Week Rundown! (2/20/11 - 2/26/11)

Sunday:

During the night, Malachi felt very hot when I checked him. Lydia had already said that she'd stay home with Mysia, but sure didn't like the idea of staying home with both. I had hoped that perhaps he was just hot in his sleep, but while I was doing the van route for church, Lydia informed me that, yes, he had a 102° temp.

So it was just me attending morning services. After dropping my van kids off, I headed home and ate lunch. The kids and I took naps, while Lydia worked on her computer. She then got ready and attended evening services while I watched the kids. They did pretty well for me, each playing on their own. I promised that they could take bubble baths, so that helped them behave! After the baths, we watched a few episodes of the Garfield Show on Netflix before letting them eat something before bed.

They were almost asleep and I watching Myth Busters, when Lydia came home. Lydia's laptop was freezing on her again, so I tried working on it while she used the desktop computer to finish her papers.


Monday:

Since today is President's Day, Lydia and Mysia didn't have school. That was a good thing. Malachi was still running a fever the night before, so Lydia didn't have to skip classes to stay home with a sick kid. The bad part... she was stuck at home with two kids!

I arrived home to Lydia folding laundry while the kids watched some tv. I then backed up some of the important files from Lydia's laptop and did a system restore. After supper, I finished working on installing programs on the laptop while Lydia worked on homework. The kids were given showers and put to bed. We're hoping that Malachi is feeling better tomorrow.


Tuesday:

Malachi was still recovering from his sickness. I took Mysia into school and Lydia stayed home with the poor boy. Malachi was feeling better before Lydia picked Mysia from school that afternoon. When I arrived home from work, Lydia had supper almost ready and we ate before she headed out the door. She attended to a ladies meeting at church, so the kids and I spent the evening together playing Wii and watching some Netflix cartoons before I put them in bed. I got to enjoy an episode of "MythBusters" before Lydia came back home.


Wednesday:

Today was pretty normal, with school and work. Church services were good too. Of course, we had children's services, so that's always an adventure!


Thursday:

The day went by pretty fast. Around noon, my mom asked if they could have the kids for a few hours in the evening... and of course, we didn't mind! After Lydia picked up Mysia from school, she also got Malachi and went to the library to hang out for a bit. While there, she helped Mysia on her homework and Malachi roamed around the children's section.

She dropped the kids off and headed home. I got off work and picked up some cashew chicken. We ate and watched "Iron Man 2" together. We had been meaning to watch it since Christmas, but never found, or taken, the time to sit and do so. It's not the kid of movie you can sit and watch with a 3 and 6 year-old around.

When the movie was over, we headed to my folks' to pick up the kids. We ended up visiting for about an hour, and the kids were tired by the time we left. They had played Wii with Granny and Granddad, and obviously got quite the workout! lol!


Friday:

Another typical day. Abigail picked Mysia up from school, Lydia picked up Malachi after her classes and met her at home. I arrived shortly after work.

We had our discipleship meeting with the Banks, and the kids watched a movie. Our session was a bit longer this time, we ended up talking more and were in deeper conversation... which was good of course! After the the Banks left, we put the kids to bed and Lydia worked on some homework that was due by midnight (on the internet).


Saturday:

We actually got to sleep in a bit! Even the kids slept in! Wow... that was nice.

Anyway, after getting some extra sleep we got up and got ready for the day. We ate breakfast, and the kids played nicely. We didn't even turn on the cartoons. However, we did pick up house. Before lunch, I let the kids play on the Wii while Lydia left for to BioLife. I finally put the kids down for naps and Mysia was quickly out of it. However, Malachi was a pain. He didn't want to go to sleep, and was playing around the entire time. I got some more things done around the house, and Lydia showed back up.

We had our friends, the Ghans, over for a visit. We talked and visited for several hours and had a great time. Their son played with Malachi and Mysia. After they left, we ate supper and then watched some cartoons on Netflix before giving the kids showers and putting them to bed.


~Matt

Part of Highway 266 Renamed

Our church, Hillside Baptist, is located on Highway 266. The highway formally part of historical Route 66.

Well, in the news today, a stretch of the highway has been renamed after Martin Luther King, Jr.

http://www.ky3.com/news/ky3-story-new-highway-signs-honor-m-l-king-west-of-springfield-20110225,0,1866854.story?track=rss


~Matt

Wrong to Blog? (02/23/11)

If you hadn't heard the news, a Philadelphia teacher was suspended for blogging about her students. She started the blog in 2008 and used it to vent off steam about her work environment and students. Originally intended for family and friends, a student discovered it and reported her.

I understand that she definitely didn't use the blog in a professional manner. I mean, come on, she was a teacher! She used derogatory remarks about her students and other faculty. I don't think she did it with the best attitude either.

However, I don't think she should lose her job over it. In my opinion, it's her right to write what she wants. As long as she didn't name her students, or describe them in a way that they could be identified, I don't see the problem. She was blogging about her life, not attacking anyone specifically, and describing what she was dealing with.

Like I said, I agree that she could have done it in a more appropriate manner, at least write it creatively! I don't think she should be let go, never to teach again. I believe that she has the right to free speech. I think the families are upset that she has made valid points about their students!

More thoughts to come on this subject later......

~Matt

Writing These Blog Posts (02/22/11)

Yes, writing... I like to write. That's one of the reasons I started this blog. I wanted to be able write down my opinions, stories, and random thoughts. Initially, thought it would be easy. I'm actually finding out that it isn't. I tend to spend more time doing the other thing I like to do.... read!

It's no surprise to many of my friends that I like odd news. I admit it, and I know I often annoy others with telling the latest odd thing that I recently came across. They are a lot of fun to tell, but I don't always see them as so noteworthy to rehash what I read by writing it on my blog. It's something I should do but don't. That may change, and I can thank Lydia's teachers for that!

I know that may cause you to wonder what I mean. Well, let me explain. Lydia has had to write papers and give thoughts on articles and things lately. That has perked my interest. Especially since at least one of them was of an odd news piece I had read several years ago and done 'research' on.

This is what I should be doing on my blog! Duh!

I think that in the back of my mind, I surmised that no one would be interested. And that is probably true. But hey... this is my blog, I can write about anything I want (within reason). Now the question is this, if I start, will I keep up? Will I actually follow through with frequent posts? Truthfully, I don't know. I guess we'll just have to see!

I'm also thinking about reviving my idea of posting some of the designs I've been working on. For those of you on facebook, I'm sure you might have noticed that I've updated my album of 'some graphic design examples.' Hopefully, I'll feature some of them here. At least... that's the plan!

~Matt

Blogging... What To Say? (02/21/11)

I'm not good with lists or following a specific theme on this blog. Most of you readers who follow along can attest to that fact. I've tried certain themes for certain days... ha! That didn't work!

Of course, the title of this blog mentions that it's supposed to be a family update. So, if there is at least one 'theme' I do, that is the Week Rundown. And I'm not the best on keeping up with that either. I try and post it every Mondays, but sometimes don't get around to it until Tuesday! Arg!

I like dong tech posts, especially about cool things concerning the iPhone. I also like my 'rants'. However, sometimes I'm afraid they may step on some people's toes. But that's the idea of having my very own blog, right? To give my opinion?

I know I have made a few upset, who didn't agree with me. But I've also found that some people have thanked me for gibing them another view they wouldn't have thought of. I always like input and I'm glad several of you actually take time to write!

Hey, I'm always open for ideas and suggestions. If you want to know my thoughts on something, and think it would make for an interesting read, go ahead... email me! I'll see what I can do. I like a little bit of research too! So you never know what you might get! lol!

~Matt

Week Rundown! (02/13/11 - 2/19/11)

Sunday:

The snow is melting! Yay! And the church vans were running, so I went to church early to run my route for morning services.

After services and van route, I stopped by the store to on the way home and picked up roses for Lydia and balloons for the kids. I figured I'd give them their Valentine's gift early, and let them enjoy them instead of waiting until Monday evening.


Monday:

We woke up and got ready for the day. We didn't go to the gym, but slept in instead. I went to work, and Lydia and the kids went to daycare/school/college!

The kids came home with tons of candy, and were super-hyper with sugar. We fed them supper, and worked on homework. Mysia also entered a coloring contest, so we'll see how that turns out. The kids were still energetic when we put them down for bed.

Lydia had worked on homework, and got dinner ready. We did a candlelight dinner, with violin music in the background. It was nice and relaxing. However, since we had waited until the kids were down, we were hungry! So it didn't take us long to eat our dinner! We then enjoyed some tv while relaxing on the couch before going to bed.


Tuesday:

Well, it was back to our gym schedule today. Lydia went first, and then returned home so I could go before work. However, Malachi woke up before I left. He was complaining of an upset stomach. Sure enough, after my workout, I got a call from Lydia reporting that he had vomited. So I rushed home and took Mysia to school.

Since he felt better after vomiting, daycare said he could come in for the day when Lydia went to class at 10. That was good news, especially since Lydia didn't want to miss any more classes.


Wednesday:

Today was pretty typical, or let's just say nothing out of the ordinary really happened. We did have services this evening though! After two Wednesdays in a row canceled due to bad weather, it was good to come back.


Thursday:

Gym, work, and school.... that was pretty much the day. However, after classes, Lydia judged at the Homeschool Speech and Debate Tournament that was held in town.

This evening we had the Banks over for discipleship. We had a good time of conversation and discussion, and the kids watched VeggieTales!


Friday:

Mysia woke up with a high temperature. So after the gym, I ran Malachi to daycare before heading to work. Lydia stayed home with Mysia for the entire day. The evening was sort of a slow one. The weather was so nice, and Mysia was feeling better, that I thought it would be a grand idea to picnic at the park after I got off from work.

Well, it went pretty well, but the weather wasn't as nice as yesterday, and a bit windy. The sun started to go down, and it got colder. So we packed up and went home. We played a little bit on the Wii and got the kids into bed at a decent time. Lydia finished her homework so that we could hit the sack and not be up so late as well.


Saturday:

We woke up and I let the kids watch cartoons. Lydia headed out to her appointment with BioLife. While the kids were plugged into the tv, I started cleaning/re-organizing Malachi's room. I had two bags, one for the papers and trash, and one for the toys that we're giving away. It didn't take too long, and that was because he wasn't "helping" me.

Mysia still had a fever, so I made her lay down in her bed. I had already started in on her room when Lydia came back home. Lydia then helped dive in to helping me. Mysia has all the princess/girly things... like lipstick, hair pieces, jewelry... things that boys don't have. So it took longer to sort through her things. We finally finished and had the kids take their naps.

After their naps we watched several videos on Netflix about Disney Cruise and Disney World. The kids were intrigued. We also prepared supper, baked salmon! Yum. I then got Malachi ready for bed and did the grocery shopping for the week. When I got back, the kids were already down. Lydia reported that Mysia was still not well, so she'd probably stay home with him tomorrow just to be safe and not spread what she had/has. Anyway, Lydia and I watched "Monk" before going to bed ourselves.


~Matt

A year with the iPhone (2/18/11)

This last Sunday marked a year when we bought our iPhones. Needless to say, I'm not complaining about it. Sure, at first we unsure if we had made the right move in purchasing them, but we were able to get some discounts, and things fell into place. We walked away happy and in awe of this cool device, the iPhone 3GS.

Not too long after we purchased them, the iPhone 4 came out. We were told that it would most likely happen. But we didn't care, the price was right for the model we got, and we knew it would serve it's purpose.

Within this last year, we've had no problems with our phones. No glitches, no harm, no loss of data! They have benefited us very well, and have actually helped is some areas. Lydia constantly uses it for school, and I have used it in many ways to keep up with the few clients I've had. It has also helped with our crazy schedule! Although the phone may have led us the wrong way when we trusted the google GPS app on our trip to Kentucky.

For now, I have taken 4,900+ pictures with my iPhone, and I'm not stopping! I use it for texting, chatting, and email. Of course, many of my favorite songs are loaded onto it for my listening pleasure!

Yay for the iPhone!

~Matt

iPhone App: Tip Submit

Several months ago, I was told about an app called CrimeReports. It's a free app that allows you to see crimes that happened in your area. You can view details and everything. The best part was that it was updated by our local law enforcement agency.

Well, just over the past few days, the developer of the previous app released TipSubmit. This free app allows you to submit crimes to Crime Stoppers or your local law enforcement agency via your mobile device!

This is definitely an app to have, just in case. BTW, the app info reports that tipsters could receive rewards of up to $1,000 for information submitted to Crime Stoppers! Not a bad thing at all....

~Matt

Week Rundown! (02/06/11 - 02/12/11)

Sunday:

Since the roads were still pretty slick, church vans were canceled. I got to spend the morning with my family! Unfortunately, we made it to church a little later than expected.

We had a nice restful afternoon, and took naps. In fact, we slept so sound, I was almost late for choir practice!!!


Monday:

It was still a little slick on the roads this morning, but we went back to our gym schedule. Lydia got up and went in, and then when she came back home, I then went. After my workout, I headed to work. Lydia got the kids ready, took them to daycare and school, and then went to college. She had several hours to study before her class started.

This evening I had quartet practice. Afterwards I did a stop at the store, and then home.


Tuesday:

Snow kept us from doing much besides going school and work.

Lydia had volunteer work downtown, so it was the kids and I for most of the evening. We did homework and played same games on the Wii. After they went to bed, Lydia came home and worked on homework.


Wednesday:

We woke up with more snow in the forecast. Public schools were cancelled, but Lydia still had college classes. Mysia got to spend most of the day with Mee-Maw. Malachi still went to daycare, and I went to work.

Due to the snow, church was cancelled for the evening. So we stayed home and got some stuff done around the house.


Thursday:

The day went by like all others. This evening Lydia had a meeting with her college honors society. I stayed home with the kids and we played. Lydia came home and worked on homework before we went to bed.


Friday:

Today was very special for Mysia. She was finally awarded as PRIDE Panther at her school. I was privileged to be able to take off from work and go see the presentation. We're so proud of her!

However, it was part of the school's Friday sing, in which all is encouraged to participate. Thanks to my camera, I was able to opt out on some of it. I took pictures instead. But that didn't prevent them from having me become a cheerleader along with the other parents during the end of the program.

For the evening we had the Banks over for our Discipleship program. We had chicken & rice with egg rolls... one of our favorites.


Saturday:

Malachi woke up during the night about 7 times... vomiting! Yuck. Thankfully, the first time he was able to make it to the toilet, and from then on the 'puke bucket' was his friend! He did very well, considering the situation. The thing is, by the time Lydia and Mysia got up, he was feeling fine and had no problems for the rest of the day!

Lydia had her BioLife appointment around 10, and then when she got back home, I left for the library. I spent an hour or more helping go over the year book creation for Mysia's school. Things are looking good, and I'm excited for how the final result will be. The next errand was grocery shopping for the following week. Ugh.

The rest of the evening went well. We played the Wii and spent time together.


~Matt

Happy Valentines Day! (2/14/11)

Hope everyone is enjoying today. I'm sorry for those single folks out there, but I'm sure glad that I have the most wonderful person to spend this holiday with!

For the past 7 years, I haven't had to worry about celebrating SAD (Single Awareness Day).

Today, I'm thankful to have a beautiful, gorgeous wife to spend time with! Someone who I love dearly! She's my best friend... my true Valentine!!!!

I love you Lydia!!!!!

~Matt

Friday Fun: It's Sooooo Cold... (02/11/11)

Well, in honor of us setting record cold temperatures for yesterday (-10°F)... I present you with some jokes! Enjoy!



It's sooooo cold...

... the lawyers had their hands in their own pockets.
... only people like "Ed" and "Bob" have enough time to write their names in the snow.
... Starbucks is serving coffee on a stick!
... people who sell ice are drawing unemployment.
... folks are climbing into their refrigerators to keep warm.
... our snowman asked to come inside.
... even the muggers called in sick!
... the cops are tasering themselves.
... the hitchhikers are holding up signs with pictures of thumbs.
... the squirrels in the park were throwing themselves at an electric fence!
... the pizza delivery-man showed up with frozen pizza!
... every kind of cereal in the cupboard was frosted  - including the boxes!
... the tree are chopping themselves into firewood.
... hairdressers were getting better results using snow-sculpting techniques.
... if you sucked on an ice-cube - it just got bigger!
... pyromaniacs became desirable members of the community.
... kids took make-believe to a whole new level - they just pretended to go outside and play.
... my iPhone couldn't detect my frozen fingertips!
... Chuck Norris put on a jacket!!!


~Matt

Solved: Mystery of the 'J' in emails! :) (02/10/11)

For years, I have received emails that end with a mysterious 'J' at the end of the letter. Sometimes it would even appear within a paragraph between sentences. I could never figure it out. I know that 'jk' means 'just kidding', so I didn't know if 'J' stood for 'joking'... and if it did, it sure didn't make sense on half the emails that ended with it. It was a mystery. I even asked about it, and no one knew.

I then started to believe it was a signature mark. Just like I use '~' before my name at the end of my messages. But then I noticed that it wasn't used all the time.

Well, this was starting to bug me. I wasn't loosing sleep over it, but not being able to understand it when it appeared was bothersome. It also has shown up more frequently. So, the other day, I decided to do a search... I'm proud to say, I found the answer!!!!

It's because the emails are coming from MS Outlook. When a person wants to put in a smiley face, Outlook uses the font 'Wingding' to put it in. Well, the key for the smiley face is 'J'! That means that whenever I receive an email with this in it, I just see the letter in a regular font, not the smiley face. Wow, that makes more sense!

So remember, if you see a 'J'.... just remember it's a smiley face!!!! (and that person is using Outlook for their emails!)

J = :)


~Matt

RANT: Deciphering Those Text Messages...! (02/08/11)

Last week, while checking the facebook page for Springfield Public Schools to see if they were going to close, I ran across a wall post. It took me a while to decipher...  ugh... just a high-schooler thinking he could type faster by substituting letters with numbers or just not including them altogether. It was so bad, I just had to take a screen shot.

I'll have to admit, this is a big pet peeve of mine. Sure, I make mistakes when typing on my iPhone. But why do it on purpose?

I'm sure just by posting this, I could be offending someone who does it on purpose. Is it necessary? Some may argue that it's faster. Is it? How is it faster to replace "s" with "z"??? Seriously?

I ask those who do this... take a step back and look what you just wrote! It sure doesn't make you look intelligent! In fact, my 6 year-old daughter can spell better than you! Hey, and she's in kindergarten! In fact, I can make more sense out of her hand-written notes than I can these texts!

You can't tell me that this is an improvement with technology. It's horrible! I've actually spent more time deciphering these texts and post than I should have. Some colleges and high school teachers are trying hard to show that it is hurting our nation's language skills. Some businesses have even claimed that the text lingo has appeared on resumes and applications! Wow!

Oh, and take one more look at that screen shot. "Cancell" is spelled with one "L"! If you ask me, I think he really needs to be in "skool"!

~Matt

Week Rundown! (01/30/11 - 02/05/11)

Sunday:

I got up and headed into church for the monthly men's prayer breakfast. Had a pretty good van route, and was happy the the weather was still nice. Our quartet was asked to sing "sweet Beulah Land". We had each sang it before and was familiar with the song, but our quartet has never sang it, so we had to practice it several times. It turned out good, and we're planning to keep it as part of our line-up of songs!


Monday:

A pretty normal day... gym, school, and work!

Abigail picked Mysia up from school and I met them at the doctors office. Mysia had a check-up with the doctor on her neck glads that had been swollen for the past few weeks. After the appointment, I headed back to work and Abigail took Mysia home.

Well, the news had reported that the weather was to to get bad, with blizzard-like conditions tomorrow. So I decided to head to Walmart to pick up some de-icer and a covering for our vehicles. I don't know why, but I didn't expect the mad rush and stupidity at the store. I don't know why, this happens every time some 'major' storm is to hit. The bread was gone, the shopping karts were gone, and people were acting like idiots (more so than normal). Even on the roads, people couldn't drive... and it was only drizzling!!!!!

I warned Abigail before she left our house to be careful of the stupid drivers. Sure enough, she called me later to report that she had been cut off several times, and came close to avoiding accidents!

Oh, because of the weather, we canceled quartet practice. That gave me some time with the family this evening.


Tuesday:

Well, the storm hit during the night. Ice pellets were hitting the window and house. There was at least an inch or more on our vehicles. Schools were canceled, including the colleges. I went into work. However, the weather was getting bad, and the snow started coming down pretty good. I took off at 11am and headed home. The wind was pretty strong and several cars were already getting stuck in the snow.

After the kids took their naps, we went outside to play. It was pretty neat playing in a snowstorm.


Wednesday:

Well, so much for going anywhere!!! Yuck! It was still snowing in the morning, and there was no way were going to even try to get out! It was a day at home for all of us.

Abigail was bored, so Sam dropped her off after lunch. He has a truck, so he didn't have any problems on our road. I worked on shoveling the driveway after the kids napped. It took a while, but I finally got it cleared. Abigail played with the kids in the snow.

Because of the snow, church was canceled. Total accumulation at our house was 10 inches.


Thursday:

Well, it was back to work for me. My mom agreed to watch the kids since schools were still cancelled, and Lydia went in to work. Lydia was able to work the entire day to make up for missing the hours earlier. Since my car didn't have heat, Lydia dropped me off at work and she picked me up afterwards as well. We picked up the kids from my mom and headed home.


Friday:

The schools were cancelled once again, but Malachi had daycare. Lydia dropped him off, then Mysia off at my parents', and she headed into work for half a day as scheduled. I went back to work as well. At the end of her shift, Lydia was told that she was let go. That shook her, as this was unexpected. Lydia picked up Mysia and Abigail and came home. She then started doing some job searches on line and was able to submit some applications.

I got off work, and the weather was already starting to turn bad again with more snow. I was heading to pick up Malachi from daycare, and a semi truck caused me to veer to side of the road and I got caught in the ditch. My car couldn't drive out of the 10 inches of snow! Thankfully a guy helped me out with his truck. It took over 45 minutes, but I made it home!

We ate chili, and contemplated on whether we ought to try and go to the gospel concert we had planned to attend. Abigail was to be our babysitter for the night. Well, we finally decided to go, and I'm glad we did! We got to see the Kingdom Heirs in concert, and boy... what a vocal line-up they have! We also got to visit with friends as well.


Saturday:

Abigail had spent the night, and woke up with the kids... allowing Lydia and I to sleep in. Which is what we usually do anyways, after turning on the cartoons. Breakfast was cereal and eggs, and we just had a lazy morning.

Lydia worked on sending in some applications, and I dropped Abigail off at home before heading to the library. I had volunteered to help with Mysia's school yearbook, and I ended up meeting with the lady in charge of the project. We went over what needed to be done. Hopefully it will all work out.

I came back home, ate a late lunch/snack and then headed out to do grocery shopping. Lydia worked on housework, and had the kids work on their rooms. We had our friends, Doug and Mary, over for bean dip & chips and to play games. We played several rounds of banangrams and then played the Wii. They left after midnight, and we headed to bed.


~Matt

FarmVille For Dummies???? (02/07/11)

Do you need help with your farm? Well, you're in luck! Here in a few days, you can purchase "FarmVille For Dummies"!

I'm not joking! I guess that some people actually need guidance to work their virtual farms. I laughed so hard when finding this bit of info out, I just had to share it!

~Matt

Shoveling Snow (02/03/2011)

Well, you'd think because of this "Blizzard of 2011", with me staying home, I would have wrote a few more blog posts. Sorry. I was still a busy guy! I've been meaning to get on the computer and write some thoughtful articles for this blog. So hopefully I'll get around to that sometime. We'll see!

Yesterday, we ended up with 10 inches of snow. Schools had been canceled (and they are again today), and I didn't even try to go in to work yesterday. However, that didn't keep me from keeping busy. I worked on projects, spent time with the kids and Lydia, and also shoveled the driveway!

To think that I used to like shoveling when I was a teen! I had it in my mind that it would be a pretty cool job to have every winter. My mind has changed now. Of course, 10 inches of snow isn't the easiest to work through either. If it were only a few, I think my dislike for the chore would have been less. I was sweating by the time I was finished!!! Go figure! Oh, and it took me longer to shovel then it takes to mow my entire lawn in the summer!

I seen several guys going from door to door, offering their snow-shoveling services to the neighbors. The thought hit me.... if I had the money, I probably would have paid. But here I was, already over half-way done, and I was determined to finished. They greeted me as they walked by. I shoud've asked how much they were charging, it probably would have made me feel better that I did my own driveway and saved whatever amount!

I am satisfied with my work. With what I accomplished. Unfortunately, I have to wait and see what happens now that snow is in the forecast for Monday!

~Matt