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.

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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.