Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Good News...

In case you haven't heard already, I have received a promotion and will be changing jobs. This will also include me changing job locations, but I believe it can only lead to bigger and better things. I will somehow have to get use to a normal working schedule and hanging out with my family every night after work. But I'm pretty sure I can handle the change. The best part of it is that overtime will pretty much be a thing of past. (unless something major happens). Well that is all for now. I have some homework to take care of.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Thanksgiving to remember...

Each year when the holidays roll around. I am reminded of a Thanksgiving when I was a lot younger then I am now. I remember it being a very hard year for our family. (I am still amazed at the fact that my parents survived all of us brats). It was an early snow fall like it has been this year and the temperatures outside were really cold. It was the night before Thanksgiving and we were having a terrible storm pass through. I remember the East wind was blowing snow around like mad. I was watching the trees sway back and forth. Each time I was wondering when the next strong gust of wind would knock the tree over onto our house. This had been a fear of mine since we did have a very large tree that was blown over in the front yard just a year or two before. So as a young boy, I would watch the trees with great anxiety wondering which one was the next to fall. For those who do not know about the East winds of Kaysville, they are very strong winds that blow down from the canyons and easily top 100mph. It use to amaze me at the force of these winds.
Anyway, as I was saying the wind was blowing fiercely, we had the back door of the house blocked shut because the wind kept blowing the door open. Because of my fear, I was staying up listening to the wind and the snow hitting the East facing windows. All of a sudden there was a loud CRASH coming from the kitchen. You could hear the snap of the glass and the whistle of the wind. I ran out to the kitchen to find the main window to have been broken. At the same time, the dog in the backyard was barking like crazy, the dog on the front porch was going crazy as well. I though for sure that a tree had fallen on the house, luckily the window had just be struck by a branch. Because the window was now broken and the temperatures outside where in the teens, my parents had to find a quick way to repair the window. After a search around the house as the temperatures continued to drop. Someone was able to find some masking tape. It wasn't the easiest job taping up a cracked window with the wind blowing fiercely against it.
After a while, the window was finally taped up as best as it could be. It was a little scary watching the window flexing back and forth just waiting to fall out of the window frame.
It was now about 4 am and we all tried to get a little sleep. That morning we woke up and it felt like we were locked into the house. The backdoor was blocked shut, and I don't remember why but the front door wouldn't open. There was a sort of depressed feeling around the house. I knew things were tight for my parents, but there is not much I could do at that age. While we were hanging out in the living room of the house, I happened to notice something out on the front sidewalk. It was a big dark lump in the snow. For some reason I decided to go out and see what it was. Since the house was locked down like Fort Knox, I put on a coat over my pajamas and climbed out the little window that was located on the back porch. When I made my way around to the front yard, I arrived at the big lump of snow. As I uncovered it, I realized it was a box that was full of food for the holiday. There was a turkey and a bunch of other great food. To me this was a great gift. When we brought it into the house, it sure lifted the glum mood from the room. I was amazed then that someone would have the heart to leave this great gift for our family.
I still wonder to this day who might have left this for our family. It might not have been the most expensive turkey or the most expensive fixing, but it sure left an impact on my life.
To whom ever left this gift for my family during a time of need, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Story time....

A Noble Journey

On a calm mid-after noon, in the southern northeast, is where we find Jonathan, your typical all American boy who finds himself at a crossroads in his life. Jonathan, while lounging in his favorite plush orange beanbag chair, realizes his instinctive cravings for a cheeseburger, creamy shake, and the gooey goodness of golden cheese french-fries. As Jonathan sits, he contemplates how delightful he would feel after eating such tasty morsels of food. He reaches into the back pocket of his black denim shorts and retrieves his light blue Velcro-clasped wallet. Upon opening the wallet, his eye gazed the vast emptiness and he realizes his quest had begun.

As Jonathan’s quest began, he reluctantly climbed out of his warm Styrofoam-bean filed sanctuary and made his way to the plush carpeted Family Room. As he entered to tan walls with the corresponding white crown molding, he spotted the white with blue pinstriped sofa. He automatically was drawn in to the crevasses of the couch and began foraging under the spotless seat cushions, in search for his treasure. Scavenging over lint and small food particles, Jonathan was one by one multiplying his net worth, silver, copper, all shapes, and sizes, yet this was not enough. While Jonathan was taking a momentary break from his quest, his mind was still racing toward accomplishing his savory satisfaction.

As if it were a bolt of lightening striking his mind, Jonathan’s memory of a long forgotten card that was given in celebration for the day of his birth, shocked him back into service. He again sprung to life with the vigor of a young child on Christmas morning awaiting their chance to catch a glance of old St. Nick. Jonathan burst into his dimly lit bedroom and through a mass of clutter found the infamous greeting card. With quivering anticipation, he opens the blue envelope, removed the green card with a picture of a yellow dog which had the handwritten inscription inside “Happy Birthday, Son.” Looking past this with a determination, he saw the crisp green and white American twenty-dollar bill, which was screaming at him to release it back into circulation. Jonathan wasted no time as he scrambled for his maroon Chevy Citation. As the engine began its bitter struggle to start, it eventually overcame the struggle and roared to life. Jonathan immediately forced the Citation into gear; the vehicle lurched forwarded like a beast that had just awakened from a long slumber. The aged mechanical monster attacked the pavement with the fervor that matched Jonathon’s need to quench his biological hunger.

With his quests completion almost insight, Jonathan’s drive was slowly building. He makes the final change in his course of direction, and in his view is the rainbow colored, multi-choice menu of delight. On his final approach, he hears a magical voice welcoming him to his ultimate destination. As Jonathan slowly makes his way, the time seems to slow to an almost frightening pace. All he can think about is the tantalizing morsels he has prepared all his life to consume. He stops the vehicle, as a figure appears in a rectangle framed opening; a small exchange is made with no outside interference. Jonathan is focused on a medium brown and white paper bag, with small patches of dark areas from the preparation of its contents. In that moment, the air causes a small chill to run up Jonathan’s spine as his prize is lowered to his waiting hands. Jonathan drives only a short distance before he finally gives into his animal instincts, when faced with starvation. As his taste buds are enticed by the multitudes of flavors as they entertained his pallet, Jonathan basks in the satisfaction of knowing that he will survive to live another day.

By Keith Pears

Friday, October 16, 2009

Its Official...

Well, I am officially back in school. So I guess I will have something to bog about again besides my lawn. Maybe if everyone is luckily I can post a picture of whatever "lunch" I decided to buy while I am at class. I know I use to receive tons of fan mail with questions of what I might or might not be eating that day. So prepare yourselves. Also in case anyone was wondering what the real reason for me going back to school was....Well...it's a little bit of sibling rivalry. As everyone knows my little sister has been going to school to finish her BS degree. The last I heard, she was making some decent progress towards the completion of said degree. Well, me going back to school is a way to "one-up" her again. lol Anyway, sis you know what this means, now YOU have to get your Masters... So as Webster once said.
"In your eye hoopie"

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

I guess it's that time...

After about a year and a half, I have decided to go back to school. I have to admit, I am still sometimes surprised at the fact that I have had as much schooling as I have. I never really was a big fan of it while I was growing up. Yet, it seems kind of strange not having a paper or two due at the end of the week. Once again, I really don't have a ton of "extra" time that I am trying to fill. I figure with as busy as I am still, I might as well cram something else into my schedule.
With everything else that has been going on around this place, I need to get my schooling out of the way before things get worse. If you haven’t heard, I survived the latest layoffs at my work. Unfortunately, 550 other people weren’t quite as lucky. I still might not be completely out of the woods yet, we will see how things go in Dec. Either way, with my work again paying for school, I would be kind of crazy not to take them up on the offer.
Speaking of work, I spent Monday trying to chop down one of the old dead trees at the parents’ house. A lot of progress was made. I even survived the day of climbing with a chainsaw and dodging HUGE branches as they fell. The only really tragedy of the day was when I backed into a large section of the tree and dented my Bronco. It was very sad indeed. That Bronco survived since 1991 with only a bent bumper, but now it has a real dent. Oh such a travesty of justice. I can hear her crying out in the driveway now. (tear, tear, sniff)
For those who are interested, the Awesome Fam is doing pretty darn well considering the circumstances. The baby is getting bigger and bigger. I am surprised I haven’t lost any of my (sympathy) baby weight from chasing her around the house. It's a good thing that her mom is here to help keep this little tornado in check. “A” and “K” are also doing well. The only other big news is that we have managed to “rescue” 26 little frogs out of our window wells. We now have them housed in a little 10 gallon fish tank that sits in the kitchens window sill. Scratz has been spending her time catching spiders and bugs with the help of a cassette case and feeding the frogs. Every week we have been heading to the pet store to buy about 30 crickets for the frogs to eat. This might sound like a lot of crickets; however, the frogs eat all of them in about 30 seconds. It’s quite fun listening to the little frogs croak in the evening and at night. Normally, I believe they would be hibernating this time of year, but since it’s nice and warm in the house they are very entertaining.
That is all for now, I have decided to give myself a migraine today, so I will have to call it a day.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

We're Gunna Rock This SPIRAL!!!

Removed on request by Ryan...sorry folks

Monday, August 17, 2009

All good things....

...Must come to an end.
Unfortunately unless some miracle happens in the next hour, we will be join the ranks of many other Americans in the unemployment line. Hopefully we will be able to turn things around before we end up homeless as well.

On a lighter note, baby z can now say "mom-ma." She is growing so fast, pretty soon she will asking to borrow the car keys....