes and 1 ad he crammed in there to where they were beyond recognition.  I told him he's ripped birthday cards and bills in half.  I showed him a snarled credit card offer and asked him "What if this is my tax-rebate check?"  "Ees no your rebate chek."  "What if it were?"  "Ees not.  Ees terd class mayl."  "IT'S MY THIRD CLASS MAIL, AND YOU'VE DONE THIS TO BILLS!"  I then demonstrated how he could easily fit my mail into my mailbox, along with several ads that were sitting in my apartment building's community mailbox, if he'd just take a second out of his union break to do it carefully (I didn't say "union break").  He told me he wouldn't deliver my mail anymore and would leave it at the post office.  I told him that was fine, as long as they didn't rip it in half.  Apparently, he was my regular mailman's relief guy.  My regular mailman talked to me about it today and told me they'd be more careful, but we must make sure to take the mail out every single day.  Whatever.

I got my cool new t-shirt today.  Everyone should buy one of these.   Ta!

4/12/04 - Why is it that...

...there are so many handicapped parking spots at Costco?  How often does the guy in the wheelchair get 60 pound bags of cat litter and haul it out to his car?  How does the old, old lady that walks with a cane load her twenty cans of Metamucil into the cart, let alone into her car? 

... cats always pick the moment you step out of the shower to rub against your leg?  Don't cats hate water? 

... my neighbors don't realize that the more they leave the laundry room lights on, the more our landlord will charge us for rent? 

Enough of that.  I called some Forest realtors today and only got in touch with one.  He said he sold a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom house on 6 acres for $40K.  He said he's got a really nice, 5 bedroom, 3 bathroom house on another 6 acres for $150K.  But he says a nice starter home, a first home for young couples, would be around $70-80K.  Wow. 

Funny, out of context quote of the day:
 wondergurl 007: oh man, i love goats

Tomorrow is Ringo's birthday, and as I generally do my updates at night after the good people of Louisiana have hit the hay, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RINGO!! 

4/11/04 - Happy Easter!  I had a pretty good weekend, overall.  Babysat my adorable goddaughters, hung out with some good friends and...

HE GOT THE JOB!!!  Can ya believe it?  I know this isn't good news for our California friends, but most of them understand.

A little educatin':  We'll be moving to Forest, Mississippi.  It's right between Jackson and Meridien, about 40 miles from both, give or take.  It's about 3 and a half hours from New Orleans and Drew's mommy, about an hour and a half away from my mommy, and about 8 hours from my daddy.  I can visit them any time I want.  Right now, we are at least 24 hours away from any of our family, or at least a $700 plane ticket in an emergency. 

Look at the house prices in Forest vs. El Segundo.  Forest is so rural that I'm having a hard time finding out current house prices.  But you get the idea. 

Drew said his mom sounded like a gospel singer when he told her the news.  My mom was quite a bit more subdued than she normally would have been, as she was standing in the middle of a Dillard's.  I could still hear her and Jennifer going "Eeeeee!!" as is their way.  I can't wait to get back so I can start going on these shopping expeditions with my sister for her wedding! 

Anyway, so good news for us and our family, bad news for our California friends.  Thanks to our California friends for understanding.  That's all for now!

4/9/04 - Ohh, babe, very funny with the asterisks.  You understand that since we're married, they're community property, and if I knew how, I'd knock 'em out?  But harumph, I won't. 

Anyway, I'll be out of town until tomorrow night, with no hopes of updating the website until then.  In fact, I shouldn't be here now, since I still haven't packed, showered, or anything, and I have to leave here in an hour.  And by packed, I mean all my toiletries.  And by all my toiletries, well, that's nothing to sneeze at.  Shampoo, conditioner, eye-makeup remover, cleanser, toner, moisturizer, facial medication, zit cream, lotion, alcohol, gel, hairdryer, and 2 brushes.  Drew once looked at my toiletries bag and said he could replace all of that with a bar of soap.  Hmph - how would he remove his eye-makeup with a bar of soap, I'd like to know.

So Happy Easter, everyone, since I won't be back till then!

4/8/04 - P.S. I posted some more pictures on the friends site from my last day work.  Look at 'em quick, they'll be the only pictures you ever see where you can see my braces.  Much love to Amye for the pictures.

4/8/04 - What a day.  I went with Terri to pick up her brother's fiancée from the airport.  This poor girl couldn't get three steps without covering her mouth to stifle her sobbing.  It's been like this for her since Monday, and she's got a LONG way to go.  She has to bury the man she built her dreams around, the man she planned on spending the rest of her life with.  The only thing I really heard her say was "You never got to see us together."  Please, people, go hug your significant others.  Go hug anyone around you that means anything to you, let them know how much they mean to you. 

FORTY of our soldiers have died this week.  Forty.  4-0.  It's only Thursday.  That's forty significant others whose dreams and futures will come crashing down around them.  Forty dads and forty moms who will have to call their friends and say "My child is dead."  Say it out loud, "My child is dead."  Forty dads and forty moms (and quite a few stepparents) will have to see their children in coffins and being lowered into the ground.  Many more than forty sisters and brothers are going to have to hug the shoulders of the loved ones of the deceased and hold them as they sob, all the while trying to hold back their own grief.  I watched Terri do that today.  And that's JUST this week alone.  Please understand that.  Almost 650 soldiers have died since the beginning of the war, and nearly 200 since Saddam's capture.  Someone tell me, honestly, why in the world we're staying over there.   Why are we sacrificing our soldiers for a country that has never and will never do anything for us but continue to hate us? 

Terri thanked me for writing these things and asked me to keep on writing them.  You got it, sister.  

Everyone else, please see below for instructions on how to contact the President. 

4/7/04 - A shout out to my long-lost cousin Nina.  I got to e-mail with her today for the first time and it was pretty awesome.  Another shout-out to the 3 out of 4 parents and 4 out of 5 siblings who have signed my guestbook.  Get the lead out, the rest of you.  Okay, I guess my brother has an excuse, I don't think I've even told him about the website.  Most of our New Orleans friends haven't signed either, much to my disappointment.

Please tell me you've all seen the Burger King commercial where the hot girl orders a sandwich with extra mayo, then licks the mayo off of the mouth of the geek who obviously ate her sandwich, then the second geek goes "Baaaaaaaaaaaa" in this semi-growl.  Funniest commercial around.

As many of you know, I have 6 piercings and one tattoo, with aspirations of more of both.  This is a little further than I would ever go.  YeGADS.  I'm blinking just imagining it.

So I didn't add any pictures today, but did add a link to my Cousin Nina's book to our links page.  If you're nice, I might ask her to autograph it for you. 

4/6/04 - Hey hey hey, I did not approve a trendy asterisk.  Are we a team here??  Besides, it's unnecessary.  An asterisk means there is something sinister behind it's host statement.  Nothing sinister on this page.  Tomorrow, when our faithful readers have seen the asterisk and agreed with me, I will take it down.  I'm also making changes to the changes you made to my original changes.  Watch out, folks, it's fi'in to get ugly. 

Also, we added a bunch of family pictures (of my family, his family pictures are rare) and a few friends pictures.  Seriously, we have more friends than that, but I can't find pictures I *know* I have.  I'm gonna rummage through the garage tomorrow.

4/6/04 - Happy anniversary, Rob and Charity!  Love you both!

Okay, yesterday was quite the rollercoaster for a lot of people.  But *I* specifically have to move on.  I can't imagine my little brother being gone, I just have to treasure every moment I have with him, and my sisters, and my parents, and everyone else in my family, for the rest of my life.  That, and I need to be strong for my friend, and there for her.  She knows I'm there, but I gotta start being strong. 

I can do anything through Christ who strengthens me. 

4/5/04 - My first entry on the rants page is up.

4/5/04 - So I'm sorry to start this update with bad news.  My close friend's brother was killed in Iraq on Saturday.  Look for a rant by the end of this evening.  If you're the praying kind, please keep Terri and her family in your prayers.  The guy was supposed to be home in 10 days.  He had a fiancee.  Had sisters, parents, nieces, nephews, grandparents... they all have to find out he's dead.  Rest in peace, brother.

E-mail President Bush using the following idiotic system:  https://sawho14.eop.gov/PERS?verified=1

Call him:  202-456-1111

Write him:  President Bush, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC 20502

Fax him:  202-456-2461.

Let him know you want your troops home NOW.  NOW.  This didn't have to happen.  Saddam is GONE.  Our troops have no more use there.  BRING THEM HOME.  

4/4/04 - Happy birthday Vicki!  I know I told you kinda late, but hey, hope it was great. 

Many much thanks to everyone for signing our guestbook, you folks are crescent fresh.  I must remind everyone that I do have an advice link up there, and can dole it out with the best of 'em. 

Drew and I watched Mona Lisa Smile yesterday.  I gotta say, I really liked it.  VERY educational.  I think I would have been just as "radical" as Julia Roberts' character was.  I shudder to think of what was expected of women back then, it's horrifying.  Can you say door mat?  We've come a long way, ladies.  Good job. 

I know I've said this a lot, but I promise I will put more pictures up this week.  I have a friend in town, so I have an excuse.  Yeah.  Scanning takes SO long.  Sorry.  Mwah!

4/2/04 - Happy birthday Emily!  And, HUGE congrats on passing the Louisiana bar, Ronnie, you ROCK!!!  Party next weekend at The Fox and Hound!

So in case y'all hadn't noticed, I did work on a few things last night.  I put up some pictures in the goddaughters section, and I thought we added some to the vacations section, but I guess Drew forgot to upload them and I don't know how.  This website stuff is seriously not easy.  Sorry, come back soon.  I also doled out some sage advice in my advice section for my boy Craig.  I promise I'll get some more family and friends pictures up there ASAP. 

Enough with the updating for now - Melanie from the SLC is coming for a visit tomorrow and I have to wash the layer of cat hair off of the guest bed linens. 

E-mail Drew and tell him to get with the "who he be" page.  He doesn't like talking about himself.  We all like hearing about him, right?

4/1/04 - Forsooth!  My man's pretty funny.  But seriously, folks, all y'all signin' my guestbook makin' me all faklempt.  It's fabulous.  The Cristi from the 'dell is extra cool.  Especially being first to sign our guestbook and all.

I have my own shout out to make - to Dave and Danielle reppin' the Hammond front.  Happy anniversary, you two crazy kids!  Enjoy his week of leave!  Kandahar sucks! 

I'm gonna add some more pictures tonight after we dine.  They'll be vacation and goddaughter photos; still looking through family pictures for some good ones.  And the scanner's not working.  Honeyyyyyyyy!