State your name here

Good morning fellow residents

It may just be me overacting, but I have noticed my state (NC) gets a bunch of air time. Especially in the local news. Just kidding. It does look like NC is mentioned quite often in the national news. Most of it appears to me to be something we don't want to be known for. Either we are trying to pass some crazy action or one of residents has done something stupid. I know that one cannot help the disasters, but we seem to have our fair share.

Okay, okay. I know on the other hand all you sports fans are waving your foam fingers in the air. Yes, we have been known for our athletics. Well, at least college basketball. The other sports our teams will do enough just to get attention and then be eliminated. Some of our well known cities do get the distinction of being in the list of the most popular places to live. That can be good or bad, depending on how you feel about crowds.

There is the saying that any press is good press. I just want the press to be positive. It does make me cringe when I see a headline referring to a place in our state. I hope that it is someone turning bad news into good.

Well this is my state. I will have to deal with the good and the bad. It is where I live, until something better comes along. So for now, my heels are stuck in the tar.

Still confused?

Hello all you question and answer gurus

Wendy and I saw the movie Hard Candy last night. It was an interesting movie, and by interesting I mean I have no idea what happened. Apparently it was a twist within the first 20 minutes. An older man and a teenage girl were each trying to set each other up. The ending completely confused me. I guess thinking now on it the ending is not that bad. However, as Wendy and I were watching the movie and it ended, we both thought "What happened?" It was definitely not a movie that tied everything into a bow.

I did a little searching on the movie. The director usually did music videos. It usually had music to transition the scenes and also used the walls in the guy's house. The scenes were suspenseful. The girl would have everything wrapped up and then the guy would somehow hit her. She would run and then come back and hit him.

One last thing that I am confused about is the name. Why the title "Hard Candy"? To my knowledge there was no mention of candy anywhere. The girl's name was not even Candy. I don't know or will ever know.

If you like suspense and thrillers then this movie may be for you. Especially if you are a fan of girl power.

Piece-a the pie

Hello all you crusty and saucy lovers,

Over the weekend Wendy and I went to visit Wendy's parents. We decided to go this weekend because we would not be able to visit next weekend.

For dinner Saturday night we all decided to have pizza. It was at a small chain called Pizza Village. They have a buffet on Saturday night. There you can put you money directly into you mouth. The buffet was pretty good, if you like pepperoni and sausage. Perhaps it was just me, but it seemed that all the pizzas the staff brought out were a mixture of pepperoni and sausage. They must have had a special that day in the oven. They did have a good mixture of dessert pizzas so in the end it balanced out.

Anyway you slice it, it was still good.

Down with the update

Greetings people who look forward with a backward glance

I know. If I keep looking at the same thing hoping for different results I am insane. It is becoming a habit for me to jump around websites. In a way it is disappointing when you seen that the contributor of the website has not updated. I know that person has a life outside the computer. ****Warning! Bad joke of the day. A reader of a blog goes through a screening process. Better monitor that situation.****

The good thing about finding a new website is that even though it maybe extremely old, it is new to me. I get hooked on going to the website and find that it is not updated. Just because you can get somewhere fast, doesn't mean you have a place to go.

It is hard to update because of all the technology we have. Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, E-mail, and I am sure there are plenty of others. I know that I routinely run out of things to say so I have to put up posts like this.

It may not be news, but it is new to you (and me).

Some say love

Hello all you gushing guys

Last night Wendy and I somewhat had a date night. If you mean a date on the calendar. Well we did get out of the house for some relaxation. Wendy wanted to go out for a celebratory meal for her good news. As we normally do we spent 30 minutes decided where to go. Wendy said a chicken sandwich and milkshake would be good. So we went to Cookout for a spicy chicken sandwich, fries, onion rings, and of course their fancy shakes. Wendy had a chocolate chip cheesecake milkshake and I had a chocolate cherry milkshake.

Then we went over to the dollar fifty movie theatre to meet our good friend, Charles. He had suggested with see I Love You, Man. Charles saw it some time ago and highly recommended it. He said he would see it again if we wanted to go. We said, "Sure, why not." It greatly helps that the movie is only $1.50. You can not beat a $3.00 trip to the movies. That may buy you the trailers at other places.

The movie was pretty good. It was funny in the way they make fun of culture and relationships. Even though it is called I Love You, Man it was not based on homosexuality. It did have gays in it, but the character who was kissed by another man was not even gay. The story had a happy ending. The main character, Pete, had a life crisis and then realized he was where he needed to be. He learned the value of relationships, along with having humorous experiences.

Overall it was a good movie, especially for $1.50. Check it out if you like that sort of thing. Be warned it does have men in it acting extremely immature.

Wait for it...Wait for... Wait...

Greetings wait staff

It is hard to wait on, for, and because of others. I am not really talking about serving your fellow man or woman, but knowing you have something you can do. The majority of my job is dealt with information I receive from others. Sometimes this information comes very slowly.

Today is one of those days. I know that I have three projects coming down the pipeline, but I have to get information from the contacts. So I have to wait before I can do anything.

It is frustrating when I am ready to do something and I am limited. Oh well.

Probably the same thing could be said with our relationships. We are trained to act and in a hurry. We want it done now. Trust may be an issue. At a bible study last night, the pastor talked about trusting in God to be our salvation. I thought too myself that we have a hard time doing that because we want to be the final answer. We are taught to act to solve our problems.

Sometimes what is required is patience. Hard I know, but we do have the rest of our lives.

There was a point to this...wait...

Drink up

Hello all you cup holding, mug shots, gulp guzzlers

People tend to take their drinking pretty seriously. I am not necessarily talking about alcohol. I don't know much about alcoholic beverages, but from what I understand people either do or don't. The people that don't are pretty strong about it. The people that do drink alcoholic beverages feel pretty strong about it. People say you have to develop a taste for it. I am not sure why anyone wants to spend money to develop a habit, but you do what you have to. Hobbies are expensive.

The particular point I wanted to make this post was about coffee. Coffee is another one of those strong drinks. It seems the majority of people drink it or some form of it. It has become the lifeblood of our society. Although some people have been forced to give it up or cut back.

I am not a coffee drinker. It is too bitter for me. Even after loaded with sugar and creamer. I can tolerate the flavored coffee. I enjoy the smell of coffee, but that is about it. When Wendy and I do visit coffee shops, if I get anything, I purchase the chilled creme drinks. I do love milkshakes and those are close to it.

People who drink coffee regularly or decaffeinated seem to thrive off it. They will have countless cups. On the other hand people who do not drink coffee seem to almost brag about it. You can hear them say, "I don't like coffee. I will never touch the stuff." Some see it as a badge of honor that they don't drink it. However, if you dig deep enough in their medicine cabinet you will find some sort of beverage that sustains them.

Drinking, alcoholic and non-alcoholic, has become a major gathering or watering hole if you will in society. The "bars" for the most part are where we meet, greet, gossip, and plan. So siply have fun, but do contain yourself.

It is not trash

Hello all you paper and plastic users

Recently our town received new recycle containers. When we first moved to the area it was the small green containers, maybe about 18 gallons. Ah, get it...green. They were pretty selective about what they wanted to recycle. It was the usual plastic bottles, cans, and newspapers. The pickup people would pick it up every week along with our usual trash.

Now we have been given about a 40 gallon recycling bin. It is very similar to the trash rolling cart. This time it is brown. I guess because the trash container is already green. The recycling is now picked up every other week. Which is fine with us because we do not use that much. The most I usually would recycling is newspapers.

The good news is now the town is able to recycle a lot more materials. At least they are telling they can. Now any cans can be taken, the all self-important junk mail (I was trying to recycle that anyway), and most important to me are the chipboard boxes. For example the cereal boxes and the like. Wendy and I use a lot of those boxes. I had always wondered why they were unable to recycle them before. I am glad they added them to approved list. I forgot that foil can now be recycled. Another good thing.

It is a good feeling to me to be able to recycle my refuse whether than let it sit there. I try to recycle what I can to limit my trash outtake. If you ask impolitely Wendy will be sure to turn you the lengths I go to as I try to reuse. I am not as extreme as a fanatic, maybe I am a supporter in the basement. I know the majority will not get that joke, but I think it is funny. That is the beauty of recycling...taking one thing and making it into another.

Oh no it's mourning

Hello all you afternoon attendees

It was a pretty rough morning for me today. I woke up without any problems, which is a good thing. The day seemed like any another. I read, watched my programs, and checked messages on the computer. I get to work and my day slowly spirals downward.

I was working on a mailing I began yesterday and it took me stress to finish it. This morning I have to put it in the proper containers. I had a few issues printing some addresses yesterday so I had to go back and run more late yesterday afternoon. This morning I found out that I had reprinted some. Another thing was working with rubber bands. I am not sure what was going on, but they kept breaking on me. I think I broke about ten. It was very frustrating. Finally got the mailing off to the post office. Then the po house calls and I had to fax a new report. I tried to mail the piece as a flat, but they wanted a non-machinable letter. That means nothing to the people not reading this.

Then I had to help rearrange the shelves of the accounting information in the back warehouse. The files and reports are in those long file boxes, like the banker boxes. Those things can be heavy when full. Plus it did not help that some of the boxes were old. However, all the boxes, for the time being, are in their proper place.

Other little things kept popping up. I felt like I was running around not accomplishing anything except messing up. Fortunately, the day has gotten a little better. Plus the day is almost over, so that is good.

It's the fine print

Hello all you paper pushers

Last night Wendy wanted to print a document. So in my husbandly duty to please my wife I drag out the printer we have in storage. This printer is one that I have had for many years, but never really use. It seems that it works occasionally. Never when I truly need it. If you will be reminded of the last time I used it; I was trying to print show coupons.

I did have faith that the printer would work on Word documents or at least it did the last time. It did not like to print from anything online, but at this moment it was not a concern.

So I go into the spare room and pull out the printer. Blow the dust off. Just kidding. I had Wendy do it. Still just kidding. I plug in the printer. It starts doing its grinding motion. I wonder what is going on. Wendy asks me, "Are you printing already?" I mention I only plugged it in.

To our surprise it prints out the two month old coupon. I have no idea how it kept that in its memory. I spent 45 minutes trying to get that coupon to print and it prints in 10 seconds when I don't need it.

I wish my memory was that good. I would hope I am a little more relevant though.

It pays to learn

Hello all you students of life

What is going on with the state's higher education woes? I have not been following the news too closely, but it seems that all these administrators in or college systems have resigned recently. It seems like all one can hear about in the news are problems in the school system. The children are on the buses for such a long time. The teachers don't get paid well. They are looking for teachers. They are trying to cut back teachers. They are also trying to decide whether to cut hours or lengthen them.

I know that I have no idea what really goes on behind the closed doors of educational policies. I have not been in the school system in quite awhile. Of course, one of the big issues of today is the budget. Everyone is worried about the money. Probably not the people who have taken it though.

Will the education system ever learn?

Rehinge of the nerds

Greetings all you smart people,

It seems that with all the new technology, sci-fi movies, and games everyone is wanting to be a nerd. You know the one with no social skills, a lot of intelligence, the answer to your problem, and the one who gets the girl. Or maybe it is just what I have been reading lately.

I think that it is a good thing to be smart. It should be better than the alternative. It is amazing that most people who are considered nerds are so driven. They are probably making up for something. I have been reading a couple of books about famous people in technology. The technology part is hard to understand.

I read a book about the Google company. It was mainly about the business end. They are a pretty driven company. It is their goal to be in the information market. On the other side of the coin, but still rich and powerful, I am currently reading a book about Bill Gates. He is one interesting guy. Eccentric, but very different that what I would expect. This book so far gives the answer why he is so famous. Gates throws himself to everything he does and has that drive to succeed. Not only succeed, but to be the best.

Who cares what you don't have, as long as you do the best with what you do have?

Prairie peeps

Hello all you out in the middle of nowhere

Wendy has been watching the show "Little House on the Prairie" recently. Since we share the same house I have been watching it a little also. It is not a bad show for one filmed many years ago and set in the past.

The messages of the show are good.

1) Tough times are always going to be there. It seems that in the 3 or 4 episodes I watched the family is worried about money or looking for work. Sounds familiar, eh?

2) The father, Charles, believes that one should only buy with cash. He does not want to put things on credit. Or you get what you can pay for. Many economic experts will say that this is the way to live. It is hard especially when emergencies happen and your salary will not buy an umbrella.

3) Education is important. It is not necessarily school, but the life lessons are important.

4) Faith is vital to life. Number one should be in God and then that branches out. The characters in the show have faith in one another. They are strong when they rely on one another.

These are just a few of the observations I came up with. I am sure they are many others. Plus it is an entertaining show. Who can be a problem solved in less than an hour?

I don't know if I could work as hard as they do however.

Post for the previous

Hello all of you with something better to do

This post has no substance, well my others do not either. This is just filler. For those on a diet it is now half the calories. As you are eating {insert meal here (please because I am hungry)} remember to chew properly or slurp well.

Enjoy the rest of your buffet.

Searching for the answer

Or I can't read...my e-mail

Hello you screen savers

Yesterday at work I noticed my computer was doing some odd thing. I could not bring up the Google web page. I could bring up other search engines. I did notice that sometimes as I was trying to open other pages on other tabs it would not open.

I had non-experiences with my personal e-mail. My Hotmail account I could sign in and see that I had messages, but I could not open them. Nor could I navigate to my other folders. I could compose messages, but not read my own. My G-mail account would let me log in, but never bring up the page.

I am not sure what the problem might be. I hope it is not a virus or something like that. I have not seen any alerts that have popped up. Hopefully my computer was just having a bad day.

It did feel odd to search for random information and not use Google.

If the problem continues you can e-mail me. Uh, maybe not between the hours of 8 and 4:30.

Ailments, but not of the flavor

Hello all you physical peeps

As you might have read in Wendy's blog or my blog or perhaps saw us suffering you know that we have been suffering a little bit this week. Wendy is dealing with dental issues and I am dealing with some itchy irritations.

It is amazing how the body can turn on you. One minute you are fine and the next you are feeling awful. Most of the time the body is pretty good about getting back on track for the amount of harm we do to it. I guess you have to take the good days along with the growing pains. If you are on this planet then you have to deal with aging and aches and pains.

Take care of your body now and you will not have to pay for it then. Hopefully.

I've been poisoned

Hello all who are itching for something

Yes, I have joined the ivy league or oak, I can never tell the difference. I have a small case of poison ivy. Currently it is on my right arm around my wrist. It itches a little bit, but not too bad.

The other day at work my coworkers and I were trimming some limbs. I was throwing a cut limb into the woods behind the building when I must of touched the leafy surprise. I was so intent on what I was doing I failed to noticed the leaves of three. My supervisor told me about the poison ivy. I thought I had bypassed it or washed my hands well enough afterward.

I did not see any evidence of the bumps until Monday. I guess I did get some of the ivy on me. It started as two small bumps and then now is more numerous. I have been applying some lotion to it to dry it out. I guess I will have wait it out.

Fortunately, it is only on my arm. I have had it in a lot more places. I am allergic to poison ivy, but not as bad as some people. I know that my brother has had to get medicine once when he was exposed to poison ivy.

I have had a few bumps, but I will be okay.

Time me

Hello all you watch watchers

I noticed on driving to work this morning that my car clock was off according to the radio station time. It was off this morning by four minutes, my clock was slow. Just a few days ago it was only off by two minutes. My computer and phone clocks are also facing a difference. The computer is three minutes faster. I use that one at the end of the day!

I am not sure how these timepieces keep changing. I had a watch in high school that would increase time to ten minutes ahead. I would set it back to the correct time and by the end of the week it would be ten minutes fast. I am not sure if it was body or what.

I sure hope they keep their hands off me.

Moving slow

Hello all you up and adams on the eve of this day

This morning I feel like I am moving slow. Even though I have not been doing much I am feeling tired. Wendy and I played a little bit of racquetball last night. We tried to get back in the swing of things.

It is interesting how I can sleep through the night to wake up in the morning to take a nap. Maybe I have something big planned that I am storing my energy for? Right now I do not know what it is.

Bed bugs

Hello all you sleepyheads

Now, don't be alarmed. The bed bugs that can be seen at least is me. Yeap, I am one of those strange bedfellows. I enjoy sleeping. If you ask Wendy then I conk out too much.

This was one of those weekends. We had a late night Friday so we slept in on Saturday. I woke up around my usual time only to fall asleep for a few more hours. Then yesterday afternoon I was exhausted. I am not sure if it was the pool or being outside. I was trying to read the same paragraph about 15 minutes. I finally made it 30 minutes later. I do not know if it is the books I am ready, but I am dozing a lot more. Still this morning I feel a little tired.

I will write to you later, I am just resting my eyezzzz....