A Man With Bread

Here is a small preview of the new place!

We have a contract on our house!

This house is so full of good karma I kinda hate to leave it. All the work we put into it. The trees, the decks, the ceiling fans! We have been keeping it so clean and uncluttered, I love it even more.

On the other hand the next house is bigger and can hold more good karma! WOOOHOO! Can't wait!

--And we are going to use movers!!

I think tagging sucks.

I have started seeing more and more of that crappy graffiti in Manassas. I hate that shit. Assholes vandalizing public spaces with shitty "art" costing tax payers money.

Some graffiti can be cool by being daring (super high on a water tower or bridge, or on the front window of a police station). Some can contain good political commentary (global warming art on the side of super tankers). Some can be beautiful like some of the sidewalk chalk art I have seen.

But... When some asshole spray paints their initials on a historic civil war home I want to kick their ass and then tell their mom so she can spank them and force them to clean their room.

Then there is the coolest of all graffiti art. It is where the art is done by cleaning off dirt. The only way to remove the graffiti is to power wash the whole thing.

--The cops can't figure out yet if it's illegal...

I love my wife.

We took the kids out to dinner tonight. We went to Logan's Roadhouse. I had Prime Rib. Excellent.

Anyway, on the way over there, as usual, Brenda was holding my hand, hugging the kids, laughing, being happy in general. Dinner was great, conversation with the kids was super. We all ate way too much and had no room for dessert.

Walking back to the car I put my arm around BR and kissed her cheek. Looking up, I noticed my daughter Cady was watching and smiling big.

She immediately came up and let me put my other arm around her too.

--All is right with the world.

Action Adventure

It has been a crazy week in Martys World.

The insanity of getting the house on the market was rapidly followed a ton of walk throughs. We have had one offer so far and we are expecting at least one more tomorrow.

We are getting close. Boy does the house look nice! No house has ever been vacuumed so much!

We managed to get away camping last weekend. Three night and four days of relaxation and no vacuuming.

--It is going to be a busy summer...

Heard at church today

Two scientists, in an observatory, are talking over coffee during a break from their work. The first scientist says, "The universe is so vast and leads me to notice how insignificant I am."

The second scientist smiles and replies, "The universe is so vast and leads me to notice that I am The Astronomer..."

--Zen can be found anywhere... everywhere.

And so it begins... again.

Today we put a contingent contract down on a new house. If we can sell our house in the next 45 days we will be moving this summer!

Last weekend we were out yardsailing. We were minding our own business, buying beanie babies and camera bags when suddenly the house of our dreams decided to have an open house next door to a yard sale.

We thought to ourselves, "Let's just walk though and refine what we will be looking for this fall..." Suddenly we were scrambling to figure out how to buy it before someone else does.

--The kids are excited more than BR and me!!

I am Proud of My Son

Today I attended a ceremony at my sons school.

He was given an award because he got a perfect score on his Standards Of Learning (SOL) tests. Actually he got perfect scores on 3 out of 4 tests.

I am proud of him.

More evidence that I am the luckiest Dad on the face of the Earth.

--And my daughter is fabulous too!

Teach Your Children Well

It was a big bike weekend in Martys World.

Friday night we bought a couple more bikes for the ever growing offspring in the house. After finding some excellent sales at Toys R Us and bringing home a couple cool bikes, we saw about a hundred bikes for sale at yard sales on Saturday.

Lessons were learned today.

Today Brenda was out riding with the kids. Without warning, as she was standing up pedaling hard going up a hill, her pedal came loose and sent her crashing to the pavement. Road rash scraped her knee, elbow and hand. It was fortunate she had on a helmet! (She hates wearing a helmet)

--The HELMET Lesson Learned!!

BR and I were yardsailing fools today.

I made a huge score by obtaining an actual combat ready, Kevlar helmet and military goggles!

From now on my wife must address me as Major Pain whenever I wear it. She must also drop and give me twenty when ever I demand it in my best Gunny voice!

--Now SHUT your filthy pie hole, cut out the grab ass and TEN HUT!!

Allergy Season Action

So I am winding down this allergy season. My sinuses are ruin. I have been taking Benedryl at night and Claritin D during the day. The net effect of all the Medications is a painfully dry nose and sinus. Every now and then I have these amazing sneezing fits. But today was the best.

I was at my desk at work when a spectacular nose bleed started. I have this thing about keeping certain of my precious bodily fluids all to myself so I grabbed a Kleenex and headed for the rest room. We have the best restrooms ever. big stalls, very clean...

...and totally bright white.

Just as I was reaching for some TP I was hit with a sneezing fit. When I was done it looked like a crime scene in there.

--It took forever to clean up that well sprayed, bloody stall.

Earth Day

Well it is a rainy Earth Day today. There are lots of topic I am interested in these days:

* Solar Power
* Wind Power
* 12 volt home living
* Off-the-Grid living

--What are you doing this year for Earth Day?

When did Rolling Stone start to suck?

Back in the 1970's I read Rolling Stone magazine all the time. In the dark, dark days of "Disco Fever" Rolling Stone was a beacon in that deep darkness. It managed to ignore the populist crap that plagued the "top 40" charts and gave me articles on the deep goodness that was also happening in those times. Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Alan Parsons, Supertramp, Rush, Neil Young and many others did some of their best work in the 70's.

Fast forward 25 years.

A friend of Brenda's gave us a pile of current Rolling Stone magazines. I was kind of excited about getting plugged back into the new music scene in these exciting days of the Internet, .MP3s, artists from Bruce Springsteen to James Blunt.

Then I started to read them.

The magazine is now a cover to cover advertisement for fashion. I can't tell you how disappointed I am to only have about 8 pages of decent articles about music or movies. The rest is all sales materials and misguided political rhetoric. All of it now tries to get you to buy $500 sneakers, expensive rum and crappy albums.

--Rolling Stone might as well be People magazine...

A must read Article!

In my continuing effort to improve the health and well being of the planet I would like to share information from CNN.com that may reduce their risk of breast cancer by up to 40 percent, a North Carolina State University study found.

--This is totally a win-win situation if ever there was one...

How did I get so lucky?

Cady had a "Wild Hair Day" at school this week. She and Brenda had a pile of fun coming up with this years look!

--Pippi Longstocking Lives!

Marriage

On Wednesday, March 1, 2006, at a hearing on the proposed Constitutional Amendment to prohibit gay marriage, Jamie Raskin, professor of law at AU, was requested to testify.

At the end of his testimony, Republican Senator Nancy Jacobs said: "Mr.
Raskin, my Bible says marriage is only between a man and a woman. What do you have to say about that?"

Raskin replied: "Senator, when you took your oath of office, you placed your hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution. You did not place your hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible."

--I love that comeback!

Archaeologists Launch Large Dig in Va.

KING WILLIAM, Va. - Archaeologists are expected to begin searching thousands of acres on the Middle Peninsula this summer for Indian artifacts, marking one of the biggest investigations of its kind in Virginia history.

The area to be explored is the future site of a reservoir approved for construction last year, a project that has drawn fierce opposition from three Indian tribes.

--This will create a beautiful 1500 acre reservoir... and as many lawsuits...

Quote, Teddy Roosevelt 1907

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American..."

"There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

-- I saw this today. I guess 1907 was not so long ago...

I may be old but...

An elderly man in Louisiana had owned a large farm for several years. He had a large pond in the back. It was properly shaped for swimming, so he fixed it up nice -- picnic tables, horseshoe courts, and some apple and peach trees.

One evening the old farmer decided to go down to the pond, as he hadn't been there for a while, and look it over. He grabbed a five gallon bucket to bring back some fruit. As he neared the pond, he heard voices shouting and laughing with glee. As he came closer he saw it was a bunch of young women skinny-dipping in his pond. He made the women aware of his presence and they all went to the deep end. One of the women shouted to him, "We're not coming out until you leave!"

The old man frowned, "I didn't come down here to watch you ladies swim naked or make you get out of the pond naked." Holding the bucket up he said, "I'm here to feed the alligator."

--Moral: Some old men can still think fast...