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last day of 30.

The new job is pretty exciting - I’m actually already starting to participate in meetings and actually have had a few meetings where I was the main support staff - you know, the one they ask all the questions…

I think it will be alot easier for me to jump in and get my feet wet in by just getting into the projects, I seem to learn alot faster that way, so I’m excited that I’ve gotten my first true project - hopefully I can finish it extremely quick and get on the board.

I don’t think the job is going to be a problem for me to shine in, I do think it will present a new challenge on a daily basis… which is great for me, that’s what I like!

So, tonight is my last night as a 30 year old - funny, i had forgotten about my birthday all together until my aunt mentioned dinner the other day… I guess in all the hustle and bustle it just isn’t that important - sucks that I’ll be solo on it - but, what can you do?

/off to get some chocolate chip cookies!

Time Off

So I’ve been a tad bit busy, haven’t really had (or made) the time to blog. Here’s the latest and greatest in the life of yours truly.

Got a new job (same company)
Moved to Dallas (for now, Ft. Worth when family is here)
Started new job and life adjustments…

All I can say is “WOW” - what a change. The job is cool, lots to learn and do, and tons of meetings all the time… like 1000 times more than I’m accustomed to. I am now a part of a true team where there are members that really have knowledge and aren’t just beating around the bush in order to make it look good. These people are genuinely intelligent. I shall learn a lot, this is for sure. It is much different than what I’m used to – a lot of these tasks are based on knowledge, so I have to shift from knowing how to do a lot in ArcMap/Info to having to figure out how this complex piece of software is put together.

The living in Dallas thing is pretty cool – lots more to do here, and I have a lot of friends up here as well, one thing that is bothersome is that my family isn’t here yet… I miss them terribly, even though they were up here this weekend… It is amazing how your life changes with family – Before I got married, I would have loved to be up here solo – but now, it just makes everything seem temporary…

Anyway, that’s what I’ve been up to, and doing… so now you have an update, how about that?

Is it November already?!

man, i’m gonna have to get on the ball here - I can’t believe we’re already half way through Nov. and I don’t know where it all went.

I had to postpone the training for the 5k for several reasons - the most important would be the sinus infection to bronchial infection i’ve somehow picked up - can’t quit coughing and so I can’t run that far only taking half breaths… I’ll pick it back up when this gets a little better…

I hope alls well with everyone, and i’m super excited for the holiday season - my favorite time of the year!

And our prayers to the Adams family in this time of loss.

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Thirty was so strange for me. I’ve really had to come to terms with the fact that I am now a walking and talking adult.

C. S. Lewis

Election Results

Well, finally - the presidential election is finally over, and Obama has won in a landslide.

I’m not sure exactly how I feel about this - I really feel that we were forced to vote for who we thought would be the “less bad” person in this election. I still am not on the Obama kool-aid, and have my doubts about his ability to truly bring about the change we need. Some of his proposed programs really scare me like crazy. Had McCain won, I would have had to say the same thing.

I guess we’ll see what is to come as the transition takes place after the holidays - I am really hoping that the economy will at least stablize a little bit - at least we are not uncertain about who will be the president.

Now, we just have to endure the next 2 weeks of analysis of the election and all that crap, then maybe we can get back to a somewhat normal holiday season - it is, after all, my favorite season!

Whatever you do today (Americans)

GET OUT AND VOTE!!

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The “temp” roof, as seen from my box.

C25K - W1D3

I have to admit, I’ve not yet completed my W1D3 workout - with all the travel i’ve been doing, I haven’t made the time to do the running - Sooo - i’m going to be doing that tonight. And might even start the next week just to stay on track in my training.

I know, I know - I haven’t been hardcore enough - but with all that’s going on - I can only do what I can do…

In other news, by this time next week, I should have enough travel on my rapid rewards card to get a free ticket to somewhere… heh. Hopefully I’ll have some better idea of the real happening…

In yet another bit of news, they finally finished the roof in our office - smells like fresh wood. I’ll take a pic later and post it - it isn’t exactly a “finished” look…

Be blessed.

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So, some genius decided to remove our atrium glass and leave the roof open - umm - a cold front blew in last night so I’m sitting in an office that is about 38°F - shivering and wondering what the heck they were thinking…

I am dumbfounded. I don’t understand it - not one bit.

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2nd Annual PNR United Way Putt-Putt Championship - October 22, 2008

So every year 2 co-workers and I end up producing a 9 hole putt-putt course to raise money for United Way. Today was the day - we stayed up here till about 9pm last night putting all the holes together - and printing off all of the graphics and whatnot…

Turns out, people really love it. All day we’ve had teams of 2 going off the tee’s and I’m telling you, all of the giggling and whatnot is amazing. I didn’t realize how much people really liked it. We have received tons of thank yous from everyone… At the day’s end, we raised right at $700 towards United Way. We had a great time doing it as well…

I’ll post pictures when they become available.

C25K - W1D2

for starters, lets define that title.

C25K = Couch to 5k meter run.

W1D2 = Week One, Day Two.

Having defined that - Last night I ran my 2nd day of running. Again, I felt great after I got going and when I finished. My calves were pretty much cramping up on me immediately, and my left foot was hurting, but that’s to be expected when I’m just now coming back into the running thing. All in all, I had a great experience.

The podcast really makes it easy and I don’t have to worry about the timing, and the music included is pretty high intensity techno type music - I like it, but I wouldn’t mind creating my own tracts to run to… that way I could change it up a little bit more and add my own flava to it.

I felt great afterward and again wanted to do more, but I held back my will so I could ensure I wouldn’t get burnt out - I really want to make this a great thing for exercise and health, and I don’t want to over do it and give myself a reason to back out of it. I’m actually really looking foward to next week where the running will be a little more intense… as of right now, i’m actually only running about 7 to 8 minutes - the rest of it is briskly walking.

I like how the program eases you into it, and leaves you wanting more. Anyway, that’s all for this workout - more to follow. Have a blessed day.

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This about says it all, regardless of your chosen party…

Cool Running :: The Couch-to-5K Running Plan

http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml

This is the running plan I’m following.

C25K - Day One

So today we started our first actual workout of C25K. We’re using a treadmill since we have a huge sticker problem out here in the ‘Wood… Anyway, having played soccer for a good 9/10ths of my life, I really never thought I’d be this out of shape. I mean physically, I’m not so bad, but my cardio really sucks! But once I got going, I really started getting into it. I finished my first workout without any injuries and actually feel great! It’s been a while since I’ve done ANY running, so this is kinda getting back to the basics/roots for me.

I’m using Robert Ullrey’s podcast designed specifically for the program I’m running. The levels could be adjusted a bit to make his voice a little clearer (the music kinda overtakes his bits). But all in all, it’s a great way to run, as I don’t have to look at a watch to know when my intervals kick on and off. He did a really great job and I know alot of people have used his podcast to get started in running.

For more information about the Couch to 5k, or C25K, visit coolrunning.com and check out the program! It’s set up for ANYONE to get started in running and living a more active lifestyle. Really cool program, and I’ll keep updating as the program goes along - my goal is to enter a jingle run in december  - 5k of course.

Law of the Garbage Truck

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport.  We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly. So I asked, ‘Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!’ This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, ‘The Law of the Garbage Truck.’

He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they’ll dump it on you. Don’t take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don’t take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets. The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day.

Life’s too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so…

Love the people who treat you right. Pray for the ones who don’t.

*Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it!

Have a blessed, garbage-free day

A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle!  Stay Blessed

My Own Worst Enemy

it’s a new TV show on NBC - I saw all the previews leading up to the pilot show - and I was intrigued. I set my DVR to record it - and although it received some pretty bland reviews, i am extremely glad I recorded it. GREAT SHOW, in my humble opinion. It is an idea that we’ve not seen, very cool story line, and for me, the winner is that it is all up in some espionage scenarios - one of my favorites.

I really don’t understand why it got negative reviews (http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman2/publish/Overnights_50/So-so_premiere_for_NBC_s_Own_Enemy.asp), I thought it was excellent - I’m assuming it was because it’s competing with other shows people are already into during that time slot - and I’m not saying you should stop watching your regular shows, but if you have a dvr - go ahead and record it - it’s pretty good and well worth your time.

The Associated Press: Fact check: Obama, McCain twist records

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hOOD000tWEGMjBjPdmkth_gX5hPAD93M45U00

For those of you that watched the 2nd debate last night, this is a good read from BOTH sides… I did watch it last night - I wasn’t planning on watching it but my wife really wanted to, and to be quite honest, there wasn’t much else on.

My biggest observation is how comparable this situation is to the Bush/Gore & Bush/Kerry - McCain is quite a bit better than Bush as far as his speaking goes, but Obama is just like another Slick Willy - the dude is charismatic and I can see how he has built his bandwagon - the Bill Clinton way!

All in all, I thought it was pretty boring, i was hoping there’d be a bit more aggression - but there wasn’t…

VP Debate Tonight

So I was really assuming that I’d really get into this election; the last one I was almost stupidly into it, I mean like obsessed with it. I don’t know if my situation or mood or what is dictating my interest in it, but I’m telling you, I am fading on it quickly.

Politics from my point of view, as of right now: Since both parties have nominated their choice, both candidates are really right in the middle. I mean seriously, there are a few issues in which they are on opposite sides. From the right, you have constant attacks on the liberal candidate, true or not, it is a lot to deal with if you are trying to keep up with it all; and from the left, you have nothing but BS coming out over there about the right.

I remember two elections ago, I got into it pretty heavy with a buddy of mine from the Maine area, he’s a staunch liberal, and no matter what he doesn’t care about the actual candidates, it’s just all about the donkey or the elephant for him - sadly, since that time, we’ve not been near as good of friends, in fact, the only time i ever even talk to him is during our annual fantasy football league; and even then there is no kinda good convo’s like we used to have.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve really tried to distance myself from the actual label of democrat or republican. Truth be known, in that instance I’m more conservative than I am liberal; however I think there are some issues that I completely disagree with the republican side on - don’t get me wrong, I’m not the guy that’s blindly drunk the obama kool-aid - I know ALOT of people that are on that band wagon and actually go back and forth with one of my closest friends on a weekly basis, discussing all of this, and he’s all about Obama. I’m still not sure about him, in all honesty, I don’t think the guy has the experience needed to be a president; on the other hand, I don’t think you could find a more qualified person than McCain to lead the country - long track record and even went through the Vietnam war as a POW. That’s intense man - BUT, I don’t agree with his “solutions” either…

*S i g h*

I really think we need someone like Ron Paul to come in and revolutionize (or unrevolutionize - however you wanna see it) our nation. You want “CHANGE” - the two proposed candidates are not going to do the true CHANGE that everyone is bandwagoning for. Neither one of these guys is going to truly change anything - sure there might be some policy differentials, but that’s expected, liberal or conservative - different person is in office, there has to be some kinda change - I just don’t see any of the changes these guys are presenting to truly help the country - on one side you’ll get pretty much more of the same sort of thinking, and on the other side you are going to get a shift in taxes - none of them really going down, just shifting from who pays them now - and in my opinion those changes could damage our economy more so than how it is already…

You can fact find all you want, from both sides - but I would be willing to bet the farm that no matter who gets in, it isn’t really going to be the CHANGE that we are really needing.

ANYWAY - that’s my rant on the politics for today - I’m just sick of all the hub-bub about these two guys, like either one is REALLY going to provide any sort of long-term valuable change… shifts maybe - but no true change. Maybe that’s why i’m falling out of the whole political arena these days - once the primaries are over - it pretty much proved to me that people are more about comfort zones and bandwagoning than the true issues.  Just my two cents, not that anyone cares.

On different note: I get to go play in a golf tourney today - so that’s going to be nice to get out of the office and play some golf. Never will hear me complaining about that one!

Wednesday - the hump is here

here’s your chance, here’s your chance, do the hump!

Alright stop what you’re doing,

cause I’m about to ruin

the image and the style that you’re used to.

Yeah - it’s that kinda day.

Over the past weekend, I didn’t get much quality sleep, being in a cabin with millipedes and the like everywhere and the springs scratching my back for me - it wasn’t good sleep. Now, I’m getting a little older than before and I’m noticing, after a late night or night of less than optimal sleep, it sure does take me a long time to recoup. I mean I’m hurting as far as staying awake…

I think maybe a plan is in formation - and that’s a good thing. Now, if only i can do the house thing… that’ll set us up for greatness.

Happy Hump day… you know what that means!

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well, it’s been quite a non-event week … I haven’t really done much outside of work and sleep, although I feel a little better now that the sinuses have settled (somewhat). I’m really feeling quite “blah” - and i’m not sure why, I mean it’s no big deal, I just am not really excited about anything at present.

Ahh well, i’m sure it’ll change… It always seems to. I don’t mean to sound depressed, because I’m far from that - I’m just really not sure what the deal is. I feel … … … calm (?) like really peaceful. Which is good. But usually i’m a bit more high strung than this… I like calm though, I think it’s pretty … … calm. heh.

Anyway, no new news on the housing situation - I know that if it isn’t sold by the time our contract runs out with the Realtor, we’re just gonna pull it and sit till next selling season (April or so)… no biggy, I just think we missed the market like nuts. We’ll see what happens on that front.

Although, that’s gonna put a damper on my “studio” purchase… but we’ll work it out.

Have a blessed weekend, see you next week.

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The Bushido Code: The Eight Virtues of the Samurai | The Art of Manliness

http://artofmanliness.com/2008/09/14/the-bushido-code-the-eight-virtues-of-th...

very cool article.

Rain, humidity, and yes Tommy, MOIST air.

Say that out loud 10 times in a row “MOIST”. I sit here, laughing about that, it just strikes me as funny, I won’t give away anything, but I find it very humorous and I find myself saying the word as often as possible.

Anyway, it seems with all the hurricane action, it has sent a large amount of wet air towards us out here in west texas - always a welcome pattern, especially when we’ve had a drought season like this summer… Although, the Tipton clan out here doesn’t do well in sustained wetness - all 3 of my kids and myself have a “whooping” cough… I have tons of drainage now, so mine is more sinus/allergy than anything, but the sore throat is what gets me. It’s so raspy, no matter what i do, I feel like i need to clear my throat… sucks.

Worse than that - my 5 year old girl can’t hardly talk because of the hoarseness in her voice - I always call her my lil’ mouse anyway, so with this she’s really the ninja. Ninja Mouse is what my nickname for her is. she’s a cutey. Luke is coughing like you wouldn’t believe - it’s hard to imagine that sound coming out of such a lil’ guy… he doesn’t seem to feel too bad, always bouncing around and whatnot… but he’s tough like that.

Tay is just stopped up - i think she’s kinda like me, doesn’t feel good, can’t sleep, but not bad enough to warrant a trip to the doc - she doesn’t like going. She is a tough kid as well. Good kids. I feel very blessed to have the children God gave me - they are awesome and alot of joy in thier dad’s eye.

We had an open house yesterday - nothing really productive, but we did have some people come out just to see our concrete stained floors - and they loved ‘em, wanted to see who did the work, so they could hire ‘em… umm - no thanks, I did them myself and I’m not doing them for someone else unless it’s my Brother or my dad…

Happy week  — it’ll end on Friday with a company golf tourney — that’s fun. I hope everyone has a blessed week and stays well.

Ike who?

So apparently after having 0 rain for the entire spring and summer, we’re entitled to double our yearly rainfall in the fall (summer?) out here in West Texas. I mean I like it and all - it is just flat amazing that we are getting so much.

Looks like Ike took out a family vacation of sorts that was going on this weekend… no one wants to spend the weekend in an RV with 5 little kids cooped up out of the rain and thunderstorms. hmm. ^_-

House is still on the market, no bites, even though we’ve lowered the price even more - not sure what the deal is - we haven’t even had any lookers in quite a while - I think Labor day marks the official end of the housing market for the year out here. It’ll happen, i’m sure, but I don’t know if we can handle the whole “ON-THE-MARKET-FOR-EVER” thing… we might have to pull it down.

Outside of that - things are wonderful, we’re hoping and praying for some new change in that same manner we’ve been talking about for quite a while now… WOO WOOO; if you know what I mean…

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had to repost this from ForgetFoo - had me rollin…!

Dance'n

So anyway, I have found at least a half beat to move to - i’m taking the bull and reaching for the horns - sooner or later, I’ll drag that badboy to the gound.

This week has been a week of a lot of work - i haven’t had time to eat, much less slack - so it makes it for a hard week - now, I get to go celebrate my son’s 3rd birthday, and hang out with the wife and kids - for a long weekend - I’m looking forward to that - we don’t have any major plans, we might hit up the movies or something - but we might just hang out with some PPV too - we’re crazy like that sometimes.

I sold the little honda civic - only got 1500 for it, she books out at about $2500 - but it’s a friend, helps them, helps me - all good. Glad to get rid of some insurance payment on that one - hopefully we’ll sell the hosue soon - we just lowered it by 10k - hoping it sells so i can successfully be debt free and a WHOLE lot more STRESS FREE!!!!!! I think that’ll help out tons with the day-to-day thing… I don’t know about where we’re going or what we are going to do - but I’m sure God will create a path. It’s all good.

Have a blessed weekend…

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The Rhythm

I can’t seem to get into my rhythm here lately - it seems like there’s always something putting a hitch in my get-a-long. From stress to engagements, there’s always something there. I’ve got to make some moves to find the beat that I run to. I think I’ve lost it in my adventurous being and I don’t like the feeling.

I think adventurous is alot of fun, but when you move into chaos, it starts to hurt a little. Here lately we’ve been making alot of moves and changes and I think it’s about time to settle down and dig in. I don’t mean to sound all cyptic, or deep mysterious - it is just coming out that way, at least to me.

Anyway, we had a nice uneventful weekend - well, uneventful except for Luke getting bit by something on his head and it swelling to the size of half an orange - that was a bit scary - but he’s good now.

We did watch a lot of Burn Notice on HULU - we’re watching all of season one so we can get more background on Season 2 as it happens. GREAT SHOW! if you haven’t checked it out - please do so - it’s a USA production - so head over there and check it out.

Football’s just around the corner; time to let those fantasy leagues rip!! Who you got in your top 10?

At least it's friday

So I’ve been so busy at work, and then so tired at home, i haven’t taken the time or energy to blog much - as the one person who usually reads my blog has been out of school and offline - I don’t know that it matters much anyway - but I have noticed I have a few other readers now, so that’s cool.

Anyway, things are fine, same old thing just working away in my little cube and waiting on some answers, as usual. It seems my work comes in huge waves - I mean there’s ALWAYS something for me to do - but last week it was a pretty slow week as far as work - a lot of people were out on their last hiatus of the summer, and so their map requests were low - THIS WEEK, however, everyone needs something, and most need a HUGE project done - Ahh well, it makes the days go by pretty fast, I guess.

I’ve been staying up too late every night watching the Olympics - I got sucked in - and I have to say - I find it very weird that China is the best at everything this time around - I know I’m not a conspiracy theorist - but still - how is it they are beating out all the World Champions in everything in the games which just so happen to be held in China?? Kind of peculiar to say the least.

Regardless, have a great weekend, and get some rest!

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Hump Day

Man, this week is turning out to be a pretty long week. It seems like the days are dragging on and I think I’m at the point where I’m pretty much ready for the fall season, cooler air and some sort of change. I know that’s very cliche, but what can I say.

Some random thoughts:

• Presidential election time always brings more FWs than i’m willing to read - I see both sides’ emails all day long. (very few of each side are really true)
• Having really true friends is a scarce thing these days. Sure, there’s always the guys you know, but those friends that would give the shirt off their back are rare.
• I haven’t gotten to use my boat near as much as I wanted to this year - that sucks!
• My grandmother is turning 86 this September, and she can still beat most of her grandchildren in an arm wrestling match.
• My brother is about to be back in school, which means he’ll email me more, which is good - easier to keep in contact as he can’t talk on the phone long because of his children.
• Speaking of my brother, I really think he has a HUGE future as an author - the stories in his mind are awesome. I hope he goes into some simplified Sci-Fi of what he does now - it would be a huge hit, no doubt.
• I beat my dad in darts two times last night.
• I gotta get a new helmet - just don’t know which one I want now…

I know - random and you probably don’t care, but that’s what I got at the moment.

Here’s to a great hump day for everyone.

Uncluttering

One of the biggest upsides, to me, of selling our house and moving is that we are going to HAVE to go through everything at least 2 times while we pack and unpack all our belongings. I like this idea because it allows us to really have a chance to ask ourselves about each item - Do we really need this? When was the last time we used this? Can we make it without?

I think it’s a great way to get rid of stuff we no longer need and all that makes our home cluttered. I know my oldest daughter will try and hoard everything, so we’ll have to sit with her and ask her the questions in order to help her make decisions on what to keep and what not to. I will probably purchase a hope chest for her, so she can keep the memory stuff she wants, but a lot of her stuff is clothes related - stuff she can no longer wear (or stuff given to her that her dad *ahem* won’t allow her to wear - hey! Some of the clothes girls wear now days are a bit “over the top” in my opinion, since I’m the dad, I get that responsibility).

As for the little ones, well we’ll just have to do that ourselves since they are still too young to decide - it’s funny, my middle daughter plays mainly with dolls and clothes (dressup), while my son  plays with Tractors and anything else besides toys - that kid will make a play toy out of PVC pipe I’m using for the sprinkler system, or a piece of scrap wood I’ve cut - his imagination is like my brother and mine back in the day - he couldn’t care less about watching TV - he wants to be outside playing… So I don’t think he’ll miss many of the toys we’ll give away - but the middle one, she’s all about her old toys - so i’m sure we’ll have a bit of a battle with her, but hopefully she’ll understand getting rid of the baby stuff and making room for the new stuff she’s bound to get as presents…

It should make for fun times while packing, that’s for sure! But it’ll make it alot easier to fit into another home and keep it from being a disaster area!

UFC 87 - Seek and Destroy

I was pleased with this past UFC PPV. There were several fights that were actually worth watching; unlike some of the other PPVs lately. I was really impressed with Jon Fitch’s ability to recover - he was rocked multiple times and I honestly thought the fight was going to be over several times during the first round - he did well. Having said all that - he got beat down - did you see the post interview pics? man, that dude took a beating.

GSP was looking great - His stand up is a whole new ball game now - I think the kick to the side of Hughes’ head really gave him some confidence in his ability - I really like watching him fight - he always pushes the pace and in my opinion, is a really classy and stand up guy. Hats off to him.

I’m actually looking forward to what comes from the throw-down challenge that Penn threw out post fight - I think it’d be alot better fight now, and after not being totally behind the judges’ decision the first go round - I would really like to see that fight; and throw in the fact that BJ is actually taking his fights seriously now - I think that would be alot closer than what all of my buddies are saying… would be entertaining to say the least…

In the other fights, I was happy that Kenflo won against Huerta, that was a good fight as well - but the one I’m VERY happy about is Lesnar beating Herring. I cannot STAND Heath Herring and it IRKS me how he puts “Texas” in his name - he’s one of those reasons jokes get started about Texans… UUHHHHGGG!

We had it at our house this time around - and it was alot of fun - glad we ended up getting it.

House Diary (entry #3)

So here we are at the two week mark in selling the house - to be honest, it isn’t going quite as fast as we thought it would - but I’m hearing that the market is finally slowing - so it is going to be a little slow, but we’re just getting going and looking forward to see what happens.

I’m not in a huge hurry anyway, as I really don’t have any clue as to where I’m going after this one - I can always go buy another house, but I’m not sure what or where that’ll be - there’ll be more on that at a later date (when I figure it out myself).

We are just letting things happen as they will - and figure it’ll work out how God wants it to anyway. I can tell you, it’s hard as crap to convince our small ones to not make messes all the time… hehe

Happy Friday, and be blessed!

A few tips on Smoking Meat

So this past weekend, we had several family members in for visiting including my wife’s twin sister and my niece and nephew, and my aunt and uncle. My step mother isn’t the best cook (I think she does just fine, but she doesn’t seem to think so) so on Saturday we stepped up to offer our services of smokin’ some ribs and a brisket.

For those that don’t know - it is an art to smoke the perfect meat - there’s alot more that goes into it when compared to just a straight BBQ and grilling meat. I’m not knockin’ BBQ or Grilling, I love to do both, but smoking takes more skill.

Since I’m relatively new (2 or 3 years) to smoking meat, I just wanted to share a few points of interest for the newbie. One of the biggest challenges of smoking meat is knowing the temperature range in which you should smoke - there are thermostats you can purchase that help you find this range, but in my experience, they aren’t always based on the best method, but more on getting the temp to a certain point to make sure the meat gets hot enough to kill off any bacteria - while this is important, it is also not the best way to get your meat that hot right from the start - you gotta remember, you aren’t grilling, and this is a process that takes HOURS, rather than minutes - the whole point of smoking meat is to infuse the flavor and slow cook the meat with non-direct heat.

The method I use is to get my charcoal/wood in and flaming, and try and keep the temperature around 165°F to 175°F. Once there, place the meat on the grills, and let the temp get back to where you want it, in this range. (Whenever you open the grill/smoker to put the meat in, you lose all of your heat). Once that’s done, you want to put in some water soaked wood chips, which help create a flavor smoke for the meat. At this point, I put a lot of wood chips directly on the fire and let the smoking begin - I will carry on with this for about an hour and a half - making sure a steady flow of smoke is all over the meat (quick tip: do not open the grill at this point, you’ll lose all of the smoke buildup you’ve just worked hard to get in there - you want so much smoke you can’t see the meat!)

Once you’ve accomplished that - go ahead and start raising the temp - I like to get mine to about 225 - 240°F for the remainder of the process.  I don’t like to stop the smoke, so I will constantly check the smoker and put in more wood chips as needed.

If you happen to start losing temp, don’t be afraid to add more charcoal or wood (whichever you are using - I use charcoal, personally) and allow that to catch so you can better maintain temp - you gotta remember, this process will take 4 to 6 hours - more sometimes - depending on how much meat, the type of meat, and how hot you maintain - so you don’t want to lose all of your fire, at some point you will HAVE to put in more fuel.

About 15 minutes before you are going to pull the meat, you wanna add any sauce you are going to apply to the meat (mainly BBQ sauce on pork ribs at my house) - this will allow the smoke to “harden” the sauce on the meat, allowing it to become some sticky goodness.

When you do finally pull the meat, you wanna let it set for about 15 to 20 minutes before you start carving - this will allow for more of the juice to be reabsorbed as well as some of the heat to leave so it’s not too hot to handle while you carve it.

Then throw down some of whatever sides you like along with the meat, and eat yourself into the stuffed state. I’m telling you, smoked meat will be some of the best “grilling” you’ve ever eaten.

Side Notes:

• I use an Oklahoma Joe’s Longhorn smoker - AWESOME grill/smoker! Highly recommended.

• Make sure and place a large bowl of water directly above the flame - some people say a bowl of water anywhere, but I’ve found you get a lot more moisture when you infuse the wood smoke with steam from the water - you might have to add more later, but it’s worth it!

OK, more tips in a future post, including meat preparation and types; as well as air flow through your smoker/grill… and a special note about preparing a brisket.

For more before then - check out my buddy’s BBQ Tips!

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Layne - my nephew, after a trip to the hospital with a broke leg. Poor lil guy - but I must say, even with a broke leg, he’s still one of the cutest lil’ guys around!

ikea hacker

http://ikeahacker.blogspot.com/

I LOVE ikea - this site has some pretty good ideas - some of them are a little silly - but there’s some good ideas…

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I’m noticing a slight increase in energy as the week gets closer to Friday… anyone know what that’s all about?

I’m thinking this weekend will be pretty cool - got my sis-in-law here with her kiddos, and my aunt and uncle are coming to visit - AND the house is on the market - should make for great times since we are smoking ribs on Saturday - and I bet people will start coming to look at the house - maybe the ribbage will entice them to offer more than the asking price! :)

The throat thing is still going on - not sure what’s causing it, though my wife told me she caught me snoring the crazy throat snore last night - so maybe that’s the cause? Who knows, but i’m sick of the burning feeling. It does seem to be getting a little better now, slowly but surely?

Here’s to having a great Thursday, selling the house, and hopefully finding out some info about some major moves I’ve got going…

House Diary (entry #2)

Ok, so we’ve finally finished most everything we needed to do on the house, the papers are signed, and we’re just awaiting a buyer. I think the official start is tomorrow or Friday - so we’ll see what happens.

It’s a big relief to actually be able to sit down after work and not worry about working or worrying about something that needs to get done. So now we have the worry of keeping the house clean/clutter free - which is quite the task considering 3 kids, 2 of which are younger than school age…

We’re excited and exhausted - ready for the payoff, that’s for sure - now if only a few other chips will fall in the right place - we’ll be off and running, and i mean running.

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Finally - our hay garden - you can also see my photo set on flickr here:

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The REAL Truth about PC vs MAC!

via ralree.com

Every show an infomercial? TiVo, Amazon ink purchase pact

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080722-every-show-an-infomercial-tivo-...

now, this is going to get really weird as far as watching TV goes… wonder how much it will interfere with normal watching?

House Diary (entry #1)

As we get closer and closer to the actual “putting on the market” day, I have started to realize how much work I’ve actually done on this house. From 2 years ago (and some months) when we first broke ground on this thing - it’s been an amazing experience experiement. I’ve learned so much about how it all goes together and the best way to accomplish alot of things.

Most of all, I’ve had a blast doing it. I’ve complained alot about all the work we’ve had to do - but that will go out the window when I realize the amount of money I’ve saved because of the choices my wife and I have made. I can’t tell you how many late nights we’ve had because of the work we needed to get done, nor can I tell how many conflicts I’ve dealt with because of contractor no shows or ineffeciencies… There’s been alot, and alot of time juggling doing it - but it’s taught me some valuable lessons about management and people. Lessons I’ll take with me from now on.

My family and I have made alot of memories during this whole “building a house” phase and I cherish them all - they’ve brought us closer together and have provided alot of teaching opportunities for us to teach our kids. I always say I am not married to a house, and would sell any one of them to make a profit (and I have, as this is the 5th living space we’re going to be selling in an 8 year marriage). But I will miss this house a little more than the other - mainly because so much of me is in this house - from the blood, sweat and tears we’ve put in it, to the negotiating deals on major costs, to the laughter and fun we’ve had while doing it all… I think about all these things and almost think about not selling it after all - then I get a friggin mortgage bill and forget about all that…

Hehe - anyway, I love the house that Tim & Jess built - but not enough to not get the profit we can make to help set us up for a great retirement and huge opportunities for our children.

This is the first post of a series I will be posting as we go through the housing process.

101 Self Improvement Resources

http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/101-self-improvement-resources/

(via zenhabits)

Google Docs Templates

http://docs.google.com/templates

I am a huge fan of Google Docs, and here’s a long list of templates for use with google docs - all free ;P

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The American Dream

A buddy I work out with always says something to the effect of “That’s right, I’m just living the dream”… I always laugh because this guy is one of those funny types - always a comedian. Good guy really…

But in all honesty, he’s young. He’s recently married, just put an offer on a house and just rolled up in his wife’s brand new Toyota Urban Highlander for about $30k. Now, I’m not claiming to know how much the kid makes or what his wife makes but in decisions they’ve made over the past 2 months, they are now roughly $250k in debt. And as of late, I would have to agree that they are living the “American Dream”.

My wife and I are fighting tooth and nail to get out of debt completely and not have all the black heavy clouds floating over us every paycheck as we write away all of our hard earned income… It is my dream to be debt free as fast as possible - my uncle always says that you’ll never be rich while paying interest on anything. I couldn’t agree more.

So it seems that the current American dream has turned away from being free and just living carefree, and is now get the biggest, most expensive anything, keep up with the Jones’ and lower your retirement savings contributions to almost nothing so that you can work longer, harder, and have the least amount of enjoyment possible while you claw through the last 30 years of debt you’ve accumulated.

Thanks, but no thanks! I don’t want any part of that dream - I love America and I am very much a patriot, but I can’t see where getting that much into debt is a positive thing. I am living the dream, but I guess not the American version - I’m living the Tipton Dream as it were.

I’m not meaning to dogg my buddy or what they’ve done, it just seems overwhelming that we accept going into $250k worth of debt in less than 2 months as the norm. I know they need a house, and there’s some things that you are just going to have to go into debt over, but it just doesn’t seem right. I am not suggesting that I have all the answers, but I know I want out of debt as fast as possible, and I know that it takes YEARS to get out of debt you got into with a 10 second signature. so as for me and mine, I’m selling my house and I’m not purchasing anything near a new vehicle until I can pay cash for it. That said, I’m blessed to be in a position to make enough money on the sale of my house to get out of debt - and get another house - but the fact is that the American Dream is a dream full of debt and dark clouds looming over those who take the bait.

I don’t know how to fix the problem of that Dream, except to say I’m not dreaming that one - I love my freedom, and that includes freedom from all kinda debt. If you are interested, I have several sites linked on the right that will give more ideas about money and how to manage it - And you might also look at the Dave Ramsey plan. I’m trying to learn how to manage my money, and I’m hoping all of you will too… We are going to have to strong arm this new version of the American Dream …

Be Blessed.

Comments

so - apparently my comments aren’t working as expected. I’ll see what I can come up with on that and get back to you. 

In other news, Big Brother 10 started up last night - I love this show, I actually kinda like it more than Survivor these days - at least they try and throw twists and turns in the game to make it a little more less predictable… and I like how it comes on 3 times a week - it really draws you in and makes it a part of your weekly routine.

Speaking of TV - does anyone have HD programming through DishNetwork? Lately, it’s like half my channels don’t work and end up throwing a “transponder” error… That kinda sucks, if you ask me.

So this weekend we got all the doors painted and all of the trim up and caulked - all that’s left to do is hang the door knobs, and touch up paint the baseboards! WOOOHOOOO! Next on the list is all of the media plates, which honestly shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours this week and then it is on to basically pack up the office and start moving some of the stuff out of the house… Once we get to that point, I’ll turn over the “staging” aspect of the house and move my efforts outside - time to make the outside look as good as the inside… ya know?

Have I mentioned how nice it will be to sell the house and get one already done? The pickin’s are slim though… we’ll see where God takes us.

Here’s to selling, finding, buying, and sleeping - have blessed week!

Solving Firefox flash no sound problem in Ubuntu Hardy!!! ?? Technozilla

http://technozilla.wordpress.com/2008/06/23/solving-firefox-flash-no-sound-pr...

Stuff-onomics: Hidden Side of What You Own | ThinkSimpleNow.com

http://thinksimplenow.com/clarity/stuff-onomics-hidden-side-of-what-you-own/

Here comes a flood of links for “lifehacks” and simplicity type stuff - this will be more for my review at a later date than anything, but feel free to check them out - some really great information!

30 Articles that Will Help You Simplify Your Life | Marc and Angel Hack Life

http://www.marcandangel.com/2008/07/03/30-articles-that-will-help-you-simplif...

I’m always looking for ways to simplify » these articles give alot of good ideas.

July 4th - on a lake

with 400 other boats on the dang lake. Man, now I remember why I don’t ever go to the lake on the “lake holidays” (by that I mean those holidays which are during the summer that most folks celebrate by going to the lake). We got to Lake Brownwood State Park on Wednesday morning, and there weren’t a whole lotta people there - it was nice and relaxing; even went out on the boat for a while and ski’ed and tubed… the next day the amount of boats on the water was probably doubled from the Wed. but you could still play around - by Friday and Saturday there were so many boats and so much traffic it was a constant wave of wake. It was like we were down on the coast again… crazy. To the point it was scary to let the kids get out of the boat because of all the boats going around us; and the fact that people out there have no common courtesy to slowdown or stay at least 50 ft away from your boat.

All in all, we had a really fun time and the kids all enjoyed it. I am glad we went - but I can assure you, I won’t be going again on a holiday - I’ll go during the off days/weekends so it won’t be so bad as far as over crowding. The camping was great and we had some good times there. I look forward to doing it again, soon, but not on a holiday.

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This is on Capt’n Frankie’s boat out in the Gulf Coast Bay area - this was the biggest redfish caught that day - man what a fight - it was truly alot of fun. I highly recommend Capt’n Frankie, if you are headed down to Port Aransas - You really need to set up a trip with him as well - LOADS of fun!

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one of the most awesome video’s I’ve seen in quite a while; an awesome song!

How I Paid Off $35,000 in Debt, and How You Can Too | Zen Habits

http://zenhabits.net/2008/06/how-i-paid-off-35000-in-debt-and-how-you-can-too/

This is a pretty nice layman’s terms way of the Dave Ramsey Plan - I’m a huge fan of this plan and highly recommend it.

Cellular Pop-corn

http://www.koreus.com/video/telephone-portable-mais-popcorn.html

you MUST watch this!!!

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Damien Franco dot Com

http://www.damienfranco.com/

Stumbled upon an old friend I haven’t seen since our high school days… 

108??F

Well, it isn’t too chilly down here these days… I think the lack of a cold winter is going to haunt us this summer - this week alone, we’re looking at 103°F to 108°F (TODAY)… UGGH. A trip to the pool looks like it might be in order!

Anyway, our trip to the beach in two weeks should be pretty hot as well.. I reckon that’s a good one…?

Stay cool. literally.

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Erin Elizabeth Tipton

6lbs. 3oz. 19 inches long 

Congrats Bro!

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man, time is flying by… Just about 3 more weeks until I’m off to the beach with the family - CAN . NOT . WAIT !!!

FIVE MINUTE MANAGEMENT COURSE

A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her shower, when the doorbell rings.

The wife quickly wraps herself in a towel and runs downstairs.

When she opens the door, there stands Bob , the nex t-door neighbor.

Before she says a word, Bob says, ‘I’ll give you $800 to drop that towel.’

After thinking for a moment, the woman drops her towel and stands naked in front of Bob , after a few seconds, Bob hands her $800 and leaves.

The woman wraps back up in the towel and goes back upstairs.

When she gets to the bathroom, her husband asks, ‘Who was that?’

‘It was Bob the next door neighbor,’ sh e replies.

‘Great,’ the husband says, ‘did he say anything about the $800 he owes me?’

Moral of the story:

If you share critical information pertaining to credit and risk with your shareholders in time, you may be in a position to prevent avoidable exposure.

Lesson 2:

A priest offered a Nun a lift.

She got in and crossed her legs, forcing her gown to reveal a leg.

The priest nearly had an accident.

After controlling the car, he stealthily slid his hand up her leg.

The nun said, ‘Father, remember Psalm 129?’

The priest removed his hand. But, changing gears, he let his hand slide up her leg again.
The nun once again said, ‘Father, remember Psalm 129?’

The priest apologized ‘Sorry sister but the flesh is weak.’

Arriving at the convent, the nun sighed heavily and went on her way.

On his arrival at the church, the priest rushed to look up Psalm 129. It said, ‘Go forth and seek, further up, you will find glory.’

Moral of the story:
If you are not well informed in your job, you might miss a great opportunity.

Lesson 3:

A sales rep, an administration clerk, and the manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp.

They rub it and a Genie comes out. The Genie says, ‘I’ll give each of you just one wish.’
‘Me first! Me first!’ says the admin clerk ‘I want to be in the Bahamas, driving a speedboat, without a care in the world.’
Puff! She’s gone.

‘Me next! Me next!’ says the sales rep. ‘I want to be in Hawaii, relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of Pina Coladas and the love of my life.’

Puff! He’s gone.

‘OK, you’re up,’ the Genie says to the manager. The manager says, ‘I want those two back in the office after lunch’

Moral of the story:
Always let your boss have the first say.

Lesson 4

An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing. A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, ‘Can I also sit like you and do nothing?’ The eagle answered: ‘Sure, why not.’

So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

Moral of the story:
To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.

Lesson 5

A turkey was chatting with a bull.

‘I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree’ sighed the turkey, ‘but I haven’t got the energy.’ ‘Well, why don’t you nibble on some of my droppings?’ replied the bull. They’re packed with nutrients.’

The turkey pecked at a lump of dung, and found it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree.

The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch.

Finally after a fourth night, the turkey was proudly perched at the top of the tree.

He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree.

Moral of the story:
Bull Shit might get you to the top, but it won’t keep you there..

Lesson 6

A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold the bird froze and fell to the ground into a large field. While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him. As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realize how warm he was.

The dung was actually thawing him out!

He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy. A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate.

Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.

Morals of the story:
(1) Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy.

(2) Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend.

(3) And when you’re in deep shit, it’s best to keep your mouth shut!

THUS ENDS THE FIVE MINUTE  MANAGEMENT  COURSE

Rain? What's that?

ok, so this morning I woke up to a sound i am unfamiliar with - sounded like a shower out side… hmm… wonder what it was?

Cowboys' New Stadium

http://stadium.dallascowboys.com/

Amazing!

Windy?

umm - is it just me or does it seem like the wind will not quit blowing out here in West Texas? It’s almost like Chinese water torture - it just WILL NOT QUIT BLOWING. I’m not talking 10 mpg either - this is horrible, like 20 to 30 mph DAILY.

I can’t wait for a break from the wind…

Sleep Texting - Dubz gets published

Congrats Dubz!

by Kathleen Thurber
Midland Reporter-Telegram

Published: Tuesday, May 6, 2008 8:02 AM CDTWhen James Cross’ wife goes out of town, he admits he’s at a loss for what to do with himself.

While a brief return to bachelorhood can be the opportune time to order pizza and watch the game without needing to balance out the pepperoni with a light salad and ESPN with HGTV, the delineation from the everyday partnership also can be enough to throw a spouse’s whole system out of whack.

For Cross, that can mean a flare of unusual sleep habits that have included the occasional unconscious jaunt around the house to more recently sleep-texting his wife while she’s away.

When his wife Shala was visiting a cousin a few months ago, he said, she sent him a message to see if he was asleep and though he was in fact deep into his sleep cycle, he sent her an admittedly illegible reply —thtroat —, he wrote, but an attempt at communication no less.

“I really don’t have any recollection of it,” he said.

See the full story here

Ubuntu 8.04

So i decided to take the plunge and upgrade my home PC from Ubuntu 7.10 to 8.04. Everything went fine, until it actually installed the files. Immediately, I had no connection to my network (or the internet). Everything showed up like it was supposed to, as far as drivers, hardware, etc.

I did everything I could find to do, including new terminal commands from suggestions in the ubuntu forums. nothing worked. UGG. THANKFULLY, the last time this happened, I put my /home on a seperate partition - so I can install / reinstall without losing any of my data - the problem is I lost all of my apps - alot of which I had compiled, and/or fiddled with to get working. This sucks. Stuff like this is why Linux has such a hard time going mainstream - I mean I’m a true geek, and it gave me trouble - …

I love Ubuntu and Linux for that matter, but sometimes it gets me just as frustrated as Windows did.

No Playoffs for the BCS

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (AP)—As it turns out, the Big Ten and the Pac-10 weren’t the only conferences standing in the way of a major college football playoff.

The Big East and Big 12 also made it known Wednesday that they were against moving the Bowl Championship Series in that direction, so the BCS rejected a plan to turn the much-criticized system for deciding a national champ into a four-team playoff, starting in the 2010 season.

The league commissioners opposed to the seeded plus-one plan presented by Southeastern Conference commissioner Mike Slive during five hours of meetings all said they were concerned a shift to that model would lead the BCS down a slippery slope.

“Even though we could construct barriers at this time, we felt like … there could be easily an errosion of that; more pressure to add more teams with an ability to get to the national championship game as we went over time,” Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe told reporters. “The system is under a lot of scrutiny that can result in pressure to add games. Our league is not favorable to a playoff system as a whole, and viewed this as the first step in that direction.”

Read the full story [here]. 

Ok, what drives me crazy about college football is that the system is broken. The BCS is a frickin’ joke. There are always 3 teams that “could” be the best, but based on rankings (mainly peoplel driven) at least one, sometimes two, teams are left on the back doorstep without a blanket in the middle of the Holiday season.

Playoffs work. Look at the basketball program playoffs. VERY successful. If they aren’t going to fix the BCS, then why do we even worry about rankings or anything else? Just play the games…

So, looks like we’re looking at a screwed up, unfair, and biased BCS until at least 2014.

UFC:Hughes return

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/28042008/58/ufc-london-set-hughes-return.html

Fans in London will get to see welterweight legend Matt Hughes begin his quest for an unprecedented third 170-pound UFC crown after accepting a fight against Brazilian banger Thiago Alves in the main event of UFC 85, which will be held at the O2 Arena.

 

The event was slated to feature Chuck Liddell against Rashad Evans, but Liddell was forced to pull out of the headliner after tearing a hamstring, being replaced by knockout artist James “The Sandman” Irvin.

UK superstar Michael Bisping will fight for the second time in two months when he takes on Chris Leben.

For Hughes (seen above), UFC 85 will mark his second trip to fight in the UK, following his fourth round TKO of Carlos Newton in defense of his welterweight title back in July of 2002.

Alves, who enters the fight fresh off a second round TKO of highly-regarded Karo Parisyan, knows that a win over the future Hall of Famer will move him right in line for a shot at current welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, and Hughes is ready for what may be one of his stiffest tests.

Thiago is coming off a big win against Karo Parisyan, so honestly, I’ll probably look to take him down, try to wear him out and get him a little slower because he’s got such quick punches, knees, and kicks, said Hughes.

I’m looking forward to seeing Hughes get back in there. Will be some great fights, including the Bisbing fight - that dude’s awesome - and I think Lazy Leben will get his butt handed to him on a silver platter. Can’t wait.

Quamut: the go to how to

http://www.quamut.com

has some great how to’s on a plethora of things… check it out.

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With weather like today, I really didn’t wanna get up with my alarm… We slept with the window open and the cool morning air was extremely pleasant. I really think I could have slept in till noon.

President 2008 Big Brother

On Sunday night, my wife and I sat down to watch one of our favorite shows, Big Brother (9). As we were watching, a lady bargained her way into the HOH (Head of Household) - which for those of you who do not watch, is the “POWER” of the house… she didn’t win outright, other than she bargained with the others to let her have the power. First off, let me just say, if I were ever on that show, I don’t care what someone offered, I wouldn’t “give” anything to anyone… I’d go as hard and long as I could. You can’t believe what people say in that house… c’mon, it’s been proven over the last 7+ years of the show…

Anyway, this player, Sheila, has done virtually nothing but ride the coat-tails of her “alliance” - she’s the one who cries all the time, and runs around ensuring she’s safe. Anyway, the HOH is pretty much handed to her, and the transformation of her with power is almost scary. This is not the first time we have noticed this - it is easy to see how power changes people. So with that in mind, my wife and I started discussing ways we could utilize this type of show.

Since we’re in the middle of the campaign trail, we were discussing how cool it would be to take all the candidates and stick them in the Big Brother house. First off, think of the money we would all save, as there wouldn’t be a need for all the TV ads, travelling, dinners, etc. We would have 24/7 access to watch them all and how they act in a stressful and strategic situation. But most of all, we would have the opportunity to see how they reacted with “Power” - We would have a HUGE insight to the TRUE person behind the candidacy. As it is, it is easy for most politicians to put up a facade for the short stints they are in theh public eye. Then they retreat to thier private planes and whatnot and we don’t know how they TRULY are.

I think it would be excellent to be able to see them at thier worst and be able see the real person all the time. It would give a 3 or 4 month 24/7 feed into the lives of those who are candidates for one of the most powerful positions on earth. It could be set up so that america watches and votes on the candidates, both who to put up on the block and who would eventually get cut from the “race”.

Think about the money that would be saved, and think about the straight up “Un-Spun” info you would have direct access to… what a concept, throw ‘em in there so we can REALLY see how power will corrupt.

Just a thought…

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“You want me to do WHAT?!”

Urinal

At work we have Urinals. no big deal, right? I mean every place that has a men’s restroom usually has them… The issue is that last week our cleaning crew decided to put some of those plastic things that hold the “rather large breath mints” in the bottom. Now, those are great at McD’s when you have a large amount of people using it - they tend to help with the stench of it all. The problem comes in when you have urinals shaped like the one’s we’ve got. Those little plastic things cover the entire “bowl” - yep, there’s no room for your stream - now about this time, all the women (1) are like “and…?” - well, the plastic things do nothing but splash back up at you, creating a situation where a man is effectively pee’n on himself… i don’t like to do that… personally… so i’ve taken a step or two back and let it fly… at least I’m not peeing on myself…

The Cycle

This past week, my wife’s Grandmother passed away. We happened to be up in the DFW area and things worked out so that I stayed with the children, and Jess went up to OK City for the funeral.

The whole thing got me to thinking about the cycle of life. I mean we see it more and more as we get older - I say we see it, what I really mean is we notice it. I guess I really had to start noticing it when my mom died when I was 15. Kinda hard not to, at that point; but it just goes to show you, we don’t have a lot of time here, and so we should maximize our time to the best of our abilities.

The Kenny Chesney Song Don’t Blink really hits home for me in this matter:

Don’t blink
Just like that you’re six years old and you take a nap and you
Wake up and you’re twenty-five and your high school sweetheart becomes your wife

Don’t blink
You just might miss your babies growing like mine did
Turning into moms and dads,

next thing you know your “better half”
Of fifty years is there in bed
And you’re praying God takes you instead

Trust me friend, a hundred years goes faster than you think
So don’t blink

mp3 or not

http://mp3ornot.com/

Success is a Choice

http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2008/03/24/is-success-a-choice/

Every single minute, you have choices in life. You can sit there twiddling your thumbs and reading TMZ or you can bust your hump getting a great project done on time. You can burn $30 at the bookstore, or you can go to the library and get those same books for free. You can spend your evening watching television, or you can use it to educate yourself.

Each choice you make doesn’t guarantee success. You could make the “right” choice every single time for thirty years and still not succeed, or you could make just one right choice and have success fall right on your lap.

What these choices do over a period of time is open up more and more doors for success in life.

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Thursday = Friday/TIM

Well, today is my friday - surely, it’s almost everyone’s friday since tomorrow is Good Friday. I’m planning on cutting the latter part of the day this afternoon - noone’s here at work, and to be quite honest, I need to go home and rest the ol’ back.

Last night we had a little fun easter egg hunt, with an egg on a spoon race and an egg toss. I don’t know who won, but it was fun none the less. The kids had a fun time, and even started flying kites - it was cool to see.

I think we’re planning on some smoked ribs on Easter Sunday - so that’ll be a great time. Just kicking back, watching some tv or a movie and playing with the kiddos.

Looking forward to seeing the DoubleDanger duo tonight, gonna hook up some hamburgers and other treats, and it’ll be nice to show off the house to them; and just hanging out in general, they are great friends of ours and we’ll enjoy seeing them.

Hope everyone has a great and safe Easter Holiday weekend, and I hope you realize what the day stands for and represents.

FreeRice

http://www.freerice.com/index.php

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stumble’d upon this - it’s a shot of the “courtyard” at our corporate headquarters in Dallas. Pretty sweet.

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The Finwikian

http://www.finwikian.com/index.php?title=Personal_Finance_Bloggers

I posted this particularly for JJ and myself. Maybe someone else will like it too.

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Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:13

Three Principles: PFin

http://blog.mint.com/blog/finance-core/three-principles-of-personal-finance-a...

March 9, 2008 - Minus 1 hour

I usually like the change from Standard to Daylight Savings - it just seems that we just got into the standard cycle though; which I always view as a way to get a little extra sleep, since it gets darker earlier - but here we are, right back into the savings aspect and there goes that “extra” time - I know it is more of an illusion than reality; but hey, I like that illusion.

I recently joined PaperbackSwap, DVDSwap, and SwapaCD - hence the new badges down there on the right. I think this is a really cool concept, and after doing the EBAY thing with alot of stuff, I think the books/CD’s/& DVDs will serve me better to swap ‘em for something i haven’t had. Really cool - if you happen to want to check it out, please use those buttons or put in timtipton as your referrer - so i can get some credits towards my swaps. ;P

Anyway, here’s to a relaxing Sunday afternoon …

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mainly for me, but some of you might find it useful.

Last But Not

http://lastbutnot.com/

BEFORE YOU DIE

http://www.readthisbeforeyoudie.com/

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I am a Christian, and I am a devout Christian. I believe in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe that that faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life. But most importantly, I believe in the example that Jesus set by feeding the hungry and healing the sick and always prioritizing the least of these over the powerful. I didn’t ‘fall out in church’ as they say, but there was a very strong awakening in me of the importance of these issues in my life. I didn’t want to walk alone on this journey. Accepting Jesus Christ in my life has been a powerful guide for my conduct and my values and my ideals.

Barack Obama
Christianity Today

Free Music = More $$$

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080305-reznor-makes-750000-even-when-t...

Reznor makes $750,000 even when the music is free

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(via kayfabe)

Leap Day

I’m about ready to take a leap into the weekend, that’s for sure. Anyway, looks like I’ll get to play a little golf tomorrow morning, and that’s always a good thing - then tomorrow night, it’s UFC at my house. Gonna be a busy, but really fun, day…

Anderson Silva fights Dan Henderson for the unification of the middleweight belts from UFC & Pride. I love watching Silva fight, that dude is friggin’ amazing.

For those of you in our Fantasy League - make sure you set up your picks.

I’ve really gotten the bug. Earlier in the week, Jess made reservations for a camping spot in the Lake Brownwood State Park for the 4th of July. I don’t know what it is about it, but I’ve got the bug to get going. I want to go fishing like crazy - and what’s crazy, is I suck at fishing! heh. I’ve gotta get on it and start rebuilding the top of the popup. I’ll post plenty of pictures when I get going on it… but first, i’d like to finish up my garage and get it ready to use as a makeshift shop… ya know? Man, so much to do, so much to say… crash into me! (my own little mashup, i know one person that’ll get it)

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Powerful. Wow.

Sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY!

Sunday was one of those days that you think back about and just hope that you have alot more days like that. It was a beautiful day (hey, the wind was only blowing 12 - 15 MPH) and just a really relaxing & peaceful day.

We spent most of it out on the back porch, rocking in the chairs while the kids ran around the yard playing about; I was on brisket duty, smoking one to perfection. I’m actually really getting the hang of it, although I think i need to build a “wind wall” to help me maintain tempature.

Anyway, we had my dad and his wife over, with my step-sister and just visited the entire day, and … man, we didn’t do much at all. It was just one of those days where you wanna crank up the radio with Ice Cube’s “Today was a good day“… ;)

I can’t wait for the summer, we plan on having days like this alot.

Big Brother - Couples

yeah, i just don’t wanna type out the whole name… anyway, it started up last week, I don’t think there’s ever been this much drama in a whole BB season, much less in the first week.

Entertaining, to say the least.

The reason for this post, is basically to ask James if he’s ever watched it because “RYAN” on there reminds me of James, like so much its almost scary… so Dubz, if you haven’t watched it yet, you need to tune in on Sunday, and check out Ryan - he’s like a spitting image of you, other than he still has hair and is a bit taller than you… ;P

Total Lunar Eclipse

http://www.spaceweather.com

There will be a total lunar eclipse tonight (Wednesday, February 20, 2008) - the last one until 2010.  Projections are that the moon will appear red and maybe even turquoise. 

• Partial eclipse should start here about 7:43 pm.
• Total eclipse begins 9:01 pm
• Total eclipse ends 9:51 pm
• Partial eclipse ends 11:09 pm

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Senator Hillary Clinton, on an airliner bound for Texas, finds herself seated next to a weathered older man in boots, a western snap shirt, faded jeans, and a cowboy hat.

Snickering, and thinking herself above the old cowboy, she decides to make sport of him.

“You know,” she says, “I’ve heard these flights go much more quickly if you strike up a conversation with a fellow passenger.  Let’s talk.”

The cowboy looks at her wryly and says, “Well I s’pose that’d be all right, m’am.  What’d ya like to discuss?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” says Hillary with a slight hint of sarcasm.  ”How about Iraq?”

“Hmm,” says the cowboy, sensing an attempt to perhaps belittle him.  ”That could be an interesting topic.  But let me ask you a question first:
Horses, cows, and deer all eat the same stuff…grass…  yet a deer passes little pellets, a cow turns out a flat patty, and a horse makes muffins of dried poop.  Why do you suppose that is?”

Dumbfounded, Clinton replies,  ”I haven’t the slightest idea.”

“So tell me, then,” says the cowboy with a wry smile, “how is it that you feel qualified to discuss something as important as Iraq when you don’t know crap?”

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Spent the majority of my weekend working to “fix” my pc. Started getting all sorts of freeze ups and errors - right in the middle of what would have been a VERY productive weekend…

Spent all day Saturday and most the day Sunday trying to reinstall and blah blah blah - ended up needing a can of compressed air and some opens space to get all the dust outta my case.

Evidently, the “radiator” on my processor was so crammed up with dirt/dust, it wouldn’t allow proper cooling and so I was getting errors and freezes - I aleviated that problem, and reinstalled Ubuntu - actually got a little work done last night…

Moral: Clean out your case good, and often.

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I hope everyone had a great Valentine’s day. I sure did. I’m constantly seeing myself change thought processes when it comes to things like this. Used to, it was all about my mate and I. Now I see valentine’s as more of a family “love” day, if you will. I have to include my kids along with my wife, which she does as well… It makes for a more fun day when everyone is included.

That’s not to say that we don’t like our alone time, but we definitely include the kids when it comes time for the tradition or whatever you want to call it.

I also notice the changes around Christmas, Easter, and the like - it’s more about the kids to me now. I love receiving gifts, just like the next guy; however, I find more joy by watching the faces of my children when they receive something I’ve gotten them.

This age thing has more to it than wrinkles and aches, I think…

Open Tax Season - 2008

so, tax season is here and it is in full effect. usually, by this time Jess and I are in line at H&R Block to do our taxes and find out how much we’re getting back. After regaurding the situation for quite some time, I feel that we’ve been making a couple of mistakes on our taxes; they are:

• I withhold entirely too much.[1]
• Pay-for services like H&R Block charge entirely too much.
• I always thought tax prep was complicated.

[1]* I don’t claim as many dependents as I have, due to the fact I am scared shirtless that I’ll owe the KGB IRS, money (alot of money) in April.

So this year, dispite having a couple of “complex” income deals, we decided to forget about the MAN (H&R) and give TurboTax a spin. We decided we’d do it, and keep the option to run with our tails tucked up to a “Tax Professional” if we became uncomfortable with the process.

I talked to a couple of my close friends and relatives and decided the “Deluxe” package was the right one for us. I used some Best Buy Rewards Points to pick it up and then installed it on my linux box using a virtual machine, lit it up, gathered all the forms I needed (1099’s/W2’s, etc.) and got to work.

About an hour and a half later I hit the “SEND” button, and we were DONE with our taxes for this year. Last year, I would have been forking over $316 to H&R Block for paying someone a part time hourly wage to sit and do basically the same thing I just did for $40 (actually $10 since my Rewards Zone Points paid the majority).

TurboTax has a brand new supporter, and I can tell you I will use them from now on. It was SO painless and so easy to get done; I didn’t have to make an appointment, or wait in a musty room for my shot at the desk or anything - VERY COOL. I highly recommend TurboTax to anyone willing to sit down for 90 minutes and answer some simple questions. You can also do turbotax ONLINE - which is more than likely the route I’ll take next year, so i can just use my straight linux box instead of a virtual windows box. (that was geek talk, sorry - but heck, the whole post is a tax geek post, so get over it).

Here’s to getting your taxes overwith AND not owing anyone anything! Go Tipton!

Texas License Plate Vote

http://apps.dot.state.tx.us/services/vehicle_titles_and_registration/vote_pla...

do us all a favor, and go vote for a new design! I love the “New Texas” one… bright and in your face!

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The rich rules over the poor,
and the borrower is the slave of the lender.

Proverbs 22:7
the Bible, English Standard Version

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GO ELI!

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/don_banks/02/03/superbowl.snaps/

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i’m glad that Frank Mir wasn’t the first guy to have to say “Yeah, that’s me, I got beat by a fake wrestler” - and i’m extremely glad that Tim Sylvia didn’t win that fight - the sweep and choke out was SWEET!

Lesnar is one HUGE dude - i wouldn’t wanna see him looking at me across a cage.. eeewwwwf.

By the way, I tried to log on to the UFC Fantasy league to do my rankings, but kept getting errors, so I missed out again….

Canned Cheeseburger

http://www.gizmag.com/the-canned-cheeseburger--fast-food-in-the-wilderness/8713/

30 Free eBooks ??

http://blog.mint.com/blog/finance-core/30-free-ebooks-to-learn-everything-you...

I’m always on the lookout for good/great material on Personal Finance, especially when it’s free. I’m putting a link here, moreso for myself, but maybe my only reader (bro) will find something useful in there… ^_-

Pot vending machines

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22910820/?GT1=10755

wow - what’s next?

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have you ever noticed…

…the way styrofoam cups are great for hot drinks and ice cold drinks, but they suck for room temperature drinks?

…how many hours you actually spend watching TV?

…how big the portions are at any restaurant?

…how much 64 oz. of water is and how hard it is to get it choked down, yet how easy it is to down the same amount of whatever cola drink you like?

…how easily it is to just adapt to society, rather than hold fast to your values/morals?

I guess I’m just in a “noticing” type mood today…

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a busy weekend

Well, we finally started the process of project declutteration, or (nick-named) Binge & Purge - because we’re binging on cleaning and decluttering, and then purging a WHOLE lot a stuff!

It’s actually quite liberating to be able to rid yourself of alot of junk/stuff that you don’t really need - even if you think you do. We’ve actually gone through each and every little item in the office, and asked ourselves - “what value does this REALLY have to me - is it just an object or does it do something for me?” The answer is, more often than not, “NO - it doesn’t do anything but collect dust and take up space” - so - i spent the majority of yesterday setting up auctions on ebay - so far, there’s 79 of ‘em, and i’m not even half way through yet…

 check it out: http://tinyurl.com/29xj2j

We’re trying to do it cheap - but the shipping is what gets me - not sure i’m doing that part correct; oh well, at least (hopefully) we’ll be able to liquidate most of this stuff!

happy monday!

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as we get further and further into the year, I’m noticing that i’m doing exactly what I always end up doing - I keep pushing those resolutions to the back, and end up not ever literally writing anything down; therefore I end up never really giving them a fair chance.

I’ve actually had (sort-of) an epiphany about how we live, both in the “consumerist” style in which we live, and the financial style we live. I think this idea is pretty much at the top of my list as far as the whole resolution type thing goes. I’ll elaborate as time goes on; but I want to get my list in order before doing so. This weekend will be a huge step toward that.

I’ve started a new book - “your money or your life” - I’ll give an in-depth review once I’ve finished it. I’ve had this book for quite some time, but with all the moving and building of houses, it got boxed and just recently found. I’m about 25% through, and just started back yesterday, so it shouldn’t be too long.

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Glassbooth

http://glassbooth.org/

Quiz to help you choose best 2008 presidential candidate