Deep thoughts

by Jack Handy.

Ok, not so much. I've had a few thoughts that were deep that I seriously considered blogging about but I like to keep things superficial. That way, when the time comes for Operation "Yo Momma" everybody will be surprised.

The Ballard Clan of New Plymouth has sojourned south and east for the Christmas season. We have joined with the Ballard Clan of Fairfield and the Ballard Clan of "Lives right behind Clan of Fairfield" for a family filled Christmas. Notice I omitted "fun." Traveling with six wee ones and the various accoutrements  is fatiguing. The packing begins the prior day which is preceded by lots of organization by the Clan Mother. We decided that for safety and other reasons we really needed to take two vehicles. So, just to come visit is costing almost $100 in gasoline alone. Oh well, Christmas comes but once a year. right? Please tell me it's only once a year. So, we made it here safe and sound even though those stupid 1A/5B drivers try to run us off the road. I'm only going the speed limit on a snow covered road through the mountains, silly me. The natural man part of me wishes to see their stupid rig go plummeting off the edge of the mountain and burst into a a fiery explosion. But the redeemed part of me prays for their safety and that of others that may encounter them.  One kind of odd sight that we witnessed was a bunch of snowboarders using parachute type sails to pull them over the prairie. Kind of cool. But once again a part of me wished coyotes on them. I'm just very grinchy, what can I say?

Smile, you're on candid camera.

Ouch

I've been working on the upstairs "play room" for the boys and I put some wood paneling up. Unfortunately the two pieces only gave me 8 feet. I needed 8 feet 2 inches. So, they're barely attached to studs on both sides. Since I need to do the drywall on the other side I was trying to figure out how to cover up the gap that would be left between the drywall and the paneling. So, since we pretty much have exhausted all our funds on wood and Christmas I found a piece of trim outside that I think I can use. I brought it inside and Serenity greeted me and promptly wanted to help. Since I never let the girls help and it was really light I let her carry it. Liberty wanted to help too so I let the girls carry it upstairs. It was cute because they were so excited to be helping. Other than it catching on things due to the length they were doing well. Unfortunately things went horribly wrong when we got to the tops of the stairs and I told them I would open the door. As I was trying to step over the trim, they turned and it caught my leg. Remember in "The Empire Strikes Back" when Luke wrapped the cable around that AT walkers and they came crashing down and exploded? yeah, that's a pretty accurate description of what happened to me. Not exploded as in got angry but more like the crashed and burned. My full weight came down on my knees in a rather violent fashion. Surprisingly, other than saying fudge! as I crashed I kept my expletives and anger to a minimum. My whole body aches (especially my knees and wrist). But after my wife and Forrest picked me up I had the girls come back up and finish. They were so happy that oddly enough I don't regret shattering my kneecaps yet. We'll see about tomorrow.

btw, i hate drywall

forced convalescence

I guess God decided I needed a break or something because I got sick Sunday-ish. So, for monday and tuesday I missed work. But I couldn't stand the thought of missing another day of work so I compromised and worked from home today. Less strenuous in some ways. Mostly a psychological thing since with the chaos around this house it's usually more restful to go to work. My Dad always encouraged me to get up and I'd feel better. To be honest, I think that may be true for some people but I usually feel worse. After I take a shower my body temp usually is higher and so I'm completely miserable until around 10:30 in the morning. But, whether it's true or not it's important to not "give in" to being sick. At least, not for more than our social mores deem acceptable. I think it's funny that in four years of college at Bob Jones, I never got sick. Ha! Yeah, I did. But when you got sick there you had to check into the campus Hospital "Barge." And to add insult to injury, they charged you room and board! We were already paying room and board once! So, for four years I just suffered and endured. One semester I was sick with some sinus problem almost the whole time. Seems pretty savage talking about it now. We always knew that if we saw a Dr. it was going to be expensive because it was an out of network. So, for the most part we just saw the Doctor on Christmas break or summer vacation. Now the co-pays keep me away unless I've suffered for a month. Well, I'd better get back to resting. I'm planning on going to work tomorrow and leaving Rebekah alone with all the sick kids. Nice of me huh? :)

I remember

I remember that when I was a boy my Dad was at his maddest when he was trying to do something that should be relatively easy but for some reason he was being thwarted. Usually, because he didn't have the right tools. Frequently, because his tools had wandered off with the help of a small child. We (Probably Forrest my brother and myself) lost my Dad's hammer for a couple years. Thankfully, my dad did have another hammer but that was a sore spot for him I know. I also remember being at a wrecking yard outside Jerome and my Dad was being thwarted at some simple part removal. If memory serves (which I'm sure it doesn't) we shouldn't have needed tools but for some reason my Dad desperately needed his vice-grips. He ALWAYS had his vice-grips. To this day he still wears them as they are an invaluable tool. But on this day, my Dad was without. He was so frustrated that I went hunting through a bunch of wrecked cars hoping to find something he could use. I never found anything, but somehow my Dad got the part off. What should've been 5 minutes took an hour. Why do I mention my father in this blog post? Hang on, apparently Baby Clell is reading my vibe and is trying to steal the show by trying to stand up before he even crawls. Overachiever, sheesh!

ok, so why mention Dad? Well, I have been working on my own little home improvement project of my own. But I have a major deficiency (character flaw) that my Dad doesn't. I lose focus and motivation at the drop of a hat. So, in order to remain focused I increase my planning and organization. But that in turn, increases my stress level. Weird huh? Well, I have so far put in a pellet stove and chimney, tore down two walls, built two walls, drywalled them walls, and done some electrical work. Well, the electrical shouldn't have been too hard. But the only place to put another line in was a junction box. But wow it was crammed with big old wires from days of yore. And they didn't exactly follow code (probably hadn't been written yet) when they did it. So trying to pigtail into that box was crazy hard as my wire nuts weren't quite big enough to handle what was there with what I needed to add. After much hard work, I got it in. But then I realized I had to take it apart so I could put the drywall up. So I did that. After much crazier frustration (because I had less room to work with now) I got it hooked up. Then I realized that something wasn't making connection and I had to take it all apart again! Keep in mind I'm doing this while hunched over at a really awkward angle. Yeah, well, after my assembly disintegrated for the fourth time I was reaching my breaking point (an old southern expression for that is "losing my religion"). My wife came upstairs. Very dangerous. But she braved my foul attitude and and asked what I needed help with. So, with her smaller hands we got it fixed in record time. So, right now I've gotten about 50% done with my project. But the problem is, I'm burned out. Toasted. Fried. And now i'm not sure if i'll ever finish completely. The thought of working on it makes me sick to my stomach. But at least I got the wicked insulation done before I snapped.

I remember

I remember that when I was a boy my Dad was at his maddest when he was trying to do something that should be relatively easy but for some reason he was being thwarted. Usually, because he didn't have the right tools. Frequently, because his tools had wandered off with the help of a small child. We (Probably Forrest my brother and myself) lost my Dad's hammer for a couple years. Thankfully, my dad did have another hammer but that was a sore spot for him I know. I also remember being at a wrecking yard outside Jerome and my Dad was being thwarted at some simple part removal. If memory serves (which I'm sure it doesn't) we shouldn't have needed tools but for some reason my Dad desperately needed his vice-grips. He ALWAYS had his vice-grips. To this day he still wears them as they are an invaluable tool. But on this day, my Dad was without. He was so frustrated that I went hunting through a bunch of wrecked cars hoping to find something he could use. I never found anything, but somehow my Dad got the part off. What should've been 5 minutes took an hour. Why do I mention my father in this blog post? Hang on, apparently Baby Clell is reading my vibe and is trying to steal the show by trying to stand up before he even crawls. Overachiever, sheesh!

ok, so why mention Dad? Well, I have been working on my own little home improvement project of my own. But I have a major deficiency (character flaw) that my Dad doesn't. I lose focus and motivation at the drop of a hat. So, in order to remain focused I increase my planning and organization. But that in turn, increases my stress level. Weird huh? Well, I have so far put in a pellet stove and chimney, tore down two walls, built two walls, drywalled them walls, and done some electrical work. Well, the electrical shouldn't have been too hard. But the only place to put another line in was a junction box. But wow it was crammed with big old wires from days of yore. And they didn't exactly follow code (probably hadn't been written yet) when they did it. So trying to pigtail into that box was crazy hard as my wire nuts weren't quite big enough to handle what was there with what I needed to add. After much hard work, I got it in. But then I realized I had to take it apart so I could put the drywall up. So I did that. After much crazier frustration (because I had less room to work with now) I got it hooked up. Then I realized that something wasn't making connection and I had to take it all apart again! Keep in mind I'm doing this while hunched over at a really awkward angle. Yeah, well, after my assembly disintegrated for the fourth time I was reaching my breaking point (an old southern expression for that is "losing my religion"). My wife came upstairs. Very dangerous. But she braved my foul attitude and and asked what I needed help with. So, with her smaller hands we got it fixed in record time. So, right now I've gotten about 50% done with my project. But the problem is, I'm burned out. Toasted. Fried. And now i'm not sure if i'll ever finish completely. The thought of working on it makes me sick to my stomach. But at least I got the wicked insulation done before I snapped.

Favorite quote of the day

background: Bugs Bunny is fighting a witch. He turns her into a gorgeous female bunny. As he's walking off he says
"Aah sure I know. But aren't they all witches inside?"

It burns! it burns!

actually, it itches. my head, my neck, my legs. Anywhere that came in contact with the pink panther insulation. Now I'm glad we harvest those guys for their itchy fur. We do harvest insulation from animals right? If not, i'm sorely disappointed.

Let's go back a couple weeks. I was sick and I hadn't cleaned my roof. I mean, my chimney. You'll have to forgive my roof obsession as getting up on it is my primary focus. Last fall (or was it spring? It was one of the four seasons, I'm sure) I had to climb on my roof to try to keep the shingles from taking flight like a bunch of pigs. What do you mean pigs don't fly? Yeah, well, neither did my shingles thanks to my lightning fast reflexes. Anyway, that experience was unpleasant. The pigs flying away with my shingles I mean. But other than pink things giving me trouble, the wind was so fierce that I almost got blown off the roof myself. But, although the weather was foggy that morning, the one that i needed to clean my chimney, I was able to get up on the roof and scratch a little soot off of my chimney. After I got up there, I turned around only to see Titus climbing up after me. The little monkey. He was very careful, but I didn't have the ability to send him back down safely so I just had to yell at him at various times to try to keep him safe. Once I got to a stopping spot, we went down together. He certainly enjoyed himself though.

Last weekend I tore down the wall to our attic that I had put the pellet stove in. That was interesting. Rebekah was a big help which was really nice. I miss her not being able to help on a regular basis, but she's trying to get more involved. Doing demolition and then construction with four kids underfoot was challenging. But thankfully, nobody got hurt although I was pretty bruised from hitting my back, head and knees a bunch of times. So, we now have two smaller attics and an alcove that the pellet stove is in. We're pondering putting the boys in the two little attics (they're short, they don't mind lower ceilings) but I have to run electricity and finish it with drywall and insulation. It needs done but it will take some time and money. Oh, and energy. I tell you, I have learned so much having an old house. As the needs of my family keep increasing I am forced to adapt which forces me to learn. The nice thing is it's not a huge pressure all at once. I can see the needs developing and plan. I am definitely going to have to put a bathroom in upstairs next year. It's bad enough sharing with the boys but when a 2 year old (almost 3) girl starts pounding on the door and screaming "I've got to go potty Daddy!" it's a little bit too much to bear :)

ok, my grammar and sentence structure is bad but with the chaos in the house like now I'm lucky I got anything pounded out. As my Dad always used to say, "If you don't like it, you can lump it."

Soooo then...

yeah. I've been sick. or at least playing at it. Not sure if it's pig flu or not but I figured I'd better make myself scarce at least until the symptoms were milder. I've been out for three days which is rare for even a sickling like me. But since I got since sunday night, I pretty much have been sick for the entire work week. Although, simply to stay connected and not feel like such a leech, I've been working about 4 hours a day from home. This day is getting to be more like 8 though. I feel pretty decent right now, so I'm hopeful that I can get back to a semi normal routine. It's been interesting being home with the kids and seeing what Rebekah deals with every day. I freely admit that she has the toughest job. But hey, she likes it. At least some of the time. I think...

Anywho, half the fam is at church and I put the girls to bed with a perfunctory "good night" answered by wails of life-altering woe. Titus has found my soft spot and used his charming smile and good behavior (he must have been saving it up) on me to watch some cartoons and now he's playing the wii. Personally, I'd like to get back to watching Psycho. I've never seen it before so it's pretty interesting. on a side note, Titus is playing Wii Indiana Jones and finds it quite amusing that by pushing a button he can make the blonde chick from the temple of doom scream. I think that's supposedly her "weapon." silly woman.

Anyway, I still have to get up on my roof and clean out the chimney. Hopefully I won't fall to my death, but if I do Rebekah has it made. I hope she doesn't read this....

Fall is one of my 4 least favorite seasons

I know people like fall because it's cool and ooh, the leaves change color and stuff. But hello people, Fall is a season of death and dying. The leaves are pretty because they are dying. The days are cooler because the sun is no longer smiling on us. There is less light too. And worst of all, Fall brings Winter. But Winter is just doing its job so although I find it unpleasant, it's like the Grim Reaper or maggots. It serves a valuable purpose. Ok, so my logic is flawed but I still don't like Fall. I've been working hard the past month and a half trying to get ready. I'm not quite there, but I've got most of the critical items crossed off my list. Now it's just the normal fallish stuff I have to worry about. I put a pellet stove in upstairs, but since it's in an enclosed alcove (aka attic) I  need to do some re-arranging with a power saw. Last weekend I bought two more cords of wood so hopefully those needs have been met. And we put plastic on the depression era windows. And I sealed up the swamp cooler. And I, geez I'm boring myself.

Ah well, Rebekah has been blogging so I'm not sure that I have to really say too much about the fam. The kids are doing pretty good. Swine flu (I've given up on calling it h1n1) has been running through the area pretty bad, but i'm hopeful the worst is over. I have heard from several people who know people who were put in the hospital by it but no deaths. Of course, they're no vaccine available and by the time there is any it'll be too late to make much of a difference. Such is life. Or death. If you die that is. But then the swine flu vaccine is the least of worries.

I took the kids to a corn maze. correction, I took the boys. Forrest enjoyed it a lot, but Titus was scared of being lost forever. There were three mazes but since Titus wasn't having as much fun and time was an issue so we wandered around a bit. Fed some goats (see facebook for a picture) and then mozied on out. I've had to work a lot this weekend due to problems so I'm missing church now much to my irritation. Well, not much to say of interest. my brain is tired from being up late last night and I have to go to work now.

BTW, did you know they're airing a remake of that great mini-series (and subsequently a series) V? Check it out on ABC.

It's no fun...

...picking on your colleagues if they are mentally impaired by a migraine. It's like shooting fish in a barrel. dead fish.

For the first time since I've had kids

I had a knock down drag out (yeah, there should be some dashes in there but you're not my english teacher :p)
... with my kids. 4 of them. The babies stayed in bed. The girls and the boys did a cage match with me. Since I've been exercising and lifting weights a bit, i had a bit of stamina. The girls would launch themselves at me and I'd catch them and toss them at the boys. Of course, Titus did that a bit too but he's 45 pounds so I had to be a little bit more careful when I tossed him. It worked well and although Titus hurt my ear, Forrest's ear, and Serenity's head he seemed none the worse for wear. Everybody had fun and no major injuries resulted. The girls got tired though and ran a little short on patience so I put them in bed and bailed. They screamed bloody murder at me since they were so wound up, but I haven't really heard them since. Right now I'm waiting for Rebekah to get back from the store. babysitting 6 kids. Who would've thought I could do it and not end up in leavenworth?

Avoiding electrocution...

...is time consuming. I spent a long time today adding three circuits to the house. I thought I just had some simple stuff to do, but avoiding electrocution really slowed me down. You can add a circuit to a breaker relatively safely without turning off the power, but it's dangerous. And by adding three at once it was really slow. Also, none of my circuits have been grounded (the third prong) so I wanted to do that with these. Unfortunately, that required some adjustment to a clamp which once I loosened it enough for the wires fell off. So, I spent 10 minutes saying to myself "I'm gonna die" as I tried to fit it back on without bumping the Idaho Power line. Ok, so the burning (or shocking hehehe) question you have been asking is why didn't I turn the power off? Two reasons. First, because last time I turned it off the breaker wouldn't "click" back on and I had to call an electrician who gave me some tips and tricks. Second, because I knew it would probably take me a couple hours under the best circumstances and I didn't want to further torture my wife without heat and electricity.

OK. I'm tired. Rebekah is blogging pretty regularly which is great, but a consequence is I'm not very motivated anymore. plus I'm tired. Did I mention I'm tired?

Ironically enough, I did get shocked pretty good once but it was inside the house on one of the new circuits that had a tiny strip of insulation stripped off it on the back. I didn't make a mistake but I still got a nice little "shock to the system."

Hey, maybe I"ll go to bed. seems like a good idea since I'm tired. Oh, and sore. Did I mention sore?

Favorite question of the day

"Do you guys have any kleenex that I can take into the conference room?"

Why? Lots of crying going to take place?

Favorite song of the day

"I hate everything about you." Not really, but it's catchy don't you think? Just imagine wandering the halls at working singing that under your breath. In my case I think I'd have a visit from SWAT rather soon.

So, funny story. My kids like to go to jail. Or well, "the jail." Why you ask? Have I been a frequent visitor? No, well, not in the sense that one might think. And no, it doesn't have anything to do with me wandering the halls hating people and muttering "redrum." The long of it (we passed short a long time ago, laying on the side of the road beaten and bloody). The long of it is you see, well actually you don't, but you read. So, the long if it is that visitors of the jail in Ontario sometimes need to work for their room and board and they do so in various and sundry manners including wood gathering for humble patrons such as myself. The wood, although of dubious quality at times, is inexpensive and if I stop by at convenient times I can have current visitors help me load the wood while they insult the size of my truck. I usually avoid the latter as my schedule usually doesn't mesh with theirs. Anywho, so for my kids the jail isn't a bad place. that's a bad thing. I know that. I need to call it something other than "the jail." Maybe the center for the delinquent and naughty adult people. my kids would be abbreviating that to "the center" in no time at all.

Another mildly amusing story for dweeby techy people out there (are we all dweebs just because we can bend electronic things to our will by hacking phones, routers, video consoles (let alone computers) that mere mortals can barely operate?).

So, our beefy server that I mentioned on Sunday... What? What do you mean you didn't read it? Oh, so you read it but you didn't understand it? sigh. what am i going to do with you. Anyway, that's not important right now. What's important is that I have your attention now! Ok, so back to the story. So, we had a server and it needed a new processor/memory board which was on a daughter card (no jokes about son or grand-daughter cards please). Unfortunately, HP decided to save a buck and send us one without a processor so we had to move ours into it. Not a huge deal except it needed thermal paste reapplied. Well, suffice it to say that anything with paste and techies isn't going to end up well. Three men (well, two men and one techie chick) entered and the smart one (me) backed away from the thermal paste. The other two spent about twenty minutes trying to spread a thick and unfriendly good evenly over the processor. After awhile they called it good. I ignored them and read my e-mail. Then they kept asking me questions until I was forced to respond with a gentle "I hate everything about you." Then the story gets boring as we put aside our differences and installed the card with no major burnage. We'll see how long the processor lasts before it melts a whole through the server causing thermonuclear detonation.

I still need new speakers for my entertainment system.

Favorite quote of the day

"Know how to listen, and you will profit even from those who talk badly. "
Plutarch

Long day

I try to avoid working on most sundays. but it can be pretty dang hard when that's the official maintenance window. Even so, it's not usually that big a deal. But today we needed to add some tier 3 storage to our SAN. Man is that stuff expensive. Our tier 1 probably costs about $30k per TB. I could be high there, but we paid that much for 10 GB of tier 2 which is crappy SATA vs. fiber drives on our tier1. So, since we need space but cash is king, queen, jack, ace, 10, 9, 8, 7, 5 (but not 6), 4 & 2 (nope. 3 neither) we added our own disk array to our virtual storage software. Slower and more complicated, but much much cheaper. Only $10k for 12TB. We could've possibly done it for about 4k if we wanted to build it ourselves. But, by the time you factor in things like carrying spare parts and downtime it starts to not look like a good idea. We actually tried a Drobo Pro quasi-SAN, but it couldn't produce IDE speeds. Our needs were modest but it failed abysmally in that area. And we had that thing loaded too. It had 8 2TB drives for a total of 16TB raw. pretty impressive for a little unit. We got all that for $3500. Unfortunately, it didn't do that job so that was that. Working on enterprise systems is so weird because the premiums for this stuff is insane. But the industry works on supply and demand so the price is high. Yeah, i know this is boring. It wouldn't have taken so long but our system was configured oddly (at best) and so when we hooked the array to it, Windows wouldn't see it. After much trial and error my cohorts in crime figured out that the setting was configured incorrectly (a setting that they inherited when they took over the system). Once they figured that out, we were golden. Well, brass at least. I wasn't actively involved (thankfully) with that ordeal, but I had to shut down the virtual environment. 60+ servers on 6 hosts don't go down (or up) quickly. But, thanks to the beauty of technology (vmware), about all I had to do was Ctrl-A (select all) and right click and tell them to shut down and then watch watch watch them. Then we moved some stuff around and when we were about all done we powered up one of our beefiest servers (32 GB of RAM w/ 4 dual core procs) and it blue screened in a way I had never seen before. Unfortunately, this server was purely physical so no leveraging the server onto other hardware without pain pain pain. And this was the second most important server in our enterprise. We have one whole division that screams bloody murder if they can't get their reports every few hours. A day or two outage would be brutal. So, we are all looking at each other thinking expletives in our mind. And we're all of one mind wishing that this had happened a year later. But, time stops for no company and the economy be damned the server was almost four years old. Of course, having a piece of hardware that costs $20k minimum to replace is hard to justify when blood is being spilled in the trenches. So, the only clue we have is a red light on the front of the server. After doing some troubleshooting, we figure out that it might be the RAM that's bad. Well, to be honest, I pulled the server out a little and it had pretty yellow lights on DIMMs 5 & 6. It was kind of cool on the inside. Every proc had its own cell board complete w/ RAM and more pretty yellow lights signifying bad things. Unfortunately, swapping the RAM around only proved nothing. Oddly enough, yanking the RAM for the entire board allowed the server to boot. So, the server is up and running with a lowly 24GB of RAM. oh well, HP's gonna love us demanding the send us a new board. We paid about $800 for the warranty. Good investment me thinks.

ok, if you actually read this post pat yourself on the back. If you read it without falling asleep (nodding off is ok), then you may have a piece of chocolate. If you read it, stayed awake, and understood what I was talking about then you might consider getting a life. I hear e-bay is a good place to start.

dagnabit

Just found out that Forrest has bad eyesight (probably from my side of the family) and is color blind (most likely from Rebekah's side). I guess being color blind passes down through the female side and afflicts boys most often. Although his vision is poor it's not so bad they want to put him in glasses. I mean, I haven't seen him walk into too many walls. But, they'll check it again in a year or whenever he starts getting beat up too much (by the heretofore mentioned wall, not me or any adult types).

It's so quiet

I woke up this morning feeling a bit better and even (for a moment) considered going with my wife on the outing with the kids. It's so hard to do things with as many kids as we have that we have started to find the events that are fun for kids and parents and inexpensive as well. Our two favorite events (well, my two) are the Military swap meet (4 miles from my house complete with rides for the kiddies and a car crushing) and the Ontario Air Faire (10 miles away) which has aerobatics and lots of cool military planes. The best thing about these events is that they are free and not oozing with masses of humanity like the carnivals. Rebekah took the four oldest this morning (leaving the babies with Keren) and will be home in a bit. She said that they were all really good and nobody even got in trouble. That's a medium sized miracle and a a testament to how interesting it is for the kids. I regretted missing it but I would've taken my disease riddled body and gone if Rebekah hadn't done it. But my symptoms have improved after taking a dramatic turn for the worse yesterday. I came home at 3pm and slept until 8. then I went to bed about 11pm and slept until 8am. Then I took a nap this morning. I'd probably still be sleeping but my stupid calves have been so restless. That's the ones on my legs not the the ones in the pasture next door. Actually, I'm not sure if there are any veal on four legs over there or not. I know that there are cows and a bull. I could get up and look, but well, I'm just not that motivated. You see, first I'd have to set my laptop down somewhere. Then, I'd have to stand up. Next, I'd have to lean over and pull the blinds. And the final straw is moving my eyeballs. And it might be all for naught since a calf could be laying down in the grass and I might not see it anyway. All this cow talk is making me hungry. Watching the "Life of Brian" right now. I think God has a sense of humor. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go find a massager/vibrator thingy and see if that makes my non-veal calves feel better.

Kids are expensive

duh! But I was assuming we were talking about food, clothing, medical care, etc. What I didn't fully appreciate was how much damage that they would do to property. Just yesterday my sound system damaged probably 5 speakers because Serenity turned the volume on my amplifier to maximum. I put in a movie which autoplayed and ya know the roaring lion? Yeah well, it was so loud that all my kids were crying and I was yelling because I was so surprised and mad. <sigh>

I spose it was time for my girls to do some major damage. They've been pretty limited thus far. I spose I shouldn't feel bad, my friend Kelly has had his youngest do thousands of dollars in damage. He flooded an upstairs bathroom.

So, hear I sit watching the episode of Buffy where she kills herself to save humanity and blogging while desperately ignoring the static everytime the background music plays.

BTW, thanks to whomever (or whomsever) gave us the generous donation. I'm thinking about starting a telethon. Man did I hate those when I was a kid. I swear, that was the only time there was anything good on PBS. I remember watching the "Flight of the Phoenix" and it took forever due to all those stupid smiling people with their ringy ding telephones. I didn't really like the movie anyway. Who can like a movie where Jimmy Stewart is a model plan bigot. sheesh.

This week has been rough. I first had a bad cold that put me in bed for a day and then today my boss sent me home from work (what a nice boss) because I looked so bad. I'm feeling decent now so I'm hoping a decent nights sleep will help me end this week on a more positive note.

Forrest also got really sick with some stomach bug about a day before my last bout. It's hard to hear your wee ones kissing porcelain. Clell is doing a bit better but I still call him snuffy. So far the rest of the family is mostly healthy and I'm praying they stay that way.

btw, what's decoupage anyway?

Sweet! a movie called Zombieland

It's as if they read my mind. or my blog. or something. check out http://zombieland.com

Ever wonder how many different iterations of transformers there are/were? Yeah, me neither. But apparently there's a few. Our boys like transformers and I heard Titus singing the theme song "Transformers, more than meets the eye. Transformers, Robots in disguise!" this morning. Anyway, the toys in the stores are either from the movie or the movie or possibly the original. But you can also buy animal transformers which seems odd to me. At least my kids seem happy as long as there are big robots fighting. As I sit here now, Optimus Prime and Soundwave are apparently having a battle of the "lead guitar."

So, it appears that my fly vacuum isn't that original a thought. However, I submit that mine is unique simply because of the pure vitriol backing the destruction. Most of the alternatives use electricity or simply trap the insects. And yes, they do work with spiders. Maybe I could mix and match a vacuum with some sort of spring loaded frog's tongue (synthetic of course) for added range.

Well, Rebekah has been potty training Serenity the past few days. It's been going much better this time. Doing one at a time makes it a wee bit less stressful I think. As cruel as it may seem I think it's healthy to split the girls up a little bit more. We met a nurse in the NICU who was a twin and she was really resentful because everything she did for most of her life was merely one half of the infamous "twins."

I'm desperately trying to get ready for winter. Yeah, seems a bit premature but I have to get at least 3 cords of wood, put on the storm door, put in 2 windows in our bedroom, install the new pellet stove upstairs, buy a ton of pellets, and I'm sure I'm forgetting something.

Clell is still sick. He snuffles a lot. Rebekah took him back to doctor (the one I said we weren't going to anymore) and the Dr. was fairly indifferent but gave her a prescription for amoxycillin. I think after this experience Rebekah will agree with me to switch.

And can someone tell me why clubbing midgets is wrong when it feels so good?

Favorite song title

For A Pessimist I'm Pretty Optimistic

Favorite Quote of the day

"Just because you're better than me doesn't mean you can be all superior."

Busy day today. I have to do some computer workage. Then I have to unload a little pellet stove and get it upstairs (only weighs about 250 pounds) and try to install a screen/storm door. All before 6pm tonight when I have an engagement w/ some nerdly guys to play games but all the people I know are probably bailing on it. Cool huh?

But, Forrest has started school this week and is doing well.

Although, I'm worried about his hearing as well as vision. He might be color blind and seems to have poor vision in one eye (his left). He also failed a hearing test on one of his ears.


As distasteful as it is, due to the increase in medical premiums putting normal private insurance out of our grasp, we put the kids on CHIP/Medicaid. Interestingly enough, we only have to earn another $18k more before we don't qualify anymore. I don't see that as being a danger anytime soon. The good news for the kids is that they will be able to get better care now. Ironically enough, it's harder to get kids vaccinated if they have private insurance. I took Titus in a couple months ago to the local clinic to get vaccinated. They told us that they couldn't vaccinate Titus because we had private insurance. Sad huh?

weary

just keeping my head down and trudging along. these are the best years of my life so i am told.

sigh. where is a midget when you need one?

first post from my phone. we will see if it works or disappears into the annals of history that never was and never will be.

Taking Chance

I'm 35 minutes into this movie and my eyes have emitted more saline laced fluid during that time than in all of the past year.

If you ever watch this movie, make sure you can do it in one sitting in peace.

Fascinating

I was informed by my boss that there was a report/comment (not sure if plural) made that I wasn't at my desk enough. I didn't realize that I had to spend a certain percentage of time @ my desk. I work in the datacenter, the lab, with users, and occasionally take lunch and <gasp> visit the restroom.


What on earth do you do with a comment like that? My boss is happy with me, but apparently somebody higher up isn't? I need to go watch Office Space again.

Favorite quote of the day

"Man up Fargo"


I can see using this on my kids when they're crying. And my wife using it on me when I'm whining.

Life in the Grant Ballard house

Soooo, what's been going on here recently? Well, last week we took the first vacation of the year to go visit my parents. My brother Forrest was visiting with his family and I needed some mechanical help so it seemed an opportune moment. Since we had to take two vehicles, for once space wasn't a problemn. Although spending money on gas for 600 miles of travel is very distasteful. So, we embarked on the 150 mile trip to Fairfield. With road construction in Boise and in Elmore county and a lunch stop in Mt. Home, it only took four hours. Four hours. argh! Thankfully, when we got there Forrest and his wife graciously gave us two of the three bedrooms available. But Rebekah still had to sleep with the girls which wouldn't have been so bad, but Liberty woke up every few hours screaming for some odd reason. So, needless to say between that and the babies, Rebekah didn't get a lot of sleep. So, we cut our trip short and headed home on Saturday afternoon. We made it to the Gaskill reunion which will be the absolute last thing of that type we do until our children are much older.

As far as I am concerned, my big focus is on becoming less of a big fat slug. Blood tests showed that I was 60% slug and well on my way to becoming king of slugville (yes, it's a real city. It's 5 miles from Richfield). So, since I don't have any time I have parlayed (I like that word) my lunch hour into a frantic workout session at a gym. So far it's been good. I think i'm down to 59% slug easily. maybe even 58%.

Well, since our health care premiums went up so much we're not sure what to do. I think we qualify for government assistance, but that sticks in my craw. I'm trying to decide which is more important: my conservative principals or my children's health. In health related news, we took the babies to Caldwell to get immunized. A couple days and bad fevers later, they're doing well. Trinity is playing with some toys (the first time ever) and Clell is doing great. Both of them are doing fine on the growth chart.

The girls, well, are girls. screechy, whiny, cute, and adorable. All at the same time.

The boys are doing well. Forrest is excited to start school w/ the Idaho Virtual Academy. titus feels a bit left out. Titus really wants to go visit Grandpa again. It's about all he talks about sometimes. As Rebekah and I were heading back from the Dr. on thursday we went through Parma and saw they were having a double header of the Transformers. I'm pretty lazy (see slug in the dictionary) and thought that I should take Forrest. But I hate to leave Titus out. So, we went on the coldest night of the summer I think. But it went well.

Sooo, long boring blog post but I figured I should do something. I'm not sure if there's anybody who reads this blog who isn't on facebook anymore. I will keep the blog going but I may start posting the pictures on facebook exclusively. Not sure. But my phone takes pretty good pictures and I can now upload them to facebook easily. Still pondering. In the meantime, stay classy America.

Fairfield Bound

FYI, if anybody is curious Rebekah and I will be heading to Fairfield tomorrow. Oh, and we're bringing the rest of the family too. So, if anybody wants to visit just swing by. Or you could call if you want us to beat the kids into submission first. The girls usually take a nap in the early to mid afternoon. With the babies who knows. Not sure how long we'll be there though so act fast!


BTW, I don't really beat my children but since anything on the Internet can be used against me in the court of public opinion I want everybody to know that only verbal admonishments combined with positive reinforcement are applied to my children.

After our benefits meeting

Sung to the tune of "I feel pretty" from "West Side Story"

I feel bitter,
Oh so bitter,
I feel bitter, and angry, and dour...


Not really. just trying to figure out where to find an extra $120 a month.

I'm not bitter, honest!

So, we get some bad news today. They're raising our insurance premiums a chunk. I think I have an idea how bad it's going to be and it's basically going to put health insurance out of our price range. the thought of not having insurance is pretty scary, but even though insurance covered our babies births we still owe over $5k. I think I'm resigned to having medical bills forever.

one of my favorite quotes

"All I know for sure is that I don't know."

--Grant C. Ballard
Genius Extraordinaire
Hubris Maximus

I have had this conversation with my boss before.

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.

Quote of the Day

overheard in conversation today:

"We were definitely women but...."

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

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...

:)

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"

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.

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 :)

That's poetry skipper

So, a fairly eventful past few days. On Saturday I dosed myself with Ginseng and Coffee and watched the kids for 2.5 hours (I know exactly how long it is when I have to watch the four oldest). Then I proceeded to prepare a "new-2-her computer" for Rebekah. I wandered outside and did a little surgery on my tire wells. Next, I figured out how many pieces of pipe I need for my irrigation system (3 1.25" along w/ 3 connecting pieces and one elbow). And then I stopped. And stared. It was mocking me. Repeatedly it had defeated my mental attempts to bend it to my will. "You don't have what it takes!" it screamed at me. At that point I decided maybe I'd had a little bit too much coffee. But still, there it stood, as it had for years, a constant reminder of my failure. What was it you ask, with curiosity burning in your heart? It was a 8x4 foot piece of siding for my carport! I had purchased 6 pieces four years ago to replaces some rotting pieces of OSB on the east side. The water from sprinklers (or something) hit it and anybody with any brains doesn't expose OSB to the elements. It's good for putting on the skeleton of houses, but then you put something on top of it for carpentry's sake! anyway, I had envisioned great things of putting up my special external siding along with windows to allow light in, but after this many years I was forced to acknowledge that I wans't going to get around to it with my busy schedule. So, away I went with my drill (with screwdriver bit) and started ripping off the OSB. It was a big job, but I had two sheets up before my wife saw it and she seemed pleased with the way it looked (she's a good liar though so it's hard to tell). The boys were doing good and helping out. Rebekah came out with the girls and all was good. And then Forrest had a wheelbarrow (big metal kind with stuff in it) tip over on his toe and smash it. The harmonious picture was gone. And so were my helpers.

life update:
no major deviation from previous update. I bought the "Force Unleashed" for the Wii for Forrest. That game will give you a bit of a work out. Anyway, I purchased his love for $20 bucks. Not a bad deal.

lost out

My best friend lost out on a Magistrate judge position here in Payette county. We're pretty disappointed although he lost to a good man. But, God's will be done.

Nevermind

Why is it that Nirvana never seems to get old? I'm not a huge fan, but I've been listening to my slacker portable and it keeps playing songs from their first and greatest album and it doesn't annoy me like other songs do after I've heard them a million times. Odd

A special message to Camas Flower:

We were afraid that we would have to use your kind gift for things like diapers, but we're hanging in there so we were able to use it to buy a bicycle for Titus. I'll have to post some pictures. Alas, after Titus got his own bicycle, Forrest learned how to ride without training wheels and now Titus is unhappy that his bicycle has training wheels. Oh well, he's too short to ride a 16" inch bike without killing himself. Not that he doesn't try anyway :)

The babies are smiling! I saw Trinity's first big smile yesterday. No doubt about it, it was a smile :)

It's almost July???

Dangit. I've been busy every saturday and haven't gotten anything done. Our irrigation lines are broken, the weeds need sprayed again, the lawn needs mowed, blah blah blah. But last friday I helped a lady in our church move in a hurry. I wasn't the only one that helped, but I was there. Since it was in a hurry, the lady didn't have stuff ready so it was slow going and kind of frustrating. Rebekah came over to help since she can help keep me in line and even tempered. But having 6 kids hanging around for several hours got a bit stressful. But the kids are doing fine. Babies are growing good and gaining weight. we need to get them to a dr. but haven't really had the time. In this family, if something isn't broken or bleeding or a direct threat to life and limb then it's lower priority. Getting all six kids to church is a heck of a chore, that's for sure. Last Sunday night I was getting out onee of the girls and as I started to step back, I tripped over Forrest who was bent over on the ground behind me looking at a bug. I let go of the girl (I think it was Serenity) and flailed around as I fell down. I ended up landing on one knee and hitting my arm trying to avoid crushing forrest but finally I came to rest on his soft little body. I could feel his head hit the ground (asphalt) once and then again. Thankfully, all my wild gyrations had slowed down the volocity of my copious mass to where it wasn't crushing. I was in a bit of pain and Forrest was none too happy at having his head bounced on the road, but we were not injured too bad. I had some skin torn up on my knee and elbow but no blood, just brusing. Forrest had some bumps on his head where the rocks had hit and he was crying, but he calmed down and held a cold paper towel against his head. So, church was uneventful for the most part. But I gotta tell you, while I understand how preaching sometimes needs to go long, it's an absolute killer when you have a family. My kids are better than sitting than most kids, but even I have trouble when church has gone long by 15 mins. I'm just saying, that's an eternity for a kid.

Rebekah is doing ok. Her back is hurting right now so she's going to stay home tonight. So, pretty status quo.

I love my wife. Wots and wots.

Car crushing is fun!

Every year my boys and I (and usually my Dad) go to a military swap meet. Pictures are in the previous blog post. Notice (if you can) that they crushed a mini-van and a Ford Taurus.

Do people that run in circles...

...ever get anywhere? So many people I see every day are so busy with life. I guess this seems like a bad thing to me, but I'm not really any different. It's just frustrating to hear lip service from so many people. That's not really fair. At least I don't think so. Basically the heart is in the right place but the follow through leaves a lot to be desired. Once again, I'm condemning myself too. Argh! This isn't just one event, but rather a series of cascading disappointments with people. I just wrote a whole bunch, but I finally realized that most of it was just one big rant about child-care. So I'm just gonna stop. Typing it out was a little cathartic but mostly just an excercise in whining and nobody likes a whiner. Unless you leave out the "h" and add an "n."

Oh, and I made up a new nickname for myself. It's "G-Rant"

There's a story behind that but I must go correct my boys right now.

Sleeping in shifts

well, not really. But if Rebekah has a bad night and I have some sleep capacity, I'll watch the babies @ night so she can sleep. Tonight though I knew I was already a little deprived (nothing compared to Rebekah, but hey, I'm a guy) so I came home and took a nap. Two hours later I rolled out of bed. Now i'm trying to wake up while Rebekah lays down. I hope the babies will stay calm for a few minutes longer (not likely) so I can eat. Somebody is fussing while I type this so I guess I'm out of luck on that front.

Dangit. I'm watching a show and they just showed a key scene from "Field of Dreams" which I have sitting on my island so I can watch it.

Trinity just spit up on me in church. I had better get her dedicated quick

I think I am suffering from post-partum depression

late night

somewhere around 2 (or so) I remember my wife getting up in disgust. Then laying back down in disgust while muttering "You'd better have some earplugs." I knew then it was going to be rough. after a minute or so stumbling around in the dark trying to find some, I gave up and found my ipod with in ear headphones. But they usually block the sound out pretty good. not good enough I discovered. baby Clell was mad. So, in desperation I found some alternative rock on my ipod and turned it on. I listened to "Our Lady Peace" (not so peaceful) until I woke up around 6 and found there wasn't a baby crying anymore. it was me (bad joke. sorry). now I am at home watching the babies so my wife can sleep.

Sincerely,

Weary in New Plymouth

P.S. Forrest learned how to ride w/out training wheels this weekend.

Not much sleep last night for either of us. Night of the living dead.

ds.

Albertsons in payette (and probably the world over) has lost a customer tonight. My wife has been waiting in line over 20 minutes while I drive around with 6 ki

WOW

after working till 10 last night (i think that was about 14 hours. maybe only 13) and working until almost 7 tonight I am exhausted. It gets really hard to perform well when your brain gets really tired. It's kind of freaky when all you have to do is get a little punch drunk and select the wrong option and you just destroyed something that will take days to recover from. I have checked and rechecked things right now to make sure that when the other guys blow away some volumes on our SAN that something important doesn't go down too. Easy to miss. But I have done several checks and cross checks so if I missed something, then it was beyond my control.

I think my work here is done, so I'm gonna go home. I'll have to work some this weekend but hopefully not too much.

SAN problems

are fun. not really. when your SAN has problems everything running on it has problems. What's a SAN? It's like a big hard drive.

from Rebekah

"Trinity basically slept through the night last night.  I fed her before
I went to bed, just after midnight, and then she woke up at 5:30am...I
fed her then and put her back to bed at 6am, and she's still asleep and
it's 10am.    :-)



On the other hand, Clell ate before midnight and slept until 2:30am.
 Then he was up again at 6am, and then 7:30am, then 9am...no wonder he
weighs more than Trinity!  :-)"

If you don't see anything, then make sure you go directly to my blog.

I take it all back

or at least that's what anybody that thinks I'm a good husband prior to reading this blog will say. I forgot it was my anniversary tommorrow. Pretty bad huh? But it's not like i just forgot it was tomorrow, I forgot the day. But I have an excuse (as if it matters). I thought that our anniversary was on D-Day, June 6th. In reality, it's June 1st which is Marilyn Monroe's birthday. Ok, well believe it or not my wife hasn't flayed (sp?) the skin off of me. I do admit that I have a wonderful wife. And I'm not just saying that because I'm still alive. Sometimes I think it's a little trite how people say wonderful things about their spouse (or whoever) only to get divorced a short while later and start tearing them to pieces. I think that the worst thing that I could say about Rebekah is that she's a lot like me. Of course, not too much cause that would be weird and scary.

Anyway, I've been watching the babies and the boys while Rebekah gets a coupld hours of hopefully uninterrupted sack time. The babies have finally calmed down after two hours of constant feedings. Trinity spit up all over forrest (he was helping early on) and some more on me. What's worse: your kid not eating or puking it all back up because he (she) ate too fast? Right now Baby Clell appears to be asleep in the swing. I say "appears" cause he's a sneaky bugger. Once you let your guard down he pounces. Well, he fusses anyway. Trinity is laying in the bassinet staring out in space. Very alert and thankfully not fussy. Why are the boys up? Cause they wouldn't sleep! Hard to keep spanking kids when you got a couple fussy babies to watch. Oh, and Forrest was helping out until Trinity erupted.

ok, wall-e is over. I'm sending the kids to bed now. hopefully they'll sleep in. Happy anniversary to me! oh, and my wonderful wife :)

What's my age again?

Well, all our "help" is gone. I've been staying home in the morning until about 10 and working remotely so Rebekah can sleep. I leave the girls upstairs and then I just have to yell at the boys. It seems like that's all I ever do. So far my boss is fine with that although I dislike doing it. But, if it keeps my wife from going all post-partum and burning my waffles (I'm joking. I don't eat breakfast) then I'm willing to make that sacrifice. That was a joke honey! Hopefully Rebekah can find some sort of routine with the babies that will enable her to be only slightly catatonic as she goes through the day. Right now I'm watching the fam while Rebekah sleeps. Amazingly the girls seem quiet as well as the boys. The babies are mildly fussy, but nothing too big. Anyway, today was rough on Rebekah. I knew things weren't going her way when I got a text message with attitude. At that point I backed away from the phone and handed over my wallet. Well, not quite, but I did know that she was serious and if I valued my spleen then I'd better not mess with her. Come to find out she's realized that she can't potty train two two year olds while feeding and burping two 1 month old babies while trying to keep an eye on a 5 year old and a 4 year old who try to kill each other (or irritate our neighbors) at every opportunity. I told her that I don't care if I have to get another job in order to afford diapers, I don't want her to keep trying to potty train the girls. When you have 6 kids like we have, you absolutely have to prioritize. Most of the things mothers busy themselves with Rebekah doesn't have time to do. I've even offered to do laundry. I did do my own laundry for four years at college. Of course, it was all washed in cold water and then dumped unceremoniously in my drawers. One day--just take it one day at a time.

Whew!

Just got news from the boss lady that most of the company is under or on budget. Two of our most dire sites have hit either cash flow neutral or slightly positive. A couple divisions are still struggling. I think they're related to new housing, so I'd hope that would pick up soon. Business is down 50% compared to the peak. All we're hoping for right now is for things to level off. Taking things month by month.

Holy California Batman!

The California Supreme court upheld the ban on gay marriage in California. If you remember (pretend if you don't), the voters CHANGED THEIR CONSTITUTION so that they could ban gay "marriage."

The Supreme court stated that they were "limited to interpreting and applying the principles and rules embodied in the California Constitution, setting aside our own personal beliefs and values."

Did Hell get chilly? I thought that era of the judicial branch of government interpreting (and only interpreting) the law was over. I might have to re-evaluate now.


BTW, Rebekah is having a rough day. Prayers would be appreciated.

Memorial day meme

some lame alliteration there. anywho, I am alone w/ the wee babes (just the two weeest). Baby Clell is almost always famished. I fed him about 6 ozs and then gave him some gas-x stuff and now he seems content. Trinity hadn't eaten in six hours so I finally woke her up and fed her. She's a messy eater and tends to spit it back up, but I finally got about 3 ounces in her and burped her. Oh, and I did diaper changes too. Actually pretty peaceful. Where's the rest of the fam? good question, apparently they went over to Tim and Kerens. We got invited over for breakfast which Rebekah turned down because she forgot that I didn't have to work. So, since I'm anti-social Rebekah decided to accomodate me (versus nagging me... as if that's going to help) and leave me here. Because I'm a nice guy, I agreed to watch the babies. In the meantime, I'm watching a backlog of Heroe's episodes on my media center since most of the regular TV has hit the end of their season. I was upset that Terminator, the Unit, and Reaper all got cancelled. I guess that frees up more of my time to do something useful... not.

As far as the feds are concerened (the ones that were outside the window), I'm not sure exactly who got arrested for what. I asked Kelly to find out but he probably forgot and I have forgotten to follow-up. After I first blogged about it, a cop-ish person came in and pulled out his badge (hidden beneath his shirt on a chain) and asked for help. So, an individual took him to the HR head and I guess he hooked him (them) up w/ the perp. I know they hauled somebody off in cuffs but that's about it. It was a factory-type person, so I didn't know him. I figured it'd be public record, but I couldn't find anything on google. If it ain't on google either the government is nailing somebody under the patriot act or I got the search terms wrong. Probably the latter :)

I resist the urge to say "Peace, Out" because that is rather naive/hippyish but "War, Out" would probably be confusing and appear bloodthirsty. I would like to point out on this memorial day, that it has been almost 8 years (okay fine, 7 and change) since we've had an attack on American soil. If Gitmo has really mobilized the terrorists like our President asserts, then they're amazingly ineffective (like the Republicans these days). I'm just sayin' ya know? BTW, although I abhor many of President Obama (and company)'s policies, I will still respect him and the office. I think it's important that we recognize our very first "Mocha" president. Hey, that's a joke but not disrespectful ok? Class dismissed.

P.S. I've found a way to make my blog "suscribable" so you can get an e-mail when I post. If this is interesting to anybody, please post a note in the comments. Or write it on the sky. Or send a message by homing pigeon. Or smoke signal. Or telegram... wait, they don't do those anymore. The point is, let me know.

Babysitting five boys while the women dine. And tonight I have to migrate one of our aging DB servers to vmware.

stuff and things

Rebekah is doing good. she's very mobile and it's weird as I feel like I have my wife back for the first time in months. Her incision still hurts (there's a story behind that) and her "insides" still hurt, but she's doing pretty well. The babies were weighed today and they are doing pretty well. I don't remember the exact weights but they are well past their birth weight. The babies are pretty healthy. Clell has some sort of sinus thing apparently, so we're watching it closely to see if we need to take him to the Dr. Speaking of Doctors, we tried to get appointments to see a ped (pediatriciation) but apparently they're so booked up we were talking June. Give me a break. So, we're not sure what we're going to do there.

well, i was gonna blather some more but baby Clell is fussing, but I spose that's appropriate.

A Wandering Nomad

Since somebody asked, and I'm sitting here bored with Clell on my chest I thought I write a little about my sleeping challenges. Every mom out there knows what Rebekah is going through regarding midnight, 2am, 4am, etc. feedings. But I'll bet most Dad's haven't quite had the experience that I have.

After the babies came home from the hospital, I slept in the bedroom with my wife like normal. I figured that even though I'm not very good help, Rebekah might need me sometime in the middle of the night. I think that lasted two nights. The extreme temperatures (the babies were cold) combined with my wife's desire to utilize the bulk of the bed to feed the wee babes motivated me to seek sleeping accommodations elsewhere. My wife did not kick me out, although I know she was relieved when I left. So, I wandered upstairs to sleep with my four year old. As anybody with active children knows, four year olds can kick! I tried that for a few nights until I decided that I needed to be more accessible to my wife. So, I slept on the couch for a few nights. Not too bad, except it's got recliner chairs on each end so my hips land straight on the metal mechanism. Although said mechanism is greatly padded, my ample body compacts the padding until it feels like I'm laying on a metal bar. After a couple of nights, my wife decided that if she needed help, she'd call 911 and so I was able to go wander upstairs again. This time though, my sleep wasn't quite so restful as before. I would wake up repeatedly whether kicked or not. Going to sleep at all became very difficult and sleeping the whole night was pointless. Part of the problem is related to the temperature as it gets stifling upstairs when the temperature climbs. I think part is comfort as the bed doesn't fit quite right and the boys won't leave the sheets on. Part of it is probably psychological as I don't even have a clock to look at to figure out what time. Don't underestimate the value of having a bed that is yours. I feel like I've been sleeping at really uncomfortable motels without maid service and where you have to worry about someone stealing your stuff all the time. So, it's been 3 weeks and no bed for me. I made the mistake of laying down on my long lost bed to talk to Rebekah the other night and it was glorious! The next night I had a nightmare and sought solace in my own bed. I slept for 2.5 hours and Rebekah slept not at all. Yeah, well, I put 2 and 2 together and figured out that she wasn't used to my snoring anymore. So, even though I can put up with the temperature and Rebekah doesn't need the whole bed anymore I'm still stuck sleeping with a four year old. The upside is he's cute and doesn't kick me on purpose. I've pondered making a bed in the attic or in the basement with the spiders, but I doubt that it'd be much of an improvement. But dry your eyes, I shall sleep again--if only in my dreams.

Sweet!

We have a bunch of plain clothes cops outside. I guess one (or more) are feds.

It's only been two weeks?

ok, time is going really slow. I'm trying to rush things along because I want the babies to get bigger and get pass the 6 week meningitis concern. For those of you who don't remember, if your baby has a fever within the first 4-6 weeks (and even 8) then they pretty much are going to the hospital. Forrest (big Forrest) just had to go through that ordeal with his newbie. Thankfully, it wasn't meningitis but it was a big ordeal and it always costs $$ to go the hospital.

It's been a busy day, but Tyler's wife Amy has been here to help so that's been nice.

What do I know

Well, rebekah feels a bit better. she's not eating much and i'm tired of nagging her but I guess i'll keep it up anyway. I'm trying to make sure she's getting enough sleep @ least and she's doing better there. My sister-in-law Amy is coming down sometime tomorrow so hopefully she can watch the kids in the morning so I can go to work and Rebekah can sleep. She said that she'd stay until Rebekah's mom gets here next wednesday. well, she'll probably go home before she gets here, but you get the idea.

I am currently sleeping on the couch as the babies and my wife have taken over the bed. I was sleeping upstairs with Titus who has a big bed, but have decided to be more accessible for my wife by sleeping downstairs on an uncomfortable couch. Yes, yes, I know I am a scholar and a gentlemen. Heck, I just know that if my wife has a nervous breakdown then I'm stuck watching these kids 24/7 and that, my friends, would put me in the nuthouse. And not some pretty little sanitarium like Hugo on the tv show "Lost" goes to, I'm talking about a full-blow Arkham Asylum place (for the unitiated--that's where they put the bad guy nutjobs in Batman).

yeah, yeah, yeah, I still need to get pictures on here.