Wall Weekend Revisited

I usually underestimate the time that it will take to do anything. I'll start a home improvement project thinking that it'll be done in a weekend and it will wind up taking two weeks. I'll give myself a two hour window to edit the photographs from a portrait session and five accumulated hours later I'll finally finish the last one. I'll even leave the house ten minutes before an appointment just to find myself sitting at a stoplight when the clock ticks over to the time that I'm supposed to already be there.I do this all the time. It's especially not easy to predetermine the length of time needed to finish a home improvement project. And...

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Taxes for the Axis

A couple years ago, I bought Jacob some $1 DVD's as an impulse buy near the cash registers at Wal-Mart. They were compilations of old cartoons. They were cheap so I could buy a bunch of them and it just made his day. I also thought that it might be cool for him to have some cartoons from another time. I thought of all the old Road Runner, Tweety Bird, and Elmer Fudd cartoons and thought that I even might like to watch some of them with him.Well, to my astonishment, one of the cartoons on one of these DVD's was complete war propaganda. The cartoon stars Donald Duck as an average American worker who gets paid and then is shown having only two choices of what to do with his hard earned cash. He can either spend it and support the Nazis or he can save it and make his tax payments. ...

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Wall Weekend

At my work we recently took out another wall that was keeping us from hitting our goals. This wall was both figurative and quite literal. We're going to a single production line in time. Right now we have several production lines for our many different products. Similar products for the same family of engines of course are together on a line, but that is where it ends. Soon we will have a single line where all the parts are available to build any one of the many different engines we have. While setting this up will be difficult, the end product will be a much more efficient shop floor and a better flow for material in and out.Anyway, the...

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Unfortunate Tragedy

Just yesterday around 5:00 pm tragedy struck the home of Steven Curtis Chapman and his family. In a terrible accident, one of the teenage sons was backing his SUV out of the garage and failed to see little Maria, the youngest family member, who was playing in the driveway. Even worse, the accident was witnessed by several members of the family who were outside at the time playing in the yard. Maria was flown by LifeFlight to the hospital, but succumbed to her injuries there. She is pictured here in Steven's lap.Maria is one of three daughters of the Chapman family who was adopted from China. The Chapman's have endorsed international adoption...

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Some Quotes I Like

"The world is a parade of fools, and I'm at the front of it, twirling a baton." -Odd Thomas (Dean Koontz' character in Brother Odd)"Now they show you how detergents take out bloodstains, a pretty violent image there. I think if you've got a T-shirt with a bloodstain all over it, maybe laundry isn't your biggest problem. Maybe you should get rid of the body before you do the wash." -Jerry Seinfeld"If it weren't for the killings, Washington would have one of the lowest crime rates in the country." -Marion Barry, Mayor"According to a new survey, women say they feel more comfortable undressing in front of men than they do undressing in front of other...

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A Conversation with Captain Obvious

(Capt. O) - Your blog page looks different.(Levi) - Yeah, I updated it with a new template and then I customized the header.(Capt. O) - I like how it looks manly. But, that would make since after all, you're a man.(Levi) - Thanks, I guess. I wasn't really going for manly. I just wanted to get a newer look to keep things interesting.(Capt. O) - I noticed you have this blog page through a website. Did you know that they put it on the internet for anyone to see?(Levi) - Well, yeah, I knew that.(Capt. O) - Did you know that millions of people have internet access?(Levi) - Yes.(Capt. O) - That means millions of people will be able to read whatever...

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Cool Header!

I love this so much that I have to write a blog about it. I have a real love for Springfield. Most of you know that. I get excited about the new things that are happening downtown and all the renovations that are being made in the historic areas of town.I grew up and lived in Galloway until I was 6 years old. (for those of you who don't know Galloway was a very small train stop and it's own town a long time ago. Now, most people know it as South Lone Pine around Sequiota Park.) We moved a little further north but still in Galloway until I was 8 years old. I then moved to the downtown area when my mom remarried. We lived in an awesome...

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Grammar

I have a question. I have an opinion on this as well, but I'm curious as to what others think. Is proper use of grammar, correct spelling, and appropriate punctuation that important today in the electronic age?It seems like it all started with chat rooms that were so popular for a few months in the mid-nineties. Now you really don't hear anything about them, but there was a time when they were part of all the hot-button topics. With hurried typing being the only form of communication in those settings, speed mattered more than accuracy. If you took too long answering a question or rebutting an argument than it was assumed that you didn't...

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Why do I do it?

I haven't blogged in a week and I definitely feel like I should. The only problem is that I have no subject that strikes me as blog-worthy. I could follow up on the last blog and write about how James' Bachelor Party at the Buffalo River turned out, but despite having a lot of fun and really enjoying the time we all spent hanging out, exploring, throwing rocks, and eating the camp-food essentials, I still feel like I don't have a whole blog there. I could follow up on a recent blog about getting gutters for our house. But I feel like this would be the whole blog: We got gutters for our house. They look nice. They work well.I suppose that...

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Buffalo is a funny word

Tomorrow is the day. It's the day that I get to leave work early, pick up Jacob, and head down to the Buffalo River in Arkansas for some fun with the guys. The occasion? It's James' bachelor party. The man is gonna be all tied up next weekend and this will be his last weekend of true freedom. From here on out it's nothing but, "Yes, dear", "Sorry, dear", and the favorite "Of course I will, dear." But, look at the bright side, James. You don't have to make any more difficult decisions. You don't have to make any easy decisions either. See? It's all been decided already. As a matter of fact, you couldn't make any decisions at all even...

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