Jacob's Birthday

Jacob's getting seriously old. He turns eight today. That's halfway to getting a driver's license! He's pretty excited about the birthday thing and very excited to be eight. You remember how it was as a kid. Once you hit eight, seven seems so childish and young. Kids who are still seven, all of a sudden are no longer your peer group, but instead "those little kids."I'm excited for him, but I'm feeling a little old myself now. He drags me right along with him, despite his bad math. This morning, as I dropped him off at school, he said, "Now, you're only nineteen years older than me." I replied, "No, actually I'll always be twenty and...

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Johnny Eddies

Great news!On Monday, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards came to Springfield to campaign and speak to voters. It made our local news, of course, and Jodi and I both watched with disgust as Edward's supporters were interviewed with obvious ignorance of political policy. These people said things like, "I just like him", and "I agree with what he says about health care", and my favorite,"he seems like he'd make a good president." His supporters are more vague about why they support him, than he is vague about how his proposed policies will help America.But, I was highly pleased and tickled this morning when I ran across an article...

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Cakeface

Lyric's first birthday party was a big success. Lots of friends and family were able to attend and Lyric seemed to enjoy the attention. He even enjoyed playing in his very own Angel Food Birthday Cake as you can see from the video attached.Jodi and I spent a week preparing for it by trying to finish up every house project we had. Almost everything looked great and we got a lot done. I'm glad that the pressure is now gone and we can work on our house without the headache of a time and day looming over us.I still can't believe that he's a year o...

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Lyric's Turning One!

It's almost unbelievable that Lyric could already be turning one year old. On the other hand, it's difficult for me to remember coming home from work to a baby that couldn't crawl up to me and raise his arms for me to pick him up. So, regardless of what it may seem, he is going to be having his first birthday. His party will be at our house on this Sunday, January 27th at 3:00 pm. We'll be having the classic cake and ice cream thing and everyone is welcome to attend. If you don't know where we live just give me a call and I'll give you directions. If you don't have my phone number, you can call Jodi. If you don't know where we live, my...

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Bigger Nerd

I fixed the Mortgage Calculator this weekend. So, just in case any of you actually tried it, it was wrong. Not by much, but it wasn't perfect. Now it is perfect to the penny. And, I added some cool new automatic information. I fixed the link from the last blog so that if anyone clicks it it will take them to the right document, but you may also click he...

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Nerd

I'm a big nerd. I really am. I'm the type of mathematically minded nerd that will figure out something new on a program like Microsoft Excel and then will feel forced to test it out by putting together a large scale working model of an elaborate mathematical equation complete with multiple variables that is relative to life enough to be beneficial to myself and designed with ease of use in mind to be beneficial to others.Did that last sentence make sense to you? Don't worry. It doesn't to me either.I built an Excel driven mortgage calculator. I did this a couple months ago, but only this past week did I get enough education to complete my...

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Hottie

I love having a hot wife. It's great. To all the single guys out there, I have a suggestion: Don't settle for the "kinda cute" ones. Hold out for the hottie. You won't be disappointed.Of course, you also want one that is cool. One that won't just let you do the things you like to do, but thinks the things you like to do are cool. One that is witty and loves to have a good time all the time. One that is agreeable and cooperates with decision making. And, of course, one that, for whatever reason, finds you attractive as well.But, let's face it, gentlemen. Go for the looker first. You can find out all the rest of that other stuff later.*Cover...

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Renovation Station

I'm broke. Happy, but broke. My wife and I decided that while I was on vacation we would convert our mudroom and our random useless hallway into a salon, short transition hallway, bathroom, and walk-in closet. The original plan was that I would get my week off and we would just power through and get it done. However, we lucked out when the project that I was working on at work abruptly came to a cease and desist when the labor union in Chicago finally came to an agreement with the company that we were doing work for. The company decided that they no longer were in need of our assistance and we were to cease operations after the last of our...

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Health Care

I read the following article on the front page of the "Voices" section of yesterday's News-Leader and I wanted to share. I have not added to nor taken away from any of it. Here it is in the exact context in which I found it. It was written by John P. Fitts from Noel, Missouri.Hardworking John Doe will get stuck with health billAll of the candidates for president (except one) are touting some kind of taxpayer-funded "universal health care."What this means is that all these candidates (except one) want to saddle all of us with responsibility for those who have neglected their own responsibility in this matter. I cite the following three examples:Example...

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