My Life (Uncensored)

Resolution Time!

2009-01-02T01:48:00.002-06:00

The new year has been rung in and now it's time to make good on some of the promises I've been making to myself for the past 6 months. It's really easy to say "I'll start running after the holidays" or "that'll be my New Years Resolution" but there comes a moment when even you don't believe the B.S. excuses you're coming up with to put off doing something you know is right and good for you. In my case this right and good thing is getting back in shape. With this being said I have made a commitment to get back in shape. I used to go to the gym religiously and for a couple years I would make it there at least 2 times a day. However, with the new job, travel schedule, activities for the kids, and the aches and pains that weren't there before it has become to easy for me to rationalize missing my workouts. Well, as you can all probably tell my REAL New Year's Resolution is to get back in shape (become healthy). .................................. So, what is everyone else's resolution for 2009?

The Simple Things in Life Are Best

2008-12-29T01:15:00.000-06:00

The blog title really says it all. I guess that's why I like this song so much. You know it seems that too many people today are concerned with who they know, what they have or what you can do for them instead of just being happy with the life they lead. Don't get me wrong, I would love to be rich and not have to live payday to payday, but that's not my reality and I'm OK with that. The simple things like a hug from the kids and spending time with family and friends are what's most important to me. Enjoy the song.

Last Weekend of 2008

2008-12-28T18:21:00.002-06:00

Well it's the last weekend of 2008 and as I reflect back on the year I can say with reasonable certainty it was a good year. My family is well, work is going good, I got to take a 1000 mile road trip on my Harley to visit my brother in Texas and I got a new computer (Yep, still really loving the MAC). However, I am already looking toward the new year. My travel schedule kicks off early in 2009 with a trip to Kansas City in January and then to Dallas in Feb. The good thing about the Dallas trip is that it will give me another opportunity to visit my brother Paul and his family. This is the best part of the trip as I really enjoy being able to see my brother, sister in law and 3 nephews. Anyway, I hope everyone has had a great year and that next year is even better for all of us.

I've Been Converted (To MAC That Is)

2008-12-27T01:14:00.002-06:00

I have been thinking about buying a new laptop for several months now and have been torn between staying with a PC or switching to a MAC. Well the decision was made and I am officially a MAC man now. I have to say after several weeks of reading reviews, talking to the IT guys at my work and getting some hands on with the MAC's I made the switch to MAC. I absolutely love it. I am still getting used to the track pad and navigating the Finder and Dock, but overall the applications are much simpler. Connecting it to my existing home network was a breeze. I simply turned it on, logged in and walla I was connected and could view the other computers in my house (which happen to be PCs). Anyway, I feel like a kid in the candy store. True it was more expensive, but most of the software I needed was already installed on the computer and after you consider what software you have to purchase with a PC the price is pretty much even. Well enough of the sales pitch, that's not what I intended, it's just that I am so stoked (do people still use that term?). Wishing everyone a great night and pleasant dreams. Hopefully, I'll have something more substantial for my next post.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T10:44:00.006-06:00

Well the kids just finished opening their gifts and like every year I realized they got way too much. It's OK though, because the best part of my Christmas is watching the kids and seeing the sheer joy on their faces as they open their presents. I hope everyone is having as good a day as I am. Merry Christmas everyone.

Paw Paw

2008-12-24T09:17:00.002-06:00

Some of you who have been keeping up with my brother's blog http://wwwpaulsworld.blogspot.com/ may already know that our grandparents passed away recently. My Maw Maw left us this year and my Paw Paw a couple years ago. Anyway, I was surfing YouTube and came across this video. It brought back a lot of memories of my grandparents as my grandpa used to sing this song all the time. When I was a teenager I lived with my grandparents for a short time and I remember my Paw Paw would wake up in the middle of the night go knock on Maw Maw's room door and start to sing this song. This was at the top of his hit list right next to Roger Millers "King of the Road" (better known as trailers for sale or rent). My Maw Maw would get so upset with him for waking everyone up. It was hilarious. When I think about it it still makes me laugh. Anyway, Maw Maw and Paw Paw, I miss you and love you. This is for you guys.

Give Me Strength

2008-12-23T18:19:00.003-06:00

Well the past day and a half has been extremely draining on me. More of an emotional drain than a physical one. My best friend's sister has moved up here with her 3 kids and is now living with him . She is down on her luck and needed a place to stay while she gets back on her feet. There is nothing wrong with this and my friend has stepped up to the plate and done what any good brother would do. He has accepted her and the kids in to his home. To help paint this picture my buddy is married, has 2 kids of his own, 4 dogs (3 labs and a mutt) and 2 snakes. Needless to say the house is now officially bursting at the seams. Now many of you may be saying to yourselves "that's not too bad", but I'm not finished. We have since learned that his sister is addicted to prescription pain medication and has been diagnosed as being bi-polar. In the 3 months she's been in town he's had to bring her to the ER 3 times so far. He is trying to get her the help she needs and has her enrolled in an intensive outpatient therapy program to help with the addiction. Needless to say he and his immediate family really needed a break from this situation and have left town for the Christmas holidays to spend time with his in-laws. After speaking with his sister's counselor it was decided that she should not go back and visit as this is where a lot of her problems begun. So he has taken his family and his sister's kids with him on vacation and left his sister here alone. Being a good friend I offered to check in on her from time to time to make sure she wasn't completely alone during the holidays. This is where my being emotionally drained begins. Last night I went to check on her and discovered she wasn't alone. She had a "friend" from therapy at the house. Come to find out this individual is a drug dealer and only 19 years old. Of course I didn't know about this kid's history when I called and talked to my buddy, but once I told him he asked me to go and tell this individual that he wasn't welcome in his home. I went back to the house and his sister had stormed out with this piece of shit kid in tow. She wouldn't take my phone calls and apparently threatened to go on a binge because she felt her brother didn't trust hergo figure and was trying to control her life. Anyway, around midnight she showed back up at the house and we talked. I asked her to come and stay with me during the evenings while her family was out of town. She refused and left. Well around 4am I hear a knocking on my door and sure enough it's her. Now, I was glad she was OK as I was worried she was going to do something to hurt herself, but today has been trying. I drove her to her therapy and then to the clinic where she was ordered to submit a urine sample for a drug test. We won't know the results for a couple days. She has decided to take us up on our offer of staying here in the evening with us until her family gets back in town. I am just praying that God will give me the strength to handle this situation. So, if any of you happen to be praying please throw in an extra one for my family, my friend's family and his sister. Good night.

I Say Again, Winter SUCKS!!

2008-12-21T10:13:00.008-06:00

Not much happening in my neck of the woods. It's too freaking cold. The only good news that I have to report is that I have officially started my vacation. I will be off from work until Jan 5th. That's right 3 weeks of recharging the batteries and gearing up for another year. I really can't complain too much. The month of December is always a good month for me. My birthday, wedding anniversary, friends birthday, brother's birthday, and of course the most important birthday of all (celebrated on the 25th) occur in December. However, as good as these things are the weather still sucks. Here is the snapshot of the weather from Weather.com.

Happy Holidays everyone. Stay Warm.

My Kind of Santa

2008-12-19T20:25:00.002-06:00

Just trying to get into the spirit of the season. This is my kind of Santa.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!

End of Year Burn Out

2008-12-18T08:52:00.004-06:00

It seems like every year around this time I feel completely burned out at work. Maybe it's like this for everyone. I work for a HVAC (Heating Ventilation Air-conditioning and Refrigeration)manufacturing company. I am a manager of the training department responsible for teaching operation, repair, service and maintenance on our equipment. Over all I really enjoy the job. I get to meet a lot of people from all over the world and genuinely enjoy teaching when I'm in the classroom. However, at the end of the year once all the traveling is done and the classrooms are empty I am ready for a vacation. I just plain need a break. Dealing with budgets, employees concerns, deadlines and planning for next years business objectives has completely wore me down. Normally I would hop on my Harley and go for a ride to clear my head and relieve my stress, but since Winter in Wisconsin sucks that's not going to happen for a few months. The good news is that after tomorrow the much needed vacation begins. I will be off until Jan 5th. Of course the vicious cycle thing will probably kick in by the end of the vacation and I'll be looking forward to going back to work, recharged as it were and ready for the new year when the 5th gets here. And then it will come full circle next December. Oh well it could be worse.

Winter Sucks!

2008-12-16T18:03:00.001-06:00

Being a transplant to Wisconsin from the Gulf Coast of Mississippi has been quite a cultural shock. It's not so much the difference in lifestyle (which is different), but the whole 4 seasons thing can be a real kick in the nuts. I don't mind the combined 6 months of Spring, Summer and Fall, but the the remaining 6 months of Winter is enough to take a toll on the best of men. Today I woke up to a brisk temperature of -8 degrees F with a wind chill of -20. I don' t care where you're from or how you grew up this just plain sucks. I guess of the bright side our high did reach 3 above today.

18 years to life!

2008-12-15T15:48:00.000-06:00

Well don't let the title mislead you. Yesterday was my 18 year wedding anniversary. I look back on my life and can't believe that I've managed to make it this far. Let's just say that there was a time in my life that I wasn't even sure if I was going to live through the day. When I was in 7th grade my pop, who was in the USAF, got orders to Nellis AFB in Las Vegas, NV. Now for a teenage boy who practically lived his whole life in Biloxi, Ms this was a drastic change. Moving from a school of maybe 300 students to school with 2,000 was quite a shock. Not only was I at the akward age of 13, but I had never been out of MS for any length of time. I had an accent, was the new kid, didn't know anyone and was completely out of place. Fortunately for me there was another "new kid" at the school who moved from TX and had a worse accent than me. It worked out that we had several of the same classes and became really good friends. So, for the follwing couple years Sean (my friend) and I became the best of friends. This was good thing for me because my dad's new job had him working 12 hour days and my mom was enjoying life in the casino's on a regular basis. I had become a latch key kid. I would wake up, go to school, come home and not see my parents at all on some days and only very briefly in the evenings on the others. Needless to say, I thought I had the great life. I was a teenage boy of 15 with no real responsibility and pretty much total freedom to come and go as I pleased. And then it all came crashing down. My friend moved to Phoenix, I was briefly dating a girl that turned out to be quite literally crazy, Jarrin was her name, and started hanging around the "wrong crowd". One thing led to another and I started skipping school, drinking, smoking pot and getting into fights on a routine basis. Of course, with my new friends, I thought this was "cool". I was wrong. When I stated getting death threats followed by getting shot at and being chased by gang members from other schools you would think I would of learned my lesson and tried to straighten up, but it took watching someone I knew get shot right in front of me before I realized it was only a matter of time until it was me on the receiving end of of a bullet. My parents, after months of this behavior and my running away from home talked me into moving back to MS to live with my grandma. I took them up on this offer and this was my first step toward getting my life back on track.
I was 17 and a junior in high school when I moved back to MS to live with my grandma. It took a lot of time for me to adjust to the slower pace of life I had originally left when I first moved to Vegas. I was struggling with school, actually I was struggling with "going" to school. I was skipping and only showing up when it was convenient for me. Luckily, on one of the days I made it to school I met Heather, who is now my wife. Heather was a cheerleader and lived a very sheltered life compared to what I was used to. She never did anything without her family and i mean the whole family; mom, dad and her 3 sisters. So, I called her up one night and asked if she would like to go out with me one night. She said yes and on a Saturday night her and I went out with my brother (who is older..see above posts as I must mention this fact as much as possible to make my getting closer to 40 more tolerable) and his girlfriend Debbie, who is now my sister-in-law. We went to Wendy's and the Silver Screen to watch the original Die Hard movie ( a couple of big spenders). It was great until we realized that we had to get Heather home by 11pm and the movie was still playing. We were late. How is that for a first date impression? Her parents were ok with us being late becasue I walked her in and explained what happened. This was the first date with my future wife. It's crazy to think it was that long ago. From a first date in 1988 to 18 years of marriage. She must be FREAKING crazy. Anyway there is a lot more to this story, but I'll save it for another time.

First Timer (blogging that is)

2008-12-13T12:55:00.001-06:00

Well I guess this blog post title really sums it up. This is my first post so your guess is as good as mine as to how this blog will turn out in the end. I have decided to follow my brothers lead on this endeavor. My brother, who is older, (I had to add this vital statistic) started a blog a few years ago http://wwwpaulsworld.blogspot.com/and it always peaked my curiosity how he is able to express what's happening in his life to everyone with access to the internet. The more I thought about it I realized this may be just the thing for helping me to deal with certain stresses in my life. Don't get me wrong, I love my life it's just that at times, like everyone else, I start to feel a little overwhelmed with everything that is going on. Anyway, we'll see if blogging works as well for me as it does for my bro. Thanks for stopping by and hopefully I'll see you again.

Chris