2008

Last night my mother in law asked me what I was thankful for 2008. It took a second to think about, was it going to shore duty, moving to Chicago (ha ha), the new job? Nope, nope and Nope.

Oddly enough it was my diagnosis of Diabetes, believe it or not.. Since I have been diagnosed I have lost 60 lbs since last December, for the first time in a long time I am comfortable, my Navy Physical run time is down to a mile and half in 11.50, fastest for me in my entire 19 years, and I don't look like a blob in my pictures.

Funny thing about being a diabetic, when I found out in May, I went through many different emotions from being scared to pissed. In fact thinking back it was just scared and pissed, scared about would I be able to stay in the Navy, would I die, what would I eat to how would I go on?

I am happy to say that being a diabetic is not the end of the world, but rather for me a new beginning. Yeah it sucks not being able to eat some stuff I used to love (egg nog has like 35g of sugar) bust mostly I had to cut my portions down and just steer clear of other foods all together. Once I got a hold of my eating the daily pricking of my finger, I enjoy statistical tracking of my blood sugar, now runs about 100-110 a day and you can have fun plotting it on excel. The funny part is how others act around you when they find out you are a diabetic. Some people treat you like a freak, others like you deserve your own handicap sticker, readers.... I am here to tell you that if you eat right and take care of yourself, most of us will be fine.

So back to 2008, it's been a great year, we moved from the Sunshine to the Snow as my dear wife calls it and have moved into the best house we have ever had. I am glad, for us as a family, my wife and daughters deserve this house, they have given up so much for me to run around the world, a payoff like this is exactly what they should have. I love my new job, taking care of the kids (young Sailors) is more rewarding than I ever figured would be, now I have to finish getting my degree in the odd off chance I get out in 2 years.

Dawn and I hit the magic 15 this and didn't do much for our anniversary, I hope to fix that this year with a trip that I hope she will like. Lindsey is growing up quick and Emily is right on her ass, it seems like when Lindsey does something, Emily does the same. I love them both very much and no matter how much all of my women drive me crazy I wouldn't want my life any different.

If it wasn't for my sister I would have never started this blog, so you can blame her if you hate what I write. I wish I spent more time with you, I hope to get better with that this year. If plans work right, in the next few years we'll be allot closer.

Thanks for reading my blog, I wish you a Happy New Year and a great 2009.

Stone Moutain Fun

Made my first trip to Stone Moutain. Really a good time, if you are ever in Atlanta I suggest the visit. Funny thing they have a snow moutatin here where you pay 25 bucks to go sledding, silly people I'll let you come to Chicago and sleep in it for free...

Cold Out

Yes that does read 6.4 degrees. I miss Florida right now.

A day in Chicago

Jason and I went downtown today, saw Wrigley Field, the Sears Tower and walked around a bit. It was a great time.

First Work Snow

Here is our First snow of the season.. It's all down hill from here.

Sending Christmas Cards

One of the cool parts of my job is the gross numbers of kids that pass through my doors. On any given day I have over 650 men and women who cross my path. It amazes me everytime I ask for an artist, an athete, or someone who can sing or just about anything, because I get it. My kids come from all over the globe and every backround. Today's picture is a picture made by my students for Christmas. Our building is named after the USS Cole DDG-67 and for the Men and Women who gave their lives for their country. The assignment was take this 10 foot tall piece of wood and paint a Christmas card for the base contest. What you can't see is the Solar Christmas lights on there that really make this card good. Our contest is this week and I'll get pictures of all the cards and post them for you to see. I do hope we win.

On the homefront, my least favorite time of year as a kid was today, report card day. I am happy to say Lindsey and Emily made the honor role with all A's and B's. A great day for a very proud dad.

Dog's Life

I wonder what she does all day. how much can one dog sleep in a day? Really..

First Duty Day in the Bag

Well after 8 months of not standing duty I had my first duty day yesterday. Not very exciting but I'd rather have it that way. The real excitement is at my building, my kids are building a Christmas card. 12 feet tall. Details and pics to follow.

CYA.

Please Help my friends.

This is a mirror from a friend of mine. Please read it and contact your representatives. Adoption is difficult and can suck for couples. Help make someone's Christmas and put this family together. They've been trying to adopt a little girl from China for a very long time and they've hit another snag in the process. In a nutshell, can you write a letter for them? I'd appreciate it

Details:

As you know, we have been waiting to adopt our Molly for years. Now we finally have our referral and we are caught in a paperwork disgrace that is keeping our daughter in an orphanage for no other reason than red-tape – poorly administered red-tape at that! We were supposed to bring Molly home in September, but we are still waiting for our US visas to travel. It is the US holding us up – NOT China.

We are writing to ask for your help. In hopes that it will make a difference, we asking friends to please help us execute a more aggressive letter writing campaign in order to try to get things moving. We have been in touch with our Congressman, Senator and the Governor in Maryland as well as the Chair of the Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security and International Law. Some have been more helpful than others, but no one seems to have been able to make a difference so far.

If you could please bring this matter to the attention of your local representatives in Congress and in the Senate, it might have some impact. This link provides email address: http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/. We know that a lot of local officials are in transition at the moment, but this information should be good for the next couple of months.

If you have time, we’d also like to ask you to please contact the Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security and International Law. Zoe Lofgren is the Chair (address below + email on her website. http://lofgren.house.gov/). Here is a link to a list of committee members: http://judiciary.house.gov/about/subimmigration.html. Please note that Randy Forbes is from Virginia (http://forbes.house.gov/zipauth.html) and Anthony Weiner is from NY (http://weiner.house.gov/).

In hopes that it will simplify the process for you, I’ve also included a basic ‘form’ letter that you can feel free to alter in any way (below).

I know I’m asking a lot of you in your busy lives. We can’t thank you enough for your help and look forward to sharing happy news soon.

Katharine and John


Suggested Information for Letter

I am writing on behalf of my friends John and Katharine Curtin and their daughter Molly. Thank you in advance for your help with this most important matter.

The Curtins are in the process of adopting a child from China. After a very long wait, they finally received their referral for a beautiful little girl from Hunan Province who is currently residing in the Chenzhou orphanage. Her Chinese name is Chen XiDi and her American name will be Margaret XiDi Curtin – Molly.

They were supposed to take custody of their daughter on September 2, 2008. However, they cannot travel without approval of their I-800A (Application for Determination of Suitability to Adopt a Child from a Convention Country). Although they were already approved for an I-600A (the ‘pre-Hague’ version of this form) they had to file for the I-800A when they moved to Maryland in June 2008.

Even though they have a child waiting for them, no one will help them expedite their application. Worse yet, they have had no feedback at all since they filed their paperwork and the adoption community continues to hear about long waits and bureaucratic hold-ups. This all means that their beautiful little girl is left sitting in the orphanage when she should be home with her own loving family.

Every extra day that a child spends in an institutional environment contributes to developmental delays and complicates the transition once they are placed with their adoptive family. The longer Molly is waiting in the orphanage, the more difficult the adoption process will be for her. There are also concerns about her health since many of the babies were hospitalized last winter during the snowstorms that resulted in power losses and loss of heat for 8 days. If this resulted in asthma, as is apparently common in this region, she may need treatment. And now, as you may be aware, there is a major health crisis in China that endangers all children – tainted baby formula – which is causing kidney stones and even deaths.

Please help our friends bring their baby girl home.



Subcommittee on Immigration
The Honorable Zoe Lofgren, Chair - Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security and International Law
102 Cannon House Office Building
United States House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
Telephone (202) 225-3072


Other officials we have contacted:
Maryland State Senator
The Honorable Barbara Mikulski
503 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington D.C., 20510
Phone: (202) 224-4654

Maryland Governor
The Honorable Martin O’Malley
100 State Circle
Annapolis, Maryland 21401-1925
410.974.3901

Congressman for Maryland’s 8th District
Congressman Chris Van Hollen
1707 Longworth H.O.B.
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-5341

Cold and Fun

Today is a day to remember all of those who have gone before us to defend freedom and democracy around the world. I hope that if you reading this you took time to remember someone who served in the Armed Forces or Department of Defense. With the silly season behind us of who is going to lead our country behind us we need to concentrate on the future and how we can get this great country back to wear it once was.

Anyway I got up this morning to go to the girl's school to Participate in a salute to the Military and found that we had our first frost. By my math it was my first frost in 3.5 years. Sure it gets cold in Florida but not this cold, and by Chicago winter standards I have been told this is nothing compared to what is coming.... Anyway, Ice on the car, and we went to school and then breakfast with our friends and then I went back to school where I was the guest speaker to the 4th and 5th grade class. I had planned to speak about the Military and the history of the day today, but it became a 45 minute Q&A session with questions ranging from where was my favorite place to have I ever killed anyone. I assured everyone that I am not a killing type and my favorite place was the Straights of Magellen in South America.

The best part of my day was how happy Lindsey seemed that I came in. Making her proud is better than anything I could ever do. I stopped down to the caferteria and saw Emily and came home. What a great day. Tonight is Lindsey's first Cheerleading event, the boy's team has the season opener tonight. I am very excited and can't wait..

ID Please

My baby has reached another plateau in her life... No not that one, she got her Navy ID. When depenents turn 10 they get an ID card. We celebrated by seeing Madagascar 2 and Emily puking at 0300. Fun weekend ahead..

Happy 10th Lindsey!

Sorry it's been a few days, work is crazy from time to time. The party went well, Keylime cove was great. There was a mix up with the room but they did the right thing and upgraded us to a 3 room suite. The girls all seemed to have fun, and we loved the water park. More this weekend

2nd Place

Well we won the first game of the playoff but lost in the finals to a team that could be best described as the 1998 New York Yankees. They did not allow a goal this year and did not loose a game. We lost 1-0 on a goal with 30 seconds remaining. Good hard played game. Now it's off to the party.

Chris

1 down 2 to Go

Our Pumpkin Magic

Our front door

The magic worldwind know as our weekend has started. We got thorough haloween and tomorrow we have soccef games and Lindsey's party. So much to do yet but most if it happens tomorrow. At least uniforms are out and the basic's for the party are packed. Tonight was fun, I don't remember the last time I did haloween, think it has been 2 years, last year I was in the Persian Gulf sitting off the coast. The real fun will be tomorrow as we play two games and then run home and pack up everything else. Night to all, early day..

Witchy Woman

Well another Haloween is coming and on top of that 15 years of marriage to Dawn and then right after that Lindsey turns 10. Time sure does fly now for us and it seems like just yesterday I got here to Chicago but it's been almost 5 months already. Lindsey goes to get her first ID card soon and I get to expect visits from Boys looking for her and giggly girl friends sleeping over. Happy days for us all here in Chicago....Pictures from the weekend will be up Sunday night/Monday.

UnbeliveaBULL

When I took orders to Chicago I promised myself I was going to go and see all the Sports teams here in town. Little did I know I was going to go for Free. So far I won tickets to the White Sox to include Sunday Brunch in the Stadium Club and last night we went to the Bulls game only to find ourselves in a Luxury Box. We went with our friends downtown to American Girl store which is way more toy store than one girl should need. It is way over the top but I get it, it's like me going to FRYs electronic store, except it's cheaper to buy at FRYs than American Girl Store.

After a tour through the store that Emily and Lindsey were nice enough to tell me what they wanted, we went to dinner at a food court that was hard to explain but you get whatever you want in the court and pay after. I wasn't feeling too well after dinner, maybe my BP was up from my daughters or just anxious to get to the game for the intros, but when we got to the United Center I gave my name at will call and told them there was 9 in our party, well he said he didn't 9 together but could do this for me, and gave us a Penthouse Box. Wow. We had a great time, and I plan to take Lindsey back again, as she seemed to enjoy it the most. I have posted a ton of Pics in my album for you to see.

Why I like 6 Flags Frightfest

When you walk into a park and it looks like this

Some people take diets to serious

It's Always dangerous when they serve Spicy BBQ

Tasty in Chicago

Well living in Chicago means one thing. Brats. Lindsey and I went to a really good butcher south of here yesterday and got some great sausages for dinner at a friends. WOW I never knew there are so many kinds of sausages out there, but he told me they sell about 20 kinds. The sausages were great and we can't wait to get some again. It's off to 6 flags today with our friends and may be the last trip of the season for us... In the meanwhile we are still trying to replace our holiday decorations. It stings every single time I put a strand of lights up, we had a ton of really great stuff.

Hit me Nick Papageorgio

Well last night was fun. I was playing Casino Dealer at my girl's school, and had so much fun. Never mind it took me til 0100 to make it home, we had fun. I started out dealing Craps (or a very distant cousin) and then Blackjack. I decided to use the name Nick Papageorgio. I had a great time but I am very tired today. I can't wait for the next one.

2 games 2 wins

Emily wins 2-0 playing goalie had 3 saves today. Lindsey wins 2-1 with 3 blocks. Joy in the Detje Household.

I am working at the girls school tonight for Casino night. Can't wait to be a Blackjack dealer( real chips, real money) from 4 to 1am..

WHOO HOOO

It's not our fault

I usually don't write about politics but oh my god... If I hear once more that every single thing that ever went wrong is George Bush's fault, how life was better with out him I'll scream. Brought to you by the same party that allowed al-Qaeda to set up shop,I love how the President gets blamed for everything. I think he may also be behind the mold that grows on bread when left out. ENOUGH you jackasses

Both of our parties are so screwed up now that neither of the crooks that are up for election can help us. You think Obama is the answer, move to his home state, it's loaded with corruption, kick back and nonfunctional governement. And when was the last time John McCain went out for a gallon of milk. Nancy Pelosi, do yourself a favor and quit being a party person, and help run the country. You had a great chance to lead the way for women in big government and instead you fell in line just like the boys club. Shame on you.

Will we ever have that one person, male, female, black, white or orange who can run the country, I say no. It's not just one person, but many are required. I sat down with the intent to just rant and rave tonight but instead I think I want to encourage you to go and vote. Find out about who is running for the offices other than President. You're pretty much stuck with one of the two but try and find someone who can make change in DC not as a slogan but someone who really means it..

Register now and vote when it counts.

Yankee Stadium Memories

Baseball says good bye to and old friend today as the last game at Yankee Stadium is played. Growing up we went to the stadium with my sister, dad and uncle. My uncle had a friend who got seats on the Visitor dugout, not near it, on it. So I just figured that if you go to the Stadium you get great seats. I also remember when my dad took my sister and I to a double header against the Twins. Memory serves me correctly they split the games. Later on my Dad and I have been to two games, once in 03 and once in 06. We tried this year but our schedules wouldn't allow it and we went to Cooperstown instead, an even trade off.

We say all the Yankee Greats play from our generation to include Dave Winfield, Don Mattingly, Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams and Mo Rivera to name a few. I know they are not going away, but the Satium is, and as I settle in tonight to watch the game, I will remember fondly a part of my childhood, and never be able to hear New York, New York with out thinking of Frank Messer, Bill White and Phil Rizzuto.

Yes Dawn has made fun of me, but as much as I love her, I don't expect her to understand..

Soccer Saturday

We opened the season with a few answers and still a few questions.

1. Both teams lost, Emily 2-0 and Lindsey we stopped count when it got to double digits.

2. Emily can be very good, she had a couple of chances to score and will get better with practice

3. Lindsey looks good in Uniform.


Seriously I know it's a kids league and you want your kids to learn the basics and have fun but I really wanted them to step out and win. I kept it to myself, except when Emily was on a break away and cheered for her. At the next time out, she came over and told me that Cheering for her is embarrassing and a distraction and she asked me to stop or go home. I guess I won't be painting my chest green next Saturday.

Lindsey seemed to have fun, which is exactly what I wanted for her. She is very shy and this is a chance for her to get out and have some fun. She won't be getting any soccer scholarships but my little angel left the field with a big smile and that's all I need.

GAME DAY

Today is the Girls first Soccer Games. Emily( biggest and loudest) takes the field at 9 and Lindsey at 10. Video and pictures to follow. (ALONG WITH SOME DRAMA)

Man Day

Yes it's the fall and it's getting cool around here. Well today was a man day. By that I mean the following.

I installed a garage door opener on the house, big deal for me because I have never had a garage door much less the opener to open it. It was fun and only took a few hours and caused my neighbor to smash his thumb once and I cracked my head one time as well. It's really great because with the winter months coming now the girls and most importantly I don't have to get out of the car to open the garage in the cold.

The other big news that made me happy today was the soccer coach called today with the details on the girl's soccer league. They start here soon and will be playing games before we know it. The cool part is going to be watching Emily run over kids in the open field. I can't wait, Lindsey is very excited to get out with girls her age Emily is excited to "talk smack to the other kids." I am so proud...

Commiting a Sin today

I am breaking a bunch of rules in life today:

1. I am heading out on Sunday ( I should be watching the NFL Kickoff and NASCAR) but I won tickets to the Stadium Club and great seats at the White Sox and Angels.

2. Which leads to rule #2 I am going to a non-Yankee Game, something I haven't done since 1991 when I went to see the Brewer play Baltimore. Thankfully both of these teams are in 1st Place and can enjoy a good game. Note: I will not being dressing up in full Yankee gear for the game. Pictures to follow.

19 Years and still going

Yesterday marked my 19th anniversary in the Navy. It seems hard to believe that I have been getting up early for 19 years now and going into work. I spent the day with out doing much really, I worked and spoke with my new students and the kids who just graduated boot camp. Fridays is really the best day of the week but not for the reason you may think. I come in early and have my usual morning paperwork and admin but Fridays I also get to talk to my boys before liberty call and meet the sailors coming in from bootcamp. Talking to them is great because it is the first day of the Navy for them, they are out of bootcamp and are now becoming what makes the Navy great, our diverse enlisted ranks.

Funny things is for most of these kids I am a relic, believe it or not at 37 I came into the Navy before some of these kids were born. That makes me feel a little old.

I have two years left on my current contract, and I am now working on going to college and thinking about what I want to be when I grow up.

Still young at 50

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/MichaelJackson/story?id=5680705&page=1

I guess Mike still has some little boy in him..


Happy Birthday Dawn, I love you so much...

Major News anouncement... I'm getting out

From the Channel 3 News, with five-time Emmy-award winning anchor Ron Burgundy. Champ Kind, Sports. Brick Tamland, Weather. And your reporter in the field, Brian Fantana. It's the Channel 3 News at 6:00.
Good evening. I'm Ron Burgundy and here's what happening in your world tonight:

Just a friggin second...

OK. It's Chicago I got it... But holy crap, I just came in from walking the dog and it's cold out side. Not heavy jacket and gloves but just chilly. I expect this kind of cool to come around in say October not August. Tomorrow when we go out it's not flip flops, its socks and sneakers...

Getting called by Optimus Prime

Recently someone posted a call from Hannah Montana. Now I have daughters and I liked it but this is just as cool... A good chunk of it is just a ad to get the Transformers movie but it's still fun.

Summer of 1989

Ok Chris I shall play your game....

I fairness i have tagged my Sister and 2 friends. I'm not sure the process but here it goes....

Oddly enough this was a big summer for me as I was heading out to join the Navy at the end of the summer. I was the only one of my friends not going to go to college and had no idea what I was getting into. I joined the Navy because I wanted to be different, I wanted something nobody else had done and it seemed like the fun thing to do at the time.

We graduated in May and after a little luck I got a diploma, that was signed (I just went and checked) and we started a great summer.

A bunch of us left jobs we had and started working at the Hilton in Danbury doing renovation work, not sure who or why but is was fun all of us working together. Up to that point the guys I hung out with all had separate jobs, at any rate we spent most of time there and then went over to my friend George's pool.

Then came July, for some reason my parents left me and my sister home alone for 2 week in July, They did the previous summer and we had a few big parties but this was the bash to end all bashes. We got good at what we did, taking pictures and video of the house to make sure it was going to look like it did when my parents got back, and we even figured out ways to turn a hefty profit. Someone would finance the party for us and then after the profits from the first party it would sustain us for the summer to keep funding future parties. Oddly enough I never went into business but looking back, maybe I should have. Anyway, The parties were huge, infact I had kids from all areas in my home town going, it go so big it became the standard for others to gauage sucess. I remember kids from all over wanted to come to the parties, looking back I should be thankful nobody got hurt and how stupid I was. I would lock my daughters away for good if they ever pulled a stunt like that but I was young and dumb...

These parties were so good, that I wound up hospitalized less than 3 weeks before I was to join the Navy. I got poisoned by drinking beer that was skunked.. I think that was the only thing from keeping me from gettting kicked out of the house. Then came September 5th, most of my friends went to school and I went to Orlando for 4 months and on to Great Lakes where I started my life in the Navy.

I friggin love this place

So after PT this morning I came home and my PC yelled at me to check into my command today. Ha, silly machine I have been there for 3 weeks now. After the time I have been in this house I have to say I love this place. Of all of the Navy Houses we have lived in, this is head and shoulders above all others and here's why.

We have our own downstairs TV room. It fits the TV perfect and I have a place for the computer, not a man cave but it will do. I have Surround sound set up and we are watching Nims Island right now and it sounds just like the movie theater. This is the first time I have really loved the place we live..AHHH Home..

Funny but real

Mom and I took the train into the City today and passed to oddly named businesses. The first was the Bloomers Candy factory downtown. At first glance my brain asked why is this place selling chocolate underwear and then a number of other things came to mind, most of which I shant print here.

The other is Nuts on Clark, to which I have a number of things to say but won't, however I shall chuckle a bit.

And now for the best site of the day

Curse of the Outback?

In order to really understand my post there is a little back reading required. Click here then continue. OK. so yesterday we went to a Jelly Bean factory that is fun twice but has used up it's excitement for me, but my girls love it so I will most likely continue to go. On the way home my mother wanted to take us to Outback for dinner as someone had given her a gift card.OK great lets go...

Flashback to April in Knoxville, my last trip to the company that hawks the motto "No Rules Just Right." Perhaps no rules should read no quality assurance in the kitchen just get the damm meals out.

Again Mac and cheese was delivered cold....

Again my wife's salad was delivered with onions when she asked for no onions...

And this time my meal was forgotten all together....

Normally this is grounds for me to speak in a very unfriendly tone with a manager but things were moving smoothly and I was in no mood for a battle tonight, but the funniest part was when the 3 year old next to us got an entire large beverage spilled on her by the waitress (on accident). Her brothers we laughing, I was laughing but the poor mom wasn't and the kid who was wet wasn't very happy.

The night ended with a free Thunder which was enjoyed by all...

This leads to the question is my mother cursed to not enjoy a meal at Outback with her family? We never have problems unless it's with her? But she doesn't have problems in CT with my dad? I may have to call Myth Busters.

Not sure what is on TAP for today but we'll keep you updated.

Yumm

I just had the king of deep dish, Gino's East. It's tasty and delicious.

Whooo Hoooo

Good news, Manny Ramirez is no longer the Yankee Killer.... Good luck in LA, Sorry Joe Torre.

Back to School

Well I have put it off long enough. I went to Navy College today to sign up in hope of someday getting my degree. I need 6 classes for me AA and then it's about a year and a half to my BS. Which is odd as many times I am accused of being full of BS. In a small attempt at humor, school was written "schol", it has been since fixed.

Heading to the Widy City

We are heading downtown today for the first time. I haven't been there in a long time and the Girls have never been. It should be lots of fun. Details when we get back.

Busy Day

Well last minute things before I go back to work for the Navy. First and foremost, I saw Batman in IMAX at 0900. Yes popcorn, soda and IMAX. the word awesome doesn't even cover how great that movie was. Heather Ledger's broke back Joker was much better, TONS better than Jack Nicholson.

Then it was continue to straighten up and put together things around the house. The desk is up downstairs, and my PC is almost done. Most importantly the home network is up and running now. Tomorrow 6 flags and Pizzeria UNO and Thursday it's time to be an adult and work again...

Good Luck to my sister who heads to CT tomorrow to see our parents. Please dump that nasty color on your blog.

A Hall of Fame Weekend

Well let me just catch you up on the weekend. The whole thing presses back to May when I was on my way to the SEA. Dad and I are both Yankee fans as well as my sister and my newphew. I wanted to go and see the Yankees play one final time in Yankee Stadium before they tore it down. No luck, tickets are impossible to get this year so I suggest my dad and I make a trip to the Hall. Wow, if you are a baseball fan I would put aside 2 days to make the trip up there, we saw so much baseball stuff I don't know where to begin. So much history that you should really do it in two days and then head over to Doubleday Field where the game began. The city is very small, only 2000 in the off season and very out of the way. But.. worth the trip, most escpecially for a father and son..

On a side note we topped it off Sunday night going to Brooks BBQ, a place Rachel Ray herself went on $40 a day and that too was worth every second....

Eagle has Landed

Well 13 hours in the car yesterday and I finally made it, not with standing the fortune in tolls I paid yesterday. It's bad enough gas is 4.00 or more a gallon, but then I get ass hammered with a friggin million tolls.

But the good news is I am home again and we are a happy family again. I have a list of things to accomplish before I check into work, and I have already started. Of course the wireless is up and running in the house already, I'll go out and get a grill today and have the tv and surround sound working by the end of the day.

Dawn has done a great job on the house it looks really great, the most amazing part is the amount of space we have now, this place is friggin huge.

Hall of Fame

So far lots of fun here, Dad and I got to Cooperstown about the same time and made our way over to the Hall of Fame. If you are a baseball fan you really should come here once. There is a ton of stuff to see here, of which I will post pictures when I get home tomorrow. Today we go back over to finish off the Hall and look around town a little. Then Monday morning it's 14-15 hours and home... WHOO HOOOO.

On the road.. again

By the time this posts and is read I should be on the way to Cooperstown NY to see the Baseball Hall of Fame. This is by far the high point of my summer. I can't wait. 5 Hours to Cooperstown and then 13 hours on Monday to Chicago.. .WHOOO HOOOOOOO

Grad Night

Well it's been almost 2 months since I left Mayport and allot has happened since then. Most of which I will not relive, however you can read about it all you want in the Blog. Last night we had graduation and both of my parents were there which was great. They are getting older and my biggest fear is they might not be around forever. Anyway we graduated, got our records this morning and I am waiting to go to breakfast with my parents and then tomorrow I head to Cooperstown with my dad. I can't begin to tell you how excited I am to spend that kind of time with him. Growing up he worked very hard so we could have a good life and we didn't do a ton of Father/Son type of stuff, so this is extra special. Then after that I head to Chicago and should be there Monday night, very late.

This Saint's For You!

Both my sister and I went to Catholic School, Dad is the king of all Deacons, and Mom taught math in a Catholic School (to both me and my sister). To say our roots run deep in the church is an understatement.

While in Newport my Mother got my Dad a book "This Saint's For You!" by Thomas J. Craughwell has detailed information on "300 heavenly allies for architects, athletes, brides, bachelors, babies, librarians, murderers, whales, widows and you"

Cruising through this book has given people some new saints to pray to, and a good hearty laugh.

St. Expeditus: The Patron Saint of Procrasination (Feast Day, April 19). But is often celebrated on the 20th or 21st.....

St. Bonaventure: Patron Saint of Bowel Disorders. I now know who to pray to in times of abdominal distress. (15 July)

and

St. Marculf: Patron Saint of Skin Rashes, my wife and oldest are tanning queens, myself and the youngest burn. let me keep this one close by...

Listen, there is more......

Parents of Disaapointing Children? Pray to St. Matilda
Physically Unattractive? Pray to St. Germaine Cousin
Sore Throat? Pray to St. Blaise

There's hope for us all...

Happy 4th (on the 6th)

Base Fireworks tonight

We had a nice time, a bunch of us from class went down and watched the show, the base was packed as they opened it to the public. I wonder how many of them bash the military all the time? 1 week to Chicago...