Last Day Off

It's nice to have been off this many days in a row. Five days is great actually! It's a busy week ahead but it'll be the last big theatre week until the musical kicks off in July.

After that it's wide open except for once a week rehearsals for The Date in the season opener, The Dixie Swim Club. I'm still proud of her to have gotten into that show. If that director asks you to audition then she sees something she likes in you for one of the parts.

Yesterday we went to the city to let Thing 2 run rampant in the Asian supermarket. That was quite the adventure, she went into a frenzy. We got her under control again and she had a new tea pot, tea, and a drum thing that bangs when you turn it in your fingers. Very annoying.

Today I'll go up to the lawyer's office and see about what paperwork I need to fill out and something else I can't remember right off the top of my head. It's a hot day though, hot and windy.

First Real Father's Day

Although the adoption isn't final yet and there's still another step to go through the ex's parental rights were terminated and he is no longer relevant to any discussion about the girls. They are essentially mine already.

I wish I had met Thing 1 when she was younger but there's always a reason and a plan for things to happen the way they did so I trust and take what comes. I'm sure once she is out on her own and matures through the hard knocks of life then she and I will have a much better relationship. And then we'll become closer and have the father/daughter relationship we need.

Thing 2 is my girl though, probably from the first time she met me. Once The Date and I were married, maybe even before, Thing 2 used my last name on everything. She occasionally calls me dad, I think it's awkward for her to do that. It's ok though, she's never really had a father figure in her life until me. She just doesn't know what that's supposed to be like. She loves me though and I love her.

We finished our gardens yesterday, planted some beans, sweet potatoes, and another okra plant. I picked up some seeds for next year and we're looking forward to having a good growing season!

Garden Planted

Thing 2 and I accomplished planting everything yesterday except the sweet potatoes which will get their own garden. We've got three varieties of tomatoes, okra, bell peppers, banana peppers, and cucumbers. We've got bean seeds and will give that an attempt as well.

Not your typical garden actually since a lot of the main crops have been left out such as onions, lettuce, potatoes, and staple foods like that. We'll plant garlic early this fall and harvest next year in summer.

We filled up the second garden and now only the third garden remains to be filled. We'll get that done this morning when she wakes up. Then we'll get the sweet potatoes planted in that as they apparently will invade your whole garden with the tubers.

The pickles are done today! Honestly they were done likely two days ago on Thursday. I decided to take the cap off one of the three jars and put a bit more vinegar into it as I didn't fill it up quite enough. There was about a quarter inch of pickle at the top that wasn't being pickled. I couldn't resist and ate one...and proceeded to eat the whole jar myself.

They have a tiny bit of spice on the backside of flavor as crushed red peppers were one of the spices used as per the recipe. Delicious though! I'd recommend making your own! They have that Claussen crunch, they taste clean and crisp. They were cheap to make after purchasing the spices, and they are darn tasty!

Friday Morning!

Yeah it's payday but I've also been very busy this morning. I have been editing the shoot from last night at Blue Jay's Barber Shop where they specialize in old fashioned straight razor shaves with the whole atmosphere to go with it! It's really pretty unique and was fascinating to film.

After filming that last night I did tech for Third Thursday which is an acoustic guitar show at the theatre every month. Packed room and good performers as well! It was a nice time.

This morning Thing 2 and I went back out to Lowe's to get more compost and tomato trellises. We've got the second garden full now and some plants planted. When it cools off we'll finish planting and get the third garden filled. We are planting started tomatoes, okra, bell peppers, banana peppers, and we'll get some beans planted for winter.

I believe she got sweet potatoes as well but I can't quite remember. We are too late in the season for many crops that we use a lot of like onions and potatoes and such. That'll be next year but soon enough we'll be able to plant garlic! I use a ton of that when I cook so it'll be very useful!

All in all we have gone with three 4x4 by 8 inch gardens and let me tell you it's a lot of work building them and filling them in this hot sun! It was ninety eight yesterday and it'll be a little over one hundred today! We'll get them wrapped up pretty soon though and really that's the hardest part of this style of gardening. After this it's just crop rotation and harvesting! Easy enough!

I'm Off

I was nearing a breaking point at work. It was slow due to the inspection cycle and that means I had to find work to do for a couple of days this week. I decided to take off, I need a few days of rest and doing what I want to do to recharge.

Plan on making a trip to Lowe's today and getting a couple of tools, then some supplies to build our square foot gardens. I can build two 4x4x8 inch gardens and one 4x8x8inch garden for roughly one hundred dollars. That should produce enough food to supplement our grocery buying and reduce costs. We are in bad economic times right now and depending on what article you read it rivals the Great Depression in terms of economic indicators.

With at least another two years of bad coming it's time to move towards dollar stretching and square foot gardening seems the best way to go. Today is the first step! I'll get Thing 2 and we'll get this going today, she loves to be outside and loves gardening after Grandma showed her a few things last year!

The Date knows how to can and preserve foods so a portion of the gardens will be grown for future use. I want these to look pretty nice and I want Thing 2 to really enjoy doing this so it'll be fun for her and beneficial for everyone.

So today since I'm off work and tomorrow is payday we'll start our endeavor into gardening!

Nineteen Years

Today is my nineteen year anniversary at work. Nineteen long years means that on June 15, 2022 I'm finished, I'll clock out for the last time:) I'll be fifty two and have plenty of time to pursue other things.

I'll receive full pension and after a few more years I'll start to receive my 401k. I don't kid myself about social security. It's a good program that's run its course. I'd rather have all the money kicked into it now transferred to my 401k and let my managers handle it. They've grown my retirement in these rough times well enough.

Nineteen years and I hope the roughest patches are behind me at work. I'm sure that we'll never strike again. I hope anyway, I'll likely vote against it in the future if need be.

I'll earn another full week of vacation next year as well on this date. That'll make the next...last decade go faster! I won't have to be there as much! How ironic is that?

Nineteen years, I was a young twenty two when I started. I've lived through a lot of changes at work, a lot of hoops to jump through, a lot of nonsense, and a lot of struggling. I've got it made now though, some weeks I'm super busy, some weeks not so much. Some weeks I can't catch up, some weeks I'm more than caught up. It'll be just like that for the next eleven years. I'm almost in the home stretch, almost 2/3rds done!

Quiet Night

Had a pretty quiet night at home after grocery shopping. I made a chicken rigatoni dish and played Starcraft 2 with Abostang for a couple of hours. Thing 2 went to rehearsal, and The Date and I lounged around the house sharing the TV.

Abostang and I were promoted to the silver league last week and now we are ranked second and have knocked off some gold league players. In 1v1 competition I went 3-1 last night and everyone I faced was favored against me. If I keep that up it won't be long before I'm promoted to another league.

I forgot the GOP debate was last night, I'd have liked to have seen it however there's a dozen more debates to come before the election in November 2012 and the ousting of Obama. The big debates will be Obama vs. the GOP contender, if the numbers follow suit then unemployment will be double digits by then. I would love to see him explain his failures to the American public and with a straight face ask for their votes again. We literally put a worse Jimmy Carter into office.

Start It Up

One more week in the books, one more on deck. The pickles are looking...well like pickles. The recipe says seven days, I may not be able to wait until Saturday. It's a lot like making bacon, you shake the jar every day for a few seconds to mix the spices around. With bacon you flip the meat over every day.

Hopefully they'll be Claussen caliber pickles or better! When we get expendable funds again and I can get the square foot gardens built and filled with the mixture, we're going to plant pickling cucumbers for sure!

The Date used to can stuff so we'll have a way of preserving foods:) I've got no idea on how to can anything so I'm helpless in that department.

This week should be hot, the rainy weather kind of cooled things down a bit but now it'll get back over one hundred again. So be it, it's just apart of living here. Hopefully this week will fly by!

Rainy Night

I mowed yesterday, good thing too as it rained what seemed like all night long. In reality it was probably only a couple of hours or so. I'm glad I got it done yesterday though or it'd be a lot harder to do coming up!

Washed dishes, made enchiladas, got a few supplies to make Claussen dill pickles, and watched Ice Station Zebra on TCM as well as The Caine Mutiny. Is this what life will be like after I retire? I can only hope!

I also did a little bit of looking into the origin of Mason jars. I had never seen a brand with the name Mason on them. So I wondered if why they were called Mason. Turns out John Landis Mason invented the shoulder sealing lid in 1858 along with a zinc cap. Before that people used wax, cork, or leather sealers. The Mason jar had a threaded neck for the new cap to screw onto. Home food preservation was never the same after that.

Like most inventors who had a brilliant and culturally changing ideas, he sold his rights and died broke in 1902. Before home freezers were commercially viable in the home this was the newest bestest thing to preserve food in the home.

No Power X2

So after the night before and it's power problems I get to work and we are there maybe a half hour and the power to our building goes out. Then it comes back on for half the building.

Then maybe two hours later the power to EVERY building goes out and I wave the white flag and go home at noon. I get home and get Thing 2 squared away at drama camp at the theatre and come back. I decide the day is perfect for pulled pork so I find the thawed roast I had in the fridge, marinade it up, light the fire, and smoke the thing for six hours. It was a small roast so no need for the much longer smoking times that are usually required. However I did smoke it too long by maybe an hour as it was dried out in places.

Usually I cook an eight to nine pounder and that requires roughly two hours per pound to get it tender, this one was very lean and I really didn't account for the lack of fat. However by the time it was over the bark was all over and the meat, though over done, was very tasty!

Pulled the pork and added the sauce, put it on buns and supper was served!

No Power

Yep, it just came back on about fifteen minutes ago. It went off around eleven I think?
I don't know I was trying to sleep when this huge gust of wind hit and hit for ten minutes.

Power went out and that was that. The battery back up on the alarm woke me up and here I am! Yeah it was a rough night with no air conditioning or fans, not going to lie about that. Oh well, it's over and we are up and awake now.

The last day of the week! Hooray! This weekend will be nice, no plans yet but it'll be nice anyway!

Side note to yesterday's blog regarding our conference call with a new client, his partners LOVED the idea and they are now working on what we need to make this happen, they are supposed to have it back to us in a few days! That's exciting stuff right there!

Good Start

Beersnob and I had a conference call last night with our prospective client/business partner and it went very well. Beersnob and I sat at the pub around nine and chatted about how it went and he point out some things we need to be aware of if we go further ahead.

I'll be checking out what a LLC will cost today and see about getting that set up. All in all I felt very good about the call and what he had to say. He was enthusiastic about the prospective idea and we are proceeding ahead.

This is exciting news for me personally as it's an idea I had, gave it legs to run, and now it's on its way to becoming reality.

The Hearing

In case you hadn't heard the preliminary adoption hearing went very well! The ex's rights were officially terminated and the adoption can proceed without his consent! He's over, done, finished...other than he still has to pay his back child support and that increases monthly due to state imposed interest.

I enjoyed being off yesterday and really I didn't do much outside of making a roast for supper. A week like that and I could really recharge my batteries and improve my mood but alas I'm forced to hang onto my leave whenever necessary right now. Beersnob and I are currently working on a project that has the potential to be bigger than average and it would require traveling on our part to shoot it.

More on that as it develops but I LOVE this idea and so did our prospective client. We are setting up a conference call with him for this week to go into detail with them and possibly get this thing underway.

The Date turned in her notice at the library, the twentieth will be her last day there, I'm good with that. She will be launching her special project very soon and is in the process of getting things going right now! This is going to be a big thing for the area and it'll help people out at the same time who are finding it hard to stretch a dollar in this Obamanomy. Believe me we're all hurting and are getting sticker shock at the grocery store and gas pumps.

So I'm off to work to finish out the week now and await news from Beersnob that we have our conference call arranged. I'm looking forward to advancing this project quickly!

Hearing Day

This morning we have a preliminary hearing on the adoption of The Things. It's going to be a good thing and then I don't know the process but I'm guessing they will set the final court date after this.

It'll be nice to remove the "step" from stepfather. Thing 1 is on the fence about it at times but Thing 2 has been using my name since before The Date and I were married. The ex has literally disappeared and not even the lawyer can find him now. He's quit paying child support the last six weeks and since he's 92k behind I don't think he plans on paying for anymore.

I've read stories of men being put in jail for a fraction of that amount. This guy has slipped through the system for years now. It's really strange that he hasn't wound up in prison yet but it's imminent. This is a bed he's been making for years and soon he's going to be sleeping in it for 5-10 more.

It's really a shame that he has no interest in them. Don't get me wrong I'm glad he's gone, most likely for good and this 92 thousand dollar debt will haunt him for his entire life which is deserved and self inflicted.

Any hope for a better life will always be haunted by this until it is cleared up, and it likely never will be. It'll start growing exponentially by a state imposed interest rate and added to weekly by two hundred and fifty dollars. I pay half that amount into my 401k every two weeks!

It's a mess but thankfully we aren't on the wrong end of it!

The Reliance Project

If you read this I ask that you disseminate it to people you know, to churches, to charity organizations, to any philanthropist out there who may be interested in making their community a better place.

The economy isn't going to fully recover for some time yet, it's in trouble and cost of living increases will continue to rise putting a huge strain on monthly household budgets. If these tough times force someone on government dependence they don't give you the skills to get off of it easily or at all. Over time you can easily become a slave to a way of life.

I know there are things I don't know about this right now, get me in touch with smart people who can flesh this out on these bones of an idea.


The Reliance Project
Problem:

According to a recent article in the local paper up to 1 in 5 residents of this county are on food stamp assistance. While this is a sometimes necessary situation during hard times it also seems very high. This is a part of the country where hunger should be a stranger and a day and age in which no one should go hungry. This also leads to unhealthy eating as the food purchased is usually junk food or easy to prepare.

Problem 2:

With the rise in fuel and food prices seniors are at risk of extending their fixed incomes beyond their means. With these necessary costs creeping beyond the reach of many on limited incomes the problem of hunger arises again and is a haunting specter of things to come.

Problem 3:

Average families are looking at more ways than ever to save money just to keep their heads above water. It’s a tough time for everyone right now and for the foreseeable future. If gas prices go beyond four dollars per gallon it will eat up the household budget and leave little left for living expenses.

Solution:

I believe the time is right to form a project group to solve these problems by teaching basic gardening skills. I’ve read Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew. He teaches the basic skills of raised bed gardening with rationed space for planting. What is taught can feed a family indefinitely without the backbreaking work of traditional row gardening. I believe that teaching people self reliance will break the cycle of government dependence that robs people of dignity and the motivation for bettering themselves. This is done in a multipronged strategy as outlined below:

• Base of operations should eventually be a 51 food diameter Geodesic greenhouse dome, the price of this dome is $44,950. This allows for 2,200 square feet of growing space anytime during the year. It is dual purpose as it would be constructed in a public area, it’ll be a visible sign that hunger is temporary and self reliance is within the grasp of anyone who wants to break the cycle of dependence, learn to stretch a dollar further by learning these skills, or is looking to learn to be self reliant altogether.

• I’ll work with instructors/gardeners to produce a DVD course of everything taught. These can be sold to raise money to pay for the dome and scholarships for attendees who cannot afford to pay for a course (price to be determined) and learn the basic skills.

• I’ll produce the video course free of charge IF all proceeds go towards paying for people to attend training in the dome greenhouse.

• People who can afford to attend should be allowed to pay for a course and it should be enough to provide for a scholarship to those who are unable to pay.

• Proof should be provided for those on government assistance that they have abandoned government assistance in lieu of self reliance.

• How to prepare the fruits of the labor and preserving should also be taught. The food harvested is worthless unless you know how to cook it after all.

• Over time other courses can be added such as raising chickens for eggs and meat for example.

Benefits of The Reliance Project:

Learning a necessary skill that will enable you to feed yourself and family on an indefinite basis should be a reward unto itself. There are other benefits as well such as a healthier level of eating, less people on public assistance means less pressure on tax payers, a generation of people will be given their freedom to live anywhere and be able to support themselves in any economic condition. Food grown in the dome can be donated to food banks, senior centers, and sold at the farmer’s markets to support the overhead of the dome and training programs.

There are parts of this project I have not fully thought out as of yet and things I’ve not even thought to consider however I welcome any and all help in fleshing out this project to completion.

If we give a hand up and give them the tools to depend upon themselves they will in turn pass those skills down to others, many Americans don’t have these basic skills anymore, skills that were prevalent in the early 20th century.

Weekend Accomplished

After the fairly hectic schedule my family has had the past two weeks it's nice to be able to not do much this weekend. As I said yesterday I had a shooting job in the morning along with Beersnob but that was finished by eight. The Date went to work at nine and got off work at three which was nice to have her home for the evening.

We had been invited to the movies by Court but honestly neither of us wanted to get out much, The Date did head over to T's house after and hung out with the movie going crowd though while I literally vegged out on the couch.

All things considered I plan on doing much the same today. I've got a decent week of work ahead but there are a couple of things that could happen to make it a week to remember. If Beersnob and I land a potential idea then it'll be the week our small company really gets it's foot in the door.

Tomorrow I plan on blogging about the food stamp epidemic and what I feel local people can do about changing it and helping people become self sufficient. It's not easy to get off of government aid once you get on it and some people need to be on it. Some people just take advantage of the system and game it as much as possible though.

I feel it is one of my most important blogs in the near future though, well outside of the one when I get to announce I'm a real father after adopting Things 1 and 2. So tell your friends about tomorrow's blog, repost the link of facebook, and please think about what this idea represents to your community.

Cabaret

Last night's cabaret was amazing. I'm very proud of The Date! She did a great job but she wasn't the only one. Yeah I'm biased because The Date, Court, Red, and a few other friends including Teehee were the performers. It really was an amazing evening! Everyone had strong performances and Teehee was so good he drew a standing ovation for his efforts!

Yes he is that good!

This morning was filled with a shoot with the Divas at 6:30. Beersnob and I edited separate cuts of the shoot so our skills will mesh well! It's working, he did a great job and cut it very close to the way I did. He's a great partner to have!

For now it's going to be a quiet day, I'm making a sesame chicken stir fry and I really love the art of stir fry cooking. It's very difficult to really screw it up.

Here's Why I Got Married

I was going to blog about the economy again and the food stamp program. I've thought of a local solution that would help people off of food stamps and not with any government help at all but I'll save that for another day. Our county has one in five residents on food stamps right now and that's pretty high to me, it's a tragedy in fact. So stay tuned for another post on the matter in the coming days!

Now I want to congratulate my wife and T on getting parts in the upcoming season opener, The Dixie Swim Club. It's directed by CC who has a reputation of putting on a good show and she runs a tight ship. You'll feel you've accomplished something by the time you are finished with the show.

Yesterday was rough on me. I see medical bills piling up from Thing 1's hospital trip and I see the income stream coming in and they don't match up. I was pretty down yesterday and didn't know what to do about it really so The Date and I had a long texting conversation (texting because I was at work and pretty busy on top of it all) she assured me it was going to be ok. Things are just things and stuff is just stuff and it's not important as being together.

So this morning I get up to a very loving and encouraging note that has made my month. I want to preserve it on my blog because I feel it is that important.

Good morning my dear husband!
Nothing in life would be worth struggling for if you weren't in my life. Everything we do takes us forward, even if it seems backwards. When I feel lost, beat down, and consumed by failures, all I need do is curl up in your arms and instantly nothing in the world seems that important. A house isn't a home without love. No matter what house it is. I would live here the rest of my life as long as I knew you'd be with me and love me the way you do. All I want is to see you smile and laugh. I want to grow old together and do puzzles and watch our grandbabies grow like weeds. And when those days arrive, none of these hard days will even be remembered. It's just stuff, it's only money, and it all wears out, gets old, gets spent, falls apart and vanishes from memory. Love and time together sticks like gum to the heart. I remember songs my mother sang to me, things she did with me, not all the things we had. We'll get through this hard spot just like we have all the other hard spots. As long as I have you, I can do anything. I can never thank you enough for all that you do. I'm sorry for being so hard on you about things I know you have no control over. You are my confidant, the only one I trust, and I never mean to burden you. I can't remember what life felt like before you and I never want to know again how to live without you. God didn't forget me - he gave me you.
Love you with all of me - "The Date"

So that's it folks, that's the reason I got married to this wonderful woman. Now tonight she is going to sing in Cabaret along with Court and Red, I've heard their set and it's darn good! Looking forward to it tonight babe and I hope to see my friends there as well!

Trouble Ahead

From this article, "Interest rates are amazingly low and that, thanks to Ben Bernanke, is driving everything," Yastrow said. "We’re on the verge of a great, great depression. The [Federal Reserve] knows it."

How's THAT for an eyeopener? How about this one, it shows a very bleak picture of our economy. Regardless if this is the new Obama economy or not it really doesn't matter right now. What matters is that you are capable of supporting yourselves when meat is fifteen dollars a pound and scarce at the grocery store or bread is nine dollars a loaf.

When you can't buy food because your dollar is so devalued that it'll take a twice as many to buy what it buys now. It's imminent. Look that word up. A financial collapse is coming our way. Our retirements are likely going to be wiped out, our dollars worth less than the paper they are printed on, everything will be turned upside down.

Now is the time to prepare yourselves and family. Learn to grow your own food. Learn to be more self sufficient. Learn to raise chickens if you have to or some kind of meat that you want to eat and can butcher. Learn to butcher for that matter. We've gotten two very good books to help prepare ourselves, one is on homesteading and the other I went into detail about in another blog and it's called Square Foot Gardening.

I can't put a timeline on when the collapse is going to happen but the stage is set and I fear that our government won't be able to stop it. Might not even be able to lessen it's impact. Gas will get higher, food will get higher, and your dollar will not go nearly as far.

If we are headed for the olden days of soup lines and twenty percent unemployment then you can help yourself out and learn the skills people used when there were no stores around. When money was essentially unheard of because it was so scarce. Get that pioneering spirit and start to become self reliant.

Who's going to suffer? Yesterday on my way to work I saw a line outside our local grocery store before they were open. Yep, first of the month means new food stamps and they were there already. I'm all for the food stamp program for those who are on hard times and really need it badly but I'm all for food stamps being temporary too and NOT a way of life.

These people will starve if the economy collapses, they have become enslaved to the state. They have no skills at all to support themselves if the money isn't there anymore. They will turn to whatever means it takes to feed themselves and that is likely crime.

This won't be my family and I hope it won't be my friends.

What A Long Day

But I'm starting to get the hang of shooting a live game. What I'm used to is staged, I tell actors where to go and what to do, then I move the camera to stay on them. I know where they are going and what they are doing and I know where I'm moving the cam, easy.

Shooting live baseball is totally different. You have no idea when the ball will be hit, where it's going, or how long the play will last. Ten's brother is doing a great job of teaching me the ins and outs of shooting live sports. They have a pretty cool set up. It's pretty professional and would be a great tool to learn someday. I don't know if I'll ever have a need to learn to do live four camera shoot but learning a board would rock.

So thank you to you two guys for asking me to help with this, it's educational, fun, and it's a great learning experience. The game went ten innings last night, thankfully it didn't go until midnight! Now for a long day at work and I'll be making chicken enchiladas tonight for Crime Reporter, a request from last week! Looking forward to making enchiladas for the first time, it'll be interesting.

I've found several really good recipes that look very very tasty.

Back To Work

Yup, it's that time of the week again. We get up and put on our work clothes and head back to making a living. We played pretty hard this weekend again not really getting to bed early at all. Well last night I did knowing I had to be up at six.

We watched How to Train Your Dragon, a wonderful movie that I'd recommend. I made lasagne last night after a day of helping Ten's brother and nephew shoot the NJCCA World Series at the local ballpark. They really have a first class set up for their broadcast equipment.

Game of Thrones kicked into high gear with one of the major events that will trigger chaos in the seven kingdoms, the other big event should happen this upcoming episode. Episode eight I believe. There's another big event dealing with Khal Drogo that will have major implications but much later in the books and it will set Daenerys Targaryen onto a path she can't turn off of.

Looking forward to the final episodes, it's a wild ride!

Memorial Day

Remember today those who have fallen in service to our country and our freedom. Remember also those who are currently serving. Pray for those who are in the field right now and their safety.

Today I'm going to give Ten a hand with shooting the NJCAA games, I was going to yesterday but it was just very busy. The Date wasn't feeling well most of the day and I was tied up with helping some friends put carpet into their house.

All in all it was a busy and very good day, I'll be recharged for work again tomorrow. I've also been giving some thought on where to take my zombie story, as you know the characters are building a refuge on the shores of a lake in Idaho. One of the few safe places they've encountered. The characters are contenting themselves to a life of self reliance and learning to live with no conveniences anymore. Eventually they'll have to move south for warmer weather as Idaho gets pretty cold. I'll be giving it some thought for a while before it picks up again.

Pretty Nice Weekend

So far so good. We started it off with a cookout Friday night, attending up to two cookouts today. Ten asked me if I were available to help shoot video at the college world series here in town.

Have attended an impromptu game night at Tech Guy's house last night, and not gotten to bed before midnight both evenings thus far! Today is my brother's bday so I'll be calling later on and wishing him a happy one.

Busy weekend and it's not even half over yet! Who knows what is in store from here no out!

Amazing Success

Yesterday The Date went grocery shopping after a week of collecting coupons and organizing them. It seems like a lot of work but it's not that bad at all, you just look for value basically. How easy is that?

She purchased enough groceries to fill up the back of the Caliber and saved a grand total of 27% or just over one quarter off of our grocery bill! The bottom line was we paid roughly $125.00 for groceries yesterday. She saved enough off of our regular food bill to pay for an entire tank of gas in the Caliber!

With practice and monitoring sales in the stores a bit more closely that 27% can go up as well. I'm looking for an aggregate coupon site to assist in our money saving quest. I've found several but for the most part they are for large national grocery chains that we don't have access to here.

I'm just pretty happy as in these times it's really necessary to save as much as possible on your bills. The dollar doesn't buy as much anymore sadly.

Three Day Weekend Ahoy!

Argh mateys, tis a three day weekend on the horizon! I am not sure exactly where the pirate intro came from but oh well. Thing 2 said there is a John Wayne marathon on Memorial Day, we both are excited about that!

After work I was going to take Thing 2 fishing for a bit. She was napping and didn't want to go so I went. Filmmaker Friend Chris came with me and we just chatted for a while.

Not much happening today. I'd would have taken off work and extended my weekend a bit but my coworker is gone, put in for leave before I did. Since we are a two man shop then it was necessary for one of us to be there.

Oh well, it's good in that my leave barely topped one hundred hours this week, next week I'll have around one hundred six! It builds pretty fast for me. I like to keep it up over one hundred but not that much. Some guys carry over two hundred. That'd be nice but I take off more than they do. I enjoy some of the smaller things more than they do. And honestly a lot of them complain about their spouses more telling me that they are at work for a reason, they don't want to be at home!

Not me, my leave isn't that high!

The Thunder Fall

Yep my basketball replacement for my former beloved Storm is the Thunder which fell in the playoffs last night to the once lowly Mavericks. Yet ANOTHER fourth quarter lead squandered away.

The good news is that the Thunder are really good and really young. Next year they'll be scary good and when the Spurs and Lakers are entering rebuilding phases and the Mavs are peaking now that leaves the stage for the Thunder to shine. Shine for seasons on end too!

Perhaps they can be as dominate as either the Spurs or Lakers were when they were at their peak of goodness perhaps not. They will be a dominate force in the western conference though and they are young. They were good this year and made it to the conference finals. That's a glaring indication that they'll get better next season.

So it's time to use the Cubs' motto for the Thunder and say, "Wait til next year!"

Where's The Tornado?

We had a catastrophic round of tornado warnings yesterday that failed to produce little more than a smattering of rain here. South of us though got hammered pretty hard. I listened to the company wide weather warnings all afternoon yesterday at work and rushed home after clocking out to make sure my family was safe only to find that the storm was dissipating above us. A little rain, not even heavy at any time, a little thunder, lots of lightning, and then it was just over.

Heavy damage for many other towns though. Many homes were torn apart by massive tornadoes, hail, and high winds. That's just part of living in this state I guess. We see these things, experience them, and I can tell you that there are millions of residents in other states that have no clue what a wall cloud is, a hook echo, a dry line, or power flashes. We see them and pretty much learn it by osmosis.

The devastating amount of tornadic activity however would keep right in line with the devastating level of events that have happened this year. Japan's troubles, Alabama, Minnesota, Missouri, and now Oklahoma have all had towns destroyed by weather events. Then we have once in two centuries style flooding in Mississippi and Louisiana that has destroyed millions of acres of crops and homes. New Zealand's earthquake.

It seems I'm forgetting something but if you think about it then you can add it to the list, the rather long list. The intensity of weather events has dramatically risen lately. Yes we've always had bad weather and earthquakes but the size and scale of them lately is way higher than previous events it would appear.

I believe we are in the clear right now for a few days, a couple of states need to catch their breath.

Storms Again

After last night's round of heavy storms we've got another one today in store. The strongest potential seems to be from three until eleven tonight. Yep we've gone from drought conditions to near flood conditions within a few days. Amazing what our weather can do!

Made tacos last night during the heart of the storm. The sirens went off once and quickly turned back off. With The Date and Thing 2 fitting under the stairs I made them plates and we ate:)

I moved the cars across the street so they wouldn't get flooded again so there I was, pouring rain, pants rolled up to my knees, and barefoot. Starting cars and moving them away from the flooded areas. The water was pretty high and I didn't want my shoes wet so they would have to dry overnight and still be damp this morning.

So that was my evening, The Date went to work and I stayed home with Thing 2. Thing 1 was with her boyfriend's family trying to save their chickens from drowning. It's a good thing, chickens will be desperately needed in the new economy if this one ever fails...which is more likely every month.

Whewww

That was one wild week, busy doesn't begin to describe it actually! From IG week to a bachelor party to a wedding, from the end of the world to the end of school, from the rapture to Harold Camping setting on a very healthily funded radio network to Third Thursday at the theatre, from flooding in our yard to again having dry grass.

Yep, every minute seemed to be filled with something that was on the go with little time for resting. Busy busy busy. This week should be completely different. I think we've got little to accomplish in terms of events. I believe auditions for 1776 are this evening so I'll likely be there to watch that for a bit.

Game of Thrones was very good last night, the table has been set for the two events that throw the seven kingdoms into chaos and start a war. Very soon things will get very ugly in Westeros and it won't get better!

In Coal, Randy Remines was offered another job as a continuous miner operator with more money, the president of the company, Tom, offered him the same money to keep him. Remines gladly accepted and finally proved himself to the owners as the man they needed on nights. Good for the underdog! Good for you Randy!

Now let's see what this week has to offer! Kickoff in three...two...one...

Still There?

Yep, thought so. Don't get disillusioned. No one knows what the eventual end may be, I'm not dogmatic about it but someday something will happen. Don't worry about it, don't anticipate it, if you believe Jesus is the son of God you're covered no matter what happens.

The only thing yesterday proved is that Harold Camping, the 89 year old mortal man, was wrong and sadly thousands of people believed him. They will be very saddened, disheartened, faced with mounds of debt, office ridicule, maxed credit cards, and going back to work on Monday. Talk about one of the biggest hangovers of all time!

I'd truly not wish to be one of that number tomorrow morning on the long drive to work that you had thought you made for the last time. Yep, Friday morning you were making your last commute. Tomorrow is it, no more anything but being caught up to paradise in the most historic event of all time...and then you're still there as you watch seconds tick off of the clock past the predicted time. Your heart sinking further as you get slapped by reality.

I'm sorry for you.

On to Skate and The Invader's wedding! That was quite the event! It was great to see Bobo and Nestor (can't think of a nick for him) and meet Skate's family! Of course it's always great when I get to hang out with Jamal and Teehee as they add the flavor to any gathering!

The reception was very nice, there were lots of attendees to help kick off the rest of their new lives together! The Date, The Things, and I wish nothing but the best for them both!

Big Day

First and foremost we have a rapture prediction today. The only difference between this one and previous predictions is that this one gained some media steam with clever marketing and people who are so desperate for a new and much better existence they bought into it.

I feel for these people. In my heart I hope its true but reality is far different. The End is simply the end of the Mosaic Law and the establishment of the New Covenant through Jesus.

That's it.

There will never be a third temple built (ever, Mosaic Law will never be reestablished and animal sacrifices will never be re-instituted), it'd be an affront to God and what Jesus did at Calvary when he fulfilled every single element of the Old Covenant or the Mosaic Law (Law of Moses). He declared, "It is finished." Completed, done, over with, he established the new.

I've blogged before how this is actually the historical perspective of the church until the 19th century when dispensationalism came about, leading this cry was the theory that pretty much everything was yet to happen in Daniel, The Olivet Discourse, Revelation, and much more.

It's so much more liberating as a Christian to know that I can rest in what Christ has already accomplished and completed. Granted what I've laid out isn't as sexy or dramatic as an upcoming tribulation period that sells books by the millions but I believe it to be exactly what was prophesied in the bible. It simply makes sense.

Followers of Harold Camping will miss out on that simple revelation but I pray they look further into the subject and come to a much better conclusion.

Second of all will be Skate and The Invader's wedding. We met in OKC last night to have a spectacular meal at one of the premiere steak houses in the nation, Cattlemen's Cafe and gallivant about the town on Skate's last evening as being a bachelor! Sadly I stayed for the spectacular meal and drove home after many pictures were taken and hugs were exchanged. I'll be at the church at 4:30 to put my tux on and fulfill my ushering duties in service of the nuptials.

After there should be quite the reception with much joy and joviality!

Heavy Rains

All night and they are still coming down hard. Our intersection is flooded but that'll go away soon enough as I raked out the accumulated muck over the grate. It'll drain now.

Last night was the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner followed by the theatre's Third Thursday which I teched for. Weird, about half way through the show we lost half of the lights. I scurried around looking for breakers that went bad and then The Date stepped outside and noticed lots of other places on the block were having problems too.

Thankfully it wasn't just the theatre!

I'm all set now for the last day of work for the week and what may come after that!

Almost Over

This very long week is nearly completed. These two days will be tough though as I'm in the shop by myself. My coworker is on his way to a cooking contest in Texas to qualify for a larger contest with a big prize and a trip to the biggest contest I believe, The Jack Daniel Invitational, or it is the Royal not sure which.

So that aside it's me and me alone in the shop for two days which makes for some very long and super busy workdays.

Tonight I'll be going to Skate's rehearsal at the church and then make an appearance at the dinner, I've got to be at the theatre by 7:30 to get set up and get the equipment going. Tonight is Third Thursday and I'll be doing tech until tenish or so.

Last night was The Date's only evening off this week, it was great to actually have your spouse with you in the evening! I believe it'll be different next week, at least I'm hoping so! She's working tonight, tomorrow, and Saturday with Sunday being her only day off. Long week for her as well as me.

Half Way Point

This has been a rough week and now it's half way over with. I know The Date is looking forward to it being over as well, she's really had a rough time this week.

The part time job has scheduled her to work every single evening save tonight. So she's been making sales calls during the day and putting books back on the shelves in the evening until nine. She needs a break.

It won't be long before she can turn in her notice to the library and quit and get down to a single job, that'll be nice for us and especially her.

Tomorrow evening I'll be running the Third Thursday, they have guitar players come up and perform on stage in the Turpin Theatre. Tech Guy asked me last month if I'd fill in for him on lights and sound, I told him I would and I enjoyed it so I told the theatre I'd do it each time they had the show. It's free and really pretty good!

This weekend won't be as busy as last weekend, Skate and The Invader are getting married and I'm an usher for that. It should be a good time:)I'm proud of them and they will soon be off to Germany for his first assignment of his new career!

Skate has been a part of our lives for quite a while now and we've seen a lot together, been through a lot of shows together, and I'll miss him and her. I know he'll be super happy with his new career though, he was born to do media and he'll be a star!

Inspection Week

This is one of the worst weeks at work each year. A team of inspectors comes in and turns everything upside down. They ask stupid questions, get blank stares, and ask followup stupid questions.

Then they write things down that really will have no bearing on your employment status or pay so ultimately they don't matter. Everyone gets in a twist about this each year and it becomes unbearable to work around everyone and yet it happens.

I'd like nothing more than to skip the entire week and stay home but that's not going to happen. They don't let you off except in rare occasions where you have something preplanned and paid for and before the date of the inspection was set in stone.

Yep, it's a bad week so the best thing to do is stay under the radar as much as possible, keep quiet, and hide if possible:) It doesn't happen like that though, they always find where you are or are going to be.

I'll be glad when it's over.

Coal

I've really been enjoying this new show. It is from the producers of Deadliest Catch and I've got to say that if I had a choice of being on a crab boat or being in a coal mine as a camera crew, I'd take the crab boat.

I'm not claustrophobic but the mine just looks way more dangerous. Coal documents the start up Cobalt Coal Company in West Virginia as it starts from the basics and two new crews. Of course there's a day shift and a night shift. To pull a profit each day they need seven 20x20 cuts on each shift. They use a continuous miner to do this. A massive piece of equipment that has a ripper head that just tears into the coal and pulls it back behind it and onto a conveyor belt.

They work in a 44 inch tall area, so bend over and measure 44 inches out and try not to think of the thousands of tons of material above you.

There are two operators of the continuous miner, Andy Christian and Randy Remines. They both have done the job for years and while Christian is the better operator I tend to like Remines much better. He's an underdog guy, he's had three heart attacks and has been diagnosed with black lung disease. He's old enough that a lot of mines won't hire him anymore. In the first episode he had a note from his wife giving him encouragement on the bottom of his lunch box. It was actually pretty touching.

The first episodes focused on how the day shift was keeping the company afloat while the night shift was snake bitten and couldn't do anything right. They brought in a younger miner operator to compete with Remines and Remines came out on top. I was actually pretty happy about that because it seemed as if he were hanging on by a thread at that point.

While the company seems to be getting by on a shoestring budget they are showing progress now until last night when the continuous miner broke for good. They had to finance a new one at a cost of half a million dollars.

This has seemingly solved a lot of equipment problems and they should be able to pull a small profit each day now. It's a great show and one I'd recommend you check out and be thankful you aren't a coal miner.

Workday Saturday

A massive thanks to R yesterday! He absolutely and pretty much by himself replaced our upstairs windows. The ones that had over time just rotted away. I'm not blessed with the home repair gene. I NEVER watch the home repair channels. My skill set is elsewhere, I can cook, I can do my fair share of mechanical repairs, I can shoot and edit.

Home repair just isn't me. I don't know what I'm doing so I don't do it. Anyway R did an outstanding job! I don't even see how one person could have done it, it required four hands at least over the traditional two.

So now we've embarked on the journey of getting the house in shape enough to possibly sell.

Beersnob has an appointment tomorrow morning to talk to a local charity about doing some work for them. Bouncing some ideas around and see in what areas we can be of use to them. I'm excited about the prospect but I have another assignment for him to pursue as well that I'm equally excited about. More on that later if it materializes.

Great Night

A full eight hours of work followed by a full eight hours of play, what can be better?
A full seven hours of sleep after the playtime of course.

Last night was filled with two parties, thanks to the Bakerballs and the Pagoda Building Editor for party one. Master Baker inquired as to Beersnob and my knowledge around Super Bowl time of the fine art of cigars and if we could teach it to others. He said he was working on an idea to have a wine tasting party and that cigars would be a welcome inclusion.

Always eager to share knowledge and possibly gain more local cigar fans we agreed. Last night was the culmination of those efforts and The Date and I attended. Most of the people we didn't know but we did know a handful. Chianti and her Hubs, Beersnob and Mrs. Beersnob, The Bakerballs, The McAbbotts, and a few others.

The wine tasting was running later than normal so by the time the cigar tasting came around it was time for us to leave. Thing 2 was house managing the theatre show along with Theatre King and had to be picked up and taken to the next party. The cast party for the show to be exact.

More friends were there and again we enjoyed a few hours of happiness and joy surrounded by friends and new found friends. Hollywood Actor, Red, Teehee, Weezy's Mom, Filmmaker Friend Chris, Court, T, T's New Beau, and a handful of others made for a great party!

All in all what a great evening and what great friends!

I See Things Getting Better

With The Date doing well with her upcoming promotion for the marketing company and with the first adoption hearing less than month away things are getting better.

I see them as positive, inspiring, and a sign of an upward trend. Good is happening right now:)

The next year will hold a lot of events, good and bad. There are some challenges for sure. I believe that the rough roads we've traveled so far have done a pretty decent job of preparing us for the times ahead.

Ultimately we'll see of course. With the marketing company and their strong vote of confidence in her idea it has really boosted her morale. I think it was a pure stroke of brilliance and something so obvious that it is amazing no one thought of it years ago!

The best part is that she will be able to continue towards her next degree.

We're doing good, Thing 1 is doing good and we have her with a psychologist now.

Blessings abound!

Hearing Date

In the matter of adoption we have our first hearing date set, June 7th at 9:30 AM.

I'm not sure what the procedure is from there though or how long it takes. They just called me yesterday and told me where to be and at what time. They also said that the bio had disappeared and gave no response to the papers sent to him. We knew he had disappeared three weeks ago as child support quit coming in.

It was always sporadic anyway and not something that could be trusted on a regular basis so thank everything good that my job made up for it in bad times. I have a strong feeling he's gone for good and that the 90+k he owes to the girls and The Date will never be recovered. Fine by me, I'd just as soon he never is mentioned again and any traces of him are long forgotten.

Things are on a definite uptick, once you bottom out then you can only climb back up again. The Date has gotten some very good news on one of her ideas to market a new promotion. She's been contracted by the company I contract for with Diva shoots to launch this idea as well. It's all hers and it should make a splash. In fact the corporate office is interested in making it a corporate wide promotion depending on the results here. That's big fellow readers.

Again we hit bottom a few weeks ago, not as bad as a couple of years ago, but it was bad enough. Thank you for your prayers and good vibes sent our way. We are climbing up and good things are on the horizon!

I finished reading Foundation last night from Issac Asimov, fascinating scifi. I can see exactly why it's a fundamental story in the scifi genre. I'm moving back over to George R.R. Martin now though and diving into A Clash of Kings!

The End Of SG:U

I watched the final episode of the best scifi show on TV last night. Sad, there just isn't a lot of scifi shows out there that would qualify for that title either.

Stargate: Universe was a great and gripping show. It had compelling storylines and was a continual story arc with few standalone episodes. I really loved the flawed characters and gray areas they explored in morality.

They were trapped in a ship on the other side of the universe, galaxies separated earth and the Destiny (which was an incredible looking ship and surpassed my favorite scifi ship the USS Cygnus) which had programming to explore and the people were along for the ride at times.

I can't explain why they cancelled this show other than production costs had to have been pretty high. I'll miss the characters and I'll miss Stargate universe so to speak as this was the third series and likely the last. I've read of nothing on the horizon to replace this magnificent show in the Stargate realm.

I'm sad it's over but happy it happened and I enjoyed it.

Theatre King

I'd like to take a few moments to talk about Theatre King. A man I met during Christmas Carol and really enjoy him being around the theatre. With his gruff voice he loves taking roles that will entertain the children for the big show each year. He'll sign things and take pictures until everyone is gone. He's one of a kind and I'm glad that he's found a home at our theatre!

He did something very nice for Thing 2 yesterday and while I'll protect the integrity of the act by keeping the details to myself all I can say is that he's a great director and actor but that pales in comparison to his giant heart!

I know Beersnob and I would love to have a cigotch with you and chat over many things but I also know you don't drink anymore and I doubt if you'd enjoy a premium cigar. That's ok though:) It's an honor to know him and I know our lives as a family are better for it! God Bless Theatre King and I look forward to the next time we work together!

Very Nice Mother's Day

Thing 1 and I made The Date breakfast when she got up. I called my mother and asked her to come over in the afternoon for a chicken alfredo dish we were planning. So I had two mothers in the house and both were very full by the end of the day:)

It was hot, very hot out. It feel as if summer were making an early arrival but the drought isn't helping much either. We definitely need some major storms to roll through and moisten things up! Or better yet one of those slow moving soaker storms that seems to linger for three days! It's been years since we've had one of those!

Regardless yesterday was nice, today will be nice as well as The Date begins her new job! She'll keep the library job for a while and with any luck at all she'll be able to quit it in under a month:) Now that she's graduated she will begin the enrollment process for OU to get her bachelor's degree, they have an online school for working people and it's perfect for her!

Things are looking up my friends and fellow readers.

Oh and as a side note on the water bill fiasco I'd like to tell you that we got a cut off notice again, 15 days. The funny part that makes this worthy of posting? The notice says we have a $2.98 credit!!! I can't make this up! I guess I'll have to go down there and collect 2.98 from them so they don't cut my water off!!! And this all started with their mistake on my bill! I showed it to Beersnob and we laughed quite a bit over it!

Happy Mother's Day!

Call your mothers today!
Just a friendly reminder from your friendly neighborhood blogger!

Good Shoot

We had a shoot last night and it went better than the last shoot in which sixty mile per hour winds and clashing schedules made it less than desirable. It turned into a nice rebound shoot.

We had an outline of what we were doing and made the best of it. It was a nice event and a good turnaround on editing and posting.

It was opening night of the new show at the Theatre and The Date house managed along with T, Jamal, and Aiaka. They had a great time and we hung out at the pub for a little bit after the show.

A nice Friday and a nice start to the weekend!

Respect

Ok so Thing 1 is bringing over new dating prospects lately. Here's my thing, when I was that age and I'd meet the parents of a girl I'd walk to where they were at, look them in the eye and shake their hand. I'd show them the respect they deserve for their family and home. It was also a sign that I would treat their daughter with respect as well.

Fuzzy wouldn't get out of the car if I were sitting out in the front yard, he'd text Thing 1 and ask what he should do.

The guy before last night's guy did what I was talking about. He looked me in the eye, introduced himself and shook my hand with a firm grasp.

Last night's guy took my parking place, didn't get up off of where he was sitting, put his hand in the air and waved...yup...not impressed, NEXT!

If a prospective dater will make the effort to show respect then I know that he will treat my daughters well. He won't eventually be selfish, jobless, bum. He will care about their well being and sacrifice for them if need be to put food on the table.

Now there are a lot of other factors that come into play but for the most part it comes down to one simple showing of respect to get me behind you to start with, otherwise FAIL! NEXT!

Busy Day Ahead

I know I've got a lot at work I'll have to do today. Yesterday was a busy day but it was a nice evening. I made another pretty tasty Kung Pao Chicken stir fry and Crime Reporter came over and ate with us.

We got caught up on Deadliest Catch and I watched one of the last few remaining SG:U episodes. Sad this series is ending, it's great scifi. The first season should go down as one of the great scifi seasons in TV history, it's that good to me!

One more episode and it's done. I hope they wrap it up nicely and not let the fans hang on a cliffhanger.

Well we learned last night that Thing 2 along with another girl won top honors as soloists at tri-state. That's a pretty big honor and the teacher didn't even know it until last night. She wants to go to Japan as a missionary now, actually she just wants to go to Japan and hang out but figures if she does it under the banner of mission work it'll be cheaper:) Yeah, we'll see on that:)

Spring Concert

Last night was filled with orchestral music for me. It was the middle school spring concert and the awards concert.

Thing 2 won top musician for 8th grade! She got a trophy for that and she won a medal for auditioning at national orchestra honor band and a solo at tri-state.

I'm very proud of her:) Thing 1 went to a prayer meeting and bible study. I'm glad she's getting involved in a church with teens. It's a good activity for her and needed.

The Date had to work but I got most of the concert filmed before the battery died. Beersnob has got the charger as we needed it to charge multiple batteries at one time for the cook off two weeks ago.

All in all it was a good night and one that Thing 2 had been looking forward to for a long time! You can't help but love her to pieces!

Is It Wrong?

Yep, I was in a celebratory mood yesterday and last night after hearing about the departure of OBL from this world. The man who celebrated the deaths of thousands of people from Kenya and the bombings there of American embassies, to the USS Cole, to the first world trade center bombing, to finally knocking the buildings down, and likely countless other terrorist acts.

He celebrated death and destruction on a grand scale. He was so bad of a man that we went out of our way to declare we were not at war with Islam. He was not a representative example of the entire religion, he was evil.

So after we hunt him for ten years, find him, and kill him, we bury him in accordance with Islamic tradition. Why? Because we are better than they are, that's why.

Because we celebrate life, building things, good things. We celebrate all that is good and can be good in the world. We are not them. When the Palestinians danced in the streets celebrating 9/11 we got sick about it. Now it is no surprise that Hamas has condemned us for killing OBL, again down the hatch, he's burning right now.

We treated the world's arch enemy with respect and dignity as we buried him at sea in accordance to his faith. The man who was behind the deaths of literally thousands of people is dead now, we killed him, and I was happy about it.

He's In Hell Now

Osama Bin Laden is now facing divine justice and will soon be sent to serve his eternal sentence in hell along side the other hijackers of 9/11 that have been there nearly a decade now.

Down the hatch, may he burn forever.

One of the few events that could unite the left and right has happened. A SEAL team shot this madman in the head and dumped him into the sea. God Bless the SEALS and our military!

Great Graduation Day!

My day began at a quarter till six. I got showered and got to work before seven. After nearly a five mile walk of very very turtle like conditions in high wind we mounted a static display aircraft where I work. A T-33 if you care to look it up here. It's a big jet, heavy.

After I left work The Date was getting prepared for her big day. T took her out to lunch while The Things and I got ready ourselves. The auditorium was packed. Glad we got there early and found seats.

The graduation started and it lasted around an hour followed by a nice reception from the school to the graduates. Then the surprise really started. T went to the theatre to open it up for the guests of the surprise party while I stalled at a gas station. I sent Thing 2 inside to use the bathroom, Thing 1 fixed a fountain drink. It worked well enough under the guise that we were going to the pub for celebratory lunch with reservations at 5.

It didn't dawn on T that the teens couldn't get into the pub so I sent the Things ahead of me from the parking lot as fast as they could while The Date talked to her friend from out of town.

Finally we arrived inside the theatre to a rousing SURPRISE! T had pulled off one of the great surprises after tons of hard work and secrecy! A dozen framily members were there to help us celebrate this milestone of The Date's educational career.

The framily decided since a camera was present they would recreate shots from Awkward Family Photos.com and since we were at a theatre and had access to the prop and costume rooms they proceeded for a couple of hours to stage recreations. I turned on the stage lights to add to the ambiance and hilarity ensued!

The biggest surprise was yet to come though. R, with the help of Thing 2, had been secretly painting our living room walls while we were at the ceremony. It was even a secret from me.

All I can say is thank you so much for making this a very memorable day! The Date and I were both very touched by the kindness and generosity of our framily!

Big Day

The Date graduates with her associate's degree this afternoon. She's excited, well we all are actually. She'll be pursuing her bachelor's as well but she's examining the options as she really doesn't want to drive clear out west to attend classes three times a week.

Well and we can't afford that if gas continues it's climb towards six dollars per gallon which it will reach this calendar year if things continue down this path.

Regardless today is about celebrating.

This morning I'm going to work and will get about four hours of overtime. That'll make next Friday's paycheck look dramatically better especially after the water bill fiasco of last week.

Today will be a good day:)

The Wedding

First of all who cares? In America we have a built in allergy to royals. For the most part, nanny staters need not apply, we are freedom loving and require it as we require air to breathe.

Yes an argument can be made that the royals are nothing but figureheads now. They hold little to no sway in governmental matters. They seem to ride around in carriages and wave a lot.

At least they have moved past marrying their own kin, something usually thought of as reserved for the Appalachian mountains and royalty.

So yes we have a basic allergic reaction to anything royal. The thought that a higher born individual is naturally better than a commoner is absurd to us. Here even those who are born to lower surroundings can rise and become a success with hard work, education, and dedication.

Royal wedding? I ignored it.

Thing 2

She's got all kinds of music competitions today so I've gotten her up at 6 this morning so she can get ready. She's not grumpy but she's not talking much either.

She'll do great actually. She's been practicing for weeks just for this one day. It's some piece by Wolfhart, or Wolfgang, or Wolfsomething...I think it's German. Regardless it's a difficult piece and she's doing pretty well with it.

The Date is steadily checking off her last classes one by one. Saturday and she's going to graduate with her Associate's degree. It'll be big for us! I'm looking forward to the graduation and her continuing pursuit towards her Bachelor's:)

2V2 Terrors

Abostang and I have been ripping up other 2v2 teams the past couple of nights. Over the past two evenings we are 10-4 and every other team has been slightly favored or favored meaning they are higher ranked players and you get more points for the win.

We've just been playing really solid lately and it's racking up the wins. Abostang has been playing platinum level players in 1v1 and it's just translating into being a better player. I've played with him and against him as well and he's good!

We've gone from being ranked in the eighties when we started to being ranked in the top fifteen as of last night. Every win just furthers our record and leaves a path of broken and raging opponents!

The march to first continues!

Square Foot Gardening

After recent trips to the grocery store I've decided to look more seriously at gardening at home. After much research into what I thought gardening was like and with experiences as a child I didn't really like the prospects of tilling up the ground, planting long rows of seeds, weeding them every day, watering them for hours on end, and having a huge harvest at once where half the stuff goes bad before you can use it or having to can stuff you'd never eat.

So after much more research I stumbled across a book by Mel Bartholomew called Square Foot Gardening. You basically make a raised garden that's 4x4 and six inches tall and fill it with a mixture of peat, compost, and vermiculite, since it's not very much it won't be expensive to do either. One 4x4 garden with little tending, almost no weeding, and a cup of water per plant per day should yield veggies for a family member. So for my family it would take four 4x4 squares. If you have a ravenous family you can bump it up to a 4x8, 4x12, or a 4x16 I guess. The idea that it's four foot across is to harvest your crops without stepping on the soil and packing it down. It needs to be loose and able to hold and drain water.

There is a planting guide on how many seeds to plant per square foot because you'll be breaking down your garden square with a grid laid over the top. Corn for example is four seeds per square foot and you'll have to add a stabilizer because they'll be quite tall.

You can stagger planting your crops so your harvest isn't all at the same time and your garden will produce daily if you wish. It takes some practice and note taking to figure that and it's more than an amateur such as myself would attempt to start with.

Materials for four gardens will likely run less than fifty dollars, the mixture of soil probably close to the same. Not having to pay high prices for vegetables at the store will be priceless though:)

Make no mistake, as oil prices continue to go up food prices will follow. Inflation is imminent, just like watching a bad storm on the radar as it creeps closer to your home. It's coming and it'll be bad. We owe too much money, spend too much money, and haven't the political will to change it right now as a country.

Trucking companies will go broke with these high prices, less food will make it to market, and demand will exceed supply eventually. Growing your own food is the cure for that and it makes all of those events irrelevant to your dinner table.

The Date says we can easily do this and it'd be a great family project for us. I agree and really I don't see much of an option in the coming few rough years.

Nice Eastery Weekend

It was drizzly all weekend long lending some much needed moisture to the bone dry ground. Fixed an incredible stir fry of chop suey on Saturday that fed six people, attempted to make egg rolls but no one sells egg roll wrappers in town. I was left to make my own egg roll dough and they didn't turn out so well. The dough needed to be flatter but all I had was self rising dough which was likely the problem.

They were very poofy.

The filling is very easy to make though and I've got some left over for when I'm able to get real egg roll wrappers.

Sunday was Easter ham day and made another meal that fed six people. Well The Date and The Things did most of the work on that one, I just cooked the ham. We were very sluggish after eating so much as you could imagine.

Closed the evening out with Game of Thrones and some quiet reading time:)

Happy Easter!

He Is Risen!
Glory Glory Hallelujah!

A Clash Of Kings

The HBO series Game of Thrones I've been blogging about has been picked up for production for a second season after the debut episode!

A Clash of Kings follows the houses of Westeros after the events of Game of Thrones naturally. It's a big novel as well. I've not read but maybe a chapter or two as of yet but I'm primed to get going on it. I'm planning on starting it after the HBO series ends this season.

Thing 1 is doing well. She has just started taking her new medicine yesterday. It'll take a week or two to build up to full strength but it should be more effective than the anti-depressant that she was on.

She's had two counseling sessions this past week and is doing well enough to be allowed to drive one time. She got one hour yesterday to get hair dye. She got back with time to spare and did ok. It's baby steps now.

Another Week In The Books

After today I will have logged another full forty hour week. Meaning next week I'll get another 4.62 hours of leave credited to my account. My PTO has dwindled lately and I really need to get it up again where I'm comfortable.

This June will be year nineteen, that means one more year until I log 4.92 hours of leave per week. That also means ten more years until I can collect my pension and quit. I'll be two thirds finished with a job that will have lasted a full thirty years.

I'll be young enough that The Date and I can do something else though. I'll be able to embark on a second career or possibly wake up when I want to which would be nice. It's probably too late for that though as I'll likely always be an early riser.

This week is another brick I guess. The entire wall will be a mosaic of labor running the gamut from good to bad, great to the worst. It'll have been a constant for thirty years and at that point it'll be over with and I'll step aside and let someone else take my place.

That's the plan!

One More Day Down

Baby step by baby step we're getting better now. A little at a time but it's moving in a good way now. I guess once you come close to the bottom you can only go up.

The Date is days away from graduation now, her final classes dwindling to single digits. She's planning on working instead of taking summer school right now, which is pretty good right now. We'll finally be able to develop a real savings account to guard us against the next time things go bad for a few weeks at a time.

Thankfully we've kept out of going into deep debt though. That's the one thing that's kept us from sinking at all, well and the fact that I have three girls in the house I love...but we do only have one bathroom which sucks. Anyway not going into debt means that it's all for savings now, or a house down payment, or something else and not to a credit card that charges 20% thankfully.

Who knows what opportunities will open up and what will happen to get us from living paycheck to paycheck to getting a little ahead. I know in this economy where gas could easily hit six dollars per gallon this year if there is one more Mid-East revolution in one thousand miles of an oil well, that it's tough. It's tougher than it's ever been to make ends meet but we're going to do it.

So Far So Good

With appointments today, tomorrow, and early next week I believe things are going to be ok thus far. Thing 1 will recover and is a long way down that path already. It's looking good, thank you for all of the prayers!

I'm looking forward to a good day, it's going to be a great day actually. I don't know why but it is. We haven't had this rough of a time since the literal two worst weeks of my life in 2009 when I was on strike. I pay attention to the good and not just the bad, I count my blessings. This isn't as bad as those two weeks but a lot of things have gone wrong at the same time. They are over with now and a good streak is beginning and it starts today.

Friday is payday. It's going to be a nice day out today. For now that's enough. It's a start and it's enough. I've heard good comments about the commercial on TV that's playing! I was happy to have Witchy's daughter make her TV debut with the company! That's a memory that will last a long time for her!

Plan B It Is

After talking to an independent insurance company auditor and counselor we found out that what my insurance company has done is normal procedure. Stabilize and treat with outpatient. Thing 1 is home, she came home yesterday morning around ten o'clock.

She went to school, wanted to go actually. The Date is nervous as any mother would but is doing well. I'm proud of her, after the week we've been through it's really a miracle any of us are still here.

Appointments have been made for the outpatient therapy, steps are underway to get her the help that's required. Our support system is amazing! Friends and family have shown their support in a myriad of ways and it's all appreciated and has been helpful!

Thank you to every single one of you!

Round Two

Yeah it starts again today and we'll see how the day goes. Pray for us.
I really don't have a lot to say as there's not a lot to say. We've got a plan B in place and it involves three days of outpatient therapy a week, two for her and one family. It's completely covered if we can't get a better solution hashed out.

Game of Thrones was completely awesome! Epic, intense, and so faithful to the source material that it's like reading the novel!

Darn busy weekend. I'm glad it's over but I dread today.

Game Of Thrones Tonight!

What could very well be one of the most epic shows ever on TV outside of The Walking Dead and Deadliest Catch will begin this very evening. I blogged about it already and now the countdown is dwindling to nothing.

Game of Thrones debuts tonight. The medieval fantasy of epic size and scope, encompassing one single novel of a planned seven novel series. Books one through four are out now while book five will be out this July.

It has everything a fantasy epic should have, it's gritty, it's got murder, political intrigue, warring families, thousands of years of history, and more. The characters are neither all good or all bad. The best have faults, the worst have moments of heart.

Seasons will last a generation and winter is coming. A giant wall holds back unknown threats along the north, guarded by the Night's Watch. They patrol it, swear their lives as brothers forever to defend the rest of the kingdom against these threats that are thousands of years old.

With four novels out and each up over eight hundred pages with two over a thousand you'll have plenty of reading material in this world. The thing is though, this series is special. There just isn't a series out there with this kind of storytelling, this depth, this attention to every action and plotting. Once this series is over with it's over with. We will likely never see it's equal again.

As Tolkien is special, as Asimov is special, George R. R. Martin is special. If you start this series you'll crave more and lament it's ending. Every good thing has a beginning, middle, and end as does this. It'll be around an estimated six thousand pages when completed as the new book Dance with Dragons is massive. Who knows how big the final two books will be at this point but this journey is one you'll enjoy every step of the way.

Fighting

It all began yesterday with a phone call. They are going to release Thing 1 from the hospital because insurance is done paying for it. I started making phone calls and found out that my insurance company had denied the request from Thing 1's doctor to keep her until treatment is completed.

I got a serious run around, I talked to person after person at the insurance company and left five voice mails. Three hours of talking got me no where. I decided I'd go up to the hospital and wait for the phone call and we'd have a conversation with the doctor, the insurance company, and myself. I was going to make sure there were no misunderstandings about what was going to happen.

I know insurance is a numbers game. It's very simple at its core, payments come in and payments go out. They make a profit if more payments come in than go out. I've got NOTHING against insurance companies making a profit. They are necessary and when you need them you really need them. I had three kidney stone treatments a couple of years ago called lithotripsy that were nearly 25k apiece and it cost me $150.00 total. That's value and that's what I pay them for.

What I have a problem with is that they have a doctor there who has the power to deny treatment without ever speaking to the patient. Making no evaluation other than what is written down about that patient. The doctor is in California the patient is here.

I was left with one alternative by the end of my fight and that was to file an appeal, the insurance company now has seventy two hours to get a third party doctor, again in California, to go over the medical records and agree or disagree with our doctor's assessment.

Plan B is in place though and thank everything holy that there is a plan B. They will cover outpatient treatment twice a week and medication. While that's good I don't feel it's what is necessary right now.

The fight will continue Monday when I step back into the ring.

Shooting Tonight

We've got the follow up shoot tonight to last weeks' promotional shoot. Today the big BBQ contest starts that my co-worker has entered since it's inaugural year. It's the contest that got him into smoking and the one that inspired him to go to more contests in the area. He'll be going to a huge one in Texas next month and last year he won the Arkansas state championship earning him around five thousand dollars.

He's getting better for sure!

Thing 1 is doing better, she still wants to come home now but that's not going to happen. It'll be a few weeks at minimum from what I gather.

It's going to be a chilly and blustery day here. Nothing else to report right now.

Distractions

I'll visit the entire story of what happened at a later date. I'd like to do that for my own therapeutic benefit. I'd like things to be well on their healing way first instead of ripping fresh scabs off of new wounds.

So now I'm going to talk about what I've been doing as a distraction. The greatest show on TV started back up, Deadliest Catch. With a touching tribute to Captain Phil at the start of the show where they scatter his ashes and follow that up by firing their weapons into the sky and water followed by fireworks. It was fitting and genuine.

Then it was onto getting out to sea and fishing for kind crab. The Harris brothers brought on one of Captain Phil's friends and part time captain to skipper the Cornelia Marie. It looks like it'll be a good match for them as he wants things done and will get them done to the best of his ability even while stepping on toes as Phil would.

The Northwestern sees the return of Edgar Hansen for his twenty third season of fishing. Last year he was going to hang it up for good. Tired of the grind, tired of Sig's oppression, and tired of everything. He was burned out on his job as I get or you get from time to time.

The Wizard and Time Bandit return as well and were striking out in fishing. They pulled in very little crab and are now going to struggle to make quota this season. They'll have to pack it up and reset their gear on better crabbing grounds.

All in all its the show I love, it has every element in it that makes a good show great. Drama, serious danger, conflicts, resolutions, and heart.

A Little Better

Thank you all for the support you've offered my family. Every single one of you. I realize there's been drama in the past but it's all trivial at the most now and means nothing. Nothing. If it were one of your children, God forbid it ever is, I want you all to know that we'd be right there with you as you have been for us.

We'd love you as you have loved us during this trying time. There are a lot of things more important in this life than he said she said blah blah blah. That's the happiness and well being of your loved ones. I don't think The Date or I would have been able to get through the past couple of days if it hadn't been for your support, every single one of you.

Rest assured Thing 1 is safe now and a bit angry as she works through all of the events of the past couple of days. One of the attendants spoke with The Date and said she isn't like a lot of the kids that he has come through there, they aren't happy, have seriously bad issues, they have warning signs for weeks, and she hasn't shown any of that.

She's a mouthy, moody, teen. She doesn't like authority (I've always had a deep seated problem with authority figures myself but to make a living you have to get past that) but she doesn't exhibit any of the signs you read about.

I just want you to know if there's any doubt lingering after everything I've said thus far, we love you all, thank you all, no hard feelings over anything anymore. There's more important things now to think about and work on, go right now and love your children and hug them. The past is over and dead, right now we are living for today, tomorrow, and a bright future.

Prayers Are Requested

I'll write about this more at a later date but for those of you who don't know we had an incident with Thing 1 late Sunday evening. Thankfully by the mercy of God Himself it didn't have a tragic result.

She will now be getting the treatment she needs to continue along a healthy path.

Special thanks goes to everyone who helped that evening as well as Crime Reporter, T, and Witchy. All of your help was invaluable.

A Nice Sunday

The day was actually very good. Happiness reigned in the home as I grilled corn and bratwurst.

As the NFL season appears doomed this year I'm trying to really rekindle my interest in baseball. It's tough but I'm trying hard.

We watched the new River Monsters. I like this show a lot. Jeremy Wade has got a very cool job. Fishing at exotic locales, getting paid tons of money to do so, and having a TV show on top of that?!

Quite the life!

Productive Saturday

I bought and planted grass seeds (something I NEVER thought I'd EVER do) ordered a window to replace a window upstairs, washed dishes, and folded clothes. The latter two I'm used to as I did that when I was a bachelor as well.

The Date had to work all day long and then went to the Theatre for a special poetry show featuring the work of Emily Dickinson so Thing 2 and I were on our own. Thing 1 was with one of her girlfriends all day. So we made popcorn and watched The Exorcist 3.

I played one fantasy baseball league yesterday and beat the top player going right now 47-43. Kaiseroll13 is so good he likely makes a living at daily fantasy sports. He rakes in like thousands per month. I'd love to hang out with the guy and chat about how he does it as I'm merely an amateur.

I've got the water going now on the lawn. It's supposed to be watered every day now. Sigh...I'm growing a yard.

Good Shoot

Despite the short burst of severe weather, hail, and high winds we finished the shoot! Beersnob took lead on this project and I was pleased with his creative vision. He shot with editing in mind which is a good skill to have.

You set the shots and work out how it would be edited together and look like in your head before you start. That's what many young filmmakers need to learn. The shoot took about an hour and a half and took place in two locations. Interrupted of course by a storm.

All in all it was a busy day, a productive day, and Beersnob will be editing this afternoon and get it all up and running! I'm looking forward to seeing his work!

The Home Search

The search for a new house is going slowly however it is proceeding. The longer it takes the better the prices will get, literally. There's a big glut of homes on the market now and it'll be getting much bigger after a big company moves out of town in a few months.

That'll take a sluggish market and make the prices fall even further. I've been looking at the realty sites online and most of the properties have little down arrows indicating a price reduction. Time is literally on our side now! That's a good position to be in!

I'd like a place just outside of town enough so I'm not affected by zoning laws but still has access to the cable system for internet access. It's a tough balancing act. I want to eventually put up a wind generator in the back yard and get as independent as possible in living conditions. Call me super paranoid if you'd like but I see America going through some tougher times for the next few years and it'd be nice to sustain a good standard of living.

It boils down to I'd rather be a little paranoid now than wind up a victim later, I've blogged that before but you just don't know what the future will bring anymore. I want the best for my family and I and my friends, that means learning and doing things that will keep everyone fed and happy during tough times.

On another note, we've got a shoot tonight. Immediately after work Beersnob will meet me and we'll get this knocked out!

Thank You

For all of the birthday wishes yesterday! It was overwhelming on my facebook and in real life!

The Date cooked chicken alfredo last night and me a chocolate pie, they also got me a bottle of Laphroaig and a Rockey Patel Edge! I had a couple of white Russians and played Starcraft all evening! It was a great evening! Friday I've got a shoot starting at 4:30 and lasting at least an hour, possibly more.

What's happening after that is editing and uploading. After that, who knows!

So to my family, Love You and thank you! To my fantastic friends, thank you as well! It means a lot to me!

Another Year Older

Usually I never blog about birthdays or anything like that, however today I'm going to. It's inevitable that it'll come around each and every year and that it'll make you feel times of reflection and eventually you'll look to the future.

You'll wonder how many more you'll see, how many more days of walking on this Earth you'll have. When I was twenty I thought thirty was ancient. Now that I'm officially into my forties I've got to wonder what the next decade will bring.

My thirties were a mixed bag of good and bad. Some really great moments and some really bad/sad moments. I'd venture to say that my forties will be similar to that although what the great moments and sad/bad moments will be I can't speak to as I really don't know what will present itself in the future.

If the weather is nice after work I'll likely indulge in a fine cigar at home. I'll get my bag chair, lighter, cutter, and kindle and hopefully enjoy the sunshine and calm day. Just a nice peaceful evening.

SG:U The Demise Of Syfy

Stargate: Universe returned to TV a few weeks ago and now has started it's last half of it's last season. It's a shame because it's a great show and it's really sad that they likely won't be able to send off the show with a resolution. Instead it'll likely have a cliffhanger ending and then nothing.

At least SG:U had two seasons while Firefly had a little over a half a season before getting cancelled. That was also a great show cut down before it's time. I have no idea why Scifi channel would cut that and keep Expedition Truth where they never find anything at all or the new Fact or Faked show.

Obviously I know why, those shows are cheaper to produce but SG:U is stellar in it's execution and storylines. It's SCIFI!!! What more could a channel called Syfy want?!?! Name a show that's left that is an actual scifi show set in space? There aren't any!

The closest thing we've got going on now is The Walking Dead and it'll be fall before the new season starts back up again. So until then it's old Star Trek reruns, a precious few SG:U original airings, and little else to satisfy the scifi enthusiast niche.

If only I were in charge of the Scifi channel, first the logo never would have changed to the more girly and emasculated syfy. There would be original shows on and there would be original dramas, comedies, and reality shows as well as they have a market. I would have optioned The Walking Dead before AMC knew it was even a property to option and I would give the starved masses and fans of Scifi something to watch and start talking about again!

I would explore the Honorverse from author David Weber, I would option the older Keith Laumer Bolo stories for production. I would find the best TEOTWAWKI (the end of the world as we know it) stories out there and produce them instead of the lame CGI creature fests they put on every weekend. Scifi would stand for something again instead of how bad it's fallen and the punchline to a bad joke of a channel. Then on top of all of that I'd have a classic movie feature to air the movies that made scifi into scifi and defined a genre!

Nearly Finished!

Yesterday was spent doing a sync'd voice over and changing the voice over in the commercial to add an additional phrase. Now for final approval of the proof and I will FTP the spot to a couple of companies for airing.

Then I'm done with this project for a year. They did suggest that they would be doing shows while coordinating with another arena and would require spots for them as well. So we might be picking up quite a bit of business for these types of shows.

That's good as it raises our profile and expands us into areas of customers we previously had no access to. With Beersnob now going out and actually selling our products to customers for the first time we stand a good shot at growing.

Oh and with UCONN's win over Kentucky Saturday evening I took second place at work with my March Madness bracket! Take that Cinderella teams!

Minor Tweaks

Yep the client loved the commercial, I have to lower the music level a bit and change the voice over to talk about vendors. We are going to reshoot the opening bit for a bit more clarity and deliver it tonight!

I'll be finished then and this one will be put to bed and start airing soon! I'm glad they liked the vision Beersnob and I collaborated on and provided. It's a confidence booster and another addition to the demo reel.

It's a warm and sunny day so far and it's not even 8:30 yet. Yeah it's a bit windy and that will hinder shooting later on but maybe it'll calm down. We'll see though.

All in all it looks like a great day and a day to enjoy:)

Fifteen Hour Day

After regular work yesterday Beersnob and I met Witchy and her daughter (who did a very good job and liked the idea of being on TV) at the park to shoot footage for the commercial. We shot for roughly forty five minutes and then we edited two versions to present to the client today.

I'm confident that she'll want changes and that gives me time to make them and re-shoot if we absolutely have to. I don't think we will though. I think she'll just want changes in the editing or the message, more than likely somethings added to it.

We finished editing just after ten last night. That means Beersnob and I worked roughly six hours after work ended to produce two commercials, including shooting time.

Beersnob will arrange a meeting today with the client and we'll get this project put to bed!

In other news I have been approved for a mortgage loan, the idiots approved me for two hundred and forty five thousand. I told them I needed less than half of that but my credit score and low debt skyrocketed my loan amount. Now the burst housing bubble makes sense! I have no doubt that a lot of people took them up on the maximum loan amount and bought the most expensive house possible while I'm happy with a bathroom all to myself so the women can share their bathroom.

Good grief, my jaw hit the floor when they told me what I could get. I told them I couldn't afford a $1,790 a month house payment and that a thousand was really pushing the limit. They said we could look for what we wanted and that was the maximum they would give me. So The Date is now in search of a house while we work on saving up the down payment.

Game Of Thrones

I just finished this book last night from George R.R. Martin. I thought I had read it before and stopped about half way through it and lost track of it after that but there were parts of the book I remembered happening like the several of the last chapters and the finale. I knew what happened a lot so it is possible I fihttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifnished the book the first time around and I just don't remember now. Weird but possible.

Regardless this was a darn fine book, epic story. It is such a good story that HBO has made it into a series. One season equals one book. I've been stunned when I watch the trailers on You Tube because it is the exact same as the novel.

I've recognized the characters, heard the same lines, witnessed the same events as in the novel. It's going to be epic!

You can see it for yourself here and then see some of the trailers. It kicks off April 17th I believe and yes I'll be subscribing to HBO to watch it!

There's time for you more avid readers to read this first book, I finished it in just under two weeks and I didn't read it at all last weekend. It weighs in around eight hundred pages, eight fifty eight on my Kindle. I'd highly recommend it for those of you who like high adventure and drama but be warned there is some adult situations, graphically described violence, and Martin has no problems killing off popular main characters to further the story for future events.