I have come to realize that Boy 1 and Boy 2 (The Oblivious Ones) only listen to the first 3 words I say of each sentence. There are some days...days when I ask them to do a few things around the house... when I question if it's the first three words of each paragraph, or just three words from the entire conversation, but that's a subject for another day.
Anyway, Boy 1 (also referred to as "The Teenager") is in band.
He plays the trumpet.
He plays the trumpet better than I did by the time I was a senior, and he's in 8th grade.
The Teenager was chosen to participate in a Regional Honor Band, where only a couple of kids from each participating school are chosen and allowed to participate.
(It's supposed to be quite an honor to be in this performance, which most likely has something to do with why it's called that.)
This took place early in the year, or maybe late last year.
At the spring concert this week, The Teenager was presented with a "Certificate of Attendance" - or something like that - for having played at this event. I was able to leave work to watch the concert, but wasn't able to stick around afterward to see the certificate, so The Teenager brought it to my workplace.
I was extremely pleased that The Teenager was able to find the time to do this as I know he has many teenager tasks of his own. (Wii, PS3, etc.)
I looked it over and told him to "Put this somewhere where it won't get wrecked. I think a good spot for now would be on top of the buffet..."
Notice that the first three words were "Put this somewhere".
So the following morning, when I arrived home from Job 2, I walked into the house to find the certificate on the kitchen counter next to the deep fat fryer and sink.
Kids these days. No attention spans.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Springtime in Minnesota
Yesterday morning, as I was leaving work, I had to wait for the windows to defrost so I could see.
This following a day of nearly 90 degree weather.
Today, rain and wind.
Yup. Minnesota.
This following a day of nearly 90 degree weather.
Today, rain and wind.
Yup. Minnesota.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Proofreading
I spend a lot of time behind the windshield and I usually have the radio on while I'm on the road. (A car with over 275,000 miles on it makes odd noises that only stop when the radio is turned up. Problem fixed!) :)
Anyway, on the drive home from work this morning, the usual female ABC News announcer - the one that hides inside my dashboard and tells me what's going on in the world - came on and fluently read through her script as always. It was so fluent, in fact, that apparently nobody at ABC caught that she said "...music soothes the savage bReast..." before they zipped it off to whatever stations are under the ABC News umbrella.
I sure hope that I wasn't the only one who got a chuckle out of that. And I'm definitely going to start paying closer attention to the news!
*****************************************************
On a different topic which amused me...
As I was looking through the local Hy-Vee Trader tonight, I came across an add for someone who was selling "wedding items - used once".
I'm happy for the couple in that they have apparently decided the marriage is going to last and that they won't be needing these items again. :)
Anyway, on the drive home from work this morning, the usual female ABC News announcer - the one that hides inside my dashboard and tells me what's going on in the world - came on and fluently read through her script as always. It was so fluent, in fact, that apparently nobody at ABC caught that she said "...music soothes the savage bReast..." before they zipped it off to whatever stations are under the ABC News umbrella.
I sure hope that I wasn't the only one who got a chuckle out of that. And I'm definitely going to start paying closer attention to the news!
*****************************************************
On a different topic which amused me...
As I was looking through the local Hy-Vee Trader tonight, I came across an add for someone who was selling "wedding items - used once".
I'm happy for the couple in that they have apparently decided the marriage is going to last and that they won't be needing these items again. :)
Friday, April 24, 2009
What's in a name?
Hmmmm. It appears that my first attempt at blogging was a success! Now I'll need to go through the boxes in my garage and see if I can't find my digital camera...
So, what's in a name? (I dunno. A couple proper nouns?)
Whatever. It's the best I could do for the title today. :)
(Stick with me and I'll eventually get to the point.)
My name is Chad.
It's maybe not the name I would have picked for myself if given the opportunity to pick my own name, but it's as good as any other.
My college degree is in Speech Communication: Radio/T.V. (Notice that it's "SPEECH COMMUNICATION" and not "WRITTEN COMMUNICATION WITH GOOD SPELLING AND THE CORRECT USE OF GRAMMAR AND PUNCTUATION!")
One would think that with a speech degree, along with having worked at a call center for just over a year during my younger days, that when I say my name the person on the other end of the phone wouldn't hear "Josh" or "John" or "Jeff" or "Chet" or "Jed" or any of the other names they repeat back to me.
I don't correct them for I know I'll take whatever info they wish me to pass along as accurately as they give it to me. However, I admit that every so often I do have the urge to say, "No. It's Chad. Ch-Chad-duh!" (like I have both a stutter and Tourett's - although I probably spelled that wrong) just so they get the name right the next time they call!
My last name is of Polish origin. I've worked with people for several YEARS that still don't know how to say it. I'm easily amused, so I let them slaughter it to whatever extent their interpretation of the name is. (After all, the twin has adopted the Polish pronunciation of it, where the "v" and "t" sounds often find themselves being substituted for the letters actually used in Polish last names. My immediate family doesn't even all say it the same!)
* Yes, I'm still working toward the point.
I think of myself as being a positive person. I'm honest with myself just as I'm honest with those I work with. I've worked for what I have and I take care of what I've worked for. I appreciate nature and the simple things, and I appreciate the fact that smarter people than I have developed the technologies that make my life easier. I'm patriotic. I believe in a higher power. I'm thankful for my health, my friends, and my family.
I'm thankful for my kids.
I do my best to be a good person and hope they follow in my footsteps in the parts of parenting and adulthood where I've been a good example. I do my best to prepare them for whatever part they play and hope they're better at it than I've been.
I keep my name blemish free. I do so as a gift to my parents and so that it's a name my own children can be proud of, no matter how oddly it's pronounced. :)
Seriously, it's ironic that the income of a job is hardly worth the cost of the time you miss with your children when they are still with you. It's so true how fast the time goes by.
I've put off getting a computer at home as I've heard on the news that the average grade of a student who's on facebook will drop 1 full letter grade. Bummer. I've heard about a couple of murders of females who were lured to their deaths by some not-quite-mentally-stable person's add on Craigslist. I've read the story about the psycho bitch that pretended to be a boy online and was the cause for her neighbors' daughter committing suicide. I fully expect that the creepy people of the world think of themselves as being normal. I think the gate from sanity to insanity is on well lubed hinges and it only swings in one direction.
I know that I live in a small town, and that as I add personal info about my life and my kids that it can be viewed by anyone who comes across it, and that it really wouldn't be that hard to pinpoint the actual location of where I reside - if one was inclined to do so.
Which finally brings me to my point.
I'm good at seeing any given situation from several different angles. Please see this from mine.
It's my guess that an online sexual predator will research the info available to them. If you are the type of person who is attracted to boys, (minor boys - for clarification) and doesn't have the self control to stay your creepy @$$ away from them, you are not welcome here. Like I've stated earlier, I've done all I can to prepare my children for life. Naturally, I've filled them in on some of the darker sides of it. They know that no adult will ask to enter my residence if I'm not there and they've been provided with phones with which to reach me for EVERY INSTANCE where someone they don't know comes to the door.
So...If you have trouble understanding the "not welcome" part of that - please position yourself in such a way that they also take out the refrigerator and the door going to the garage - as both are getting replaced this this year, anyway.
To everyone else, Welcome! :)
So, what's in a name? (I dunno. A couple proper nouns?)
Whatever. It's the best I could do for the title today. :)
(Stick with me and I'll eventually get to the point.)
My name is Chad.
It's maybe not the name I would have picked for myself if given the opportunity to pick my own name, but it's as good as any other.
My college degree is in Speech Communication: Radio/T.V. (Notice that it's "SPEECH COMMUNICATION" and not "WRITTEN COMMUNICATION WITH GOOD SPELLING AND THE CORRECT USE OF GRAMMAR AND PUNCTUATION!")
One would think that with a speech degree, along with having worked at a call center for just over a year during my younger days, that when I say my name the person on the other end of the phone wouldn't hear "Josh" or "John" or "Jeff" or "Chet" or "Jed" or any of the other names they repeat back to me.
I don't correct them for I know I'll take whatever info they wish me to pass along as accurately as they give it to me. However, I admit that every so often I do have the urge to say, "No. It's Chad. Ch-Chad-duh!" (like I have both a stutter and Tourett's - although I probably spelled that wrong) just so they get the name right the next time they call!
My last name is of Polish origin. I've worked with people for several YEARS that still don't know how to say it. I'm easily amused, so I let them slaughter it to whatever extent their interpretation of the name is. (After all, the twin has adopted the Polish pronunciation of it, where the "v" and "t" sounds often find themselves being substituted for the letters actually used in Polish last names. My immediate family doesn't even all say it the same!)
* Yes, I'm still working toward the point.
I think of myself as being a positive person. I'm honest with myself just as I'm honest with those I work with. I've worked for what I have and I take care of what I've worked for. I appreciate nature and the simple things, and I appreciate the fact that smarter people than I have developed the technologies that make my life easier. I'm patriotic. I believe in a higher power. I'm thankful for my health, my friends, and my family.
I'm thankful for my kids.
I do my best to be a good person and hope they follow in my footsteps in the parts of parenting and adulthood where I've been a good example. I do my best to prepare them for whatever part they play and hope they're better at it than I've been.
I keep my name blemish free. I do so as a gift to my parents and so that it's a name my own children can be proud of, no matter how oddly it's pronounced. :)
Seriously, it's ironic that the income of a job is hardly worth the cost of the time you miss with your children when they are still with you. It's so true how fast the time goes by.
I've put off getting a computer at home as I've heard on the news that the average grade of a student who's on facebook will drop 1 full letter grade. Bummer. I've heard about a couple of murders of females who were lured to their deaths by some not-quite-mentally-stable person's add on Craigslist. I've read the story about the psycho bitch that pretended to be a boy online and was the cause for her neighbors' daughter committing suicide. I fully expect that the creepy people of the world think of themselves as being normal. I think the gate from sanity to insanity is on well lubed hinges and it only swings in one direction.
I know that I live in a small town, and that as I add personal info about my life and my kids that it can be viewed by anyone who comes across it, and that it really wouldn't be that hard to pinpoint the actual location of where I reside - if one was inclined to do so.
Which finally brings me to my point.
I'm good at seeing any given situation from several different angles. Please see this from mine.
It's my guess that an online sexual predator will research the info available to them. If you are the type of person who is attracted to boys, (minor boys - for clarification) and doesn't have the self control to stay your creepy @$$ away from them, you are not welcome here. Like I've stated earlier, I've done all I can to prepare my children for life. Naturally, I've filled them in on some of the darker sides of it. They know that no adult will ask to enter my residence if I'm not there and they've been provided with phones with which to reach me for EVERY INSTANCE where someone they don't know comes to the door.
So...If you have trouble understanding the "not welcome" part of that - please position yourself in such a way that they also take out the refrigerator and the door going to the garage - as both are getting replaced this this year, anyway.
To everyone else, Welcome! :)
Friday, April 17, 2009
The Blog
I have decided to blog.
I imagine that this will probably involve a lot of trial-and-error, like the first time I tried leaving a comment on my sister's blog.
I suspect there will be spelling errors and grammar errors and operator errors. I also suspect it'll serve as a bit of a journal. I promise to never start an entry with "Dear Diary", and hopefully it all adds up to a bit of amusement for anyone who happens to stumble upon it and spends some of their time reading it.
What topic does someone start their blog with?
Well, let's not get carried away quite yet...
First I need to see what all the funk around the outside of the "Edit Html" box is.
Let's see here...don't care yet...don't care yet...ah! Spell check! Probably need that one!...no images or videos at the present time, allow the readers to make fun of me... What's this "Labels" business about?
OK, whatever. At least Little-Blue-Wheelchair-Guy and his Word-Verification-Box-of-Eye-Torment and accompanying Voices-of-Purgatory-for-the-Visually-Impaired isn't here yet.
I'm going for it. I'm going to hit "Publish Post" so I can check out "Comment Moderation" and the file-folder tabs of blog set-up to see what's hiding behind those doors. I'll be back soon!
I imagine that this will probably involve a lot of trial-and-error, like the first time I tried leaving a comment on my sister's blog.
I suspect there will be spelling errors and grammar errors and operator errors. I also suspect it'll serve as a bit of a journal. I promise to never start an entry with "Dear Diary", and hopefully it all adds up to a bit of amusement for anyone who happens to stumble upon it and spends some of their time reading it.
What topic does someone start their blog with?
Well, let's not get carried away quite yet...
First I need to see what all the funk around the outside of the "Edit Html" box is.
Let's see here...don't care yet...don't care yet...ah! Spell check! Probably need that one!...no images or videos at the present time, allow the readers to make fun of me... What's this "Labels" business about?
OK, whatever. At least Little-Blue-Wheelchair-Guy and his Word-Verification-Box-of-Eye-Torment and accompanying Voices-of-Purgatory-for-the-Visually-Impaired isn't here yet.
I'm going for it. I'm going to hit "Publish Post" so I can check out "Comment Moderation" and the file-folder tabs of blog set-up to see what's hiding behind those doors. I'll be back soon!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)