We've Moved!!!

I have moved my blog. If you did not receive an email it is because I might not have your email address. So here is a link to the new site:

Running Roundup (Week 2)

It has been a good week but I am having to slow down because my shins are starting to hurt. I think it is because I have been running in my neighborhood on the concrete. Next week I will be able to run on our track. Today I just walked almost 3 miles and tomorrow I will probably walk as well. I just don't want to lose the momentum I have started.

Anyway, here's the update on my goal. With 15 days remaining, I have run 23.4 miles. This puts me 12 miles ahead of where I should be. I guess after tomorrow I will set a new goal.

What If?

If you have been watching sports or even news at all, I am sure you have heard about the "Big 3" Commissioners of sports. Let's play a game of what if...

1. What if you were Bud Selig? Would you attend Barry Bond's games until he broke the record? Would you participate in any on-field activities?

2. What if you were David Stern? How would you handle the Tim Donaghy situation?

3. What if you were Roger Goodell? Would you do more than tell Mike Vick to stay home from team camp? If found guilty, what punishment would you hand out?

So, what if you were these guys, what would you do?

Friek Accident

Our local baseball team, the Tulsa Drillers, lost a member of their family last night in a friek accident. Hitting coach Mike Coolbaugh was hit in the head with a line drive last night in Little Rock. Witnesses say he barely had time to move out of the way when the ball caught him right in the temple and dropped him. When medical personnel arrived he was not breathing and he was pronounced dead at the hospital shortly after. Coach Coolbaugh was 35, married with 2 children and one on the way. Read more about this tragedy here.

I am amazed that stuff like this doesn't happen more often. Maybe not with the coaches but the pitchers. I assure you I will pay more attention when I am in the coaches box now.

Oh Yes I Did!

I got the new Harry Potter book last night at midnight. I went to Wal-Mart around 9:00 to get a bracelet to guarantee me a book and then went back at midnight to get my book. I was amazing how many people were there waiting to get their book. It took me about 45 minutes to get to the front and get my copy. I hope it was worth it. Stay tuned.

What amazed me though was the people waiting in line at 9 when I got there for my bracelet. These people already have their bracelet but they were waiting for the book. Some were reading, others were watching a movie (Polar Express...not sure why they weren't showing Harry Potter), or just talking. When I was in line last night, one the employees mentioned that people had been waiting since 5:00 to get their bracelet. Wal-Mart didn't start handing those out until 8:00.

What possesses people to stand in lines for hours?

Back, Back, Back....

That one is gone!!!!! I thought of Chris Berman tonight from the homerun derby as the Team Park Plaza hit 3 homeruns in our nightcap.

I have been playing summer league softball with my church team and things have been up and down. We either hit well or have solid defense, rarely do we have both. I would like to challege Team Laurel to a game (to bad we have that major distance Jim).

I have been hitting quite well in fact I can only think of about 3 times that I have not gotten a hit to be on base. Tonight was a first though, tonight I hit my first over the fence homerun!!!! Unfortunately in our league they don't let you round the bases, so I didn't get to do my homerun trot that I have practiced for so many years. You may say big deal, a homerun. Let me lay this out for you. I started playing softball at Harding as a freshman in 1994. I have played ever year since then save 2 summers. Tonight was the first homrun!!! I also realized that in our doubleheader, I hit for the cycle. One single, one double, 2 triples and a homerun. What fun.

Now tonight was our first game in three weeks because of rain. I needed that time off because I was heading for the DL. Here's what happened and it's okay to laugh. My first night to play I hit a ball that allowed me stretch the hit into a triple. I thought that there would be a play at the bag so I slid. Now, if you know me at all you know I like to slide head first and did quite often in college. I am not sure what possessed me to do it this night but for some reason I felt young. I slid safely, but I knocked the wind out of me something major. The last time I tried to slide I was not as fat as I am now. I also bruised my ribs real bad. Needless to say, I will not be sliding anymore in the future. I will just get out!

Running Roundup (Week 1)

Well it hasn't been a full week since I started my goals, although it has been over a week since I started running. Last Friday and Saturday, I was able to run a full mile without stopping. That probably doesn't sound like much but when you are fat and out of shape it's a start. This week I raised my distance to 2 miles and hope that by the end of next week I'll be running that distance without stopping.

Here is my goal update. I started these goals last Friday. Remember my first goal is 25 miles in 4 weeks. I have run 7.4 miles which is 2.5 miles ahead of schedule with 23 days remaining.

My second goal has already been obliterated. I set the goal to burn 900 calories in 4 weeks. I have already burned over 1100. So I probably will not reset that goal, although I could up the amount, I'll just stick to the distance.

Daily Trivia

I got this idea from a friend of mine, Richard. He set this up on his blog and I have joined. I thought it would be fun for some of my following to have a little tournament to participate in. It is very simple, click on the link to the right and sign up (it's free). Each day has a new category with about 10 questions. It will keep a running tally of who is winning. The tournament starts today and each week I will change the categories, varying difficulty.

The tournament will run for 30 days. So you have until August 15 to win. A prize will be rewarded!

Are You Kidding Me?

What's with the crazy stuff that ESPN shows at times on their channels? Don't get me wrong, I love ESPN and don't know what I would do without it. But, is there really nothing better to show than some of things they show? We have all seen the Scripps Spelling Bee. And I am sure we have all seen highlights (I have never watched) the hot dog eating contest. But today, I flipped over there and saw the Rock, Paper, Scissor League Championships (check out this story)

Are you kidding me? Is that really considered a sport of any kind? Can any of you really argue that it should be on television? Can you even argue that this "league" should even exist?

Nike + iPod

I don't know if you have heard of this before but Nike and Apple have joined forces to make running shoes. I recently learned about it and since I have started, this week, running on a consistent basis (I know can 4 days straight be considered consistent?) I decided I needed a pair of these shoes. Here's how it works. You buy a sensor that goes into the sole of your shoes, of course, you must have certain shoes made by Nike noted with a + sign. You also with the same sensor purchase receive a receiver that attaches to your iPod nano. The sensor sends data to your iPod telling you how long your have run, how far your have run, and your pace for a mile. When you are done with your run it will also tell you how many calories your burned. At various times throughout your run a female voice (male voice if your prefer) comes on and updates you on how you are doing. Now you can set perimeters for your run (i.e. distance, time, calories) and the little voice will let you know when you have completed your perimeter. Once you are done you can download your information to the Nike Plus website and it will keep a record of your progress.

One this website you can set goals for yourself and even challenge other people. I got my shoes today and already ran with them. I must say...I AM OUT OF SHAPE!!!!! I won't tell you all of my stats except to say I can't even run a complete mile without walking a little. I hope that will change in the coming days and weeks. My goal is to lose some weight and get in shape. After two years of coaching, I hate the fact that I am not in shape and I coach.

So, I plan to keep my faithful listeners up to date on my progress. Every Wednesday I will update you. Here are my goals for right now:

1. Run 25 miles in 4 weeks

2. Burn 900 calories in 4 weeks

Sooner Nation

The talk around this area is the Sooners. Not the upcoming season so much as the 2005 season. Many of you remember this past year two of their players being kicked off the team because they were paid for work that they did not do. One of those players being Rhett Bomar. Now I guess the Oklahoma Sooners are receiving major sanctions from the NCAA.

What are your thoughts about the punishment or the act that caused the punishment?

What Are You Worth?

I found this website on Mark Elrod's Lame-O Weblog asking "What you are worth if you were for sale." I was worth $1,991,570. Wendy was worth $2,257,570. (There was one question that asked for my face the jury value, I guessed because I did not want to sign up for a dating service.)

Take the quiz and let me know what you are worth.

Also, on this little quiz you are asked How dumb you are according to Am I Dumb.com. I am smarter than 57.11% of the population. Wendy was smarter than 72.07% of the population. I missed some that I realized when Wendy was taking it so I have retaken it and now am smarter than 78.48% smarter.

How much are you worth? How dumb are you?

We're Home Again!

Well we made it back home from vacation on Sunday night. We had a great time. It is always fun to get together with Dawg and his family. We didn't actually do a whole lot but just being with friends was fun enough. Schlitterbahn was a blast and the girls loved it. The girls all went to see Disney's Ratatouille. Time always seems to fly when you are on vacation. I could have spent another several days with the Dawg but had to come home.

Why you might ask? Well yesterday morning Bentley had surgery. Now it was not anything major but it is still considered surgery at the hospital. Her tear ducts had not opened and so they had to go in and open them up for her. Pretty common procedure that took all of 10 minutes. In fact, within 20 minutes of leaving her we were back with her in recovery trying to calm her down. All went well!

Vacation...

We are leaving in the morning on a mini-vacation. One thing we have tried to do each year since I started teaching, was to take a family vacation. We don't usually do a lot of major travelling but we do try to just get away. This summer we are not doing as much as normal but we are fulfilling a yearly visit. Every year we get together with some good friends of ours in Texas. Many of you know them because we lived near them at Harding and even for a while lived with them. That's right, we lived with them (pre kidos). I like to refer to them as The Dawg and The Dawg's wife. Normally, they would be coming to our house since we went to see them last summer, but they are expecting in a few weeks and so we are making the trip again. Last summer we took the kids to Sea World in San Antonio. The girls loved it, this summer we are heading to Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels. We are heading there because The Dawg has free tickets. Should be a fun time, if nothing else because we are leaving town and getting to spend time with dear friends. I'll keep you posted.

What vacations do you remember as a kid?

Triple A Baseball

I got to attend my second ever Triple A baseball game last night (the first being the Memphis Redbirds with my good friend Scott). Last night was a fun night because I went to Bricktown in Oklahoma City and watched the Oklahoma City Redhawks play at AT&T Bricktown Ballpark.

I went with a friend of mine from church, Clint, who played a few years in the Cincinnati Reds organization. One of his friends from that time, Andrew Beattie, plays for the Albuquerque Isotopes. So Andrew got us tickets to come down and watch. Unfortunately he did not have such a great game and the Redhawks won. It was fun meeting him and we went out afterwards so he and Clint could catch up. I also got to meet another former teammate of Clint's, John Koronka. John spent all of last season pitching for the Texas Rangers but has been sent down so they can change some of his mechanics.

It was nice to be at a ballgame and nice to eat a good sports bar and grill (not Ferottos, Jim). The place was called Coach's and was filled with sports memoriabilia. Good eats overlooking the ballpark. You can see a picture from the restaurant overlooking the park. Sometimes it's nice to get away and watch some minor league baseball.

Happy Father's Day!!

I love Father's Day!! Maybe it's the fun things the kids make for me during class or bible hour at church (see picture above, it was fun watching dad's wear these around church), or the time I get to spend with my kids. Or the memories I have and remember with my dad. Whatever it is, this is a fun day.

Now, I realize this day does not get the hoopla that Mother's Day gets, and I'm fine with that because mother's are completely different breeds (in a good way).

I remember my first Father's Day. We were living in Searcy and my little girl was just a few weeks old. What a wonderful feeling that has never gotten old. In fact, I would venture to say that I am so blessed that everyday is father's day and, speaking for Wendy, mother's day.

My middle child asked me today at lunch when Kid's Day was. We got a good laugh out of that.

What do you like about Father's Day?

Mrs. Belvedere

For the last few days, the talk around Tulsa has been focused on a buried 1957 Belvedere automobile. You may have heard about this on your local or national news, but around here it has been the talk. I guess 50 years ago the citizens of Tulsa buried, in a cement vault underground, a brand new Belvedere. They wrapped it in a special covering that was to help prevent rust and help keep the vehicle in pristine condition. Well when the top came off they found water in about 1/3 of the vault. So much for protection from the elements.

Tonight we sat at Mazzio's watching the live unveiling on our local CBS affilitate. The car was not in great shape, in fact there was major rust damage. Boyd Coddington from American Hot Rod and his team where in town to help get the vehicle opened up and hopefully even get it running. Unfortunately, it will never run with the current motor. In fact, they even had a problem getting the doors opened up.

When the car was buried, the local residents included items from the day, some of which were put into a time capsule (which survived nicely). Some of the items in the car included: bottles of gasoline (24 cents a gallon), a case of Schlitz beer, a woman's purse and its contents, an unpaid parking ticket, and cans of oil. In the time capsule, there was in perfect condition an American flag with 48 stars, a city directory, a letter from Tulsa Public Schools, postcards with citizen's guesses to the population of Tulsa in 2007, an aerial photo of Tulsa in 1957, and various other Tulsa paperwork.

The purpose behind the population guesses is quite cool. The person who made the closest guess wins the car. Now if that person is no longer alive, it would go to one of their relatives.

What an exciting day!! I hope they will take the time to clean the vehicle and find out how much damage it really had over the last 50 years. You can see more photos here and Check out this short video of the background behind the buried Belvedere.

You Asked For Them...

Many of you have asked for pics of the girls. So here they are. Sometimes it is really hard to get a good picture.

We had Brecken's birthday party today and it rained the entire time at the playground. Thank goodness for pavilions. The kids had a good time though.

BACK ONLINE!!!

Well if you have missed me, here I am; however, I am sure that most of you have not even noticed my absence. Here is a quick update of our lives since my last post.

1. We are both out of school and on summer vacation.
2. Summer baseball has started and this week and next I am involved in baseball and football camps respectively.
3. Brecken turned 6!!!!!! Those of you Searcy, remember those days? I do. I was sitting in an Admissions meeting when the call came to head to the hospital. I tried to warn Dr. Carr to start with me.
4. We have moved. I will be emailing out out new address soon.
5. For 2 weeks because of the move and major internet problems, we have been without the internet at home.
6. I have not been able to check my fantasy baseball teams.
7. Our TV is quickly dying, and I mean DYING!!!!
8. I have decided to start of my Doctorate in School Administration. I was going to get another Masters in School Administration but my principal and superintendent are pushing me toward the Ed.D.

A lot has happened and I wish I could provide more information, but who cares anyway. See you later.

BTW, does anyone know how to podcast? My summer project is to learn.

The Verdict Is In!!!

Wendy and I spent the weekend at a couple's retreat with our church. There were about 15 young couples there and we had a blast. I played paintball for the first time and we both had a little adventure on the zipline (Oklahoma's longest - 2000 feet). The place was called Sky Ranch. It was a good time of fellowship and worship.

I also spent a lot of time in thought and prayer. I have decided to stay put in Oklahoma for now. I think it is the best decision for my family. God has placed us at Park Plaza two months ago for a reason and we are beginning (especially after this weekend) to understand why. I know this opportunity in Little Rock at Central Arkansas Christian was a great opportunity but at this point, it is not what is best for my family. Maybe in the future the opportunity will come again, and maybe it will be the right time, until God has placed us here. I pray he continues to use us!!!

Thanks for all your advice and prayers over the past few weeks.

I'm Struggling...

It has been a while since my last post, I thought I should update you on my current situation. I attended my interview last week and all went well. This past Tuesday, I was offered the job with a surprising salary which makes it hard to turn down. However, Wendy is really happy here, and as I have said I am too. The thought of moving concerns me because Wendy would have to find a job, we would have to find a house, we would have to find daycare, and we would have to find a new church. On the other hand, I consider this an opportunity that only comes along once and I can't think of another teaching/coaching position that will offer me the financial package they did.

So, what do I do? I have been struggling with that question since Tuesday. I want my family happy, and Wendy has said we will go if that is what I want, but I don't want this move to be just about me. Any advice? I have to make a decision!!!!

How Do You Know?

This post is quite premature but how do you know when God is calling you to change? I received a call a few days ago out of the blue and a possible teaching position in another state. I have not been looking for new jobs, but the call came anyways. I decided spur of the moment that it wouldn't hurt to look into this opportunity, I can always say no if, a big if, they were to even offer me the position. Those of you that know me, know that I hate huge decision and don't like major change. If this came about, I would consider it a major change. I would say at this point in my life, I, feel like everything is perfect. I really enjoy most aspects of my job. Wendy has been hired for next year in my district. Bentley and Camdyn will get to stay in our school daycare. Of course, Camdyn will start 1/2 day school. We are about to move into a bigger, nicer house. We have recently changed churches and feel like we have made a great decision to worship there. With all that said, how do I know if God wants me, needs me somewhere else?

How do you go about making huge decisions, even though nothing officially has to be decided yet?

Ron Clark

I got to go hear Ron Clark last night here in Tulsa. Some of you may have heard of Ron Clark because of the movie that was made called The Ron Clark Story featuring Matthew Perry as Ron Clark. His story is amazing and his talk last night was very inspiring for teachers. He has also started a school for kids in Atlanta, called the Ron Clark Academy where he will actually teach 5th and 6th graders.

If you are an educator I would check out his movie and his 2 books, The Essential 55 and the Excellent 11.

Have you seen the movie?

1st Time For Everything

I will tell you that last night was the first that I can recall this situation. I have talked to many people and they can't remember a time that it has happened either. I have lived in Oklahoma most of my life and I can't remember a time that a baseball game has been called due to SNOW!!! But last night, on the 5th of April, our varsity baseball game was called in the 7th inning due to snow. Luckily we were winning at the time so we can chalk another win into the "W" column.

With that said, our varsity baseball team has now won 4 games. Which as a friend of mine pointed out last night, in a congratulatory way, that we have now won more games that our varsity football and varsity boys basketball teams combined.

Doesn't coaching sound fun?

Tulsa Workshop

This past Friday started the 32nd Tulsa Soul-Winning Workshop. It was a good event that I wish I had been able to attend more of. I did go on Thursday morning I got up and went to hear a favorite of mine, Don McLaughlin. He did a 3 part series but I was unable to attend the next two, I hope to get the CD's. Wendy and I went and walked around the booths on Thursday afternoon and bought some CD's.

Friday night Wendy, Bentley and I attended the Watershed Worship concert. If you have not heard Watershed, I encourage you to check out their music. They are a favorite of ours.

Saturday I went to hear Jeff Walling and then stayed to hear a friend of mine from high school, Eric Magnusson. That evening we went for the keynote with Jeff Walling and Terry Rush. Unfortunately we did not get to stay for all of it because the kids were getting restless and so we came home to put them in bed.

The sessions I attended were very good and quite uplifting. It is good sometimes to attend meetings like this for spiritual revival. On Sunday, Wendy and I placed membership a different church here in Tulsa. We are very excited about this change for our family and more importantly our relationship with God.

Finally we purchased a few CD's as I mentioned. Here is the new list:

Watershed Worship - I Know You Love Me (came out this past Thursday)
Watershed Worship - Pray For Africa (helping fund a trip to South Africa)
Shades of Green - Freedom In Christ and Generation (one of their members attended Harding, Amber Green)
Acappella Praise and Harmony - Glorious God

Two and a Half Men

Well, I got back from Anaheim on Monday night and the conference was pretty good. I attended a few sections on math and a few sections on blogging and podcasting. I would really like to learn how to podcast and start implimenting that into my teaching. I started a class blog this year but I really need to devote more time to it as well.

Now for the information you have all been waiting for...Two and a Half Men taping. As I had mentioned we had tickets but those tickets did not guarantee us a spot in the audience. We arrived for the 7 pm taping at 5:10 (this was after second trip the airport that was really out of the way...I might share that later...no I did not miss my flight). There was a very short line of about 20 people in front of us, so we felt quite confident in our chances of making the cut. We then found out that since it was late in the taping season there were more VIP's than normal so us normal people might not get it, but the lady would try her hardest. At about 6:25, the lady told us that there were 65 VIP's not checked in and so our chances looked good. As the time got closer to 7 the end of the line got sent home because they were not going to make the cut. Slowly the line got closer to us. At about 7:05, they started at the front of the line and handed out passes to the show. Our group was initially the last to receive those passes. I was pumped. Then the group of 3 behind us got passes and that was all. Once we walked through Warner Brothers to the staging area we were then informed that they had counted wrong and our group of 5 and the group of 3 would not be allowed in. WE WERE STANDING AT THE STAGING BUILDING!!!!!! After waiting a few more minutes to confirm we were told how sorry they were and how this never happens. I was bummed.

We didn't get to see much on our trek in but we did see the ambulance props for ER, the town square for Gilmore Girls, some ER extras in their scrubs, and Andy Garcia sped by on a bike.

We also received a pass to guarantee us a spot in the audience of any taping in the future, like I'll ever be back in LA again. And the pass is only good for me, like I'll ever be back in LA again, ALONE!!! We also received an autographed picture of the 2 and a half men. Big Whoop!!!!

Spring Break Trip

I have been selected, along with 4 other teachers to attend a conference in Anaheim, California during part of spring break. I leave early Friday morning for the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) conference. I will be there all weekend and return on Monday to still have most of the week with my family.

What excites me most is that I get to, for the first time, attend a taping of the CBS show Two and a Half Men. I got my free tickets about a month ago and plan to attend Friday night. I will let you know how it goes.

Pink Panthers

Brecken started soccer today. She played t-ball (softball) last spring and this year she wanted to try soccer. We were very lucky to get on the same team as my niece, and my brother-in-law is the coach. Because of that, Camdyn gets to practice with the team, she can't wait to play.

Well we ventured out to her game and watched her run around chasing girls and sometimes chasing the ball. She did good for not ever playing before. No goals for Little B, but she played well.

I have attached a few pictures for you to see.

JV's Rollin'

I am still alive for those of you wondering. I have just been extremely busy now that baseball has started. Here is a quick recap of the varsity season and then we can discuss my JV.

Opening day was this past Thursday and we won 17-3, pretty good outing. Friday we played and lost 8-3. And yesterday we opened conference play with the Indians and lost 7-2. The Indians host us this evening with our hopes of getting even on the season and in conference.

Saturday was opening day with the JV. We played a double header against the Hornets. Game one was a blow out, in fact, a run rule after 4 1/2 innings. Bulldogs 15 - Hornets 5. Game 2 did start the way we wanted. Our pitcher threw well but had some control problems and lacked defensive help. After the first inning it was 7-0. We slowly chipped away only to have the Hornets build a larger lead. In fact, we were about to be run ruled in the 5th but prevented the final run from crossing the plate. Heading into the last inning, we were down 11 - 8. You must keep in mind, this game has lasted all day (well over 3 hours), so my only hope is that we don't score only 3 and tie the game. Well we were able to score 1 run and had runners on 1st and 2nd with 2 outs, when our player hit a double down the leftfield line. Runner on second, 2 outs, tie ballgame. The next batter hits a little single and we score the winning run. Last night, we played the Indians as well. We were up 6-1 going into the 4th inning (JV normally plays 5 innings) and our pitching coach wants to get a few young varsity players some innings. Well after the top of the 5th inning the score is tied. I am just hoping we can score and not lose the game because of players that don't normally play JV. Our first batter hits the ball to the 3rd baseman who throws the ball away. Our runner gets to second and then the 1st baseman throws the ball away. Runner on third, no outs, tie game. Next batter hits a chopper to 3rd and my runner takes off, the 3rd baseman bobbled the ball and we win. JV record 3-0. We head with the varsity to the home of the Indians for a rematch. I'll keep you posted.

By the way, 24 was awesome last night. Any thoughts?

Update: I shouldn't have posted this today, my JV lost tonight in the bottom of the last inning.

LOGAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Former President Logan, are you kidding me? I can not get enough of this show. I hate the way that they leave you completely hanging from week to week, but after 5 seasons I come to expect it. WOW is all I can say.

What were your thoughts?

Happy Valentine's Day

Okay, I said it but don't get used to it. I have been having a discussion with my students all day today about Valentines. I told them how much I dislike the day and how if it were a real holiday we would be out of school. Furthermore, why do women get a day (today) and us men don't have our own holiday. I will say no more. I did do my duty and bought Wendy a card and a dozen roses.

I have included some pictures of my valentines from today.

I wish I had more time to share with you about my life lately. I could tell you about my trip to Harding this past weekend and watching the Bison beat up on OBU. Or I could recap the last few episodes of 24, which have been amazing. Or I could share with you about how baseball is about to get real busy. But I will save all of that for a later day. Today I want to show you my girls, all 4 of them.

Here We Go Again

Well it started to today about 9:00 AM...snow that is. During the day about 3 inches fell. We have a break in the action right now with more to begin again during about 6:00 AM in the morning and last all day. What a tough winter!!

Wendy is already out of school on Thursday bringing their total make up to 8 days. We have not cancelled yet but I am confident that we will, bringing our total to 4. Isn't this exciting?!!

I will say this is killing our baseball practices. We have been outside on our field ONCE since our first snow (end of November) and that day was the Thursday before the major ice storm hit. Our first scrimmage is scheduled for February 13, but I doubt our field will be dried out by then. Luckily everyone is in the same boat.

We'll keep you posted.

Bauer's The Man

I am such a huge fan of Jack. I am also quite glad the "old" Jack is back, I was getting worried after the season premiere and what a better way to show the "old" Jack by beating the mess out of his brother Graem. I like seeing some of Jack personal life unravel. Meeting his dad and now his brother. Last nights episode was quite good, but I am really looking forward to next week when Jack gets to beat on his brother some more.

I did make a huge mistake last night. I record all of the episodes and then keep them until the season comes out on DVD. Well last night, we were not able to watch the show when it actually came on and once it was time to sit down and watch it Wendy decided she was too tired to stay up. Well there was no way I was waiting another day to watch the episode so I started it. Well for those of you familiar with DVR once you get to the end of the episode it asks you if you want to save it or delete it. Well every show that we watch once we are done we delete so habit told me, without even thinking, to delete the show. So I did. Now Wendy can't watch it and I don't have the 11 o'clock show on record. Oh well, Wendy can read minute by minute of the action on the shows website.

Finally here is a questions that I have.

Why didn't Karen Hayes tell President Palmer about Tom's blackmail?

FYI: I don't like Tom Lennox! He is involved somehow. I miss Mike from President Palmer's staff and President Logan's staff.

24 Update

Last nights episode left me speechless. It also proved to me why it is so important to watch previous seasons. Had you not watched last season, you wouldn't know the excitement of realizing who Jack's brother (Graem) is. With that said, if you have not watched it before tune in to one episode sooner than later and tell me what you thing.

I thought last night had a bigger impact on me than the first 4 episodes. I was just excited to make some connections with people. I was left, like every week, wanting more. The only downside to 24 is having to wait another week to find out what happens next.

Here is my first prediction...We have not seen the last of Assad, in fact, I still think he will connected to all of this bombing.

What are you thoughts on the show so far?

Here Comes More!!!!!!

Well we have been home from school all week and going a little crazy. I will have 3 days to make up because we have built in 4 snow days and we used three back in December when it snowed. Wendy has 7 total days so far because they don't build in any days. So we are hoping to finally go back to school on Monday, however that will probably not happen. A new storm in coming is supposed to hit early tomorrow morning. We are now slated to get 5-10 inches of snow. In fact, there is a 100% chance that it will snow. So much for getting back to work and not extending our summer to much. We'll keep you posted.

Update: It has rained all day, not snow, but rain!!! I am more than upset about this situation. Wendy and I were supposed to go to Oklahoma City for a Dave Ramsey - Financial Peace seminar and decided not to because of the impending snow, that by the way IS NOT HAPPENING!!!!!!!

Still At Home

Well we are still at home. Winter precipitation moved out of the area on Sunday night and we have been at home ever since. You may have heard on the news about the ice storm that we have received, we were actually pretty lucky compared to others in the state. We received about 2 inches of sleet, which has not even begun to melt yet. In fact, the temperatures have not gotten above 25 yet. Others in our state have been without power since Friday and Saturday night. We luckily did not loose power because we received mainly sleet instead of the freezing rain. I wish I had a picture of the freezing rain areas to share with you but it is unbelievable. My parents live in this area and they lost power on Saturday morning, they lost water sometime on Sunday evening and completely lost their phone line sometime on Monday. Luckily dad has a generator, but on Sunday that was broken and he spent several hours trying to get it fixed. In fact, he spent over 2 hours on Saturday trying to get it started and then had to risk it to go and buy gas, which is no easy task when you live out in the boon-docks. They have lost many limbs from trees, very possible could have roof damage from them all falling, and even had one of the biggest trees in their yard completely uproot. To say that this storm was bad is an understatement. As of yesterday, they have received all of their utilities back on and back among the living...for now. That is just one story of thousands that are going on around ours state.

As for Wendy and I we have been in the house since Friday night. I finally got out yesterday and went to the store for groceries. I then decided to take the family out to dinner close to the house. Wendy was excited because she is getting tired of being locked down. Today we plan to go to the library and then spend the rest of the time at home. There is no telling when we will go back to school. I'll keep you posted.

Jack Bauer Returns

A new day has begun and I can not begin to tell you how excited that I am that 24 is back on TV. I have been worried all weekend that because of our ice storm, I would probably lose power and miss the season premiere. Luckily I was wrong. Although 24 was good last night, I must say that the beginning of the show was nothing like last seasons. However, a lot has happened to Jack since being kidnapped by the Chinese and tortured for almost 2 years.

For those of you that do not watch 24, you missing one of the greatest shows on television. Wendy and I got into 24 about 2 years ago (Season 4). We were hooked and then frustrated when they started introducing characters that we knew nothing about (i.e. Tony Almeda). So we spent numerous hours watching the previous 3 seasons on DVD that we rented from Blockbuster. I am now a proud owner of all 5 seasons on DVD, so if you want to get into 24 and need to get caught up let me know.

Stay tuned for weekly updates on 24.

Here We Go Again

Happy New Year by the way!!! I have been absent from blogging for a while mainly because I have nothing to say. I want to get better at posting. I love being able to keep up with so many of you.

Now that that is out of the way, here in Oklahoma we are bracing for another major winter weather warning. You might remember that during the end of November and beginning of December we were snowed in for about 5 days. Now we are bracing ourselves for a major ice storm. Starting today at noon and lasting until 6 pm on Sunday, we are under an Ice Storm Warning. They are predicting one to one and a half inches of ice to fall during that time. Plus major power outages, I hope that doesn't happen at our house (at least the loss of power).

There is something about our weather hear that I can not understand. Yesterday we had a high of 61 degrees, today we are already getting sleet and freezing rain. At least it's the weekend and Monday is MLK day, so hopefully we won't miss any more school.

I'll keep you posted.