Going Stir Crazy

Working from home is a very pleasant environment for an introvert. You don't have to go through the process of the small talk with co-workers about that game over the weekend or what your kids are up to. Lunch breaks can be naps if you want them to be. During the downtime of work you can get some chores done around the house. Overall, working from home has become my norm.

So when we have an ice storm and I am stuck with the kids in the house for three days, I have become a bit on edge and was very ready for them to go back to school this morning. However, unfortunately the school's buses couldn't get out of the barn due to some remnant ice patches.

When it was Monday through Wednesday, I still had Joanna in the house to entertain the boys. Yet, now it is just me and they are driving me bonkers. I'm about to bring down the hammer and pull the plug on all electronics for both of them if they aren't going to listen.

What I'm looking forward to tonight is some poker, so my weekly game in Weatherford better make. Otherwise I'm either going to see a movie or I'm going to play at the card house in Burleson. Either way, I'm getting out of the house and having some alone time.

A Heck Of A Week

This will be an interesting week as I have started in a new position at work (same company, but different department), baseball kicks off with the season opener on Thursday, Joanna has some honey-do chores for me around the house and in the garden, and Godzilla and King Kong go toe to toe this Friday. Although I am overwhelmed with training for my new position, baseball will still take priority as I am scheduling my training around the Ranger game. I also have limited my movie-going experience, but Kong taking on Gojira will be a must-see event for me.

While all of this is quite exciting and interesting, I don't have much else to add. As my responsibilities increase at work, my free time to write certainly decreases, but I will make an attempt to be a little more consistent in posting.

Jack & Matt's MCU Rankings

The other day my friend Danny reminded me that I have a blog and I haven't posted on said blog in quite some time. Since the beginning of the quarantine there has been a lot happening. No Time To Die, the latest James Bond film, has been delayed ... twice. I got COVID, along with the other people in my household. My daughter is currently in quarantine for being around someone who got COVID. Joanna and I became work-from-home parents and part-time teachers for a bit.

But all that is nothing compared to the monumental task Jack and I took on a few months ago. With a lot of free time at home the past 6 months we've watched a ton of movies. So Jack, who is now 9 years old, said he wanted to watch all of the movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and rank them. Since ranking things is about my fourth favorite past time (after baseball, watching movies, and playing cards, not particularly in that order), I decided to go all in with him. It took us a while, but this is where we landed.

 

Jack’s Rankings

Avengers: Endgame – 5

Avengers: Infinity War – 5

Captain America: Civil War – 5

Spider-man: Far From Home – 5

Ant-Man and the Wasp – 5

Spider-man: Homecoming – 5

Iron Man 3 – 5

Avengers: Age of Ultron – 5

Captain America: The Winter Soldier – 5

The Avengers – 4

Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2 – 4

Captain Marvel – 4

Captain America: The First Avenger – 4

Guardians of the Galaxy – 4

The Incredible Hulk – 4

Ant-Man – 4

Doctor Strange – 4

Black Panther – 4

Thor: Ragnarok – 3

Iron Man – 3

Iron Man 2 – 3

Thor: The Dark World – 2

Thor – 2

 

Matt’s Rankings

Guardians of the Galaxy – 9

Iron Man – 8

Captain America: Civil War – 8

Captain America: The Winter Soldier – 8

Black Panther – 8

Thor: Ragnarok – 8

Avengers: Infinity War – 8

Avengers: Endgame – 7

Captain America: The First Avenger – 7

The Avengers – 7

Thor – 7

Ant-Man – 7

Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2 – 7

Spider-man: Homecoming – 7

Doctor Strange – 7

Spider-man: Far From Home – 6

Captain Marvel – 6

Avengers: Age of Ultron – 6

Iron Man 3 – 5

Ant-Man and the Wasp – 5

The Incredible Hulk – 5

Thor: The Dark World – 4

Iron Man 2 – 3

I Wish I Had More To Say

Despite there really not being much to talk about, it is too cold to go sit in my car for lunch, my boss is out of town, and I am putting off some paperwork. So I figured I would kill a few minutes with typing out something.

 

I am extremely put out with fantasy football right now, so I've completely dropped that as a hobby. I'll likely get sucked back in next week after winning, but until that happens I am trying to get back into some former diversions. My kids take up most of my free time right now. Emery is about to begin basketball. Jack has recently taken up creating new superheroes in a notebook. He draws them up and makes up names. A lot of them are characters that already exist, but he has a few funny ones, like Banana Man (who looks like a banana) and Monkey Kid (who has banana guns). I'm sensing a theme with him. Sawyer is wrapping up a season of tee-ball and is already wanting to move up into machine pitch.

 

I'm extremely behind on my movie watching. I've yet to see Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, It Chapter 2, Ad Astra, or Joker. And coming out soon is Terminator: Dark Fate and Doctor Sleep. No matter what is going on in my life, the two movies I know I will not be missing in the theater are Star Wars IV: The Rise of Skywalker and No Time to Die.

 

Speaking of No Time to Die, when are we getting a teaser trailer for that film? I know it isn't seeing a massive release until April, but they've wrapped up principal photography already. We should have seen something by now, and the fact that we haven't yet has me a little worried. There have been massive delays and setbacks, so my expectations are lower than normal, but it is still a new Bond film, so expectations are still at a 9.62 instead of the normal 10.

 

We did get a teaser poster a few weeks ago. It was okay, but nothing as great as the first poster for Spectre. I'd like to believe a poster or trailer's greatness is equitable to the final product of the movie, but the last Craig outing proved that wrong. So maybe all the problems and lackluster information about the newest film will prove to be the opposite and it turns out to be the best since Casino Royale.

 

Here is the poster that was released recently.

 

 

 

I don't have a ton of slow days lately, so I likely will not be back to type up something unless it is James Bond related. Until a new trailer or poster or something of interest happens, I'll be seeing you.

It's Been Too Long, But I Cannot Stay

Although I haven't posted anything in several months (and some could argue I haven't posted anything of significance in several years) I really just stopped by to say goodbye to 2018. I don't have much to discuss. The holiday season has been fine. We're hosting some friends for New Year's Eve, which I normally look forward to, but this time it is coming on the heels of spending the afternoon at Six Flags yesterday and my body aches from miles of walking, carrying Sawyer from ride to ride, and getting knocked around on the roller coasters.

It was a Six Flags trip of note because I rode the Batman ride for the first time and Sawyer, my youngest child who turns 5 in two weeks, rode his first ever big roller coaster (illegally). Although he is still a few inches below the allowable line for the Judge Roy Scream, I was able to sneak him on without any questions from the staff and he loved almost every minute of it. That first downslope of the ride had him a little nervous, but once the coaster got in the groove of going up and down he had a blast. Another first was for Jack, who rode the Shockwave for the first time. In fact, he got to ride it two times in a row since I rode with him once and then Joanna swapped in while I stayed with Sawyer.

2018 was a pretty good year with some highs and lows. We saw two new baseball stadiums during our summer trip (Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles). Sawyer broke his leg and was in a cast for six weeks. I moved to a new department at work and am enjoying the stress of learning a different role.

Hopefully once work slows down a bit I will try to post some more. Here is to a happy New Year. Enjoy 2019!

Tidbits And Updates

Things have been quite busy lately with being short-staffed at work due to people being on vacation last week and my middle child, Jackson, starting tee-ball last weekend. His first game went much better than I was expecting. The horrific ideas I had going into it was that the team of 5-, 6-, and 7-year-olds would not know which way to run when, or even if, they hit the ball, no outs would ever come close to being made and it would be a cluster bomb of errors. It ended up being mostly that, but more manageable than I had foreseen happening.

Joanna got a new car a few weeks ago. She has needed a new car for awhile now, but we kept putting it off. I was hoping we would make it about another year before needing to make that purchase, however, the time was upon us and we found a good deal on what she had been eyeing. The impetus for buying the new car was that her registration/inspection was up and we were sure the Acura wouldn't pass. Not wanting to drop hundreds of dollars on the needed repairs to get her car to a passing grade, I elected to bite the bullet and get a new car instead. She now is driving around in a 2014 Honda Pilot, which the kids have christened Connie, that has all the amenities she was wanting, which included navigation system, heated seats, and DVD player (which I'm on record as still being against).

The 2018 baseball season begins in eight days. Joanna and I are doing our normal routine of taking the day off and watching the Texas Rangers season opener from home. We normally have an us day with breakfast at La Madeleine and sometimes catching a movie before first pitch. Occasionally, if the weather is permitting, I will play a round of disc golf as well. This year Jack says he wants to watch the game also, since he is getting into baseball a little bit more after playing his first tee-ball game. I'm normally not a fan of pulling a kid out of school for frivolous reasons, but I really love baseball and if it gets Jack motivated to play outside more then I am onboard with an early dismissal to watch the season opener.

Joanna and I celebrated our ninth wedding anniversary yesterday. I surprised her with flowers at her office. I don't get her flowers very often and it normally has to be some kind of special occasion when I do it. I have a big surprise in store for next year, but I haven't told many what it is and I still don't know all the details yet. It is driving Joanna crazy that I won't tell her what it is. I figure once I have ironed out all the details and we get closer to the actual event, then I will tell her.

I guess that is about it. Nothing too exciting really going on. Hopefully I have something of more relevance in the near future to write about. Until next time.

It's Been Too Long

I don't really have much to add today.  I've been really busy with work and stressed by some other things going on that I haven't had much time to do any writing.  There was an article on MSN.com today that ranked all the Alfred Hitchcock movies, which made me realize that I haven't ever done that.  I've seen all of his films, so I'm not quite sure why I've never tasked myself with ranking them all.  So I guess I could put that on my plate as well.

As far as personal stuff going on, I'm watching Game of Thrones and only have a few episodes left before being completely caught up.  Westworld is my new obsession.  I've been put in charge of the Halloween decorations at work (which is a big mistake), but they decided I was best qualified because it is a baseball theme and I am the most knowledgeable of the sport.

We've settled into our new house and are trying to wrap up all the projects, but as soon as we finish one, it seems a new problem arises.  Yet, that is pretty much what owning a home is.

Hopefully I have something of more substance next time and it doesn't take as long to post.  Until then.

Live Long And Prosper

My youngest child is 2 years old and while he doesn't do a lot of talking, he is extremely observant and a copycat of anything he sees.  Despite a fall from such a height as a bar stool in the kitchen being a deterrent for most children his age, because his older siblings eat dinner at the bar Sawyer has made it clear he must do the same.  He also has to help close the gate or take out the trash because he sees his dear old dad doing it.

Another moment of copycatting took place last night that made my geek heart melt with sweetness and nearly burst from joy all at the same time.  Each night I rock Sawyer for a couple of minutes before putting him to bed.  Some nights prior to turning his music on to set the mood for sleep time we will watch a movie preview or two, depending on what is new.  Last night we looked at the trailer for an upcoming documentary about Leonard Nimoy titled For the Love of Spock.  Likely you have never heard of the film, which was funded through Kickstarter, so therefore I have provided an image from the film's trailer above.

As you can see, it is of Nimoy in character as Spock, displaying the Vulcan salute.  This image is at the end of the preview and when the screen went to black I turned to Sawyer to see if he was ready to go to sleep.  What I saw was probably something I will always remember and carry with me into old age dementia.  Sawyer was holding up his right hand, attempting to split his fingers and mimic Spock's salute.  It was absolutely precious.

The Evolution Of Parenting

Here is an example of the differences in first kid parenting and third kid parenting. With my first kid I went in the Chick-fil-a playground to help with climbing, sliding and overall merriment. The third kid is sent in with his older brother to fend for himself while I sit at a table judging the other parents who also have sent their kids into the Thunderdome (and type this).

Goodbye 2015

It's been a while since I've posted anything.  I have been overworked with a project the last couple of weeks involving some loans that are part of litigation and with the holidays in full swing I haven't really had any time to group my thoughts and put them down on paper.  I figured I would give a broad brushstroke of what's new in my world.

 

So, I saw the new Star Wars film four times in less than two weeks.  Didn't really mean to.  It sort of just snowballed on me.  That is not to say it isn't worth seeing four times, because it is.  It was really good and as if the first line of the film is referencing what had come a little more than a decade before, it begins to make things right.  I loved all the new characters and seeing the old ones in a new adventure was not just nostalgic, but also a little emotional (or at least as close as I can get to what humans consider to be emotional).

 

Christmas went pretty well.  Jack got a little BB-8 (new Star Wars character) remote that he calls his new best friend.  That was the gift of the year for our family, so I am glad it went over well with Jack.  Unfortunately Joanna didn't love my gift to her as much.  I got her a crockpot with the ability to lock the lid (which is what she specifically asked for), but because it didn't have a few additional bells and whistles it got returned and traded for a deep dish cooker or pot fry pan or steam-baked something-or-other.  I don't know.  She doesn't understand time travel.  I don't understand the differences in a pot, a pan, and a wok.

 

Television/movie recommendation of the week (or maybe month; I don't usually do these) is a Netflix documentary called Making a Murderer.  I don't want to give many details because the 10-part series pretty much covers everything you need to know, but it details a man named Steven Avery and his involvement in Wisconsin crimes that took place in the 1980s and 2000s.  It was a gripping series that I binge watched in a few days time.  Don't research his name or what the documentary is about.  I promise it will be worth the 10 hours.  Just watch it.

 

I guess that is most of it.  Everyone have a safe and happy New Year's Eve.  Don't get beat down by the mediocre music heard on all the telecasts tonight and try to be with someone you love at midnight.  See you in 2016.

Family Photos

This past weekend the Cook family went to Trinity Park in Fort Worth to have some pictures taken in order to get our Christmas card in order.  We received a bunch of the photos from that session and I thought I would share my lovely family with everyone.  Sorry, but this will be the equivalent of me taking out my wallet and showing you pictures of my wife and kids.  I know it is boring, but it is something you do as an adoring father and husband.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The picture directly above is my favorite of the bunch.  It will be the newest to be framed and placed on my desk at work for all the women in my cubicle to coo over.

Volleyball : Soccer :: Hawaiian Vacation : Biblical Plague

Having my own personal blog, you'd think I would spend a little more time talking about the great things happening in my life, which includes the joy my wife and kids bring about.  Unfortunately I am selfish and talk only movies.  Well, for today at least that changes.

 

Last weekend was the start of Emery's newest sporting venture: volleyball.  She has done gymnastics for a long time, but that is just a hobby and not done in any competitive sort of way.  She has also dabbled in soccer.  If you ask me, she attempted that sport one (probably two) too many times (she played twice).

 

Based on the limited practice I had done with Emery, I wasn't sure what to expect on Saturday.  Surely a court full of 8-year-old girls trying to bump, set, and spike a ball back and forth wouldn't end well, especially after two seasons of seeing 5- and 6-year-old girls kick a ball back and forth.  Kicking is WAY easier than the skills that volleyball requires and introductory soccer is a disaster.  However, I am happy to report that it wasn't the crotch kick that I thought it would end up being.  Especially since the only part of the bump, set, spike combination that is utilized is bumping.

 

The hour we were there went by quickly and I am proud to brag on Emery that she had one of the best serves on the team.  The serve line is moved closer to the net to make things easier, but about half the girls had trouble serving the ball over cleanly.  Yet, Emery's lone serve was well executed.  Since her team wasn't able to handle the opponent's volley, she only got to serve once in three games, but I expect that to change as she plays more.

 

Other than her serving, we will have to work on her play when the ball is being volleyed back and forth.  It isn't that she is bad at bumping the ball, but she is just not very aggressive.  We will be out of town next weekend, so there is a two-week layoff until the next game.  During that time I am going to work with Emery to get her to hustle a little more to the ball when it is coming in her direction.

 

If the first game was the worst of the season, which is usually the case when your kid is learning the fundamentals of a new game, I am looking forward to what is to come.  While not the star of the team, Emery is certainly going to be serviceable and that always makes things more enjoyable for everyone involved.

Nolan Ryan : Derek Holland :: American Hero : ???

While at the Ranger game Sunday night with the family, my daughter, son and I took a walk around the ballpark (twice) during the disaster of a finale in a three-game sweep by the Los Angeles Angels.  The purpose of our walk was to kill time, find the dollar ice cream kiosk, and see the sights of the Ballpark in Arlington (I refuse to call the stadium by its official name).  After taking a photo of the kids standing with the Nolan Ryan statue behind center field, my 7-year-old daughter, Emery, asked who Nolan Ryan was.  I explained that he was a great pitcher who ended his career and put up some amazing stats at the end of that career while playing for the Texas Rangers.  I also included the footnote that he returned later, but has since left, to work in the front office.

 

Soon after we came upon some memorabilia for sale and among the bats, balls, and framed photos for sale was the famous fight between Ryan and Robin Ventura, where Ryan has Ventura in a headlock and is pounding away.  The framed and autographed item for sale also included a picture of Ryan after the fight with blood smeared on his jersey and dripping from his nose.

 

Emery, seeing the picture, asked who it was that was bleeding and why.  So, being the baseball fan I am and wanting to pass along knowledge of the game and its colorful history, I told her and Jack about the tale of Nolan Ryan's victory over Ventura.  It was a fierce campaign that started because of an errant throw.  Ventura, offended due to being struck by the projectile, charged our hero on the mound of battle.  One would think that youth would prevail, but no, it was wisdom and grit that won the day.  Ryan, who had 20 years on Ventura, got him in a submissive hold and delivered a continuous, and seeming endless, number of blows to the head.  The hero and villain's allies cleared the benches and 32,000 onlookers delighted in the savagery.  It was a good day and to the victor went the spoils.

 

Once finished with my heroic ode to Nolan Ryan, Emery asked about the guy in the picture next to Nolan.  "Oh," I responded, "that's Derek Holland.  He's a goofball."  And off we walked.

 

 

Need An Acura MDX Tire Changed? Call Me.

This past weekend I went on a couple's retreat just north of Broken Bow, Oklahoma, with the Zumwalts for a little relaxation away from the children.  It was also a birthday/Valentine's gift for Joanna and Brandy since their birthdays are in January and February.

 

On the final day of our weekend, Danny and I went to pack the car about an hour before check-out and found one of the tires to Joanna's car flat (it was actually Joanna who first noticed the problem).  While flat tires are an annoyance no matter what time of day or where you are, this ended up being the biggest hassle I have had in quite a while.

 

It should be noted, I am a tire changing master.  I've had Moby, my current Toyota Camry, since 2001 and in that time I have probably changed 10 flat tires.  While I still greatly fear the vehicle falling off the carjack and crushing the life out of me, I am quite proficient in the art of changing a tire.  However, this was the first time I had ever had to change a tire on a 2006 Acura MDX.  Well, after the ordeal on Sunday, I am now an expert for that car as well.

 

Once the problem was identified, Danny and I went into man mode.  We slowly moved the car to the paved street (since the parking area at the cabin was made of loose rocks and I really didn't want to end the trip on a bummer with a 5,500-pound SUV falling on top of me or Danny) and found most of the necessary tools needed to change the tire to the donut spare.  I say most of the tools because it turns out that Joanna's car has a special wheel nut on each tire that requires a key to loosen and remove.  Being my first time to change a tire on her car, I didn't realize this until the other four nuts had been loosened.  It took a quick Google search (because the Acura's owner's manual didn't tell us this) to learn that the key needed to remove the special wheel nut was located in the glove box.

 

So I now had all the wheel nuts removed, the flat tire taken off, and the spare donut tire put on.  We tightened everything up, lowered the car off the jack, put the tools back where they belonged, and moved the car to see if everything was working properly.  Everything was not working properly.

 

As soon as I rolled the wheel a whole revolution, Danny said the air inside the wheel completely dissipated and the tire went as flat as the original one.  The next idea was to put the original flat tire in Danny's trunk and drive to Broken Bow in order to get a new tire or patch the bad one.  About three miles away from the cabin, with another 8 miles to go into town, we decided to try something different.

 

Surprisingly, Danny's spare tire for his Kia was the same size as our Acura.  It just so happened to match up, because if the Acura had been a year younger or Danny's Kia had been a year older, things would not have worked out to where we could put Danny's spare on our car.  So we went back to the cabin, got the tools back out, jacked the car up again, replaced our spare with Danny's, and began lowering the vehicle.  As I was bringing the car down, Danny's spare tire was slowly getting flatter and flatter.  Yet, it didn't go all the way down.  That was progress.

 

There was enough air in the spare tire to get to the nearby gas station and fill it up.  I slowly navigated Joanna's car with Joanna and the Zumwalts following in their car to the gas station and we filled both Danny's tire and my spare tire up to the max pressure.  Danny and I decided having his spare, which was built for a vehicle half the size of our SUV, was probably not great to leave on for more than a few miles.  So what did we do?  It's time to change spare tires again.  For those counting, this is now the third time we have gone through this process and we still haven't gotten a proper-sized tire to go on the car.  We jacked the SUV up, got the tools out, took Danny's spare off, put our spare on, lowered the SUV back down, put the tools away, and decided to start driving to a tire shop.

 

You might not be surprised to learn that few tire shops are open on a Sunday.  The closest place we could find online was a Sears Automotive in Paris, Texas, which was approximately 65 miles away.  On the off chance that our spare tire blew out, the SUV flipped a couple of times, and I was ejected from the vehicle to my death, it was decided that I would drive Joanna's car alone and she ride in the safe car with the Zumwalts.  It was okay.  I had 50s on 5 with Sirius XM radio.

 

After an hour-and-a-half of driving we made it to the Sears Automotive in Paris.  And wouldn't you know it, the iPhone had lied to us.  The automotive portion of the store was closed.  I felt like Clark Griswold arriving at Wally World, except there was no robotic moose to punch in the nose.

 

At this point, which was 2 p.m. and nobody had eaten since breakfast that morning, we decided to just ride it out on the donut all the way to Arlington and I would worry about it on Monday.  As we were searching for a place to eat, Danny and I decided to drive the extra hour to Greenville and dine at a Chinese restaurant we are fond of.  We had found it during a friend's wedding that our wives were a part of and since then had returned a couple of times when visiting the area or passing through.

 

While driving to Greenville, Joanna found an NTB located there that was open until 6 p.m.  We dropped the car off, went and ate our Chinese food with the Zums, and returned to get our car, which would have four good wheels and new oil in the engine, at about 4:30.  The car wasn't finished yet because they couldn't find the key to remove the special wheel nut.  I had put it in the back seat with the other tire removal tools, which was neither where the key belonged nor the tools.  I had just put them there in order to get to them faster should I have to change the tire again at some point on the way from Broken Bow to the tire shop.

 

We were finally on the road in complete working order at about 5 p.m.  Our original plan was to be home about 3 to get the boys from my mom.  We didn't end up pulling into our driveway until 6:30 and she brought our children to us.

Long story short, if you need your tire changed, don't call me.  The title to this post originally was requesting your phone calls, but after Sunday's debacle I've done that chore enough for a while.

Couples Retreat: Gambling, Relaxation & Nature

Today's working hours are going to feel like forever because when the clock hits five Joanna and I are off to Oklahoma for a weekend of no kids.  We eventually will be joining the Zumwalts in Broken Bow, but our first leg of the trip will be to WinStar for some poker time and a free hotel room.  WinStar sends me free hotel nights every month, but I am never able to use them because it is only redeemable Sunday night through Thursday night.  Since I have a 9-5 job, getting to stay for free usually isn't possible unless I take a vacation day like I am doing for this trip.

 

After the gambling is over tonight and tomorrow morning, we will make our way to Broken Bow, where Danny and Brandy will be awaiting our arrival at a cabin we have rented.  We have made this trip before, but it was with the kids.  This time we are free of our parental obligations until Sunday.  It will be glorious!  Hopefully I have good stories for my other blog about my poker winnings.

 

On a sadder note, my friend Evan's father passed away last weekend.  A funeral service is scheduled Monday afternoon.  My thoughts and prayers go out to Evan and his mom while they have to work through this unfortunate transition in life.  I have not yet lost a parent and could not possibly know how hard it is, but I know that God is with Evan during this time and his friends will also help in any way we can.

Goodbye 2014

In response to my wife's request, this will be short and to the point.  It was a great year as my third and final child, Sawyer Dean, was born.  Emery is a wonderful big sister to the new baby and Jack is ... well, Jack is Jack.  He is our toughest kid right now, but I don't think it is because he feels any sort of middle child syndrome.  I rather just think he is full of energy and like all 3-year-olds is testing his boundaries.

 

Starting the middle of January I will be moving buildings at work to start a new position.  It is called Loan Action Specialist, but that is just a fancy term for someone who verifies the reasons loan officers deny or cancel loans.  It is somewhat of a compliance role, which isn't completely different from the quality assurance job I am supposed to be doing now.  I say "supposed to be doing" because instead of quality assurance I am checking legal documents to verify we have all the information necessary when a loan's servicing is purchased.  This is the job of Record Services, which is monotonous, mundane, and ususally done by temps.

 

The birth of my child and changing jobs were the two big events of 2014.  I did have some success in a yearly poker tournament I play in.  It was the second year of the tournament and the first time I finished third.  This year I improved and came in second place, winning $800.

 

Hope your year was also a good one and next year is even better.  Everyone have a safe New Year's Eve.

Cute Emery Story

A few weekends ago Emery and Jack went to my mom's house to spend some time with their cousins, Colt, Ella, and Carly.  My mom shared a story from that day that was too cute not to share.

 

First there is a bit of character development that needs to be known.  One of my brother's childhood friends has a son named Knox.  Knox knows Colt, Ella, and Carly through Bart's friendship with his dad and Emery and Jack know Knox because he used to go to Jack's daycare, which Emery has spent time at in the past.  Now you are pretty much up to speed on everyone.

 

While eating dinner, the five children were all sitting around the table talking about whatever it is kids talk about these days.  At some point they got to Knox.  Jack's limited vocabulary regulated him to just repeating over and over again that "Knox is my friend."  The other kids were all talking about Knox in some way or another and the conversation was a jumbled mess with voices being spoken over one another.

 

All of a sudden, Emery threw her hands out to the side and said, "Wait a minute!  Wait a minute!  Wait just a minute!  How does everyone here know Knox?"  I'm not sure what answers the other kids gave, but I'm pretty sure Jack replied, "Knox is my friend."  I picture Emery looking something like this when she brought things to an immediate halt.

But you know ... just, being a girl and all.  And not being in the middle of a street.  In fact, now that I am studying this picture, what kind of parent chooses to take photos of their kid standing in the street over actually getting them out of danger?  Whatever,  Survival of the fittest will probably take care of that family sooner or later.