Time Travel...? Direct from Springfield!

When I mention Springfield, MO... people automatically think Bass Pro Shops. Of course, it's headquarters are here, not to mention the first and grandest store! But there is another major corporation headquartered here in town, O'Reilly Auto Parts.

They have auto parts for everything. Fortunately, if you're interested in time travel, you may want to check this out!

Part Number: 121G  
Part Number: 121GMF 

(if the links don't work, go to http://www.oreillyauto.com and type in the part number in the search field)

Be sure to check out the descriptions! Of course, there is no price, and it seems that they are only available in the stores here in town! No internet orders!

However, it seems that if you really want a product like this.... you may need to own a Delorean!

~Matt

Identity On Screen

Since I've got a new website and sharp business card, I've been trying to incorporate the new logo design on several things. For example, my windows login screen has the logo as my profile pic. It looks great!

Well, I figured I might as well fix my cell phone up too. It needed to have my business identity add to it, especially since that's one of the reasons I upgraded my phone. So I took the design from the business card and fit it for the phone. Now, every time that I wake it up or turn it on, it reminds me that this very helpful gadget is a tool for work, not just play! (at least, that's the idea...)

~Matt

"Stay Off My Internet"

Lydia was driving through town on the way to church. I was on my iPhone, going over the lesson for the children's class I'd be teaching and checking my email as well. I have my iPhone set to automatically pick up networks as they become available, and the picture above shows what appeared on my screen! I started laughing! So I took a quick screenshot!

~Matt

iPhone Word Correction

When typing on the iPhone, sometimes it will auto-correct a word that you type. This can be a help, but can be a pain. I found out that it can be worse! Especially if it changes a word and you don't realize it!

I made a comment the other day on face book that was supposed to start with the word "Oooh". I sent it without re-reading it. That was a mistake!

The word was changed to "pooh"!

Whoops!

~Matt

In "Awe"

On Sunday, Pastor talked about the word "awe". This one word can mean so much. It can mean being in a state of amazement, wonder and astonishment, but also a state of bewilderment or shock. It can also be of fear, both good or bad. He then asked if we had ever trembled in fear.

That thought caused me to pause.

Boy, I had to think for a minute on that one. Trembled in fear? I knew that I had, but when?

Then it struck me... I remembered. It was a year ago. I was brought into the boss' office at work and told my position was terminated. I was no longer had employment with the company I had worked 8+ years for!

But the "fear" didn't really hit until I was driving home. You see, the whole time I was gathering my stuff I was more in a state shock or bewilderment. I put my things in the trunk and got behind the wheel. I then called Lydia from my cell. I told her what happened and that I was on the way home.

It was after that call that the realization of the situation hit. Things began to put them selves together, and the entire drive homeward horrible... even though the transit only took 8 minutes! I was trembling! My hands were grasped tightly around steering wheel so I could focus on getting home in one piece. I was in "awe"...literally quivering in fear. And it wasn't going be the last time during that day.

Why? What was causing my body to shake? It was the thought and realization that I did not know how we were going to make it, or what things were going come into play. I was jobless. No way to make income. The only comforting thought at the time was the fact that Lydia babysat. So I was thankful for that. But that was short lived.

Little did I know at that time that the mother of the child Lydia babysat was being laid off as well! Boy, what a hard evening that was! Within one hour, all of our income was taken away. I was almost afraid of answering the door! I didn't want to be a modern day Job, no one would!

But things worked out. Lydia was able to work at H&R Block with many hours, and after a while, I was rehired with my employer (howbeit, at a lower position.

I'm happy to say that even though it's been a hard year, God has taken care of us, and even though we don't understand it all...  It has provided us with knowledge not to trust our situation, but the One who holds the situation.

Now I'm in another "awe"... as He supplies our needs. Perhaps not how we'd like to see it, but it's in His hands! We'll see what He has in store for us now!

~Matt

Couples' Retreat! Day 2 (Saturday, 02/20/10)

The alarm sounded... Lydia and I got up and got ready. We took showers, packed up all of our stuff, and loaded it into the car before our morning session. They had fruit and breakfast snacks for us to munch on. This session was titled "The Old Fashioned Purity", dealing with staying pure in marriage (meaning reserving it all for your spouse and no other).

We then had a small break, so I went to the front counter checked out of our room. I also grabbed more snacks! The second session for the day that we attended was "The Old Fashioned Joy". It was for couples with young children, giving helps for using loving, Biblical child correction.

After that, we had our lunch break! But before we left the Chateau, we took pictures with our friends Doug & Mary. It's not easy taking pictures of yourselves! They had a nice balcony/deck where you could look out onto the lake.

We were invited by several to go Steak & Shake. We had a blast with the fellowship. However, the food wasn't as good as Olive Garden..

Back at the Chateau, we attended the final session, The Old Fashioned Home" (part 2). This finished the topic that was started on the previous evening. The focus was on the men looking to Christ as our example of leadership in the marriage.

Through out the event, they had played games and gave out prizes. We won a gift card to iHop!!! That was neat!

The retreat ended around 2:30ish, and it was time to say our goodbyes and head back to Springfield. We were sad to leave. But before we left, Doug and Mary helped take more pictures of the us at the resort. I have an album full of pictures on my facebook page, so be sure to check it out!

Back in Springfield, we picked up the kids, got the church van, and headed home. We ate chicken nuggets for supper and went to bed!
  
~Matt

Couples' Retreat! Day 1 (Friday, 02/19/10)

After waking up (which is a good way to start the day), we got the kids ready and the luggage packed. We dropped Lydia off at college for her one class of the day, and then headed over to where her sister, Lycia, was watching some other kids! The kids' parents were also going to the retreat, so Lycia had her hands full!

I went back and picked Lydia up. We then headed over to the School of Cosmetology. Lydia wanted get eyebrows waxed. While waiting for her to get "beautified"... I shopped around in the $1 Shop and K-Mart. It was taking her a bit, so I played around with my iPhone, figuring out how to get the GPS to work! It was cool! After some time, I decided to go inside and wait. She had decided to also get her hair cut! So, I read the news.... on my phone.

Before heading out of town, we stopped by QuikTrip for free soda (thanks to coupons they sent in the mail), but forgot gas! We also picked up some hamburgers pf the dollar menu at McDonald's for lunch.

Lydia did some more of her homework on the way to Branson. She planned to upload it while there over the hotel's wi-fi. We got there... and wow! What a beautiful place! The Chateau on the Lake is spectacular! We checked in and checked out our room. It was on the 8th floor, with a great view of Table Rock Lake and the dam!

We unpacked a bit, and set up our laptops to get things going. I wanted to look at the finances a bit, and Lydia wanted to upload that homework. Well, that's when we found out about the wi-fi ! They wanted to charge us $10 for 24-hours! Uh... no thanks! She decided to wait until Saturday evening at home to get it to her teacher over email! We'd depend on the internet service on our iPhones to keep in contact with the outside world! lol!

We then got our Bibles and headed downstairs to catch up with the other couples. There were 730 people there! That's 365 couples!!!! They provided snacks and we had a great time. We attended the session, "The Old Fashioned Flame". It talked about keeping the flame alive in marriage.

For supper break, we stopped to get gas and then ate Olive Garden with 3 other couples. Lydia and I had never dined there, but always wanted to try it out. At first, when we were seated, we waited forever. Our waitress forgot us!!! But all was made up, and we had a filling, super-supper!

The third session of the evening was a little bit longer, it was titled "The Old Fashioned Home". It was part 1, building the marriage and home on the Biblical faith. It dealt with submission in marriage, focusing mostly on the woman's role. We men were scheduled to get preached on in part 2 (on Saturday).

We then left for Walmart to pick up a few things we forgot and then headed to the pool for a short dip before going back to our room. We attempted to watch a movie on the cable, but commercials too long. We fell asleep! There was nothing much on, and it sure makes me glad we don't get cable at home... why pay for something you don't use!

~Matt

Whoops!

We pulled in the driveway and Malachi pointed out that I forgot some
Christmas lights! Lol

~Matt

Meebo for the iPhone

When gearing up to purchase the iPhones, I was saddened to learn that our favorite chat client, Meebo, was not available as an app! It had been promised for several months, but the Meebo team hadn't developed it yet.

I was then forced to find another. Well, I did... a program called "IM+", but it was going to be expensive. $9.99 to be exact! But right when we bought the phones, the price went on same for $2.99. So we bought it. (it's on sale right now for $4.99)

The program was nice, but I had problems with it. It wouldn't always connect, and there seemed to be several "hiccups" in the app.

Much to my joy, Meebo released their app on Valentines day! And it is FREE!!!!

Here are the features:

• Access to all your buddies (AIM, Gmail, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo, Facebook, Myspace, etc)
  
• Receive push notifications when you get a new IM, even when the app is closed
  
• Flick between multiple conversation windows
  
• Type in landscape and portrait mode
  
• Manage your chat sessions as you switch back and forth between the Meebo iPhone app and meebo.com
  
• Synchronized chat history between your iPhone and meebo.com

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/meebo/id351727311

I'm happy!

Oh, and now you folks know why I'm always online!!! :)

~Matt

Thursday, 02/18/10

We slept in... whoops! No gym! But that was somewhat okay! We were anticipating today being our Friday... well, sort of...

Yes, it was my Friday, at work! Tomorrow was scheduled as a vacation day for our trip to the couples' retreat in Branson. Needless to say, the day couldn't go by fast enough. Unfortunately, it was slow!

Anyway, we got home and I finally took down the Christmas lights while Lydia made supper! It didn't take too long either! Afterwards, we ate supper, played with kids, gave them showers, and put them to bed. Then Lydia worked on her homework while I did some more computer stuff! We got to bed late!!!

~Matt

Should I?

I'm thinking about blogging about other things besides just the daily updates that I've been doing. Those daily reports for each will be put into one blog post every Monday. It's a thought... so we'll see how it goes.

I've been wanting to share other things on here besides just the daily stuff, but staying up with our family updates is tough! So... we'll see! It might make Monday's post long, but yet complete.

So the question is... should I?

~Matt

Wednesday, 02/17/10

Today I got a kick from reading that Donald Trump wants Al Gore stripped from the Nobel Peace Prize! That's a funny thought. But could the man that "invented the internet" be able to deal with that?

Oh, I found an app for our cell phones that allow us to listen to the radio anytime. Unfortunately, it will drain the battery real fast! But that's okay! I can now listen to KWFC anytime!

Lydia stayed home and worked on homework while the kids and I went to church. She had a lot to get done!

No watching Olympics on tv tonight... Lydia focused on homework while I worked on updating the contacts for our cell phones. I spent 2 hours on phone with BJ as he helped with syncing our iPhones to our gmail account. Now all of our addresses and phone numbers are together and accessible anytime!

I'm starting to think the iPod is a machine made for stalking........ (that might have to be a topic for a blog in the future!)

~Matt

Tuesday, 02/16/10

We made it to the gym! Hooray! But we was a little late, so it was a quick workout. Lydia found out that if you shake the iPhone while its playing music, it will shuffles songs! It was annoying her! lol

I had quartet practice this evening, and it went very well. We are going over some new material, and it looks like it will be a few hymns!

~Matt

PS   the pic is from my iPhone.

A Holiday... For Some! (Monday, 02/15/10)

Lydia was off again today, it being Presidents day. Malachi had been coughing for the past several days, so we decided to let him stay home with her so that he could rest. I went ahead and took Mysia to daycare before heading to work. We figured it was the way to go since we're paying for it, she likes going, and Lydia wouldn't get much homework done with both of them home with her! Needless to say, we didn't go to the gym!

That morning he was looking at a book and asking Lydia what the letters were. He pointed to a "t" and said, "Walmart has that too!" What a smart boy!

Later on, Malachi was playing with a mini-blind wand (why Lydia let him, I don't know)... he was hitting the balloon I had given him for Valentine's Day, and it popped...! He told Lydia, "I'll tell daddy I popped it."

Lydia worked on laundry for most of the day, while keeping up with Malachi. When I got off work, I grabbed Mysia from daycare and headed home.

Lydia made a meal that was a mixture of chicken pot pie and dumplings! Wow... was it good!!!! We sat in the living room and watched - the Olympics!

~Matt

Valentines Day! (Sunday, 02/14/10)

Saturday night I ran over to walmart and picked up some helium heart balloons... and I had them out before I left for church this morning! Malachi came out and saw them as I was heading out the door. He was excited!

The van route was pretty busy, which is good! Like usual, we stayed at the church for the afternoon. Silas and Kristi were in town, so we got to visit with them! Lycia and Adria stopped by to see them as well. Sam and Abigail were there with the teens, so M&M got to spend time with practically all their Aunts and Uncles!!!

After the evening services, we headed home and watched the Olympics! lol!

~Matt

Tax Refund, Debts, iPhones, & Olympics (Saturday, 02/13/10)

Today was an exciting day! You see... on Friday we got our tax refunds back!

Thanks to that refund, we were able to pay off some debt! Yippee! That's such a blessing!

We also used some of the money to upgrade our phones. I've had mine for 3 years, and Lydia's was about to go out again. She had a RAZR flip phone.. and the hinge broke on her first one. The one she had now had a spot on the screen and was getting worse. We were due to upgrade. But before now, we didn't have the money.

Most of my family and our close friends have known that we've been eyeing the iPhone. And I did my research. If there was a phone to upgrade to, it was the iPhone. I wanted something durable, something that would benefit us, and has a good reputation. There is only one downside to an iPhone... ONE! The cost of the monthly data-plan! Ouch!

A few months ago, we stopped text messaging.. that saved us one of the data-plan prices. Now to see about the other... And to fix that, eliminate debt! That's where the tax refund comes in to play! Hooray!

Needless to say, after breakfast, we packed up the kids and headed to the AT&T store and bought the iPhones. Then it was rush-time! We went grocery shopping! While there, Mysia spent her birthday money on two toys.. she was excited!

We rushed home and Lydia left to go to our neighbors baby shower which was in a neighboring town! (and yet she's our neighbor!) Lydia was gone for several hours. My task was making the kids nap and getting things ready for our iPhones. I downloaded apps and worked on the ringtones! I know it sounds like fun, but it was time consuming! I think I ended up talking to my brother BJ for several hours getting info on how to set things up and questioning him about different functions!

When Lydia got back, the kids and I hopped in the car with her and we left to pick up the church van. Once back home, e tried our best to get the iPhones updated, registered, and working as best we could. In the meantime, we got the kids bathed and ready for bed while watching the Olympics! I believe that it's going to be a nightly ritual! We love figure skating!

As for the iPhones, I'm sure that since it's now a major part of how I stay connected with things, you'll be hearing me talk about them. I'm also happy that it will help with these blog posts! We'll be able to jot down funny saying and things, plus take more pictures here and there! We'll see!

~Matt

Note: Yup... I got the official Olympics App for the iPhone!

Valentines Banquet (Friday, 02/12/10)

The day started out normal... We dropped the kids off at daycare and 
went to the gym. Lydia then dropped me off at work and headed home. 
She had the day off!

She spent the day working on homework... what fun! She didn't get all the things done she wanted to, but at least she was able to get some of her homework done!

Mysia and Malachi had Valentine's Day parties at daycare. They took the cookies they had made the night before, and came home with candy and cards!

Back at home, we fed the kids supper while getting ready for church, it was the Valentine's banquet! We arrived there with a little time to spare, dropped the kids with the teen girls who were to watch all the kids, and found a seats with our friends Doug & Mary. The food was fantastic, and the speaker was awesome.

I got to be a fireman a few times! On each table, there were candles in glass bowls, but the candles were sitting on top of a real flower. Well, when the candle got low enough, it would catch the flower on fire causing a good sized flame and smoke! I helped with another table, then ours, and then rushed to another later on! What excitement!

Lydia and I had a very enjoyable time!

~Matt

Thursday, 02/11/10

Because Lydia had a meeting at school at 5:30pm, I got the car for the day! That also meant that after work, I got the privilege of picking Mysia and Malachi up from daycare! When the kids and I arrived home, I quickly fed them the potato soup that had been cooking in the crock-pot all day!

Yum... it had bacon and green onions in it! Being the great dad that I am, I bribed them with candy if they finished all their food. Hey... it worked! I worked on the redesign of my business card and played with the kids. Boy were they wired!

It wasn't too long after that Lydia called for me to go pick her up! So I packed the kids and we got Lydia. When we arrived home, the kids and Lydia decided to make a huge mess in the dinning room by making sugar cookies. They were for M&M to take to daycare on Friday for Valentines.

After they got flour all over the place, they cut out the cookies and got them in the oven. I then took Malachi away and gave him his shower. Mysia helped Lydia until Malachi was done.

During Mysia's shower, I helped Malachi sign his valentine cards and get them ready, then it was off to bed for him! I told Malachi to hurry and go run and jump in bed as I followed him. Well, he ran into his room, grabbed his little chair, positioned it next to his bed, climbed on top of it, and jumped into bed! Well, I didn't mean for him to take me literally!

Mysia got to sign her valentine cards when she was dressed and ready for bed. She caught on very quickly as I helped her spell out her friends' names. She pointed out that it's gonna be funny on Friday to pass out her Disney Princess cards to "the boys..."

~Matt

Wednesday, 02/10/10

I asked Malachi if he was liking daycare, and got a response of "yeah!" I asked if I could go with him, and he said no. I then asked if it's because I have to work, and Mysia piped up, "yeah, you have to pay the bills!"

~Matt

Tuesday, 02/09/10

We woke up with my alarm... the alarm saying it was time to head out the door for the gym! Whoops! We had slept in! We ended up skipping out on the gym.

It had snowed a little during the night, and I didn't think much of it. Obviously it was a wet snow, because it took me a while to get into the car. The doors were frozen shut. And once I got them open, both driver and passenger door wouldn't click shut. So Lydia and I ended up holding the doors closed as she drove to the daycare. Fortunately, mine thawed out enough to shut properly by the time we got to my work. I was afraid I'd have to put the seat belt through the door handle to keep it closed so she could drive to school without it opening on her.

That evening, on the way home, we stopped by redbox and picked up a DVD since tonight was movie night! When we arrived home, pizza went into the oven, and we got ready to eat! When it was finished, sat down and watched "G Force". It was a pretty good movie, a good family flick.

~Matt

The Buzz on Gmail

I just read the news that Gmail has come out with a new service that looks to rival the social networking giant, Facebook! Although it's a neat idea, I fear that it might end up hurting me from checking my gmail from work.

You see, work has blocked both facebook and myspace since they are social networks and can eat up company time. I try to keep non-company emails on gmail, that way friends and family can contact me whenever. Now, will they be blocking gmail as well?

Hmmm... thanks Buzz!

Anyway, that's my thought for now, and I'm sure I'll have more opinions about this news later on!

~Matt

Quartet Practice and a Few Demos! (Sunday, 02/7/10)

Greg was going to be at church during the afternoon, so we decided to have quartet practice instead of having it during the week. While we practicing, we figured we might as well as record what we're doing. That way, we have some demos to offer that have Abigail singing the tenor part. So we gathered around one mic and clicked record.

There was no re-verb, and we couldn't really hear how well we were being picked up on the microphone! The speakers were facing away from us, and we had no monitors. So I'm happy that it at least sounded halfway decent!

Anyway... Here are a two of the songs we recorded:

Steppin' Out On The Water

Just A Little Talk

I may have more to share later when I find time to split the wav files up!

~Matt

PS   Sam is working on quartet's new website... check it out: http://steppinoutqt.com/

Run, run, run.... (Saturday, 02/6/10)

I'm surprised on how much we can do on a Saturday!

We woke up, got dressed, and headed toward the gym. It was swim time! Boy, were M&M excited!

At the gym, you're required to shower off before getting into the pool. So Malachi and I got into our swim-trunks and went to one of the showers and turned the water on. No hot or warm water! Great....! I tried another shower. Same thing! One of the janitors was in thelocker room, and he said he'd check into it. Well, Malachi and I were anxious, so we took the plunge. Brrrrrrrrrrr! It was freezing!

The poor guy shivered the entire walk to the pool. We had to stand there as we put on the water wings. Both of us were not too happy over taking the cold shower, but once we got in the pool, we both thawed out, and all was well.

The girls soon joined us guys, and we all played. M&M played with one of the balls they use for water basketball. They both would "chase" it after hitting it around. That was fine to me, that meant it would wear them out!

Toward the end of swim-time, Lydia encouraged Malachi to stand on the edge of the pool and jump in. Once that started, there was no stopping him. He loved it. Mysia wouldn't even dare! I put her up on the edge, and she just walked away out of my reach!

After swimming we got our showers, got dressed, and headed off to Nixa. We visited Lydia's grandma, her aunt & uncle, and cousins. We talked and visited for about and hour before we headed home.

The kids crashed once we got home. I knew they'd be worn out. Lydia headed out to OTC to work on bears her honors class. They're going to be selling them to raise money for Relay for Life. While she was gone, I tried to work on more design work. Mysia ended up waking up first, then Malachi. So we watched a movie and then played.

When Lydia got home, we then headed over to my parents' house to eat and visit. We had hotdogs! Yum! We chatted and talked about computers! That's the theme for my family! lol!

As it got later in the evening, we left and picked up the church van. I left the Lydia and the kids at home and let her put them to bed while I went grocery shopping! Then it was time for bed! What a day!

~Matt

Friday, 02/5/10

Boy, I was so glad it was Friday. The workday went by slow, but I made it through!

We had our friends Doug & Mary over for game night. For supper we had tacos, boy... were they good! Mary brought cheesecake, it was so tasty that we couldn't help but have seconds.

We ate, talked, and played games! Like always, we had a great time! By the time they left, and we went to bed, we were tired!

~Matt

Thursday, 02/04/10

Came home ate sandwiches while Lydia got ready to leave for her appointment give plasma. The extra money helps with gas!

While she was gone I had the kids pick up their rooms... but they mostly played!

After they went to bed, I worked a bit on the computer and Lydia worked on her homework!

Nothing new happened!

~Matt

Why do things break? (Wednesday, 02/03/10)

Like any other normal computer-loving geek, I carry around a USB flashdrive. Okay, I'll admit it, I carry two. Oh, plus my 80 GB iPod and my cell which holds a the 512 MB mini SD card.

The point is, most of my important files, or needed files, are with me at all times. I like having it just in case. There is always something I'm working on, or like to have handy... just in case.

Well, BJ had gave me one for my birthday back in 2007. It was a Kinsgston 2 GB. It was nice and durable. Well, as you can see from the picture I posted above, the 'USB' part broke off from the circuit board. I guess it got "jiggled" too much over the years. I had a scare for a while though... I had some files on there that I hadn't backed up yet! So I held the thing together for 5 minutes while I transferred the files over. It took several tries, and my hand was shaking the entire time, but I got the files off! Whew!

But that wasn't the only thing that broke today! But I'll get to that here in a bit.

Good news... the snow is finally melting!

When we got home, our driveway had a nice pool of water in it, so I took the shovel and re-dugg the trench to our ditch. I heard water running, presumably from one of the neighbors' house, and remembered I'd better turn on my sump pump as well. So while inside I turned it on. We made supper real quick because we were getting ready to head to church. I noted though... that the water pressure seemed a little low in the kitchen. However, the bathrooms were doing fine. The water heater seemed to be running though, which we thought was a bit unusual. But no problems could be found, and I figured it was doing it's thing.

We ate supper, got things gathered, and headed out the door. While loading the kids, I heard that water sound again. I noticed it wasn't our neighbor's sump pump. It was coming from his, or our, backyard. I ran back there, and "oh no!!!!!"

It was our backyard... flooded! Water was gushing out of the faucet where our garden hose was originally plugged up. The extra nozzle I had installed last spring broke off! Our backyard was flooded with water... City water!

I ran in side, grabbed my wrench, and turned off the water! My pant legs and shoes were muddy.

We went ahead and went to church, but later that night, on the way home, I stopped by the store and picked me up a new nozzle. The first thing I did when we got home was install the thing!

Now do you understand the title of this post?

What a day!

~Matt

Sad news... (Tuesday, 02/02/10)

It was a pretty pleasant day. Work wasn't too hectic, and the kids seemed to do well at daycare. Both are very excited when trying to describe what they did during the day. Lydia had a good day at school as well.

There was only one disappointment I had... I found out I wasn't going to be able to see Gold City in a few weeks, and it was no fault of my own. You see, Gold City is scheduled to be in town on the 21st for a free concert. However, unbeknownst to me, they church holding the concert made tickets, and you can only attend if you have a free ticket. The tickets became available on the first.... no one told me ahead of time! I didn't find out until that night! So I asked Lydia to stop by the church this afternoon, after classes. Well, too late! They were "sold out". Arg! What a bummer!

Gold City is a big draw here in the Ozarks, that's why we have them down at least twice a year. But boy, I never knew tickets could go that fast for a SG concert! Even though I won't be there to enjoy it, Gold City will have a great crowd I'm sure!
 
There is one cool thing though, with the information of the concert on their website (which I found today) they posted a video of GC singing. They grabbed it from youtube. I know that for a fact. Why....? It was my video I had taken at SDC!!!!

~Matt

A New Month! (Monday, 02/01/10)

Well, January is behind us. Now to look forward to a new month. It seems some exciting things are going to be happening for us, so stay tuned!

Lydia has been more involved in her homework lately. College life is in full motion for her! Papers, studying, and tests. She is trying to keep focus on what needs to be done, and she can't wait until she is finished!

Mysia is doing well. We remind her that she is now five, and with that comes new responsibilities. She's very helpful at times, especially once she gets motivated. Lately, she has been inquisitive about everything, and has no problem speaking her mind!

Malachi is growing up fast. There's no way you can call him a baby. Potty accidents are few and far between (except for bedtime). He is one energetic little dude!

I'm keeping busy at work, and at home. I'm still working on my website, getting that portfolio put together! For those interested, I'll be posting more stuff up there soon! I've actually got some new designs I'll be revealing as well!

~Matt

Tech Post: Object Dock (Monday, 02/01/10)

Over a year ago I made a post about how I discovered the Dell Dock, and how I had installed on my computer. It's a dock similar to the one that is found on the MAC operating system. There are some major differences, but the idea is still the same.

Well, several weeks ago, Sam introduced me to another dock developed by the same company that was even better. So I installed it to see if I'd like it. And.... I do!

This dock is very similar to the one found on Apple's operating system, and is also easy to use. To make my Visa feel more like the MAC computer I have at work, I placed the dock on the bottom of the screen and moved my vista toolbar to the top of the screen. It took some time to get used to, that's for sure, but I'm satisfied with it's functionality and simpleness! It's also nice to have all my program shortcuts readily available without having to go to the program files list or go to my desktop. Oh, and speaking of desktop, it's not cluttered at all!

~Matt

Clowning Around (Sunday, 01/31/10)

Vans were canceled due to the back streets not cleared off of snow, so I got to drive Lydia and the kids to church. I also slept in a little longer than I usually get to on Sundays!

I spent the afternoon working on some photos of the kids. While I was doing so, Mysia sat on my lap while I was touching a few up. She was watching and commenting on what I was doing, so I decided to show her some extreme things I can do with photos, and I started turning Malachi into a clown. With each color change, she giggled! When Malachi woke up from his nap, I showed him what I had done to his picture, and he laughed at it with a huge smile!

Just clowning around!

~Matt

Snow-day (Saturday, 01/30/10)

Wow! 6 inches of snow!

The car was covered! We really didn't want to venture out into the stuff, so we canceled our plans on going to the gym for our family swim, so we played couch potato, and watched Sesame Street's "Follow That Bird". It was one of the gifts Mysia got for her birthday. I got a kick out of the fact that the brother and sister Dodo birds are named Donnie and Marie! Ha!

I worked on the finishing touches to Ronnie's website, and I'm pleased with how it turned out. Now to work on my own!!! Lydia worked on her homework. She is trying her best to stay on top of it! We had leftover pizza for lunch and then the kids went down for naps.

Gampa (Lydia's dad) stopped by and gave Mysia her birthday gift. Later on, Grandma Taylor and Dallas stopped by and brought over birthday gifts too! Her birthday has been extended! lol!

I took both kids out to play in the snow. We were out there for at least 20-30 minutes. It was enough time for them to get wore out and snow in their gloves!

After the kids went down for the night, I made a late run to Walmart for our weekly grocery shopping while Lydia did more homework. I'll definitely do the shopping in place of doing homework...! I had put in my time with college years ago, and I'm not missing it!

~Matt

The Snow... and Mysia's Party! (Friday, 01/29/10)

It hit! That four-letter word.. SNOW!

At first, it wasn't too bad, but it didn't stop. Blanketing the entire town all day, it was very pretty to watch, but yet sad at the same time.

We had scheduled a birthday party for Mysia at 6:30pm, and the snow caused several to call and say they weren't going to make it. We had been asked if we were going to cancel and reschedule it. But I couldn't... Mysia had already put off opening her gifts on her birthday yesterday, and we weren't going to expect a five year-old to really understand. Would you want to postpone your birthday party that you've been patiently waiting for and looking forward to? It just wouldn't be right.

Plus, we had made a ton of cupcakes the night before! Some had to be eaten soon!

Because of the snowstorm, I was allowed (along my other coworkers) to leave early. So Lydia picked me up around 4 and we headed home. We did more cleaning and getting ready for whoever might show up. I put on some part music (sung by Dora the Explorer), and blew up some balloons. It was enough to raise the excitement level for both Mysia and Malachi!

As the snow kept falling outside, we got several confirmations from those saying they wouldn't be able to make it. Mysia was saddened with each report, but I promised that no mater what, we'll still have a party and have fun. We did get a call that Lycia was going to come. That gave Mysia some excitement.

Before 6, Lydia started baking the pizza, and we ate. Lycia made it in time and we started the party. We celebrated with strawberry cupcakes, strawberry ice cream, and strawberry kool-aid! We then had Mysia open up her gifts. She enjoyed that part the most. We then sat down and watched one of the videos we had got her.

It was a good evening, and even more... Mysia had a great party!

~Matt