VETERAN'S DAY!!!

Let me start this blog by saying, I love Veteran's Day!! Not only because I'm married to an amazing USAF vet, but because I love the rush of feelings I get on days like today. Seriously. Even with our country in the state that it is in, it gives me so much pride to say I'm an American. And oh yeah, because of our amazing military men and women, I have the most freedoms in the world!! Man it's awesome!!

Let's talk about that "rush of feelings" for a minute. You know the feelings I'm talking about. It's that feeling you had when you got home from work on 9/11/01 and flipped on the TV and saw... you know. It's the feeling of excitement you get when you see your child so excited to see an "army guy." It's the feeling of pride when you hear the "sound of freedom" flying overhead. It's even the feeling of anger a lot of people get when they think about the wars we fight for reasons unknown. All feelings (and politcal views) aside, I must share something very extraordinary with you this morning.

I felt my first "rush of feelings" today at 6:25am this morning. I was heading out to work and of course I had to show my support for our Vets by putting out Old Glory. I put her up, and I am not lying when I tell you this (no matter how crazy you think I am)... I honestly believe that God must have felt the same rush I felt. I swear to you. Here's why... there was no wind this morning, it was calm outside, a million thoughts were racing through my head, and the clock was ticking as I was already running a bit late to work. I put her up there on our house, something I've done a lot in the past, but this morning was different. I put her up and just took a step back and stared. I swear to you, I stood there in the driveway looking at the red, white, and blue, and all of a sudden a very light breeze started to blow and she started waving in the wind ever so lightly. I felt such pride looking at her, and then I felt an amazing wave of peace. I was seriously probably only standing there for a minute, but my God it was beautiful. The neighborhood was dead silent. All was at peace. I felt everything, and yet I felt nothing too. It was like time stopped. All I could do was stand there in my driveway and give thanks to God for providing our country with the most amazing people in the world. People that sacrifice everything...for everything.

Alright, I know you're thinking that maybe I read this experience somewhere or something, but I swear on everything that this is as true as it gets. And now you're thinking that I'm crazy... I'm okay with that. There is no better way to start your day but by giving thanks and thinking about those in need and those that provide.


Thank You VETS!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!

A shot of guilt?

About a month ago a clinic came to my office and gave the whole group flu shots for a nominal fee. I got one for the first time ever in my life and I feel good about. Yesterday we all get an email from the Ops Manager saying that the same clinic that did the regular flu shots now has a limited supply of H1N1 vaccines. Basically they're offering to come out again and give us all the H1N1 vaccines, again for a nominal fee. I've personally really been on the fence about the vaccine since it seems like they really rushed it through the process (which I guess was good), and I'm paranoid that it could cause "other" illnesses. Yeah, I know....eternally pessimistic.

Any how, my paranoia aside, I'm not sure my whole office of 50 people getting the H1N1 vaccine is...ethically right. I mean, this morning I open the paper and REAL BIG front page it reads..."H1N1 Vaccine Shortage!" Sigh...so maybe this is media hype/propaganda, but maybe it's not. See what I'm saying? If the 50 people in my office get it, that's 50 people (maybe little kids) that don't get it. In addition, they're talking about letting our families get the vaccines too, so then if you just throw another 50 people on top, well there's 100 people that don't get it that might actually need it. See where my guilt is coming from?

Ah well. Idunno what I'm going to do... whether I'm going to get it or not. My luck is that I won't get it and then contract swine flu and be outta luck. I don't pretend to be a brainiac, so maybe I'm missing the whole point here. Any comments or thoughts are appreciated.

Ed2

Salsa

Today Stacey and Lil’ Ed came and met me for lunch and we went to a Mexican restaurant. We were finishing up and Lil’ Ed was messing with the little dish of salsa. So I told him that he should drink the salsa. Without missing a beat, he said,”Noooooo… I only drink water… and coke… and milk… not sauce, daddy.”

He is just so hilarious lately. The things our kids’ little minds can process and come up with is just incredible. He makes us smile uncontrollably every day.

I CAN'T TAKE IT ANY MORE!!!!

For 9 months I've been swallowing complete swill in the form of coffee here at my office. This morning I could not just sit here and take it any longer. After the first disgusting sip, I stood up, walked to my car, and went to the Quik-E-Mart for caffeinated delight.

The whole trip took less than 5 mins, but the utter delight and satisfaction I will feel the rest of the morning... priceless. Going forward, the solution is programming our coffee maker to brew in the morning so I can hit the road with some.

Sigh... good times this morning.



PS....for our friends who don't drink coffee, well, I do. That is all. lol

WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT!!!???

This morning around 2am we were awoken by a HUGE...HUGE booming sound and flashes of light. To give you an idea of how loud this sound was, I'm a pretty sound sleeper and don't wake up very easy. So I wake up with a jump and a start, Stacey wakes up too and I ask her, "What the heck was that...OMG?" We realize it is starting to thunder and storm outside. Right about the time I'm thinking that "man, this is going to be a big storm, I wonder if Lil' Ed woke up," I hear him in his room starting to cry. So I run in there and grab and tell him it's okay, and of course he can sleep in our room. Right about the time we get him all settled, it starts to DUMP! And not just a short little stint of heavy rain, I'm talkin' truckloads of water, thunder crashing, lightning flashing... all the good stuff you see on the Weather Channel. So, we all go back to sleep to the sound of STORM!

I woke up around 5am to get ready for work, and no more rain, streets are fairly dry, and I didn't even have any rain on the way to work. Strange weather. The good news is that the temperature was in the 60's and I drove to work with the windows down. Love it.

I've said it before and I'll say it again... everything's bigger in Texas! It's true!

UGH!!

Why is this guy ALWAYS clipping his nails at work? Seriously, he was just clipping on Monday!!! DUDE!!!???!!

Working on Our Laptops

I'm sitting here in the family room just messing around on my laptop and watching the Office. Lil' Ed went and got his laptop and said, "Daddy, I need to work on my laptop too, daddy."

So we're sitting here just hangin' out while mommy is at school. It's like the lobby of a Starbuck's on a weekday morning around here, lol. He's a good little boy. We're not necessarily talking or doing anything physical with each other, but this moment is... special. Sometimes it's the silent blessings that can light up the room; our hearts.