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.