"All I know for sure is that I don't know."
--Grant C. Ballard
Genius Extraordinaire
Hubris Maximus
--Grant C. Ballard
Genius Extraordinaire
Hubris Maximus
Friday, July 31, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
The very least you can do...
If you are a born-again Christian is NOT interfere with others who want to serve God. If you're feeling generous, you might try loving people too. Hey, if a crabby punk like me can love people, I don't see why you smiley people out there can't. Just sayin.
BTW, if this statement confuses you then get saved. If it angers you, either grow up or get right.
If you're a midget, then please come here. I have a present for you.
BTW, if this statement confuses you then get saved. If it angers you, either grow up or get right.
If you're a midget, then please come here. I have a present for you.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Zombies
Who wouldn't want their very own domesticated zombie. I'm watching Fido via Netflix (on demand or whatever) which has a plugin for my media center (Windows Vista). This is tre cool because if I'm bored I can just find a movie or a TV show and watch it from the comfort of my easy chair (which actually is a lazy boy) with full remote control functionality. BTW, so far this movie is hilarious. It's showing kids about 10 training in school to shoot zombies in the head. It's set in the 50s or early 60s. Of course, you'd have to have the ability to laugh @ zombies. Unless they're midget zombies. Those things haunt my dreams.
Anyhoo, today our fam spent a bunch of time outside. The carport was a disaster (we have a large carport) and so we decided to clean it out. My wife graciously agreed to help in between feeding babies and stuff. First we started by taking everything out of the carport. Then we had to clean all the leaves and dust/dirt out. Rebekah did most of that. My wife did all of that with a little help (hiderance) from Titus. I went ahead and boarded up 8 feet by 4 feet holes on the other side that used to have lattice work there. Of course, in this heat my strength was sapped incredibly fast. Of course, I'm captain obvious and couldn't figure why my stamina was so lacking (I mean, more than usual). Rebekah egged me into getting into our kiddie pool (which she was wading in). After I finished one of my tasks I aquiesced in order to avoid a fight, i mean a beating, I mean a spirited debate. It actually was quite refreshing. I finally sat down (man would that have been a funny picture. humiliating, but funny) and leaned back against the back of the whale's neck. Yeah, it's a blow up whale. Soooo, a long day. Finally, late in the day Rebekah bailed as the kids were mutinying. I was wrestling with trying to fix a DIY bench that was a monstrosity of neither form nor function. I finally ended up tossing out most of the original creation and reinforcing the bench. Of course, this made it freakin' heavy. And the only person around to help me was little old Titus. But he did a darn good job, even if that thing was so heavy it could have hurt him. Once it fell on my head and conked me pretty darn good. I finally built legs and with little Titus' help I was able to finally get a sturdy bench. Although when I showed it to Forrest he was unimpressed and seemed to think (well, he told me as much) that it wasn't sturdy at all. At which point I picked him up and stood him on the bench. Then I grabbed Titus and put him up there too. Sometimes actions speak louder than words, because that seemed to put lie to his theory that it was still weak and wobbly. It's amazing how a 5 year old can be such a little know-it-all. It's not like we put up with it.
The babies are doing well. The hot temperatures have forced us to turn on the swamp cooler which makes the babies' bedroom too cold. So, they're adjusting to life sleeping in other locations. They'll probably be nomads when they're older. The girls are doing great. They have their own pink sunglasses and run around like little debutantes. I've been watching Buffy the Vampire slayer (by the great Joss Whedon of Serenity/Firefly fame) and the theme song is very rocky and they dance to it. It's cute now, but they'll have GPS locators on them when they're older and no dancing allowed.
From the movie------------------->Oh dang, Fido's restraining collar got broken. He's on a flesh eating rampage now. Oh, I guess it was just flaky. He only ate Mrs. Henderson before it turned back on.
Well, we're having some interesting times in our church. Pray for our church and our pastor. Since we're so small, any little wave is felt pretty bad.
Works is going well. The company hasn't done a mass layoff since February which is nice. They've just been sniping. One here, two there. Tough breaks, but it's a hard knock life (or so Annie says). They're still not in the black, but they hope to break even this year. speaking of work, I need to go remove some virtual serial ports. l8r g8r
Anyhoo, today our fam spent a bunch of time outside. The carport was a disaster (we have a large carport) and so we decided to clean it out. My wife graciously agreed to help in between feeding babies and stuff. First we started by taking everything out of the carport. Then we had to clean all the leaves and dust/dirt out. Rebekah did most of that. My wife did all of that with a little help (hiderance) from Titus. I went ahead and boarded up 8 feet by 4 feet holes on the other side that used to have lattice work there. Of course, in this heat my strength was sapped incredibly fast. Of course, I'm captain obvious and couldn't figure why my stamina was so lacking (I mean, more than usual). Rebekah egged me into getting into our kiddie pool (which she was wading in). After I finished one of my tasks I aquiesced in order to avoid a fight, i mean a beating, I mean a spirited debate. It actually was quite refreshing. I finally sat down (man would that have been a funny picture. humiliating, but funny) and leaned back against the back of the whale's neck. Yeah, it's a blow up whale. Soooo, a long day. Finally, late in the day Rebekah bailed as the kids were mutinying. I was wrestling with trying to fix a DIY bench that was a monstrosity of neither form nor function. I finally ended up tossing out most of the original creation and reinforcing the bench. Of course, this made it freakin' heavy. And the only person around to help me was little old Titus. But he did a darn good job, even if that thing was so heavy it could have hurt him. Once it fell on my head and conked me pretty darn good. I finally built legs and with little Titus' help I was able to finally get a sturdy bench. Although when I showed it to Forrest he was unimpressed and seemed to think (well, he told me as much) that it wasn't sturdy at all. At which point I picked him up and stood him on the bench. Then I grabbed Titus and put him up there too. Sometimes actions speak louder than words, because that seemed to put lie to his theory that it was still weak and wobbly. It's amazing how a 5 year old can be such a little know-it-all. It's not like we put up with it.
The babies are doing well. The hot temperatures have forced us to turn on the swamp cooler which makes the babies' bedroom too cold. So, they're adjusting to life sleeping in other locations. They'll probably be nomads when they're older. The girls are doing great. They have their own pink sunglasses and run around like little debutantes. I've been watching Buffy the Vampire slayer (by the great Joss Whedon of Serenity/Firefly fame) and the theme song is very rocky and they dance to it. It's cute now, but they'll have GPS locators on them when they're older and no dancing allowed.
From the movie------------------->Oh dang, Fido's restraining collar got broken. He's on a flesh eating rampage now. Oh, I guess it was just flaky. He only ate Mrs. Henderson before it turned back on.
Well, we're having some interesting times in our church. Pray for our church and our pastor. Since we're so small, any little wave is felt pretty bad.
Works is going well. The company hasn't done a mass layoff since February which is nice. They've just been sniping. One here, two there. Tough breaks, but it's a hard knock life (or so Annie says). They're still not in the black, but they hope to break even this year. speaking of work, I need to go remove some virtual serial ports. l8r g8r
Friday, July 17, 2009
funny comment
Rebekah is playing "Boom Blox" on the Wii while feeding Trinity. This is a game where you have to hurl the wii-mote like you're throwing a ball. Great game. Created by Stephen Spielberg. We found it for $21.49 on amazon I think. Rebekah has played this more than any Wii game yet I think. And it's her Wii!
Now she's trash talking me. Maybe farmtown on facebook isn't so bad...
:)
Now she's trash talking me. Maybe farmtown on facebook isn't so bad...
:)
Friday, July 10, 2009
From New Plymouth with Love
from Rebekah
"I was sitting here (when I should be going to bed) and wondering when Forrest's schoolwork stuff is going to be sent out. So I went online and looked again at his courses and stuff like that. These are going to be his subjects this year: Health, History, Language Arts, Math, Phonics, Physical Education w/Lessons, and Technology. I really am excited for him to be starting school. I am planning to add my own Bible course to that grouping, but that will be an after-breakfast thing and all the kids (babies excluded) will be in on it. The person who's idea I'm adapting for Bible time said that they did one verse a day, just discussing what it meant, and also added a character quality in there...the character quality part lasting all week. And after they were done talking, all of them took a few minutes to pray. The girls know what "let's pray" means, even if all they ever say is "Dear Jesus, mumble-mumble-mumble, Amen!"
My Mother (bless her heart) taught all of us kids character qualities when we were growing up and I'm very grateful for that...I want to do the same with my kids. My thinking in training them is to name a quality, like honesty, and then talk about how we can be honest, what the opposite of honesty would entail, and then we can work really hard at being honest in everything all week long. Does anyone have any suggestions or thoughts that they'd like to share with me?? Really, I'm open for anything. :-)
We've been working on chores every day. It was quite a workout for me at first but then I realized that if I let the boys mark off their own chores as they did them, they were more excited to do them. Titus especially...he loves doing his chores and asks me for more. He's also been helping Grant a lot outside and Grant said he's been great...as great as a 4yr. old with limited skills can be. He can be quite a pill at times too (like complaining all through church, every single service), but he's a sweet little guy. Forrest is helpful the majority of the time but he hasn't learned to handle disappointment very well. The crying is a little hard to take sometimes. :-/ And the girls....well, they're 2 and into EVERYTHING. They are talking very well though. The babies...Trinity has been sleeping through the night for a few weeks now and Clell wakes up just once or twice. He's such a guzzler though that it only takes him about 5 minutes to drink his bottle, and then he burps and goes back to sleep. It takes a total of 10 minutes most of the time. They still don't go to sleep at night very early but we're getting there. I have to remind myself over and over that they are only 2 months...be patient! :-)
How's Grant? The big hairy guy is as cute and lovable as ever! :-)
Love,
Rebekah"
"I was sitting here (when I should be going to bed) and wondering when Forrest's schoolwork stuff is going to be sent out. So I went online and looked again at his courses and stuff like that. These are going to be his subjects this year: Health, History, Language Arts, Math, Phonics, Physical Education w/Lessons, and Technology. I really am excited for him to be starting school. I am planning to add my own Bible course to that grouping, but that will be an after-breakfast thing and all the kids (babies excluded) will be in on it. The person who's idea I'm adapting for Bible time said that they did one verse a day, just discussing what it meant, and also added a character quality in there...the character quality part lasting all week. And after they were done talking, all of them took a few minutes to pray. The girls know what "let's pray" means, even if all they ever say is "Dear Jesus, mumble-mumble-mumble, Amen!"
My Mother (bless her heart) taught all of us kids character qualities when we were growing up and I'm very grateful for that...I want to do the same with my kids. My thinking in training them is to name a quality, like honesty, and then talk about how we can be honest, what the opposite of honesty would entail, and then we can work really hard at being honest in everything all week long. Does anyone have any suggestions or thoughts that they'd like to share with me?? Really, I'm open for anything. :-)
We've been working on chores every day. It was quite a workout for me at first but then I realized that if I let the boys mark off their own chores as they did them, they were more excited to do them. Titus especially...he loves doing his chores and asks me for more. He's also been helping Grant a lot outside and Grant said he's been great...as great as a 4yr. old with limited skills can be. He can be quite a pill at times too (like complaining all through church, every single service), but he's a sweet little guy. Forrest is helpful the majority of the time but he hasn't learned to handle disappointment very well. The crying is a little hard to take sometimes. :-/ And the girls....well, they're 2 and into EVERYTHING. They are talking very well though. The babies...Trinity has been sleeping through the night for a few weeks now and Clell wakes up just once or twice. He's such a guzzler though that it only takes him about 5 minutes to drink his bottle, and then he burps and goes back to sleep. It takes a total of 10 minutes most of the time. They still don't go to sleep at night very early but we're getting there. I have to remind myself over and over that they are only 2 months...be patient! :-)
How's Grant? The big hairy guy is as cute and lovable as ever! :-)
Love,
Rebekah"
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Oh, what a night.
I finally went to bed about 9. AM. In the morning. Long story short, I got called last night by my boss blathering something about a site server going down and total data failure. So, for about 4 hours I babysat 4 kids and helped get things in motion for some disaster recovery.Then I proceeded to go into the office and work. I won't bore you with the details as I am still tired, but 2 hard drives failed in a RAID 5 array (second time in less than a year this has happened) so we had to do a complete rebuild. The services (e-mail and stuff) are up, but the data is in transit. It's only 200gig! geez. Heck, copying it over a gigabit connection to a portable hard disk taking us an obscene amount of time. I finally bugged out a bit before 9 cause I was toast. I almost fell asleep coming home and when I opened my eyes I realized I was starting to veer into a lane occupied by a very large and intimidating Octopus. Huh? Oh, I mean semi-trailer. Or I guess a semi with a trailer. Not that the trailer really would matter much. anyway, I've gotten 6 or seven hours since then but still feel like I've been wrung through a wringer.
Family life:
It's all about me! Stop asking about the kids. just kidding.
children 1-6 are good
Wife 1 is good
Wife 2... woops. nevermind.
Family life:
It's all about me! Stop asking about the kids. just kidding.
children 1-6 are good
Wife 1 is good
Wife 2... woops. nevermind.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Rough nights
Have had a couple of rough nights due to the temps in the house being too high.Then I got a text on my new phone @ about 1:30 telling me something at work was broken. Tempting as it was to let it go, I got up since I wasn't sleeping anyway.
I need to get the siding on my carport finished today. So much home improvement stuff that really needs done. No idea how I'm gonna get it all done. Oh, that's right, I won't :)
I need to get the siding on my carport finished today. So much home improvement stuff that really needs done. No idea how I'm gonna get it all done. Oh, that's right, I won't :)
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