A Tribute to Troy Gilbert

As most of you know, a friend of ours was killed in an F-16 crash in Iraq last Monday. He leaves behind a wife and five children. He was flying a combat mission, bringing aerial support to American ground troops when apparently a mechanical issue caused his plane to go down. A week later, as I continue to think about Troy and Ginger and their family, my heart is still deeply saddened by their loss. It is unfathomable to think about Ginger and her children and what they must be going through. There is nothing that I can do to make the situation any better, but I have made a vow to pray for Ginger and her family every single day for the next year. I can’t go to the memorial in Arizona (Kelly, please pass on our condolences), so I wanted to write a little tribute, if you will.


Troy was absolutely one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. Always smiling, he had an infectious personality – people were drawn to him. He loved his family, God, and his church. My fondest memories include the surprise 30th birthday party he threw for Ginger at his parents’ house and the tour he gave me of Sheppard Air Force Base. When I was pursuing Officer’s Training School in the Air Force (6 years ago) and giving thought to applying as a pilot or navigator, Troy took me all over the pilots’ main building and showed me everything he could. He even got special permission to let me try out the instrument simulator – VERY COOL! What I remember most about that tour is Troy’s genuine interest in wanting to help me in anyway he could. He truly was a great guy who put others before him. I guess we’ll never know the exact details of this tragedy, but we know his F-16 flew erratically before nose-diving and he never ejected. If only for my own personal reasons, I’d like to speculate (100% speculation here) that American ground troops were under heavy fire and needed help from the air…so Troy answered to his call of duty and flew into enemy territory to fight off the insurgents to save American lives when his plane suddenly malfunctioned. Though he tried, he couldn’t gain control of his plane, so he steered it away from American troops to crash without injuring anyone else. I’m sure you could find holes in this speculated theory, but this sounds like something Troy would do, unselfishly putting others before him.

May God continue to bless the lives of others as a result of the life Troy lived, and may God take care of and begin to heal his family.

Lambeau Field Journal

Saturday, November 18, 2006
Before I begin this journal, there is absolutely no way to express this experience in words, but here’s my best effort. After a smooth flight to Minneapolis, lunch in the mall inside the airport, and another smooth flight to Green Bay, the time had finally come to see Lambeau Field. As soon as we landed in Green Bay, I immediately focused on the series of events that had to occur in order to not miss our Lambeau Field tour. By the time we walked out of the airport, we had precisely 45 minutes to find a taxi, drive to our hotel, drop off our bags, get back in the taxi, drive to Lambeau Field, and find the meeting point for the tour! Not only did we make it, we had 20 minutes to spare! It wasn’t until when we were in the taxi, on the way to Lambeau Field when we saw it from a distance for the first time, that it finally hit me that we were really there – it was an exciting feeling! We arrive at the front entrance and get out to be greeted by the tall statues of Curly Lambeau and Vince Lombardi. Seeing these life-like statues sent a wave of history and tradition through the air and I was immediately in a very respectful state of mind as I recalled what I know of the history of these two men and what they brought to the Packers’ organization as well as the NFL. We walk in to the atrium and are amazed at the size of it. After we find the meeting place for the tour, I’m standing there looking at the pictures of greats like Bart Starr, Reggie White, Ray Nitschke, looking at the yard lines painted on the floor of the atrium that actually line up with the real yard lines on the field, feeling the presence of everything Green Bay Packers, anticipating the moment I get to see the field for the first time, and it’s just too much. I can think of 5 specific times in my adult life that tears were brought to my eyes. At the birth of each of my four children and now Lambeau Field. Yeah, maybe it’s a little corny, but if you shared the same appreciation of the Green Bay Packers - who they are, who they’ve been, where they came from, the legends born over the past 85 years, how they have changed the game, how the community owns the team and stands in line to sweep snow off of the field for free, how people literally come from all over the world to see the Packers, how season tickets have been sold out since the early 1960’s, how there is a 25 year waiting list for season tickets, how people put their name on the list so hopefully their grandkids can get season tickets, the Lambeau Leap, the Ice Bowl, the ACME Packers, Brett Favre and his magical ability to do anything on the field and yet be so humble while leading his team to success, Favre’s uncanny ability to perform at his highest during times of emotional and physical stress like losing his father, brother-in-law, finding out his wife has breast cancer and shaving his head to support her through chemo, Curly Lambeau inventing the forward pass, Vince Lombardi inventing the sweep, and the list goes on and on – but if you shared the same appreciation as me, and so many other people do, and it became your dream to see Favre and the Packers play at Lambeau Field, and then to have that dream enter your life as not a dream, but a real experience…maybe you’d also shed a tear or two. Soon after this minor breakdown, the tour begins. After a brief introduction, the tour guide led us outside to the statues and gave us a brief history of Curly Lambeau, Vince Lombardi, and the Green Bay Packers up to where they are now with Coach Mike McCarthy. Then we went up to the 6th level and went inside a $30,000 per game luxury suite for 49 people. The anticipation of seeing Lambeau Field for the first time was killing me. I wanted to push everyone out of my way so I could rush in there and see the field. I finally entered the room and the sight of such a beautiful field made my stomach drop and I really think my heart skipped a beat. It was so much more awesome than what I imagined it would be. Again, the history of what I was seeing hit me like a ton of bricks, but luckily I was able to keep my composure and save some embarrassment in front of the other 30 people in our tour. All I could do was stare at the field and replay game moments from the past that actually took place on the very field I was looking at. I was so entranced that I probably only heard half of what the guide said. We left the suite and went down to where the locker rooms are. We didn’t get to go in the locker rooms, but we saw them from outside. The next thing was something that was truly an unbelievable experience. We walked into the player tunnel and they played a recording of what it sounds like when the players are in there – the announcer announcing their entrance and the crowd roaring outside. It was quite the adrenaline rush! Knowing that I was walking down the same tunnel that Favre and the Packers and the Packer greats from the past walked down was almost an out of body experience. I closed my eyes and could feel the presence of all the players as I walked down the tunnel, especially at the place where they preserved actual cement and bricks from the original City Stadium before the modern-day Lambeau Field where Curly Lambeau and Vince Lombardi actually stood to address the Packers. What an amazing thing to see and feel! As we reached the end of the player tunnel, we had arrived at the grass of Lambeau Field. It was a sensory overload! I couldn’t believe I was actually standing on Lambeau Field! I’m sure it’s illegal, but as Jennifer took a picture of me touching the grass, I pulled some and stuffed it in my pocket. I will forever have a piece of Lambeau Field! I also touched and leaned up against the green wall where Packers perform the Lambeau Leap. Of course I imagined Donald Driver catching a pass from Favre and then running up to the exact point where I was standing to leap up over the wall where the fans would catch him and celebrate with him. Hopefully we’ll see quite a few of those tomorrow! After this, the tour was pretty much over after the practice facilities were shown to us in the distance. Here I am, the night before the game recalling the events of the day, and I can’t believe it will get even better tomorrow! I will actually see Brett Favre and the Packers play a game from the 4th row in the end zone! I literally can not believe we are actually here in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and will actually see the game tomorrow. Most dreams are never attained, but this dream of mine is being fulfilled right now! I am appreciating and taking this in as much as humanly possible. I will try to get some sleep tonight before going to the tailgate party and the game tomorrow!

Sunday, November 19, 2006
We wake up early in the morning, get ready, and board the bus to Lambeau Field for our tailgate party. It is probably 25 degrees, which is much colder then 25 in Texas…it feels more like 10! We arrive at the tailgate party, 2 blocks from Lambeau Field and make our way in. There are tents set up, tables, a DJ, and Gilbert Brown (former Packer on 1996 Super Bowl team), and TONS of fans, both Packers and Patriots fans. The fans on both sides are very classy and respectful of each other. We stand in line for the food and listen to the music, which is all Packers parody songs…songs like “The Bears Still Suck” and our favorite was “I love Brett Favre” to the tune of Toby Keith’s “I Love This Bar”- very funny! I fill up my plate with bratwurst, a cheeseburger, Brett Favre’s jumbalaya, and cookies – at 9am!! What a breakfast!! The food was delicious! We then go to find a drink, and were humored to see that you had 3 options – beer, bloody mary, or screwdriver! Again, at 9am!! What a tailgate party! I guess it’s so cold up there that they have to drink alcohol to stay warm! HA! Anyway, I grabbed a screwdriver that had been sitting for awhile with the vodka settled at the bottom and enjoyed a nice glass of orange juice. ;-) After hanging around for a bit, we make our way into Brett Favre’s Steakhouse where we bought a cheesehead and then a few more souvenirs on our way to Lambeau Field. It was a party the whole way to the field! At one point, I look over and see Vince Lombardi himself walking around with a Super Bowl trophy, so I had to get my picture with him! He was a very good look-alike. As we get closer to the entrance, we enjoy looking at all of the tailgaters in the parking lot – it was a very fun atmosphere! To our surprise, when we entered the stadium, we got free towels (like Pittsburgh’s terrible towel) and Brett Favre statues! Cool! We found our seats and were AMAZED at how close we were to the field! Being on the 4th row, we were only like 8 feet from the grass. Jennifer got excited too, she didn’t realize we would be so close. By then, it was probably 30-32 degrees or so, and in the sun, we could take our coats off (we each had layered clothing on over thermals), but when the sun went behind a cloud, it got COLD again. Seriously, it felt like the temperature dropped 15-20 degrees when the sun went behind a cloud! The players started coming out for pregame warm-ups and it was awesome to see them so close! Eventually, the game started, and it was absolutely one of the coolest experiences I have ever had! As the game went on, it was a little frustrating that the Packers were so flat. They never got pressure on Tom Brady (most overrated QB in the league), they couldn’t establish the run, and they couldn’t put together a string of completions. They also had a hard time stopping New England’s offense. The Patriots weren’t impressive or anything, they just nickel and dimed us. They had just lost two in a row, so I knew they were very beatable, but the Packers had to have some things clicking, and they just couldn’t get it going. Now, if you can imagine the irony of the situation here…Favre has started 251 games in a row, which is something that is just unfathomable as a QB in the NFL. It’s a testament to his toughness and ability to play through injury and pain. However, as irony laughs in my face, Favre goes down with 2 minutes left in the half. He of course pops up immediately, but is in obvious pain, holding his arm and wrist. The trainers come out to check on him, and funny enough, so do the refs! HA! After a few minutes, he looks like he’s about to go back to the huddle, but the trainers grab him and make him walk to the sidelines. He’s carted off to the locker room for testing. It was definitely a setback, but I tried to look at the positive side…I told myself that maybe it was luck that we got to see Aaron Rodgers play too – the future QB of the Packers after Favre retires. However, he didn’t have a good game. After halftime, Rodgers comes back out and Favre never does. I kept expecting Favre to come out any minute and come back in the game, because after all, Favre doesn’t get hurt – EVER! I notice early in the 3rd quarter, maybe the 1st or 2nd series, that Rodgers starts limping a little. It turns out that Rodgers had broken his foot and finished the entire game on a broken foot, which required surgery and a screw the next day! Must be part of being a Green Bay QB – no injury keeps you from playing! A few minutes later, Favre comes out of the tunnel and to the sideline, which of course was met by an eruption of cheers from the crowd. I kept waiting for him to come back in, but he never did. The Packers ended up losing 35-0. So here we are…living my dream at the frozen tundra in Titletown USA and the Packers lose to a team I think has been overrated for a decade and don’t really respect that much, and Favre gets hurt. Sure, I could have let myself sulk and get real upset at the result of the game, but it was seriously overshadowed by the fact that I was there in person. What an amazing experience! I knew the Packers lost 35-0, but they weren’t beat by the Patriots, they just simply didn’t show up to play. The Patriots weren’t 35 points better than them, they didn’t get shut down by an amazing powerhouse team, they just didn’t show up. So the game is over and we have 45 minutes to go back to the bus. I lingered in the stands as long as I could, because I knew it could easily be the last time I see Lambeau Field in person. I knew my perspective of the field would be changed forever, since I was there in person, but I just couldn’t let go…I couldn’t say goodbye. Finally, I gave it one last sincere lookever, and we left the frozen tundra. As we were walking underneath towards the exit, I felt as if I were on the other side of a new page in the history of my life. Major events come into our lives and carve out moments in time that become a reference point forever…for me, it was Lambeau Field. We stop at a concession stand since we didn’t get up the entire game and got some hot chocolate, a soda, and another bratwurst. There’s just something amazingly delicious about their brats – I don’t know what’s different, but they are soooo delicious! We make it back to the bus and eventually back to our hotel room, where we crash and watch the second half of the Dallas Cowboys game. What a game!! They beat the Colts!

Monday, November 20, 2006
We got up, went to pickup our rental car, and drove back to Lambeau Field. Being at Lambeau Field 3 days in a row was something I could get use to! It’s so amazing how every time I saw it for the first time in the day, it was such a rush! Even on the 3rd day, I couldn’t believe we were actually in Green Bay, Wisconsin at Lambeau Field. Unbelievable! We still had tickets to the Packers Hall of Fame as part of our package deal, so we (or at least I) wanted to take advantage of it. The tour was self-guided and took about 2 hours. It could have easily taken 3-4 hours if you stopped and looked at every single display and watched all of the videos and read all of the signs. It was really cool seeing the progression of the Packers from 1921 to the present, with actual equipment from the players of old and new. Leather helmets, jerseys that snap at the crotch like onesies, 80 year old cleats and shoulder pads, notes written by Vince Lombardi on the 7-4 defense, a hand-drawn chalk drawing of the infamous sweep play. There was also a setup of Vince Lombardi’s office, as well as life-size statues of players in formation at the Ice Bowl that you could stand next to. I stood next to Bart Starr and looked into the eyes of the Dallas Cowboys’ linemen and linebackers who were hungry to tackle me with all of their ferocious strength and it was quite intimidating. Very cool experience! We saw the three Lombardi trophies and made our way out of the Hall of Fame. After buying a few more souvenirs, we drove away from Lambeau Field toward Appleton, Wisconsin, where we would begin our journey home. It was a sad moment, leaving such an amazing monument behind, but life must go on. I have experienced a part of history that nobody can ever take away from me, and I hope to go back one day…with my son (and any other family member interested) :-).

Jennifer, thank you for agreeing to experience this dream with me! I am truly lucky to have a wife who loves football! YOU ROCK!

[Insert creative title here]

I'm going to attempt to write an interesting blog, despite the fact that I am fuming - totally disgusted after tonight's Packers game. I don't know if I'm more disgusted at their mistakes or the ridiculously stupid announcers on ESPN Monday Night Football. I mean, give me a break, they speak without thinking and they jump on and off bandwagons faster than I can stop yelling at them for saying something stupid! Get an opinion and stick to it - don't change your mind after every play. I emailed ESPN and gave them an earfull. I am seriously almost to the point that I will either stop watching Monday Night Football, or I will subscribe to the NFL Pass and listen to the game online while watching it on tv to hear different announcers. Also the halftime/postgame show guys (except Steve Young) - I mean, it's so lame to talk trash to Brett Favre because the Packers lost. If it makes you feel like a big man, go for it, but I think it's pretty cowardly. A few plays with different results, the Packers win, and then what would your story be? Would it be how incredible Favre is? The media makes me sick with their shallow, emotional, unintelligent, meaningless blah-blah!! OK, sorry, I'll try to calm down.

We went to the Boswell (Saginaw) high school homecoming football game Friday night. One night last week, I saw the end of the homecoming parade and I was flooded with a desire to become a bigger part of our community. I absolutely love living here in Saginaw and I never want to leave. We will upgrade our house in 3-5 years(buy a bigger one), but we'll stay in Saginaw. Anyway, we decided to try and take our whole family to the football game, but after the first 6 minutes of the game, it became clear that our kids were not at all interested in sitting there through a football game. We took them down to the end zone in the grass to let them roam a little and play, but eventually, Jenn took the three youngest kids home and came back and picked Karissa and I up in the 4th quarter. Boswell actually looked very good! The were up 21-0, 6 1/2 minutes into the first quarter!! They ended up winning 55-22, but it could have been MUCH worse very easily had they kept their starters in. Karissa and I had fun. We went down to the bottom and stood at the fence behind the football players and cheerleaders. Karissa finally built up the courage to ask a cheerleader for a football, and she gave her one! Karissa was proud! It was fun to be part of the community like that.

This strong sense of wanting to plug in more to the community brought me to research local churches again. We like Christ Chapel Bible Church, but it is so far away (relative, I know) that we still haven't REALLY gotten plugged in and we only make it about once a month. We go to small group just about every week, but church only once a month. So I found what looked like a non-denominational church online (Eagle's View Church) that's right behind Karissa's school. I scoured their website and was not turned off by anything. I was a little hesitant because it appeared the pastor's style was more life-application than expositional study. However, I've come to believe that the life-application style is almost everywhere and I may need to just feed my in-depth biblical studying desires in a medium outside of Sunday morning church. I also recognize that the majority of people (and unchurched) prefer the life-application style. I agreed with the theologies detailed on the website, and liked the fact that it would take a minute and a half to get there, so we visited on Sunday. The website said the service started at 9am, so we get there around 8:40am and see a sign outside that the services are at 8:30, 9:45, and 11am. So, I got out to go see which time was right, and was immediately greeted in the parking lot by a guy who told me this was actually the very first Sunday they moved to 3 services. So I got back in the van to tell Jenn and we were trying to decide what to do for 45 minutes until the 9:45 service. The church member came back to the van and invited us to come in for doughnuts and coffee while we wait for the next service and he would show us around. So, we said ok and went inside with him. He's my age, plays the bass guitar in the worship band, and was very welcoming. We sat and talked about the church, the pastor, their theology, etc and then we checked the kids into their rooms and went to the service. He said it was a great first time to visit because the teaching was on sex! HA! The pastor is doing an exegetical study on the Song of Solomon. Cool! It was actually very good! He seemed to do a good job of balancing the story-telling surface-level style with the more in-depth style, explaining original Greek words/translations and pointing out historical references (cultural and historical facts to bring more light to the biblical text). There were a few cheesy pet peaves that I PERSONALLY am distracted by, like clapping after worship songs and saying "amen" throughout the teaching. However, those are just little personal distractions that I can overlook because it would be a silly reason to not attend a church because of that. We met our new friend's (Justin) wife (Misty), picked up our kids, and went home. Karissa said she liked it and wanted to go back every week. Cara and Kylie could actually tell you what they learned about. They seem to have a great children's program. The church is actually affiliated to a very small degree with the baptist church, but they are talking about dropping the affiliation next year. Justin said the pastor doesn't teach like a baptist pastor and he's not sure why they are affiliated with the baptist organization. He thinks it was because when the church was started about 7 years ago, non-denominational was still pretty new so they weren't sure if they should affiliate themselves with a religion that most closely resembled their upbringing and education or just go with the non-denomination designation. The pastor went to Southwest Theological Seminary, which stereotypically has a more baptist spin, but his focus isn't so much in line with a typical baptist preacher's. Anyway, it is essentially a non-denominational church. We liked it and look forward to going back, and I am excited about it! Justin said they need another keyboard player too, so I could immediately get plugged in to the worship team. They don't have an organized Sunday School program, but they have Lifegroups which are small groups you sign up for and attend weekly. They don't have a Lifegroup specifically for young marrieds (are we still young?) so maybe we could start one up? Jenn and I met Justin and Misty downtown today for lunch and had a great visit with them. They both work downtown. Anyway, funny how things just sort of worked out so spontaneously...almost like there was a higher power involved or something....possibly....

Oh yeah, I have a blog

It's been a while since I've indulged in an excessive rambling session, so here goes. My last blog entry, I was a mere 30 years old. Those were the days...now I'm a much wiser and more mature 31. Funny how that seems old, but I still feel so young. Reminds me of the great country song...You're always 17 in your home town. It's true...when I visit Wichita Falls, I feel even younger! Anyway, this entry, as always, will be somewhat chaotic and skip around.

I went for a follow-up at the urologist today. To be brief and save you from too much personal info...I had a little side effect from the vasectomy I had to get checked out, but everything was ok, and I don't have cancer. That was good news. For the few of you out there (I know of 2 for sure) who are considering or have scheduled consultations for a vasectomy...don't worry about it. If you'd like to know about the side effect, send me an email. Josh, I'll save the details so you don't cringe. :)

Today I also went to my hearing at the Tarrant County Appraisal District office to protest the tax value of my house. They increased my tax value 13% from 2005 to 2006. This was mostly due to the fact that they had an extra 400 square feet of living space since our garage was closed in before we bought it (it was a model home). So, I won the protest with ease and they dropped the value back down to the sales price I paid for the home. Very nice...that will save us at least $5-600 in January!! Plus, we also get the homestead exemption this year. Double nice!

Here's a few funny bits - the other night I was in the recliner around 12:30 with my laptop getting ready for my fantasy football drafts when all of a sudden Cara appeared beside me. Here is the conversation that ensued:
Cara - "Dad, when are you going to get a new job?"
Me - "Do I need to get a new job?"
Cara - "Yeah." (she's very sleepy while talking)
Me - "Where do you think I should get a new job?"
Cara - "Well...you could drive the ice cream truck."
Me - "Yeah...I could do that."
Cara - "But you'd have to get some new clothes."
Me - "OK, I could do that.....Would you like to drive the ice cream truck sometime?"
Cara - "Yeah, but you'd have to buy me some new clothes."
Me - "OK...let's go get back in bed."
HA! Don't you love kids! Her ear has been hurting a little the past few days. She says "Dad, there's little pieces of cracker in my ear". "Cara, did you put a cracker in your ear?" "No, it's there because my ear hurts." "Well how did the cracker get in your ear?" "Oh, probably some time when I ate a cracker it just kinda floated around in my body and landed in my ear." So tonight I tell Jenn about it at the dinner table and Jenn tells Cara that it's just earwax. So I tell her that's what we make candles out of and Cara looks at me and says "I don't believe you!" She's pretty smart to already be catching on to my daddy lies...

Karissa had her expander put in towards the end of August. It was a traumatic experience, especially the first 2 days of rotations. But somewhere around the 3rd day it stopped hurting her and it was smooth sailing from there on out. Hopefully it will all be worth it in the end. I understand the logic behind it, but we'll still never know if it was really worth it until probably 10 years from now. She got a Gameboy Advance for letting the orthodontist put the expander in. I know, I can be a softy sometimes.

Caleb is such a blast! He is all about having fun and laughing and playing! He can throw a football...and everything else he grabs for that matter. HA! He turns 1 next Friday! Kylie is still the sensitive one. She loves to play and have fun, but she needs constant reassurance that you love her and are just playing. I think maybe she'll be the high maintenance one. But she loves to cuddle and listen to stories and is as cute as a bug!

This weekend was a bad football weekend. The Cowboys lost, the Packers lost big, the Texas Thunder Thighs lost, and the Lambeau Leapers lost. The last two are my two fantasy football teams. I'm excited about the new Keeper League I organized. I was able to find 7 other guys (in Fort Worth, besides Jeff) to form a new league where we use a performance based scoring method, and we have the option to keep up to 3 players each year for the next year...and you can trade draft picks, blah blah blah. I'm sure you are all very interested. Anyway, I hope the 'boys and the Packers just had a first week hiccup and will turn things around. The Cowboys just didn't play well for most of the game, and the Packers had some struggles, besides the fact that they were playing the best defense in the league, and a Super Bowl contender as far as I'm concerned. You heard it here first...Chicago in Super Bowl...against San Diego.

I have found myself of late watching too much tv. I watch Ultimate Fighter, UFC Unleashed, football, Survivor(starting Thursday), Two A Days, and soon the Office will be starting back up as well as Friday Night Lights and probably American Idol. I kinda quit watching the Apprentice. The nights I'm not outside with the neighbors and there is nothing on tv, I either watch NFL Network or play the playstation. I got Madden 07 for my birthday and it is awesome! I also got an MP3 player, which is really cool! If you don't have one, you should get one!

Well, I'm sure I am leaving some major news out, but I can't think of anything right now, so I will close this blog entry. Oh yeah, can you believe gas has dropped so much! I paid $2.33 today. Poor gas companies, I don't know how they're supposed to make any money now with such a significant decline in gasoline prices! HA! Economically, this is actually good from a psychological standpoint, especially with wage inflation creeping in (people are getting paid well) and a relatively full employment economy (low unemployment rate). Well, good for now, but if it gets too good, with all the money out there available to pump into the economy (more jobs, more wages = more spending in the economy) and the mere "thought" that gas prices are lower so we can breathe easier and spend more money elsewhere...it could bring more overall inflationary fears back into the forefront of the Federal Reserve and further monetary policy could be enforced (more rate hikes). So, hopefully we will kind of sit tight and maybe begin a SLOW growth rate in our economy so the Fed will leave us alone! Anyway, more importantly - Only 59 more days until GREEN BAY!!! Post a comment!

PS - I was saddened by the death of Steve Irwin. Such a tragic ending to a great man who has contributed so much to his industry. Shall I say, a tragic ending to his life, but his legend will live on forever in his field of expertise. My heart and prayers go out to his wife and 2 young children.

Green Bay, Here We Come!

I know I could wait a few more days to officially make it one month since my last post, but I think I'll go ahead and enter my August post now.

I am literally beside myself, and have been all week. Why, you ask? Sure, I'd be GLAD to tell you! I called Monday morning and made reservations everywhere for our dream come true trip to Packerland...Titletown...Brett Favre & the Packers' very own...Lambeau Field. The pinnacle of all sporting arenas as far as I'm concerned. We fly out Saturday (Nov18th) morning at 6am and arrive in Green Bay at 11:40am where we will take the courtesy shuttle to our hotel and check in, and then go to Lambeau Field!! All transportation all weekend is included in the package deal we purchased. We have a 3pm tour of Lambeau Field scheduled! We will get to see everything! Even walk on the field! Either before or after that, we will tour the Packer Hall of Fame. Saturday night, after dinner (maybe at Curly's in the Lambeau Field Atrium!) I think we may hitch a ride to a casino. Sunday morning we will ride to Brett's Steakhouse at 9am for a lil tailgating party! Whenever we finish there, we will walk 2 blocks to Lambeau Field and walk around or watch the Packers warm up and eventually sit down and experience the ultimate in football. A Packer game at Lambeau Field!! We paid extra to get lower level end zone seats. What they will do is take all of us who ordered a package 2 weeks before the game and randomly assign seats. We are guaranteed to be in the end zone somewhere between rows 1 and 20. Today I called back and requested seats at the tunnel so we can high five the players! (ok, maybe that's corny, but ask me if I care) She said they can try to accomodate my request, but there are no guarantees. After the game, we'll grab dinner somewhere and do whatever comes next...casino again or something else, I dunno. Monday morning we can sleep in. Instead of taking the only flight out of Green Bay at 6:30am (there are other flights but the price doubles) we decided to rent a car that day and drive to Appleton, 20-25 miles away, and fly home at 3:20pm. The hotel has an indoor pool/hot tub, but also an indoor putt-putt golf course and bowling alley, and free cocktails at the hotel bar are included with our package. This trip has been very distracting this week because it is literally ALL I have thought about since Monday!! GO PACKERS!!!

In other news, there has been a lot of female turf-wars drama at work...and that is not fun at all. We've made it over the quarter-end stuff, so we should start slowing down a little....I hope!

I want to see Ricky Bobby - just the sound of that name makes me laugh. That is so NASCAR, I love it! Can you feel the excitement? All the way from over there? Well you should feel it over here!

OK, I would write more, but I'm falling asleep. Hope all is well!!

Making Memories

Checking in for my monthly post. I think I'll just ramble some highlights and then call it a post.

- I spoke in great detail with Packer Tours and have made some decisions on our dream come true trip to Lambeau Field in November. Well, ok, MY dream come true trip, but Jenn is excited about going too, whether she'll admit it to any of you or not! More details later, but we will tour Lambeau Field, inside and out, Packer Hall of Fame, Tailgate party at Brett's Steakhouse, lower level end zone seats!! Watch for Favre to scramble in for a TD against the Patriots on Nov 19th and then run to the end zone seats for the Lambeau Leap...because I'll be there hoisting him up!!

- I'm REALLY looking forward to tomorrow night's UFC event. Tito Ortiz will make Ken Shamrock's face look like hamburger meat AGAIN!! Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovsky will be a good bout as well. I used to like Ken Shamrock a lot, back in the early-mid 90's, and since Chuck Liddell is my favorite fighter, I have always hated Tito Ortiz. However, since the Ultimate Fighter 3, I've lost respect for Shamrock and have actually come to really like Tito a lot. Sure he has a mouth on him when he wins, but that's just competition gone wild, right?

- We spent the 4th of July weekend at Jennifer's uncle's house right on Lake Palestine. Aside from illnesses, misadventures, and a little drama, we had a great time! Good memories: experiencing new things with my children like paddleboating, fishing, tubing, & boat riding. Caleb taking 3 steps. R&R away from work. Bad memories: getting thrown off the tube at 45 MPH and hitting the concrete water groin first and then skipping across the lake for 30 feet. If I would not have had my life jacket on, I would have drowned. That hurt WAY more than the vasectomy, I mean, WAYYYY more. I have officially retired from tubing. Other bad memories: someone stole $40 out of my bag. There was quite a bit of family there, and some I didn't know, so I believe it was one of these unknown wackos that stole it. Very upsetting. Oh and we also sunk Jenn's uncle's boat (with Cara aboard but in a life jacket of course) when the winds suddenly got very strong and created 3-4 foot white-capping waves that kept sweeping over and into the boat. Luckily, we all survived that injury free and we think besides cosmetic repairs to the boat, maybe the steering cable is the only meaningful repair needed to the boat. Another bad memory is the stomach virus we all caught. We finally made it home Tuesday (gave a new meaning to home sweet home - I'm in love with home!!), and then 3 of our kids started throwing up that night, followed by myself and Karissa Wednesday morning. Luckily, Jenn didn't get sick! However, she did an amazing job caring for 5 sickos!!

- Karissa and I watched a hot dog eating contest on ESPN the other day. A guy actually ate 54 hot dogs in like 12 minutes. Disgusting! Karissa said if she were to go to one of those contests, she wouldn't eat breakfast or lunch beforehand, but she would probably still only be able to eat 2 hot dogs. HA! Me too...

- My brother has decided to pursue international missions work. He's flying to the Czech Republic Aug 31st for 2 weeks to talk with churches and missionaries about an orphanage in Tanzania, Africa. Then, sometime next year, he will go to Africa for 6 months to an orphanage where he will help kids learn how to use computers, teach in the school, be a positive male role model, and more importantly teach the children about God. The initial plan is to continue going back to that orphanage, six months on, six months off. Your prayers and support are appreciated.

- Today, listening to Casting Crowns, my jealousy of the Trimbles was suddenly reinvigorated. When are you guys going to the concert again? That will be sooo awesome!

Nice Weekend

OK all you blog peeping toms...my last post was up for a mere 5 days and even though I had 10 unique visitors every day, I only received 1 comment! Thanks Laura! You win a famous "Kirkburger", which you can redeem in September when you and Marco visit!

I had a spontaneous change of plans last week. After the 4th night of lonely bachelorhood, and a VERY stressful week at work, I decided Thursday morning to take off Friday and drive to Wichita Falls Thursday night to join up with my family (whom I missed terribly!) and have a nice 3-day weekend. Of course, the market has arrived at a very crucial technial point, which means we've been adjusting all of our portfolios like crazy, so I had to stay at work until 7:30 Thursday night getting everything figured out and ready for Friday. I probably should have stayed to oversee our moves on Friday. I guess it didn't matter though, since I ended up logging in from Jenn's parents' house and working until 12:30pm on my day off! UGH!

On my way to Wichita Falls Thursday night, my A/C ran out of freon!! Luckily it was at night and not too hot. I rolled in to WF at 9:45pm and met up with Jenn at On the Border where she was having dinner with Kelly and Alicia. I crashed their party!! Jenn and I went home to her parents' house and caught up for awhile, and then around midnight I went up to Chris Deges' work and hung out with him pretty late. He's a nuclear pharmacist and was mixing solutions for various tests like gall bladder tests that allows the machines to see all of the radioactive activity in the patient's body from the solution (if there's no activity in the gall bladder then it's full of stones and needs to come out)...anyway, Sorry Chris for probably not doing your job justice with my weak explanation. It was a great visit and very interesting to see what he does. Friday after I finished working on my vacation day (not bitter at all), Jenn and I took Karissa to Olive Garden for lunch. I learned that earlier in the day, Karissa had accepted Jesus and His free gift of salvation in the van with Jenn. We're happy for her and have suspected that she was ready, but we have been cautious to not create too much drama or emotional rah-rah! Don't get me wrong, it is a big deal and definitely worth being celebrated, but we want her to keep it in context. A little more on that later...

Friday night we went to Jeff & Kelly's house and cooked out with them and Chris & Alicia. We had a great time! Good food, good drinks, good conversation! It was fun to spend time and catch up with friends we haven't seen in a while! We went and dropped the kids off (put them to bed) at Jenn's parents' house and returned for some more fun. It just occurred to me that this blog is probably excruciatingly boring so far - HA! Anyway, the Deges' left and Jenn, I, & the Trimbles stayed and had some great conversation! Thanks again guys - it's too bad we're not closer - that would be fun to do more often. However, remember it's only an hour and 35 minutes to Saginaw! Today we made it back in an hour and 45 minutes, driving the legal speed limit most of the time, but that included one stop to find a lost pacifier and one stop to use the bathroom and get gas. So an uneventful trip really is ONLY an hour and 35 minutes!

Saturday morning we got up and went to visit my parents for awhile. After having lunch with them at CiCi's pizza, we went back to Jenn's parents' house and got ready for Kylie's "impromptu" 3rd birthday party with our families in Wichita Falls. It was 10 days early, but it was very convenient while we were in town - it saved our families a trip to Saginaw in a week! It was very hot Saturday! That evening I went and got the stuff to fix my A/C in my truck, but by the time I got back home, I was hot and tired, so I showered and watched some tv and then went to bed.

This morning we went to church to visit everyone and let the girls sing in their VBS program. They were cute! It was great to see everyone, and I was reminded after listening to Tom teach that we will never find another church like Grace. He started the whole lesson off by saying something I've thought for years, but haven't known how to express it clearly. He mentioned someone who was considering a business opportunity in another city, and before long, had moved his family and begun a new job. He said that he felt God was calling him in that direction. He didn't know it at the time, but he was letting his feelings determine God's will. You hear all too often "God is calling me to do such and such"...and I'm not the one to judge, but how many times do you think it's God actually calling or just a person's feelings that make them THINK God is calling them? The lesson was on spiritual enemia, relied HEAVILY on scriptural support, and was very in-depth and meaty. Very refreshing! After church, we went out to eat with Jeff & Kelly and we took up 3 tables!! Between our 2 families there are 7 kids!! We had another great visit and look forward to seeing them again soon.

I put more freon in my truck for the drive home. Karissa rode with me and the freon only lasted for about an hour! YIKES!! We rolled down the windows and enjoyed a nice, hot drive home. However, it was a good drive. After listening to her High School Musical soundtrack, we turned it down and talked for awhile. We talked mostly about her decision to accept Christ and what that meant on an intellectual level. I'm continuously amazed at how smart she is - how much she knows and remembers, processes, analyzes, and understands. They say you can judge the intelligence of a person not by the things they say, but by the questions they ask. She asks some pretty impressive questions for a 7 year old! I can already tell she's like me in that she's not happy with surface level answers. I assured her that she doesn't have to get baptized to be a christian since she was pretty nervous about that. She's trying to grasp the concept of the trinity, and I think she's doing a great job - that's a difficult one! She wanted to know how I accepted Christ, and since it was partially a result of my reaction to reading Revelations, we had a pretty in-depth discussion about the second-coming, what hell might be like, what heaven might be like, and how Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for everyone. Karissa said she doesn't feel any different even though Jesus is inside her heart - :) which of course she meant from a physical sense.

I popped my hood tonight to get a reading on my A/C compressor, and the neighborhood guys immediately flocked to my driveway. Funny how that happens! I was very grateful though since I'm not very mechanical and they got my A/C to blow cold air again! I'm hoping it lasts a few more months...I'm planning on FINALLY getting a Jeep towards the end of the summer!!

Sorry this is so long! I know it's a chore to sit there and read one of my long posts. Leave a comment!

Bachelorhood

Here I am for my monthly post. Jenn and the kids are in Wichita Falls for VBS at Grace Church, which leaves me as the lone resident in the Wimberley household this week. Believe it or not, I'm counting down the days until they come home. I don't like being here alone for this long...a day or two is a nice break, but a week is too long. I would sure hate to be single!! Jenn, kids, I love you and miss you!

Sunday I watched Jamie McMurray ALMOST pull off a win in the NASCAR race. Last night I watched the Hurricanes pull off a frustrating come from behind win in game 1 of the Stanley Cup. Never in my life did I expect to be cheering for the much-hated Edmonton Oilers, but it's hard for me to cheer for a relatively new expansion team. It's like they haven't been around long enough to earn their keep. After the upsetting game, I updated the check book and then read my new RealFighter magazine. Mysteriously, a few weeks ago, a RealFighter t-shirt showed up in my mailbox - neither Jenn or I ordered it, so it must have been a surprise gift from someone! Still don't know who, but thank you whoever it was! Well then yesterday, a RealFighter magazine showed up in my mailbox! WAHOO! RealFighter is the leading MMA (mixed martial arts) magazine with TONS of UFC coverage, which I LOVE!! It's been awhile since I've read a magazine cover to cover, but I sat up in bed until 1:30 this morning reading the whole thing! Tonight I watched Ron White - You Can't Fix Stupid. I hadn't seen that one yet, and was actually a little disappointed. I normally like Ron White, but this one just wasn't that funny. Larry the Cable Guy is the funniest one of the 4. Afterwards, I went outside and hung out with the neighbors for awhile. Celeste brought out some fresh iced tea and chocolate chip cookies!! YUMMY!! So now I sit here updating my blog in a quiet and lonely house. In a few minutes I think I'll go shampoo the carpet while everyone is away...at least I hope to get motivated enough to do so! I also need to go in the garage and workout. Jeff, as Josh already asked you, how did you lose 15 pounds?? I need to lose about 40!! However, I want to lose it while still drinking cokes, eating anything, and not exercising...is that possible?

Work is not fun right now. Very stressful and overwhelming. We're growing faster than what we can handle. Enough about that though - I'll leave work at work.

I really miss Grace Church. Our church down here is good, but not as good as Grace. It's a little more fluff than what I prefer - a little more Monday morning application and less in-depth studying. I miss Tom, Reggie, and Lance's teaching. I learned more in the ~5 years at Grace than I have in my entire life. We're starting a study of Daniel in our small group though, so I hope to get some good substinence from it. However, we don't have any DTS grads in our group, so it will be a little challenging at times. Nonetheless, I have a positive outlook towards it.

OK, before I end this, I HAVE to include a joke I just got in an email from Lou, my former boss in Wichita Falls...I laughed out loud!!

Donald Rumsfeld is briefing George Bush in the Oval Office.

"Oh and finally, sir, three Brazilian soldiers were killed in Iraq
today."

Bush goes pale, his jaw hanging open in stunned disbelief. He buries
his face in his hands, muttering "Oh, No...PLEASE, No".
"Mr. President," says Cheney, "it's terrible anytime we lose soldiers, but
I've never seen you this upset. What's the matter?"

Bush looks up and says..."How many is a Brazilian'?"

OK, I think I'll go workout and maybe shampoo the carpet...

The Balance of Work and Family

Work has finally started to slow down. I hired a new employee to relieve my new accounts lady from her heavy workload and the new girl seems to be doing well so far. I was pretty successful last week in coming home every day at 5pm, but this week I've had to catch up from leaving early last week. However, there's less of a time crunch now, just a lot of work. We had a broker come in from Florida yesterday who is firing us as a manager but retaining us as a subadvisor, which basically means we do everything we've always done except send out quarterly statements, but we're losing $50,000 in revenue per year! He's our 2nd or 3rd largest broker at $25 million. Frustrating, but if we didn't agree to only "subadvising" we'd probably lose him entirely. He's a real nice guy and I actually agree with what he's doing, so I'm not too upset. It's a business move on his part to better streamline and simplify his business model. He's a West Point graduate, former Army Ranger and infantry drill instructor who has shaken hands with Ronald Reagan and George Bush, Jr. We had some very interesting conversation at lunch!

I accidentally double-booked appointments yesterday with a salesman from San Francisco who was coming in to give me a presentation on his portfolio management software. I had to call at the last minute and push it back an hour, which meant he had to reschedule a later flight last night. I felt bad, but the guy said it happens all the time so he is used to being flexible and making last minute changes. It was a productive meeting, so I hope he feels it was worthwhile. I think he does, since we may hand over $60,000/year for his software if we decide to go with his product! HA!

I called one of the "higher ups" at our biggest custodian (FiServ) last night to touch base with him and find out the status of a big project they're working on for us, and he asked me if I would be interested in joining their "Alpha Board". It's a small group of Operations managers from institutional money management firms like ours who meet at least once a year in Denver to provide FiServ some meaningful feedback on how they can improve their business. It's actually a big deal to serve on that Board, so I was very excited!! They will fly me to Denver for these meetings and put us up in a nice hotel, feed us lavishly, have meetings and provide entertainment like snow skiing or something fun like that - and they pay for everything! How cool is that?!

Anyway, sorry to go on so much about work. I'd really prefer to be at home more - I live for the weekends! Especially in a few weeks when our pool opens (May 27th). I also can't say enough about how much I am enjoying becoming close with all of our neighbors. That is something I've always thought would be cool. We all hang out and watch out for each other. One neighbor came over and treated some ant beds in our yard - we mowed our next-door neighbor's house who doesn't have a lawn mower yet - another neighbor borrows our stuff to do his yard - another neighbor called the other day to make sure they closed their garage door - our kids go back and forth to each other's houses - there's just a strong sense of community now, and it's awesome!

Caleb is sooo close to crawling. I've been play-fighting with him recently and he really enjoys that, which is a good thing. I plan on keeping him roughed up to help him identify with his masculinity since he'll grow up with 4 women in the house, plus all their friends who will come over all the time! I really hate only being able to see my girls for 2 hours or less each night, but I guess that's just the way it goes. Last week when I forced myself to go home at 5pm every day, a new perspective was realized. Work is obviously a high priority as the sole financial provider for my family, but my family is also a high priority. However, when 5pm rolls around and I'm looking at a stack of work...at that moment in time, what is the bigger priority? Staying an extra 30 minutes to an hour to finish up some stuff that can be done tomorrow...or standing up, walking away, and giving my family that extra 30 minutes to an hour? My goal is to ask myself that question every day at 5pm and try to act accordingly. Sometimes I will need to work later, but sometimes, it will be ok to leave at 5pm and finish work the next day...or at home that night when everyone else is in bed.

Here's a few quick and random thoughts before I go to bed:
*I'm still excited that Favre is returning one more year.
*I still can not believe that Royce Gracie is coming back after 10+ years to fight Matt Hughes in UFC! Unbelievable!! May 27th...watch it!
*I had hoped Elliott would get voted off American Idol tonight. I thought the final three would be Chris, Taylor, and Katherine. No worries though, Chris will be extremely successful!
*If you have a knowledgable opinion about "soul sleep", send me an email with your thoughts!
*Is today's rate hike the last one Bernanke will impose for awhile or will the near term economic data ahead cause him to continue manipulating our economy, succumbing to further inflationary fears?? I tend to think we're safe for awhile.

Good night!

Brett Favre, the Legend, Returns!

I'm going to bed but I had to post a quick message to show my excitement for Brett Favre's return! WAHOO!!! I can't wait to watch him play again, in his final year of football. I thought the chances of him coming back were 50/50, but the longer it took him to decide made it appear more and more like he wasn't ready to call it quits. That is soo awesome!! Favre is the greatest football player of all time. Period. Don't even waste your time trying to argue.

Since he's returning, it means I have one final opportunity to fulfill one of my greatest dreams - going to Lambeau Field to see Brett Favre play in person in his own element. The thought alone of realizing this dream is overwhelming. I simply must do it. Favre has made it clear that IF he returns this year, it will be his final year. Therefore, this once in a lifetime opportunity is truly now or never. I've always been a dreamer and have worked and sacrificed to make dreams come true. This dream is now dangling in front of me with only a few obstacles: funding and ticket availability. Every home game at Lambeau Field has been sold out since 1960 - which is truly amazing, and a testament to the strength and support of the Green Bay franchise. I searched a little bit tonight on ebay and stubhub for tickets, and the cheapest I could find were $150 each for corner end zone, 59th row! A better deal would be lower level end zone for $177 each, which is the 17th row - low but too high to participate in the Lambeau Leap. I honestly don't care where the seats are...just being there would be enough to fulfill my dream. I met a couple from Green Bay who said you can ALWAYS find tickets once you get there from scalpers, but I can't risk that. Airfare would be about $277 per person, then a hotel and cab (or car rental) and food and souvenirs. So...for Jennifer and I both to go, we're looking at roughly $1300, give or take. Jennifer mentioned how sad it is that a quick two day trip to Green Bay to watch Favre play in his final season costs approximately half of our entire 10-day trip to Italy!! GULP! We have quite a few months to save, but that's a lot of money to drop for a football game....however, it's not just a football game to me. It's an experience of a lifetime that I will be able to pass down to my children and grandchildren.... "that's right son, I saw the legendary Brett Favre beat Tom Brady and the New England Patriots at Lambeau Field in subfreezing temperatures on November 19, 2006, after helping the other cheeseheads I tailgated with clear the snow off the field before the game started." They actually do that! The fans get on the field and clear the snow! Anyway, Jenn said if we can't afford it, I could go by myself...but I don't think that's fair. So...if anyone out there feels sorry for us and wants to help fulfill a dream and make a lifelong memory, please send your donations to the "Help Kirk See Favre" fund. :)

OK, now I'm going to bed. It's late Wednesday night (ok, early Thursday morning) and I've already worked 38 hours this week! I've been logging in to my work computer from home each night and working 3-4 hours. I'm getting checks made out to our brokers, so after I mail them on Friday, things should slow down considerably. I think I might even come home at 5pm next week! I'm looking forward to that...

This Is Only A Test

My time on the internet over the past year has slowly decreased to about 2-3 hours per week, sometimes less. This is a huge change from the 15-20 hours a week it used to be. Consequently, the result is less blogging - both writing my own and reading yours. So, this blog is a test to see if anyone has given up on my blog site. We'll see how many comments I get in the next month, which is probably when I'll post again. I'll keep it short and sweet and probably somewhat disorganized.

As you all probably know, I got vasectomized Mar 31st. Here's a highlight - I'm laying back on the table in all my glory with the cute little nurse prepping me when the doctor walks in and asks if I mind if a medical student comes in and observes. I'm not embarassed, so I approve, and then in comes another attractive girl to observe the most intrusive event of my life. HA! Oh well, medical students have to learn too, right? I was supposed to take 2 valium, but I hate prescription meds, so I took 1 small dose of phenergan (oral) instead, which was the equivalent of 2 glasses of wine - somewhat relaxed. The numbing shot was excruciating...just kidding Jeff...no, it was pretty uncomfortable, but very short-lived. Maybe 8 seconds or so...like a bull ride, I held on for 8 seconds. The procedure literally only took 10 minutes. The doctor and student left and the nurse fixed me up and I was out the door on my own two feet. I was pleasantly surprised at the recovery. I had to make myself sit down, but I felt fine. I was hoping to milk it for all it was worth by planting my little rear on the recliner all weekend and getting served food and drink like a king...but I felt so good I was up walking around and pretty much going about life like normal. I highly recommend it to anyone who is considering it and knows they are finished having kids. If you have more specific questions, call or email and I'll tell you anything you want to know! Jeff, get er done! Since I lost some manhood, I've been experimenting with a goatee...maybe that will make up for the masculinity I lost. HA!

OK, I didn't mean to write so much about that. Next topic. I went to the Busch race this weekend. It was freezing Saturday morning when I left, which is why I thought Jenn was crazy when she told me to be sure I put sunscreen on. I'm an idiot. It warmed up and was actually pretty hot. I got so blistered it still hurts, 4 days later. My face looks like I have leprosy and my knees and arms are very red and blistered. UGH! It wasn't even a good race. It was fun being there and hearing the deafening sound of the engines and watching the incredible speed of the cars, but the race was boring. Even worse, Kurt Busch, a total moron who got heavily booed, won the race. Carl Edwards had engine troubles and did not finish.

The Ultimate Fighter 3 started, and Ken Shamrock and Tito Ortiz are the coaches. This will be a fun season to watch. For you UFC'ers out there, if you haven't heard, May 27th's main event is Matt Hughes vs. Royce Gracie!! Can you believe it?!?!?! That is awesome!!!

I asked my boss if I should give my employees annual reviews and he responded by giving me a 5% raise. Very nice!

Still no word on Brett Favre's decision.

It's been fun the last several weeks getting to know our neighbors better. We all hang out a lot of evenings and weekends outside. Sunday, we had 4 families grill out together at the house across the street. It's a lot of fun because we're all close to the same age and have kids close to the same age. The guys took a little trip to the Harley shop to salivate on some cool motorcycles. I'm not really into that, but I could appreciate it.

We're going to Wichita Falls for Easter weekend. For all you Grace-ites reading this, we'll be there Easter morning, so hopefully we'll get to see you! Is there a men's retreat coming up soon?

I got pulled over by a cop tonight driving home from work...in fact, where he pulled me over, I could probably throw a football and hit my house. Can you believe that?!?! He pulled me over because I had a headlight out. If it wasn't statement week and I didn't work until 8pm, it would have never happened. Luckily, he didn't give me a ticket though. That is the only "warning" I have ever been given. It wasn't even a warning really. He just told me why he pulled me over, took my insurance and driver's license back to his car, and came back and said "everything else appears to be in order." I said "OK, thank you sir. I'll take care of the headlight." He said "Have a nice evening." Then I peeled outta there doing doughnuts and blaring my horn....just kidding. I ate supper and then went to O'Reilly's to buy a headlight.

OK, I've been typing entirely too long. Happy Easter! Be sure to at least spend a few moments meditating on the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus and what that means to you.

Landmark Tower Implosion

This morning we woke up at 6:20am and were out the door before 7am to go watch the implosion of the 50 year old, 30-story, Landmark Tower in downtown Fort Worth. This is the 2nd tallest building to ever be imploded, and the tallest in Texas. We were standing 4 blocks away from it and it was one of the coolest things I have ever seen in person. They were supposed to sound the sirens 15 seconds before they began at 8am, but at 7:45, they surprised us all and detonated the explosives with no warning. It was loud and it happened all too quickly! I'm curious to see my office Monday morning since this Landmark Tower building is literally across the street (catty-corner). They said a few windows were busted out in neighboring buildings, but hopefully our office was not one of those unlucky ones. Here's a video I took this morning - enjoy!


Video Sharing at DropShots.com

Television Junkie

This post is for you blog-addicts who have repeatedly checked their regular blogs every single day only to find that THIS blog hasn't changed in 2 weeks...not even the comments. Thought you might want to see something else here. I don't really have anything to say. Are any of you watching American Idol? Who do you like and who do you think will win? My absolute #1 favorite is Taylor Hicks. I don't think he will win because I don't think enough of America understands him and his incredible talent and passion for music. He's become a popular contestant over the weeks as people get more used to him I think, but I remain pessimistic towards the odds of him winning. I like Chris and Katherine a lot, and I can see them in the final 2 or 3, and ultimately, I see Chris winning the whole thing. He has an amazing natural-born rock voice, and I am amazed that he has never had any vocal training. Katherine is by far my favorite girl. In fact, from the very first auditions, I predicted her, Chris, and Paris to be the final three. We will see. Finally, how Kevin could have more votes than Ace, Melissa, and Lisa is a bit disturbing to me. Enough is enough. No offense, but he's just an awkward and dorky little choir boy who can't stay on pitch and sings with a lisp. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure he sings better than me, but he does not belong at this level of the competition. I'm afraid it has become a game to keep voting for Kevin. Probably all of the 11-14 year old girls vote 500 times each. ENough is enough, the game needs to stop. Melissa deserves to still be in the competition while Kevin watches the remainder of the season on his couch sitting in between mommy and daddy. I don't mean to be rude, but that really irks me.

Anyway, I hope I don't lose my man card for religiously following American Idol this season. I haven't watched it since Kelly Clarkson won. I did, however, record two new sitcoms. The Loop and Sons & Daughters. I haven't watch them yet, but they both look really funny. Has anyone watched them yet? Geez, I think I've become a television junkie! I have watched more tv in the past year than I have in the 10 years prior to that! That's probably why I'm getting fatter and fatter! Once I turned 30, the weight started piling on. I hope to take control of that, but as you all know, it's not easy.

Jennifer and I have officially been married for 10 years! YAY! I'm glad we've made it this far, and because we've survived this 10 year roller-coaster, I think we can survive anything together! I love you Jenn! This date also means I'm two weeks away from the good ol' vasectomy. We've fortunately been very blessed with four beautiful and healthy children...and I think four is enough for us.

One Year Anniversary

Well, today at work, it was my one year anniversary and my boss gave me a $5,000 bonus!! Well, at least half of that statement is true, but not the part involving a bonus. HA! That's ok - I'm happy with my job whether or I get a one year bonus or not. I can't believe it's been a year! Time has just flown by sooo fast! Looking back, I am so fortunate to have this job, and I am thankful for it. Sure it's horribly stressful at times and I envision myself having a heart attack before age 40, but at other times, it's a lot of fun! I'm learning to manage the workload a little, so the stress level has decreased a little, but it will always be there. I can't believe we've lived in our house for a whole year now! It still seems like we just moved in a few months ago!

I started to get a little bit of spring fever today! It was such a beautiful day outside! I went with a colleague to lunch today at the Pour House. We sat up on the balcony outside, overlooking Sundance Square...I'm so lucky to be in downtown Ft. Worth! Anyway, I started getting all the spring time urges today - like swimming, running, grilling and eating outside, washing cars, doing yardwork, playing with the family in the backyard, going to a lake, etc. Spring is my favorite time of year!

I guess I could post a personal item on here...I made an appointment yesterday to get the ol snip-snip!! YOWZA! My consultation is March 24th and the vasectomy is March 31st! YIKES! Actually, I'm not worried about the procedure much at all. As it gets closer, my anxiety may increase a little, but I'm MUCH more worried about having to take a Valuum (sp?). I have to take it an hour before the procedure. However, all prescription pain killers and anesthesia make me dizzy and/or throw up, so I'm nervous about Valuum. Maybe I'll just not take it and tell the doc that I did - HA!

Well, I got to watch my first NASCAR race of the season this past Sunday and it was fun! It was especially fun seeing my 3 favorite drivers finish in the top 10 (Carl Ewards, Jamie McMurray, Mark Martin) and it was AWESOME seeing both Tony Stewart AND Greg Biffle's engines mess up, causing them to have to drop out of the race! WAHOO!! :) I know, I shouldn't be like that, but those 2 guys are my least favorite drivers. Now, with the NHL coming back finally, and Nascar on every Sunday....I'm all set! Well, I'd be all set if Brett Favre would announce that he's going to play another season!! It's March now, so I bet we get an answer from him in the next few weeks. Well, I can't keep my eyes open anymore...so good night!

Come va? Molto bene, grazie!

I have no idea what to post about, but it's been 10 days, so I'll just post some quick thoughts and call it a day.

* I'm somewhat embarassed to say that I am hooked on American Idol this season and actually look forward to vegging on the couch 2 nights a week watching it! For those of you who follow it, I would like to post my prediction - from day one, Katherine McPhee and Chris Daughtry made my top 4 and I predict they will make it to the top 2...followed by Paris. And wouldn't it be cool to see Taylor Hicks at the end?!

* Work has been killing me lately - too much going on.

* I'm still on a Casting Crowns "high" and am trying to process the changes their concert and music have inspired in me. I emailed Mark, the lead singer, and he replied! How cool is that?!

* Had a great time visiting Grandpa Bill and Grandma Sue! Grandpa is doing better now than he has been in years!

* I'm going with some friends to the Mavericks game Saturday. Our tickets are in a suite! I've never been to a Mavs game, and I'm not big into basketball, but it will be fun. Basketball is just weird to watch. I'm so used to watching hockey that I anticipate moves but the basketball players don't skate around and it's illegal for a guy to stand in front of the net and wait for a pass to one-time it in for a goal. It's just weird and I can never get into it because the momentum always stops. Anyway, it will still be fun to be there I think.

* I missed the Daytona 500 because we were driving back from Georgetown and I forgot to record it on the DVR. However, I have some thoughts. Carl Edwards finishing dead last because of a crash really stinks. Jamie McMurray apparently had a good race until the end. Terry Labonte, the debut racer for the Aikman/Staubach Hall of Fame team had a decent finish. However, due to an illegal carburater, which nobody realized was illegal, they got fined $25,000 and have been penalized points that knocks them down from 17th to 27th! It was an innocent mistake!! What irks me so much about that is the fact that Jimmie Johnson's crew chief intentionally modified his car to be more aerodynamic, knowing it was illegal and would give Johnson an unfair advantage...and Johnson was not penalized at all, even after winning the race. Neither was Tony Stewart for forcing Kenseth off the track after crying all week about how unsafe all the drivers are. Tony Stewart is a punk.

* I have found that the so-called sport of "curling" is actually quite addictive! To me, it's just human-sized shuffleboard on ice. It's intriguing though, and easy to watch. Those athletes must be in top physical condition! Just kidding. Canada beat USA in the men's semifinals today, so the USA plays Great Britain on Friday for Bronze.

* The men's USA olympic hockey team only won 1 out of 6 games. Quite humiliating. However, 4 of the Dallas Stars are on the unbeaten Finland team, who will play Russia Friday night in the semifinals. Be sure to catch the finals on Sunday at 1pm I think.

Casting Crowns & Nichole Nordeman

Several days ago, we got an invite to a Nichole Nordeman/Casting Crowns concert from some friends in our small group whom we have been wanting to get to know better. Jim & Misty have followed Nichole Nordeman since she first started out, and they were excited about the concert. Neither Jennifer or I had even heard of her, but we thought it would be a good opportunity to spend some "kidless" time with our friends and get to know them better. Also, I've heard Casting Crowns and liked them a lot, so I figured we would enjoy the concert too. At first, it looked like it wasn't going to work out, but at the last minute, all the stars lined up and plans were made. Misty was going to meet Jenn and I at the downtown train station and take it to Dallas where Jim would pick us up since he works in Dallas, and we'd have dinner before the concert. However, due to some "directional uncertainties" and unexpected construction, we arrived at the train station in time to rush towards the train as it was pulling away. ARGH! Misty had gotten on the train thinking maybe we were waiting for her on the train. We got in the van and started driving to Dallas and phoned Misty and told her we'd just meet her in Dallas. So, we got directions from Jim to the restaurant and met them at Ninfa's, which had some pretty good Mexican food! We had a great dinner - good food, great conversation, and then piled in to their vehicle and went to Reunion Arena.

The seats were relatively close, on the risers at the bottom, and we arrived just in time for Nichole Nordeman's first song. She was at the piano and had a drummer, stand-up bass player, and guitarist/back-up vocalist. She talked in between each song, and I really enjoyed her honesty and message. I thought she had a very "relevant" sound with regard to the contemporary pop-ballad style. Music was great, lyrics were very deep and powerful, and the back-up vocalist had an incredible voice and talent. Some heavy songs and some good uplifting songs as well. I enjoyed her music and wanted to hear some more and take some time to pore over her lyrics....we bought her "Brave" CD today.

It was so fun to watch these professional musicians performing up there on stage in front of 20,000+ people. I haven't been to a concert in quite a few years, so when it comes to live bands, I'm still accustomed to the sound of the worship band I played/sang in at Grace Church in Wichita Falls. There are some very talented musicians in that band, who perform regularly with other cover bands every weekend, but really, they're probably still on an amateur level. Because of this, I was just in awe, listening to this concert with such high quality, professional musicians. I could easily pick apart each instrument and was impressed with their talent level. I knew very quickly I was going to enjoy the evening. After several songs, the stage lights go out and they start changing sets, getting ready for the main band, Casting Crowns.

Knowing that Casting Crowns had just won a grammy a few nights before, I was anticipating quite a treat! From the very first song, I just didn't think it could get any better. They can really rock! As the night went on, song after song, the lead singer, Mark Hill, talked a lot about the band and how they are the youth worship band at their church FIRST and then a touring band SECOND. Every single Wednesday night, even while on tour, they lead worship for the youth group at their church in Atlanta. How cool is that?! He is actually the youth pastor there. Minute by minute, I loved them more and more! After the intermission, I wondered how they were going to top the first set. They started out with a very powerful song - "Set Me Free" - that was so moving; musically, spiritually, and visually. They had 3 large video screens behind them that always had graphics/video playing that was very fitting to the songs they were singing. They also had all sorts of colored spotlights all over the place that they used to put on a cool and very effective light show during the songs. I was so "in" to it after "Set Me Free", and then Mark Hill starts talking about this little girl the band met a few years ago whom they stayed in touch with. She came down with cancer and ended up losing the battle. Through the ordeal, the band had grown close to the parents of the little girl and saw how faithful they had been through the "storm" of their precious little girl's illness. The band wrote a song for this girl and her parents titled "Praise You In This Storm". This song was so touching and heartfelt...very powerful. Especially since I've had some big struggles in the past, and still to some extent, of having a circumstantial faith...when the storms come, I don't always praise or remain faithful to God, and in light of this little girl and her parents, my storms have been nothing in comparison. After this song, I was literally beside myself, hardly believing I could be experiencing something as incredible as this. I've been to quite a few concerts and conferences with live music similar to this, but I have never experienced anything like this concert. I highly recommend them to everyone! The music is rockin' and fun and powerful and moving and uplifting and their message is very real and relevant to today's culture, regardless of age, gender, or religious affiliation. Mark Hill believes as a youth leader you have to earn the trust of the youth by letting them know that you have struggles everyday just like them. He has dyslexia and ADD...which he said means 2 things: he can't read good....and he doesn't care. HA! Anyway, it was a very "real" and worshipful experience.

At the end of the concert, he was introducing the band, and we got a little treat from the drummer. He was so fun to watch because he was so energetic with his playing style - slinging his arms all over the place while bouncing his head up and down enthusiastically with the rhythm. After being introduced, he proceeded to give us about a 5 minute drum solo - one of the coolest things I have ever seen!! After he finally ended his solo, Mark Hill says "Some people take pills, this guy plays the drums." HA! It was pretty funny. Anyway, they played one last song and then left the stage. Of course the crowd was going nuts, so they came back for an encore. What an awesome concert! Here's something funny - at the beginning of one song, he asked us all, sort of tongue-in-cheek, to hold up our lighters if anyone had one. After chuckling for a few seconds, what followed literally made my jaw drop. Thousands and thousands of people opened their cell phones and held them up with the backlight display lit up!! I mean, I know most people own a cell phone, but this was truly a remarkable sight. Mostly because of how many young teenagers I saw holding up cell phones. It was really something cool to see!

After the concert, Jim & Misty took us to our van at the restaurant and we stayed and chatted for a good 30 minutes before leaving. Jim and I have a lot of similarities and so do Misty and Jennifer, so we're excited about the budding friendship and we look forward to hanging out with them again soon! I will close this long post now, but not without urging you strongly to check out Casting Crowns! You can go to the following website to download 30-second samples of their songs - http://www.castingcrowns.com/. Just click on Music, choose either album, and then click on "Audio" by a song title and you can hear a little bit of Casting Crowns.

IRS QB Challenge

One of the many beautiful things about having four children is the $4,000 Child Tax Credit we get to enjoy! Without getting into too much personal detail, because of the house and some other things, we are able to itemize this year and take advantage of some of the tax breaks that our wonderful IRS code so generously offers. I have just about finished our taxes, but I'm hesitant to file it because I'm still scrounging around for ANY deduction I can come up with! I know I can just amend if I come up with something else meaningful later, but it would be nice to be thorough now and not mess with that later. A few things I need to research are - where to deduct job hunting expenses, house hunting expenses (if possible), commuting in the early job transition, and utility deposits at our new house. I think I can deduct all of those, but maybe not...and I'm not sure where. My guess would be schedule A, but I haven't researched it very thoroughly yet. Maybe one of you fellow blog readers know?

I heard about an upcoming sports event that will be cool. April 20th is the very first Quarterback Challenge at Reunion Arena. It will be put on by the Ticket sports radio station and will be a flag football game with some DJs and listeners playing against each other...but here's the cool part - Troy Aikman will be quarterback of one team and Roger Staubach will be QB of the other team. Also, Drew Pearson, Tony Dorsett, Jay Novacek, and Moose Johnston will be playing in the game! How cool is that! As I heard the announcement this morning on my way to work, I began daydreaming about how incredible it would be to catch a TD pass from Troy Aikman, and then running around like crazy and jumping up to Troy Aikman for him to catch me on his shoulder and celebrate. This is when a subconscious dose of reality began to seap into my daydream, and I envisioned Aikman dodging my crazy jump like I was some kind of weirdo and then me crashing into the ground. Then I suddenly "snapped to" about 2 miles down the road...wandering how I got there. Ever get that feeling when you're driving somewhere? You have absolutely no recollection of the past 5 minutes or so...weird. Anyway, I'll continue to listen and find out how they will be selecting the lucky listeners who actually get to play...and of course try to be selected, but at a bare minimum, I'll just buy a ticket and go watch it!

My New Look

Sometimes dads are called on to check out scary noises. Sometimes dads are called on to kill creepy crawly bugs. Clean up puke, nasty noses, cuts and scrapes, and dirty little potty-training-bottoms. Other times we're called on to give horseback rides, piggyback rides, or even throw little kids up in the air. If you're a dad, you know that we try to do these things with lots of enthusiasm because all of those things are important to our little children. And we know that if we don't go all out, our kids know it and always call our bluff. So when you're called upon by your children to do something for them, even when you're not up to it, or you happen to ALSO be scared of the strange noise in the dark or the extremely venomous spider no bigger than a freckle...suck it up and give it 110% anyway.

I had the opportunity today to go all out on one of my daughter's requests. Karissa had her friend, Raven, spend the night last night. This morning they came to me and told me they were going to give me a makeover. So, realizing about 4 strokes of a hair brush and a hair-clippy would probably suffice, I eagerly followed them into their beauty salon (girls' bathroom) for what I assumed would be a quick and painless procedure. However, as they began brushing through my hair, they laid out this elaborate plan they've come up with where they're pretending to be Mary-Kate and Ashley, and Raven owns the beauty salon and Karissa works for her, and they do complete makeovers. Suddenly, I get the feeling that I may be in for a long ride. My first instinct when I see the tube of lipstick approaching my mouth was get up and run as fast as I can, but I decided instead to fulfill my fatherly duties and allow them to have their fun at my expense. :) So...after spraying my hair with water, conditioner, glitter-gel, glitter (that's right, pure glitter)...a thick eye-shadow application, as well as all 10 eyeshadow colors rubbed ever so delicately and professionally into each cheekbone...a healthy application of 3 colors of lip-gloss, chocolate lipstick, and who knows what else....I got in between the cosmopolitan makeover professionals, struck my sexy Zoolander pose, and snapped this glamorous photo:

Straight Eye For the Straight Guy

Last week I wrote the single largest check I have ever written to pay for anything, and it was both painful and rewarding, but mostly painful. For the first time ever, I had the delightful opportunity to take a purposeful stroll through the lovely and scenic downtown Fort Worth all the way down Main Street to the courthouse annex where I had the dubious pleasure of handing a clerk a check for an incredulous sum of money to satisfy my obligation to fund a portion of my community's schools, hospitals, staff, doughnut breaks, and beautification programs due to the simple fact that I am a property owner. We manage our own escrow account for property taxes for control as well as the little bit of interest we make versus letting some mortgage company dictate how much money we need to send them each month so they can make money off of our savings and then at year end say "Oops, we made a mistake in approximating how much your property taxes will be so you need to send us an additional $800 by tomorrow as well as an extra $100 each month, every single month this year, just in case we screw up again." HA! Wait a second...who are you calling cynical!?

Anyway, it was rewarding to be ABLE to pay that large sum of money, but it was painful to realize we now have ZERO DOLLARS saved for 2006 property taxes, due in one year. However, the pain is eased somewhat by 2 positive facts. The first is the homestead exemption that we now qualify for, thus reducing our tax burden for 2006. Secondly, we have the entire year to save for our reduced tax burden, unlike 2005. You see, when we closed in mid-March, the builder gave us his share of property taxes for Jan 1 through mid-March, but it was wrapped into the closing, not cash in hand. Therefore, we only had 9 months to try and save for a full year's worth of taxes!

A side effect from this monumental moment in life occurred Saturday morning while fighting my conscience (whom was urging me to be responsible and get out of bed to tend to our hungry children who were at the side of our bed imitating baby birds at feeding time). After paying so much for property taxes, I wanted something new to show for. I mean, I love our house and am very content with it, but this whole property tax thing made me want to invest in something nice for our house. So in between all the little birdies chirping for pancakes, eggs, bacon, or chips (?) I told Jennifer I wanted to decorate part of our house that we haven't done yet, and I want it to be a very noticable change. She starts kicking and screaming and begging me to please not spend any money decorating our house. OK, just making sure you are paying attention. Anyway, we decide to get up, eat breakfast, and load the family up for an excursion across north Fort Worth to Garden Ridge, which is a heaven-on-earth when it comes to house decorations. Can I lose my man card for saying that? Anyway, an hour and a half later and 427 reprimands to our cherubic children, we leave with a picture frame for our bathroom and curtains for our living room (it only took us 10 months!). The curtains were normally priced at $30 each, but were marked down to $5 each, so we saved $75!! After buying the sheers (?) and curtain rods, we managed to dress up our windows for a mere $50! WAHOO!

By now it's lunchtime, but our decorating craving has not been satisfied, so we stop for a break at McDonald's. Funny story - as we walk in, a young couple compliments my Brett Favre jersey. They just moved here from Wisconsin, home of the Green Bay Packers, so we exchange our mutual compliments of Favre and the Packers before I catch up with the family to order lunch. Afterwards, Jenn and the kids went to the play area, so I get our food and start towards the play area, but I'm so excited in my instant bond with the Wisconsin couple that I have to go back and talk to them more! HA! What? I'm crazy? Whatever. I find out that they have been to Lambeau Field for Packers' games many times, and I can't help feeling like I am in the presence of 2 higher beings. OK, that's a little overboard. But really, it was exciting knowing that I was talking to two people who had actually seen Brett Favre play with their own eyes. It was also fun to talk with people who were on the same wavelength in terms of Favre and the Packers. They gave me some pointers on how to get tickets to a game. Jenn realizes I may be awhile, so she comes and gets the food so our kids can eat - HA! Knowing I must part, I welcome the couple to the area (they literaly had a map on the table looking it over) and go join the family. I apologize Jenn, but during the entire lunch conversation, I was sorely distracted with dreams of Lambeau Field and Brett Favre. :) If he doesn't retire, and I think we'll know within a week or two, Jenn and I will see him play at Lambeau Field this fall.

We leave Mickey D's and go to Wal-Mart to buy some paint for our dining room and kitchen, which is enough to satisfy our decorating binge. We buy a deep red, along with some supplies, and finally make it home safely for a fun-filled weekend of painting. UGH! I'd rather someone tear my head off and throw it in my face than paint! In fact, reliving the whole painting experience this weekend is making the pit of my stomach turn in circles, so I'll skip the details. However, I'll include some before and after photos of the living room windows and the dining room/kitchen, and hopefully the photos won't be too dark. Try clicking on each one to blow it up - that might help see them better. We didn't clean up before I took the pics, so don't mind the mess. :) I'll close by saying that I really like our new decorations a lot! Our home feels cozier and while the red paint was very bold and scary at first, now that we are finished - I love it! Of course, we may wait 2 years to do anymore painting... :) Next month we will buy wall decorations for the kitchen and dining room.

LIVING ROOM WINDOWS BEFORE

LIVING ROOM WINDOWS AFTER

DINING ROOM BEFORE

DINING ROOM AFTER

KITCHEN BEFORE

KITCHEN AFTER

Just For Fun

I post onhere so infrequently anymore that every time I do, I feel like I have to catch you all up on everything. So, I decided to post a new blog only 4 days after my last one with just some fun stuff for the heck of it. I'll pose a few questions, and I'd like you to answer them.

1) You have 1 week this year to take a vacation...where would you go? There are so many places I'd love to go, it's hard to decide. Definitely somewhere in Europe, and it's so hard to pick someplace other than Italy. I know I should see other parts of Europe, but I just love Italy too much. I didn't get to see the Sistene Chapel or the Leaning Tower of Pisa. An italian girl on our train tried to point out the tower as we went through Pisa, but at best we got a half-second glimpse from quite a distance away. SO I think I'd like to see those two things as well as Venice again, and then settle down in a Tuscan villa with the whole family, enjoying the simple life, and interacting with the Italian people the entire time.

2) What would you like to see anywhere in the world that you have never seen? I'd have to say the Northern Lights, Statue of Liberty, and of course Lambeau Field.

3) If you could choose one, with no negative side effects, which would it be: a pill to take that kept you from ever having to go to sleep or a pill to take that kept you from ever having to eat again? Definitely for me it would be the pill that allows you to never go to sleep.

4) If you had 10 million dollars to give away to one charity/organization, what would it be? I would donate it to a cancer research organization.

5) If you could be a doctor, what specialization would you choose? Orthopedic surgeon.

OK, this may be silly, but I thought I would do something different for a change. Now...leave a comment with your answers!

Hello Blog Strangers!

Well here I am for what has become my monthly posting. I haven't kept up with this, and I've even quit reading my friends' blogs that I use to read everyday. Why? I have no idea. Maybe I'll go catch up on theirs after I finish this post. Let's see, what has happened over the past month?

I ended up winning the Fantasy Bowl for my first ever OFFL Fantasy Bowl Championship! Go Texas Thunder Thighs! We had a great Christmas and New Year's celebration. I made out pretty good! I got a double-disc DVD on the history of the Green Bay Packers, including the "Ice Bowl." I also got a cool playstation game and quite a few books, including "Favre" by Brett and his mother. I now have 6 books to read, and I know it may be surprising, but I'm already half way through my first selection - Favre! It is so fun to read about games and decisions and events of Favre through his own eyes. After I finish that book, I'll probably either start "1776" or a book by Francene Rivers called "Caleb" which hopefully will give me a better idea of who Caleb was in the Old Testament so I can pass down my son's name's meaning to him as he gets older. It's amazing how the kids can get so much for Christmas and still complain about being bored and having nothing to play with. Anyway, we all had a great time over the holiday season. Oh one more thing - we got a carpet-shampooer-steam-cleaner (?), which I used last Sunday night, and I LOVE IT! It took me 2 hours to do just the living room, but it made the carpet like brand new again...of course, the high traffic area is already beaten down again, but all the little spots are gone! WAHOO!

This paragraph is about the NFL, so if you're not interested, go ahead and skip down to the next paragraph. It came as a surprise that Mike Sherman got fired as the Green Bay coach. I thought he helped the team stick together very well through all their adversities this year. I think (and hope) he will get picked up rather quickly by another team. That move doesn't bode well for Favre's potential return next year, but I'm waiting in high hopes that he WILL return anyway! You could argue that it would be good for the team to have a veteran QB help teach Aaron Rodgers, Favre's eventual replacement, the new coach's system. However, I think physically, Favre still has several more years in him (especially with a healthy team)...but he and his family have been through sooo much recently, it would not be a surprise if he decided he was ready to focus more on his family than playing football. I will be checking the news every single day for the moment he announces his decision. I must admit, I was somewhat disappointed today to learn that Parcells extended his contract 2 more years. I've liked him less and less over the past couple of years. Oh well. This weekend will be fun! Wildcard weekend! I predict the Bucs will beat the Skins, Panthers over Giants, Pats over Jags, and Steelers over Bengals. However, none of these games will really mean anything because I think the Colts will beat the Seahawks in the Super Bowl.

One other quick football note - the Texas vs USC game was one of the best football games I have ever seen! I was so nervous from early in the 1st quarter all the way until the clock expired! I did pick Texas to win, but I felt like it would be a close game. I've only been watching college football over the past 3 years or so, when Chance Mock was QB for Texas...because he's my grandmother's sister's grandson. There is so much more emotion in a big college game than in the NFL, but I think the fact that they don't have a playoff system is absolutely ridiculous! That is why I've stayed away from college football for so long. I have yet to hear a logical argument for the way they determine the championship. Just pick the best 16-32 teams, throw them in a single-elimination playoff tree and see who comes out as the last man standing and there's your champion. I know the bowl games are important because of all the money, but you could still have bowl games in a playoff tree. Each playoff game is a bowl game if you must have bowls. And don't tell me there's too many teams because they use a playoff bracket in NCAA basketball. Anyway, I'll quit ranting about how stupid the current setup is in college football. What I don't get is that most people agree with me, but the system hasn't changed yet.

OK, this blog was not supposed to be entirely about football, but let's face it...my passion for football runs very deep. On to other things though....the most exciting news I've heard recently is that our friends from Milan, Italy - Laura & Marco, whom we met up with 2 years ago in Rome, Italy, are coming to visit us this summer at our house for 2 weeks!! I've really talked up my "Kirkburger" pretty big, so I hope they won't be disappointed. :) They went to Berlin over New Year's and we just received a postcard from them today - Thanks Laura & Marco! It will be a fun experience! They may decide to wait a long time to have children after spending so much time with ours! HA!

Work is going well, but we're approaching a very busy time of year. Hopefully I won't have to work late too many nights. Our director of Marketing has been in California all week working with our biggest brokers on an exciting deal. They bought another advisor's book of business ($90 million) who is retiring to the Hawaiin islands, so Jackie went to help them transfer everything over. We should get a meaningful portion of those assets, maybe half, which would increase our revenues by $450,000 per year!!! Our current assets under management are $160 million, so that would push us over the $200 million mark! Awesome!

It's late Friday night and I think I'm about to go to bed. Not much is planned for the weekend - watch some football, play with the kids, help my school friend from St. Lucia (Carribean) move some furniture from her old apartment to her new one, and that's about it. I feel sorry for my friend, Lua. We went through our MBA together and she was looking for a job here when her visa was about to expire, so she had to hurry up and find ANY job to extend her visa...so she's managing a Waffle House and absolutely hates it! She can't find dependable staff, so she has to work double shifts all the time filling in for people who don't show up or quit after 3 days. If you know of any job down here or even in Wichita Falls that she could do, let me know. Her boyfriend is still in Wichita Falls going to MSU, so she'd be happy to move back if she found a job. Also, a few things to keep in your prayers - Jennifer's back has been hurting her pretty bad, Kylie is sick (again) and could have asthma, and my grandpa is in the hospital with a bad case of pneumonia. He wasn't doing very good at first, but has been showing signs of improvement the past couple of days, so hopefully he is on the road to recovery - at his age and condition, it could be very serious.

Have a great weekend and make sure you leave comments!