RANT: Government To Help Others???

Now before I ruffle anyone's feathers, I do want you to know that I support helping others in times of need, and believe that we as individuals have a responsibility to do that. We can reach out to help. If there is a greater cause that needs more attention than what one or two individuals can effectively contribute to, there are organizations set up that we can use to donate our money and time.

That being said... I'm not to happy with I've read in the news today. According to this news article, our government is going to give $1.15B to Haiti!

Our government, which cant even control it's own spending, that is in need of help itself, will be promising a huge amount of money. And yet, the government tells us that we have no money for other things, that's why we need to raise taxes don't you know!

ARG!!!!

Not to sound rude or unsympathetic, but haven't we done quite a bit for Haiti already? Hasn't the Red Cross and other organizations been helping? Why does our government think we ought to spend money we don't have?

Hmmmmmm......

~Matt


PS   On a side note, I DO like the name of the guy who wrote the news article!!!

"Havin' Fun" got reviewed!

Daniel Mount, a friend and SG historian, did a review on one of my favorite Gold City albums on his blog the other day, per my request. He didn't own "Havin' Fun", and therefore, had never been able to review it. The album is out of print, and hard to come by as well. So when I had asked him about it and found I had a spare, I sent him one!

Since the project was produced by Mark Trammell and Daniel is a huge Cathedral Quartet fan, I knew he'd love this album. It's the closest Gold City has ever sounded to the Cathedrals! It also has one of the best song selections! The best description I can give for this album is... well... "fun"!

Anyway, if your interested in getting this fantastic album, you can download a digital copy for $9.50 here!

~Matt

Week Rundown! (03/21/10 - 03/27/10)

Sunday:

We woke up to snow/ice... and I was told that I wouldn't have to drive the church van! However, today was "Spring Alive!" at church. Our quartet, Steppin' Out, was the guest singers this year! We sang three songs in the morning service, and six in the afternoon service. There were a few mistakes, but for the most part didn't do too bad. No one got up and left while we were singing.

It does make it more difficult to sing in front of a whole crown of people you know. I think we were a whole lot more nervous than any other time we sang in front of people. I think it's because one is more afraid to make mistakes, and is more self-conscious while singing in front of those you see all the time. When singing in front of strangers, you don't have to worry about making a super long impression,because you don't see them every week! lol

Anyway.... after services we got back home and took naps. Lydia slept the longest. In fact, she slept for several hours... I got up when the kids did. M&M ate snacks and we colored. By the time Lydia woke up, I was getting ready to put the kids to bed! She was grateful for the sleep though!

However, both Lydia and I were still tired, so after the kids went down, so did we! Ahhhh... sleep!


Monday:

Back to work. Ugh! Lydia had spring break all this week. So we slept in a bit each morning. No gym! Lydia dropped me and the kids off, she was happy to have a stress-free week, with no classes.

When Lydia picked me up from work, we headed straight home and gave the kids showers. Lydia pointed out that they had been getting to bed too late last week, and waking up grumpy. So perhaps this would help. Well, they got showers and then we ate.


Tuesday:

I worked late, and Lydia had supper almost ready when we got home. We ate and then had the kids get ready for bed. Lydia and I didn't stay up too long. But we did get some housework done!


Wednesday:

It was a rushed day for me, once again. Lydia had her friend Courtney over for lunch.

Children's church services was busy, and I taught the lesson with my ventriloquist puppet, Ace. The snacks served were fruit roll-ups! I haven't had one of those for several years! Man, they were good! Turned my tongue blue though!


Thursday:

Lydia had an interview today at 10am. She was excited but nervous. It was for an internship doing accounting. It looks very promising, and the interview went very well.

After picking me up from work, we headed to church for directory pictures. Lydia was the only one dressed, so when we got there, Malachi headed to the restroom to change clothes. I promised him that he could play a game on my iPhone while I got dressed if he'd hurry up first. Boy, that kid was anxious to change!

The picture turned out very well, and the kids were pretty well behaved during the photo shoot. Viewing the pictures was a little more hectic, but hey, they were ready to go home!


Friday:

We woke up and packed our bags for a trip! First stop... breakfast at iHop! We met up with a dear friends of mine, Nathan. He and I graduate highschool together, 10 years ago come May! He was homeschooled as well, and we worked together at the fairgrounds when we were teenagers. It had been a few years since we met up, although we still keep in contact through email and facebook. It was great seeing and visiting him!

After breakfast, we headed over to the bank and set up savings accounts for both Mysia and Malachi. We wanted to get them started on savings.

It was then time for our road-trip! To Columbia, Missouri! A three hour trip, not counting stops. Right before we hit Jeff City (2 hours into the drive), Malachi got car-sick. Yuck! He threw up at lest four times. It wasn't much fun, and it made the last part of our trip seen to take forever. But we eventually made it to the home of my brother Benjamin and his family.

We visited, let the kids watch a video and play. We ended up staying up late playing "Phase 10".


Saturday:

Like on most Saturdays, I was hoping to sleep in. However, M&M decided that 7:30am was long enough...

I tried keeping them quiet, letting them play with toys, but that didn't last long. I even let them watch a movie on the portable DVD player we had brought. Nope... So, we got up. We ate breakfast and sat around most of the morning visiting. We got into a fight too... a pillow fight! We played Nintendo. The kids napped for a bit, and Lydia did some homework that she wanted to catch up on.

We ate a late lunch before hitting the road to head back to Springfield. Thanks to motion sickness medication, we had no problems with sick kids! We stopped by McDonald's on the last part of our trip to let the kids play for a while.

By the time we got home, the kids were both tired! It was a good trip!

~Matt


PS   The picture above was taken at a "Route 66" rest stop along I-44 on the way home!

Speckled Chicken

On Tuesday, Lydia made chicken & dumplings with vegetables. She made the cooked the chicken separately from the rest of the food. It was good, and there were enough for me to take leftovers to work on Wednesday.

Well, as I was putting the chicken into the microwave at work, I noticed it had blue and red speckles on it! I thought it was odd. But I knew that mold isn't red, so I went ahead and zapped it, and ate it.

Come to find out, I remember making two containers of kool-aid before eating supper on Tuesday. One red, and one blue. Lydia was nearby and had commented how the power fills the air when I was was making it. I had the kitchen windows open, so the nice breeze had scattered it around I guess. Well, the chicken was on a plate on the counter next to the kool-aid I was making, so we're guessing that's how it happened!!!!

Yum... yum!

~Matt

My Sketchbook Comic (03/24/2010)

Okay...

Here is a comic from my sketchbook!

I have several of these that I just jot down from time to time. So I think I'll share them when I think of it!

Enjoy!

~Matt

What's on my mind...?

...sleep!

That's why I haven posted anything. My mind has been dead for the past
several days. Hopefully I'll have some topics to blog about soon!

~Matt

Week Rundown! (03/14/10 - 03/20/10)

Sunday:

Lydia had her Phi Theta Kappa honors society recognition ceremony at 3pm. She was inducted into the program along with 200 others! It was held at the Gillioz Theatre. It was a very fancy event... They had a string trio, everyone dressed up real nice, and the entire program was presented in very elegant way. Lydia's parents, my parents, her brother Moses, and my grandma Taylor we able to attend the event and congratulate Lydia. We're all so proud of her!


Monday:

We had a hard time getting up. Daylight savings time had taken it's toll on us. The kids were not interested in moving fast at all. Needless to say, we didn't visit the gym.

Lydia picked up the kids from daycare around 4ish, and headed home to get a head start on homework and dinner. They didn't pick me up from work until 6:45. We got home, ate and eventually got the kids to bed. Unfortunately, Mysia played around a bit and got to bed later than we wanted her to.

I had noticed that the battery life on my iPod had been draining quickly when I wasn't using it. Some research told me that I needed to "restore" it. That meant wiping it clean and adding the music back to it. No problem... or so I thought. Deleting all the files was easy. However, putting the files back on wasn't. I guess I have some bad, or corrupt, mp3 files. They would cause both itunes and the iPod to freeze, delaying the process. When I'd plug it back up, it was still empty! Ugh! I thought I had the problem figured out, and went to bed around midnight.

Lydia stayed up until 2, working on a paper that was due on Tuesday!


Tuesday:

Since Lydia had came to bed so late, we again decided to forget attempting to go the gym. The kids were also tired still, and I had to really push to get them out of bed. My iPod was still messed up. The only thing that was added from the night before was my SG Soundtracks.... great! I could now listen to just music of my favorite songs! Arg! I tried adding more to it while getting ready leave, and it crashed and wiped everything off!

When Lydia picked up the kids, she also grabbed two movies from redbox. The kids watched the first half of "Princess And The Frog" before picking me up from work, and finished it when we got back home. I gave Malachi his shower and got him ready for bed before leaving for quartet practice. Lydia then got Mysia ready for bed and worked on homework.

Quartet practice went well, and we went over the songs we plan to sing on Sunday. When I arrived back home, it was a bit late, but Lydia and I watched "Did You Hear About the Morgans?" It was a neat romantic comedy, and clean too!!!


Wednesday:

Again, we slept in past time to go to the gym! We need to stop doing this and get up! lol

Kindergarten registration was today. Lydia went to register Mysia. It's kinda sad to realize that our little girl is growing up....

Lydia and the kids picked me up and we picked up dinner from McDonald's before heading to church. We got the 50 nuggets meal. Surprisingly, we ate it all, it was good! We were a bit tired, and the kids at church were very active, but all went well. The teens in our church were asked to dress up for clowns as part of their Wednesday night program, so Abigail borrowed my clown outfit. She won 1st!

After church we met up with my folks and some family friends from Mexico, MO at McDonald's. The kids played while we visited for a bit. Those indoor play-places are nice!!! We were all tired, so headed straight to bed when we got home.


Thursday:

We got up, got ready, and headed to the gym after dropping the kids off. We were a little late, but it was good to get back into the schedule. Or, at least try to!

After work, we came home and started supper. Since I was working overtime, supper didn't get finished before Lydia had to leave to give plasma. I was able to feed the kids and get Malachi to bed before Lydia came back home. She ate, Mysia went to bed, and then we did housework before going to bed ourselves!

Oh, I was still having trouble with my iPod, and found out that I have a bad sector around the 15GB mark on the hard drive. That means that I can only put 15MB of songs on my 80GB iPod! If I try and put any more on there, it freezes up and wipes itself clean! Ugh! That mean's that my iPhone now holds more music than my iPod! The bad part about all of this is that I have over 15GB worth of Southern Gospel music, so I can't even have my entire library available for my listening enjoyment when away from home!

I know it sounds horrible, but I have a hard time living without my music!!!!!!


Friday:

Well, I guess Thursday was our only gym day, because we didn't go! We had stayed up too late, and decided to sleep in an extra hour.

That evening, we had originally planned to go to have a Sunday-school class activity, but others had things going on, plus preparation for the special services kept us from using the church. So, the activity is going to be planned for sometime next week.

We ended up having Doug and Mary over and we talked and learned a new a game called Morff. We had to watch the tutorial online to figure out how the game is actually played. It was pretty fun once we figured it out!

Saturday:

Another busy day! Lydia and I actually got to catch up on some sleep!!! Mysia and Malachi didn't wake up super early, and were actually well behaved when they finally did wake up! It was nice to sleep in past 9!

BJ, Ana, and Elijah stopped by for a bit around noon. Mysia and Malachi enjoyed playing with their cousin. They brought out several of their toys to show off and play with while we visited. After they left, we put M&M down for naps and Lycia came. She babysat them while we headed over to Paulette's for a "Pampered Chef" party. We got to see how some of the kitchen tools worked, plus eat some samples! Lydia and I took the time afterwards to stop by Andy's Frozen Custard to get us a treat on the way home!

That evening, Sam picked me up and we headed to the church to set up our quartet's sound system. It had started to sleet... what fun. While there, we also practiced by running over the songs we planned to sing. As we left, we had to take it slow! The snow was coming down heavily, visibility was low, and the roads were very slick!

Lydia worked on homework all evening, and didn't get to bed until super late. I had fallen asleep on the couch while sitting next the her so she sent me off to bed.

~Matt

Blogger and Facebook

Well, for those who haven't noticed, my posts here on my blog are now being posted automitcally on facebook! I got it set up through http://networkedblogs.com/

It's nice, because those who are friends on facebook, who don't visit my blog, can now read it there instead. Perhaps this will now grab attention of those family members (hint, hint) who don't stay up with my blog! lol

I also found out that some of my friends on facebook didn't realize that I have a blog! Well, now you do!

http://thepaaschfamilyupdate.blogspot.com/

~Matt

Mysia: Loose Teeth & Registered for Kindergarten!

Boy.. time flies! While visiting the dentist last week, we found out that Mysia has three loose teeth. Now it may take a while for them to wiggle free enough for her to loose them, but it's neat to know that she is getting old enough to loose several! Oh the joy!

However, with Mysia, everything is drama. So were expecting a big meltdown when she looses her first tooth. I'm sure she won't like the fact that her gum will bleed, and that it may hurt a bit when it finally gets loose enough to come out. I'm sure we'll have to console her somehow. It will definitely be interesting!

Oh, Mysia is now registered for kindergarten! Ugh! It's kinda hard to imagine that our little girl is going to be starting school. I'm glad she's growing up, but sad at the same time. To think that in several years, she'll be bring home homework! Almost makes me wish she could stay at the age where she is. I never liked homework myself, and I kinda wish I could protect her from it! ha! But then again, she's smart, and hopefully she'll excel in her studies! We shall see!

~Matt

Tech Post: Cell Phone Jamming (03/18/10)

I have heard and talked to people people who think that cell phone jamming is a thing that should be implemented it certain buildings at certain times. How some wish it to be used, how they would like to use it, and that cell phones should be regulated.

I personally disagree. I understand they can be annoying, and I do think that most people need better cell phone manners. However, this is a service that I pay for and that I have a right to. My cell phone has my notes, schedule, contacts, clock, and everything on it. Just like anything else I own, like my car... I bought it, I'm gonna use it!

I realize that cell phone use has increased, and that it can get very disturbing in certain places. Take church services for example. A ringing phone can disrupt the sermon that Pastor is delivering. However... so can a child. Unfortunately, I have more trouble with my child going off during services than my cell phone! lol

It turns out, I shouldn't have to ever worry about my cell phone signal from being jammed. Here in the US, it is illegal to operate, manufacture, import, or offer for sale, including advertising, with fines of up to $11,000 and imprisonment of up to one year! http://www.fcc.gov/Reports/1934new.pdf Nice!

To read more, check this out!

~Matt

Malachi Napping...

Here's a picture of Malachi napping on Saturday! (03/13/10) He was one tired little guy. Oh, he loves his stuffed animals.. as you can obviously tell! If one of them is missing, he tells you! I think his "George" monkey is his favorite, but I'm not quite sure. Whenever he gets a new toy, you can be sure he'll bring to bed for at least a few nights! lol

~Matt

Week Rundown! (03/07/10 - 03/13/10)

Sunday:

I did vans and almost had a full van! Services were great all day, and nothing out of the ordinary happened, besides it being such a nice, warm, sunny day!


Monday:

I've been put on overtime at work. So today I worked extra. It throws our schedule off a bit, but there is nothing we can do about it. Lydia picked up the kids around normal time and went home to prepare dinner. After she picked me up around 6, and we arrived back at home, we ate and got the kids ready for bed. Lydia worked on homework and I did the finances on the computer.


Tuesday:

I worked overtime again, so when we got home, I put on "Toy Story 2" for the kids while Lydia prepared supper. I did some cleanup around the house, trying to stay out of Lydia's way. She ate real quick and then left to give plasma. The kids and I finished the movie and then got them ready for bed. Lydia came home before Mysia went down to sleep. We watched some tv episodes on DVD, and then went to bed.


Wednesday:

Dropped Malachi off at daycare and took Mysia with us to gym. She watched a movie on my iPod while we did our exercise routine. After showers, we headed to the dentist. Mysia has two loose teeth!

We dropped Mysia off at daycare, and then Lydia dropped me off at work before she headed off to class. Daisy Scouts were canceled, so Lydia took Mysia to the Library. After that, they stopped by one of the schools to see when registration was. Come to find out, it's next Wednesday! Eek!

After picking up Malachi, they picked me up from work and we headed straight to church. We were under a Severe Thunderstorm Warning, so the clouds were pretty impressive to look at while going down the highway. No tornado hit, but there was a chance!


Thursday:

The weather was a bit cooler, and I was tired! The day seemed to drag a bit. Lydia had went home and worked on homework before picking the kids up and then me from work. She was not happy with how her paper was going. Back at home, we waited for dinner to finish while Lydia got ready to head to give plasma. I had Mysia pick up her room while helping Malachi on his. After Lydia left, dinner was finally ready. I fed the kids, we watched a short movie, and then got them ready for bed.

I updated my profile on facebook and did some other things on there as well. When Lydia arrived back at home, she ate and read some more of her homework. We actually got to bed before 11pm!


Friday:

My glasses came in! So after Lydia picked me up from work, we headed over to pick them up. It was so nice to let my eyes rest a bit and still see! It had been over 6 months since the kids broke my good pair!


Saturday:

Another busy day! Lydia and I tried to catch up on some sleep, but that didn't happen. Mysia and Malachi were up with no problem. They don't like waking up during the week, but on Saturday, that's a different story.

Lydia had a meeting to get the Burden Bears done for the Relay of Life. Her class is making them, and taking the donations for the organization.

Note: If you'd like to buy a bear, or donate money, you can contact Lydia through facebook (or comment below, and she contact you).

While Lydia was gone, I let Mysia play her education game on the computer while Malachi and I played for a bit. After that, it was naps! Unfortunately, Mysia didn't really take one. I worked on some housework and graphics on the computer. About the time Lydia was heading back home, I started feeding them lunch.

We ate, got dressed and headed to the church for the wedding of our friends Tim & Fawn. It was a beautiful, but simple wedding. As you can see by the picture for this blog post, M&M were very interested in the decorations at the center of the tables during the reception.

Back at home, Lydia tried to focus on homework and we let Malachi play on the computer. Mysia worked on drawing a bookmark for the library. After eating supper and the getting the kids bathed and put to bed, I did grocery shopping.

~Matt

Forget the Toothpaste....

You may have heard the phrase, "..Have toothbrush, will travel."

It's a phrase often used when meaning that a person is willing to go somewhere, not needing anything else. Well, I'm almost certain some people take it seriously! Since going to the gym, I've noticed that most men shave and brush their teeth after their showers... which is great! Especially the shower part. But the thing that gets me is that they forget one major thing... deodorant!

What's the deal with that!? There is now way I'm gonna be worried about someones breath if their BO keeps me from even coming near them! Yuck!

I don't care if they think their natural sweat doesn't stink! Let's be sure, and get some good-smelling antiperspirant on there!

I guess, perhaps, that I'm a bit self-conscious about it myself. Come on... I don't want to smell like a sweat factory! I like to think that people don't consider me as a person who stinks. So when I go anywhere, like the gym, I come prepared! I want to be sure I at least smell decent.

Could you imagine going to Walmart and no one wearing any antiperspirant? Especially in the summer? Waiting in the checkout lines would be a killer. How about sitting in church during a sermon, or a missionary slide show? I don't care who you call your brothers or sisters... it wouldn't be very enjoyable. I'll promise you one thing, no one would be sleeping during the services! (Unless their knocked out by the smell!) Oh, how about we imagine sitting at a concert, packed in with people! Wow.... uh, I don't think so!

Whoever invented deodorant needs to be memorialized. He has/had done a great thing, a great deed, for the greater good of mankind! Now that's what Nobel Peace Prizes are for!

So next time you wanna go on a quick trip, and you're quick to say you're ready, go ahead and get excited, but do me a favor and change the phrase.. please...!

"...have deodorant, will travel!"

~Matt



PS  Hey now... are you "Sure"? lol

Homework

Okay everyone... Here is proof that Lydia actually does homework! Lol! As if any of you didn't believe me in the first place. But I wanted to provide some evidence!

~Matt

Hey... the iPad revealed 6 years ago?

Just so many of you know, soon iPad hysteria will be taking the media by storm. Expect to hear a lot about the product when it is released on April 3rd.

I came across something interesting the other day that sparked my interest. It seems the world got an example of the iPad (in advanced form) shown to us in 2004! In the screenshot above, you can see an iPad-type device used in Disney/Pixar's movie "The Incredibles"...

It looks similar to the iPad. It's thin, lightweight, grey..... Okay, the iPad doesn't have facial recognition, scan the room, nor go up in smoke (well, at least I hope it doesn't go up in smoke). Anyway, enough is there to see what I'm talking about.

Now you may think I'm stretching this thought a little far. I mean, come on, there's no way there could be a connection. But what if I told you there is???

Get this... Steve Jobs is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Apple Inc. He is the one who debuts all of Apple's new products and programs. Well, here's the interesting part! He previously served as CEO of Pixar Animation Studios and is now a member of the Walt Disney Company's Board of Directors. Coincidence? I think not!

Perhaps if Apple came out with an iPad that has all the features of the pad in movie, I'd be interested! But I'm really holding out for the release HoverBoard! ;)

~Matt

You're invited...

You're invited to hear the STEPPIN' OUT QUARTET!

Event: Spring Alive! Services and Dinner
Location: Hillside Baptist Church, Springfield MO
Date: March 21, 2010
When: Morning Services @ 11am    Afternoon Services @ 1:30pm

Free dinner at 12pm

Week Rundown! (03/01/10 - 03/06/10)

Monday:

It was our family night. After they picked me up from work, we headed to McDonald's for supper. The kids got happy meals while Lydia and I got sandwiches from the $1 menu. After getting the kids to eat all their food, we headed to the Palace Theater to watch "The Squeekqual". It was a pretty good movie. Entertaining, and a fun film. This isn't a movie you would think highly of, but it's definitely better than other movies aimed at kids & parents.

The biggest disappointment was finding out that if we had went on Tuesday evening, the ticket prices would have been $1 each, instead of $3!


Tuesday:

Sloppy Joe's! Yum! That's what we had for supper. Boy, they were good! lol! After supper, I got Malachi his shower and ready for bed. I left for quartet practice as Mysia was getting ready for bed.

Quartet practice has been moved to Tuesdays to better fit around Greg and Sam's schedules. We practiced and practiced. And we've added "Send The Light" to our line-up. We started singing it, and got a good arrangement going. We're so excited! The song is done A Capella, so I can't wait until we stage it.

Oh and speaking of our quartet singing.... Hillside Baptist (our church) is having us sing during their Spring Alive services on the 21st of this month! How exciting! We also have been booked for two Saturdays in June! I'll have more on that later!


Wednesday:

Mysia has now joined Daisy Scouts! Yup... her first meeting was today. This group is a mixture of public and home-schooled girls. It'll be nice for her to have more friends, and a 'club' to be a part of. So from now on, Wednesdays are going to be a little busier! Especially for Lydia! :P

Tonight was also "fun night" for Master Clubs at church. That means, instead of our normal schedule of how it goes. We played more games, had devotions by two of the kids, and had some snacks.

Back at home, it was Lydia on homework and I getting a few things done around the house.


Thursday:

It was almost going to be a relaxing evening for me. I had planned to put the kids to bed at a decent time and enjoy the evening. But that didn't happen. After supper, Lydia rushed off to go give plasma. Paulette and Moses came over because there was some issues she was trying to figure out online. Lydia came back early because even though they got her in the vein, they forgot to plug it up to the machine! At least she got paid! We ended up getting to bed later than I had planned.


Friday:

I was told we were back on overtime, so I stayed a little later at work. After Lydia picked me up, we went to Walmart to pick up some desert and kill some time before heading over to our friends' house for "game night". While shopping, we went ahead an purchased a new dvd/surround sound system, since ours went out over 6 months ago. We've been using our portable dvd player to watch movies... which is a pain.

At Doug & Mary's, the kids got to play the airplane "dogfight" on their Nintendo Wii. Of course, they loved it. We talked and they made hamburgers... it was good! Instead of playing games, we ended up watching "My Big Fat Greek Wedding", and the kids drew pictures and climbed all over us! We also had root beer floats. Toward the end, Mysia and Malachi were tired, but didn't want to leave!


Saturday:

We had church visitation blitz. It was schedules so that we could go out and visit those who have been visiting our church and those who ride the vans. 40 people showed up,  so we were able to make some great visits. Sam went with Lydia and I to visit those on my van route. Out of the 6 stops, only one wasn't home. It was nice to stop and visit them at their homes.

After returning to the church to give a report on our visits, we left for the eye doctor's. The kids had broke my glasses last fall, and finances didn't really allow me to purchase some more. So I've been using an old pair from when I was a teen. They really didn't do much good, but at least they helped me see a little clearer on those time when I had to get up during the night for whatever reason. I got my eyes examined, got new contacts, and have two glasses on order. The kids took a short nap in the car during that time.

We then headed over to visit Lydia's grandma. We had a good visit, and the kids got a chance to enjoy the nice weather by playing outside. We stopped and got the church van on the way home. We had pizza and watched "Chicken Run" before putting M&M to bed. I then went and did the weeks grocery shopping!

What a week!

~Matt

I Want a Press Pass!

I just read in the news that bloggers in New York City can now apply for an official Press Pass! The requirements are that they have had to a least reported on six city events in the last two years!

Now that is cool! I think it would be beneficial if the city of Springfield did that! It would encourage more local the reporting here in town and surrounding area. Perhaps more people would be informed on what's going on around the city and get more involved. It would also be neat to read other people's opinion on events besides the 'official' media!

I, for one, would be interested in getting one. Would I be more involved in local events? Quite possibly! I wouldn't mind my blog getting a little more exposure. It may lead to getting prospective clients for my freelance graphic design services! Who knows.....

~Matt

Ewww! "Something" is on the Blanket!

Tonight I put Malachi down to bed. A few minutes later is was hollering for me. I went in, and he was mumbling about something being on his blanket. Sometimes it's hard to understand a two year-old! It sounded like he was saying there was water on his blanket, and was showing me. I had just given him a shower, so I figured a portion of his hair was still damp, and got on his blanket.

I reached down and felt it. Well.... it was sticky. It wasn't water on his blanket! It was a booger on his blanket! Yuck. Needless to say, after I felt it, it wasn't on the blanket no more, but on my fingers!!!!!

Oh the joys of being a dad! lol

~Matt

How To....

Ever had to fix something, but didn't know how to go about it? What do you do? You could call a family member, a friend, or a neighbor.... go to the library, do some research in books.... or use the internet!

If you don't know already, the internet is full of helpful advise on anything you want to know. Some excellent and professional advice and tutorials... to opinions and plain ol' hearsay! It's all there. You can have your pick, and contribute too!

I use the internet a lot. I've been able to find useful information quickly to get the job done.Of course, I'm also pretty good at discerning what is true and false. To me, it's a challenge... like being a detective on a case. That's probably why I like it so much. A little research on a topic is fun (at least, for me it is).

Let me give an example... when I had to install the garbage disposal, the instructions didn't help at all! Whoever wrote and approved of them should've been fired! They didn't make sense! I pulled out my laptop, did some quick searches.. low and behold! Simple steps on how to install it. Even on what NOT to do! There was even several videos!!! Wow! Pretty soon, I got it figured out! I was ready to go!

Now at the store, you can buy several good sized "How To" books. I'll admit it, they've intrigued me. They tell how to fix things that are broken, how to install items, and how to prevent mishaps or better your home. I almost bought a few at times. But, do I need to? No!

Thanks to the internet, I can easy find the answers I need. And it's just not one way of getting the job done, a search will often give you several sources for the information needed! It's great!

Boy... what would we do without computers? lol!

~Matt

In The News! LOL

Ok... I just can't pass this news story up!

It's got to be the funniest piece of the news I've heard in a long time, and will definitely the story of the year for me!

"Former President Bill Clinton had a recent phone call with Tiger Woods and offered the embattled golfer his support and encouragement!"

Now that's funny! And now.... let the jokes ensue:

• Was Bill actually trying to get more 'tips'?
• Were they comparing notes?
• Perhaps Bill was just telling Tiger that he shouldn't have admitted it so quickly... things like this need to be "defined"!

Anyway, I just couldn't pass this one up!

~Matt

Hey... That Bytes!

I read a neat article in the news yesterday. It talked about the naming system for the International System of Units (SI).

Here's the official SI prefixes:

10 = deca

100 = hecto

1,000 = kilo

1,000,000 = mega

1,000,000,000 = giga

1,000,000,000,000 = tera

1,000,000,000,000,000 = peta

1,000,000,000,000,000,000 = exa

1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 = zetta

1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 = yotta

1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 = unnamed

As most of you know, these are used for our bytes in the computer systems. I have a terabyte hard drive at home, for example. I'd like to think I'd never fill it up, but who would have imagined that you could fill up a 4 gigabyte hard drive 10 years ago? I sure didn't!!! You can now get usb flash drives that hold that much for less than $30!

Well, the article goes on to explain that there are a group of people campaigning to name the "unnamed" unit "Hella". It goes on to claim that the word is California slang meaning 'very'. According to dictionary.com.... it means "(a) hell of (a)".

This may come to be a problem in the future when we use this unit of measurement for our technology. Would it be allowed on tv commercials? hmmmm. How will strict conservative families deal with it?

Makes one wonder!

~Matt

M&M - Wore out!

Here is a picture of M&M crashed out, asleep! This was taken Saturday night. Those poor kids!

~Matt

Week Rundown! (02/22/10 - 02/28/10)

Monday:

We spent the evening cleaning bedrooms! I was very proud of Mysia, she did her's without any help! I helped Malachi, and we finished within a decent time. Lydia had a major paper she was working on. I helped by looking over it and seeing if I could fix any grammatical errors. My main focus of the evening was the budget. Yuck!

Tuesday:

Came home, cleaned house a bit. Paulette and Moses came over with pizza. I helped Paulette with the updates for her laptop, and helped Moses with some tunes that he needed put on his music player. We watched the Olympics, and Lydia did some homework.

Wednesday:

Visited with Grandma Taylor after church services. We had a nice visit. M&M ate cookies and milk, which is a treat for them. They tried to play with Alley (the cat), but the poor thing is not to fond of them!

Thursday:

Family Movie night! We got two movies from redbox. Mysia (and Malachi) watched a Tinkerbell movie while Lydia did homework and I made supper. When the movie was finished we all watched "Ice Castles." It was a very good movie, and it gave Mysia pause on the fact of the girl being blind. So we we able to explain to her about blindness. It was a neat way to give her a lesson, and we didn't even expect it!

I also got a call from our good friend George Bryant, and we now have the quartet booked for two dates in June! Hooray!

Friday:

My mom came my work and had lunch with me! We had the taco salad from the cafeteria, and had a good conversation while eating.

That evening we had roast, watched the olympics, and Lydia did a ton of homework.

Saturday:

We got up, went to the gym for swimming and practically wore M&M out! When we arrived back home, we let the kids watch some cartoons, eat popcorn, and lay around. They took naps, and I even got one! Poor Lydia did more homework.

Later in the afternoon, we dropped the kids off at my parents' house and went on a date. Afterwards, we went to the library and went over the budget. It's nice to do things like that with no kids!

When got home around 7ish, the kids were out... it had been quite a day for them I guess! So we put them to bed, I did shopping while Lydia worked on more homework. When I got back, she gave me a haircut before going to bed!

~Matt