Feb. 24

Today is our 3rd anniversary. This year has given me a daughter, I still have a job, my family is a year older, but still in tact, and my wife is a year better. There is a lot to be thankful for. Three years is a relatively small percentage of my life (8%), but I can't really remember how I got along without Carrie, and now Emily. Below is what I wrote last year, I don't know if I can improve on these thoughts, so I decided to keep them here as an archive. Who knows maybe next year, I'll copy it again.

Today is our 2nd anniversary. Where does the time go? I can clearly remember my friends and family nagging me about, "When are you going to settle down?" This question haunts single people once the turn about 20 or so. I was single until I was 33 so I got to hear it over and over and over (repeat). The answer is simple...now. I was single for 33 years because I had not met Carrie! God allowed me to wait a while before we met, but it was the most worthwile wait of my life.

Yes, two years ago today, Carrie, a few friends and family and I were on the beach in South Padre Island, TX. It was a warm windy day and we got married on a grassy lawn overlooking the beach and the crashing waves....and the bulldozers. I really feel like a small ceremony with a few close friends is the way to go. I wouldn't change anything about that day, except, I would have loved to have had the opportunity to meet Carrie's dad and have him walk her down the isle, but Billy (Carrie's brother) filled in and everything was perfect.

Looking back, I know that I married the perfect girl, not perfect, but perfect for me. Nobody ever fully appreciates the things in their life until they are gone, so I hope I can stop and appreciate her today!

Stuff and Things

I thought I would scatter shoot a few things today:

1. We got 12 inches of snow last weekend! In my life, I've never seen so much snow, and it was the good stuff. Not too dry where it wouldn't stick together for a snowball or a snow man, but not too wet where you could do damage with the snowball. Right now there are people who are rolling their eyes (12 inches hmmph). I am amazed by these people. Ok, you get more snow, that doesn't diminish our fun in the snow. These are the same people that dismiss your broken finger by telling you that they broke their arm. You know, the one uppers! Screw you, I got 12 inches of snow, it was a lot, and I had fun in it. I don't care that you got 2 feet.

2. We lost power during the snow storm too. I feel like Carrie and I could have toughed it out with no heat, but we had a baby with us and we were willing to keep her in the cold. A good friend opened up his house to two adults, one baby and a dog. When you look back, that's a big favor to ask. Thanks K, you were a good friend!

3. Why do we still have Olympic events that rely on 100% judging. It seems that every Olympics there is a judge who gets paid off, or you have the Eastern Bloc voting, etc. I am calling for the immediate end to all events that rely 100% on some "expert" judging who gets the gold and who gets the silver. Before you go nuts and cry foul, we can figure it out. Skating will just have certain mandatory jumps or twists that have to be done in some sort of order and if so, they get the points, maybe we could set up a few hurdles out there and they would have to jump and spin over and around them. There is a way that we could do it. I just don't like that we rely on human integrity to judge. When you are based solely on the human interpretation, you are way to vulnerable to cheating and inconsistency, at least put some objective measures in. Sorry, synchronized swimming, you are out!

4. Finally, remember the Duke Lacrosse rape case a few years back. You see this poor young pretty black girl accusing these rich, privileged, white guys of rape. Come to find out that it never happened, only after "the public" ruined the reputation of a bunch of young men, coaches and the school. Well, I remember clearly Jesse Jackson and several other civil rights leaders grandstanding on her behalf. Well, she needs your help again now, Jesse. It seems that she threatened and tried to kill someone! She was charged with 1st degree attempted murder, Arson, Assault and battery and a couple more. My guess is that civil rights guys will stay away from this one. She served her purpose for them already!

Point Of No Return

As you may or may not know, I try to be careful with my money. I have a hard time commiting to anything that is expensive. It takes me months to purchase a vehicle or upgrade the house. I always think, "do I really need this now?" Two weeks ago, I went into Sheplers with the intentions of getting some new boots. I tried some on, walked around in them to see how they fit, then I looked at Carrie and said my old boots are good enough. Maybe I can make it through the spring with them.

All that said, I finally plunked down $100 to run the Ft. Worth Cowtown Marathon. That officially means that I am in. I've been verbally commited for a while, but I can always wiggle out of a verbal comitment (see White Rock Marathon).

I'll keep an update of progress. So far, my longest run ever, was Saturday at 17 miles 2/3 of a marathon.

what a day

This morning, 3:00 Emily decided that she no longer wanted to be asleep and she wanted Carrie and me to join here amongst the awake. Some days she does so good sleeping and some days, not so much. Then, on the way to work, this idiot hits me on I-35.

Why is it that 95% of drivers see the 4 signs that say "lane ending merge right" and yet there are a few who zoom past everyone until the very last second and expect to cut right into traffic. Well, today, Mr. C cut it a little too tight and hit me. Then he was so conviced that it was my fault for not rolling out a red carpet for him to cut me off that he summoned the police. No injuries, very very little damage to the vehicles yet he calls our the police like they don't have better stuff to do. Sorry little old lady reporting a break in, Mr. C wants to report that his Accord got a minor scratch on it while crossing the yellow line and cutting someone off. My truck got a 1 inch scratch in the bumper (the part that wraps around the side next to the wheel). I was perfectly willing to drive off and say, "whatever" Now I have police reports and insurance paperwork. I believe that 1 in scratch will need to be fixed at the body shop! Can't have a scratch on a truck!

I always get really disturbed by people that think their time is more important. Anytime someone cuts in line, all they are saying is that their time is more important than everyone else in line. If someone zooms ahead of 10 cars in a closing lane, he is just saying that his time is more important than the 10 other cars. Then to call the police is to say that his time is more important than the policemen's time. "Whatever your doing, stop and help me address the scratch on my Honda!!"

I try to not let things get to me, but man people love to push those buttons. Imagine my joy to learn that my insurance, thus far, as paid $0.00 toward the birth of Emily. More to come on that nonsense. I can only handle one thing at a time and this grand canyon sized 1 in. scratch is first!

Christmas Time

Well, there was no way this blog thing was going to last. It's been 2 months since I posted anything, two very full months. Maybe I will try to scatter shoot all of them here:

1. Thanksgiving - This year was probably one of the saddest Thanksgivings for us. I love a big full house with lots of friends and family. My folks are in DC, my sister went to France, my brother does Thanksgiving with his in-laws, and Carrie's mom was in El Paso. We had a very nice Thanksgiving with a friend. The three of us ate turkey and watched the games. I was still very thankful for the year we had and I was thankful for the all that we have been given, but I would have enjoyed sharing that day with more people. That being said, if you don't have anywhere to go for Thanksgiving 2010, please let me know. Carrie and I will welcome anyone over to share.

2. White Rock Marathon - Well, I was on my 18 mile training run and started feeling pain in my right knee. By the end of the run, I couldn't walk, and the next day was worse. This continued and prevented me from running any distances over 6 miles, so the White Rock will turn in to the 2010 Cowtown Marathon!

3. Christmas - Again, not as expected! Our tradition has us spending Christmas Eve at the Weaver family, and Christmas day, we fly out to El Paso for the Coffin/Williams family. The snow and ice made travel a nightmare. Our flight was delayed 2 hours, which was OK, but we arrived in El Paso in the afternoon (Christmas presents should be opened Christmas morning!). Then when we arrived, our bags were nowhere to be seen. We made a cost decision to pack our Christmas presents in luggage and pay the luggage fee vs. shipping them (oops). By the way, did you know on American Airlines, you have to pay $20 to check a bag, and if they lose it, you don't get your $20 back! That said, all of our Christmas presents and Emily's clothes were in the checked bag, so we couldn't open presents if we wanted to. Finally, later Christmas day, we got our luggage and we were able to open presents at 9:00 Christmas night.

4. Emily - she is the perfect baby with imperfect health. It seems that she is always fighting a cold or congestion, or a cough or something. The poor baby just can't get well, but she has an amazing attitude toward things. She will smile and play as she is coughing so hard she can't breath.

5. Fantasy Football - I am currently in two fantasy football leagues. (It seems as though I have a pronoun problem. I often refer to the teams as "mine" instead of "ours", but I challenged Carrie to name three players on either of "our" teams, and she couldn't, so it's mine!) In the Southlake league, we won! Our team was not that great all year, but we ended up winning when it counted. I am in the finals of the other league. Maybe, I'll quit my job and become a fantasy football expert!

Look for more updates.

See Just Be Thankful

Things have definitely changed since my last post. Baby Emily was given some medicine to help control her reflux and she is a different baby! Now I bet she doesn't cry 30min./day total, and usually it is because she is hungry or lonely. All because of me! I decided not to complain about it, so I was rewarded!

She really is the happiest baby. I'm convinced that she is the best child ever. She just past the 2 month mark and we really intend to keep that going, but we are going to need some help from the general public. By that I mean. Quit taking your sick kid to the church nursery. Don't let your coughing little girl hover over my baby at the Sprint store. Don't rub your nose then ask if you can hold her. It's weird that you would need to write such things, but in general people are not considerate.

On a separate note, Carrie entered the last year of her life in her 20s. I wasn't able to give her the happy fun birthday that I wanted, but I know that I need to make it up to her. Maybe we will do something super happy fun for Christmas? or our anniversary? Ground Hog Day? Or just maybe, there doesn't have to be a special day to do something for someone special, but they are good reminders.

Hope everyone has a fun Halloween. I will be staying home and passing out candy, so no pranks at my house. Last year we had about 10 sets of trick or treaters. Unfortunately, our neighborhood is poorly lit and doesn't have sidewalks. Just remember you MUST say "Trick or Treat" and you MUST say "thank you"

Crying Baby

Well, Baby Emily has colic and reflux, and she cries and cries and cries.

I got to thinking last night as I held a screaming baby. (anything to divert my attention from the little scream machine) I thought how awful it was that she is in pain and there is nothing I could do about it. I even thought about registering a complaint. Then I realized, I've got a great baby, and several years ago, I lost a cousin to childhood leukemia. I know my aunt and uncle would go to no end to hear him cry again. Is a crying baby really that bad?

Then I was reading through Facebook at all of the status updates: headache, lack of sleep, I hate Monday, problems with kids at school, etc. We sure do complain a lot. It's ironic that someone sitting at home in a nice home, typing on a computer with internet connection, while watching a plasma TV in the air conditioned room would be complaining about anything. What percentage of the world's population would love such "problems"?

Then, I remembered "Big John" in Sunday school a few weeks ago. Try praying and not asking for anything. It is almost impossible! We want more and more and more. My goal is to be at least twice as thankful as needy. That is, say thanks for at least twice as many things as I ask for. Here's a start

Complaint Change to
Baby Crying Thanks for the addition to our home
Lack of sleep Thanks for a warm bed
Bad Weather Thanks for all of the sunny days, and thanks for watering the Earth.
Headache Thanks for the ability to run and play basketball
Monday Work Thanks for providing me a job
Government/Taxes Thanks for freedom!

I'll leave you with a quote from the great Montgomery Burns, "I would take all that I have and gladly trade it in to have just a little bit more."