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.
------
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.

Semi-Charmed

I lead this Semi-Charmed kind of life. Third Eye Blind came up with the phrase, but even before the song came out I always felt I had the Semi-Charmed life. Everything seems to work out for me. I've always sort of felt someone or something was looking out for me, because it seems that every situation turns out for the best. And it not as if I am some hyper-optimistic person. Things just always wok out for me better than I could ever imagine. Actually, I believe in many cases that if I chose how I would like things to turn out perfectly, they would probably turn out worse than they end up naturally. My life turns out better than I would know to choose for myself

Bad day

I was up late last night working my non-paying job. When I got up today my wife told me the furnace was not working. While I was looking at it my wife told me that the car was not starting.

Somehow I got the furnace working, and had Tracy take me to the train. Now I just want to go back to sleep. It is going to be a long day.

The car needs fixing, and although the furnace is working right now, I do not think I permanently fixed it. I do not have time for things to break.

It is a beautiful day. I still want to go back to sleep.

Tablet Pc

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wall, I yours that shins his been enough of this.

Bye

Ghost Busters

I saw a VW bug today with the Ghost Busters logo on its side. I took a picture of it.

When I got into work, I mentioned the sighting to Wes, my coworker. He looked it up... Ghost Busters came out in 1984.

Why would someone in 2006 have a Ghost Busters logo on their car?

Jerry, another coworker, had a theory. He asked if the car was dressed up for Halloween. I'm not sure I like the idea of weirdos 'dressing up' their cars for Halloween. Of course, have you ever met a VW Bug owner who was not at least just a little bit strange? It seems sort of like something my inlaws might do. They are not Bug owners, but they certainly are weird enough to do something like 'dressing up' their cars.

I can not imagine a person who loved that movie enough to have decorated their car as a tribute to the movie. I enjoyed the movie, but come ON. Maybe right after it came out, but not 22 years later. Of course, let's not forget what freaks Bug owners are in general.

My favortite theory is that there are real Ghost Busters running around downtown Denver. Lodo is pretty old with documented ghosts in several old buildings. I am pretty sure Molly Brown haunts an old brothel in town. Or maybe it is Molly Brown's old house that she haunts. Molly Brown lived in Denver after she went down with the titanic, didn't she?

Anyway, I just thought I would share my photo of the car. Maybe someday, I'll figure out what that is all about.

Snowy travel

This is the first snowy travel day of the season, so I am taking the light
rail. Back before I could deduct mileage, I rode the light rail just about
half the time. Since I became self-employed, I only take it on Rocky Home
Game days or real bad traffic days. Maybe now that I can blog from my phone
I'll do it more.

The problem with taking the light rail is that it takes a longer time to get
to and from work. The big advantage is that I don't actually have to drive.
Of course, I should be glad about how much gas I save, but unfortunately,
the $.45 per mile I am able to pay myself as my employer pretty much negates
that advantage. Perhaps I am way too attached to cold hard cash. It is
easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for me to enter
the kingdom of heaven. It is a good thing that with God all things are
possible.

Well, I am coming up on my stop. I will then have to walk through the snow
to my current client. It is a heck of a lot better than driving with the
weather-challenged drivers of Denver, though.

By the way, if you are looking for a smart phone , I completely endorse the
Motorola Q.

=========

It is now time to go home. I never synced during the day so, my blog was
still in the outbox... And I can continue where I left off. Battery life on
this is not as good as it was on my old phone. This is actually because I
use the smart phone more than the stupid one. One nice thing, though is
that power come through the little mini-usb port, so I can charge up
anywhere i have my laptop (which Monday thru Friday is almost everywhere).

As of now, I still bring my mp3 player with me, but I have a 2 gb mini-sd
card ordered for my phone. I can load a bunch of music on the phone and not
need the player anymore. Of course I basically have ALL my music on the mp3
player, and the phone cannot hold everything. So, maybe I will just still
use the mp3 player. It is nice to have the option, though.

So, it is nice riding the light rail. I think I may make a special effort
to ride to work once or twice a week. Environmentalists probably are glad
I got the Q.

My con man

My one year old is really learning to talk, and it is incredibly cute to see. Every chance he gets to use one of his words is an opportunity that he really seems to relish.

'No' is his favorite word. It used to be 'dada', but now I think I have to be content with a close second place.

Every time he goes into his room and sees his little heater, he points at it and tells me 'ha' (hot). He does the same thing when he sees the fireplace or the grill.

When Conner sees a hat, either a picture or a real one, he pats his head and says 'ha' (hat). I am not sure what would happen if he ran into a hot hat.

Connor's favorite book is 'Baker Baker Cookie Maker' because he knows how to say 'coocoo' (cookie monster).

Every day, the baby improves his talking skills. And amazingly enough, he just keeps getting cuter and cuter. I do not know how I became so lucky to live with this joy.

Incidentally, this is the second blog I have written on my smart phone and emailed to my blog to publish. I am really impressed at how this works. I also attached the photo above to the email, but it did not automatically publish the picture. That is somewhat disappointing, but probably understandable. Hopefully they will make the blog publish work with attached photos at some point. Anyway... isn't he just the cutest baby you have ever seen?

Smart Phone

I am typing this blog on my new smart phone . It is really a neat little
piece of technology, but I am not sure it is worth the effort. It is sort
of overkill for what I really need it for. I still have the cheapest
wireless plan I have ever been able to find, and I could not bring myself
to pay for a web / data plan that will allow me to do much web serfing.

I do foresee myself developing little smart-phone apps for this, but without
wifi, I will be dependent on web services to do any client / server type
things ... And that costs me by the kb.

Unfortunately, the unlimited data plan with verizon seems ridiculously
expensive for what I would use it for. The web-browser seems awefully slow
for the price as well. I guess as I see how much I use this, I'll know and
can adjust.

This phone definantly has some cool features. I really like the sync
between outlook on my laptop and the phone. Although I am really
disappointed in the fact that the sync does not include notes. The phone
also does not come with a text editor. I really wanted to use the sync to
push important information form and to my phone such as account numbers and
stuff like that. Of course, I could download an app to do that or I could
even develop one myself, but it just seems that the smart phone software
should have included that.

But, for the most part, I am pretty pleased with the phone. I probably will
use it enough to be worth the extreme cost. It will be cool to have.

Afarensis

Skeleton Sheds Light on Ape-Man Species - NEWS - SCIENCE - Comcast.net

Australopithecus afarensis

Apparently, scientists found the remains of an Ape-Man (Ape-Girl) in Ethiopia sometime in the year 2000. They have taken over 5 years removing the body and apparently, the job will take several more years to complete. They are very excited about the find.

I'm not sure why this is listed as "news" on my comcast portal given that the find was made several years ago and that the body has not been completely removed, but that is not really what I am blogging about.

The article says that this Ape-Girl is about 3.3 million years old.

She was about 3 years old when she died (apparently).

3.3 MILLION years old.

I am 36 years old.

If you compare 3.3 million years to a 24 hour day, 36 years would represent a little less than one second of the day. All the years I have been alive could be gone in the time someone could say "one-thousand-one".

It is the year 2006. 2006 years corresponds to less than one minute on our cosmic clock. In turn, if you compare the age of the Earth (4.6 Billion Years old) to the 3.3 Million years of the little ape-girl from Ethiopia, we are talking only about one minute on THAT cosmic clock.

I guess I could look at this and feel insignificant. Scientists think that homo sapiens have only existed for about 50,000 years on an Earth that is 4.6 billion years old in an universe that is only 20 billion years old. And I have only existed 36 years. In the grand scheme of the universe, I am less than a blink of an eye.... a lot less than a blink.

But this does really make me think that insignificant. It does put me in awe of the God who created it all. I am amazed that the One who designed this universe and put it in motion has the capacity to look at me as special and important. To say that this capacity amazes me is so completely understating the situation that it is not really funny. There is probably not a word in the English language that communicates how awesome this is. I certainly do not have the capacity to see myself as wonderful as God apparently sees me.

Anyway, I hope the little 3-year old ape-girl had a happy, healthy life over her limited years. I hope her death was not too traumatic. I wonder if someday I will meet her in heaven.

Wasn't There

Yesterday upon the stair
I met a man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today
I wish that man would go away.

--William Hughes Mearns

The man who isn't there may be in cohoots with the Zizzer Zauzzer Zuzz and the Tweedle Beatles. He never looks all that suspicious, and anyone who never look suspicious must be up to something. He openly ignores me to the point that I know he must be spying on me. I just know it. Of course, I have no proof, so I can not come right out and do something to him. I have to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Yes, I usually meet him on stairs, but sometimes I'll be walking down the street (on the lookout for tweedle beetles) and I'll get this feeling that no one is watching me. It has to be the man who isn't there. Who else wouldn't be watching me?

Of course I still don't know for sure that the ZZZ is actually conspiring against me. I got an email from my sister not too long ago. My sister is the only person in the world who actually reads my blog. She often (well often compared to anyone else ... including the man who isn't there) emails me about my blogs. In the email she told me that her sons had been talking about the Zizzer Zauzer Zuzz lately and that she also was a bit suspicious about him. Well, that tends to validate my suspicions, but still I have no proof. It would, obviously, make lots of sense if the man who isn't there was working with the ZZZ by doing surveillance. Who knows how far the network of deceit goes?

It is also pretty obvious that if the man who isn't there is spying on me, he is also probably working with the Tweedle Beetles. They just work too much alike for it to be a coinincidence. So, if the ZZZ is in fact working with the man who isn't there, and if the man who isn't there is in fact working with the Tweedle Beetles, obviously, the ZZZ and the Tweedle Beetles are working together against me as well. This man... this missing piece of the puzzle (until the other day) is the single most concrete piece of evidence I have of this mass conspiracy.

I have to act quickly. I must do something. I have to protect myself from this syndicate of evil - doers. But what are they up to? What can I do to protect myself? What can I do to go on the offensive?

I don't know. Maybe I'll go to work.

Everyone be careful out there!

Vegas

I don't understand why anyone would want to live in Las Vegas.

My in-laws live here, and say they like it, but they also talk about hating the summer heat.

And that is my main complaint about this hell-on-earth: it is too damn hot! It is too damn hot. There are too many people. The pollution is horrible.

But mostly, it is too damn hot.

It is hot to the point that you want to stay in all day. I hate it.

Luckily, my in-laws have a pool. My guess is that anyone who can afford it has one out here. The pool has been fun for my kids and their cousins. Me too I guess. And, although I complain to my wife about having to do this stupid family reunion every two years, I really do enjoy seeing Tyler's and Connor's Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins. Despite the fact that this is the place in the country that I think most resembles hell, I had a good time here.

Zizzer Zazzer Zuzz

The Zizzer Zazzer Zuzz is a pleasant enough looking creature. He is always personable and polite and kind. But, for some reason I just don't trust him. I think maybe he is conspiring against me. He might be working in conjunction with the Tweedle Beatles. Or he might be working with the scarecrow people. I don't really know. All I really know is that I get this feeling that ZZZ is not totally honest with me. And my imagination carries me to the conclusion that not only is he not completely honest, but he is somehow actively trying to ruin my life.

The real problem is that I have no proof, and I really want to give him the benefit of the doubt. There are others in my life whom I trust who think the ZZZ is wonderful. But I just can not shake this feeling that he is trying to screw me. So, while I recognize that there are certain advantages to knowing and partnering with the ZZZ, I can not bring myself to completely take advantage of such a partnership.

Since I met the ZZZ, my life has taken a few very interesting twists. Partially, some might even say primary, thanks to the ZZZ, I am now able to breath under water and I am able to fly short distances through the air. You would think that those sort of powers would be extremely useful and that you could really do some great things with these particular super powers, but amazingly enough, I have not really found myself in situations where breathing under water or flying like superman really do me that much good. I know it sounds weird, but these have just not turned out to be that useful to me.

And while I fell that I should be thankful to the ZZZ for helping me develop these powers, the reality is that since I don't completely trust him, I feel more anger towards him than gratitude. If he is what he appears to be, this irrational distrust is unhealthy, and really is closing opportunities to me that would open wonder possibilities to me.

Who knows what this development do to me. It is probably nothing and there is nothing to fear. If I am right, though, who knows what the Zizzer Zazzer Zuzz will do to me. I should be extremely afraid.

Dillon

I was up at 3:00 yesterday morning, working on various things on my computer. I was a bit bummed out because I had no campsite reserved for Memorial Day Weekend. I had just put it off until Monday or Tuesday of this week and there was nothing left. That is the problem with on-line reservations, they are just so easy to do that you have to get them in very early.

Before the kids, I would have just packed up the truck and gone off with Tracy to some remote jeep trail or even found a nice Backpacking trail, but with the kids, I feel I need a campsite reservation. So, I was a little depressed that I was going to spend the whole long weekend at home. Goodness knows I could use some time in the yard, I have a bunch of "Honey Do" things to do, but long weekends are meant to go off somewhere.

So I signed onto Priceline.com, put in $35 a night for the Breckenridge area and tried to see if I could get a good hotel price. I got rejected, but for some reason, Priceline gave me a second chance if I increased my requested price by $6, and $41 got me two nights in the Holiday Inn at Lake Dillon. For whatever reason, I can always get great prices (great compared to other mountain places to stay). So, at 6:30 or, I told Tracy to pack up for two days ... we are leaving this afternoon.

This is how most of our vacations go, I'll decide I want to get going and we go. We have little or no idea what we are going to do when we get there. We just go.


And it always turns out great. I always feel like we should have planned better, but I never have a disappointing trip like this. There are some people I know who just cannot imagine taking this kind of trip without planning every moment. I wonder how people like that are ever able to have any kind of fun. Oh well.

Baby Adventure

I am sitting here watching my adventurous baby. He has to be the cutest baby in the world. I know I am a little biased, but really, he has to be the cutest. In fact he is probably the cutest baby ever. I used to think that was Tyler, but I think Connor has him beat by a little bit. I am truly blessed with my children.

Connor (my adventurous baby) is crawling around the family room, pulling himself up on things (furniture and the like). This game seems to amuse him quite a bit and he keeps looking at me with the proud look on his face as if to say "look at me Daddy". And of course I tell him how wonderful he is to do such amazing things. I mean, come on, how many babies are able to pull themselves up on things?

I had to pause the blog for a few minutes. Did you miss me? My adventurous little boy decided to go up the stairs into the kitchen and then crawl around in circles through the living room, into Tyler's Spiderman tent, into the dining room, back into the kitchen and then make the whole circle again. He is not walking, yet, but he is certainly able to get around.

His fascination with the steps is sort of fun, but a little scary as well. He is talented enough to climb all the steps in our house, but not quite experienced enough to know that you don't try to sit halfway up on the step before the one he is actually on. So, we have to supervise the climbs. It is fun to watch him climbing the stairs. I imagine him as a mountain climber. Maybe someday he will climb 14ers with me.

Once Connor was done lapping through the rooms on our kitchen level, he decided it was time to climb the bigger stairway to our bedroom level and go into the bathroom. This apparently is one of his favorite activities. He loves to climb up those steps and he really loves to go into the bathroom and put things in the bath tub. I am not sure what is so fun about that, but it obviously is a blast.

After that, he went into his room, crawled to his nightstand and grabbed his tooth brush. The tooth brush is probably his favorite toy right now. He really likes getting his teeth brushed or even brushing his own teeth.


Unrelated to this adventure, Connor's other favorite toy is the dishwasher. I imagine that if Connor could find a dishwasher full of toothbrushes, he would be really excited.

Another pause in the blog. The adventure continued. Up the stairs down the stairs standing up sitting down. Grabbing and playing. Giggling and squealing. I wish I could find so much fun in the ordinary world around me.

Connor is currently in Tyler's room playing with Tyler's toys. Tyler is not around and I am not really supervising. I am listening to him talk to the toys. His voice is probably best described as gleeful; at least his current voice.

Now Connor is back in my room (where I am typing this). The baby still does not talk in English, but he does talk a bunch in his own language. it is pretty cute.

Anyway.... I guess I will close out these ramblings. This probably is not as interesting a story as I intended it to be, but trust me, that has more to do with my writing skills than the subject.

He is Risen

He is risen indeed.

Yes, today is Easter. For those of us who call ourselves Christians, this is the most spectacularly important and joyous day of the year. Personally, I automatically get tears in my eyes two Sundays a year. I am not one to cry much, but as I've gotten older, gotten married, especially had kids, my eyes "well up" with tears more and more often. I think the kids do it to me the most. Still, I am not what you would call an overly emotional guy. But I've always had to fight tears (or at least as long as I can remember) on Palm Sunday, and Easter. If I'm not careful, someone will notice someday that I am balling while I am pretending to sing:

"Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia! our triumphant holy day, Alleluia! who did once upon the cross, Alleluia! suffer to redeem our loss. Alleluia!"

I guess you could call them tears of joy, but at least partially they are tears of guilt. I like to think I would give my life for my wife or kids. If I had a chance, I probably would. But to suffer and die for the guy down the street or the homeless guy or the guy who punched me in the face, spit on me, laughed at me, and tortured me, is incomprehensible to me. I almost certainly would not do that.

Luckily Jesus did that for me, so it is not something I really have to worry about too much, but it isn't just literally about giving up your life for my neighbor (everyone). I am sure that Jesus would like me to sacrifice more of my time, money, effort, (blood, sweet, and tears) to other people.

I am pretty sure that I give more money to my church and other organizations who do Jesus work than most people. But, money is easy. Especially when I can just write the check, put it in and envelop and just forget about it. And of course, I don't just forget about it. Quite often I think "that could go to Tyler's or Connor's education" or "boy would a big-screen TV have been nice with some of that money" or "why can't I have a nice new mountain bike like this guy". And the truth is, I give a lot, but I have more. Tyler and Connor each have more in their college accounts than the average 18 year old college-bound kid has (and they are 4 and 1). I have 2 TVs and both are more than adequate. My mountain bike needs new shocks, but other than that is fine for what I do with it.

And I am blessed in all kinds of ways. Wife, kids, life, leisure time, money. Honestly, I "have it all". I do not think that anything has ever happened to me that did not turn out for the best. I've never had to struggle making ends meet. I've only really lost one person I've truly loved to death (before a natural time where you can say "it was his (or her) time").

In fact, I am a little worried as I go through the beatitudes that I am in a little bit of trouble when I reach the pearly gates.

• Blessed are the poor: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. All things considered, I am wealthy.
• Blessed are the meek: for they shall posses the land. I am somewhat humble, but I just get the feeling I am to really what Jesus had in mind when he referred to the meek.
• Blessed are they who mourn: for they shall be comforted. As I wrote before, I've only really had to mourn once in my life, and I've made peace with that long ago.
• Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall have their fill. I can't say I hunger or thirst for justice. I certainly do not go very far out of my way to help people persecuted throughout the world.
• Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. How often do I tell someone that I am not going to give them money to get on the bus?
• Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God. My heart is not that pure.
• Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Well, I very rarely instigate conflict. I do try to make peace when I get a chance. But, it the conflict is not directly affecting me, I try to stay out of the way.
• Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. I have never been persecuted in any manner.

There are millions of people suffering in the world, and these are the people that Jesus was uplifting in his beatitudes. I just am not one of the suffering people.

But, here is the beautiful part of Easter: I am not perfect, but I don't have to be. Jesus was for me. That is pretty amazing. It is something that quite frankly, most people don't completely understand. I can not say I completely understand it. In fact, I probably understand just a very small part of God's mercy.

And, all that is ok because Jesus is risen.

Anyway, in a few minutes, I will go to church, complain about all the two-time-a-year churchgoers. I will sit in the crowded sanctuary with my wife and kids, rejoice and sing, and be happy. And, I am going to cry. No one will probably notice, but I will cry. If anyone does notice and asks, I will say (mostly truthfully) that they are tears of joy. They may be touched or they may think "what a woman", but I don't really care.

Male Grizzlies

This weekend I was attacked by a huge male Grizzly bear. He might have been protecting a little Grizzly cub who was crawling around the area. Something about these two bears reminded me of the male African lions who attacked me last weekend. (Click here for that story). I'm getting too old to be attacked by wild animals every weekend.

But, this time as the huge bear was charging, I had a "Brother Bear" type experience. All of a sudden, I became a bear. Pretty freaky, but at the time, I didn't complain, I just used my newly discovered talent to protect myself. Shape-of-a-Grizzly-Bear!

It was an epic battle. When I became a bear, I became one that was much bigger and stronger than even the huge bear that had attacked. He was persistent, though. No matter how many times I pushed him away, he kept coming.

Even with my bear-shape, I am sore from the battle today.

I hope someday to find out how wild animals keep getting in my house. I'm not sure how many of these I can survive.

Dell Part II

Sheppy's Blog: Dell

So, Dell had me reinstall windows again. I did it. I was still having problems. I called the next day to complain and now they are sending me a brand new computer. It will be the exact specifications that I ordered with this current computer.

As I mentioned, I have a co-worker with the exact same computer and basically running the same software who had no problems, so I should be fine, but I have a bit of a nagging doubt that the new computer might have the same problems.

I hope not.

But for right now, I am happy with Dell.

Dell

Here I am running hardware diagnostics on my brand new Dell computer. So far, all the tests have passed and I am on the last one (Hard Drive) before the guy on the line tells me that my problem is software. The thing is... I really believe that even if it is software, it is software that Dell provided me. I am sort of pissed at the moment that the last tech support person I talked to didn't have me try this before she had me reinstall windows. Yes, the last tech support person had me reinstall windows and other factory installed software. I've spent more time trouble shooting this brand new (two weeks old yesterday) computer than I've spent troubleshooting all other computers in my life. And, I am a bit suspicious that some of the software I've installed isn't all that stable, but then, I had it all running on my last Dell computer with no problems. AND it is software that I need for my job. AND it is software that a friend / coworker of mine is running on the exact model of computer I am using. I don't know... I am just killing time here while the diagnostics run. At this point, I hate Dell and will probably never buy another. I want to return this piece of crap, but I'm not exactly sure they'll let me if their diagnostic tool doesn't show there is a problem.

Probably not since their warranty says under "Things that are not covered":
Software, including the operating system and software added to the Dell-branded hardware products through our factory-integration system, third-party software, or the reloading of software

What kind of idiot am I buy an expensive laptop computer that doesn't even guarantee that it will work with the software they install. I guess I am screwed.

And then... what do I do for a laptop?

This damn thing is only 38% done. I hate Dell.

Male Lions

I was attacked and mauled by a couple of wild, vicious, African male lions in my own home yesterday after supper. It was a terrifying experience. One was much bigger than the other. In fact I think the littler one wasn't much more than a baby. He was, in fact pretty cute, but once he saw what the bigger one was doing, he joined in with a savagery that made me think he was trying to imitate the big one. Maybe they were brothers and the little brother was trying impress his bigger brother.

Anyway, the big one started by charging at me with a blood-curdling roar and his long sharp teeth and claws chomping and slashing toward me. I fought him off as well as I could. In fact, I felt I had things under control until the little one started in as well. The big one kept knocking me over and the little one kept clawing and biting at me while I was down.

The roars of these lions were enough to wake the dead. Actually, I don't think the little one would have been so bad, but when he joined in with the bigger, I really felt like screaming in terror. In fact, I did scream for help.

One thing I didn't know until last night is that male lions sometimes wear batman pajamas. Apparently, they also wear batman underwear. Pretty weird, huh? I also didn't know until last night is that some male lions have only a few teeth and drool something horrible. It only makes getting attacked that much more frightening.

Another thing about wild African lions that surprised me is that they are surprisingly proficient at speaking English! I mean, I've seen Lion King, and those lions talked, but I thought Disney took some liberties when it made those lions speak. No, lions actually know English! The larger of the two lions kept saying things like "I'm a big male lion and I'm grumpy!" Even the little one seemed to say "Da Da Da Da Da," quite a bit.

I also found out that my wife doesn't really care if I get attacked or even eaten by wild animals. I keep screaming for help and she just kept on washing dishes. Washing dishes is one of her favorite activities, but I always thought that if my life was in danger, she would do something or at least be a little worried about me. She was so into her dishes that my cries for help barely even registered with her, and she just ignored my situation.

After what seemed like hours of unrelenting attack, I was finally able to stop the bloodshed by agreeing to read a children's' magazine to the two lions. The magazine had an article in it about lions. Apparently wild African lions enjoy hearing about themselves. I am battered and bloody, but I survived. I don't think I'll ever be quite the same, though.

Tweedle beetles

I've been watching out for the tweedle beetles. It is difficult because they are sneaky. Whenever you look for them, they scatter. Who knows where they go? To make matters worse, whenever they walk around in downtown Denver (maybe other cities as well) they are in disguise! Sometimes they look like big fat men. Sometimes they look like skinny little girls. Sometimes they look like homeless guys or women. Sometimes they look like regular beetles. Differentiating between tweedle beetles in disguise and everyone else is not easy. There is a subtle look in their eyes which is hard to pick up without experience in this sort of thing. And it is hard to see their eyes while they are scattering.

One way you know for sure you are looking at a tweedle beetle is if it is in a bottle with other tweedle beetles having a paddle battle. Quite often the bottle is on a poodle. Sometimes, the poodle is eating noodles. If there is a fox in sox in the bottle with them and a knox is walking away from the bottle, you can be almost certain that you are looking at tweedle beetles. In fact, I've never ever ever heard of this happening with anything but tweedle beetles.

Unfortunately, it is somewhat rare that just walking around downtown, tweedle beetles behave like that. As I said above, they are usually in disguise. Now, I've never had a tweedle beetle do anything physically to me while I'm walking around, but then I look out for them. I hardly ever let my guard down, so it could be that the tweedle beetles are looking for easier marks. I suppose it is possible that the reason I have not had problems with tweedle beetles is that they are, in fact, harmless. But what is the likelihood of that? I certainly don't trust a whole group of organism that wander around in disguise.

You shouldn't either. Watch out for those tweedle beetles.

When Tweedle beetles battle with paddles in a bottle and the bottle is on a poodle and the poodle is eating noodles, they call this a Tweedle beetle puddle paddle noodle poodle battle.

Dr. Seuss