Happy Thanksgiving Day 2008

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Today we were watching the Macy's parade and I saw the best thing. There was a float for Foster's Home of Imaginary Creatures - a show on the cartoon network - and they started to sing a song and then all of the sudden Rick Astley appears out of the float and starts singing. It was like they 'Rick rolled' the entire parade. How genius. I was just laugh hysterically because I doubt many people grasped the concept until after the little guy on the float said that he loved 'Rick Rolling' . In case you missed it click here.

Sorry about that try this one here.

Ok seriously here it is.

haha here it is.

This is probably the biggest Rickroll that will ever be pulled off, I think the only thing that could compare would be the Super Bowl halftime show, and even though that would be bigger it would still pale in comparison to this pioneering effort. Also Rick rolling will no longer be cool.

Dream Wreckers Win the Triple C Championship

The Dream Wrecker have won the first and mostly likely ever Triple C championship. With last week's win I went to 2-0 vs. inner office staff and this week is merely a formality as I control the tie breaker even if I lose. Originally we weren't planning on doing anything for the winner, but since I actually did win I am thinking about maybe making a trophy or buying a prize for myself, you know really do it up right. Maybe a gift card or something, whatever it is I do you can rest assured that it will be special. Now the only thing left is to take the overall title. This week should be interesting as it is the last game versus someone at work and he is also in second.

Sampson's First Square's Game

Sampson won his first square's game tonight 11-9 against old Dad. I was all out of sync from this weekend so I couldn't concentrate. Anyway I'll challenge him to a rematch, I won't take so easy on him next time. As a side note: It sure is neat to watch your kids experience stuff for the first time.

A Weekend of Illness

Well this was about the least fun weekend you could imagine. I got sick Saturday morning at about 2 in the AM. Yeah, all the nasty stuff and then Sophie got sick too. Then Peach started vomiting, but Sampson was OK, so he will probably get it on Thanksgiving. Anyway we are finally feeling a little better now, until I watched the Browns play and they made me sick again. They should just trade Braylon Edwards now. Then Brady Quinn got yanked in only his third start, so that Derek Anderson could come in and fumble and throw a pick. Well I guess we'll get a new coach next year, thanks for the memories Romeo.

Dream Wreckers still in first

Man, it has been a good run for the old Dream Wreckers. We are still in first and have just completed the first leg of winning the Work Championship. Dean Markum fell prey to the Wreckers last week as his hopes of a championship, were, well Wrecked. This week will be a steeper challenge as it is for all of the marbles so to speak. If I lose, the work championship will be lost, of course we're all out of job so it is kind of moot anyway. Well if I lose it is moot, otherwise I'm the Champion.

The Progress of Sampson pt. 1

Today Sophie and I had our first parent teacher conference with Sampson's teacher. I was a little anxious myself being on this end of an evaluation of my offspring, but the report was very good. She said he is one of the first to raise his hand to answer questions (Sophie denies that this trait could be due to her, but that is OK as I will take responsibility). She also said he gets along well with others and has done very good at passing his reading tests. I guess it is true, you do what you know, and since he doesn't know any different from testing out of books in kindergarten he doesn't think it is too hard or anything. Perhaps Mom and Dad will reward him for doing such a good job. Perhaps.

The bailout explained

Hopefully this will help people who have been having trouble understanding the bailout. This is probably exactly how the discussions went down in congress.

First Snow

We actually got our first snow this year on Sunday the 16th. Which seems really early, but I remarked this week that the first snow is always really nice and you marvel at the beauty of it, then after about 2 months you get really sick of shoveling snow and scraping ice and you can't wait for the stupid snow to stop. But hey, I'm not there yet, it still looks really pretty. It just cold, very fast that's all.

Random Thought #8

If your ever in space and you happen to drop your tool bag, forget it about 'em cause man they're gone.

Sampson wants 6 figures.

I include this because it is funny and right now I need a little humor.

Sophie made the comment about how much she should make last weekend and I said something like 'how much do you need, 6 figures?' Then Sampson said 'I can't wait to get 6 figures, that is 3 more 2 packs.' Here he thinks the figures are the little toy figures that he plays with. Sorry buddy, but remind me to never let you negotiate for me.

New Epiphany

I heard a good epiphany the other day, ' sometimes you're the stick and sometimes you're the puck'. Definitely feeling like the puck right now.

Severed, Again

Today was 'S' day. Yesterday was Veteran's Day and I would just like to give a heart felt thank you to all the Vets who have served in the military and fought for this country. But today was Severance day. Why do I choose to share this, well why not. Being severed sucks! That is the only way to put it to be honest. They tell you that you've worked hard and they appreciate the job you did, but in the end it just wasn't enough. Oh and by the way you are going to lose your job in the next 60 days or so. We still you need you to show up, thanks. There is no other bigger de-motivator than to tell someone you are 'going' to lose your job. No prospects to even continue employment there, it is just over. It is like someone stabbing you with a knife, plunging it in as deep as it will go, but it doesn't hit any vital organs. Instead of an instant death the knife is slowly moved back and forth until it does hit an organ or you just bleed out. The only solution once the knife is in is to pull it out yourself. I will probably feel sorry for myself for a day or so, but that won't help me. I have to find another job now or contemplate a move to another part of the country or both. I am going to put my trust in God hands and allow him to show me the path I should take. The most disturbing thing is that the first time I was severed I could understand the logic - to operate the rolling metal of the metal had to be cold charged and it was extremely expensive to operate the mill long term like that. That at least makes sense. This time I have no good explanation. There is no transparent answer that is indefensible. Just a few vague descriptions of over capacity and slowing demand. The difference between Korean leadership and American leadership is easily distinguishable. Koreans will not shut down capacity in order to make a bottom line 'look' better and I emphasize the word 'look'. Americans are too short cited, and too eager to make a buck. Sometimes you have to take a hit and stand back up, it is the only way to get stronger. I just can't understand how the region could be profitable last qtr. and we spent 6 figures on a turn around just 3 weeks ago. I just can't wrap my head around the idea.
Oh and I was almost in a car accident on the way home. I honestly don't know how I made it out with out getting hit. I think my guardian angel must of defied the laws of physics. I was just listening to the radio too, I wasn't doing anything else like talking on the phone or texting, it was the closest I have ever been to being in an accident. Perhaps I was a little distracted by the events of the day, I do worry about the guys that have worked there for 20 or 30 years and have only done the jobs at that plant. In the end I believe that Sophie and the kids and me will be Ok, just sometimes I wish I knew what God's plan was ahead of time, but that would make it too easy.

Wedneday Morning Quarterback for McCain

Well the '08 presidential race is finally over and Obama his our new president. Congratulations, and I do hope that he does well and doesn't try to do too much right off the bat (i.e. Finish Iraq right, don't just pull out, and don't raise taxes). Anyway after watching this political season unfold and seeing the end result I would say there are several things that cost McCain and the Republican party a shot and the presidency. The first thing is McCain. Really he probably shouldn't have won the primary if the Republicans wanted a shot at the presidency. He has a great story of service, but he is also plagued by his past. How he left his first wife and the resulting fall out, and his overall age. It is difficult to elect someone who would be the oldest president ever elected to his first term. The party needs to redo their primary contest, not in the manor of the democrats though, they need to make so that if someone gets more than 50% of the votes in a state then they get all the delegates, if the total is less than 50% then everyone gets their equivalent share of delegates. Do away with the Caucus. Caucusing is outdated and if they don't get ride of it then delegates need to be awarded according to percentages. It doesn't make any sense that Romney can win Utah 95% to 5% and get all the delegates for that state and then McCain can win South Caroling 34% to 30% (Romney) to 27% (Huckabee) and McCain can win all the delegates for South Carolina. If that didn't happen I think the primaries end up completely different.

What cost McCain is several factors. First I think Palin ended up being a net negative. At first she really energized the republican base and maybe even some of the female voters that followed Hillary and were disappointed that she wasn't the democrat nominee for V.P. In the end though, McCain strongest point was his experience and he several undermined that with Palin. She still did better than Ferraro. I also think the economy became a huge issue that was completely unexpected. I thought McCain did well it putting the campaign on hold in order to help address the issue. In the end though, the economy was just not that strong of an issue for McCain. His strong suit was foreign affairs and leadership, which weren't that high of a priority because Iraq had become a non-issue due to the positive way things were going over there. Which is a credit to the people working on the ground over there, like Stevie and Sapper. I'm not saying that he would won if he had Romney, but I think it would have helped more. Hard to really say that though. Also I think he spent to much time in Pa. Republicans should just leave that place alone. If you can have someone say that they are bitter and cling to their guns and religion and elect him and then have a congressman call his own constituents Racists and Rednecks and they re-elect him, there is just absolutely no hope for that area. Those people are definitely the dumbest voting block in the country, congratulations. If he would have spent the same time in Michigan maybe he could have gotten it to go red, but that wouldn't have been enough after losing Florida, Ohio, Indiana and Virginia. It is easy to nit pick now, but even up to the final day I think you had to think he had a chance because you just couldn't be certain how things were going to fall. Also the media didn't do him any favors, which is unfortunate, because that stuff should be unbiased. Only blogs and talk radio are biased. Ha Ha..

Sophie gets a 'Hair cut'

Today Sophie went to get her hair done because it was really bothering her, so she went to the beauty school since it is a little cheaper. Well I wanted her to have a relaxing time so I took care of the kids (not babysitting). She got there and the first time, yeah the FIRST time they tried to color her hair they foiled her hair or should I say her scalp because it turned her scalp white. Then they blow dried it and said it was OK. The teacher came to check it out and said, foil it again - this time with brown. So they did the brown and the result was gray hair. I'm not what you would call an expert on women, but I am pretty sure that gray was not the desired hair color for the 30-ish mother of two. So then they had to put a 'balance' on it to balance the gray. Then they put a toner on it, and then another. Then she got her hair dried again, only to notice a patch of Green, that is right GREEN hair. It total it was 6 washings, 2 blow dries, 5 color treatments all for the bargain price of $30, in just a shade under 4 hours. Sophie said it is funny to read, but not funny to sit in the chair, as her blood began to boil.

Sampson and the Young Republicans

On Tuesday, Sampson said they took a vote at the school of who would win the election and Obama won. Sampson was upset because he voted for John McCain. He knew a John in his class and also McCain had more pets. I told him that was good, he needed to have some principles behind his vote. We were watching the coverage Tuesday night and he was upset when they wouldn't show the results from Ohio because he wanted to see daddy's vote. They finally did show it and he was able to go to bed. When he woke up on Wednesday and found out that Obama had won he was really mad. Sophie tried to calm him down by telling him that other people mommy and daddy voted for had won. She told him that we voted for Domenick and he won, and he asked if he was a republican. 'Well no' Sophie said, then he said 'I thought you only liked people with an R by their name?' Not all the time buddy, sometimes you vote for the people that you think will do the best job. His passion reminds me of a young Michael J. Fox (or Alex P. Keaton) on Family Ties. Someday you'll make a good republican buddy, someday. . .

Election '08

Well this is it. I haven't really kept too close tabs on the election because who can you trust? No not the politicians, the media. Everybody is trying to spin stuff one way or another and you get to the point where you really don't care anymore sadly and you just want it to be over. I don't know if McCain can win, but the liberal news media has really held back any inflammatory stories on Obama and I get the feeling that unless people have really tried to look deep they don't really know who he is. Same can be said for McCain though. I just can't in good conscience vote for someone as liberal as Obama, someone who has said they would cut the military and if people wanted to build coal fired power plants he would bankrupt them, plus the people in PA cling to their guns and religion. No I just can do it. And also I can't vote for issue 6. Casinos in Ohio. I don't think we need that, plus it isn't real revenue anyway because the casinos don't make anything. All they do is take money, and as long as you go in with the attitude that you are paying for entertainment it could be OK. But too many people think they will beat the house and end up losing more than they can afford. I feel bad for those people, I used to work with a guy that would spend just about everything he made on the slots at the Island. He had done it for so long and anytime he won he just looked at the amount he won not how much he actually had to pay to get it. Also they gave him 'free' buffets. Casinos are fine for entertainment, but making them the staple of the economic landscape is just bad business. My opinion anyway.

Also in the local elections I won't vote for anyone named Wilson, never will. Other than that I think most of the local elections were decided in the primary, as virtually everyone who runs in this area runs as a democrat, so the primaries are pretty hotly contested and then that is it. Oh well, good luck tomorrow.

Oh also check this out. Sorry BHO...

Video

Not.

Peach's dance Class

Today Sophie and I got to watch Peach's dance class. She really enjoys her class, but I don't think I could ever teach anything like that. Teaching 3 year-olds to dance is like herding cats. She did very good though and it was neat to see her do tap and acrobatics. The acrobats is neat because they learn their colors and ABC's plus do their acrobatic stuff. (check that out 'stuff', sometimes I marvel at my own wordsmithyness)(Sophie says 'Shouldn't that be wordsmithiness?' Well no, I just made up the word so I can spell it however I like.) Anyway, she did very good and I think people are going to be very happy with her recital in June. Something to look forward to.

Been a while

Well I've been busy running my own country and so far I am doing pretty decent. My efficiency is over 200 and I have successfully joined the ODN. I have started a tech deal and purchased about 5 improvements. If you want to try your hand at being your own virtual overlord check out http://www.cybernations.net .