A Diet...

No, I’m not talking about soda. I’m currently on a diet, a food diet. It’s something that Lydia and I have been talking about doing, but just haven’t scheduled a good time to start. We didn’t want to do anything that would add to her college stress, so we waited until last week to implement anything.

We decided upon the cabbage diet (the kids on regular menu of course). After the first two days, things were looking good. But by Wednesday, Lydia was weak... and I was sick! There are only a few food items I cannot stomach, vegetable soup being one of them. Well, you can now add cabbage soup to that very short list. I ate it, but it made me want to vomit. With me getting sick, it did not help matters.

I had commented to Lydia that I’d rather take tuna, both for the high protein and the fact that it actually has great taste. I then did some research on the internet, and there are a few ‘tuna diets’ out there. Needless to say, on the way home, Lydia stopped by the store and got tuna. Boy, by Thursday evening, we were feeling better!

On Monday, we weighed ourselves... yup! We lost weight! Hooray!

We’re still on the diet, adding a few things in throughout the week. Things are looking good, and we’re feeling fine. There is no lack in energy, and we’re being creative with our tuna. For example, we had tuna wraps for supper!

We’ll see if we can reach our goal weights by Thanksgiving? Hmmmm... that sure would be nice!

~Matt

Week Rundown! (05/20/12 - 05/26/12)

Sunday:

I had church vans this morning, and then we attended morning services. After church, we met my extended family at Hong Kong Garden in town. It was buffet style food, and we enjoyed visiting with my parents, grandparents, and uncle and aunt.

Before heading over to my parents' house for the afternoon, we drove by Sam's new apartment. My grandparents rode in our van at Mysia and Malachi's request... and boy, did that make it special for them. At my folks' house, we visited before they had to head back on the road for Kansas.

We attended evening services, then came home and went to bed.


Monday:

Today was the beginning of the last week of 1st grade for Mysia at school. They have several things planned for the next few days, including field-trips to the neighboring park. She came home with exciting tales of what she did.

Since Lydia is done with college for the summer, her work hours are more manageable, allowing her to get off early enough to pick up Mysia and Malachi before 4. When they arrived home, they started on the bedrooms. Mysia's needed a good 'renovation' if you will. She has many toys, notebooks, dress up clothes, makeup, hair accessories, etc... all needs to be gone through and sorted out. That was the big project for the evening. As it turns out, something that's going to last for several days.


Tuesday:

After getting off work, Lydia took the kids to the library. It was a promise she had made if they had their rooms cleaned. Being our kids, Mysia and Malachi loved it! They brought home several books, and made sure that I knew all about them.

We spent the evening working on organizing more of Mysia's room. Figuring what to get rid of, what to keep, and what goes where. There was still more to do, but by the kids bedtime, we halted our progress! ;)


Wednesday:

I woke up at 2am with severe abdominal pains. Nothing I did eased the pains either, and they finally went away around 7am. However, all muscles in my stomach were very sore, and I was exhausted. Fearing that it may have been the flu, I stayed home from work to recover and rest.

Lydia took the kids to school and daycare before heading into work. This was Mysia's last day of school, so they let off early. Lydia brought her home during her lunch break. While I rested, Mysia played and then watched "Tangled" before Lydia and Malachi came home for the evening. Mysia had brought home her end-of-the-year report card for 1st grade... and excels at EVERYTHING! Yay!!!!

I stayed home from church, not wanting to pass on any virus to others, and as a precaution, Lydia and the kids stayed home as well. We read books and spent time reading the Bible since we missed services. Once the kids got their showers, we went to bed.


Thursday:

Today we came home and ate dinner. Lydia and I had been trying to eat healthy this week with our variation of the cabbage soup diet, but since I got sick and Lydia was finding herself weak, we decided to alter our plans. So after dinner, we headed to the store to prepare for an alternate menu for the rest of the week. We also did some shopping for some household items that we needed.


Friday:

After getting off work, Lydia picked up Mysia and headed to church to help decorate for Kristi's baby shower tomorrow. I got off work a little early, picked up Malachi, and came home to get some things done before supper. Malachi and I watched "Cars 2"... one of his favorite movies.

After dinner, we met my family at the grave-site of my grandpa. We set up flowers and sang a few songs. We then headed over to my parents' house for some home-made ice cream! Yum! By the time we got home, the kids were tired, and went straight to bed.


Saturday:

This morning I got up and put together the bunk bed for Malachi. He was so excited. It took a while, and reminded me of an over-sized "Erector Set". We ate a quick lunch and headed out to Christian Publishers Outlet. Lydia was given a gift card and money for graduation, and she was determined on getting some good books. After spending an hour browsing books we left with a handful... even I grabbed several.

Mysia and Lydia attended the baby-shower of Kristi at church while I watched Malachi play outside. Malachi was invited inside to eat some of the refreshments, but we enjoyed the nice weather.

We met Paulette at the grave-site of Lydia's grandparents. We set up flowers there as well. After we got home, we got the kids ready for bed. Once they were asleep, Lydia and I watched "Thor" and "Captain America". Both were good, but we liked "Captain America" better... we both like history.



~Matt

Why Computers Are Like Men/Women

Why computers are like men:

1. In order to get their attention, you have to turn them on.
2. They have a lot of data, but are still clueless.
3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they are the problem.
4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little longer, you could have had a better model.

Why computers are like women:

1. No one but the Creator understands their internal logic.
2. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else.
3. Even your smallest mistakes are stored in long-term memory for later retrieval.
4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.

You Know You're A Geek... When:

You know you're a geek when:

• You go online and order a New Motherboard by 2nd day air, and the store you ordered from is only 2 miles from your house.

• You wonder if you can set my laser printer on stun.

• You try to enter your password on the microwave.

• You consider three espressos as "getting wasted."

• You haven't played solitaire with a real deck of cards in years.

• You have a list of 15 ways of commutation to reach your family of 3.

* Your daughter sells Girl Scout Cookies via her web site.

• You chat several times a day with a stranger from South Africa, but you haven't spoken to your next door neighbor yet this year.

• You didn't give your valentine a card this year, but you posted one for your email buddies via social media site.

• The concept of using real money, instead of internet shopping, to make a purchase is foreign to you.

• Cleaning up the dining area means getting the fast food bags your computer desk.

• Your reason for not staying in touch with family is that they do not have e-mail addresses or Facebook accounts.

• You consider 2nd day air delivery painfully slow.

• Your idea of being organized is keeping 'My Documents' de-fraged.

• You find you really need PowerPoint to explain what you do for a living.

• You think a "half-day" means leaving at 5 o'clock.

• You hear most of your jokes via email or facebook instead of in person.

• You've made your family pics into icons so you can spend time with them.

• Your web-browser bookmarks takes 15 minutes to scroll from top to bottom.

• Your wife drapes a blond wig over your monitor to remind you of what she looks like.

• You have thought up about 100 smiles more clever than =(8^)

• Co-workers have to message you about the fire alarm to get you out of the building.

• Every night you tell yourself you will not eat tomorrows meals with a fork in one hand and a mouse in the other.

• You turn off your computer and get this awful empty feeling, as if you just pulled the plug on a loved one.

• You see a good web design and still have to change it.

•  You feel sea-sick and light headed when you finally take those reading glasses off and try to stand up..

• You dream in HTML.

•  You find yourself typing "com" after every period when using a word processor.com

• You refer to going to the bathroom as downloading.

• Your holiday was ruined… there was no internet café in town.

• You take lunch in your office snacking with your chat friends.

• You find you can still get butterflies in your stomach ... the thought of seeing your computer again after your holiday/vacation.

• You have prayers said every time your PC or electronic device dies.

• You ask your doctor to implant a gigabyte in your brain.

• You dream of coming back as a cyborg.

• You're amazed to find out spam is a food.

• You've sat 2 inches in front of your screen with a magnifying lens to see how they made the colors.

• You've spent consecutive Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings programming a computer.

• You decide to stay in college for an additional year or two or three, just for the free Internet access.

• You can type 70 words a minute but can't read your own handwriting.

• You rotate your screen savers more frequently than your automobile tires.

• The salespeople at Circuit City or Best Buy can't answer any of your questions.

• Your wristwatch has more buttons than a telephone.

• You're replaced your wristwatch with a smart device/phone.

• You can remember 7 computer passwords but not your anniversary.

• Your spouse sends you an e-mail or chat message instead of calling you to dinner.

• You have a functioning home copier machine, but every toaster you own turns bread into charcoal.

• Your hard drive crashes. You haven't logged in for two hours. You start to twitch.

• As your car crashes through the guardrail on a mountain road, your first instinct is to search for the "back" button.

• In college, you coded your homework in HTML and give your teacher the URL.

• You start tilting your head sideways to smile.

• You check your e-mail. It says "no new messages." So you check it again.

• Your dog & cat have their own home pages and the goldfish's is under construction.

• You think people who can't set the clock on the VCR are pathetic!

The Great Debate: Geek vs. Nerd

In honor of GEEK DAY, here it is... my take on the Geek vs. Nerd debate.

What am I? Well, I'm definitely one of the two... But there is some controversy on the difference between the two words. After doing some research, and reading some pretty heated discussions on other blogs, it seems that depending on what were you live, the definitions are interchangeable. But I'm here to clear that up!

There are actually three names that can (and are) often used as derogatory terms or type of stereotype in reference to person who obsessively pursues intellectual interests for ones own self. It also includes the thought that one is inept to adapt to society as a whole... Does that make sense?

The three terms are:

• Geek
• Nerd
• Dork

So permit me, if you will, to define those words as I see them.

Geek:
Smart, fact loving person, who tries to keep up with society, but mostly on a factual basis. A pleasure to hang out with, overflowing with fun, often useless facts. Uses his knowledge and technology to help those around him. Friendly, open to suggestions and ideas, always willing to learn and share knowledge. Any person who pursues a passionate interest in something in a way that places him or her outside the mainstream. This could be due to the intensity, depth, or subject of their interest.

Nerd:
Similar to a geek, knows what he's talking about, but thinks that no one else can be on his level. Often has a snobbish, self-centered, and authoritative attitude. Will engage in deep discussion, but doesn't listen to reason, and never changes stance on an issue. Can be engrossed in his or her area of interest at the cost of social skills, personal hygiene, and status.

Dork:
A quirky, silly and/or stupid, socially inept person, or one who is out of touch with contemporary trends. Often confused with nerd and geek, but does not imply the same intelligence level. A geek wanna-be! Occasionally knows enough to pass, but this knowledge can be dangerous.

Dweeb:
Everyone else! lol!




~Matt




PS.   At 9am, I'll be publish a list of "You know you're a GEEK when..."

Tomorrow... GEEK DAY!

Just a reminder...

Tomorrow is GEEK DAY. Expect a few posts from me, including "The Great Debate: Geek vs. Nerd", my definitions of each term!

If you don't follow me on twitter, or friends with on facebook, you're going to miss out. All posts will be "geek" themed! So all others, be forewarned.... ;)

It's gonna be a good day!

Week Rundown! (05/13/12 - 05/19/12)

Sunday:

I had church vans this morning, and then we attended morning services. After church, we met my extended family at Hong Kong Garden in town. It was buffet style food, and we enjoyed visiting with my parents, grandparents, and uncle and aunt.

Before heading over to my parents' house for the afternoon, we drove by Sam's new apartment. My grandparents rode in our van at Mysia and Malachi's request... and boy, did that make it special for them. At my folks' house, we visited before they had to head back on the road for Kansas.

We attended evening services, then came home and went to bed.


Monday:

Today was back to normal, although it was the last week of finals for Lydia. She had to study!

This evening I attended quartet practice while Lydia stayed home to study. The kids played for a bit before going to bed.


Tuesday:

After work and school, we met at home and rushed over to my parents' house. Abigail watched the kids as we attended the induction ceremony of Baptist Bible College's new president. It was a neat ceremony.


Wednesday:

Tonight, we attended the evening services at church. The kids sat with us during the services since children's church was over for the summer.


Thursday:

A busy day, I arrived at work with a lot to do. Lydia and I met at home with the kids by 3pm. We then got ready for Lydia's graduation. Once Lydia's mom showed up to ride along with us, we left. We was able to the college arena by 5, in time for Lydia to get ready. Paulette and I saved seats for those we knew where arriving, and there we waited for an hour for the graduation to start.

I had brought along both Nooks, so the kids played games like "Angry Birds" while we waited. Everyone arrived in time, and the graduation ceremony started. It was looong! ;) Thankfully, Lydia was within the first 50 in line... so I let the kids resume playing games during the hundreds that followed.

Back at the house, we had a reception with cake and punch. Several friends and family came over to congratulate Lydia.


Friday:

Today was another busy day. After work, I attended the wedding of one of my fellow co-workers, Brennon, in Branson. It was then a rush to get back to town in time of the concert. In the meantime, Lydia got off work and headed to Mysia's school to help get ready for the "Block Party" they had this evening. She then picked up Malachi and headed back so that that they could participate in the games.

The concert of the Nelons and LeFevre quartet went very well. Both groups did an excellent job, and there were no problems. Of course, I enjoyed the ability to visit with the artists. :)


Saturday:

I got up early and went with Sam to a hotel plaza to set up the sound equipment for a wedding reception for our friend Noah . We got it all put together, and then found that it wasn't working! We took apart the amp and found that the fuse was loose.

Lydia dropped the kids off with Abigail, who took them to a birthday party for the afternoon. Lydia then went out to brunch with her sister and mom for late Mother's Day celebration. I, along with my dad, helped Sam move his stuff into his new apartment.

After we returned home, I had the kids take naps and eat. Then we dropped them off with my parents as we attended the wedding. We then rushed over to the hotel plaza for the reception, where I was DJ of the music. It was fun!


~Matt

A Busy Week

Yes, I had planned to make some ‘cool’ and ‘serious’ posts this week. And depending how my evenings go, I might schedule some to go through. However, since this week is scheduled to be very busy, please don’t count on it.

I hope to keep this blog of mine busy. In fact, I’m planning on posting an album review, several projects I’ve completed, and some rants/thoughts I have on some things that have been on my mind. So, I guess we’ll see what happens.... especially next week!

Who knows, I may even make a few posts on a single day. ;)

~Matt

Week Rundown! (05/06/12 - 05/12/12)

Sunday:

The morning went well, and we enjoyed morning services. Mysia spent the afternoon with Granny and Grandad.

Mysia and I played video games during the afternoon while Lydia worked on homework. Mysia can do very well and is able to get some great high scores, sure makes her geek dad proud!

After evening services, we went for some ice cream with friends. The kids ended up playing on our Nooks while we visited! Go figure!


Monday:

This evening, we spent at home. After supper, I went grocery shopping while Lydia got the kids to bed. She worked on homework and I worked on a few projects.


Tuesday:

The kids and I worked on organizing their rooms (putting up toys). Mysia is very creative, so her room consists of notebooks, papers, drawings, pens, crayons, and much more. There are notes everywhere! Malachi's room is filled with cars, army-men, and nerf guns! ;)


Wednesday:

Tonight was awards and recognitions for the kids in our Children's' program at church. We gave out certificates and even got ice cream afterwards!


Thursday:

I've been enjoying the nice weather, and was able to go out and mow the lawn with a cool breeze. Not my most favorite chore, but it had to be done. Malachi likes watching out the window. When he gets older, and I put him to work with me, I'm sure he'll change his mind.


Friday:

After supper, we headed to my folks' house to visit my grandparents (Paasch), who had come to town for Abigail's graduation. We stayed past the kids' bedtime, but it enjoyed the time together.


Saturday:

We woke up and did some of our Saturday chores (house clean-up, laundry, etc). For lunch, BJ and his family visited before we headed out to Abigail's high-school graduation. Yes, the youngest of my siblings finally graduated. It was a good graduation ceremony too.

After the reception, we headed to my folk's house to change, and then met up at the put-put course. Mysia and Malachi enjoyed playing with their cousin Elijah.

We returned to my parent's house for cake and veggies to continue the celebration of Abigail's graduation. By the time we left, it was late.

~Matt

"The Next Time I Get Married... I'm Gonna Be The Bride"

So... did the title get your attention? Seeing what's been in the news with Obama endorsing 'crooked' marriage, I feel that this song is pretty appropriate:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcUq4IUnSIA

My boss had found the song in our station's library and shared it with us. Of course, I went to the internet and found the video! What truth in a song... and definitely worth sharing. ;)

 On that note, here's Obama stance on same-sex marriage:

"I favor legalizing same-sex marriages, and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages." (1996)

"What I believe is that marriage is between a man and a woman." (2004)

"I believe marriage is the union between a man and a woman. Now, for me as a Christian, it’s also a sacred union." (2008)

"My feelings about this are constantly evolving. I struggle with this." (2010)

"I think same sex couples should be able to get married." (2012)

Confused....????

~Matt

Tech: "Draw Something' App

I’m addicted to a game on my iPhone. I’ll admit that I don’t play on it as my friends, but I sure do enjoy it!

The game is called “Draw Something”, and due to the fact that it encourages you to be creative and draw a word for your friends to guess, it makes it a game that is very appealing to me. It’s similar to “Pictionary” and “Win, Lose, Or Draw”, but you don’t really lose. A very popular social drawing and guessing game where the goal is to keep the rounds going!

I don’t really have any complaints with the game in itself. However, I do get upset with others when they don’t ‘draw’. I’ve had friends who just write hints, or even the word itself!!! Huh? Come on! If you can’t draw the word... don’t pick it. I'm often tempted to go ahead and skip the round if an opponent does that to me.

Anyway, if you like playing the game and up to a fun challenge, look for me! I’m on through facebook.


~Matt

Blogs on the Buzz

I follow many blogs, mostly those that are about Southern Gospel and iPhone news. I’ve found out that controversy can really start a buzz. It doesn’t have to be something major either, just the fact that others want to state their opinion. I’ve noticed that there are those that may not like it, thinking that it causes too much negativity. But besides it making things interesting, I like it because it gets topics going and gains interest.

Now, I’ll agree that I don’t agree with everything that may be said or posted on some blogs, but I do respect others’ thoughts and opinions. Hey, that’s what makes for a great conversation! If we weren’t allowed to think for ourselves, others would control our lives! So... bring it on!

I don’t think my blogs would ever cause a “buzz”. I’m probably a little more cautious with my posts. But, then again, you never know what I might post later on!

Making A Weekly Menu

When Lydia and I got married, we found it easier to plan out the week with a food menu. It helped on shopping and gave us an idea of what we were having throughout the week. Of course, the menu could change and we might swap meals on different days. The main benefit is knowing what to get at the grocery store. Eight years later, and we still make a menu.

I like it because there are certain days I look forward to. Yum! Thursdays and Fridays tend to be the meals that are more ‘grand’, since we can find more time to prepare them.

Making a menu also balances out what we eat. We don’t have noodles back to back, or chicken throughout the week.

When we first started, the menu was listed on the fridge. However, that has changed over the years, and now it’s electronic! We use google calendars which we can access by our cell phones, laptops, tablets... It sure helps!

Week Rundown! (04/29/12 - 05/05/12)

Sunday:

I got up and took Malachi with me to the men's prayer breakfast at church. He had dressed himself, and wore a black suit-coat with blue dress pants... oops! He got the chance to spend the afternoon with Granny and Grandad.

Mysia and I played video games during the afternoon while Lydia worked on homework. Mysia can do very well and is able to get some great high scores, sure makes her geek dad proud!

After evening services, we went for some ice cream with friends. The kids ended up playing on our Nooks while we visited! Go figure!


Monday:

Mysia was able to finish her homework before I picked her up. She's quick, and smart!

After work, Lydia and picked up the kids and went out to eat. The kids got an ice cream cone, and then we did a quick grocery run.

This evening was quartet practice. We ran over all of the our previous songs, and are hoping to be singing somewhere soon... just looking for someone to book us!


Tuesday:

We spent the evening at home. Lydia had quite a bit of homework to do, so she spent most of evening working on it. We made chicken veggie bars for supper and watched the Dick Van Dyke Show on Netflix before putting the kids to bed.


Wednesday:

I took off early from work, picked up Malachi, and headed to the dentist. We both got a good cleaning. We were finished before Lydia and Mysia showed up for their appointment.

After a quick supper at home, we made it to church for mid-week services. The children's service program is nearing the end for the semester, so we were working on getting through their books for the badges and awards for next week.


Thursday:

After work, Lydia picked up the kids and headed home. They ate, played games, and watched some classic tv shows on NetFlix. Once the kids got to bed, Lydia worked on homework.

The evening was busy for me, but fun. After I was finished with work, I headed over to help with the concert featuring Palmetto State. It was neat being able to listen in to the sound-check, and talking with the guys. They are now a five-guy vocal group, featuring two on the bass vocals. Their sound was awesome! And even though the attendance was low, they put on a great concert!


Friday:

Mysia had a full day at school, but Boys and Girls Club was closed for the day, so she got to spend the last part of the day in my office. She drew, wrote, organized a corner with her 'supplies', and played some games on the gameboy.

Since it was "Star Wars Day", Lydia and I watched several of the movies after the kids went to bed. Since they're nothing new, Lydia did her homework and I worked on some projects while we watched.


Saturday:

The kids played and watched some tv this morning. I finished up more projects before noon. Lydia got things done as well. I let the kids play outside while I made a walking path through our garage... we have too much stuff! I then spent the afternoon putting together the gas grill I had got for my birthday last month. It was a pain, but I got it assembled!

Since the day was hot, we decided to go to the park and let the kids play in the water. Abigail met us there. The kids played and rode around on their scooters. They were soaked for most of the time, while Lydia and I just got our feet wet. It was nice to get away and spend some time at the park. On the way home, we got slushies! Yum!

We gave the kids showers and let them watch a tv show before sending them off to bed. What a day!


~Matt