Friday's Feast

Appetizer
Who was the last person you hugged?
- My son Jason this morning

Soup
Share a beauty or grooming trick or tip with us.
- Brush your teeth. It costs less than going to the dentist

Salad
What does the color yellow make you think of?
- Snow

Main Course
If you were to make your living as a photographer, what subject would your pictures revolve around?
- Beach scenes so I could be on the beach all the time

Dessert
What was the longest book you ever read?
- I don't read many books, but it was probably a text book

Digging and Digging

So today, I'm working on a bug that was a result of another bug fix nearly 15 years ago. That's a long time worth of code to look through to try and find what is going on. I've spent most of my morning digging and digging through a mountain a code trying to find this error. Looks like I'm going to have to bring in reinforcements on this so we can get this done. If anything, it would be great if I could be pointed in the right direction. Anyway, I need to pick up my mental shovel again.

The Best Games Ever

When I was growing up, I was quite the gamer. I had all the systems that were out at the time. I had the Nintendo, then I had the Super Nintendo. At the same time, I also had a Sega Genesis, and then, later, I got an Nintendo 64. I also had a slew of games for all of them. I was sitting around the house today watching one of the coolest games ever being played by my family members. It was Guitar Hero 3. I've played the second one, but today I got to play and watch the 3rd one. I love that game. Not only do you get to be in the game, but you also get to listen to some great songs as well. While I was watching that game, I thought I would share with you some of the games that I think are the best games ever. In no particular order:

1. Super Metroid for Super NES
2. Zelda: A Link To The Past for Super NES
3. Mario Kart for Super Nintendo and the Nintendo 64
4. Golden Ax for Sega Genesis
5. Guitar Hero for XBox

If you have any games you would like to add to the list, feel free to leave a comment about what your favorite games were.

Good Day

It's been a pretty good day, so far today. I've been able to close out two bugs today so far, which is really good. That was mostly due to a lot of help from my teammates. The sun is shining outside like crazy. We are expected to get up in the 50's for the first time this year. And, we got a bunch of paperwork over to our mortgage broker that he needed to get our loan finalized. It's been a good day so far and it's only halfway over. Well, gotta go. Gotta get back to work.

It Never Ends

My last employer outsourced it's payroll and benefits to another company in hopes of saving money and helping its employees get better insurance coverage. Well, the better benefits never happened. In fact, I think in some cases, the costs actually went up. Anyway, they always were screwing things up. The first direct deposit I received from them never actually made it. They had communicated with the bank and when the bank said the direct deposit had been set up incorrectly, they just left it at that. No response to me whatsoever. They just waited me to contact them and sort it out, which took about half a day. They were finally able to figure it out. Then there was another paycheck that was cut short because of something on their end. It took them a day to correct that. Now, even after I have left that company over a month ago, I'm still having issues with them. When my last company sent out its W-2s, the name of my employer was the name of the benefits company, which is just the company that handles payroll. It didn't seem to matter until my loan for our new house is being underwritten. When we applied for the loan, I told the broker that my employer was Bully Dog Technologies, which is correct. However, the underwriter of the loan can't understand why that's not the name on the W-2's. So now I have to call up my old company and ask them to write me an official letter explaining all of this. It's very aggravating. I have never had to deal with so much crap from a benefits company. Also, contacting my old company and asking the payroll there to take care of this isn't exactly a walk in the park.

The Long Week Ahead

It is now the beginning of the end. In two weeks, we will be signing the papers for our new home. In one week, we will be signing the papers to close on our old home. So, this week is the beginning of the end of us living with the inlaws. It's going to be a long week just to get to signing the papers our old home. There is one whole week of work and one whole week of dealing with the dramas of the inlaws. It may only be five days, but it's already beginning to feel like an eternity.

Relative Time

We are now inside a week until we close on our old home. The time seems to be going by extremely slow as that time approaches. I am really sad to see our old home go. It truly was a home for us, not just a house. I left a piece of me there (my thumbtip). Plus, it seems that the whole time we lived there, I worked on the backyard. Finally, when the backyard was done, we had to leave it. It is going to be hard, but exciting at the same time. I just hope the next owner will appreciate what we did to the yard and not let it go to waste. That would be the thing that would really tear my heart out.

That Great Movie Smell

The best part about going to the movies is the initial smell of the popcorn machines when you walk in the door. It is one of those great smells of life. No matter what popcorn brand you buy in the store, you can never reproduce that smell in your house. Once you walk into the movie theaters and you smell that great popcorn smell, you instantly forget how much money you had to fork out in order to experience that.

Family Insurance

Before I got my new job, we had our own private family insurance policy. To be honest, compared to what my previous job was offering and what we could find on our own, it was much cheaper per month to have our own policy. I'm guessing that's because a group policy has to accept everyone regardless of their conditions, whereas a private policy doesn't have to do that. Because everyone has to be accepted, those policies were more expensive. To me, unless you get a really great job with great benefits, insurance will always be another big monthly bill.

Golfing

I love to golf. It is one of my favorite pastimes because you get to be outside, you get exercise, and you get to hit a ball around as hard as you can. There is a golf course I would love to visit. It's the Thousand Hills golf course located at the Thousand Hills Golf Resort. They have these great Branson condos that you can rent out. If I had one of those, I could go golfing all I wanted and could do it at any time I wanted. I just can't wait for spring to get here so I can use my new golf clubs. What's even better is that my new job is located in the middle of this huge, 27-hole golf course. Spring just can't show up soon enough.

Our Other Three Kids

My inlaws here where we are living now have three dogs and two cats. I'm not really a dog person. I think they stink and have a tendency to be mean to new people. I have always been a cat person. When I was growing up, we had all kinds of cats. My inlaws have two cats but they are not very nice. Only one of them will let you hold them and it won't be for very long. That's why I really miss our cats. Two of them are sisters and the other one is very lovable. He will even play fetch with you with one of his catnip toys. I used to watch all of them play and fight with each other. I'm just glad that in three weeks we can see them again and move them into our new house. Then we can start playing fetch again.

Labels

My wife loves to organize everything. Before we moved, she had everything organized with labels on them. She loves everything that has to do with organizing. It could be anything from small containers to Primera labels. I used to think it was a little weird that she organized everything and the way she organized it. Now, I don't mind so much because it is so much easier to find things now and we don't have a bunch of containers that just has all kinds of stuff in them.

Alcohol Rehab

I think it was back in the summer time when all you can hear on the news was another celebrity going into a alcohol rehab center. Is the life of a celebrity that bad that they need to hit the bottle every night and end up in one of those centers? There were celebrities ranging from Britney Spears to Lindsey Lohan that were checking in. I don't think the rehab was doing any good because they would check out and then go back in about a week later. I think they had actually become addicted to rehab. Maybe they should have a rehab center for those who are addicted to rehab.

Business Cards

As I have posted before on my blog, I have always wanted to own my own business. Now there is a website that can help me accomplish that goal. Logoeyes.com will help me with my logo design and my business cards design. At their website, I was easily able to use their demo application to create the logo for my business and my business cards. There were all kinds of designs and logos that I could choose from which made the whole process that much easier. I was also able to choose from all kinds of colors and fonts. The whole process of creating my logo and my business cards only took 2 minutes and the finished product came out looking very professional and stylish at the same time. From the look of my attached business card, you can tell that the logo and business card say that my company is the global leader in computer and Internet technology. This is a great website and they did an awesome job of creating the business card and logo that was right for my business.

I Got Googled

Today I became the latest victim of Google's "fair Internet practices". My tiny, can't-even-see-under-a-microscope section of the Internet fell under the eye of the Sauron of the Internet, Google. My totally fair and accurate Google page rank of 1 got shot down to 0. In reality, my little space on the Internet probably only gets enough traffic to warrant of rank of 0, but there is a huge problem with that rank: it's not accurate at all. In fact, it's a slap in the face and a stab in the back by Google.

My blog does not get much traffic. I think it might get 10 visitors a day and 5 of those are me. However, despite all of that, I always had a PR of 1. Then, just this last Monday, I started doing paid posts from PayPerPost. For those who are not familiar with PayPerPost (PPP), it's Google's only big competitor on the Internet in terms of advertising. For some reason, Google doesn't feel like there is enough room on the Internet for more than one big advertiser, so it is trying to take PPP out. I am the latest victim and there are plenty others. Explain to me, all wise and powerful Google, how I can have a page rank of 1 with no traffic for almost a year then, when I start doing PPP, with still no increase in blog traffic, I get a page rank of 0 all of a sudden? Explain to me, omnipotent Google, how your ranking system is fair, when it appears to not be taking in anything related to a blog's traffic when you assign them a page rank? Would you like another example, Google, to help those money-stuffed brains of your start processing this?

There is a blog out there on the Internet at ramblingmom.com. The owner of that blog has been blogging on it for almost a year and half now. At one point, she had a page rank of 3 and rightfully so. So had all kinds of traffic. At the same time, she had been doing PPP for almost 9 months and Google didn't seem to have a problem with her page rank and paid blogging. However, PayPerPost was growing in popularity and Google got a little scared that it's stadium-sized pockets full of money might have 1 or 2 less $1000 dollar bills in them. So, Google set everyone that had paid blog posts on their blogs back down to a page rank of 0. Why the sudden change? Well according to Google, what they did had always been according to their policy. Oh really? Then why did Google ignore 1000s of bloggers for months and then all of a sudden dig up a supposed policy and set their PRs to 0 just when PPP was getting big? Do I have you thinking yet, Google? Apparently, Google won't care enough about my site to answer me, but they care enough to set my PR to 0. When I started doing PPP on Monday, my no-traffic blog had a higher PR than super-busy ramblingmom.com's PR. Can anyone explain the "fairness" of the Page Rank system? I would sure like to know how a system to rank a site's popularity can be so completely flawed and have nothing to do with popularity or traffic at all.

Thank you, Google, for setting my straight and giving me a "fair" page rank. You sure taught me the error of "my" ways. Please continue, Sauron, I mean, Google, to make the Page Rank Internet ranking system as "unbiased" and "accurate" as possible. Most of all, thank you for playing fair in the Internet advertising business.

Finally Friday

Woohoo, it's finally Friday. I swear the longest part of the week is the last hour of work on a Friday. It seems to last forever. At my job, many people get to work earlier on a Friday so they can leave early. I don't get to work as early as they do on Fridays so I end up being one of the last ones leaving. That doesn't help when you need to ask a question and no one is around to ask. Oh, well, Friday is here and that's all that's matters.

Friday Songs

Every Friday, while I am driving home, the local radio songs celebrate Friday by playing certain songs. I just thought I would list some of my favorite songs that go along with it finally being Friday.

1. Finally Friday - Not sure who sings this, but it's a country song and the stations always put funny sound clips at all the pauses in the song.

2. I Don't Wanna Work - Again, I don't know who sings this, but I think it captures everyone's mood on Friday

3. I don't have to be me 'til Monday - Don't know who sings this, but it's a great song to listen to while you are driving home from work on a Friday.

Whole Lotta Shakin'

I get to work this morning. Everything was normal. I sat down at my desk and started checking my email and getting ready to start the day. This was about 7:15 a.m. Just then, I started to feel a little dizzy and I started to hear a roaring sound. I sit right next to a fairly busy aisle so I didn't think much of the noise. But the noise wouldn't stop. It just kept going on and on. Then I looked up and say the lights hanging from the ceiling. They were starting to sway. I turned to my coworker across the aisle and asked him if he felt anything. As it turns out, we just felt an earthquake. It was very unnerving because for those few seconds there, nothing was stable. Apparently, there was a 6.0 earthquake in eastern Nevada, 150 miles away from where we were and that's what we felt. It was a very unnerving feeling and we weren't even feeling the full brunt of it. We just felt what actually made it over to us from 150 miles away. I hope I never have to feel that kind of thing again.

Friday's Feast

Appetizer
Have you ever played a practical joke on anyone? If so, what did you do and who was your victim?
- On my LDS mission, we placed lemonade kool-aid in the showerhead of another missionary companionship. They said they smelled like lemonade for a week.

Soup
What do your salt and pepper shakers look like?
- They are glass with little handles and white tops. Pretty ordinary.

Salad
Where is the next place you plan to visit (on vacation or business)?
- We don't have any solid plans right now, but we do have a gift certificate for a free stay in Hawaii that we can use. We just need to pay for the flights. :(

Main Course
What kind of lotion or cream do you use to keep your hands from getting too dry?
- None.

Dessert
Make up a dessert, tell us its ingredients, and give it a name.
- Chocolate snickers cake with whipped cream. Ingredients: Snickers, cake stuff, and whipped cream.

A Brighter Day

I am in a much better mood today than I was yesterday at this time. For one, I was able to close out two bugs at work today. That may not seem like a lot, but when the code is millions of lines and most of it is 2 decades old, it is very hard to dig into the code and start changing things. The code is so huge that you never know what will happen if you change just one line or spell something differently. I was able to fix one bug today through coding and the other bug was closed out by finding out that it no longer was happening on the end user's computers. Always a good thing to have a productive day at work.

Coming home was better, too. There were no wrecks on the road and traffic flowed pretty smoothly. Also, when I got home, there wasn't someone screaming a bad song at the top of their lungs and everyone ended up leaving so the house is pretty quiet. Again, it's nice to have a good day at work. It's also a better day when you have that and you can actually relax, physically and mentally, when you get home. In comparison to yesterday, today has definitely been a brighter day.

Kids Say

Honestly, kids say the darnedest things. I'm sitting here on the computer listening to my 3-year-old tell the craziest stories to his aunt. He is saying things like he loves his uncle because he is cute and that his brother is his friend. Also, he has asked his aunt if she is OK every time she sneezes. It really is the cutest thing. What is really funny is that he has no recollection of what he has said 10 minutes after he said. If you are ever having a bad day, you just need to listen to one of his conversations and it will take all the gloom out of your day.

The Breaking Point

I feel I am at the breaking point right now. I just can't wait until we can get into our new home, but that is nearly 3 weeks away. Man, that 3 weeks seems to be getting longer and longer each day instead of the other way around. We're staying at my in-laws right now and the place never stops. There are 14 people living in this home right now and that is way too many people for one dwelling. We are always fighting for a parking spot in the driveway and there is always something going on here. It's mentally exhausting just to watch it all. I cam home today to my brother-in-law screaming a very improvised song at the top of his lungs. So loud, you couldn't even think. I'm at the point right now where I just want to get out of here, but I know if I go out just to go out, I will be spending money we don't have right now. Believe me when I say I am at the breaking point

It's Always Something

Work today was actually a lot better than yesterday. No heads were banged into walls today, at least, not in my cube. I got to close a number of bugs out and start working on new ones. I was actually able to do most of my current bug on my own, which shows me that things are beginning to catch on. You would think that with the good day I had at work, I would be in a good mood right now, right? Not quite.

At the post title states, there is always something in each day to try and bring me down. Today, on the way, that something showed up. Apparently, there was a huge wreck about 4 blocks from where we are currently living. This wreck happened on the second busiest road in the valley. I've seen wrecks on that road before and people just slow down and go past. This one bugged me though. I was sitting in traffic for about 10 minutes before even getting to the wreck site and once I got to the site, everyone was being routed to one lane, and not the one I was in. So, three lanes had to merge into one. Usually people are courteous, but Utah drivers suck at that part. It was clear that I had to get over and everyone knew about the wreck. They could all see it. But the person in the lane next to me was making a point that she did not want to let anyone in front of her. What is the big deal? She wasn't going anywhere fast anyway with wreck in front of us. Why wouldn't she let me in? Plus, the road past the wreck was closed, so no one could get on it. Of course, there was no sign or warning stating that. So I had to circle back and find another route. Not a bad idea, huh? Usually it is easy to get around the Salt Lake valley because of how the roads are. But today was different because everyone had the same idea I did. Needless to say, I got home, but not without something or someone ruining my good mood.

Sick Of It Yet

Is everybody sick of the presidential race yet? I know I am. My choice for President of the United States dropped out a couple of weeks ago. That was Mitt Romney. I really feel he was the right guy for the job. I also feel that he made the right decision in dropping out when he did. If he had stayed in any longer with the insurmountable odds in front of him, he would have only played the role of a spoiler for the front runner. It is clear now that he made the right decision. The only other contender is Mike Huckabee (sorry to all you Ron Paul fans, but that's the truth), and Huckabee doesn't stand a chance. He knows it, too, but he's just staying in the race for his own will and pleasure. He has no public agenda right now, except to be a pest. I'm just so sick of the presidential race so far and there are still 9 months to go. There has got be a better way. Why can't the politicians focus on the real issues instead of poking fingers at each other? Maybe then, the country might stop stalling and actually go in the right direction.

Nerve Racking

The process of buying a home is so nerve racking. It doesn't help that the home you are selling is in a different state and you have to leave it up to others to get the job done. In addition to all of that, we need the money from selling our old home as a sown payment for our new home. Everything needs to go well and so far it has gone smoothly. The appraisal of the home is being done today and that has made me a little nervous. If an appraisal doesn't go well, a seller may lose the offer on his home. Luckily for us, we compared our property to other's before we listed it so we know we can get what we want out of it. It's just a little scary when you get called about what you did to the property to help it's value. It's just makes me lose focus a little at work (when I say a little, I really mean it makes think about it all day long). In 2 and a half weeks it will all be over and we can move in to our new home and the whole home buying and home selling process will just be another chapter in our lives.

Home Sweet Home-Again

So we are now only 2 and a half weeks aways from closing on our second home. Our first home was great. We loved that home and it was really hard to leave. We had just finished completely reconstructing and improving the backyard to the point where you could actually go back there and play on grass. It was truly a very cozy home. Our new home is great as well and we can't wait to move in. My only issue is that this home has no backyard. I mean that literally. The back fence stops at the back of the patio so there is no yard in the back. Maybe I can convince one of the neighbors behind me someday to sell me part of their yard.

Rehab

It seems that these days more and more people are struggling with drugs. I personally don't understand what the motivation for drugs actually is. I have seen people who have taken drugs and I don't see any motivation there to join them. Even with drug rehabilitation some people still struggle with their battle with drugs. My personal philosophy is that the best way to quit drugs is to not start at all. If you could see how drugs can destroy a person's life and a person's future, you would shudder at the thought of even doing drugs yourself. There is help out there, but save yourself the trouble and don't even go near drugs at all.

Holes In The Wall

Wow, what a rough day at work. First, I arrive at work still not fully recovered from the crazy weekend we had. Then, all I did all day at work was bang my head against the wall trying to fix a bug in the software I'm working on. There were seriously holes in the metaphorical wall around my computer. I even had a fellow co-worker come over and try to help me out. He worked on it for about an hour and a half and only succeeded in creating another hole in the wall. It reminded me of the definition of insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. I just hope tomorrow will be better and I can move on to another software issue.

A Tight Fit

Earlier, I talked about the hidden fees that come with buying a home. Well, we paid one of those fees today. We went fridge shopping today. We had an idea in mind of what kind of fridge that we wanted, but we could never find the right one. We had originally decided on getting black, but our minds changed when we found the perfect fridge. It was at a discount store here in town. It was originally 1400 dollars and when we bought it was only 870 dollars and that included a 5 year warranty. The reason for the big drop you say? There is a small dent and scratch in the bottom corner of one of the doors. That's it. 500 dollars for a small dent. But it is a great looking fridge. It's stainless steel and has a water and ice dispenser and even has a lock on that dispenser so 3 year olds who are trying to help their brother get water can't flood the kitchen. The only thing that could go wrong is it not fitting in the spot for the fridge in the new house. We had the current owners measure the hole and it measured 36 inches wide. The fridge we bought is 35 and 7/8 inches wide. It will be a tight fit and I have a good feeling about this fridge fitting. If it doesn't, we may have to make it fit or we may end up selling it to get one that will actually fit. I really hope it doesn't come to that.

The Hidden Costs

You may have heard the term 'Hidden Costs' when it comes to buying a home or refinancing a home. It usually means there are extra fees you have to pay all the middlemen in the house-buying process. These fees include title fees, mortgage broker fees, and realtor fees. There are also other hidden costs you have to consider when buying a home.

Since we will be in a new home in about 3 weeks, we are havening to buy some new things for the home. This is where the hidden fees come in. We need to buy a new refrigerator. That's a big fee. We also need to buy other things like hoses for the washer and dryer, if the ones we have now don't work. We are also going to have to buy groceries so that we can actually live in the house once it is ours. So the trick we are now havening to work is getting all of these things paid for without draining our resources and starting out in our new home behind in payments. Thank goodness we are beginning to see the light at the end of this tunnel.

Exhausting

Man, the moving process is just exhausting. We had plans to go to our Idaho home this coming Saturday to get our furniture. So, last Saturday was supposed to be a nice relaxing Saturday. Well, as fast as a politician breaks a campaign promise, our plans changed. Since my wife's dad had the free moving truck (except for the gas expense), we had no idea if he was going to be here on this coming Saturday, but he was for sure going to be here last Saturday. In order to ensure that we had a free moving truck to move our furniture, we had to go up last Saturday to get our stuff. For one it's a 2 and a half hour drive one way and we would need help loading it and unloading it. Needless to say, we got it all done, but that was the longest Saturday I have experienced in a long time. It was really hard seeing our lovely home all empty like that. I am still exhausted from loading all of the furniture all up. Luckily, by the time we got down to Salt Lake City, 90% of the furniture had already been unloaded. Man, exhausting weekend. Even a great Sunday nap didn't make the exhaustion go away.

The Best Part About Sunday

I remember as a kid, I always hated taking naps. That was then. Now, as an adult, I love being able to take a nap. The best naps are on Sunday afternoons after church. They just feel so great. Today, I was able to take a nap that lasted about 3 hours. It felt so good. It was almost impossible to get up, but I had to to get dinner started. The only other things I can think of that compares to a great Sunday nap is learning the word of the Lord and watching a good Sunday football game. That being said, Go Patriots!!!

The Best Places To Eat

My wife and I enjoyed Valentine's Day by going to out favorite restaurant, the Olive Garden. We love that place. So, to compliment Valentine's Day, I though I would list my favorite places to eat. I have already hinted at what I think is #1.

1. Olive Garden - they have the best T-Bone steak.

2. Texas Roadhouse - You can get a ton of food for not a ton of money.

3. Applebees - I've loved this place since I was in high school.

4. The Bluebird - It's this great restaurant in Logan, UT, where I took my wife on our first date. It's got great food for a good price.

5. Wendy's - I worked here for about 5 years. Yes, even after working there, I can still stand to eat the food. They have the best spicy chicken sandwiches.

Friday Feast

Appetizer
Name one thing that is unique about you.
- I'm missing part of my left thumb.

Soup
Fill in the blank: My favorite _________ is __________ but I like _________ too.
- My favorite color is blue, but I like red, too.

Salad
What type of wood do you have for your home’s furnishings?
- Pine, I think.

Main Course
Who do you talk to most often on the phone?
- My Wonderful Wife

Dessert
What level of responsibility do you have in your job?
- My responsibility is relatively high. I am fixing bugs right now in software used for 911

A Blessing and A Cursing

K, living in a desert usually means no water. Well, lucky for us, we live in a valley at the base of some very tall mountains. So any snow that is received in the winter makes its way down to the valleys each spring and replenishes the water supply. It's a great blessing in the spring, but a cursing as well during the winter. It's a curse because you have to drive through it. Snow, ice, and bad drivers does not make for an easy commute. I drove about 15 miles from work to my new house today, which should have taken only 25 minutes. It took about an hour and 15 minutes. I know the snow is blessing, but I really hope it starts to replenish the water supply very soon. Water is so much easier to drive through on the road than snow.

It's Beginning To Creep Up On Me

My line of work is beginning to make me more and more unhealthy each day. As a Software Engineer, I don't really get that much exercise while I am at work. My fingers get plenty of exercise, but the rest of my body doesn't. Plus, at my job, I get free soda. Soda cannot be good for the weight, but man it tastes so good. Plus, you can not pass it up when it is free. When things have calmed down in terms of the house and moving, etc, ect, I am seriously going to start doing some exercises. Perhaps I'll start using the exercise room at my work since that is free as well. That may help counteract the effects of the free soda.

Mighty Casey

The 3rd of February brought the world what it hasn't seen in a long time. No Joy at all in New England. Nope, there is no joy in Mudville. Mighty Casey has stuck out. Okay, so it wasn't a baseball game, but a significant game nonetheless. The undefeated New England Patriots went into the Super Bowl against an extremely underdogged and extremely mismatched New York Giants. The Patriots had the game and the completely undefeated season in the bag. Along with that bag, came history and the chance to finally get the 1972 Dolphins to shut up. But, alas, it wasn't meant to be.

The Giants struck first with a field goal. After that, the Patriots limped to a touchdown. The next two quarters would be a defensive bloodbath. Neither team would score for two quarters. Then, in the 4th quarter, the Giants scored, followed by a Patriots touchdown with 3 minutes left. The Giants headed for their endzone. On what seemed to be their last play, Eli Manning escaped a sack by 5 Patriots players and threw a hail Mary that somehow ended up being caught by a Giants player on the top of his helmet. Then with a minute left, the Giants scored. The Pats could not answer.

Congratulations to the New York Giants. Mighty Casey (the Patriots) struck out in the game of history and his bat smacked him in the butt on the way down.

America-Land Of Intolerance

It has infuriated me so much lately that Mitt Romney dropped out of the race. Of all the available presidential candidates, he was the only one I really liked. His background of taking sinking ships and turning them into treasure ships made me feel really good about him as President of the United States. That is definitely something the country desperately needs right now, someone who can fix what is wrong with the country. He has not been in politics long enough so he is not part of the problem, yet he knows how politics works. He was the best candidate out there and now he is gone. I still can't believe it. What burns me up even more is the fact that an intolerant America pushed him out of the race.

In America, we are supposed to be free. Free to practice whatever we want in terms of religion and not be punished for it or tested on it. In fact, in every job opening out there, you can not hire someone or not hire someone based on religion. That is the law. This also goes for public office. By the Constitution of the United States, there is no religion test to be President. Thank heavens there isn't because a lot of good men can be restricted from the office just because their belief system is different. In this day and age, I had faith that America had gotten past its prejudice days and would be able to look past a candidate's differences. Obviously, after what happened on Super Tuesday, I my faith was completely misplaced.

America just could not get past Mitt Romney being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Nevermind his values like honesty, family values, integrity, and honor, all things we look for in a President. America could not get past the fact that he was LDS. He was the guy that could turn this country around. He had all the credentials to do it. I know deep down that if he was not LDS, he would definitely be the front runner for the GOP right now. What does that say for America? I guess our president can be a liar, a fornicator, or even an embezzler, as long as he is "Christian", he can be president. That says America can't be tolerant of those we don't agree with. We can't get past things like a person's religion and look at the big picture. Way to go America. If things go wrong with the presidency this next four years, don't complain. You pushed out the guy who could do the best job because you couldn't get past his religion, which should never, never be a political issue in the first place.

In addition, the so-called "Chistian" right, sought out to destroy Mitt's chances at being president. They did it with the dirtiest tricks, too. They pulled out 200 year-old stereotypes, sent out false statements about the LDS faith, and even have a candidate in the race who's sole mission was to destroy Mitt's presidential run. Mike Huckabee is this "Christian" candidate. This guy, who the christian right want to be their president, has no tolerance for Mormons or Catholics, a major part of the US population he is supposed to represent. He has made degrading remarks about Catholics during his campaign, which the media mysteriously failed to broadcast, and has made so-called "innocent" remarks about the LDS faith. In no way whatsoever can an ordained Southern Baptist minister ever ask an innocent question about the LDS faith. They have been fighting the LDS faith for decades. Mike Huckabee himself has even gone to Utah to be the main speaker at a Southern Baptist convention there. The only reason that convention was held there was to "convert" the Mormon heathens. They did that by preaching all kinds of degrading, false truths, and half-truths to the people of Utah. Ya, Huckabee doesn't know anything about the LDS faith. Whatever!!! This guy wants to be president? He can't even tolerate one of it's many religious faiths. He only got in the race and is staying in the race to destroy Mitt Romney's chances of ever getting elected. The guy is a bold faced liar and has plenty of "christian" liars supporting his campaign.

Congratulations America!!! You have shown your true colors. The nation is still in its infancy when it comes to not being ignorant or intolerant of those who view and do things different. If John McCain wants to actually win the election, he will pick Mitt Romney as his running mate. The second he picks Mike Huckabee as his running mate, I will vote democrat. I will not be a part of placing an ignorant and intolerant vice president into office.

Back Again

Wow, it has been a while since I last posted. Nearly two weeks. That's okay, though, right? Nothing significant can happen in two weeks. Whatever!!! In the last two weeks, many things have happened. For one, I am learning a ton at my new job. There are so many things I am learning that I would have never learned at my old job. Not in a million years. It is a little rough and I have to rely a bunch on my very helpful team members, but I'm starting to pick it up. I'm still hoping and praying that I can continue the momentum I have at work.

In addition, we have found a new home. I'm hoping I can get a picture and post it here. It is such a beautiful home. It is nearly twice the size of our old home and all the rooms are very open and spacious. We fell in love with the home the minute we walked inside of it and saw it. It's even got a spacious patio that can be partially closed in so you can go out there, even on a bad day. The only thing I would change would be the lot size. The lot size is half the size of our lot in Idaho and most of the lot here is covered in house and cement. Mowing the lawn will only take about half an hour now. Other than that it is a beautiful home.

So I leave you tonight with a look at the future. Here is our new home: