Will you marry me Janet?

YES!!!!!. We both had one foot firmly entrenched in the single life vowing that we would never marry again due to our poor experiences with the first marriages. I'm happy with my life and my kids come first. We'll be able to see each other a couple times per week or so is what we said. We'll we didn't know that we had met our perfect matches and had no clue what level of happiness we were about to achieve. Within the first couple weeks of getting to know each other we burned up the phone lines and rang up a few thousand text messages. Calling each other in the middle of the night to hear the other persons voice, to hang up then call back again because you didn't hear enough. Within two weeks we both knew that we would get married at some point. From there we have slowly brought our kids and families into the mix. My kids love Janet and are always asking when they will be seeing her next. Janet's kids have mentioned that they notice that she is happiest when she is around me. Even after seven months people notice that we are very very happy. At our christmas dinner we kept looking at each other and smiling all night long. That was the first time we had dressed up and gone out and we were both enjoying looking at each other. Someone commented in fun "Get a room you guys". I guess our happiness is pretty visible.

So the family, Janet and I were going to Mexico for vacation. Without question I wanted to propose to her at some point however I couldn't make up my mind on when. How much time before it's appropriate? How long should the engagement be? I wanted the proposal to be special and memorable and thought what a better time or location than on the beach in 90 degree weather in December in Mexico with my family there to celebrate with us. I worked with a local jeweler to get the ring I wanted and since it didn't exist they worked with me to make it. They poured a wax mold and I hand picked the diamonds. They were even nice enough to take our old wedding rings in trade. I was quite pleased with how it all turned out. So armed with a ring and a plan it was hard to wait until the perfect moment.

The Proposal: I was hoping that we would arrive at the hotel before the sun went down so that I could ask her right away. I didn't want to wait all the way through the next day until the sun went down. The timing was perfect. We arrived in time for us to all get our shorts on and get down on the beach. I told Janet before we got there that I wanted to go for a walk and watch the sunset. When it was close to the right time for our walk I made an excuse to go up to the room to get the ring and when I returned we went for the walk. We walked quite a while and when the sun was at a good point I said lets grab some sand and watch it go down. We started talking about how happy we are and how perfect things are in our lives. I snuck the ring box out of my pocket and proposed to her. I definitely caught her by surprise and after some tears and collecting herself she said YES!!!!

We sat and watched the sunset the rest of the way then walked back to celebrate with the family. They were all very happy and welcomed Janet to the family. They are all very happy for me and Janet and are excited that we have both found each other and so much happiness together.

It was a great week and I cant wait to see what the future brings.

I love you Janet Smith Jerome

Computing with my dad...

So recently I suggested my dad get an iPod that he could plug into his car for his commutes. He works 30-45 minutes from where he lives. I gave up on broadcast music and entertainment in the car years ago when I bought an XM radio. I couldn't stand the constant breaks for commercials. When I got home I felt like I just listened to a big long commercial. I heard that 1/3 of the hour is commercials however that doesn't take into consideration all of the DJ's talking time and such. When I got my iPhone I started listening to music from my iPhone in the car as well as podcasts. 5 months later I have so many podcasts that I listen to that I rarely get through them and to the music. So back to my dad, I guess my suggestion got him thinking and after a bit of a bit of research he decided to probably get one. I was thinking he would get the nano with the wheel and small screen then we got to talking and he was willing to spend a bit more if it was worth it. So we went over what the ipod touch had to offer with the bigger screen and applications and so forth. He ended up getting the touch and seems to really like it. Now he is learning about it and the iTunes software and loading it up with music and movies. So far he seems to really like listening to the podcasts and music on his commute. NO MORE COMMERCIALS.

We have been emailing back and forth about how to do certain things with the iPod and about music and podcasts and such. That brings me to the point of this blog and a stroll down memory lane. I remember when I was in high school and computers were just becoming almost affordable for some people. I remember when we got our first 386 computer from some place that is now out of business. (not counting the TI-99). It had dual floppy drives and probably had like 4 megs of memory (not gigs, megs) and probably a 40 meg hard drive or something. We used the heck out of that thing and when it was time to upgrade I bought it from my dad and he went out and got a 486 computer. That was smoking fast back then with probably 6 megs of memory and a 60 gig hard drive. We played and hacked on those things teaching each other things along the way. Then we started signing into BBS sites way before there was the internet. Basically people started building these computers that hosted a dos application (character based) where you can press different numbers to navigate around and look at information and sometimes download free software. Over a 2800 baud modem it was very slow but cool. Then came the 56K modems which was a major upgrade. Of course this is before cell phones so to be on the BBS you tied up the home line for hours. We would type code in for hours to have a little stick guy dance around on the screen too.

Then we wanted to connect our computers together. Even though there wasn't a lot we could do once they were connected we did it anyway. We had the in the same room from what I recall and worked on it for a long time. We had to install these cards and you had to connect right from one to the other, no hub. In those days you went from one computer to the next. It took a while to figure it out and get all the right equipment but we did it. Then I put my computer in my room and we stretched the cable through the hall and it still worked. In a whole different room. Very cool stuff back then.



Now today when we get together we have a family room full of laptops. Everyone has one even the kids. all wireless surfing the web consuming information and searching out answers. Need to know a sports score? Old days watch the game or read the answer in the newspaper, today espn.com baby. Old days, need to purchase something from a store look at newspaper ads and call around asking for price or if they had it, now google and surf your way to see who has the best deal and if the stores have one in stock. Buy it and have it sent or they'll set it aside and you can pick it up. Now we are all connected, emailing, blogging, and sharing pictures, movies and life.

I appreciate that my family is connected through technology. My parents are edging closer to retirement and my parents buy wii's, ipods, HDtv's, LCD tv's, laptops, high speed internet, portable phones, etc... They may not be able to squeeze every ounce of ability out of all the devices but they are in the game. They are far more advanced in this area than any other baby boomer I know.

Sitch to Mac...

Most of you are familiar with my switch to Mac from PC. It has been about 5 months and I couldn't be happier with the switch. The commercials are even funnier when I've experienced both sides because they are so true and still so simple. I'm still learning but what I have learned is that the user interface is so much nicer and attractive to work in. Things just work as the ads say and the people who develop applications for the mac do a fantastic job with them. Its built on the unix core so its very stable and solid. Beautiful interface and rock solid kernel.

All that said there is still a long way to go for the applications. Some applications that I used on the PC are not available on the mac. I had to install fusion which lets me run windows from my mac OS. I literally click on an icon and i'm running windows inside my mac. It works very well and I get the best of both worlds. If I need to run a game I just boot right into windows on my mac and it runs it faster than most windows machines.

Next time you are in the market for a new computer you should definitely look at the macs and research and learn about them. They are increasing sales 30+ percent per year and are charging fast. Half of all new mac sales are to PC users and every one that I talked to so far have been very pleased. With all those people switching more applications are bound to be created for the mac. Plus in this day and age many of the new office type apps are being built for the web like google docs and microsofts new office app that they are building for the web which any computer can run.

So watch the commercials and enjoy. I think they are funny.

Google Reader - Try it!!

I'm not sure how many people know about RSS feeds and how to use them so I thought I would write a blog about them. Most people I know have a daily routine of web sites they go to and consume their information. For me it ranges from sports to technology and then onto politics. Rather than navigating to every page to get the information you can have it fed to your google reader. Every morning I pop into my google reader and all the web sites and blogs that I follow are right there waiting for me to look at them. I can preview them, open them up and see the whole thing right in reader, or click on the header and it will take me to the page. I have all the family blogs and picassa pages in my reader so if someone updates either I know about it right away.

To add a feed to your reader just navigate to the feed you want to send to it and click on the RSS button. From there it's pretty self explanatory.

New apartment

So I'm in the new apartment now. Its actually a nice apartment for an apartment. I've been moving in there for a couple weeks now and its been going well. Janet has been a big help moving the whole kitchen all by herself. The apartment has much less room so this is quite a challenge to find space for everything. Saturday Kenny came over to help me move the heavy stuff and while we did that Janet worked her ass off. She packed and cleaned like a woman on a mission. So overall I'm mostly moved in except the yard equipment which Janet is letting me store at her house and the stuff I'm going to donate to charity. By the end of the week the old house should be clean and empty.
The nightly elephant races above me are annoying. The girl that moved in above me is a little less than invisible. She moved in Saturday so I'll give her a break since she is probably just getting settled. I think she is a night owl and i'm a morning person. So I've been saying that everything is OK except for the nightly elephant races upstairs. Actually i'm exaggerating to be funny, its not that bad. It is different hearing people walking around upstairs though.

There are kids in the apartment that range from trash to good kids. It doesn't take long to figure out which ones are trash. They are usually pretty transparent. It will be a challenge making sure my kids dont get mixed up with the wrong kids, but there are a few good kids in the community that are nice. Hopefully they are drawn to the good kids and not the trashy kids. i'll make sure to have input on that.

Spread the wealth?

We'll socialism is coming to Washington. Those of you planning on voting for Obama please be aware that you are voting for someone that holds many socialist views. The first definition of socialism is the following.

1. a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole.

Obama wants to take more money from one class and distribute it to another. "Spread the Wealth" as he puts it. This should scare you.

Everything I have heard this man say has to do with more government control or more government spending. He believes that government can do it better and that the American people need the government to take control of parts of their lives. He plans on forcing employers to pay for health care for their employees. This sounds good, who wouldn't want free health care, but it does cost money to provide it to the employees. If they are not providing it now then its not because they are greedy capitalists. There may be exceptions but for the most part if employers aren't providing insurance it's because they cant afford it. Adding another cost onto these employers will force them to find the money elsewhere to pay for it (raise prices) or reduce costs by eliminating people. These employers aren't going to just pick up the extra costs to provide coverage. They are in business to make a profit. If the government takes the profit away they will do what they can to remain profitable or get out of business.

Do people not hear him proposing billions and billions in dollars of new spending? Tax cuts for 95% of the people? Since roughly 30% of the people don't pay any taxes at all does that mean that they are going to get a check in the mail? Its a math equation. If he reduces taxes on 95% of the people, increases spending by 700+ billion the net result is more of a defecate? The math doesn't add up.

Look at the overall history of Obama and how he has voted. He has been tagged by two independent organizations as the most liberal democrat in the senate. Just to the left of a liberal democrat is socialist. He has socialist views on many issues however because he is such a good public speaker he isn't showing you his hand. That video says it all. Spread the wealth.

Unfortunately the horrible fiscal irresponsibility of President Bush is going to hurt John McCain. Bush had to deal with the bursting of the tech bubble which killed the economy as well as 9/11 which finished it off. The economy was building back up quite nicely until the most recent banking issues. Unfortunately greed is in our society and it does require oversight. We let some companies who were cornerstones in our economy get out of control and greed led them to the cliff. Without government intervention they would have fell off the cliff and taken the economy with it. The bailout was very costly and will be very costly to all of us for many years. We need proper oversight and a free market economy not socialism.

This leads me to my final thoughts today. America has a spending problem. We spend more than we make every year as a whole. Credit cards are part of our society and carrying debt on credit cards is the norm. I heard that the average debt on credit cards is around 10K. People grow up and when they leave their parents home they desperately try to obtain the standard of living they have been accustom to with their parents. They want the nice car, house, toys and such. Who wouldn't right? Ever heard of the frog in boiling water story? We are all use to using our credit cards to buy things and plan on paying them off over time, however things pop up like school clothes, Christmas, birthdays, tires, maintenance, house repairs, etc.. People accumulate debt over time and eventually the behavior creates a pile of credit card debt. So when the houses were increasing in value at 10% or more per year for years people thought I can get some relief by rolling my credit card debt into my home loan and get a lower interest. There is plenty of equity in the house so this wont create a problem. Then with good intentions they weren't going to use the credit cards unless there was an emergency. We'll years of being desensitized the emotional high of having new toys over rides the pain and fear of carrying debt so the behavior continues. I'm just as guilty as anyone else. We have a problem of spending in our society and I don't see it stopping anytime soon. We need to hold people accountable for their actions. If they dig a hole and are buried in debt and cant make their house payment, I feel sorry for them, but they need to work an extra job an make the payment. Or they need to sell their house and live within their means. I don't like either candidates plans to renegotiate the mortgages at their current value. This shaves off thousands of dollars worth of debt but life is an equation. That money that was shaved off the debt hurts someone, either tax payers or the companies.

Be responsible people and be accountable. Pay your debts, say no to socialism, say yes to capitalism with oversight and let America prosper.

Kristal's 40th Redneck Ho-down

The weekend was a blast for sure. It was a bit cold at night so I'm glad the kids were able to stay in the terd with g'ma. The first night we froze and shivered half the night and were a bit tired the next day. The second night we ran into town and got a couple more sleeping bags to keep us warm and that did the trick. I cant wait to go back and explore more trails and when its muddy not dry.

Thank you mom for taking care of us all again with great food and for caring for the kids when we went on the adult rides. It was fun having the creek right there for them to go play in and goof around in.

Kort and Austin had a blast. Austin put hundreds of miles on that quad this weekend just riding around camp. He would spend 15 minutes cruising around then took a little break for a few minutes. Then off to put the helmet back on and go some more. I'm glad that he was able to ride it that much. G'ma is going to hook him up with some riding gear for better protection for his birthday so that will be a good thing. Kortne was a little scared to ride by herself on the little one but she wanted to ride an adult around on the big one all weekend. At first she was really tentative but before I knew it she was going everywhere with the gang. Even down hills which was big scary for her. I'm proud of her.

I guess it's true that Janet isn't afraid of dirt. The one of these pictures clearly shows plenty of it all over her face.

It was a blast and I cant wait for our next redneck ho-down.

Microblogging for geeks....

So I'm not into social networking, like Myspace and facebook but i'm kind of having fun with twitter. I've heard Twitter described as a micro blog for geeks. Actually it started out for geeks but people like Obama and others are using it now. Basically how it works is once you have an account you go find people that are interesting and follow them. It adds you to their follow list and adds them to your your following list. From my phone or the desktop computer I can pop in and take a peek at what the people are doing. Throughout the day people post little notes about what they are doing or tidbits of information that others may find interesting. You're limited to a couple sentences. For instance Kevin Rose, founder of Digg, is someone I follow and he twittered about the new startup company Good Guide where they analyze home products and rates them. They look at many factors all relating to health and environment. Its rather interesting and I encourage you to take a look.

If you get an account and want to add me my tag is kjchipmunk of course. There are a couple people following me and I couldn't tell you who they are. No clue. Probably some 42 year old unbathed immature pimple face geeks still living with their mothers. You can also see who I'm following. Yes, they are all technology related people.

Signup at Twitter
To make it easy to follow and make posts download Twitterrific

We have an answer, 2nd grade it is.....

We'll this whole summer we have not known which grade Austin was going to be placed in. Going back to Last November we started talking to his school about putting him directly into 1st grade when we moved and they couldn't because they didn't have enough information that supported the move. They were suppose to be monitoring him to re-evaluate him for skipping 1st grade and going right to 2nd grade, and it turns out they weren't. At the end of the year his teacher agreed with us recommended he skip a grade which apparently caught the Principal by surprise. She normally tests and monitors for a couple months to gather the backup data to support the move so we were in a pickle. Long story short we ended up scheduling a meeting with her today at 3:30 to discuss it and meet with the TAG (talented and gifted) teacher. We'll the TAG teacher met us and the principal was in a district meeting so she wasn't available. We went to a conference room and talked for a while and she explained how they look at many factors other than academics, which we were aware of. Then she flipped over a three page test to see how strong he was in mathematics. The test had questions that ranged from 1st grade through the end of 2nd grade level. He systematically picked off the questions and out of all three pages he wasn't able to answer just a few. An example of a question was 80-43 and he got it right. Another was a crap load of little blocks stacked, and he had to count the vertical and horizontal quantities and multiply. He got it right, it was 213. Very cool. Remember that he just finished kindergarten. He was doing the problems in his head and the TAG teacher was very impressed with that. Before we left she said she supports Austin skipping a grade and going right to 2nd grade. She talked it over with the principal and the school called us around dinner time to tell us that the Principal approved him going right to 2nd grade.

I'm very proud of my little dude and am looking forward to this year of school.

Go Austin.....

Kortne's Restaurant

Kortne loves to spend time in her room lately. I realize that as kids get older they spend more time in their room. Her room is very comfortable for her and she loves to do little crafts and activities in there. It makes me feel good that she is comfortable and happy playing in her room. In weeks past she has setup forts using the PVC pipe kit that I put together for the kids and blankets. I cant tell you how many times she put up different things in there that I had to put the clips on the blankets. This weekend she had a special project going on in there that she wanted to be a surprise. She worked hard on it for a couple hours. She grabbed a bunch of plates, bowls and silverware and dragged them into her room so I kind of had a clue as to what she was doing. She moved her bed around and setup a restaurant, emptied her bookshelf into the corner to put her restaurant stuff up and cleared out the closet to make it the kitchen. She thought out every detail from table, chairs, napkins, glasses, silverware, plates and menus. She hand wrote out two sets of menus for Austin and I and had at least 10 items on each for the appetizer, main course, drinks, and deserts. So when she was ready she asked us to be her customers. Austin and I knocked on the door and told her we had a dinner reservations. She smiled and showed us to our table. Austin was great and played along well. He put lots of thought into each menu choice which was kind of funny since it was pretend.

So we placed our drink order and she disappeared into the closet, er a kitchen. I heard dishes clanking and water squirting and I suffocated my normal "don't make a mess" instinct and let her just do her thing. She used a sports bottle full of water to fill up our glasses. I ordered diet Pepsi and Austin ordered lemonade, however the lemonade machine was broke so he had to pick a different drink. Its funny how she thinks of all these different scenarios and pulls them out for her pretend kitchen. So she brought out our drinks and took the drink menu and delivered the appetizer menu. We ordered each course and she delivered it full of beads representing food. When we were done she cleared our plates and took them back to the kitchen and prepared it for Austins turn.

Its fun to watch my kids grow up and use their imaginations. Another both kids did is made mailboxes that are taped to our doors. They are boxes made from paper and we can transfer notes back and forth in them. Austin even made one for my door and stuck it up. Its so darn big that I keep crushing it when I go in my room though.

This was the last full week of the summer the kids spent with me and its back to the school schedule. We had lots of fun this summer and were very active with our family. I'm glad that they get to experience many different things and hopefully they'll remember them.

Flashlight show on steroids!

My KortSport is growing up very quickly.

A few weeks ago i noticed that Kortne kept wearing clothes that were too small and realized she had just went through a growth spurt. Her shirts were so short that they were showing a sliver of skin around her waist and her shorts and pants were very snug. So off to the store to buy her bigger clothes. She is at that size right between kids and juniors so its a bit hard to find clothes that fit her and that she likes. Apparently my taste in young lady clothes are a bit on the boring side and during our shopping trip we ended up agreeing on one pair of shorts. Janet was nice enough to take her shopping and get some stylish clothes that fit and Kortne was happy with. I have to admit I really don't like the options out there for little girls. It seems like they making smaller versions of women's clothes for young ladies. I wish the clothes out there were a little looser, but apparently the in style is to have shirts a bit on the snug side.

We went to KahNeeTa for a few days with Grandma to play in the sun with the kids. I setup a horse back riding session for Kortne and I (Auzy ended up wanting to go too) and when we were getting ready her fairly new shoes she got a few months ago were too tight. She is just growing so fast its hard to keep up. She has been such a wonderful girl this week helping every chance she got and didn't complain once. When we needed help preparing dinner or cleaning up she was right there helping out. She really responds to grandma and responds to praise. She will do things just to feel the praise of a compliment from a parent or grandparent. That makes her feel very good about herself and makes her want to be even better and do more things.

This morning she got up before me and went into the kitchen and made a full spread breakfast for all of us. On the menu was a wonderful bowl of oatmeal with peaches mixed in, a can of mandarin oranges in a bowl, warmed up left over ham, and salad. She set the table with plates, bowls, silverware and was so proud. I have to admit the mix of food didn't look too good however she was so proud I had to sit and give it a go. The oatmeal and oranges were very good. I couldn't eat the salad, but complimented her on her effort to put it all together.

I see the signs of her growing up every day. She is enjoying her time in her room more and more making crafts, watching DVD's, making forts and coming up with dance routines. She is very happy and content most of the time and it makes me proud as a parent to know that she is happy, content and absolutely enjoying life right now. Watch the Video to see her latest dance routine.

Drivein

Janet, the kids, and I are at the drive in now waiting for wall-e to start. We saw cops pull over a Honda prelude with 4 kids in it and had them open the trunk and 2 more kids came rolling out of the trunk. It was pretty funny.

We have drinks, snacks, and sleeping bags and are ready to go.

So, quick update. Austin made it all the way through the movie just fine and Kortne fell asleep. They both did really well when it was time to pack up and head home around 11:30pm.

New Library in town!

The new library they have been building in town for a while is finally finished. It is 3 times the size of the old one and all state of the art. They even have rooms for the different age groups. The teenagers room has a big screen with a nintendo Wii. So last night I grabbed the kids and we went down there to check it out and get some new books. We have been trying to read at home so they are ready for school on day one. So we get there and when we walked in the kids got pretty excited. Kort cruised around looking for poetry books. Austin wanted to read up on gerbals since he has one at his moms. So we asked for help and they showed us where they were. He grabbed two books and was content with that. He sat and read for a while so I could help Kort. The people there helped her find Poetry and she picked out a book. She also found a lot of other books that she is interested in.

Check it out here

Every Tuesday night they have a gathering with some talent performing. Tonight we are going to go to the commons and see a magician perform. The kids are really excited about that. Should be fun.

Its dinner time

So my normal routine for dinner is to get feedback from the kids on what sounds good. They NEVER agree on what sounds good and they have very different taste in food for the most part. So grandma suggested I choose what I make for dinner and they can eat it or starve. If they are hungry enough they will eat food they dont care for just like we all did when we were kids. Usually they say they dont like it without even trying it. So this week I'm cooking something every day and I'm choosing. Sunday night I made orange chicken and white rice. Austin loves that and Kortne doesn't mind it so there wasn't any issues. Monday night I cooked Yakisoba noodles with checken and vegies mixed in. Kort loves this kind of food but Austin, not so much. The whole time I was making it he was sitting at the counter saying how much he hates yakisoba noodles and he wasn't going to eat it. I just told him that he can eat it or starve. I set the table, got the milk poored, noodles on all our plates and we sat down to eat. Austin sat in his chair, and within a few seconds got up and said I'm done. I just let him go, but reminded him that this was dinner and there would be no snacking so if he was hungry he needed to sit and eat. He said ok and went into the front room. A few minutes of pouting didn't accomplish anything for him so he came back and sat in his chair and started to eat, with a tude. The first bite was ok, the second bite he got a chicken piece and it was yummy. "Dad, this is good" he says. Can I have more chicken? He ate every bit of yakisoba on his plate and he liked it.

Austin and I were goofing around with the computer and shot a little video that we thought we would share. I'll have to get Kort to do a video too, but she will probably be like, "Roll the tape" and put on a big production. We all know how my kortsport loves to put on a show. I'll see if I can get her to do one this week.

Seattle Drags

From 2008 Seattle ...

We'll we sure had a lot of fun at the seattle drags and it was nice to see the fam again. The big boy dragsters were very impressive, and yes Kristal they were as good as advertised. The kids didn't really enjoy the drags too much so next year we'll have to make it an adult trip only. But they did enjoy the swimming at the hotel for sure. We'll definately have to get a bbq setup soon before summer runs out to get together at someones house. I guess we have the family reunion going on but I wont be around for that, bummer :-(.

Its time to get wet!

We'll you can see by the pictures that we spent some time at the pool. To be honest, we spent a lot of time at the pool. Thats all the kids want to do is swim. I think today alone we spent 2-3 hours in there swimming we'll go back over tonight too. Austin and Kortne both have really come a long way in their comfort level swimming. Kortne can swim around through the deep end and can float. Austin loves to jump in and he just started diving in too. He still belly flops but it must not hurt too bad because he does it over and over. He'll get it soon. Yesterday we went on a snake river excursion and the kids really had fun. We were on a huge sled boat with three V8 motors with around 1000 Horse power. It got up and went and we hit a few cool corners where it threw some water up and got people wet. Kristal and Kenny were in the back corner and they got completely soaked as if they jumped in the river and got back out. Kortne sat in the back for a while and got sprayed a few times. She gets so excited with that stuff. The kids are having a blast on their vacation and we have more planned for tomorrow. we'll thats all for now.

Get music from Amazon not Itunes

So I have learned a few things about downloaded music that I thought I would share. I don't download much music, but when I do I want to be able to play it on all of my devices and the kids devices without issues. We'll Itunes is really easy to use and the only way to load music on our Ipods so that is what I have been using. The downside of buying music from Itunes is that their songs have DRM(Digital Rights Media). This is a way for them to restrict how you use your music that you purchased and own. So when I download a song and put it on my Ipod, the kids Ipod and my computer it starts to restrict where I can put my music. In the coming years, or now, the digital home is going to have a media server that will serve the home environment music, videos, pictures and such. When that happens if we purchase our music from Itunes since they restrict how many devices you can serve to this will limit what you can do with your media home.

I have started to purchase my music from Amazons MP3 Service. They don't DRM protect their music and in fact I have found that it is about 10% less expensive. The quality is the same. Their site isn't bad for finding music either, however I still prefer to find the music on Itunes then go download it from Amazon. Just thought I would share so that you dont get years down the road and realize that Itunes DRM severely hinders you using the music the way you want to

Bike Rider - Austin

Well Austin can finally ride a bike on his own. We have been working on this for a while and yesterday was the day that it all came together. I took the kids bikes down to the campground that Gma and the kids are staying at to have dinner and play for the evening. So I got the bikes out for the kids and Austin was still kind of scared. So finally he got on and we went up and back with me holding onto the seat. Then he was done, wanted to scooter instead. I haven't pushed him this whole time so I let him, then we tried it again a bit later. Finally we were cruising along and I could tell he wasn't needing my help holding on so I let go and jogged next to him. He started getting excited that he was doing it by himself. A couple more times up and down and we decided to go around the big loop. Figured there were no turns to deal with just big sweeping ones which he should be able to handle. So I jogged next to him all the way around and it was like 1/4 mile trip like a field track. He did great all the way around. One lap was enough then he wanted to stop. A short bit later he was grabbing his helmet and wanted to go for another spin. So off we went for another lap. When he wanted to go another one I was exhausted so I asked if he thought he was ok on his own and he said "Yeah dad". so I stopped and cut accross the infield waiting for him to come around. He did great. Zoom right by me. So then Kortne started to follow him around like a good big sister making sure that he was ok. He went so fast that she had a hard time keeping up. By the end of the night he was zooming all over the place. He was very proud of himself as was I. Great Job Austin.

Summer is here

We'll school is out for the summer and this week is the first week that of the summer schedule for the kids. One week with Cathe and one week with me. Kortne is going to be a 3rd grader and Austin is going to be a 2nd grader, maybe. His teacher, Cathe and I all believe he should skip 1st grade because he is doing 3rd grade work. I think the only real question is whether he is socially ready for the move. The principal wasn't notified early enough to study the situation so it might be tough to get the move approved. Hopefully this is something that Cathe and I can work on together and get done. I'll let you know.

The kids are spending some time with Grandma doing all kinds of fun stuff. Yesterday they worked really hard getting terd 1 ready for camping. They shopped, packed and washed it up. Now its a shiny terd. It is so funny to watch the kids in the motorhome. It must feel like a fort to them because they just LOVE playing in there. Today they took off for a local camp spot for an overnighter and Austin crawled in a couple hours early with a blankey and started playing DS. He had no interest in moving from that couch until they were ready to leave. They are there now and I'll meet up with them after work for dinner and fun. I'll grab my camera and see if I can get a picture of the kids and Gma.

This week Janet and Brit (Her daughter) are in New York for the week. They are exploring all the fun places in the city and should have some stories for sure when they get back. I miss her a lot and cant wait for her to get back.

I'm really excited for the Iphone to come out. Our company is switching to AT&T so that is now an option for me. The phone is really cool and I have to admit I'm a bit obsessed with it. Check it out on their Iphone site. I just may have to get one of those things. You know I like my gadgets.

Oh, I almost forgot fathers day. Kortne made me a wonderful card that I could tell she spent some time on. She cut a bunch of yellow and green (Duck colors) squares and pasted them in the shape of a "D" on the front. Then wrote some things on the inside with a couple illustrations about Pepsi. It seems the kids think my favorite thing is Diet Pepsi or something. Austin didn't make anything so he remembered the week before he made a little box out of paper and asked where it was. He ran and grabbed it and wrote Happy fathers day in it. It was kind of funny. We really enjoyed our day hanging with the family, playing games, hot tubbing etc.. Thats what its about is being together. It is really cool when we get all three generations together from Grandparents to Grandkids.

This summer the kids are going to be with me for 6 weeks and only three of them in daycare. I'm happy that I can take time off and spend it with them, and that I have loving family that likes to spend time with them and play. We have a fun vacation planned the first week of July and I'll be sure to blog and post pictures about that.

The jerome fish.... and my super reader.

Kortne and Austin are doing swimming lessons now and they are just about done with the 6+ week lessons. They are doing really well, especially Kortne. Austin is able to go under water and hold his breath for a few seconds and kind of swim. When he is out of breath he lifts up and makes sure to squeegee off all the water from his face. Kortne pushes off throws her face in the water and swims for 4-5 strokes. Once she gets the breathing part figured out she'll be able to swim, I think. They both absolutely love swimming. We go to free swim and play and goof together. They usually end up ganging up on dad and taking me down. They can both go down the water slide all by themselves now. Kortne has no trouble and Austin only goes under once in a while. Overall he is doing really well with it too.

Today Austin had the three little pigs play at school. Last night he told me he was a narrator along with two other girls. It was so funny because Austin said one of the little girls wants to marry him. We saw her at Target one day and she is definitely sweet on Austin. So the narrators read about what was going on during the play as other kids (less skilled at reading) would act out the play. They had some lines but usually Ms Anderson had to go whisper in their ear what the page said. Austin read very well and even read with intonation which was pretty cool. He didn't know I was going to be there so I snuck in and sat down and watched their rehearsal for a while. He looked up and saw me and got the biggest smile and did the little quick wave, like get over here dad. So I scooted up and sat by him. He was so excited and he did a really good job.

Family meet Janet!

Well family, meet Janet. What can I say? We started talking about a month ago and we really had a lot in common. We both said the same thing "We're happy with our lives and our kids come first. If we work out then maybe we'll see each other once or twice a week. And, dont expect me to ever get married again." A month has gone by and wow how our feelings have changed. We still are very happy with our lives and the kids still come first, but all that other stuff is out the window. We are on pace for over 3000 texts this month and I think we have sufficently burned down the cell towers closest to our houses. Of course I'm exaggerating but you get the idea.

We are crazy about each other. I hope you all get to meet her soon. She has a busy June with her daughter graduating high school and getting her ready for college at U of O. Her son turns 16 soon and will be taking his pilots license test and doing his solo flight. Hopefully before the month of June is out you'll have a chance to meet her.

I'm in love!!!!!

I'm in love with the music of Duffy. You thought I was going to say something else didn't you. We'll maybe that too, but not going to share that on this blog because of the audience. Duffy's web address is www.iamduffy.com and my favorite song is Syrup and Honey and probably Mercy. You can also check her out on You Tube. I put a couple of her songs below. check them out

I was Mr. Jerome for a day...

So I volunteered to be a chaperone during Kortne's field trip on Tuesday to a wildlife refuge in Sherwood. So I packed our lunch in the cooler, dressed for a day of stomping around in the wilderness, grabbed some outdoorsey atire for Kortne and met her at the school. When I got there she was SOOOO happy that I was there. Her eyes just glowed when she saw me walk in, I could tell she was keeping an eye out for me. So Mrs Waibel had a packet for me with a list of my kids I had in my group and a name tag that read "Mr. Jerome". So I was Mr. Jerome for a day. We had a great day of adventure, exploring and learning. On the way back to the bus we got a little wet, but we considered it just an event to help us remember the trip a little more. We were definately ready for a warm bus and the ride back to school.

Another thing that is really cool is the kids started swim lessons tonight. I found a time that I have the kids every week so that they dont have to miss any classes. So every thursday from 5:15 to 6pm they are swimming. We went swimming last Friday night since we haven't been for a while and it was a blast. The kids just love water and it will be good for them to learn. Tonight Kort was like a fish and Austin was like an anchor. For some reason Austin kept swallowing water and got frustrated. Hopefully with the right encouragement he'll keep trying and get it. Kortne was so happy that she could actually bury her head in the water and swim for 5 strokes. She was beaming with accomplishment. It is really cool watching the kids grow up and learn new things. Next week I'm traveling for work and wont be back for their Thursday lesson. I've asked Cathe if she can take them a couple times and she wont respond so I'm not holding my breath. I guess we'll just have to catch up during the next class.

Its been a very interesting couple weeks for sure. Stay tuned and I'll see if I can get a picture or two.

latest jerome family news

We'll this week Austin hit a couple of milestones. He lost his first tooth on his own. If you recall the post before, the first tooth that he lost was pulled out by Dr. Bob. He was soooo excited that when he bit into a pair at school it just popped out. That night he had to put it under his pillow and of course the best time to see if the tooth fairy had come is at 4am. And of course the tooth fairy didn't dissapoint so he had to share the information with dad at 4am. I dont mind, he was excited. The tooth fairy has setup a couple of special hunts for the kids which they loved in the past. Now every time they lose a tooth they talk about asking for a hunt.

The next big news is that he is VERY close to riding his bike on his own without training wheels. We usually spend a little time each night ,when it isn't raining, out front goofing around and riding scooters and things and I always ask him if he wants to ride his bike. A couple months ago he reluctantly agreed to take a spin after I assured him I would be right there with him. One up and down and he was done. He is a bit scared of course so I'm not pushing too hard. I just keep encouraging him and assuring him I'll be right there with him. This week he said no again but he gave me a pinky swear (That is the kids way of saying they promise) that he would try the next night. So the next night we got the bike out and his helmet and, oops, his helmet didn't fit any longer. So we got mine out and adjusted it to fit and we were ready to go. I guess we'll have to go out and get a properly sized one for the big guy, geez, losing teeth and growing out of his bike helmet. So I kicked the kick stand up and, "wait dad, I wanted to do that" says Austin, So we had to put the kick stand back down so he could kick it up. Now were set, and off we went. I'm barely hanging on and he is doing all the balancing himself. we went up and down a couple times and he was done. He got a little scared I think but he wasn't even close to crashing. "OK bud, we'll put it up." So off the the park by our house we go for a heated round of a rubber bouncing ball game.

10 minutes into the game Kort needs to use the restroom so while she was getting the helmet on Aussie and I took off. She was right behind us but coming down the hill she didn't want to use her front brake because she would flip over. She doesn't like using her rear break for some reason (We need to work on that) so I'm standing there and she is heading right towards me yelling that she cant stop. She is picking up speed and I'm getting set yelling "I'll get ya Kort". I'm standing there trying to figure out how I'm gonna get her but not get smashed by the bike. I didn't get it figured out in time and although we got her stopped she bumped her knee pretty good. We got her home, jammied up, how it's made on the TV and some ice for her knee.

Guess who wanted to ride his bike more? So we get out there and we start cruising up and down the street. I want to make sure he has confidence in me staying with him so I keep holding on, but I also want to show him that he can do it himself. So I let go and jogged next to him. He didn't even know it and when I told him he looked at me and had the biggest smile (less one tooth). It was precious. He was SOOOO proud of himself. That was enough excitement for him for one night so we rode back and put the bike away. I think he'll keep at it and before long he'll be on his own. That will be cool because for a couple years now Kort has been awesome at riding but we could only go as far as he could go with training wheels or not take him. It should be a fun summer of bike riding.

Thursday night the kids and I went to dinner at a chinese place and one of the owners came to take our order. She asked Kortne a question and Kort had something intelligent to say and from that point forward she was enthrawled with Kort. She came back and told her that she was a special girl and she asked her name and had her say it a few times. Then she came back and on the back of her order pad she asked her to spell her name. She said she knew Kortne was a special person and wanted to make sure she had her name right. She walked away and Kort said "I think I just gave her my autograph." She was all smiles and felt SOOO special. I'm not sure what that was all about but she definately thought Kort was something special. She is right, she is.

So it was a fun time with the kids this week. I just realized I didn't have any pictures to add to the blog so I'll work on that. The trees around here are blooming so I'll try to remember to take the camera to the park next time we go and get some pics.

Chow...

Do you have rocking chair moments?

I saw this video and had to share!



Occasionally I need a reminder of what is important in life. I have to ask myself am I making rocking chair moments? A rocking chair moment is a memorable event that I'll remember fondly when I'm 90 and sitting in a home in a rocking chair thinking about my life. A qualifying event would be Nascar in Vegas baby! I wont remember my big screen TV, but I will remember helping coach Kortne and Austins first baseball team. I'll remember times with people and not things. This is a special guy-husband-father in this video.

Bring on the rocking chair moments!

End of Spring Break

Well, this year was my year with the kids during spring break and we had a good week. I wont go into all the details, but today we had a good relaxing day. The second half of the day we just turned the TV off, cranked the music and the kids colored and played and visited with me while I cooked dinner. One song came on that Austin really liked so he went into the front room and backed it up and cranked it and started dancing. We had to boogie a little you know. Normally Kort is the one that would do that, surprised me that Austin would.

I made an awesome dinner with grilled chicken, rice and salad. I love it when the kids ask how much they "have to eat" in order to have ice cream then eat well beyond what they have to. Austin had to eat 3 pieces of chicken and called my attention to his plate after he ate 4, Then he continued eating more. Kort had seconds on chicken and ate nearly all her salad.

I need to start writing down the Aussieisms. An Aussieism is when he says something that is obviously due to his unique perspective on things. Tonight he was taking a shower and wanted to use some of Kortne's smelly body wash so I said go for it. Dont you guys tell Kort though, hehe. So I was picking up for dinner and Austin calls me in. I get in there an he had an Aussieism for me. Dad, am I suppose to wash the smell off? I chuckled and said ya, wash it off. I explained that the smell stays on your skin but you have to wash the soap off so you aren't sticky. He was concerned that washing the suds off would wash the smell off too. Hehe. I Love it.

We'll I need to get a couple scoops of ice cream scooped up for the kids. They were soo good the last couple days they deserve a little treat.

A good crackup

This is a video on how to best escape a fart. It was a good chuckle for me. I rounded up a few of my other fart favorites for your pleasure too. hehe. Love the bathroom humor.



This one is Austins favorite

Happy birthday Kortne

My big girl is 8 years old today. Happy birthday Kort sport.

Boat rower or raft rider?

Are you a boat rower or raft rider? Imagine life in America as a boat sitting in a lake with rowers and a big raft tied to the back. People in the boat that are rowing represent the people that take care of themselves and part of their efforts go towards pulling other people. People in the raft, well, when they chose to sit in the raft they also chose not to bring a paddal. They choose to sit and relax while being pulled around the lake. America is slowly allowing more people to hop out of the boat that is being rowed and into the raft that is being pulled. Does that make sense? Gimme gimme gimme should be a new phrase added to the Webster’s dictionary, meaning I'm in the raft and I'd like another hand out. When faced with adversity and economic needs in the 1950's people worked more hours and tightened their belt. In the 2000's people ask for help and hand outs, then blame everyone else for their problems. It’s an epidemic. Eventually the raft will be too heavy for us rowers to pull and we'll all sink.

Hil and Obama, if elected, will raise social security to 9% and tax the heck out of the rich. Oh, by the way according to the dems rich starts at 75K per year. So by rational thinking people the middle class and up will be taxed beyond belief to pay for the raft riders.

I'm glad I'll have the opportunity to teach my children how to be boat rowers. To know what it feels like to get your hands dirty working in the yard or cutting up a tree, or heaven forbid get a blister on your hand. I want them to know the value of a dollar and if they need money they need to go to work. This doesn't mean I won’t give them money or take them on vacations, and buy them things.

I want my kids to be dinner first then dessert second kind of adults. Get the work done, then shower up and enjoy the rest of the day. My parents taught me that early on and has helped me become the person I am today. Last night we went over to cut up a tree at my parent’s house. On the way over Kortne didn't want to help but when we got there she changed her mind, grabbed her gloves and started dragging branches. Both Austin and Kortne made a choice to work hard cleaning up the tree mess and stack the pieces. They felt good about themselves after a hard couple hours of work and the praise they received over their hard work. Austin was still stacking wood when I was ready to head in. A lot of the kids out there today don’t have this intrinsic quality that my kids are building and it is a shame. Gimme gimme gimme is what they were taught and not "Time to go to work!". If they aren't given what they want then it is someone else’s fault that they are in their current situation.

If you are a raft rider, swim on up and get in the boat to row. People will always be willing to give you a hand up in life. If you want something go get it. If you choose not to go get it, don’t blame other people.

My kids Rock!

I just wanted to tell everyone how proud I am of my kids. They have to get up kind of early to goto Jills (daycare) when I have them on school days. I still do the rewards calendar with them so if they get ready in the morning by themselves without me harping on them they get a sticker which converts to a quarter. We'll Since we started our new divorce schedule they have really kicked asshhh getting up. The first time I set my alarm the same time as them and went right in to see if they were getting up. We'll dumb dad I didn't give them enough time to crawl out of bed before I checked. So the next night I prepared them telling that I trusted them to get up on their own and get ready and I trusted them so much I wasn't even going to check on them before I got into the shower. While I'm in the shower I hear Austin calling my name. He was completely dressed and ready to go before I even got out of the shower! Kort was dressed and making her bed. WOOOHOOO. They rock. Not one time have I had to get either of them up in the morning. We all just get ready and head out.

Speaking of Jill, the kids just love her. I really lucked out in finding her to watch the kids. She has a litle girl in 2nd grade too (Korts in same grade different teacher). She is one of those special people that has the patience of a grandma, energy of a teenager, and love of a mother.

Get this, Tonight Kort was kinda in a mood. You know the ones she can get into. Have you seen the preview of the movie with martin Lawrence with the pig jumping on the bed? We'll Kort must have been doing that because tons of popcorn from the ceiling was laying on my bed. So I had her clean it up and spend some time doing things outside of my room. I was working on the house getting it all cleaned up and ready for our company coming over tomorrow and she just started helping. She swept, mopped, vacuumed, did laundry and next thing I know there is Austin grabbing a rag and cleaner and going to town on the table. That was the cleanest darn table I have ever seen. He helped do laundry too. Boy did sure appreciate my kids.

Kortne and Austin both have really been wanting to help cook too. Last week Austin made a cake all by himself. He got all the ingredience out and mixed it and everything. Kortne frosted it for us and it was yummy. I'm glad they like helping out and cooking. I enjoy it too.

Right now they are all jammied up and crashed in bed. We had a busy night and they were definately ready for bed. Tomorrow is going to be a fun day too then sunday I think we'll just hang out and relax a bit and get ready for the week.

Definition of cheap!

How do yoy save .22 cents? Take a pile of salt packets from McDonalds and empty them one at a time in your salt shaker. This is tooo funny. This person has been known to take an empty tp roll into restrooms and spool the tp off the restaurants and onto his empty role.

Rental Car Luck..

I guess I finally got some rental car luck. Woohoo.
Georgia streets here I come.

Is this safe?

I was driving home at lunch today and saw something that was a bit funny looking.  The pallets in the back of this truck were stacked so high he was nearly tipping over around the corners.  I tried to get along side to see what the driver looked like, but was unable to.  Pretty funny stuff.

Austin had a front tooth removed

My little guy had to have one of his front teeth removed. He had a growth of some sort on his gums because his nerve in the tooth died and the junk had nowhere to go. He was such a trooper. The dentist told him last week that he had to "Wiggle" his tooth out so it could heal. He gave Austin some antibiotics and a halcion(sp) for today. He also had nitrous and needles with numbing juice. He was so brave that he just marched right through the whole process. I was sooooo proud of him today.

I hope the tooth fairy brings big purses full of money tonight buddy, 'cause you deserve it after today!