Dave's Daily

Wednesday, June 30, 2004

End of the Month

Well, another month has come to an end... WHOO HOO! That means it's Payday! I'm rich for a day! Sigh... It probably didn't even last that long as my wife already went to Wal-Mart this morning... (Where's that vacuum sound coming from?!?) But, the Good Lord has blessed our family through the years, so I can't complain.

The new Spider-Man 2 movie comes out in theaters today... Another big event I've been waiting for ... and will wait some more to go see it. I really don't like crowded theaters. I can't enjoy the movie with all the movement, talking, popcorn munching, etc. that goes on when there are a lot of people in there. Although back a few years ago, I went to see "The Two Towers" movie during a day showing and I was almost the only one in the theater except for about 6 older people from a nursing home... Guess they were all hard of hearing cause they talked real loud through-out the movie... ugh. Anyway, I'll wait a few weeks and then go with my good friend Joe to go see it. I can wait... I've already waited two years for it, so a few more weeks won't kill me.

Blessings!

Monday, June 28, 2004

Weekend in Review

Boy... Saturday was sure a long day... That morning I went to the church to edit a promotional video for the Women's Ministry. Got most of it done before I had to leave. I was pressed for time as we were going to the Renaissance Festival. This year was in a new location at a local park and it packed in the crowds. Way more than the previous years. This year they added jousting, which probably was the main attraction. 175 actors from the Kansas City R. F. came and paraded around the grounds speaking in "Ye 'Ol English" to get you in the spirit. It's hard to talk to those folks without wanting to speak back in the same ye 'ol fashion. Parking was a big mess and had to ride a shuttle bus (which there was only one) so late comers had to wait a long time just to get to the place. The lines for food were almost as bad... The actual events were pretty cool... There was Paco, the Master of the Whip, the Fire Eater guy, the Juggler, the King and Queen were strolling around, etc. The SCA group was there performing sword battles in full armor. As is custom, the "knights" would ask a lady in the crowd if he could fight for her honor. One knight came up to my 2 year old daughter who I was holding and asked her. She nodded "yes" and he actually won his fight. Cool.

We had also planned to go to the Lewis & Clark event at our local Nature Center that afternoon, but we were just too worn out from the R. F. So, after we got home, we laid our daughter down for a short nap, my wife went grocery shopping, and I "almost" took a nap on the couch... Never quite reached sleep though for some reason.

Sunday we all went to church, and it seemed a busy day there as well. I had to be one of the back-up singers during the worship time, and then also helped in the serving of communion. At least I didn't have to help out in the video room as usual, so it was nice getting to sit with my wife. :-) Sunday night at church, some of the youth presented "sermonettes" (5 minute sermons) in preparation for the A/G Fine Arts Festival coming up later this summer. Some also sang songs or presented drama. They all did a very good job.

Woo Hoo... The Spider-Man 2 movie comes out this Wednesday... But, alas, I won't get to go see if for awhile as my real life, as usual, gets in the way of getting to do a little relaxing, like going to a movie... More on that as it happens...

Blessings!

Friday, June 25, 2004

Camping / Float Trip

For the last two days (Wed & Thurs), the family and I (except our 2 year-old daughter who stayed with Grandma) went on an excursion of camping and taking a float down the Meramac River in a canoe. We went with a cousin of mine and her son who is about the same age is my son. We had a great time and the weather couldn't have been better. One frustrating part was the wood we bought at the camp store for our campfire. I think it was still a little green as I could barely get it to burn and you could hear it sizzling. Finally got some decent burning coals to roast some marshmellows for making S'Mores... Although my cousin can't eat chocolate, and my wife doesn't like marshmellows... Sooo, I was the only one to actually eat a "real" S'More. Go figure.

The float was real nice too. The river wasn't real swift or anything and since we went during the week, it wasn't crowed at all. There was one incident were this huge speed boat came zooming up towards us, but they cut the engine before they got to us so not to turn us over. They were obviously drunk and had a very loud stereo on the boat blaring out some kind of red-neck music and then they were trying to yell stuff at us. Anyway, we got by them and enjoyed the rest of the trip. We just did a 5 mile float and that was about enough for our adventure. We did make a stop at a really neat cave and took a look around. There was a very *cold* spring coming out of the cave too. Couldn't go back in the cave too far as we didn't have any lights with us.

Came back to work today... Wish I hadn't, but can't use up all my vacation time at once... ha!

Ahhh... It's Friday....

Tomorrow is a Reinassance Festival here in town sponsored by the library. They've been doing it for a couple years now, but this year they've added some jousting and a couple of other new events. Should be pretty cool... I'll let ya know... :-)

Blessings!

Tuesday, June 22, 2004

SpaceShipOne

Oh yeah, I almost forgot... on Monday, June 21st, private "spacecraft" SpaceShipOne broke the record books by entering "space", over 62 miles high. Pretty cool. The people involved with SSO are also trying for the X Prize as well... So far, it looks like they are going to be the winners... Congrats to the SpaceShipOne crew!

Weekend Update

Crazy weekend... And another dog story...
Saturday morning, our doorbell rang at 8am. We were just getting out of bed, so I wasn't approprately dressed to go to the door, so I didin't answer it. Later in the day, when I got the mail, there was a sealed blank envelope in the box with the other mail. Ummm, should I open it? Well, I did and it was a short note from one of our neighbors. She was complaining about our dog's barking waking her up twice during the night, once at 9:30pm and then again at 1:30am. She blabbed on about please be considerate and get one of those collars that keep dogs from barking or get training or something. Grrr... I'm not sure if I want to respond to her note or not. She's a single younger lady and even has a dog herself (indoor). She's already run off two boyfriends also... She's a rough and tough little lady. :-) Anyway, I'm trying to train our cute little puppy some manners, but it'll just take time lady. Got the yard mowed on Saturday also. :-)

Sunday was Father's Day!! My Day!!! Yeah!! Got a nice card from the kids. It had a punch-out crown, which I punched-out and wore all day. :-) King for a day! Man, I love Father's Day. One bad part about that day was that I wasn't able to spend any time with my father since he lives in another town. I did call him that morning before church to wish him a "Happy Father's Day."

We're leaving for a camping/float trip tomorrow (Wed). We were going with my cousin and his family, but they called today saying that his wife's brother died this morning and now they wouldn't be able to go. Bummer. I was really looking forward to getting together with them, as we don't get to visit with them too often. But that's okay as I know they need to support each other during this rough time. Anyway, I guess my little family will still go as we've got everything bought and planned and the campsite reserved.

My wife took our 2yr daughter to get her picture taken today at Sears. I'm struggling right now trying to get thru their website to look at the pictures. Man it's slow! Their servers must be really busy or just hosed up as the Java scripts keep timing out. Trying again usually works... Okay... 10 minutes later, I finally got in to see my beautiful daughter... She outta be in pictures... oh wait, she is! :-)

I gotta get more sleep...
Blessings!

Friday, June 18, 2004

Another weekend is upon us...

Hey! It's already Friday again! It's the last night of VBS (Vacation Bible School)! My wife has been teaching the 4 & 5 year old class with some pretty rough kids, so I know she's really glad that it's almost over. Tonight is "family night," so all the families are coming too for some extra fun and ice cream! Yummy!

My work's division-wide picnic is tonight too, but due to VBS, we won't be going. Actually, I don't think too many people are actually attending anyway... too bad. We've gone the last few years and always had a pretty good time.

Other than the VBS thing, this week has been pretty lame/slow. Next week should be better as we're planning a camping/canoe trip with my cousin and his family. Can't wait!

Blessings!

Tuesday, June 15, 2004

Suprise Visit and VBS

We had a suprise visitor last night at our house. When I got home from work, my sister-in-law (from North Carolina) stopped by from out of town to spend the night with us (she had called ahead and talked to my wife, so it wasn't a "total" suprise drop in. ha!). We had a nice visit.

Vacation Bible School (VBS) started this week at our church and my wife is teaching the 4-5 year olds. My son went, but I stayed home with our 2 year old. My wife said it was a little rough being the first night, but I would assume things will settle down once the kids get into the swing of things. This year's VBS theme is "SonGames 2004" which has an Olympics-related theme. Friday night concludes with an "awards" cememony where the whole family can come and watch. Guess I'll be there too for that night. :-)

Uploaded a cool new video to the Wisdom's Cry website I work on. It's a video that will be included on the next enhanced CD they put out. It was done by a company called Bright Star Productions. They did an awesome job putting it together. The video shows a good overview of what the mission and ministry of Wisdom's Cry is all about.

Blessings!

Monday, June 14, 2004

Pow Wow Weekend

Wow! What a busy weekend! Last Thursday, June 10th, was my wife's 40th birthday. Since my son and I were going to be gone over the weekend (more about this further down), and my daughter's second birthday is today (June 14th - more about this also), we decided to combine them and have a little party Thursday night. My parents came down and we all had pizza, cake and ice cream. We all had a great time and my daughter had fun eating her piece of cake and opening presents.

Friday morning my son (who is 9 years old) and I left for the Royal Rangers Pow Wow. Royal Rangers is a Boy Scout-like program that is run by the Assemblies of God. This was a district-wide event and there were over 700 people there. Friday was more of a "get setup and ready" day and all the activities were on Saturday. Friday night there was a "pagent" play which was followed by a large fireworks display, a devotional, and altar call inwhich quite a few boys came forward to accept Jesus as their personal Savior. Saturday brought uniform inspections, outpost flag inspections, campsite inpsections and also lots of activities for the boys to enjoy such as archery, shooting slingshots and BB guns, walking a rope ladder, paintball tourney, Tug of War, etc. I'm proud to say we got a perfect score on our campsite inspection (even though our Royal Rangers flag was hung upside down by mistake!). There was another pagent play Saturday night as well after giving out the awards. We got back home around Midnight Saturday wiped out, but having a fun time non-the-less.

Sunday I got up to go to church, but had a run-in with Montezuma's Revenge, so I stayed home that morning, rested up, and did make it to the evening service, but still felt wiped out.

Today, Monday, June 14th, is my daughter's second birthday. I can't believe she's already two. She's getting really talkative (with REAL words) and is very expressive facially and emotionally. She's just a little darling. :-) I love her to pieces! I'm still feeling pretty zapped from the weekend today and would rather be back in bed than here at work, but at least it hasn't been too busy today.

Hey, today is also Flag Day, so hoist up Old Glory and wave her proudly! God Bless America!

Blessings!

Wednesday, June 09, 2004

Week of Mourning

I sense a depressed mood in the country this week... I don't know if it's just me (probably as I'm fighting a sinus infection), or if it's the constant raining, or if it's all the events dealing with death and funeral activities of former President Ronald Reagan. Reagan's body was flown today from California to Washington DC where it will lay in state in the Capitol Building until Friday when it will be flown back to California for the actual funeral.

On a totally different note, I'm getting so fed up with my dog. She's always turning over her water bowl. We'll just fill it up and when we go back in the house, she'll scoot it, spilling most of the water, or just flip it over. I think it's to get attention so we'll come back outside. She's also tearing up my back yard by her constant digging. UGH! Anyone want a dog? Technically, I guess it's all pretty common "puppy" behavior (she'll be 1 year old this month), so I hope she grows out of it pretty soon!

Blessings!

Monday, June 07, 2004

Weekend Overview

Well, didn't do a whole lot on Saturday. I did get the yard mowed though. HA!

Since this is the 200th anniversary of the Lewis and Clark expedition, there were special events planned all last week and through the weekend. We stopped by Saturday evening to check it out. I had thought it was over at 6PM, but it was over at 5PM instead and we got there about 4:30PM, so we didn't get to see a whole lot Sat. evening. After we left, we treated ourselves to a fast food dinner out at Long John Silvers. Oh boy! We went back Sunday afternoon to the Lewis and Clark thing and got to see all the exhibits, etc. It was all very interesting and got some good freebies. I also bought some L&C First Day covers with the stamps postmarked for June 4, 2004, the actual 200th anniversary of when L&C's expedition group (the Discovery Corp) stopped by here while travelling up the Missouri River.

My son and I watched the Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (extended edition) on DVD this weekend. We broke it up over two days as that thing is just way too long for one sitting! :-) Since he's only 9, my wife and I debated whether to let him watch it or not, but finally deciding to let him, but he'll have to get a little older for parts 2 and 3 which we think are a little more violent and scary for him to see.

I found out Sunday morning that our 40th US President, Ronald Reagan, passed away Saturday at the age of 93. He had been suffering with Alzheimer's disease for the past 10 years, but died from complications of pneumonia. "Let's win one for the Gipper!" was a classic line from Mr. Reagan that came from his acting days. He will be sorely missed.

I also just found out today that one of my brother-in-laws' mother passed away early Sunday morning losing her long battle with cancer. It's hard to lose those closest to you, but we can rejoice in knowing that she is now at peace and rest in the hands of God.

Blessings...

Friday, June 04, 2004

TGIF!

Yeah! It's Friday! Even though this was a shorter work week due to the Memorial Day holiday, it's still always nice to make it to Friday!

Downloaded some pics today of the kids from the digital camera and emailed them to relatives and also updated the family genealogy website with a set of pictures taken at my aunt and uncle's 50th wedding anniversary celebration. The party was on May 2, 2004 and their actual anniversary is tomorrow (June 5th). Why they had their party so early is beyond me, but it was fun nonetheless.

For my day job, I work in mainframe networking as a Systems Programmer in technical support. Right now, one of my big projects is working with a law enforcement agency in setting up "Enterprise Extender" which allows you to run SNA over IP for mainframe to mainframe connectivity. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you're probably not alone so don't worry about it. Anyway, they aren't real comfortable in making changes on their side, so I'm basically having to handhold them through the whole process. It's a fairly simple setup process, but like all things computer related, there are always hiccups along the way.

Here's to a great weekend ahead!

Thursday, June 03, 2004

Open for Business!

Welcome! I thought I might as well get into the blog thing too. I'm not one for journaling or writing to "dear diary", but I've always wanted to be able to record my "history" in some way so later generations could get a glimpse as to what it was like to be alive in my time period (at least from my viewppoint anyway) and see what "important" things were going on in my life.

I dabble in various things, not real good in any of them, but have fun doing them. I enjoy video editing and production, genealogy, creating web sites, 3D animation, coin and stamp collecting, reading, and watching sci-fi films/tv. These things and more will be expanded upon as the days go on...

Blessings to you!
David