I'm going to JAIL!

Help bail me out! I will be participating in MDA's lockup on October 29th. Please paste the following link into your browser window and help me raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Together we can make a difference. Thanks!

https://www.joinmda.org/2008stgeorge/jake

Minersville Adventures

A couple of weekends ago we went up to Minersville to visit family. As usual we had a great time talking and watching the kids play. Put simply Jaron LOVES Minersville! Sometimes he begs us to go so he can "ride horses" or "rope cows". Seriously I don't know where he gets it!

Needless to say, he has to go to the farm at least once each time we go up. The kids also attended the Punkin Days festival on Saturday. They all had a fun time running around with the cousins. I captured some great photos. Here are a few of my favorites:

Are we supposed to eat these round orange things?

At what point does it stop being fun and become work?

At this point he couldn't be happier...

...except maybe right here!

Oh, I almost forgot one thing. We had a heck of a time getting to Minersville. Carmendee threw up in her carseat so we had to pull over and clean her up and then we smashed into what I believe was some sort of hawk (I'll let you judge from the picture).

Stupid bird, almost cracked my windshield! Pulling it off of my windshield wiper was gross enough to get Jessica to run away gagging!

I'm glad that my kids have a place to go where they can run around free and enjoy the small town atmosphere. There really isn't anything else like it. Thanks Mom and Dad and also my brothers and sisters-in-law for providing us with a place to stay and a good time to be had by all.

The Smells of Homesickness

I had an interesting experience riding my motorcycle to work this morning. It was a crisp, cool, overcast morning. As I cruised down the road, the sweet smells of the damp hay fields filled my nostrils. Smells of morning dew and diesel exhaust from a nearby construction site adding to the blend. The thought of early summer mornings on the farm sprung into my head and for a moment I felt a little homesick for it all.

Few things smell better than a fresh hay cube!

I'm sure it seems funny to my family that I would have these thoughts. After all, as far as they are concerned I'm a converted city boy. Truth be told however, I'm probably not as sold on city living as they may suspect. Sure I like the convenience of it, but I still have solid roots in Minersville; that part will never change. Besides, a part of my heart will always be wherever my family is. That's just how it works.

Proud to be from Minersville

And so for a moment I was pleased to take a stroll down memory lane and remember just how good it felt to be a hardworking farm boy with little care of traffic and billboards.

Da Bears are Frustrating

Anyone that knows me is well aware that I am a dyed in the wool hardcore Chicago Bears fan. It's been a pretty rough two decades since 1985 aside from the super bowl appearance of two years ago. This year after an impressive and unexpected victory over the Indianapolis Colts my hopes were soaring. The defense looked like vintage Bears D and they had a running game again! Orton didn't make mistakes and everything seemed to be chipper. That is until they take consecutive 2 score leads into the 4th quarter and blow it 2 games in a row! Are you flippin' kidding me!? Don't turn the ball over and you win! The formula was pretty simple really. I'm feeling pretty crushed right now. They can still make a run at the playoffs, I mean with any luck and a few different plays and they're 3-0 right now.

Instead I'm left with a sour taste in my mouth as I witness this great start to the season go up in smoke because of dumb mistakes, (I'm looking at you Olsen and Tillman). But at least Carmendee looks cute in Jaron's old bears shoes.

This was during the Bears vs. Colts game. Need to bring back the lucky booties!

Mission Almost Complete

Hello everyone. You'll notice there are some changes to my blog. I'm not done yet but this is a good start I think. It's a little more personal. I wanted it to reflect who I really am. I'll have a more interesting blog post coming but for now let me know what you think of the new look! – OUT

Profile update coming soon

I've decided it's time to update my profile. I've got a new look going on these days and it just isn't nice to be misleading by displaying an old image of how I looked over a year ago and not how I look now. Also, I'll try and think of something witty to say for it. My wits have nearly abandoned me as of late as my work load has escalated (great thing by the way).

I just want to comment briefly about my family. My kids really seem to be growing like weeds. Jaron is speaking better and better each day. I can actually make out what he's saying most of the time now! I can even carry on a conversation sometimes when I can get his attention for longer than a nanosecond. Carmendee has yet to stride out in what I would call a legitimate crawl but that doesn't mean she can't get around. It's kind of hard to explain, but she goes from one side of the room to the other in a matter of minutes. I'm sure it will be soon. I'm just glad that my kids are happy to see me when I get home.

Jess will likely be going back to work soon. I didn't want for this to happen but I guess sometimes you've got to do what you've got to do. Hopefully this will be a very temporary thing. I've got some exciting business propositions starting to take form that will take very good care of my family. All things in good time I suppose. I feel at peace about my decisions career-wise so I'm sure things will continue to get better. Flitch has done about as well as I could have expected up to this point and we've got some great things going on internally.

I had to give mention to one of the best movies to come out in years

Hope you enjoyed this little update. Oh, and I went to see "The Dark Knight" the other day – best movie of the year hands down. Probably of the last few years even. It's in theaters for a little longer and I would suggest you go see it as soon as possible. Movies like this don't come along very often. Don't miss it when you had the chance. – OUT

A Sigh of Relief

For those of you who may not have received an email from Flitch Creative telling you that our new website has officially launched, allow me to tell you now. I realize that there are bugs and things but it still feels nice to have it up and running. We will be making tweaks in the meantime. It took a little longer to finish because frankly I would rather work on our customers jobs than our own in house projects. Several late night returns to the office later and it's now launched! Go to www.flitchcreative.com to check it out. Be sure to give us your feedback. We always appreciate that.

On an unrelated note, the slow migration of my muscles to my midriff in the form of flab has finally motivated me to do something about it. I've had a Bowflex for around 2 years now and have used it about 1 month of that time. Pretty pathetic I know. I also have Wii Fit which believe it or not can really help you tone up. I've neglected my body for some 5 years now and it's time to try and undo some of nature's handiwork. It starts tonight. I'm going to be honest, I'm not particularly excited to do work on the bowflex. After all it IS still work. I'll have to change my entire daily routine in order to not slip up. I'm not willing to give up tasty food and snacks so I will have to go the exercise route.

On second thought I could have a great set of moobs

Jessica was diligent in getting back to her healthy weight after having two kids in less than two years so she is my inspiration. I have no such excuse. In a few months I'll try to remember to post before and after pictures. I'll make sure and have slumping posture, nasty teeth, and a grumpy disposition for my before shot. For the after shot I plan on great posture, a months worth of Crest white strips, and a big cheesy grin. Maybe I'll be featured in a BowFlex commercial! Enough talking, now it's time to DO WORK! Later.