Hitting the Pause Button

It's been brought to my attention that my wife and I are full of great ideas and good intentions, but that all too often the ideas that we do have are not getting carried out. It's true that my wife and I have carried out a good number of our ideas, many of them becoming successfully competed projects. Our home improvement projects have been successful ones, for example. However, it seems with every good idea that we went forward with there are three more that only stayed in the idea stage and never had any effort applied to them. Jodi got a revelation last week that led to us committing to stop saying the word "need." It must be extracted...

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Civil War Weekend

Last weekend, I was transported back 150 years in the past to witness the first major battle of the Civil War at Wilson's Creek. From Thursday evening through Sunday afternoon, it was nothing but muskets and cannons for me. The Battle of Wilson's Creek was an interesting one, to say the least. So many stories and keepsakes have been preserved from this battle and those who fought in it. Even the actual site of the battle has been kept virtually untouched. This August marked the 150th anniversary to that battle. To commemorate the event and those involved in it, Wilson's Creek Publishing is working on the release of a 144-page coffee...

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Motorcyles: Enjoyment vs. Risk

Dustin won the 5 Years & 300 Blogs game that I had on the last post. Congratulations, Dustin! And, happy birthday, too! For his prize of choosing my next blog topic, he sent the following:How much more dangerous is it to ride a motorcycle than drive a car? Since I ride a lot now, I am constantly getting told, basically, that I am waiting to die. Well, am I? Or is speed, alcohol, and other variables more of a factor?It's interesting that he chose this topic. Only twelve days ago I attended my step-brother's funeral. Michael died when his motorcycle left a rural highway, struck an embankment, and landed in a field. There were a couple...

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5 Years & 300 Blogs

I actually started blogging on MySpace back when MySpace was all the rage. But, in August of 2006, I decided to go pro and get an actual blog site rather than continue to use the blogging option on my social networking page. Not long after that I decided to scrap my MySpace page altogether. I was growing increasingly bored with it.So, now it's been five years since I moved to Blogger. And, this is the 300th Blogger blog that I've written. I feel like maybe I should celebrate in some way, but I'm not sure what to do. I could give away "the words" T-Shirts to the first 50 people that comment on this blog, but I don't have any "the words"...

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$5 Lesson & Repurposed Technology

Last week, I was able to stop in for a few minutes at one of my favorite places to shop, STD Flea Market. Out of all the flea markets in town, STD is my favorite. It has a strange name, I admit, though an innocent one. The acronym stands for Springfield Tool & Die. The story goes that the owner of Springfield Tool & Die retired and turned the two buildings he still owned into flea markets since they weren't much good for anything else.I love both stores. I've found some really good items over the years for myself and have even resold some items bought there for a quick and nice profit. Jodi had a booth in the downtown location for...

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Ezra Montagne

I just realized that I've never written a blog announcing the birth of Ezra. So, better late than never, right? Sorry, Ezra. No doubt you will be reading this some day. As a matter of fact, with that in mind. This blog is addressed to you, Ezra. Everyone else can read this if they please, but it's not for them, to them, or about them. It's about you, for you, and to you, my beautiful daughter. I love you, Ezra. You are my first and only daughter. I don't know how old you are now (your time, when you are reading this), but I hope that you know that I love you. You are two and a half months old (my time), and I know that even as you...

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6th Anniversary

Jodi and I celebrated our sixth anniversary this last weekend. We didn't do anything too special, but had a great time just getting to spend time with each other while we ran around a little and relaxed a little more. We started out the day with a breakfast of champions. That's right. T-bone steaks and eggs. Mmmmm. We also were very giggly and had some true comic moments. What a wonderful way to start a day. Protein and laughter. We tried out a new flea market,Springfield Flea Market & Gifts, and checked out one we'd been to before right behind the first one. It was fun and we saw some neat things and bought a few little things....

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Just Deserts

My worst experience with a bank, by far, was with Ozark Bank. They cost me $110, got me arrested, and made me spend a night in jail. I wrote a blog about it already so I won't go into detail, but it was pretty bad, for sure. A couple years ago, I had another bad experience with a bank. This time it was Bank of America. I had been a B of A customer for 11 years. I wasn't a fan of them and had only stayed with them as long as I had because of the volume of ATMs they had in Springfield. In addition to the ATMs at their branches, they also had them in every Git-N-Go in and around Springfield. I found that to be very convenient so I stuck...

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Invention Idea

Ever have a great idea for an invention or improvement? I've had a few in my day. One that is finally starting to be marketed now is the Bluetooth audio adapter.I thought of this almost two years ago. It was an invention out of necessity. At the time, I was contemplating how to setup my stereo in my 1959 Ford when I get it back on the road. The doors don't have any locks and I don't know that I actually want to change that about it. I don't want anyone to steal the stereo that I install in it, so I have a dilemma. How do you install a burglar-proof stereo? The answer: you don't install one.What? Exactly! See? I had an idea to install...

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Still Pounding Away At It

I'm not sure what to call this project. I've had a name for every other project in the house, but this one alludes me. Should it be the "outdoor closet" project? "New basement door" project? I'm just not sure. In an earlier post I was referring to it as a small addition, but that sort of denotes living space in my mind. And, I don't intend on anyone living out here. Any suggestions on a name?Regardless of what we decide to call it, I made some pretty decent progress on it over the weekend. The backbreaking part was the concrete, but it got done. I finished pouring a new top step to the staircase, one that isn't a fatal trip hazard. ...

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Categories

I got to looking at my categories list on my blog and realized that maybe it says a little bit about me. So, let's read into it, shall we?I like to write about myself more than anything. Apparently, I strike myself as the most interesting thing I know.I'm slightly more useful around the house than I am in making people laugh, yet both score pretty high.I can't decide what I love more, my family or food. However, this does show when the scores are added together, that I'm probably happiest when eating with my family.I love a good debate. Evidently, even if I'm arguing a lie, because truth didn't get as high a ranking.Opinion and politics ranked...

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More Progress

I failed to get any photos before it got dark outside, but that's okay because it wouldn't be much of a dramatic photo anyway. So, I used a photo from Monday evening and dramatized it up with some funky arrows.Last night, I accomplished quite a bit for having been at work all day. I started with taking a sledge hammer to the trip hazard at the top of the stairs. This trip hazard served to keep the water out, but also begged to send someone to the bottom of the stairs much faster than they intended. So, it had to go. Besides, the concrete there is already sloped away from the house so it's unnecessary.I also cut out the now unnecessary overhead...

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Addition Progress

This Independence Day weekend was a good one. Though, we didn't do a whole lot of traditional activities. We did hang out with some friends, grill some steak and see some fireworks, but the bulk of our weekend was spent working on the house.With some help from the boys, we managed to get most of the drain pipe installed and buried, the framework pretty much done, and the roof completely installed. I missed being able to just hang out with my family, but it was also good to get a chance to do some construction. And, it was good for Jacob. He learned some construction basics and and was excited to get a chance to help.The photos here show...

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Small Addition

We've spent most of our energy renovating the inside of our home over the course of the last four and a half years we've lived here. The outside, though, has seen little more than the necessary maintenance. We have a plan, however. And, using Google Sketchup, I was able to better visualize that plan by building a 3D model of our house and yard. In this photo (click to enlarge), it shows our plan for a large deck, outdoor formal dining room (far left), brick patio with fire pit, and outdoor closet/new basement entrance.The latter is what I'll be working on this holiday weekend. The photo isn't exactly what we're going for. The wall I built...

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Breakthrough

Moving to Ozark, Missouri at 11 years old turned me somewhat shy. I didn't know anyone there and it took me a while to make some lasting friends. In that six month friendless window, I learned to keep to myself, mostly.Later, I became a 15-year-old sophomore at Ozark High School for the 1994-1995 school year. Not much had changed over those four years. I still had the same friends and I was still riding their more outgoing social coattails. I still lacked self-confidence.Along with the rest of the English 2 class, I was assigned to read a book and then do a spoken book report at the podium in front of my classmates. I dreaded it. We were...

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West Plains Weekend

This last weekend, Jodi and I took Lyric and Ezra to West Plains to hang out with Jodi's family. Jacob was spending the week in Gulf Shores, Alabama. As always, it was a lot of fun and some good relaxation as well. I also really enjoyed the trip in our new car. We've had it for 6 weeks, but hadn't traveled in it yet. This was breaking it in for us.There was a car show at the Civic Center on Saturday. And, since Jodi's parents live in town now, we decided just to walk there. Though, it turned out it was two and a half miles one way, Lyric managed to walk it without complaint. I was wondering if I was going to have to carry him. He's getting...

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Global Go Team Deploys to Joplin

Global Go Team is currently setting up a team to work in Joplin, Missouri on June 18th.Joplin was devastated by a tornado that cut a path straight through the city on May 22nd. The death toll keeps rising, it seems, with every new article I read. I just read an article from The Baltimore Sun that cited 151 deaths. It's really terrible and this time the need is in our own backyard.Global Go Team members will get to use their newly acquired training and certification by Greene County CERT (Community Emergency Response Teams). Much work will remain to be done over the course of the next couple of years.I remember, vividly, the tornado that ripped...

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Mobile Site

As some of you know, I used to keep a mobile version of my blog. I started it in January of last year and even wrote a blog about it. I only started it because I had a non-smart phone but also had unlimited Internet. I realized that people who were in my same situation couldn't read my blog if they wanted. So, I created a duplicate blog but at levifeltonMOBILE.blogspot.com as opposed to just levifelton...Today, I spotted that Blogger has finally remedied this little inconvenience with a fix. Now I (and everyone else with a Blogger blog) can turn on a mobile version of my (their) blog via the 'Settings' tab. No need for a separate URL.But,...

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Table Renovation

I was handed down this table from my mom. She was handed down the table from her mom. And, she was handed down the table from her mom. The table was her third husband's who passed away before I was born. In case you're confused, My great-grandmother was married three times. She never divorced. She just outlived them all. Her third husband had some cool old furniture which I somehow managed to wind up with. The picture here is from almost 5 years ago in our last house right after our first go at making sushi. I sometimes kick myself for forgetting to take a "before" photo. Luckily I scrounged up some photos, but not necessarily ideal...

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Chemical Poisoning

For six days before Memorial day weekend begun, I felt terrible. Every day, at some point in the day I would become tired, my lower back would ache as if I were feverish, and I would have, at minimum, a slight headache. I thought that I was getting sick at first, but it didn't get any worse. Then again, it seemed to not get any better.Finally, on the sixth day, I had enough of feeling bad and decided to ask my wife what I should do. (I should have started with this, but whatever.) She almost immediately asked, "Have you been eating or drinking anything new lately?" And, it hit me. During this same time frame, I had bought a couple boxes...

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Ballsy Beverage

I have a bottle of Orbitz. I bought it in the beginning of 1997 for the purpose of drinking. But, I chose not to drink it after all because I didn't want to lose it's novelty. I now have it for sale on ebay. They've been selling for $30 a bottle. So, time to cash in. The following is two very funny posts I found concerning the drink:Orbitz was made by Clearly Canadian, who if you'll recall were neck-and-neck with Mistic for jurisdiction over the realm of sodas that posed as fruit-flavored waters. Orbitz was much like regular Clearly Canadian fruit sodas, save for two important differences: It was a lot thicker, and it had tiny candy balls...

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Friends for a Season

It's Thursday. Last week was my last week with DEI. It doesn't seem like I worked there for very long, but I suppose that the reason for that is probably due to my having worked at SRC for as long as I did. Comparatively speaking, the last 18 months of working at DEI hasn't been too long at all. But, 18 months?! That's a long time, especially when I started entertaining thoughts and plans of doing something else two months into that.The only thing that's kind of sad about leaving DEI is the fact that I'll likely never see or talk to most of the people there ever again. These are people that I've spent an average of 48 hours a week with...

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Out With The Old, In With The New

It's spring and newness is in the air. Jodi and I are entering into an entirely new season.The best new thing is our new beautiful baby girl. She was born last Sunday and weighed in at seven pounds flat. She's been such a joyful addition to our family. The boys have been excited and obviously love their little sister. Today is actually Jodi's due date, but we're glad to be able to say that we're done with all that delivery business and can just sit back and enjoy what Jodi's been cookin' up these last nine months. Her name is Ezra Montagne which means 'God's helper on the Mountain'. Montagne was Jodi's maternal grandmother's maiden name. ...

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Somebody's Gotta Say It

Osama's dead. Everyone's talking about it. The media can't shutup about it. It's somehow the most satisfying news the U.S. has received in 20 years. People are literally singing in the streets.Really? Am I supposed to feel like justice has been served by this death? Am I to feel more safe? Am I to sing praises to my country's government for this vengence-quenching gift? Am I to feel closure now?Where are the answers to the questions that have been asked a thousand times? Where is the truth that is being obviously hidden from us all? Sure, there was a time when I was in support of the U.S. hunting down Osama. I, too, once blindly believed the...

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Too Much to Say

I haven't written a blog in almost two months and I'm feeling a bit ashamed of myself. It's definitely not for any lack of material to write about. If anything, it's because of having too much to report, too much to say, and too much to talk about.Since my last entry, I've spent a week in Haiti and for the life of me cannot think of where to begin about what I saw, did, or learned there. Also, I've been working hard to completely revamp a warehouse to get it functioning eficiently without me. Lyric started his soccer season. I've been building the garden door finally for the garden wall. We've been shopping for a new car. And, on top of all that, we've been diligently working at getting everything ready for baby Ezra to arrive, which has meant chewing through a list of "to do's" before...

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Can't Help But Rebel

I find human nature pretty funny sometimes. I have to choose to laugh at it, though, because otherwise it can annoy me. And, that's never good. I like to stay in control of my mood, impervious to outside influence. After all, what sense does it make to allow anyone and anything to determine whether or not I have a good day? No, thank you.Concerning the human nature I was speaking of, have you ever shown somebody a good way of doing something and then watched them do it a more difficult, less efficient way despite your well delivered instruction? I've seen this a lot over the years. I know that I've even been guilty of it myself just as...

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