I'm Not Quite Dead Yet

Yes, I know that was terribly cliched. Bite me. Time for updates:

Donovan just turned 9 over the weekend! Yay, Donovan! We're proud of you.

I'm still trying to get my kids here...or Connor at least, as Katie would not move down, even if the court said so. This situation is very difficult, much more than I expected it to be. I'm literally losing sleep over it. Please pray for me. I need strength.

My mom is fed up with her job and is trying to find something else. It's affecting her health, and she needs something new. PLEASE pray that God opens the right door for her.

I wrecked the Honda by thoughfully running into the back-end of a guy in a 2007 Tahoe. It was at the Oklahoma official state road sign, aka YIELD. The guy looked like he was going. I thought he was going and looked for an opening....just as he decided to yield at the last minute (to no one, by the way). Needless to say, I lost that battle and my Honda was totalled.

The good news is that I got a lot more for it than I paid, and was able to get an 1986 Ford Bronco (FINALLY!) in very good condition. Almost zero rust, runs and drives great, interior is all original, only 163,000 miles (verified via AutoCheck), tires are good, only issues are actually just minor annoyances, and two (a sticky ignition switch and a miswired radio) I've already taken care of. I'll try to get some pictures up.

The bad news is...I'll be paying the insurance company over this claim for a while, I'm sure.

Thought I had enough saved to get the Mustang back on the road...got a new clutch and flywheel, new steering rack and pinion, and was ready to get the rebuilt transmission. I was SO ready. I even got all the old stuff off. Right at the end, though, I ran into some trouble. As I took off the flywheel, coolant began leaking out of one of the flywheel bolt holes. If you know anything about engines, you recognized this as "not good" right away...this means that coolant had leaked into the oil pan. This ALSO means that the engine is messed up, and not in one of those easy-and-cheap-to-fix kind of ways. I'll be taking off the intake manifold and cylinder heads and replacing gaskets (at a minimum); worst case is that the engine block is cracked somewhere and I would need a new engine. Whatever the case may be, the Mustang won't be running for a while, despite my best efforts. Sigh...I hope one day to drive her again.

Owen turns 2 years old on Wednesday!!! HOORAY FOR OWEN! We'll be trucking the kids up to my parents' house in Bixby to celebrate this weekend. That will be a nice break. It IS good to be close to family again.

Speaking of Owen, he's talking like CRAZY! He's very deliberate and thorough with it, like his father...he doesn't do something until he's fully ready to finish it off. So it's taken him a while to get words going. He also nods now to accompany his usual "yes" grunt...he melted my heart the other night by nodding and grunting when I asked him if he loves his daddy. He knows the letters O and Y, and will point them out and say them at will. He loves when we read to him, and we love reading to him. He also recognizes people, objects, and body parts. As a test, I pointed to our dog Dash and asked who it was; he promply and clearly replied, "Dash." He's really making strides.

On the other hand, he is clearly entering the Terrible Twos. He is majoring in performance art these days...the angry kind. And that's all I'll say about that.

I have gone back and forth about 10 times over the past few weeks, wondering if it's really time to shut this thing down for good. For some reason, I'm not on-board with the whole "do all your crap and bear your soul online" thing. Maybe it's because I do so much online already, or because I work in computers and am seeking new diversions, or because the more I see of it, the more I'm beginning to believe that the whole blog/Facebook/Twitter thing is actually very bad for us all and will ruin human society. I had already quit Facebook quite some time back, right around the time I moved down. (I mean, really...does it matter if you follow Paris Hilton's Twitter feed? How about if you're "friends" with the Jonas Brothers? Oh, you have a blog? So do 30 million other idiots. See what I mean? But I digress.) Anyway, I am having difficulty making this thing...well, anything. I have politics and the state of American society on my mind a lot these days, but there are enough "evangelists" and pundits out there, and I frankly don't have anything refreshing or interesting to add. (And who wants my opinion, anyway? I'm seeing too much of other people's opinions, and it does get tiresome, doesn't it?) I love my job, but there are about a thousand blogs about what I do, just information security. IT as a whole?? Millions. Make the blog about my family and my life? Yawn...sure, it's interesting and important to me, but how can I make that interesting enough to anyone else to be worth the time to post?

Oh, and yes, I'm currently taking prescription medication for this terrible case of the downers that I have.

On a more pleasant note, OU's baseball team is really kicking some butt these days. I'd love to take Donovan (and Connor, if I can somehow get him here) to see a game this year. Maybe OU-Texas...ah, that would be great.

The Red-White Game is next weekend, and I'd like to go to that, too. I hope that I can make it.

We went to Colorado during Donovan's Spring Break. That was good, but not terribly relaxing for either Heidi or myself. It was nice to be with Heidi's family, but also very stressful. Heidi's sister Dari was also there. Heidi's parents don't have a very big place, and so it was rather crowded with 4 adults and 3 kids (4 kids, since we got to keep Connor for couple of nights, too). It wasn't...ahem...restful.

Julianna turned two months on Saturday!!! Hooray!! She's still a tiny thing...unlike our other children, she is quite petite. I guess it goes with the red hair and fair skin. Heidi and I both have that in our bloodlines, but we weren 't really expecting it. It's interesting to see the way things turn out.

After much discussion, Heidi and I agreed it was time to take the plunge. I went for The Big V a few weeks back, and now Heidi and I will officially be having no more children. We love our kids, but five altogether is more than enough...we really weren't ready for the Brady Bunch. Heidi is tired of being pregnant, and I'm tired of her being pregnant (and pushing our empty nest further and further back...we could have grandchildren by the time Julianna is out of the house, as Katie will be 32, Connor will be 27, and Donovan will be 26 by then). Ugh. Anyway, the procedure went about as well as could be hoped, and the healing is continuing. For all you men out there who might be thinking about it...GET IT DONE. Getting your wife's tubes tied is a lot more expensive and will lay her up longer, while your vasectomy won't be terribly painful, only takes you off your feet for about 36 hours, and can be easily scheduled and done within a week of the consult. I'm glad I got mine done...though it is strange to know that I'm firing blanks now, that I will sow no more seed. Well, I guess I have more than proven my virility.

I am blessed to have Heidi as my wife. She works hard for us all, is very supportive, loving, and thoughtful, and is just an all-around wonderful mother and wife. I couldn't ask for more.

On the other hand, I might have to change my personal motto to "This Too Shall Pass." (Don't go there.)

BSG is over and done. RIP...it was a good show, although I was able to find less and less time to watch it on Friday night, or to take time to pull the show online. I'm going to try to catch up on this last season's shows...if I can find time.

Heroes is good but needs to spice things up a little with more actual Hero action. I'm getting tired of the good guys running around listlessly, trying to figure out what to do. FIGHT, YOU MORONS!!! WHAT THE HELL IS THE MATTER WITH YOU??? I don't need special effects and super-hero battles every week, but once every 2-3 episodes would be nice. And why is Sylar the only one who gets all the powers, AND gets to keep them? You took away all of Peter Petrelli's powers, then you took away Hiro's, and you've only given them a pittance of what they once had. Dump some of Sylar's powers, too, or make it impossible for him to take some powers, PLEASE.

It's late and I should pretend to sleep some now. Sorry for the long lay-off. Thanks for reading along...I don't know why on Earth you folks have stuck with me, but I'm grateful that you have.

What A Great Day To Be A Sooner!

OU Spring Practice starts today! Spring in Oklahoma is always wonderful, because it carries the promise of a new season as well as glimpses of the summer to come. Returning nearly all of our big skill players, we have a lot to look forward to, and lots of questions to answer, as usual. This year all-around is better than most, as not only do we have football to talk for the next month, but we also have a basketball team that will likely get a #1 seed to the Big Dance, a highly competitive girls' team (as usual) behind one of college's greatest female coaches in Sherri Coale, and a baseball team that's off to its best start in a few years and is actually ranked! Top it off with a highly competitive softball team that will likely make another strong push for an NCAA championship behind Patty Gasso, another top-notch coach who makes our students, staff, administration, and alumni proud. It's truly a great start to the year.

What a great day. I was noticing also that the weather this week is, as usual for this time of year, turning to spring. Well, this time of year for Oklahoma, anyway. I was telling Heidi just last night as we watched the weather, "welcome to springtime in Oklahoma." We'll get 63 here today, and that's the LOWEST high temp that's predicted for the next week! Upper 70s to low 80s tomorrow through Saturday, and upper 60s Sunday and Monday. (In Colorado, meanwhile, they're all debating about when the next 2-3 snowstorms will roll in before the realistic chances for snow finally peter out for good sometime in mid-May.) Sure, it will be a bit windy, as March in Oklahoma always is, but I was also telling Heidi that we'll probably be swimming in Mom and Dad's pool in about a month and a half! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh...

Every day is a great day, because every day I wake up a Sooner.

A Dark, Dark Day For America

I was sad when Charlton Heston died last year. When Ronald Reagan passed away, I was sad for two days. Today, we witness the passing of another American titan: Paul Harvey.

You may laugh, particularly if you're not familiar with his work...but how could you not be? He was so well-known, so ubiquitous in America, that he was even parodied on The Simpsons 15 years ago...a feat that few of his generation and origin can boast. Born and raised in Tulsa, he was true-blue Midwestern American and always represented it well. I first fell in love with his incredible, even voice as a kid when I would listen to it while on the road with my dad. Dad traveled (drove, actually) quite a lot when I was younger, first while working for a now-defunct company called Exploration Logging (ExLog for short). This work required driving long distances to oil rigs out in the middle of nowhere in western Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle. I would often go with him when I wasn't in school, and we'd be driving along listening to the magic that is AM radio, when Paul Harvey would come on. All conversation would cease as we both listened, wonderstruck, to his smooth and engaging style as he effortlessly told us all "The Rest of the Story" or provided his witty and poignant commentary on the events of the day. Whenever I had a chance after that, I'd try to find him on the radio. As I got older, my diligence lessened by my love never faded.

And now, Page 2.

Paul Harvey WAS Middle America. He was steeped in it, he represented it, he was its one true, shining, constant voice. In a media age in which the New York City area has become the center of the universe, its stereotypes and accents saturate our culture, and its interests and quirks presume to represent us all, Paul Harvey was a stalwart of an earlier time, demonstrating the simple values of the WHOLE of America, coast to coast. He was the best of the old school radio journalists, reading evenly and succinctly, never betraying feeling or opinion with tone or copy, much in the style of Walter Winchell. Even when amused by what he was reading, his tone of voice barely betrayed it, and yet the subtlety of it still caught your ear. He never condescended, never mocked, never patronized. He read stories from all parts of America and the world, regarding people and places of all backgrounds and cultures. There was always something interesting or instructive in the stories he presented and he brought them to us without prejudice or melodrama. Many news organizations and personalities claim to present the ultimate "We Report, You Decide" concept that is universally accepted as the gold standard of journalism; Paul Harvey embodied it. Sure, he could provide commentary, but he never mixed his commentary with his news, as is commonly done today. You might hear humor or sadness in his tone as he read a story, but it was never obvious or scornful. He let the news stand on its own. Even his commentary, such that it was, never carried the in-your-face, they're-idiots-and-we're-not theme so often heard in the commentary of today; he gave honest, common-sense, inspiring, positive words that spoke to every one of us.

Also, he never flinched. Listen to his report from one of America's most infamous days, September 11, 2001:

[Link here, audio courtesy of WGN Radio]

What more needs to be said?

Michelle Malkin provides a nice tribute to him. I'm sure many others will provide a better tribute than I have, and he deserves every word (though he would never have said so himself).

Very little of his work is available online, but WGN has graciously provided several of his classic and memorable moments on their website. His official site is here, and they may provide more later.

We're all less because you're gone, Mr. Harvey. Who in the Internet age could possibly fill the void in the American fabric that you have left behind? All that's left now is for us all to say to you, Paul Harvey...good day.