Man the US military is getting sneaky...*slaps head*

Iraqi fisherman nets shark 160 miles from sea - Yahoo! News



Evidently the US military is having so much trouble with Iraqi Insurgents that we are resorting to subtle, secret, and frankly idiot measures. As can be read in that article link, sharks have been found in the Tigris and Euphrates rivers 160 miles from the sea. And the Iraqi public have, in their sheeplike adherence to insurgency propaganda, blamed the US, sayiing we must have put them there, stating "Our children always swim
in the river and I believe that there are more sharks. I
believe that America is behind this matter..."

Oh yeah! Wait til we sick the Jellyfish Commando's on 'em! That'll show them there insurgents! Good grief.

How do we expect to ever win or make headway in the Middle East with this opinion of the US that we have to overcome...

*throws hands up in frustration*

Powered by ScribeFire.

The definition of ANTICIPATION

Oh my gosh.

Kelly and I are getting ready for our weekend out of town, and are going absolutely crazy with anticipation. It will only be the second time we have gotten to get away overnight without the children. The first time was only last year, and was only for one night. This year we're taking the whole weekend, leaving Friday morning and not coming home until we HAVE to Sunday night.

An entire weekend of just us. No TV, no computers, no cell phones, no KIDS.

Needless to say, we are looking forward to a VERY QUIET and ROMANTIC weekend...

Kelly has been developing her "battle plan" as I call it for months now. I have been kept completely in the dark about it, and she apparently has several surprises in store for me... I am all giddy with, yet again...anticipation. The girl has been sewing something or some things for weeks now in the evenings and has been keeping that a secret as well. So all in all, I am expecting a weekend filled with surprises and fun!

To heighten our, yeah, anticipation, we have been, um, "restraining" ourselves for the last few weeks... increasingly teasing each other but never letting it go past a certain point, to drive each other crazy. And let me tell ya. IT'S WORKING. For both of us. We are both doing such a good job of it that, well, let's just say we are as giddy as high schoolers again. Though it's driving us both crazy, we did the same thing last year when we went out of town, and it turned out to have had definite positive benefits in our time together, if ya know what I am saying! *nudge* *nudge* *wink* *wink*

Let me tell you, if any of you out there - any of my married-with-kids friends out there - ever plan on a romantic weekend out of town away from the kids... trust me, display a little restraint for a while before your trip, and you'll enjoy your weekend more than you think. It'll be like your honeymoon all over again!

I know some of you out there are probably saying, "Geez, Sean, you're a Christian. I didn't know Christians talked so openly about this stuff!" LOL... Well, God created everything, and blessed us with countless things in our lives. Marriage, and the intimacy between a husband and wife, and everything that goes with that, are sacred institutions... and ones that are to be ENJOYED, not ENDURED.

So deal with it. I love my wife. And EVERYTHING that goes with her.

Is that what they're calling it these days...

So, Sean and I are preparing for our trip next weekend... our long-awaited, quiet, romantic trip in the mountains at a spa cabin. We have been away from the boys overnight only once. It was last year and it was for only one night. This year the boys are a year older and I'm a year bolder. I've been giving the boys little reminders, plans, tips, etc. Luke, age 8 and Mitch, age 6 were in the bath tub tonight. As I'm bathing Mitch I thought it would be a good opportunity to give Luke some instructions for while we're gone.

"Luke, while Daddy and I are gone next weekend, I want you to take your bath with Mitch so you can help him. You need to wash his hair and make sure he bathes. OK?"

"OK, Mom."

"It's just two nights, Friday and Saturday."

"Can you bring us back something like you did last time?"

"You know Luke, probably not. Last time we did a little bit of shopping on the way home. This year we're just gonna be chilling out at our cabin. You know, relaxing in the peace and quiet."

"Yeah, I know what you mean by chilling out.... Kissing."

I heard Sean bust out laughing out in the hallway after having obviously overhead our conversation. He stuck his head around the corner and said, "Naw. Mommy doesn't like it when I kiss her. We'll probably just do some hiking in the woods or something."

Luke, who has caught us in some "compromising positions in the middle of the night" just laughed.

Fall Break 2007 - Hard Labor Creek State Park & Stone Mountain

Well, a good time was had by all. This is the kind of "camping" I can handle...Camping in a cabin... with a bed... guess I am getting too old for the tent/sleeping bag thing except on rare occasions...LOL.. Hard Labor Creek State Park is a pretty place... a couple of lakes to fish or boat on, and a nice creek winding through, with some rocky/waterfall like areas and then just wooded spots. In fact if you look at the pics there was one section of the forest that seemed to have a carpet of clover or something... it was like it muted all sound and it was very quiet... I felt like we were the Fellowship of the Ring running through Lothlorien...LOL

Anyway, we got some pretty good pics of the boys and the surroundings, including a few from Stone Mountain Park when we made a day excursion over there on Sunday....

Sorry for the time between posts, but dang it gets so hard to keep up with this thing when you got so much else going on...LOL

Geez... haven't blogged in almost a month...

...and that's including the How to Speak Southern posts... if you don't count them (and I don't know if I would really count them as real posts myself), then it has been over a month I believe.

BUSY.

Kinda hard to get motivated to blog when you are working till 11pm... 12am... even 1 am almost every stinking night writing reports, catching up on old notes and paperwork, writing recommendations for court cases, etc. I am pretty exhausted to tell you the truth. Being busy is not a bad problem to have, so I am not complaining about the work... just the lack of time to get it done in...


I'm trying to think of some of the stuff that has been going on lately...

Luke's football season is going about as well as I expected... An 8-year-old league with a team made up almost completely by boys that have never played organized football before? Record: 0-3-1... LOL... Luke is doing fairly well. They have him playing Offensive Right Guard. He knows how to block pretty well (which is why they put him there even though I think he is better suited for a defensive position), but ONLY when he has a defensive guy right in front of him to block. If the defensive line is playing the gaps, or a 4-3 type scheme where Luke doesn't have a guy immediately in front of him, he has yet to learn exactly what to do. He typically just charges off the line looking for anyone to block... a defensive lineman his teammates missed, a linebacker, a safety, a referee... I have got to get him to learn to maintain his position and scheme block depending on the play. They are playing him both sides of the ball most of the time and he's fast enough to ALMOST catch some of these little fast running backs... but I just can't get him to be aggressive enough... Instead of charging off the line he kind of stands up and allows himself to be pushed backwards by the offensive lineman... or allows himself to stay tangled up with the blocker instead of fighting him off... shoulder slash, swim move, windmill, anything... I have showed them to him but haven't gotten him to use them in game yet. Still, I think he is doing well considering. He wants to go to football camp next year, so I expect we'll see improvement next year...

Kelly and I are gradually getting geared up for our romantic getaway weekend! It is now only 4 weeks away, and we are starting to get a bit giddy. My parents are already on the slate to watch the boys for the weekend. I am a bit concerned because Mitch has grown into a "scared of the dark/ be lone in room at night" thing, so he is up a lot and in our bed lately. My plan is to set up a camping out thing for the three boys in one of their rooms for the weekend with the 20 inch TV and DVD player with a bunch of new DVDs they have not seen... Hopefully that will minimize the inconvenience for my parents at night. But anyway, Kelly is all busy making all kinds of plans, including food, um... "clothing", and the atmosphere... I am supposed to help with the ambiance and atmosphere as well as activities we can do during the day and evenings when we are... um... how should I say this?.... too tired to do anything else... The problem I have is I just have a hard time with thinking about stuff like that... Gotta get started... gotta make sure my plans have nothing to do with TV or football...reminder... no TV or football. That would be bad. Like Ghostbuster's Crossing the Streams Bad....LOL

We're going camping again next weekend again with the boys for Fall Break. They are all excited, as are we... To be honest, though, I have been so busy I have not been involved in any of the planning other than picking the days I am taking off for it... we're going somewhere northeast of Atlanta... will have pictures eventually...

What little time I have carved out for myself to recharge lately (which usually only amounts to the middle of the night on the weekends) has revolved around Halo 3. I am still not a big fan of the adversarial multiplayer (hated it on Halo 2), but am giving it my best shot to like it, since it is where my friends are hanging out... I do love the single player and online co-op with friends... Hope to get into more of that this weekend too...It is my one vice right now...well, other than football... but that goes without saying!

OK. This update about why I haven't been blogging has been sitting for three days! Even though I am not done with it, I am posting what I have. Good enough for me.

How to Speak Southern, Volume VII

LESSON 7:

Et: To have eaten. "You done et?"


Copyright 1976 by Steve Mitchell and Sam C. Rawls

Are you ready for some football?! et al...

Well, man! I can't believe I have not posted in two weeks! Time flies when you are swamped I guess!

Some things going on lately....

...I seem to be getting increasingly swamped with work at the office. What with school having been in session for a while and all teachers getting tired of the behavior of their "little angels," I am getting more referrals for evaluations... ADHD, behavior problems, learning disabilities, you name it. Very time consuming. Especially when you consider the fact that the only time I generally have to write the reports (typically 9-10 pages each) are in the evenings after the kids have gone to bed...

...what time I have carved away (admittedly more than I should have been carving out) has been spent with Bioshock for the Xbox 360. I was not all that interested in the game, but got sucked into the hype of it as the release date neared so picked it up. Boy am I sure glad I did! Though I typically only enjoy single player games that have a solid multiplayer component (unless you mention Oblivion, LOL), this single player only game was DA BOMB! Shooter, adventure, RPG, horror, mystery components all perfectly rolled into one. And the glue that held it all together? One of the best, Hollywood-script-quality style storylines I have ever seen! Man, when you get a twist toward the end, it rivals and gives you the same chilly feeling as the realization of the Kobayashi/Keyser Soze story twist in The Usual Suspects! Amazing! The game is finally finished and traded in for the next great game - Halo 3 - due out two weeks from tomorrow! More to come on that at a later date! Oh, and btw, I also picked up Space Giraffe for Xbox Live Arcade... It has been getting a bit ripped by reviews, but if you are at all a fan of Tempest, trippy music and visuals, or Jeff Minter, you gotta get this game!

...other things taking up time...

Luke has started playing football, and we have practices 3 days a week. Pretty funny seeing 177-8 year olds in full football gear and pads at practice! I have to admit that it has been quite an emotional flashback helping him put his pads on, lacing them up, and fitting his helmet. Last time I member all this, it was me getting my shoulder pads laced up by my dad. When the perspective shifts like this for the first time, you are overwhelmed with feelings of joy and pride, but also grief over the loss of those old days when you, both literally and figuratively, looked up to your dad. I'm lucky to be able to say I still book up to my dad but still miss those days. I can only hope my boys look up to me like I did to my dad. Anyway, this has also started to take up a good bit of time.


So anyway that catches us up a bit on things around here. Hope to post more soon!

How to Speak Southern, Volume VI

LESSON 6:

Dadgummit: An expletive. Alternate, southern form of 'damn'. "Dadgummit! Bubba's done chased a skunk clean into a hole and stinks somethin' fierce now!"


No copyright. this didn't come from the book I have been quoting. For some bizarre reason this did not make into the Lexicon I have been quoting from. The authors must be Yanks pretending to be Proud South.

The Intimidator...

The World of Luke.

Luke is a very bright kid. But Luke is also hyperactive and impulsive. He gets his work done in school very easily and quickly and becomes quickly bored. Bored, hyper kid = LOTS of discipline problems. Add to that the fact that:

He never gets intimidated.

Dateline today. He has his very first football practice tonight, so he is very excited. He was high energy about it this morning already before school. Kelly just got a call from his teacher already at 12:30 today:

• not listening
• talking in class
• getting out of his seat
• been placed in the corner
• has to have "silent lunch"
• had to sit out of recess
• already has two "letters" today before lunch on Monday (1 letter=5 points deducted from weekly conduct grade)

His teacher tells Kelly that when she was going over some math concepts in class today, Luke was rifling through his desk and not listening to her...

She says, "Luke, because you are not listening that must mean that you think you already know how to do this."

"Yes ma'am."

She continues. "Now Luke, this is rounding to the thousandths. We've never done that before and you didn't do that in 2nd grade. Are you sure?"

"Yes ma'am."

And his teacher goes on. "OK. So if I went ahead and gave you the test right now then you would pass, right?"

"Yes ma'am."

The teacher keeps digging her hole deeper (thinking she is digging Luke's). "Now this won't be a practice test. This will be your test for the week and whatever your score is will count for your grade."

"OK."

She does not have the test ready.

BAM! He called her bluff. Now, the thing is, Luke was probably being honest in all his answers, truly thinking he already knew it and could pass the test. The thing is (which we can never admit to him), he's probably right. His teacher assumes that he cannot do something unless he has seen it first, rather than taking a concept he is familiar with (rounding) and extend that concept out to the next digit. The problem is this - we'll now never know.

By not having the test ready, we are now in a bad position. He still thinks he was right and justified in acting the way he was. His teacher will still look at him like all the other students, and assume he was just being nasty rather than being honest (and proving to her he probably could have done it). So she is already starting to see him as an attitude problem rather than a bright kid who needs more challenge.

And poor Luke just does not seem to see the inappropriateness of his behavior. We have gone over and over with him about this stuff - no talking in class, listen to your teacher at all times, don't talk in the hall, don't get out of your seat, yadda yadda yadda... Yet when he gets home after a hard day at school he sits in the floor crying not knowing exactly what he did that was so wrong...

I think this is just gonna be one of those issues that we are going to have to struggle with every year in school until one of Luke's teachers "gets him" and makes an effort to see WHY he acts the way he does (bright and bored vs. "attitude problem") and then works with him to challenge him...

In the mean time, he's gonna keep his teacher's hopping... and his conduct grades are going to keep dropping...

How to Speak Southern, Volume V

(Busy. Nothing else to post right now. More later.)

LESSON 5:

Comin' Up a Cloud: An approaching storm. "Stay close to the house. It's comin' up a cloud."


Copyright 1976 by Steve Mitchell and Sam C. Rawls