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Tuesday, November 24, 2009

I'm back!

Good Lord! It's been a while!

News, news, news. So much has happened since my last post. It's been a crazy, horrible, amazing 6 months, and I hope I never have to go through it again. That said, where to start...

1. Last time we saw our hero, he was working at Advanced Systems Group in Tulsa. At the time, he also had plenty of time to blog during office hours (red flag anyone?).

As of August 15th and after a horrific 8 months of working for a horrible, horrible boss who is not only bi-polar, but a whack-a-doodle in general, I got fired because the salesman hadn't made any sales. Two things are wrong with this:
A. I was held responsible for someone else's results and not my own.
B. The economy is in the toilet, but the boss can't see the toilet because his head is too far up his sphincter.

So I busted out (read escorted out) of that pukehole! (Sorry, that's my wife's phrase, not mine.)

2. Caden turned 1 and Bailey turned 2. Hooray!

3. Caden broke his arm. Boo!

4.We got a cat! Yay!

5. We got rid of said cat. Boo!

6. We got a puppy! Yay!

7. Our 2-year old goldfish died. Boo!

8. I didn't qualify for unemployment. Boo!

9. I got a job in a month! Yay!

10. I was doing cold-calling and sales. Boo!

11. I got transferred to salaried content writing! Yay!

Phew! Busy, busy year with lots and lots of trusting God.

More on my new job: I'm working at Tulsa Websites and SEO Services for two wonderful, understanding bosses that actually have reasonable and attainable expectations! You never appreciate a good boss until you have a horrible one. We also have an amazing product and incredible service! Again, you can't appreciate a good product until you have a horrible one (like $100,000 software pitched to mom and pop companies like roofers and garage door people. Yeah...right.)

In any case, if you need a website, you should totally check us out: www.tulsawebsitesandseoservices.com

If you don't know what SEO is, I'll do an SEO post later today. But the good news is it is my job to blog all day, so look forward to more posts from you-know-who. Me. Not Voldemort.

Monday, May 4, 2009

New Lists... a Lot to Cover

Sorry for the inconsistency in blog posts, folks.

That said, of course, a lot has happened since the last post.

1. The cruise is less than 2 weeks away and things are about to get busy as our schedule ramps up toward our vacation. Three of Christa's siblings will be staying at our house and we expect the first (her brother) to arrive this weekend. Her brother is awesome, and I am stoked.

2. I'm going camping this weekend with the guys from community group. Should be a blast and will be a great opportunity to get to know them better. I am leading a group next semester, so they need to get to know me, too.

3. Went to Nashville with John, our company salesman, for an Overhead Door Dealer Conference. (We provide software tailored to the OHD industry) We have a lot in common as far as our musical and entertainment tastes go, so we had a lot of fun. Nashville is pretty cool, but we stopped in Memphis on the way back and it was incredible! Memphis is waaaay cooler.

4.Work has been slow lately. Now that the door show is over and I'm no longer spending all my time preparing for it, my plate is looking sparse.

5. Christa is now scuba certified! One less frustrating activity on our vacation prep list...

6. Christa and I lead our first community group meeting last night and it went well. It went a long way toward easing our anxiety about volunteering for this leadership role. Especially since neither of us have any advantageous experience to help keep us from freaking out about this new weight of responsibility. Phew!

7. Bailey is starting to get over her perpetual ear infections...we think. But, Caden definitely has severe seasonal allergies like his poppa and has been dealing with a large excess of mucous lately.

8. I have no idea what to do for mother's day...yikes!

9. Wolverine wasn't as good as Iron Man or the Dark Knight, but it was definitely good.

10. Star Trek comes out this weekend, and I think it will easily end up being the best movie of the summer. That's saying a lot considering the number of awesome-sounding movies that are supposed to come out.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

So much to do, so little time...

I have been swamped at the office lately. I haven't had time to blog or anything! I really shouldn't even be blogging right now!

1. The cruise is just a mere month away from tomorrow! Hooray!

2. I bought a Wii for Christa and I to play with after the kids go to sleep in the evenings. Our poor arms are so sore!

3. Season 2 of Burn Notice is over until June. Unfortunately, Season 2 was the season that Christa and I got addicted.

4. Christa and I have been stressing out a lot lately, and it's been affecting our relationship. Lots of button-pushing and back-biting blame to go around for everyone! Fortunately, last weekend was kind of a wake-up call. We were both grumpy all weekend and inaccurate impressions were made that were a bit frightening. As a result, our relationship has had a much-needed boost in romance and healthy communication lately and spirits are high!

5. Community Group will be back up and running this Sunday!

6. This weekend we are going to do something special, but I don't know what. Any suggestions? Last weekend wasn't as fun as it could have been and the next two weekends will be nuts, so now's the time.

7. I don't want to invoke Murphy's wrath here, but I think Caden is officially sleeping through the night consistently!

8. TANSTAAFL, folks. Distrust salesmen, but remember they are people, too. This is based more on general life experience than any particular recent incident.

9. Christa and I are going to go for a walk every day for the next 30 days, starting today, in an effort to lose weight before the cruise. (Between high amounts of stress and low amounts of free time and eating out almost continuously lately, we've put on a few mood-squelching pounds).

10. Men, buy your women some flowers today. Women, reward them for it. ;)


EDIT---

We NEVER fight or push each other's buttons, we NEVER have bad attitudes and ALWAYS have good weekends, we are both SKINNY, and women should NEVER reward their men for flowers.

Does that cover it all honey? :)

Friday, April 3, 2009

Freedom and Blessings!

It's been an interesting week folks! I got my new TV, Christa got her new camera, my boss approved my vacation time for our FREE cruise in May that was so generously provided by my parents! God has blessed us immensely lately with gifts and opportunities!

Why I am excited about this cruise:

1. Over the years, our pastors, marriage counselors, sunday schools and bible studies have stressed the key to maintaining a happy marriage: Divert Daily, Withdraw Weekly and Abandon Annually. What this means is that every once in a while and with some regularity a couple must spend some time on each other away from the kiddos. If a marriage lacks this, the couple will wake up one day with the kids no longer in the nest (off to college or to build their own lives) and realize that they don't know each other any more. This is why so many couples get divorced when the kids aren't the thing they have in common any more. So, to make your marriage healthy, set aside the following time:

a. Set aside a few minutes each day for just a little romance. Just enough to let the other person know you care for them and want to know how their day was and if there is anything you could do for them.

b. Set aside a date night. Date night is VITAL to keeping feelings of love alive. Love may be a decision, but it's always a lot easier if you can keep the feelings going. Take time to stoke the flame.

c. Go on a week-long vacation at least once a year without the kids. This is highly recommended to step-back, relax and let everything go for a little while. It's good for the your heart, soul, mind, strength, and relationship with God and your spouse.

Sure, some people can survive without this, but not without difficulty. Just this little bit of investment will go a looooong way. Also, if you don't do this, chances are you won't be a very happy person. And if you and your spouse are both feeling strained, that hurts your relationship with everyone around you, including your kids.

2. The second reason I'm so excited is that Christa and I haven't had a vacation for 2 years! And the last one we were on, she was pregnant and we were severely limited in how much fun we could have!

3. Free food!

4. No cell phones, no crying, no traffic, no work, no stress!!!

5. Romancing and relaxing with my dearest honeywife.

Check out this site a friend of mine made: This really is legitimate. They make all of their money through advertising and don't require you to click on any ads or complete any offers:
http://www.ClickWinButton.com/?refid=a2467a9526504c6c92a3636f81c4372c

Friday, March 27, 2009

Pernicious Problems Paring and Paired with Pleasures Profound

Wow, I really had to p. Okay, enough puns and enough p's.

I'm having trouble defeating procrast...putting off....delays at work. I keep letting things go for too long. I've got several deadlines looming and I'm fighting the urge to avoid working so I can avoid distress.

In other news: I got the first half of our tax return today! Time to spend!

In other other news, I'm trying to get back in the habit of posting on here.

Things you should do:
1. Sign up for Audible.com and download one free e-book (cancel before 30 days or you'll get charged for a credit toward a second book).

2. Visit GiveAwayoftheDay.com and save it as a bookmark or favorite so you can visit it everyday and download one free computer program absolutely free each day!

3. Call me. I probably haven't heard from you in quite a while, and I'd like to.

4. Do something unexpectedly nice for every person that you see on a daily or weekly basis some time in the next week (Don't put it off! Make a list!)

5. Tell someone you love them. Chances are you won't regret it (for long anyway).

6. Do your taxes. It'll be here before you know it.

7. Watch a stupid movie from your childhood that you know will make you laugh.

8. Watch an artsy movie old or new and analyze it. Try to figure out what the director is saying with what he shows and how he shows it.

9. Read a genre-fiction novel. Look it up if you don't know what that is.

10. Take a walk whether it's raining or not.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Happy March everyone!



It has been so cold lately! That shouldn't be shocking in late February/early March, but considering most of the winter involved sunny 60-70 degrees F days, the shock becomes clearer.



No worries, today it will be 50, tomorrow 60, and Wednesday 70 degrees!



That's Oklahoma for you.



We got our copy of the first marketing postcard in the mail Friday and Tim the Boss loved it! We have a meeting tomorrow to discuss and implement further marketing plans that he was taught in San Diego last week. Considering his good mood via postcard happiness, this should be a great meeting!



I've been getting into audio books lately. Especially free ones. If you go here you can get a free full-length audiobook. I chose Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. I've also been listening to Death by Cliche by Robert J. Defendi. In addition, I just finished the excellent, free e-book Warbreaker by the aforementioned Brandon Sanderson, who, I might add, is a genius.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Life and Taxes...

Hooray for tax refunds!
Being poor is awesome!
So is being a first time homebuyer!
Let's just say it's five figures.

...
I'm sorry if you are rich.
But then again, in my position, I can only be so sorry.


...
So, sorry, rich people, that I'm not more sorry.