Goodbye 2005

It's that time again when we bid farewell to the year and make resolutions for the coming new year. In retrospect, 2005 was a fairly good year that went by very quickly. I think time has actually sped up very minutely and that's why I perceive the past year as passing by too quickly. I know that I'm looking forward to 2006 and everything it will bring. Even if I didn't want the new year to happen there is nothing I can do about that. Time trudges on with or without you. I just hope I have a few more decades left because I'm really looking forward to driving one of those flying cars.

Not Again

I am so tired of receiving email from good hearted persons who want to help find a missing girl. I’m tired of receiving email from people who want to make a lot of money because Microsoft is going to pay them if they forward it to lots and lots of people. I’m tired of receiving emails to boycott Tommy Hilfiger because he’s supposedly a racist pig or the ones that will make something really funny appear on your monitor if you forward it to ten people. The list goes on and on.

Whenever I check my inbox and see these types of subject lines I cringe. I suppose I could just create a filter in my email program and I would never again see these types of emails but I’m just too lazy to do that. Besides, what if just once there really is a missing little girl or boy and I could pass on the information to help find them? And I also think that the person who is forwarding these types of emails has a moral responsibility to verify the accuracy of the message before forwarding it to everyone in their address book. I’ll bet they have never visited Snopes and believe in all urban legends.

Now, if you don’t email this post to five people in the next fifteen minutes the hilarious dancing elves won’t appear on your monitor and you’ll have bad luck for the next seven months!

Bullet Holes

I truly dislike those things. I think we’ve all seen them before on cars and trucks. You see them and then you do a double take just to make sure your eyes weren’t playing tricks on you. If you see them in a parking lot you walk up to the car and when you’re about two feet away, you realize the holes aren’t real at all but only stickers the owner put on the door or window as a gag. If you see them while driving, well it’s up to your imagination to determine if they’re real or not. Wouldn’t it be something if someone with a real gun put a real bullet hole in the door (while no one is inside, of course) that has those stickers? The owner walks toward his vehicle and says “Wow, sometimes those stickers really do look real. Wait a second, one, two, three, four; I thought I only had three stickers on there. Oh, crap!” Next month, clever things to do to cars and trucks with free spinning wheel covers.

Author’s Note
I would *never* condone using a firearm in this manner. This entry is only a rambling thought about a novelty item and should not be taken seriously.

Immunizations

Immunizations are a fact of life when you have children. I hate taking Baby to the pediatrician for shots because she cries when she gets them. Any parent can tell you that children have basically two forms of crying…the cry when they are hungry or unhappy and the cry when they are in pain. There’s a big difference between the two and I don’t like to hear either of them but the latter is the worst. Such will be the case later today when we take Baby for her one year immunizations.

I don’t doubt the effectiveness of immunizations and the effect they have had in the free world, but the cost of them and the administration fee charged by the pediatrician can be quite a surprise. Sure, I have insurance but my stupid plan has a $500 maximum per benefit period for “well baby care” which immunizations fall under (don’t get me started on insurance). I’ve done some checking and it seems our pediatrician is charging the average fees. For example (not exact), one immunization may be $20 with a $40 fee for the nurse to administer the injection. Depending on where we are in the immunization schedule, Baby could be getting four different immunizations in three injections. So, $80 for the immunizations and $120 for administering the immunizations, I’ve just spent $200 since Baby has reached her maximum for the year. Of course the price for the immunization itself varies higher or lower depending on what she is receiving but there’s no way around not paying an arm and a leg. ;-)

And the folks who can’t afford to pay for immunizations get to go to county clinics and pay a deeply discounted price ($20) or whatever they can afford to pay for all their immunizations. I’m not eligible to participate because I make too much money. Ha ha! Side note : I love seeing people in grocery stores paying for their stuff with food stamps and then getting into their Cadillac Escalade out in the parking lot (don’t get me started on that, either).

Don’t get me wrong, I understand the benefits of immunizations and the issues before we had them and the importance of ensuring that children receive them. I would never think not to immunize Baby. I guess my real gripe is about health insurance but that won’t stop Baby from crying later this afternoon. :-(

LOST - Grey Cat

Answers (rarely) to Napoleon. Very affectionate and loving cat. Family is saddened by his disappearance. Well, maybe just me. Children can't sleep at night because they can't hear him purring or breaking something. REWARD

I miss that damn cat...Just come home, Napoleon.

Pennies

I went into a Convenience Store today and I had two small issues. The first, is that the clerk was speaking to me as if we had been friends for years. I can handle small talk from customer service oriented workers but someone who cracks jokes and is trying too hard to be funny kind of bothers me. The second issue is when he was giving me my change which was $5.61, he asked if I wanted the penny. Well, damn right I want the penny. It's my money and I want it. He said that some people "get offended" when they receive pennies in change. Now if I received .61 cents in pennies I might be a little perturbed but in the normal course of receiving change that contains pennies I personally don't mind. I think people are offended that he is asking them if they want the pennies in the first place and maybe if they are caught off guard by the question, refuse the pennies. Imagine how many people come into the store during a normal work shift and if the majority of them give up part of their hard earned money. This guy could be making a few bucks to put in his pocket just for asking a stupid question. It could even be more if he has a lot of people who are offended by receiving say nickels or dimes. Go figure.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all!
And if you are offended by that or want to be "politically correct", then Happy Holidays to you!

We're Back

We've returned from our road trip. Such a long drive but well worth it to see my extended family and also for them to meet Baby personally for the first time. I just wish we could have planned for a longer stay and more visiting time. You know, the weather is strange because it was so warm there. On Friday evening I took the family to a Holiday Theme Park and we didn't need jackets all night long since the temperature hovered around 65 degrees Fahrenheit. I saw on the news that it's supposed to get up to 70 degrees Fahrenheit here on Monday! It's winter and we should all be bundled up in jackets and playing in the snow. :-) I know, wishful thinking. On another note, my wife's sister was taking care of our cat, Napoleon, while we were gone and now he's nowhere to be found. He's gotten out before but he always returns quickly. I'm not worried yet. He'll come home soon.

From the Road IV

From the Road III

From the Road II

From the Road I

Christmas Show

Today was the annual Christmas show at our daughter's school. I remember when I was in grade school and all the practice that we put in for our shows. I also remember sometimes being nervous before hand but once we got on the stage and started singing everything was fine. When my daughter went on the stage she looked like she wanted to vomit but once they started singing she was fine. The school did a pretty good show with all the grade levels and the part I liked the best after my daughter's class was the group of students who played carols on recorders with the teacher's guitar accompaniment.

Baby's Birthday

Today is Baby's birthday. She turned one at 5 PM. It's amazing how fast the year went by. We had a small party today with family since my wife and I were slow in planning a big party with friends. All the halls were booked for the days we wanted so we scheduled the big one for January 7, 2006. There will probably be over one hundred people there. Anyway, our little party was fun and Baby had a great time playing with her cake. She got to run around and generally make a mess. I still can't believe she's a year old. Happy Birthday, Baby!

Full Service

Bah, Humbug!

I just can't seem to get into the Holiday spirit. Here it is only thirteen days before such a festive day and I'm being a grinch. The holiday traffic on the roads and in the stores don't help my mood very much. I dread looking for a parking space at the mall. I'm even tired of hearing some holiday songs on the radio and in the stores. I think the next time I hear "Deck the Halls" I'm going to deck the first person I see carrying a Furby. I do still have almost two weeks to change my attitude, though. Or maybe I won't. Humbug!

Baptism

We baptized Baby yesterday. I don't know why we put it off for so long but at least she's got one sacrament under her belt now (six more to go). Baby wore a white dress and shoes that her God Parents bought and she looked beautiful. She didn't cry during the baptism but did fuss just a little. After the baptism came the lighting of the candle symbolizing the light of Christ, and Baby really enjoyed that part. She's fascinated with lights. Later we went out for dinner and Baby wanted to walk all around the restaurant. Thankfully she waited until after church to get into that mood.

Snapper: Red maple leaves

I ran across this blog by pushing the 'Next Blog' button.

http://okadavinci.blogspot.com/2005/12/red-maple-leaves.html

In my opinion an eclectic photographer. Some of the photos are striking. I enjoyed looking at them and I hope you find them interesting, too.

Coolest Job

Federal Air Marshal. That must be the coolest job in the world. Just think, you get to travel and see the world, do a lot of reading and eat airplane snacks. You can small talk with other passengers and lie about everything. And you get paid to do it. Oh, and the best part is you get to carry a gun, too. That is pretty exciting. And when the TSA suspends confiscating scissors at airport checkpoints, just think how much more exciting the job could end up being.

'F' is for Flu

Bird flu, Swine flu, Arabian Camel Spider flu, whatever the hell flu I had absolutely sucked! First my daughter gets sick, then me, and finally Baby. We’re all getting better now though, I am back at work, so am able to finally post a blog entry. For those of you who never get sick you have no idea what you’re missing. I suggest you go to a doctor’s waiting room and touch everything you can and then rub your eyes or something so you can experience first hand what you’ve been missing. You know, I have some of the weirdest dreams when I’m running a high temperature. I can’t remember them all but the most recurring one is in black and white and involve millions of small dots. It’s like a sea of dots that undulate and slide like an amoeba. Another one I remember is being in my daughter’s fourth grade classroom lecturing them on time travel using theories from quantum physics. The brain does some strange things when your head is in crock pot mode.

Bored

Ha! The joke’s on you, Castagnoli. I happen to like jalapenos and they added just the right amount of kick to make my burger even better. I think I uttered those words while Art and I were walking out of Burger Street right before we hit the town and guzzled down a six pack of Mountain Dew. Why this thought came into my head at this moment is a mystery to me but it has gotten me thinking about the younger years. I guess I have nothing better to do on a beautiful Saturday since I’m here at work. Ho hum.

Busy As Bees

We are so damn busy at work. Worked last Saturday and 12 hour days the past 4 days. I’ll be here again tomorrow and it looks like more 12 hour days next week. I don’t understand why our customers are such procrastinators. They do this every year at this time and it really irritates me. I guess I shouldn’t complain because it’s a lot of overtime hours. Wait, I don’t get paid overtime. Doh!

Baby Giggles