Church

We are visiting my parents in Illinois. We went to their church today. They have a cute little church where when there are visitors, people notice. It is sort of aggrevating. We know we were the only visitors because they take time to introduce all visitors after the service.

My Dad gave the childrens sermon. The majority of the kids up there (5 out 8) were Dad's Grandkids.

I am used to our church where we have been members for over 6 years and most of the people there do not know us. I have never seen a childrens sermon with as few as 8 kids. I do not know if I have ever seen as few as 20 kids up for the Childrens sermon. There are probably more visitors on a typical week at our church than total members today at my parents church.

A church with so few members that you can double the kids in a childrens sermon with just one family seems dangerously small to me. It does seem to be a pretty old demographic at the church, so the membership does not have a lot of kids, but still.

A church where you can be a member for several years and still very few of the congregation knows your name is probably too big. Part of the reason is that I am not very outgoing and do not participate a whole lot, but still.

Anyway, Dad did a pretty good job with the Children's Sermon and the Congregation seemed to think it cute that most of the kids were Dad's Grand Sons. It was actually very cute.

Air Flight

We are at the concourse almost 2 hours ahead of time. It gives us plenty of time for a leisurely lunch. We got to the airport so early because of the snow we got yesterday and the nightmare the airport was last year. Last year we gave ourselves almost 3 hours to get through check-in and security and we needed almost every minute. Plus we were rushing so hard that we lost Tyler's carry-on bag.

This year we could have taken one hour to check in, one hour for security and one hour to get to our gate. Checking in took less than 10 minutes. Security took 25 minutes. And so we are sitting at McDonalds with plenty of time to spare.

It is so much nicer to not have to rush, but it sure would be nice if there was a way to know exactly how long things would take. There is a hotline you can call to get security wait times, but I discovered last year that the posted time is not necessarily accurate. Last year it was probably 45 minutes off. This year it was closer, but still underestimated the wait by 5 minutes. You can check to see if your flight is on time, but they never admit to being late until they actually are late, so that information is pretty much worthless. So between not being able to trust the published information and not knowing how traffic will be (traffic reports seem to be about half an hour later than ever does you any good.), and the x-factor of traveling with young kids, your only real option is to build in a ridiculous safety buffer between.

So this sort of begs the question: if the published information is wrong, isn't it better to not publish it at all? Ironically, it is probably fine 90% of the time... When everything is going smoothly, but it is the 10% of the time when things are not going normally that you most need the information and it seems that is when it is most off. Maybe whoever is in charge of collecting information is too busy trying to correct problems to get timely info on the website or recorded message or radio or whatever. But what good is a security wait time that is off by 45 minutes?

Anyway, I am now in Wisconsin. We had an uneventful flight. I am actually typing this while on an exercise bike close to Milwaukee. My goal today is to burn 2000 cardio calories before heading back to Tracy's brothers house. So far I am at 1632, but I am slowing down. I also lifted today so I am probably over 1800, but lifting does not count because the weights do not keep track like cardio machines do.

Speaking of inaccurate information, the scale in the mens locker room is obviously off because when I put the big weight on 250 and the little weight on 0, the scale says I am well below 250. When I put the big on 200 and the little on 50, it tells me I am over 250. I hate it when fitness club scales are not properly calibrated, but I have never seen a scale do this before. It does not matter that much, we will call it 250, but it certainly is something to be miffed about as I peddle and type.

1720 calories.

Someone who exercises as much as I do should not be 50 lbs overweight. I usually lose a good 10 or 15 pounds almost immediately after the holidays. This year I hope to make it more like 25. My biggest problem I think is the beer. I would probably be skinny without beer. And pizza. And lattes.

I published photos of the kids on http://kids.ericshepard.com This is the first addition to the website in over a year and a half. You might ask: why even have a website if you are not going to keep it up to date?

To that I answer: Shut up.

1810 calories. 90 minutes of cardio. I am getting exhausted.

This blog is already too long and boring. I am going to send it up.

Ryan

Tyler's friend Ryan is at our house.

Together, they are wild, loud and silly. Connor seems to think they are hilarious.

I think they are loud. And weird.

I am sort of glad Tyler was not twins.

Of course it has been along time since I have had the kind of fun they are having together. And at least no one is crying yet. Their laughing is loud but better than screaming and crying. Their sense of humor is sort of childish. They are acting like kinder gardeners.

It is sort of sad that as an adult, I no longer have the ability to have this kind of fun. Oh well... I will just have to live vicariously through my boys.

Downtown

I am finishing up Christmas shopping downtown during what some people would consider lunch time. I do not usually take a lunch hour. I usually just eat at my desk. I probably should take some time during the day especially on nice days like today because it is unhealthy to stare at a computer all day.

It is a beautiful day.

On Hold

I am on a web-ex with Captaris tech support. It seems that I have talked to them a bunch over the past couple months and I am getting sick of it.

Right now I am on hold. They are having trouble giving me a key that allows me to use their Teamplate server product. I am trying to upgrade from an old version to their newest and it seems like it had been one trouble after another. Now I am on hold and it really seems this should be easier.

The guy forgot to ask me for my system id. I am back on hold.

So, I recently discovered in my last blog that attaching JPGs to a blog email now works. I have thought for some time that it should work and now it does. I do not know when they made that enhancement. Maybe they read the blog where I mentioned that it should work. Yeah right.. Only if Derry or Tera work for Google. (they do not)

The phone CHFA has in here is not ideal for being on hold. It does not have a speaker phone. I cannot mute. It is also a bit of a stretch to get it by my computer and it has to sit in my lap. I am glad I did not have Caparis call my cell phone. I would be pissed to waste my minutes like this. My neck is getting a bit sore holding the phone between my shoulder and ear. I might have to stop blogging because of the pain.

Why is this taking so long?

The guy is doing something on my computer without talking to me. I hate that.

I share this room with 4 other consultants. They are not very courteous about phone calls. This is part of the reason I hate being on Caparis support calls. At the moment all 4 are talking. Does not matter right now since I am ON HOLD. But, it is annoying nonetheless.

My neck cannot take this anymore. I am going to stop blogging.

----

Well between yesterday and today I spent almost 2 hours just getting a license key for our development server. It sure seems it should have been easier.

Pool

My biggest son is taking swimming lessons while I sit next to the stroller containing my youngest son. I cannot tell what is going on for the lesson. It seems to me that he has had enough lessons that he should be able to swim better. I am proud to say that he is not afraid to go under or get his face wet. He does not take after his mother on that regard. Thank goodness.

Last week I was angry at Tyler for horsing around and not paying attention. After my talk with him, he is being much better today. A big part is probably that his partner in crime is not here today. It is just Tyler and a little girl, so he has to pay better attention and there is really no one else to horse around with. The teacher is either with Tyler or with the other child and so there is no real opportunity to get in trouble.

I hope my talk with Tyler did some good though.

I am probably expecting too much for Tyler's progress. This is the third swimming course he has taken. He is five. And it seems to me he should be able to swim. I feel sort of ripped off. And I feel like I do not work him enough. We do not go swimming that much as a family. Given that Tracy does not have the same disappointed feeling towards his progress, it is probably going to be up to me to get him taught. Because obviously swimming lessons alone are not getting it done. And it makes sense to me that some 'homework' should be part of the learning process.

And like I said, I am probably a bit unrealistic on where he should be. Oh well, at least he seems to be having fun.

Christmas

So why do I say Christmas is not really a Christrian holiday?

Obviously it should be. It celebrates the birth of Christ. Churches are packed Christmas Eve. All the best Christmas Carols sing of the baby Jesus. Religious Christrians use the day to celebrate their God and how He so loved the world He gave His only son. It is a religous Holiday.

Sort of.

The thing is, though, Christmas is so ingrained in the materialistic American culture that it does not seem you have to be a Christrian to 'celebrate' the holiday. I certainly know several people who never go to church but still have Christmas trees and give / receive Christmas gifts. I guess you do not necessarily need to go to church to be a Christrian, but in fact, I specifically know of at least one guy who says he does not believe in God. He still does all those Christmasy things. I also once got a Christmas gift from someone of the Jewish faith.

So, we have all heard or read the saying: 'put the Christ back in Christmas.' Obviously whoever says that would agree that Christmas as currently practiced (generally) is missing a necessary part it needs to be an actual religious holiday. Given the number of commercials and ads, you might even call it more of a holiday for retail and commercialism.

And maybe the vast number of non-Christians or semi-Christrians is not necessarily a bad thing. Whether or not everyone goes to church or consciencely honors Jesus's birth, it still is a season of giving. Charitable giving is up this time of year. More people volunteer at soup kichtens and so forth. Lots of people spend significant time with family over the holiday. So even if Christ is not in everyone's mind, his Spirit is still around.

But still, I think a lot, maybe even most people celebrate the Christmas holiday without celebrating, or even thinking about Christ. Maybe that is cynical.

I probably did not explain myself well, but in a nutshell that is why I say Christmas is not really a Christrian holiday.

Nonetheless, I am looking forward to it. I'll try to remember to thank God that I get to watch my kids open their gifts and spend time with family that I have not seen in almost a year.

Hair on my head

I wonder if bald people feel short-changed when they hear 'But not a hair on your head will perish.' Luke 21:18
Or
"Indeed, the very hairs on your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." Luke 12:7
Of course they don't. That would be silly.
I heard on the radio that Lowes put out their "holiday" catalog. According to the person giving the report, Lowes sells Christmas trees, but in the catalog they called them "Family Trees". They apparently were trying so hard not to offend non-Christrians that they called Christmas Trees "Family Trees".
Christmas today is not really a Christrian holiday, so I am not sure why Lowes felt compeled to rename the tree.
According to the scale at Bally, where I work out, I was 6 pounds heavier than I was just 24 hours before. Thanksgiving was between those two weighings, so I ate a lot with not much exercise. But, how is it possible to gain 6 pounds that quick? Then, I did cardio for 50 minutes. I weighed myself again and was 3 pounds lighter. How is that possible? It cannot all be water weight, can it?
On the way to Bally, I saw people waiting in a huge Friday after Thanksgiving line outside Circuit City. I swear there were more people in line than would fit in the store. I do not care what kind of bargains someone would be able to get, it is not worth that kind of shopping hell. I do not know anyone who admits being one of those people. But obviously they are all over the place. I just do not understand it.
Of course I saw similar lines at Best Buy and at the mall as I drove past.
There was no line to get in to work out at Bally.
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It has been a couple weeks since I last added to this blog entry. Right now I am waiting to give blood. Tracy's Christmas party was last night and I drank. For some reason I feel like my blood pressure is up. I feel stressed. I am not sure why. They do not have as many beds today as usual so the wait is longer.
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It is now Tuesday. I am riding the light rail to work because of snow on the rodes. Apparently a light rail derailed South today so I got on further North where all the trains come together. I was not delayed other than slow drivers because of the snow but I cannot imagine the people who rely on the system being able to go South if I were on of those people I would probably just worked at home today. The highway that runs North into downtown was shut down too, so it was really a mess.
Wow the ride is much shorter coming in from where I got on. I am almost there.

4:30 AM

Lately, I have been waking up at 4:30 in the morning. It is almost always within one or two minutes. I am not sure why. It is probably some sort of witching hour signifying some good fortune coming my way. Or maybe it means I just can not sleep.

I have tried going to bed eariler. I have trie going to bed later. I've tried exercise. I've tried making sure I do not exercise before bed. I have tried getting up and reading. I have tried getting up and working. I've tried just laying in bed.

Usually I end up getting to sleep (no matter what I do) about the time I should be waking up. That sucks.

It does not seem to be causing me major problems. I get over being tired relatively soon in the day. I am not exhausted going to work. It is just getting up in time to get the kids to school that seems to be hard, and not THAT hard because I do it everyday.

I just wish I could sleep.

It makes me cranky that I cannot sleep. I do not think it is sleep deprevation that is causing the crankyness. It is just that I am pissed off that I cannot sleep past 4:30. And being cranky does cause me some problems.

So here I am sitting on a bench being cranky while I should be inside working a
Problem on the computer.

I caught myself getting annoyed at people today, when I know the reason is that I have this 4:30 am problem. It is not their fault. So, I know I should not be getting annoyed. I just cannot help it.

Anyway... I wish I could figure this out. If not, maybe I can just accept it.

Yeah right.

HD Hockey

Oh my GOSH !!!

If you have not seen hockey on a big TV in HD, you do not know what you are missing.

I do not know if I will ever be able to watch hockey on a regular TV ever.

TV

Well.... I did it.

I went out and got myself a 50 inch HD TV.

Do I need a HD TV?

No.

God knows how many starving children someone could buy with the money I spent on this monster, but I saw it on sale for a price I liked and I bought it.

It is much nicer than my old 25 inch TV. It is also ridiculously bigger. I think my family room may be too small now. I guess I will get used to having it n there, but right now it seems out of place. But it is so cool.

So now I have a bigger TV and have to get furniture to hold it. Right now it is on the floor in front of the old entertainment center. It needs to go on something. That will be another expense. I do not have a HDMI cable yet, so I will have to buy one or two. I need the HDMI because at 50 inches of screen, you actually notice the difference between non-HD and HD. I never really saw the point at 25 inches. Eventually I am sure I will want real-surround sound. I'll need blue-ray or an HD DVD player. It is endless. The 50 inch TV is ruling my life. I'll bet Tweedle Beattles invented big-screen HD.

I watched the Rockies lose game one on the big screen last night. 13 Red Socks runs probably looked even worse. It was depressing. Actually I saw most of it on the TV at the health club and it was just as depressing there.

I am a bit cranky today. It is not because of the Rockies. I knew that eventually they would lose and I almost think it is better to get blown out and embarrassed when they lose because they want to win game 2 that much more. If they win game 2, they are back in control of the series and the pressure is on Boston.

Anyway, I am not sure why I am cranky.

I have not been sleeping as well between the hours of 2 and 5 AM as I would like, but that is not it either.
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I have been without my phone for about a week now. I thought it was lost and we just found it in the Auction Automations trailer. I even order a new Q. I got it on EBay so I do not think I can return it. Maybe Tracy wants a Q. I was pretty lost without a cell phone and I really missed its internet access. It is amazing how fast this little thing made itself indespensible. I actually probably lasted longer than most would have been able to. It is scary how much I feel I need someting that I was able to last most of my life without.

Speaking of not being able to live without, HD is awesome. Now I am pissed how most of the shows are not in HD. I am disgusted to watch hockey on regular old resolution. It sucks.

I did watch the Rockies in the world series on HD. They lost but the picture was fantastic.

Well, I am going to send this. It is so nice to have my phone back.

Brooms

I saw a guy selling brooms on my way to the light rail station today.

Can you guess why?

A little hint: he was a few blocks away from Coors field.

You probably do not need it, but here is another hint: the Rockies play the Diamond backs tonight.

The Rockies are up 3 - 0 in the series and will probably sweep the Snakes tonight.

This guy was selling used brooms.

I sort of think maybe letting people into a packed stadium with sticks might not be a great idea. So, I do not know if once you bought the broom if you would have to sneak it in. Maybe security woud look the other way, or maybe brooms are just allowed.

Even if it was no problem getting the broom into the stadium, I do not think I would buy a used broom on my way to Coors field. I probably would not even buy a new broom.

I probably would not even bring one from home. I hope the Rocks win tonight so that the fans who went to the trouble do not feel foolish.

Go Rockies.

Blood

I gave blood this past Saturday. The guy who processed my paper work and the girl who took my blood told me that I am up to 3 gallons with Bonfils Blood Center. They were very appreciative. It made me feel sort of good to hit another gallon milestone.
My church has a blood drive 6 times a year and I go whenever I get a chance. I have probably only missed 3 opportunities to give over the past 3 years. So, there are probably some people who give more often than I do, but certainly not many. 6 times a year is the most they will take your blood and I have done it 5 times each of the past few years. At my rate it still takes awhile to get up to another gallon.
For some reason, every time I get to another gallon, I picture milk gallons in our fridge filled with blood. It sort of grosses me out. That is a lot of blood.
Most people I talk to who have not recently given blood seem to be scared of doing it. I try to explain that it really is not that bad, but most people do not believe me. I actually enjoy giving blood. It makes me feel a bit heroic knowing that I may be saving lives. Actually, in my head, everytime I give blood, I am saving 3 people. That is the number of people Bonfils publishes as people I could potentially be helping. I translate that in my mind from potentially saving to absolutely saving lives.
My wife does not give blood anymore because she has had a bad experience. The last time she tried to give they kept jabbing and jabbing and eventually gave up. I guess her veins are a bit difficult to find and tap into because she has had this problem giving blood samples to doctors as well. I think if I had an experience like that, I would probably stop too.
But the worst experience I have ever had giving blood was that the snacks were not quite the selection as usual. They have never had trouble finding my veins. I have never fainted or even felt the least bit woozy. Nothing the least bit unpleasant has happened to me while giving. I never even feel worn down or feel I should take it easy the days I give blood.
If they let me, I would probably give blood more often. Probably not a lot more often but 7 or 8 times a year.
I have heard that it is healthy to give blood on a regular basis. Some of the things I hear sound sort of urban- legend - like, but at least some of them I think are legitimate. The one I can think of right now is that there are studies which show a decrease in prostrate cancer (in men) for those who give blood regularly.
So, it is apparently good for my health for me to give blood.
But that is not why I do it. I do it for the glory that I have built up in my mind.

Guess Who

I am sitting at a silent auction waiting for remainding people to come by and CheckOut. I am also watching GameDay on MLB.com of the Rockies and Philly. They are tied 1 to 1. It is a good thing I am able to use my phone as a modem because people are really interested in the game, and it is easier to tell exactly what is going on from the real MLB site rather than the mobile site. I am glad I got the ability to use my cell phone as a modem because it adds allows me to do stuff during the slow times of these darn things.

It is weird how many more Rockies fans there are now that they are in the playoffs. I have probably written that before in this blog.

In fact, look at me. See how many Rockies blogs I have this year. I have had none in previous years.

Now, the Rockies are up 2 games to 0 in the NLDS and are probably the best team left in the NL. It would be crazy to see the Rockies go to the World Series.

Auction Automations is getting a bunch of business. This is good. We still do not have employees to run our events. That is bad. I am so tired of doing these events and we are still undercharging. But, we are doing well for a company that I thought would never do much. The guys who do our selling do not have real jobs and do not take into account the fact that the rest of us do have real jobs.

One nice thing is that we are using our main competitors to re-sell our solution. They are going to use our software and give us a very nice cute. I love the deal they gave us. Obviously they must think our solution is awesome.

The lady who is running this event (The Hispanic Chamber of Education) just told me "You are the best". She was refering to our company because I was able to give her a list of items that were not bid upon. The old-style silent auction was such a pain for her that this thing is a real relief for her. This is like the 10th time tonight that she has told us that we are the greatest or the best or just plain awesome. She loves us.

I wish we would have charged her more. Tear down should be pretty easy tonight. I hope.

Well, the Rockies won 2-1 and swept the Phillies. Sweat.

I need to start helping with tear down.

L8R

Rocks Win

13 innings into the game, Matt Holiday scored the winning run. He did not touch the plate, but the ump screwed up and called him safe. Rockies win Rockies win Rockies win.

And the fans went nuts. And the players went nuts. Holiday was bloody and led off the field, but I think he is ok. The Rockies are playoff bound.

And they go into the play-offs winning 14 out of 15, by far the hottest team in MLB. I do not think it is that far fetched to say the Rockies have a chance to go to the World Series. Denver is caught up in the excitement.

Talk about a magical run. Hopefully they can keep it going.

Wow

Wow. It is crowded in Lower Downtown Denver. The Rockies seem to have thousands more fans today than they did just last week.

It makes me a bit jealous that all these people get to go to the game and I do not. This is easily a sellout. I have never seen this many people in the 3 block radias around Coors field and the game is about to start so surely there must be even more inside.

Anyway, I guess we will have to see how things go.

Go Rocks!!

next

I have a problem with the movie NEXT. I will not Blog specifically what my problem is (in case you have not seen the movie), but the logic of the story is completely flawed.

Play - in

So, I guess that the Rockies were absolutely not out of the race. Somehow, this team has won 13 of the last 14 games to tie for the wildcard spot. Today they play a one - game tie-breaker to see if they are in the play-offs. I do not know how they decided who gets to play this game at home, but it is at Coors field in Lodo Denver, right across the street from where I am working today.

I am riding the light rail so that I do not have to worry about parking. I have a feeling that even though this is a night game, parking will be expensive today.

And, Lodo will be nuts.

I am not a huge baseball fan. There are Rockies fanatics out there who have had to suffer a team that for the past 10 or so years has not finished out of 2nd to last in their division. These fans deserve to get a bit crazy with joy. And they will.

And to be honest, this run came out of nowhere. The Rockies seemed better this year and had a couple of decent streaks, but there is no way anyone (except maybe some insane fan) could have predicted such a finish to the season.

The whole thing is really remarkable. I hope they win tonight.

I hope the Rockies can keep this going for the next couple years.

Rockies

The Rockies are back in the race. I suppose they were never really out of it.

I guess I blamed the Tweedle Beetles too quickly for the Rockies being out of it.

Sorry.

Subdomains

l am a geek.

Obviously this is true considering that I have a blog in the first place. But, here is even more evidence: I could not sleep so l got up and setup sub-domains on EricShepard.com.

http://blog.ericshepard.com/

http://kids.ericshepard.com/

http://colorado.ericshepard.com/


I also started Trashfund.com and some other geeky things Including this blog.

By the way, yesterday l went to Oktoberfest in Denver which was extremely disappointing. the website mentioned kids activities of which there were actually none. The food and beer was ridiculously expensive and the kids really did not like the beer very much.

I am sure the Tweedle Beetles had something to do with it.

Knox in Box

The Knox appears to have gone completely missing. Is he a victim of foul play? Or is he simply in deeper hiding than even the Fox?

Either way the Tweedle Beetles strike again.

If I mysteriously disappear, blame the Tweedle Beetles.

Fox in Socks

Let me start off by apologizing. In my previous blog I refered to the Fox in Sox. There is no Fox in Sox. His name is Fox in Socks. I can not believe that I did such a thing. Must be baseball season. Sorry.

I wonder why the Chicago and Boston baseball teams wear sox whereas everyone else, including most foxes wear socks. Someday I will try to find out.

Chicks with bricks and blocks and clocks come.

With the intention of joining forces with Mr. Fox against Tweedle Beetles, I have been making phone calls all day. I did not have much luck until I was finally able to track down Slow Joe Crow who knew how to contact Luke Luck and his duck. Incidentally, they were not licking lakes. When I called, Luke and his duck were chewing some new blue gooey goo. Luke tells me that the goo tasted somewhat gluey. It was his first time chewing goo. The duck had done it before with his friend Goo-Goose (not to be confused with a Minnesota Grey Goose .. Or is it gray duck?) and had finally convinced Luke to try it. Water foul like gluey goo. Apparently Luke does not really care for it. I told him to try a Venti Vanilla Non-fat Latte. Maybe he'll like that better.

So, Mr Luck would not give me Fox in Sock's phone number, but he did give me a secret email address with a cryptic code phrase that Fox will recognize as a request for correspondence. It is all much more clandestine than I am used to. What have I gotten myself into?

At the moment I am waiting for the fox to get back to me.

I am sure the cautious and secretive nature of this whole experience has something to do with the Tweedle Beetles.

September

I rode the light rail into work today and composed a brilliant Blog about September and Tweedle Beetles and the Summit County mob. Somehow, I lost it. I blame the Tweedle Beetles. Now, this less-than-brilliant recreation from my memory will have to do.

So, it is now past the ides of September and I cannot believe that the summer is gone. Of course, the weather is still summer-like for the most part, so it does not feel like the summer is over. But, still. Where did it go?

The Shepards attended the annual Breckenridge Duck races again this year. We had a good time, but again we did not win. We did not even place. And this year I believe we had the best ducks. Our ducks should have dominated the field, both in the children's duck race and in the main event. We certainly should have come home with some prize. We didn't.

So obviously, there is one (maybe more than one) Duck Race Official who is under the influence of the Summit County mob. There is no other logical explanation for our defeat every year. He probably started out betting on non-duck-related events, and lost a little too much to the wrong people. Once he was in dept to organized crime, though, he was forced to influence races he was officiating and now he cannot get out from under the thumb of the Summit County mob. Eventually you would think he will slip up enough to get caught and the mob will just get to someone else. The Shepards may never win the Breckenridge Duck Race.

I cannot prove it, but I think the Tweedle Beetles are heavily involved with the Summit County mob. This Duck Race scandal certainly fits with their MO. They are the only ones sneaky enough to fix a Race for charity, and to cover it up so neatly. I guarantee that I am the only one who even suspects there is foul-play here. As far as I can tell, I am the only one who is convinced that the Tweedle Beetles are so nefarious. And even I cannot prove it. They are so secretive and sly that even someone who tries to watch them like a hawk cannot be sure they are into such contemptible underhanded dealings. Come to think of it, I would bet that the Tweedle Beetles run the Summit County mob.


I also think that the Tweedle Beetles are responsible for the Pine Beetle epidemic in Summit and Grand Counties of Colorado. What makes me the most suspicious is that no one else suspects it. I mean, how obvious could it be. Pine Beetle ... Tweedle Beetle. Have you ever seen a Pine Beetle? There is no way such small creatures can destroy miles and miles of trees the way their grubs are accused. Have you ever seen a Tweedle Beetle? They have sharp teeth and mean - looking eyes. They could defiantly pull it off. I am not sure what motive the Tweedle Beetles have to destroy pine forests other that pure malicious intent towards people (and especially me) in general. And people think they are so cute!



So, anyway, we did not win the Duck Race. We did not even place. We won nothing. I am not even sure they put our ducks into the water (the Duck Race Official could have just kept ours in the truck or drugged them or just about anything). I cannot complain, because the whole purpose of the event is raise money for the Summit Foundation. If I complain, I come off as a petty, sore losing, child-hating troll. See how genius the whole thing is? Only the Tweedle Beetles would try such a plot.

And now we are well into September and I feel like the summer was not all it could be. It was a nice summer but ....

I did not climb any 14ers. I blame the Tweedle Beetles.

We only went camping a few times this summer. I blame the Tweedle Beetles.

The Rockies are pretty much out of the play-off race. I blame the Tweedle Beetles.

I do not own a big-screen TV. I blame the Tweedle Beetles.

I did not get as much development done on our Auction software as I would have liked and now we have some time crunches. Obviously I blame the Tweedle Beetles.

I did not go on SheppyQuest this year. I blame the Tweedle Beetles.

I did not work out as much as I should have and quite often have trouble sleeping at night. I blame the Tweedle Beetles.

I am addicted to Venti Vanilla Non-Fat Lattes. Who else would I blame other than the Tweedle Beetles?

I got rid of our Blazer for a freaking Mini-Van. Obviously this is the fault of Tweedle Beetles.

I am not sure how to spell Tweedle or Beetle. I had to look up the spelling for both words. A smart guy like me should not have to do that. Guess whose fault that would be!

I cannot figure out a good way to snoop through my wife's email without her knowing. Let's blame the Tweedle Beetles.

The Broncos started 2-0, but really do not look that good and will probably win their first 5 and end the season 9 and 7 missing the playoffs. I blame the Tweedle Beetles.

I got into work today and my security card would not let me out of the stairwell. I blame the CHFA IT department. There is no evidence to suggest that the Tweedle Beetles are involved in any way.

My cell phone lost my brilliant blog this morning and now I have to recreate it from memory which is not turning out nearly as good. I blame the Tweedle Beetles.

I am obsessing about creatures who only exist (allegedly) in a Dr. Suess book. Can you imagine whose fault that is? Tweedle Beetles.

Fox news seems to think I care that Donald Trump does not like Rosie O'Donald and who gets custody of Anna Nicole Smith's kids. Of course the last couple days have actually all-OJ, all the time.

No one (except my sister) reads my blogs, because of the Tweedle Beetles.

Roxboro State park is starting to get surrounded by ugly mansions... built by Tweedle Beetles.

The Ducks won the Stanley cup. Thanks in part to the Tweedle Beetles, I'm sure.

Octoberfest starts this Friday because the Tweedle Beetles.

We missed getting tickets to Day out with Thomas this year. I blame the Tweedle Beetles.

Who knows what other stuff the Tweedle Beetles or involved in? If I can come up with all these things in a matter of a few minutes, imagine the hordes of evil plots they are connected with. And the frightening thing is... almost no one even realizes the threat.

Maybe I can track down Fox in Sox or Knox in a Box. Certainly they must be wise to the impending peril. Especially the Fox in Sox. He is a first-hand victim of their violence and deception. Yes, I will seek the Fox and the Knox and form an alliance. Together we will figure out a way to save the world from the Tweedle Beetles. That is... if the Tweedle Beetles don't stop us first.

BEWARE the Tweedle Beetles. BEWARE.

Kelsey

"Camping camping. Camping camping. Camping camping." sang two year old Connor in the back seat of the minivan. He sang these words over and over. It was a tune his dad did not quite recognize, but quite enjoyed. And it was a little familiar. Connor had probably used the tune before to sing some other one-word song. "We go camping" had been Connor's favorite phrase for days now, ever since Daddy had brought up the possibility of using a "boy's day" to go camping with just the boys.

Sitting next to Connor, his five year old big brother, Tyler was in charge of the animal crackers; eating one; handing one to his brother. Handing one over, eating one. Soon, he would run out and ask his dad if he could move on to sun chips. Camping had also been one of Tyler's topics of conversation over the past couple of days. When Connor had been very young, and Tyler had been three, Tyler had gone on a "just me and my dad" camping trip. Tyler and Daddy still talked about that trip. There was some excitement about leaving Mommy at home while the boys went on their little adventure. Hopefully Tyler could use his rank of Big Brother to help his little brother enjoy the experience.
Daddy turned off 285 to head towards Buffalo Creek, a little town about an hour Southwest of their Denver area home. This general area of Pike's Peak National Forest was special for the family. When Mommy and Daddy first moved to Colorado (before the boys), their first camping weekend had been along Forest Road 550, minutes South of Buffalo Creek. Their first backpacking trip in Colorado, and most of their subsequent backpacking trips, had been in Lost Creek Wilderness which they had accessed a bit further down on FR550. Tyler's third time camping and also the "Just me and my Dad" trip had been in Buffalo creek campground which was also down FR550. Connor's first camping trip was at Lone Rock Campground which was along the Platte river a bit further South of the town of Buffalo Creek. Daddy's last "Sheppy Quest" had also been in the lost creek wilderness in the same general area.
Daddy checked his cell phone. No service. Shoot. He should have called Mommy before now. Too late. He would have to suffer the consequences later. Daddy even now did not know where they would camp tonight. He was thinking one of three possibilities: Buffalo campground (the location of just me and my dad), one of the non-official campsites along FR550, or a campground called Kelsey which they had never been to but passed several times on their way to other camping adventures.
Approaching FR550, Daddy still had not decided which way to head, so he asked Tyler which way to go. Tyler did not even hesitate; Kelsey campground would be the place.
The sign was partially hidden coming from the North. Daddy passed the campground and had to turn around to come back. The campground was quiet in the early evening. Only one site other than the campground host was occupied, and the boys and their Dad saw no one as they circled through looking for a site. Just about every site had a reserved sign on them, but they were all reservations for the weekend .... Starting tomorrow.
After a couple of loops around the campground road, they settled on site number 10. It was pretty large, had a decent number of trees, and a bunch of good rocks to climb on.
Daddy and the boys unpacked, setup the tent, and setup for dinner sort of slowly. The boys for the most part helped by climbing rocks and pushing their toy dump trucks around. They also did an excellent job collecting rocks.
Rain came through. It was nothing heavy and Daddy just put rain jackets on the boys and kept at the tasks at hand. Connor and Tyler thought he rain added to their grand adventure.
By the time supper was ready, it was getting dark. They ate in the rain in the darkness. So cool. The boys just thought it was the most fun they had in weeks. Maybe it was the most fun they had all summer.
It was downright dark when dinner was over. Daddy put the boys in the tent with a lantern, put Connor's PJs on him while Tyler put his own on. Then he asked Tyler to read to Connor while Daddy cleaned up the site. We don't want bears to come get our stuff Daddy said.

While Daddy cleaned up, he heard the boys giggling up a storm. Tyler read one book but just being in the was just so much fun, it was hard to concentrate. Daddy was not sure what they were doing exactly, but it was obviously a blast.
It was not too long before Daddy joined the boys in the tent. He was pretty proud to have a couple of kids who do not need to cling to their parents. He was especially proud of big brother for agreeing to take care of his little brother while Daddy needed to do some work. Daddy read the boys some stories and tried to get them to go to sleep. Sleep did not come very quickly. There was just too much excitement. It all made Dad smile.
He loves his boys and always will.

Is anybody there?

So here I am sitting on a bench in downtown Denver trying not to think about a techical issue I am having with Captaris Workflow. If you do not know anything about Captaris, don't worry. It really does not matter.

The point is, sometimes the best way to come up with a solution is to stop thinking about it. Quite often, for me, a solution will come when I stop thinking about it. I think this happens to others as well, but maybe more for me. I do not know why this would be. It is probably just my ego-centric imagination.

My kids and I are going camping tonight. I mentioned it a few days ago and if for some reason it does not happen, it will devistate Connor. Every night since I brought it up, Connor seems to get upset that we are putting him to bed in his bed. He says 'No night time! Go camping.' I should probably realize by now that I should not talk about the future with my kids because future dates mean nothing. Daddy says we are going to do something a year from now and the kids will expect it to happen any time now.

Camping should be fun. I do not know exactly where we are going and chances are I am going to forget to bring something that I wil end up wishing I brought. Since, I do not know where we will be, I do not know what we will do. It will be an adventure to be sure.

Well... Nothing came to me about Captaris. Might as well go back in and try something else.

Bally

I am not sure what to write about.

Apparently, I have some time to kill as I sit outside Bally Fitness waiting for someone to open the door. There is a growing number of people waiting outside the door. I am sitting in my car with a view to the door. Bally opens at 6 am on Saturday. It is now 6:15.

For awhile I quit going in the morning because of this. But then they hired one of the people who always work out early. Now, it usually opens at least 15 minutes early... And probably earlier. I just never beat her in. Even though I rarely get a workout in early anymore, it is nice to know that it will be open when I do get there. I guess she is probably on vacation . I hope that is it and that we don't have to wait on a consistent basis.

Some guy just let a bunch of people in. He is 20 minutes late.

I will go get my heart pumping.

AA

I am currently sitting in my mini van outside the building that we just set up for an automated auction. It was an easy setup and we are now pretty much done 2.5 hours ahead of time. We could have been done even sooner but took our time. I have sort of blogged about Auction Automations before, but never really explained too much about it. If you would like to read about it, http://www.auctionautomations.com/ .

I sort of have mixed feelings about the whole idea of automating silent auctions as a business. For those of you who didn't go to website and who I have not talked to about it, basically what we do is setup a network with SQL server and use tablet PCs to enter bids rather than the traditional piece of paper that most silent auctions use. We have a bunch set up on the tables with the items and a bunch of "roaming tablets" which connect wirelessly to the network. It is more fun than the old paper based system and people LOVE us. No one in the area does this and so people who are used to the old paper based system just think it is so much cooler than any silent auction they have been to. Having everything in the computer also make things much easier for he people who put on the auction.

It is a lot of work to setup an event, and computers are expensive. And it is sort of hard to juggle a fair price for our service against the fact that the silent auctions are meant to raise money for charities. Every dollar they pay us is one that can not go to the charity.

Getting work is not a problem.
People love us. No one else does this. And it appears that we really are not charging enough. We charge a percentage on the silent auction proceeds with a minimum. It basically takes about 10,000 in proceeds to get to our minimum. Early on, we were getting events in the 30 or 40 thousand dollar range and that was nice. But lately we have been getting right around the minimum. For the most part it is the same amount of work for us for a 10 thousand dollar event as it is for a 60 thousand dollar event.

We are doing Ok. We are not in real danger of losing too much on this. But I do not think we are "in danger" of becoming rich either. And it is sort of fun to do these things, especially since people always tell us how awesome we are during these things. But sometimes I wonder if it is worth it. Most of the time I wonder.

Typically, we do a couple events a month. For us, an event basically starts early in the morning. We unload everything, and setup servers and lay cable for the network. Then we place tablets and charge the roamers. By the time the event starts we have typically spent an 8 hour day setting up and testing. Then we do the silent auction which is usually lasts 3 or 4 hours. Then it takes us a couple hours to tear down and load the trailer for going home.

I am getting too old for this kind of a work day. Especially since we are not getting paid. As owners, eventually we will get paid. But, I am just not sure if it will ever end up being worth the effort.

Needless to say, I have not quit my day job. I am self - employed with a client who is understanding about having to take time for auctions, so I am in a perfect situation for doing this. I also manage to spend more time with my family than most people (I think). So, that is not really a problem. I just wish that we would start getting 50 thousand dollar events on the norm rather than 15 k events. And wish we could hire other people to do this for us. Although, if I stop doing these completely no one will tell me how awesome I am.

Well, that is not true. Tyler told me I am an awesome Dad.

I should get back in there. My partners probably think I have deserted them.

Miscellaneous thoughts

I got an email from my sister. She reads my blog. I am quite sure she is the only one. I need to stop writing that no one reads this. My sister is having a baby. The bulk of her pregnancy (at least the time when she will be the biggest) is going to be during the summer, which I imagine will be somewhat uncomfortable.

I think this past June is by far the most blogs I have ever written. Part of it is that the emailing a blog seems to work better now so that I can compose the email on my phone when I have a few minutes and feel somewhat confident that it will actually end up posted. I am not writing about anything spectactularly interesting, so it is not really that bad a thing that only one person reads this.

The New York Yankies are in town right now. My current client is located downtown right across the street from Coors field. Tons of people were making their way to see the game while I was on my way out toward the light rail station. I would say 90% of hats and jersies etc. was Yanky stuff. There was sort of an excitment in the air though. It is hard to explain the feeling of being around so many people on their way to the game. It is too bad most of the fans do not care about the Rockies. I believe that if the Rockies ever got decent, it would not take the Yankies to fill the stadium. I don't even think the Rockies need to be great to get Denver fans to pay attention. Just make us think you have a shot at making the playoffs. Denver isn't a good sports town, it is a GREAT sports town. Fans will come out to watch a decent team. The Rockies just do not qualify. Lately they have been playing pretty good, though. Maybe the can keep it up.

-----

They just swept the Yankies 3 games. Nice

My wife and kids are visiting Grammy and Papa Lou (Tracy's parents) in Las Vegas. My little boy asked me why I usually don't come when they go. I didn't really have a good reason to share with him. The main reason is that I do not really like Vegas. It is too hot and deserty for me. It is too polluted and there are too many cars out there. I told Tyler that next time they go out there I'll go with them. He seemed happy with that. I guess I'll have to go then... That is not something Tyler will forget.

When Tracy set up this trip, my intent was to do SheppyQuest during this weekend. I have an auction this weekend, so now I can not do SheppyQuest. Had we known about this event, Tracy would have picked a different time to do the trip. I blocked off my Calendar so that perhaps the guys who set up this kind of thing would stay away from this weekend. They just ignore that. We probably are not in a position to turn down an event just because I have it blocked off, anyway.

I am bummed out to miss a SheppyQuest opportunity. I didn't do a SheppyQuest last year either. Part of the reason was also this darn Auction Automations company. To be honest, I did not intend to become as heavily involved as I have become. My intention was to simply help develop the software, and pretty much stop there. I got caught up in the exitment, though, and now here I am involved. This is not necessarily a bad thing. It is nice to have a hobby. Sometimes it seems to own me a bit more than I would like, but it is somewhat fun. And who knows? Maybe someday it will make me rich.

Anyway, another boring blog written from my cell phone. Hope Tera does not get too bored reading it.

Caiaphas

The little passion performance that our church put on protrayed Caiaphas as a really mean, bad guy. He was a bad guy. Anyone who engineers the murder of an innocent man cannot be considered a Saint. Not only did Caiaphas murder an innocent man, but he helped torchure and brutally killed God's son. The Son of God suffered hanging by nails through his hands and feet because of Caiaphas and his angry, bitter evil jealousy. A priest should conduct himself better. Surely if anyone deserves to rot in the firey pits of hell, it would be Caiaphas, right?

Of course, Caiaphas was not alone. He was the head priest of a religious community, and the overwealming mass of this community, God's Chosen People, joined in. The other priests, Roman guards, the Jewish nation, the whole world could claim blame for the death of Jesus. Even the discipples, Jesus's friends, are not blameless. There was plenty of sin to go around the week of Christ's passion. But Caiaphas was the architect, the leader. Surely this is a man who ended up suffering for eternity, right?

Of course, Jesus spent much of his time criticizing the religious leaders of the time. Religion had lost sight of its primary purpose which was to serve God, and Jesus pointed it out. By doing so, he alientated Caiaphas and the rest of the established power structure of the time. To get even, Caiaphas arranged to have Jesus killed. God frowns on this kind of vengeance.

I picture Caiaphas dressed in black, scheming in the dark with demans looking over his shoulder, supporting him with nods and laughter. Satan himself was certainly there to help plan Jesus's assassination. Caiaphas had eyes as black and evil as the devil. They might have eve glowed red. Caiaphas is burning hell even now, isn't he?

I do not think so.

I believe that the Grace that saved us all and forgives all our Sins even saved an evil vengful murderer like Caiaphas. When Jesus said "forgive them for they know not what they do", he was asking and granting forgiveness to everyone who participated in his torchure, humiliation and death.

Why do we call the events leading up to and including Jesus's death the Passion of Christ? Jesus was born so that he could be crusifed and raised from the dead. That was his purpose. That was God's plan for him. To die was his passion.

And Caiaphas helped execute God's plan. The betrayal, the abandanment, the brutality, the blood, the cross, the death, the whole plot was part of God's plan. Without Easter, the raising from the grave, Jesus was little more than one of the many prophets from God that came and did their thing. And without the cross, and the atrocities that it represents Easter, could not have happened. God executed His will through the evil in the heart of Caiaphas.

This is not the first time that God transformed evil deeds into good. God used Joseph to save the nation of Isreal. The reason that Joseph was in a position to save his family was because his brothers acted out of petty jealousy and sold their brother into slavery. A brother should know better.

So Caiaphas probably eventally died and went the Pearly Gates with shame and dread in his heart. He probaby felt like Joseph's brothers when they discovered their broter in Egypt. Seeing Jesus, Caiaphas must have realized what he had done and expected punishment and was probably ready to beg for mercy. Jesus, however, had forgiven before Caiaphas could even begin to appologize. The lamb of God scooped Caiaphas up in a heavenly embrace and celebrated the return of one of his prodigal sons.

This is what I assume happened because I believe in the Grace of God. I do not know. I would assume all Christrians would look at this the same way, except wrath of God and Judgement of sinners is also a way to go. And Judgement is something that humans seem to understand more than forgiveness, especially when it comes to certain atrociousities. Like I said, I do not know. I'll let God take care of that. Of course, I do not have much of a choice, do I?

But I have come to belief that the Lord forgives Caiaphas all his sins. And, if God can accept an evil murdering monster like Caiaphas, I guess my spot in heaven can not be in doubt.

Unfortunately, I am the kind of person who beats himself up for every part of me that lacks perfection. I am tough on myself for not always treating others as myself. I know I do not always act like I love God with all my heart. I feel bad about all these little transgressions. I beat myself up even though I say that I know I am forgiven. Afterall, I just said that Caiaphas is probably in God's arms, and I certainly have not done anything as bad as putting any innocent person to death.

Chances are, you have not done anything that bad either. Remember always that you are God's child and that everything will be alright. This is not a trivial thing, being a child of God.

Anyway, I started writing this blog right around Easter. I wrote it mostly on my cell phone and always intended to come in later with supporting bible verses and other brilliant additions. I guess since it has been over 2 months, I might as well go and publish it. God’s grace is timeless, so it does not really matter if I publish it now or 2 months ago or two months from now.

Of course, no one reads my blogs, so it REALLY does not matter.

Waiting

I took a number and have to wait. I do not remember when the last time I actually took a number to wait for anything. And I do not particularly care for it.

It is a Wednesday around 10am in the Colorado State Parks office. Shouldn't these other people be working?

I have to be here because we bought a minivan last night, and traded in the truck that had our CO state park pass on it. To get a new sticker without paying the $55 again, I had to come down here to get a new one.

Of course buying the van took way longer than it seems it should have. I had already test driven an exact van (except for the color) and had the price worked out before I got in, so it should have taken no time at all. But it did take time. And most of it was waiting.

33 got called. I guess that was not too bad a wait.

.....

Now I am at U-Hall waiting for a hitch to be installed. They had me come back. Then I would be next so I left them the key and took a walk. It has now been an hour and a half total and they just now pulled the van in the garage. I probably should have just installed it myself. Hopefully it will not be much longer.

It is a nice day and there is not much work to do at CHFA today, so I guess there could be worse situations to wait. I do have to pick up the kids in a couple of hours though so hopefully I am not too much longer.

This van is pretty nice, but I already miss the Blazer. And the van takes up a bunch more room in the garage. It will be great to be able to fit more than just the four of of in a vehicle. The Blazer was great for us 4, but 5 was uncomfortable for one person and downright dangerous (possibly illegal?) for 6. So, Papa Lou had to ride in the cargo area a couple of times. With the van, 7 should fit ok. 6 a piece of cake. Of course, it is somewhat rare that we would ever need seats for 7.

Anyway, this email is probably going to ge cut off, so I'll end the blog here. I'll be waiting some more.

Bye.

Carpenter Peak

I am sitting on a rock on Carpenter Peak, looking down on the Roxboro Mansions. I would love to live there but even if I could afford it, I would not want that kind of mortgage. The red rocks all around with the green trees and other plants really look beautiful. The foothills I am sitting in have miles of trails through beautiful National Forest wilderness.
It always amazes me that there is such beautiful wilderness minutes from the Denver Metro area. I go into it somewhat often and it still catches me little by surprise.
I hear some hikers. I had better get of the phone before they see me and make fun of me for messaging here on a hike.

Lattes

Hello my name is Eric and I am addicted to Venti Vanilla Non-Fat Lattes.

I am ashamed to say it but I am addicted. Anyone who pays $4.00 for a coffee is an idiot. Well, I guess, I am not very smart. To be fair, it is $3.89, not $4.00, so I guess I am 11 cents less stupid than originally portrayed. AND, I only purchase these with my company credit card on my way to a client or while talking business with an associate, so these are tax deductible. In a way the government is subsidizing my addiction.

It started out innocently enough, but that does not really matter. An addiction is an addiction. I just hope my wife never finds out. She would be so disappointed in me.

At least I have plenty of company. Starbucks is ridiculously popular. There are shops all around and even so they are packed. It is bad enough to pay almost $4 for a coffee, but to pay $4 and to have to wait is even worse. Only idiots would do it.

Anyway, someday I will kick the addiction. Or maybe I won't. Either way, It probably will not destroy my life. But, the shame of it all certainly will not be easy to live with.

California Stanley

I am bit bummed out that the Ducks won the cup last night. I did not like Carolina winning it last year. I hated that Tampa Bay won a couple of years ago. To be honest, I do not think NHL hockey belongs in cities that never see snow. Ottawa should win the cup. Calgary should win the Cup. Colorado or Buffalo should win the cup. The California and Florida teams should not.

But the Ducks did win. They were the better team and deserved to win. Congratulations. Hurray for them.

At least the Red Wings did not win it.

Super Joe

Joe Sakic may be the nicest professional athlete in the world. He is certainly the nicest one I have met. I pretty much shook his hand and said 'hi', so I am basing this on limited experience, but no one reads this blog, so I'll go ahead and say make the claim as if I know what I am talking about. Joe Sakic is a really nice guy.

I attended a charity event this past weekend that featured most if not all the Avs. I only really got a chance to observe a few of them and only talked very briefly to a couple of them because I was pretty busy working the silent auction. http://www.auctionautomations.com

I found myself feeling a little sorry for Joe. In Denver, he is THE man. If you are a hockey fan AT ALL, Joe is your hero. As soon as he walked in, tons of people mobbed him for pictures and autographs and just to say they met Super Joe. I am not sure he was able to go the the bathroom there were so many people around him all the time. I doubt there are many places he can go where he is able to get away from people. And I get the feeling he never says 'no' or 'leave me alone'. He just always handles himself as a fan would want him to.

While at the silent auction, a lady showed me a photo of Joe with a beautiful 8 month old girl in childrens' hospital. Joe was holding the girl while wearing a santa hat and with a big smile on his face. The lady told me the picture was taken on the 23rd of December and her daughter passed away on the 27th. The story made me feel sad for this poor woman. It also reenforced my suspicion that Sakic is a very nice guy... Much nicer than I have ever been. The woman REALLY wanted to win a signed Sakic jersey in the auction. This jersey went for over 1,200, and the lady did not win it. Sort of sad, but at she should feel good that she helped drive up the price for a chidrens charity.

Joe was also nice enough to let us take a picture with him for our website. I got to say hi and shake his hand. He even came by once when we were too busy for him and he came back when things were settled down. I did not expect him to do that. I just think it was really nice of him.
So anyway, that is my limited experience with Joe Sakic. Of course I watch him play hockey a lot and think he is one of the goal scorers I have ever seen. (because he is). For such nice guy, Joe Sakic has a wicked wrist shot. He is still one of the best in the league and certainly the best on the Avs. But I guess my main point is that I don't think I would want to trade places with him or any other top pro athlete. The money would be great and it would be nice to play a game for a living and be recognized as great. But it really seems that all the fans all the time would get old quick. Especially if you are one of those nice guys who will not say 'no' to your fans.

I would like to know how Joe gets such force with his wrist shot, though.

Emailing Blogs

I think BlogSpot has issues with emailing blogs. I know for sure I have inconsistent results when I do it. At least one of my issues has to do with the phone. The phone truncates messages that I send. It seems that this should be a setting that I can control, but if it is, I cannot figure out where it is.

Anyway, emailing blogspot is not nearly as wonderful as I think it should be.