A letter to the President from Liam

This is a letter to our President from my 8 year old son Liam. 3 points to consider:
1:This is soooooo cute!!(sorry Liam)
2:I in no way indorse this letter!(sorry Mom and Dad-in-law)
3:I am not going to use spell check on this one!
This is verbatim;
Hi Goge Bush,
I think you'r a grat President. I know your dowing great job for the contry. Your dowing a great job. I condint vote for you cus I moved to Noth Carolina. I also codin vote because I'm only 8 and I half to be 18. Ten more years. So have good luck.
Yore friend' Liam

Please, just take the urine.

Had an exciting time today trying to drop off a urine sample to the lab. Well, not just any sample, but a gallon of urine. To begin my story, my wife after having seen the doctor on Monday, was put on bed rest for the rest of the pregnancy. She was also to submit a 24 hour urine sample. Needless to say with all the fluids she's been drinking and little Tony kicking her bladder, she goes a lot. I was expecting a little cup, and went whoa when she presented me with the gallon. She informed me that you have to save it everytime you go in a 24 hour period and then keep it on ice.
Well to move this tale along;We were on our way to the doctors and decided we should drop off the sample to the lab first, which is about 5 miles up the road from her doctors office. I will run the sample up to the lab seeing she is supposed to be on bedrest and really shouldn't overdo it in any way. Steph tells me the lab is on the 4'th floor. I got to the floor, carrying the gallon, and there is no lab. I ask, and it is on the 2'nd floor. I wait for the elevator-too slow--so I take the stairs. Get to the "lab", and it is a big room with a whole bunch of people waiting in line to see the receptionist. I think "this can't be it!". I ask and it is. wait in line. I stand behind about 4 people and wait to go up the glass window. Everyone's presenting insurance cards and filling out papers. I'm standing there looking at my watch and holding a gallon of urine.
I finally make it to the window. Hand her the paperwork and am about to hand over the increasingly heavy gallon. She says steph has to sign a consent form. I tell her that she is on level 4 and is not supposed to exert herself. She says I can run it out to her and have her sign it. What??? It's a urine sample for protein, not a DNA test. She then says that I can have a seat, there are 3 people ahead of me. What????
I'm getting hot at this point and keep telling her that this is making no sense. I look at my watch and in 6 minutes we are going to be late. Steph hates to be late. I storm out of there, holding the gallon I thought I could just drop off, and head for the stairs. One problem I can't find them(and I'm certainly not going to ask those bozos at the "lab").
This 2'nd floor is like a huge labyrinth, that leads to the same waiting area. I get frustrated and open a door that this no markings on it and hope that this is the exit. I walked in on a person getting a pretty intense exam. I closed the door quickly with a quick "sorry". How embarrassing for them and me.
I finally make it out. We get to the appointment fashionably late, tell them my story. They call over and then tell me that all I have to do is go back and drop it off. No more problems.
I go back after the appointment, and wait in line for a different receptionist this time. She says "oh yes", and then proceeds to tell me to have a seat and someone will be with me shortly.
AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Welcome to the show my friend.

I don't know why but today I am thinking about concerts that I have seen, and I have seen many. The one thing that irks me is having to stand when you paid for a seat. I go to watch the performers and find it very uncomfortable to stand for 2+ hours.
I go to shows to watch the music being performed(maybe it's the musician in me). I go to hear it as well. I don't see the point in treating it like one big party and standing with all the other patrons. Don't get me wrong, some music requires standing--Punk or Rap. If I ever attend a rap performance just bring the van around back, put me in a straight jacket and off to the padded cell I go.
I once bought tickets for steph and I to a Rush concert(still one of the few bands we both enjoy and love). Now I paid a steep price for these tickets because I wanted to get as close to the stage as I could get. I was so excited when the "scalper" said he had 2 in the 7'th row. Wow!!!
Well we got to show and I looked totally 80's, with my long blown-dried hair and especially my boots. Sort of a cross between cowboy and heavy metal.
We got to our seats on the floor(I felt so important), and we were so close to the stage.
Well when the lights went out and the show started, not only did we stand, but we stood on our chairs. I spent the whole show trying to keep my balance on this fold-up chair in my country-metal boots.
Needless to say I don't go to many big shows anymore; and I certainly don't want to get on the floor.
And to this day I have no hair or any idea where my boots are.

To ERR is in-human

Even though I oppose the death penalty at times, and at times I want it installed(totally wishy-washy Charlie Brown), I have to admit I wanted it for ERR(Eric Robert Rudolph). I try not to be too political or let you know what side I'm on. And I'd like to try for once and let things not bother me. But these type of individuals burn me up one side and straight down the other.
Nutjobs who take innocent lives to meet their agendas have no place in my world. I can still remember the day that the Oklahoma city bombing happened. Why would this happen?? I'm not interested in why did this happen? Seeing that picture of the firefighter carrying off the limp,lifeless body of an infant was too much for my human heart to handle. I'm disgusted in any type of terrorism. To go to an extent of taking an innocent life is unconscionable.
I don't care what ERR has to say for himself, or if he shows no remorse. He is a coward, and should be put down.
I'm sorry this is so dark, but as a human being with morals attributed to cosequences, I feel obliged to write my feelings down.
In my life every coward I have seen from Columbine to TWTC, has made me feel for victims, their families and everyone else on that downward spiral into WHY?, WHY?, WHY????.
I pray for peace.

Spotlight on the human condition

I was brought to the attention of a certain condition this week by my wife. I have to slow down and pace myself while communicating effectively. She couldn't be more right. She nailed it on the head. If we move too fast through life and don't try to stop and enjoy and figure things out at our own pace, we will never figure them out.
Now, I'm not preaching stop and smell the roses, but if we don't stop, we will be wondering what that beautiful fragrance is that just whisped up my nose.
On a sidenote, check out this article. God is not dead! If some of these folks in this article would slow it down, they might just see what the real human condition is, and how an important human being spent his life perfecting it.(I had to change this post because the actual article is under congressman joe)

lyme disease????

Well it's been a week since my last post. We did find our stroller.It's the first stroller that we looked at before we began our buying odyssey into infant retailers.
I have been feeling a little tired lately. I think it's due to our vacation and then the massive shopping spree in Greenville, S.C.. I know the one thing it's not due to, Lyme disease.
When we lived back in New England, it seemed the doctors answer to any ailment was lyme disease. I came down with a summer cold(which I caught from a co-worker, not a tick), went to the doctor and , after I told him what it was, he insisted I had lyme disease. He put me on medication immediately and ordered blood tests. While taking this medication, I was to avoid all contact with the sun.
Now this was in the summer. Imagine seeing a guy mowing his lawn in 90 degree heat, with longpants, a long shirt and a cowboy hat.
The real kicker was when I took our 13 year old chihuaha to the vet, because her hind legs were useless, and we thought she had a stroke. Guess what the vet's diagnosis was. Yup, you guessed it-Lyme disease.
I don't want to sound like the medical establishment in New England was made up mostly of quacks. My blood test came back negative, almost the time when I was to take my last pill. Maybe it was just being cautious, or paranoid. All I know is I'm starting to get a little more energy now!

On the hunt for strollers

Well, We're back from Memphis. Now we're off to Greenville on our continuing hunt for the right stroller for Anthony. No we didn't go to Memphis to look for a new stroller, although we did look in a few places. If we didn't, I never would have seen Guitar Center and bought my new Fender Bass.
Today we'll go off to Greenville,and hopefully find the one we're looking for. As usual Steph has done extensive research, so I'm certain if it's not found today, we'll be ordering on-line. It's so much easier that way, but you can't test drive a stroller on-line.
I'm off to practice my base, while waking the family up.