Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Dan's LiveJournal:

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Thursday, October 11th, 2007
3:44 pm	Fall seems to have finally arrived as the weather has finally cooled off to tolerable temperatures, especially in the mornings. This has spurred me to sit and really enjoy the cool of the morning when I get up by kicking back on the porch and drinking coffee while watching the sun come up The cool weather is apparently too much for Spud as he is a hot natured dog. For the last too mornings he will just look out the door when I go out and then turning and going back in and then looking like I should allow him back in to the warm bed. Usually he sleeps on the bed with me and is a pain to kick out of the bed in the morning. The refreshing weather has even made cooking out a pleasure and I have been perfecting my BBQ onion burgers. I have been rather successful at this as I have not charcoaled any of them except the one I dropped off the back of the grill and into the fire. Other than that, the only other thing that I am working on is working out the logistics of getting around. Now that LEann is not here with her truck, I am forced to either do a lot more walking and calling people for rides to get to more distanced places. I am getting that sorted out and seem to be doing alright with it. That is my life around here for now. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, October 9th, 2007
11:22 am	Life rolls on for me and I have not been posting into this journal enough lately. I have been Blogging a lot more than usual on other blogs and that has kinda hampered my entries into this one. So, here are the updates on what is going on here. I am very well settled into my new house and things are going really well for me here. I am finally relaxed after a summer of being very unsettled. Add on to that, Leann had tried to move in with me here, but that quickly became obvious to me that the idea was not working out. Yesterday morning, she pack up what she had here and moved on. I do wish her the best, but we just were not working out with the living situation that we were in. She may not have seen it that way, but I really bad need my space for now. Spud is growing into one fat little chunk of dog. He is very happy with the new place, other than not having the carpets to rub his butt on, but he has discovered the front porch also works well for that. He has been spending a lot of time out there and melting in the sun. He now also really looks forward to company and especially kids, since he loves them and just goes nuts over them. Kevin was helping me move a couch in here the other day and Spud just loved him and wold not leave him alone. This works for me as he is an huge amount of entertainment for anyone that comes over. It has been good for me to get into a lower keyed lifestyle like this as I have found that I was really stressing over too much stuff. I guess being able to kick back in my underwear first thing in the morning while drinking fresh coffee and watching the news is a really good way for me to start the day. I have even given myself a title of technological trailer trash. I am not degrading myself with that title, but rather giving some perspective to the place where I am. I have all of my tech gadgets up and running in a small trailer home in a small trailer park. I have only been here a month and I already know most of the little community here. It is good living for me now and I am very happy with it. I am working on tacking down some old friends on the internet today, so I will post a little later on other things that are going on here. It is good to be back. Current Music: XM - The Boneyard (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, September 21st, 2007
5:44 pm	Things continue to progress around here, as I now have satellite TV. My progression into the technological redneck thing is moving along nicely. It is nothing like the cable that I once had, but considering that I am in in the countryside and I had no other options, satellite seems to be working out pretty well. Most of the last couple of days has been catching up on a lot of the things that I missed out on here over the summer. It seems that there was a lot of catching up and updating that I needed to do. With all of this new technology and equipment being brought in, I have been busy learning all of it and figuring out how to put it to the best use in my self proclaimed home studio. Spud seems to be enjoying all of as well as I am now not out running all over the place with Leann. He is finding that I am taking him out for more walks round the neighborhood and taking more pics and videos of him. Turns out that he is a pretty entertaining little dog. If you would like to see the new collection of pics and vids, I am and will be posting them on my MySpace page. I am also taking on an old past time and getting back to blogging on local news sites as the news is just needing my input... lol. Kevin has also inspired me to start looking further into the news stories that are put out by the press as I have been finding that a lot of the stories that they have been feeding us have not been the full story. I think I am going to become one of those people that will be getting out the full story with my opinions and perspectives, of course. Just wanted to get a post in today, so that is all for now or until something else spurs me to post out. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, September 20th, 2007
1:54 pm	Well, I am back online at the new house. After a full summer without andy quality internet, it is about time that I got that problem fixed and got a new connection. I am now in a new home and have essentially turned the place into my own personal home studio with all of the things that I enjoy having around me. The only thing that I am now waiting on is the satellite TV. That is coming in on Friday, so the internet will keep me entertained until then. I am now basically living a "technological redneck lifestyle". I am now in a small countryside trailer park. That defines to be a tornacountrysideo magnet here in Texas, but I am willing to take that risk. I am protected by a nearby storm shelter and all of the radio and internet warning items that I can handle. This place is up on a high hill, so I am able to pick up a lot of radio frequencies with the scanner, including all of the storm trackers with the up to the minute updates on threatening weather. I am looking to get a lot of things caught up on this journal and that is going to take some time, but it is a task that I am going to have plenty of time to do. More to come as things progress. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, September 6th, 2007
6:54 pm	Today, I wake to find myself in my new home. My time at Leann's hose has come to an end as I was in sever need of my own space. I know that I am an independent person, but that became very evident over the summer as I was living with Leann in her parent's house. I found myself stressed all of the time and being constantly aware that it was not my house and I had to be cautious all of the time of what I was using and being extra careful not to break things. That really gets tricky with the way my eyes are and that really caused a lot of unrest in me. Add on to that, Leann and I had been arguing over the littlest tinges lately and has even become an every day thing. That was too much and I knew that I had to get out of there. So, now I am in a little singe wide trailer in a small community, in the countryside. It is not much, but it is perfect for me as there is a nice porch, all my new furniture and of course, the dog. Spud went with me and he seems to really enjoy the new house and has been spending a lot of time lounging in sunbeams and on the front porch. It seems that the bachelor life is well suited for me and the little dog. I still do not have internet at the house and I am borrowing a connection from my grandparents to get this posted, but give me some time and I will be back online at then new place as soon as possible, so watch for more posts coming soon. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, August 17th, 2007
9:12 am	I have really been falling behind on keeping this thing caught up on everything that has been going on in my life as I have had limited access to the internet with this computer. It is too hard to update this on other computers as they do not have the special assistive needs things that I need to keep this looking good. Time is also a factor in that as it usually takes me a while to get used to a new computer to do this type of thing. Inevitably, I end up lugging my computer to an internet connection like I have today. I find myself in Lubbock, Texas this morning as Leann and I decided to go and see her parents late yesterday afternoon and hit the road, arriving here a little after midnight. We had a room reserved here at a really nice hotel and of course there is a wonderful high speed connection here to so stuff. Last time we traveled, I made the mistake of leaving the computer at home, but not this time. I have a couple of personal entries that I had entered into the computer and saved, so I will be posting them here in a little bit and backdating the entries. I got really good news the other day too and I am really excited about it. Jake (my best friend) is being released from jail on the 25th of this month. The news was relayed thru his wife and she is ecstatic about it. This is one of those things that will warrant a trip to SLC in the near future if the Lord's plans allow. I hope so. Well, I am going to go to work updating this journal. I do not have too many entries, but every little bit helps here. More to come as I get time. (Comment on this)
Friday, July 27th, 2007
9:32 am	The Endless Persuit Life continues to progress, tho it seems like it is in slow motion right now. I am pressing really hard to mak my dream of being a tow copany owner as hard as I can go, but with the limited resources that I have here (no internet), it really makes things tricky on a project of this magnatude. I have realized a couple of things in all of this tho and it has been a really big learning experience so far. One of the biggies that I have learned and realized from the business peopel that I have gotten to meet and talk to is that they did it all by pen and paper and a lot of persistent work, never giving up on their dreams. Most of these guys that I have spoken to have retired or are on the brink of retirement, but they are right on a lot of things, even tho they seem to push the old school style of the way they got things started. The wat I now look at it is, if I can get things going on the limited rescourses that I have and make it thru the tough troubles that I am havingg now, this will all be a learning experience to help me get thru the troubles that I will have in the future and make things that much easier to deal with. This also makes for a long term business and that is what I really want. I have also learned from them to take advantage of every opportunity that I can find, no matter how small or how distant the opportunites may seem. With that in mind, I am aplying it to one of the things that one of my creditors told me to do. I am very much against use of credit cards, but something came up the other day at the bank. I had applied for a loan to get some of the equipment (truck) which is needed to make all fo this work, but was denied because my credit was 7 points too low. Kinda seems rediculous to me to deny that on a small margin of error, but I have been determined ever since to fix that little hiccup. I am now being a responsible card holder and keeping them paid up and on time. My limits on them were approved to be high but I am olly spending how much I can truly afford from month to month and actually paying them off every time. Imagine that, me, responsible wiht money. This is how dedicated to fufilling my dream that I am. Other than that, life is getting along as usual here. Spud is turning more and more into a real little dog and doing more of actual dog stuff. Stacy loves the little mess and likes cuddling him when we bring him around. We had him with us last weekend when we were down visiting my brothers and swimming at Andrews and he interacted with everyone and the other dogs (Buddy and Teddy) really well and Stacy even brought Teddy up to play with Spud later in the week and that worked out really well and they had a great time. We even have our common every morning routine of going outsede and going for a walk. Is is a pretty good hike to the dumpster for the little dog, but he seems to enjoy it and tags along with me when I am hauling trash. Some things I just can't seem to get away from when I own pets tho. In owning cats all of my life, this has been a new one for me, but there are a couple of similarities. Cats are typically playful and very loving, but shed a lot. Spud does not shed, but has these cool charateristics, however, like his counterparts, he poops n pees and.... well pukes. Seems like he got hold of something that did not agree with his little belly last night and so I have a gagging little dog thid morning Fortunaately not much is really coming up, so there is no chean up, but even with that, I don't mind it as I have had to clean up things my cats have barfed up, that were the size of my little dog. One of the projects that Leann and I are doing today is going and looking at and negotiating the price on an FV trailer that a guy has close to here. It is a really nice trailer and he is not asking too much for it either. This is one of those 5th wheel, tri axle types that is 35 feet long. Add on to that, it has 3 slide outs, making for a lot of space inside. ` (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, July 17th, 2007
9:41 am	So, I got this dog...... Leann and I were going to Wal Mart a couple of weeks back and came across this lady who had a bunch of puppies for sale. Tuns out that she is a breeder and she had some AKC Registered Chihuahua puppies for sale. Personally I always thought it was stupid for people to pay any sort of money for a dog, since the shelters are packed full of them and people are always giving them away anyways. My second thought on this is, who would want a tiny little dog that seems like it would break if you touched it wrong. After all, these things are all too often seen as glamour pets with the celebs and that shit drives me nuts. Of course, Leann was going to stop and check them out.... **sigh**. She gets out and I had decided to stay in the truck and go over the list of stuff that we had to do that day. Moments later, I get this little black and white thing set into my lap. It is puny, tiny, and about the size of a small rodent... small enough to fit in the palm of my hand. I look at it and like "what the hell?" and it looks at me like "what the hell" and then I looked at Leann and said, "what the hell?". This of course is followed by the usual detailed explanation of just how cute it is followed by " he is only $250". Every version of NO that I could think of came flowing out of me that I could think of and reached down to give the puppy back to Leann and realized that it was watching us and intently engaged in the conversation we were having. With the way it was sitting in my lap, all I could see was a tiny little face and the biggest ears that I have ever seen on a dog that size. Crap.... you know that is a warning sign when things like that get noticed. Leann had picked him and and was once again intently inspecting the little thing with the attempt to convince me to to get it, when she said,"look at his cute little black balls!". The tea that I was drinking almost got blown out my nose as there were a lot of people standing there, including the breeder, who was letting me know he had all his AKC purebred papers for breeding. I knew we had to go. Leann was getting attached as we had been out there for almost 30 minutes and the dog was looking at me and giving me sad ears. I told them I would think about is and give an answer after we were done doing some shopping at Wal Mart, so we left, much to Leann's disappointment. We then went to Wal Mart and got the things we needed and as we were passing the pet department, some things were picked up. Of course we went back and I paid to much for him, but it seems now that he was mostly worth it. That was about 4 weeks ago and now we have this little high energy rat dog running around the house. He is a really short haired dog that is mostly white with a black head and a big black spot on his butt. Leann still proudly shows off his black balls to whoever comes and visits and as we are traveling around. I have been training him too as I am not the type to have an out of control dog and even tho at first, it was a pain in the ass, he is picking up on the training really well now and I am working on teaching him to do special services stuff for me so he can go wherever I go when we are traveling. This worked out really well at the motel we were staying in over the last couple of days, as they started to tell us no pets, but they rapidly changed that when I told them he was a service dog in training. There was no question to letting him in then. He is still very playful and likes kicking back with us on the couch and riding around in the truck with us. I don't carry him around like Paris Hilton does, but he does follow close by when he is out and around. I am also working on teaching him to growl and show teeth on command. He is a mean little shit when he wants to be, which is funny to see coming from such a little dog. One night after a long day of running around and training, we had gone to town and left the dog at home. When we had gotten back, he had done the standard puppy thing of pulling everything he could find to the middle of the room and then had gotten into his bed and gone to sleep. This is when he got his name. He had his head and butt under a dark blanket and all you could see was his white back, which to me, looked like a little potato. Since then, we have called him Spud. At the moment he is here challenging me to a game of tug 'o' war with one of my socks. I never would have taken myself for being a small dog type, but Spud seems to be working out really well for me. He is 18 weeks and is full grown, still small enough to sit in the palms of my hands. probably bring him with us. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 13th, 2007
2:57 pm	I have been severely internet deprived for a couple of weeks now and this journal is kinda showing that. I moved into a different house with a friend, but there is no internet out there and I am waiting for a local company to get the local wireless network up and running before there is nay chance of me getting the net out there. So I have been busy doing other things when I can. I finally convinced myself to part out the Mustang and I am getting a good return on that as I am getting back more than I put into it. Along with that, I have been taking on tasks of more manual labor than what I have been commonly doing over the last while, but with that comes sure disaster, especially since I cannot see things too well. I am determined tho and with that I finally took on a task that was apparently too much and did ultimately end up breaking myself. There is a shop on the place that I am renting now and I was down working in it and decided to open one of the hay doors. Nothing wrong with that other than it kinda made an odd noise when opening it and kinda banged loudly when it was fully opened. I did not think much of it at the time and went to doing the various chores and work that I had planned out. When I was done and went to pull the cord to close the garage, I realized there was a problem as it seemed that it was jammed. After getting a ladder and getting up there, I determined that one of the stops had broken and the door was out of the tracks. Now this may seem like an easy thing to fix, but this was one of those spring loaded barrel commercial doors, which I have been since told takes 3 people to re-track. I did not know that at the time and I figured that one blind man could fix it. After some wrestling around with it and a bunch of time, I thought I had it back in place and ready to close, so i moved the 6 ft ladder that I was on to the center of the door, so I could pull the close rope down. I was way up on the ladder, almost second from the top when doing this, so you can tell I was really thinking on this one. When I pulled the rope, the door moved a little and seemed to jam again, so I let go of the rope to think for a second and to calm down as I was getting really frustrated. Everything stayed in place...... at first. Apparently the spring load was too much and the whole spool of door came loose and unraveled and came crashing to the floor. In the process of it coming down, I was knocked off the ladder and almost decapitated by the spooling roll. At first, I thought I was OK as I had landed on my feet, but pretty hard on my left foot. I soon realized that I could not walk on my left foot. After a hospital visit, I found that I had broken my heel bone and severely bruised the bottom and side of my foot with the hard landing. The bone is not totally broken thru, just cracked pretty good and the doctor is telling me to stay off it and I will not need a cast. So, for the last 2 weeks, I have been nursing a broken foot, making it so I am pretty well immobilized and also had to miss most of VBS this year. I am doing a presentation for VBS this Sunday tho, so I am still kinda involved. That is the news in my life for now. More to come later. Current Mood: Sore foot.. what do you think? (Comment on this)
Tuesday, May 22nd, 2007
5:26 pm	It has been a little bit since I logged in here, so here are the updates on what is going on with me. I am finally moved into my new house for the summer and I am still getting used to things around there. It has been the typical trying to get used to sleeping in a new place thing and that has caused a minor shortage of sleep in me. I kinda made up for it yesterday afternoon, but that was short lived when the phone started ringing again. Usually, I would allow the thing to take messages in a spot like that, but I am trying to sell a friend's Jeep and parts off of my Mustang, so I have to keep up with all of that. I had intended on going to the yearly bird show last saturday with Debra, but a delayed possibility on selling the Jeep that day kept me from going. What is disappointing about that is that they are still "thinking about it" which screwed up a perfectly good Saturday. Sunday was a different story tho. I was invited to go to a big birthday blowout for my niece, so I went and had a really good time hanging out down there. I was dubbed the "Bounce house bouncer" as I posted myself at the entry to make sure no shoes or snacks got into it. This made me to be a very easy target for the kids with water guns and I was routinely hosed by sparatic water gun attacks. Shellie loved every second of it and had a wonderful party with all of her friends. She got more things than she will every play with or dress her dolls with. the last couple of days have been just kicking back and cleaning the house from time to time. I had moved my stereo system over there and hooked it into the satellite system and have been bathing in the sounds of 80s hair band music while cleaning things up. There is no internet out there as I am waiting for the local internet company to get a local WiFi network going. They say the tower is up, but are waiting for power lines and testing to be done. This has made it so I am leaving the computer at mom and dad's until that is up and running. The other thing that I have been messing with lately is the new gps navigation thingie that I got from Best Buy. Because of my eyes, it is sometimes hard to tell what streets to turn on when traveling around with others. My old GPS unit would only work coordinates, but this one does streets with the voiceover and stuff like that. just another technology thingie for me to mess with. I am working on figuring out ways to broaden my horizons on what I can do. Leann is working a new job full time, so it leaves me sitting out there with not much to do. It will probably end up being a lot more walking to get to places, but hiking down the Highway can be kinda perilous. I am willing to do that tho. I am also seeing on what jobs I can find and work. I have started putting in job applications around town, so I can start getting more money saved up. Just the usual fun around here. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, May 8th, 2007
10:22 am	After the kitten rescue yesterday morning, they were returned to their outside environment when the storms let up and all seemed to be well and great for Mia and the kittens and she even was out in the yard playing with Booger (her brother) for a while. I too even got out and enjoyed the afternoon for a while and started fixing the mower in the cool afternoon. Dad had managed to run over some piece of metal and jammed up the mower deck, so I was left to fix it as I am one of the mechanically inclined ones around here. At least it is not my fault for breaking it this time as dad was at the helm of the Mower Beast this time. I did not get that project finished as we had more threatening storms pop up in the area. It was even decided to move Mia and the kittens back inside last night as more flooding was expected overnight. They spent the night in their house, in the bathroom tub. Mia seemed to approve of all of this as she purred very loudly anytime anyone came in the room, causing the little cat house to become a resounding purr box. She did not want to leave the kittens, so she just stayed in there and purred loudly. It is a nice morning outside, so I am going to attempt to finish fixing the mower. I had gotten the metal out of it, but still had to finishing hanging the deck back up on it. I think I will take my time on that and just enjoy the morning. Current Mood: Relaxed Current Music: Take on Me - Ah Ha (Comment on this)
Monday, May 7th, 2007
12:23 pm	This morning ended up being a rescue mission of sorts. I had been up pretty late last night working on a video production for the church, so after being up for a little bit this morning, I decided to take a little nap to help me get thru the day. Around 9, I was awakened by the weather radio alarm and found it to be a severe storm moving into the area and upon listening to the local law enforcement and fire agencies on the scanner, I realized that this was going to be a good one rolling over the area with hail and a LOT of rain. Storm spotters in the area measured the downfall rate to be over 10 inches per hour at some points. When it got to the house, lightning hit a power pole about 100 yards from the house and started some trees on fire. The nearby shop called the fire dept. and had that taken care of, but by that time the hail and heavy rains hit, so I headed back inside. The heavy rains caused a very rapid flash folld situation around the house and that is when I heard the loud distressed screams of the kittens on the back porch. The flooding waters had begun to flood the deck and Mia, in her panic over the rain and thunder, had moved 3 of the kittens out of the shelter she was in, to under a large piece of plywood next to the back door. This pice of wood was barely inches off of the ground and sitting on some rocks in the garden. I could not immediately place that they were there as I cannot see too well, so I called Mia, despite the heavy rain. She came frantically out of the shelter where the kittens were supposed to be. That shelter is a 2 story, carpeted cat house / sharpening post that is on its side, safely under a table and an old piano near the back door on the porch. Upon leaving the shelter and into the rain, Mia immediately and frantically began trying to get under the board, but the rising water made it so she could not get under it and that was when I realized where the kittens were. Mia quickly retreated back to the shelter as I reached down and quickly lifted up the board. I was immediately greeted by loud kitten distress cries and when I reached down to get them, I found them all in a deep puddle and trapped under the board. I started scooping up kittens as fast as I could as I realized they were drowning. It took some feeling around, but I kept pulling them out of the water until I could not hear any more cries. I knew Mia had 5 kittens and had pulled only 3 out of the water and quickly brought them inside to the tub in the bathroom and wrapped them in a towel. I then headed back out looking for the rest. By this time the water was really washing over the deck and upon a quick check, found that Mia was still in her shelter. The water was starting to flood that too, so I picked it up and brought it inside as well in hopes that Mia had the other 2 kittens in there with her. Lightning had also taken out the power for a moment, so as quick as I got into the bathroom, I reached in and found Mia totally scared, but cuddled up without the other 2 kittens. The little house was soaked, so I got the 2 kittens out and put them with the others, then convinced Mia to come out, where she went and checked on the little squirming and squeaky pile of her babies. I got her some food and water and even got her dried off as she was laying around her babies and in a seeming cat like way, got up and thanked me. She almost seemed like she knew what I had done for her little family. The rains have let up for now and they are all still resting in the tub, amongst warm towels. I am going to keep them there for a bit as we are expecting more showers later today. Definitely an interesting morning. Current Mood: Soaked and Thankful Current Music: Storms in Africa - Enya (Comment on this)
Monday, April 30th, 2007
10:55 am	Crap.... I am having one of those days where everything is just seeming wrong. I guess it is expected tho, after all I have had a really good week. Everyone gets their highs and lows, and even I get them. It is one of those depressive states that I get from time to time and I guess today is no exception. I tend to fight it pretty well and ultimately get past it. The thoughts today are ranging from being pissed about not getting the business going to re-thinking the move that I am planning later this week. **sigh** I gotta go do something to get my mind off of things for a bit. I will post more later. Current Mood: Down n Frustrated Current Music: You're all I need - Motley Crue (Comment on this)
Sunday, April 29th, 2007
7:12 pm	It has been a really good couple of days here for me. Friday evening, Leann and I went to Kevin's house and hung out with Andrew and Lisa and a couple of Kevin and Stacy's friends. Most of the time was spent playing the wii machine and drinking beers and of course the usual drunken banter that you get when you get me and my brothers together in one place for any amount of time. Sitting around and just talking with my brothers about useless stuff is just really relaxing to me and was thoroughly enjoyed by all. I managed to get one of those happy buzzes going, but did not get too drunk as it is a rarity that I drink. When I do, I drink just enough to get a good buzz as that is all I need. I had a really good time tho. Yesterday, I went to play Bingo with Leann and her mom. It was one of those quieter kick back days and Leann's mom even got a small win out of the day. I even managed to not have a hangover, however a light headache did hit a little bit. I don't think that counts tho. Today ended up being a full family get together out at my grandmother's house after church. Everyone was there except Kevin and Stacy. Most of the topics and conversation swirled around the kids as James, Haley, Shellie, and Tomas all played together in the middle of the living room after lunch. There was a lot of picture taking and eventually we all even went and wandered the pastures and land around my grandparent's place. The flowers were in full bloom and there were a lot of butterflies and hummingbirds about, so a lot of time was spent picking flowers and trying to catch the butterflies and even the occasional cricket. On the way back to the house we stopped by the pond, but because we did not have any food to throw in there, only one fish came up to the surface when we stomped on the bank. Usually a lot more show up when you do that, but we forgot to bring the food from the house to attract the rest. The walk back up to the house was even filled with the exchanging of the kids on daddy and grandpa's shoulders as the long walk we catching up to them and wearing them out. I think that was part of the goal of all of the parents tho. It was also announced that they had found the house that they have put a bid on and it is also confirmed that the move here to Texas will be on May 30, so I am thinking there will be a lot more days like this in the near future. I am also probably going to be moving at the end of this week as well. It is only 3 miles from where I am now, but I am getting a house that me and LEann will be sharing. It is her parent's house and they are heading out for the summer, so I am going to rent it for that time. The main plan behind all of this is to save up money for the business and even give us a temporary base to operate from when things get started. I am still exploring financial options for that as well. Andrew and Lisa head back for Delaware tomorrow, but the managed to get everything done that they needed to, to make the move to Texas. The countdown is on and they will be here really soon. WOO HOO!! Current Mood: Very Happy (Comment on this)
Friday, April 27th, 2007
7:17 am	Well, I had posted in my last entry that I would put one of my famous cat stories in there and I do have a good one this morning. Usually it is rather humorous, but this morning, there is a slight twist to the story. Last night my niece and nephew stayed the night here with mom and dad, so of course I got the wake up call of kids waking up in the next room. This of course set Felix off on his usual morning crooning for the food, which, in turn woke up the other kid and mom. The cat yelling for food in the hall was what ultimately sent me almost falling out of the bed to get out there trying to get the cat to be quiet, but it was already too late as his alarm clock antics had woken everyone up, so we all started the day. I did not mind this as I have been in a really good mood in having the kids around and under foot. Mom got breakfast going for them and fed the obnoxiously noisy cat. I went about doing my usual morning thing and also tied that with some entertaining the kids as well, while mom was cooking. As they were doing this, I got some cat food for the outside cats and went to feed them. I had gotten to the porch door when I saw Mikey and Booger staring at the end of the porch and looking as if they were standing guard. That's when I heard it... the tiny squeaking of a newborn kitten. Mia is giving birth to her first batch of kittens as I am typing this. Very cool way to start the day. Current Mood: Happily Refreshed Current Music: Haley Singing with her Grandma (Comment on this)
Thursday, April 26th, 2007
2:02 pm	this is just one of those days where I feel like crap and don't know why. Kinda have a light headache and have had an unusual streak of laziness and ended up resting most of the morning. I really don';t have a good reason for feeling this way as there is a lot of good stuff happening around me right now. Andrew and his family are here all this week and I am really enjoying having them around and entertaining the nieces and nephew as Andrew and Lisa are out house shopping. Haley is being particularly impressive to me as she has really grown since I saw her a little over a year ago. James is really growing fast as well and seems to be interacting with the family here really well too. I think this is going to be a good thing for all of them when they get totally moved down here in early June. Leann and I got things ironed out and we are getting along again. It is just a really hard thing for her to understand that I am just not ready for a "romantic relationship" right now and that all I want is to be friends for now. As I had to explain to her, I am happy with the way my life is right now and it took me a while to get it that way after my past break ups. I am nor wanting to change that now. Maybe in the future, but not now. The business is in a really bad stall as I have to get more money saved up to get things going. I have already taken steps in this and tho it is going to take a bit, I am still working on my goals to make it all happen. This is something that I am not going to give up on. Along those lines, I have decided to sell the motor and parts off of my wrecked Mustang so I can get the money into savings where it should be. This kinda bothers me, but I know I can rebuild it into something better. I am seriously considering in helping my brother in his dream car build when he gets settled in down here and that would be an awesome car to do with his help. That is the way things are around here. I will see if I can get a cat story into the next one as I am once again getting requests for them. That is the way i Current Mood: Happy Ickyness Current Music: Same 'ol Situation - Motley Crue (Comment on this)
Monday, April 23rd, 2007
11:48 pm	Tonight I struggle with the decisions that have been made. Thru the day, I have been in an over all good mood as I have been looking forward to my brother and his family getting here from Delaware on their house hunting trip. As I have stated earlier, they are moving down here soon and they are here now looking for the house that they are going to move into. We all had dinner at Kevin and Stacy's house tonight and had a really good time of socializing and having all of the nieces and nephew's together including Mitch and Amy's son, Thomas there too. Definitely good times. It was on the way home that Leann and I had troubles tho. Leann has been wanting more in a relationship than I have been willing to be or give and that really tore things apart tonight. I thought she had truly shared a dream with me on getting this new business together, but instead, I find that she was just using that to try and get on my good graces and cause me to love her. When I told her tonight that I was not going to be the "romantic" that she was wanting me to be, she stated that she thought that I was using her to get the business going and nothing else. This is not true tho. The fact of the matter is that she has been a close friend to me and that I thought I was sharing a mutual dream with her. I am now questioning where the value of friendship has gone in this world. She is wanting it al or nothing, but I am not willing to change myself right now. I definitely know that I am not ready for a relationship with the way my life is right now. There are a number of other factors that have really made me hesitant about getting her involved in the business that have really come to light lately too, tho I will not get into that right now. They have really opened my eyes to a lot of things about what is going on in her life that could have damaging effects on the outcome of the business start up. I am now thinking that I am going to have to do the business venture alone to ensure it is all done right and so it will last, even if things are fixed between me and her. The good thing is that I do have others in this that I know that I can trust and that will help things. It is late and I am tired, so I am going to go to bed now. More to come later. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, April 14th, 2007
5:38 pm	The project with the business continues to press on. It started with an ambitious $250,000 price tag of equipment and all of the things that I needed to make it all work. After all of this time, that has been knocked back to one thing. The start up capital. Everything has been approved except that and I am working on that as hard as I can. Not bad considering that all I now have to raise is $25,000 and then the trucks will roll. I am really excited and looking forward to completing this final step. Other than that, things are the usual around here. We are getting ready for Andrew's arrival at the end of this month and he is bringing most of his family with him. It will be really good to see them again and to be able to enjoy their company around here. This has also made it so that I have had to make arrangements to stay somewhere else as I am currently staying in the room that they will be staying in here at my parents house. I am in the process of seeking a new pace to stay and this has amplified the imperativeness of that. It seems to be all working out tho and I am getting things together for that. That is about it for now. I will post more when there is more to post. Current Mood: Blah Current Music: Police Scanner (Comment on this)
Friday, April 6th, 2007
10:16 am	It has been one of those rather easy going weeks for me around here. With the weather turning nice, I have been outside a little more than usual and even riding with the windows down on the pickup. Of course, with this being Easter weekend, it has followed to the tradition that it has been for the last couple of years and has gotten really cold again. It is expected to be at the freezing point Easter morning, so it is going to make the usual activities very brisk. I am up for that tho. After all the time that Leann and I have been working and all of the planning on the new business, I have hit the point of not waiting any more for things to happen. It is like a chess board right now. All of the pieces are in place and ready to move, but none can make a good move without the rest moving as well. I have begun pressing the financial people a little harder and they have put me in the hands of one of the guys that will be cutting the checks and ok'ing the equipment financing. The discussions that I have had with him this week have pointed to possibly and finally signing all of the paperwork this week. I have to run on the reality of it all in believing it is happening when the check is in hand and the trucks are rolling. I am under some great fortune tho. The shop that we have been looking into leasing is still for lease and after a chat with the owner last week, it almost appears that he is actually holding the shop for us, even despite all of the time that it is taking to get all of this done. He will be a good landlord. After large amounts of debate and discussion, it has been decided that we will be running all Fords in the fleet. We are looking into ordering 2 brand new Ford F650 flatbeds and a used Ford F450 conventional that is in really great shape. This should fit the initial needs of the area that we will be in. Add on to all of that, there is one main competitor in the area that we will be in and I got word earlier this week that they have messed up pretty bad on doing the Sheriff's rotation calls and may be losing a big chunk of the county's business from it. This is a big advantage for me. I am in great standing with the county with the family ties that I have with the Sheriff's department and the relationship that is also there with surrounding towns. I a;so have a reputation of being very reliable and a hard worker. This reference comes from the other companies that I had worked for in the past and I am going to use it in this as well. There is a lot of work ahead and I am ready to take it on. I don't mean to sound to cocky here, but this in my journal and I can "toot my own whistle" from time to time on here if I want to.... lol. In other news, I have found that I have a new cousin added into the family yesterday. My cousin, Stacy, had her little baby boy. There was some concern during the end of the pregnancy as the baby had not turned, so she had it by cesarian yesterday. Congrats to them! Well, I have bit torrent stuff to do, so I am going to get on with the day. Current Mood: Calm Current Music: The Wall (Movie) - Pink Floyd (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, April 1st, 2007
6:11 pm	Road Trip - Chapter 5 Road Trip - Chapter 5 Despite all of the good times we were having there in Kansas City, we did have to return home, due to shortage of money that we could spend on the trip, after all it was all done with little planning and forethought of the things we could do there. I was also beginning to think that if we kept up with all of the strangeness, we would eventually end up in an unwanted spotlight of the local news or some obscure internet video site like "Idiots caught on tape", so we began the trip back to Texas that afternoon. The first part of the trip was rather uneventful as I dozed off for a couple of hours and Leann was once again fired up on a fresh can of Doubleshot canned Iced Expresso. This did not bother me as she was happily crooning along with the local radio station, so I had dozed off. After a while of traveling, I had awakened to find us still on the never-ending superhighway that led off into the distance of my sight (about 20 feet) and could not help to think of this as being a boring highway that we had already traveled. It was decided that we should stop and get a restroom break and seek SlimJims and a map. Every stop had its own story and this one was no exception. One of the most annoying things you can encounter on a trip of this type is the irritating pack of 8 year old preppy little girls and irresponsible parents that act like they are watching them. Leann was already in the restroom and I was blindly looking around the store when this little herd of brats enter and of course was followed by the herd of adult brats. I fail to be impressed with these types and also unaffected by their supposed ora of assumed societal supremeness and continued about my slow browsing of the coolers. Now being unable to see these people, you would think that I would have trouble figuring these out from the others, but simple words and actions from each of the group's entries gave it all away. Of course the noisy little pack of girls headed straight for the bathroom with comments of, "I hope these bathrooms are clean, I just don't like dirty bathrooms". This was a middle of nowhere convenience store, what did they expect. I could only hope that Leann was in there tearing it up and leaving floaties behind for them to find. Leann came out and found her way to me and the little brood packed into the single stall restroom. The parents were of course browsing around where I was looking thru the coolers for something to drink. They were apparently friends and in separate vehicles as they were bragging how great their SUV's were that they were traveling in. I classified them as yuppies as they were occasionally spending time smelling each other's asses and kissing the ass of the obviously richest of the bunch. Seeing all of this going on around me and seeing that the snotty girls had kinda bothered Leann, I had plenty of reason to find a way to humiliate them in front of all the other locals that were around, but decided that I was not on top of my game. However, they did keep their distance from me when they noticed that I kept giving evil looks at them every time they got close. After wading successfully thru the yuppie feast at the little country store, we went on our way. I was thinking that it was a lot earlier in the day than it actually was and got the brilliant idea that we should stop and see my grandfather on the way home, which was definitely a different way than we had come. This involved needing a new travel plan in a hurry and we had obtained a road map at the little store. After a moment of trying to negotiate and read the map as we were flying down the interstate, we decided to pull over and figure the new way. Once again, timing was everything. I was thinking that Leann's driving was going to get us killed or stopped as she was trying to read the map while driving, before convincing her to stop for a moment. So we were both looking at the map rather closely and studying the roads on there to figure where to go when ...... KNOCK KNOCK KNOCk on the passenger window. The Kansas Trooper may have as well fired his gun off next to us as we both jumped at the sudden shock of the sound. He had pulled up on us as we were stopped there and because we were both looking at the map, did not see him pull up. He was cool with us explaining we were looking at the road map and even got a little chuckle out of it all and then went on his way. Now, the irony in all of that is, we were kinda driving strange trying to look at the map while driving down the road less than a minute before which I am sure would have had us both out doing sobriety tests on the side of the road. I am pretty sure I would have failed, since I could not see the lines or stare straight and I am guessing Leann would have failed as well with all of the laughing that she was dizzy with. Yeah, that would have been a dash cam tape worth seeing. We were then on our way after we had discovered we had missed a good route by less than a mile, so we turned around and got on that. This was one of those nice two lane highways that kinda meandered across the countryside, so it made the trip less boring with all the passings of scenery and small towns. After a couple of hours, the sun had set and we realized that we were still hours from my grandfather's place and decided not to make the visit and continue on. He lives around Tulsa, so the new route that we had taken was of course going to take us thru there. Tulsa, being a pretty decent sized city, had many new roads and routes that we were going to have to take to get to the next road toward home. Begin the usual city in Oklahoma, sudden lane changes and vital interchange information was designed by monkeys and psychics, since none of the signs make sense and we are just "supposed" to know where to go without signs. Combine this with Leann's NASCAR techniques and my inability to see the fast upcoming swerves to the correct lanes, had me bouncing around the cab like a bouncy ball in a seat belt. All of this was further enhanced by the fact that she needed to get another restroom break. After some reasoning with her about going ahead and stopping for a moment, she made a sudden death defying move to exit at the first place we saw, followed by a sudden stop at the restaurant. She got out and headed in and I unraveled myself out of the now, heavily tested seat-belt. This is when I realized that we had stopped in south Tulsa, where it seems there is a crime problem. I was hinted at that when I heard pimps a hos arguing not far away over service payments followed by a car with chrome wheels scraping the wheel wells, only interrupted by the distorted bass beats from a crappy sound system. I decided to stay the pickup to make sure nothing "disappeared". After getting my medication and something to drink, we were hastily back on our way. No too much happened on the rest of the trip as we continued to follow the little 2 lane highways the rest of the way back. We told each-other some ghost stories as it was night and even stopped and won $40 at a tiny casino when we stopped for a smoke break. The final hour and a half of the trip was what you just read in these 5 chapters as the idea for me putting this story into a blog was born. I basically told Leann this story as we were heading down the highway and had her laughing so hard, she could almost not see the road thru the tears of joy and laughing pains. And then we were home. THE END..... or is it? Hope you enjoyed it. (Comment on this)