kevin's blog

Interesting weekend.

There was much working on the house.
We purchased a stove and painted B and D's room. It is a brick-ish red color.
T wanted to let them pick it out, and I tried to suggest guiding them toward something she could live with. I believe she said her mom gave her similar advice.
But she just let the boys choose what they wanted, so picked a dark red, so now the room looks smaller.
We may wait and see if there is paint left over from the kitchen or living room to do the other boys wall in their room.

Got the vynil tiles laid in the kitchen. They look good. I don't think T is happy with them, since she said she is not happy with them lol but we'll see what happens. We may split the tile so that we have some for the laundry room as well.
Then we would put tile T wants across the dining room.
It's just a good idea to tile the dining room since the kids are still a bit messy at meal times.
I also fixed the front door. The little window was broken but still in place so I got some plexiglass and a stained glass looking laminate and put that in. Also resealed the window with silicone since it was leaky.
Gonna seal all the windows around the house with silicone. Inside and out actually. I also was able to fix the tile issue in the kitchen where that one outlet wouldn't seat since the tile was blocking the screw hole. DREMMEL TOOLS ROCK OUT! Indeed.

Well a few more things to fix. The Master bath has to be finished and sealed. Carpet has to be purchased, and a dishwasher must be found before too long. We have found a model Tam likes but it is around $350 so we may have to wait a few months to get it.
I am trying to figure out a way to make some extra cash .
Wish me luck.

Today is Friday.
I am happy for that.

Today is also my best friends 30'th birthday.
And I am happy for that though I am sad that I cannot go hang out with him on his big 30.
He is my homey! My Dawg! My Brother!

Happy Birthday Quentin.
I hope you have a great time, and I hope you soak in the reality that those things which you have publicly pined for all these years have come true.
Don't drown it in "I deserve it".
Appreciate the karma.
And note that no matter how you came into it, it is still a job to maintain and improve it, and you have been given the chance to do that job.
So do your best buddy! I know you want to.
I love you man.
Have a great time.

Aarons teacher called Tami this morning to let her know she is sending a note home with Aaron.
She wanted to call to let us know it is nothing bad. She is recommending Aaron for speech therapy. That's all.
He has a little lisp. Nothing too serious. I have mentioned it before being cute actually. His little youches with a slight lisp sound silly.
But it is the TH sound issue and S in many cases. I can't really think of other sound problems right off the top of my head but I know that there is a frequent SH sound that shouldn't be there. Probably in place of the soft TH sound as in TOOTH, and not as in THAT.
I have been working with him on the TH sound for THAT. He uses V or B instead mostly and it's getting better. He just has to concentrate on the TH and stick his tongue out a bit. I am just going to have to listen to his speech a little more closely now to pick out the other things and start working on those with him. It should fix pretty quickly.

I am thinking they will want to put Dylan in speech therapy as well.

Tami doesn't think there is a problem but he has some Fud-Speak going on, so I think the school will probably try to correct that.
It's hard to say anything about. Any criticism (not even real critisism) or attempts at correction by me have been met with flat out denial. "theres nothing wrong blah blah."
So I end with the impression that they think I am picking on him. Which I am most certainly not.
But what can you do.
Just move on and do what you think you can or what you are allowed to do.

Well well well.

I just found out that a co-worker of mine also happens to sit on the board of directors for the bank Tami and I use.
Whether or not that information is usefull or strategic to me in any way is a question I am willing to ponder.

Now I guess it is time to find out if he would like to hit the driving range at lunch any time soon.
Hehehe!

This is insane.

I just can't really grasp it.

For so many people to be saying that all this stuff caught them off guard and noone could prepare for such a storm is utter bullshit.

Especially after you read this article.

UTTER BULLSHIT!

OH in case you don't notice on your own, this story I linked to was written in OCTOBER OF 2004!
Yeah. That's what I said.

This is interesting.

Aaron apparently wanted to eat the school lunch, and he has a lunchbox as some of you may know.
So his plan was to throw away his lunchbox that day and tell us that he could just buy school lunch from now on.

So that's what he did. Yeah.
Threw away his lunchbox so he could buy lunches everyday.

What he got instead is a series of brown paper bags he has to throw away every day.

That'll learn ya little smarty man.

Wasn't a huge weekend though something HUGE did happen.

THE AIR CONDITIONER IS INSTALLED AND WORKING! WOOHOO!

There was a problem Richard and I found. The compressor never kicked on after we got it hooked up so we started looking around and found that a peice of pipe had broken and released all of the coolant. Probably happened during shipping but we think it may have shipped like that.
Anyway, Tami's friend Ambers Father, is an AC guy. So he had said if we needed any help with the AC let him know.
Well with a broken pipe I knew I was out of my element and Richard wasn't confident in repairing it cause it is a high pressure system so I called Ambers dad.
Wow what a great fella. He popped over to the house, hard soldered the pipe and vacummed the system, then charged it with freon all in about 2 hours.
It was great. The AC works awesome. Within an hour of running it the temp in the house went from 94 to 86, and after running a whole day the house was a nice 72 degrees.
It was perfect. Sunday I actually got all of the internal vents taped with foil tape and I fabricated a new vent connector for the kitchen from where the floor collapsed. Then I got to sanding the dry wall repairs and I may have that done in a few days.

I plan to stop by the used appliance store on my way home tonight to talk to the guy about the broken glass top on the stove and see if we can work out some deal. If I give him that unit maybe he'll knock the price down on a unit I like if I see one I like blah blah. I'll try to haggle but I'm not good at it.
Tami said she doesn't want a used unit but I don't think we can be so picky right at this moment. But we'll see. If a used unit isn't much of a savings over a new unit I would definately rather have the new unit.
Besides, we might be able to get the fridge we want if we trade the old fridge for a used one with water and ice maker.
Again, we'll see.

I hate smoking.
I really do.
I have tried to quit more times than I can count.
And I always fail.
I did the patch.
I did the gum.
Tami's mom gave me a little plastic cigarette with nicotine plugs.
I just keep giving in and freaking out when I go too long without a smoke.
And I don't want to smoke anymore.
It actually makes me nauseus every time I light up.
One out of five times I light up, I have to fight back vomiting.
I caugh constantly.
I am out of breath most of the time.
It stinks, makes my breath stink, and costs a fortune.
I just want to stop. I think I am going to try again but this time I am going to FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT.
With everything else going on in my life, the last thing I need is to waste time and money on cigarettes.
And there are other things that drive me nuts.
Like the people who run tobacco companies. If I was standing next to one of those guys on the street in his $3000.00 suit and smoking my brains out, I gurantee he would be looking at me with disgust. Like I am some kind of idiot, but keep on smoking moron you are paying for my new beach house in the Bahamas.
I want a beach house in the Bahamas.
But I don't have any addictive substance to hook people on so they give me an endless supply of money for killing them and lowering their quality of life.
I have a bad chest cold right now and I am still smoking. And it hurts. Physically causes pain every drag.
But that doesn't stop me.

Wah Wah Wah, poor me. Too stupid and weak willed to stop paying for something I hate. It's like video games. lol
I hate most video games now. They are stupid shallow, over priced and I almost always feel ripped off after paying for one, but I just keep doing it.
So the video game makers keep making the same insipid crap since they know all of us entertainment junkies will throw our money at their feet any time they pay some news site to tell us to.

Maybe today is not such a good day.

Nothing interesting going on really.
First mortgage payment is coming.
I got the air conditioner moved into place with Richards help.
I fabricated a ducting piece I needed from sheet metal, screws, and duct tape that Richard gave me.
Richard is Tami's dad, and a great guy.
Aaron is still being a pain in the butt.
They are all getting good at the homework routine.
Might get the AC working by this weekend. Don't know for sure.
Just not alot going on.

Be there ever doubt, as to how much, or why I love my best friend as if he were my own brother, let this link be my eternal, and vigilent answer.
For as long as the sun shines and asses are to be made of people.
This man shall be sacred to me, and above all others!
So it is written, so it shall be!

By the gods on olympus did we not have "Teh 8allz"!
Aye, we did.
And mighty they were!