Something to make up for the damage..

So I may have done just a little bit more damage to the Jeep today, but hopefully these stickers wwill make up for it!

And besides that, it went for a good cause!

my work desk

25 random things about me

This was originally a Facebook thing, but I thought it would look better as a blog post.
The idea is that you write 25 different random and personal things about yourself, then post it. Then others do the same. So here goes:

1. I don't like forwards or chain letters as a rule, but I will make this exception this time!
2. My father is the man I respect the most in my life. He has had to deal with more drama and personal issues than anyone else in my life.
3. Clutter is a constant frustration in my life.
4. Owning a Jeep has completely changed my life and it was completely unexpected.
5. I am thankful for so very much in my life although it is sometimes easy to loose sight of it.
6. I DON'T DUE DRAMA! Why is there always so much DRAMA??
7. If I could only keep one TV channel it would be Discovery HD Theater
8. I often go through periods of very low self esteem.
9. I believe that the chain of thought in my brain is very different than many other people.
10. I sometimes unintentionally hurt others even though I have the best intentions.
11. I put large amounts of importance in what other people think of me.
12. I find it SO MUCH FUN to motorboat.
13. I love my parents so very much and wish that I was better at communicating with them so that we could have a more solid relationship.
14. I LOVE FOOD, but hate what it does to my body.
15. If I had the option to marry Kristen all over again, I would do it without hesitation.
16. I find lack of funds to be very frustrating.
17. I have ZERO artistic talent.
18. Me and Laziness are way to intimate.
19. I would love to tell my birth mother/father thanks for putting me up for adoption and that I have no bad feelings about them.
    
20. I often think about long lost friends and ex-girlfriends.
21. I love to sing to myself, but I don't like to sing on a stage in front of others.
22. I am a complete Star Trek geek.
23. I love to troubleshoot.
24. I would rather be in a small tight group of people than in a large group.
25. I married my best friend.
    

Look at all the pretty pictures!! (this should be a long one)

Well, there should have been pretty pictures, if I had taken any! So maybe this should be titled "I wish I had brought a camera"....
Let's start with this very cold missing picture of Kristen, Webber, some Reedy Creek Peeps, and me all standing around at 5am outside a tent in the EPCOT parking lot for the SALSA sale. For those that don't know, the SALSA sale is this HUGE "garage sale" that Disney does right before Christmas. We bought just over $500 in merchandise that cost us $116 dollars.
I think it should also be noted that I have already been up since 1600 the day prior to go to work all night till 3am. This fact will be important later.
Here is another missing picture of us looking at vehicles that the credit union is selling outside the SALSA sale right next door, including some Jeeps.
So here is a missing picture of us shopping around the big tent full of merchandise..
And here is a missing picture of all the purchases that we are carrying out to the car.
Then, we decided to go see the Jeep "one last time".
Well, by this time the car sale was actually occupied by representatives. I'm not going to bore you with all the details about "crunching numbers" or making Scott (our representative) buy gas for us out of his pocket, or sitting around for very long periods of time while all the employees got their stuff together, but suffice it to say that we ended up with a new Jeep Wrangle Sahrah 08 at a pretty good deal.. at least according to Kelly Blue Book.
So here is a missing picture of us racing home to clean out Kristen's Saturn, eating KFC, and racing back to trade it in.
Here is another missing picture of Matthew in some sleepless coma waiting at the table in a tent (again) while other "representatives" crunch some numbers.
So we ended up home around 4pm.
Here is another missing picture of Matthew, all passed out, after having been up around 26 hours or so...
So Kristen is thrilled she has the vehicle of her dreams, and I am happy for her as well. I am sure that I will be not "quite so happy" when that first payment bill comes, but it's all worth it in the long run.
So here is a missing picture of me with a neck brace on. See, Kristen's "dream vehicle" is a stick shift, and Kristen can't drive stick, and as anyone who has taught someone else to drive stick, it tends to hurt your neck.
I actually think I may drive stick better after having tried to teach her to drive stick. I also think that after a couple of more lessons she will have it down fairly well.

Webber's father and step-mother are in town. Here is a very cool missing picture of the $500,000 motor home they came down in with all the amazingly cool super high tech features. Yeah, those are some great missing pictures.

You know, at some point I thought I married a woman who LOVED taking pictures SOOO MUCH that she wanted to START A BUSINESS or something... but maybe not....

Ok, so I am going to set up my Christmas tree now, and NOT TAKE PICTURES...

New Quote

All that is necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing

Turkey for me, Turkey for you...

This year, due to work schedules and such, Kristen and I will be celebrating Thanksgiving on Wednesday rather than Thursday. My parents will be coming over and hopefully Webber and his mother as well.
I am only mildly nervous about this for 2 reason.

1. Time has not allowed me to accomplish all that I want to accomplish before this dinner. I would have liked to have already done all the shoping and prepairing. This should have included pulling down the Christmas decorations in preperation for the decorating.
2. This is the first year that I will be frying the turkey and I would hate to do something to make the turkey not taste good.
   

This 2nd point also makes Kristen a little nervous, but for a COMPLETELY different reason.. Perhaps a picture would allow me to show you why she is nervous....


I am not afraid of this happening, but if it does, it will be a great adventure that we will talk about for the rest of our lives...

Gotta love a good story...

Anyway, here is the turkey song from Adam Sandler...

Thinking about my job....

I had a little time while at work today to write this out.  It’s just list of things I have been thinking about lately about my job and what I do.  A couple I may have seen somewhere else, but for the most part I think these may be originals…

 

 

The 911 TRUTHS OF DISPATCH.

 

1. 911 calls will randomly come in all at once.
2. A dispatcher will never eat a hot meal while on duty
1. If a dispatcher gets a hot meal while on duty, no matter how quiet the day has been, it will instantly become too busy to eat.
2. Once the call volume has subsided, the food will be cold.
3. The units in the field do not understand the job we do.
1. The units who take the time to learn about the job we do realize that they cannot do our job.
4. Most people do not appreciate us until they need us.
1. Eventually everyone will need us.
5. You can handle thousands of calls absolutely perfectly, and no one will notice you.
1. The one call you handle poorly will end up on all the news channels.
6. Your coworkers will become a very dysfunctional family to you.
1. You will see them more than you see your actual family.
2. You will experience all range of emotions together.
3. Every personality type will be represented and will be forced together in stressful situations for extended periods of time.
7. At the end of the day you may be tired,  but you know you made a difference in the lives of many different people.