Chiefs Win

Hello all,

It has been a banner weekend! The Bearcats, Huskers and Chiefs all won their games! No one should be able to complain this week at work.

-Andy

Bowling and Bearcats

Hello all,

It was decided today that Zac will go back to using a six pound ball. Jennifer and I had purchased him an eight pound ball last year when he was throwing it two handed, but now that he is bowling with only one hand, he does not have enough control. When we switched balls, his scores improved immediately. Great work Little Guy!

Ali is also coming along with her bowling skills. She will be in her first bowling tournament next month. If she does well, she can win money that will be put in her name for a college scholarship.

As for the MIGHTY BEARCATS of Northwest Missouri State, they are moving on to the final four of the Division II championship. They will play next week in Maryville!

-Andy

Cleaning House / Decorating

Hello all,

Today was simply a day to clean the house and put up the tree. A lot of dusting and vacuuming was completed today. The kids made a lot of trip up to their rooms with toys and stuffed animals. We took a break from cleaning to watch the Nebraska Cornhuskers win over Colorado in Lincoln on a 50 yard field goal! What a game!!!

-Andy

Happy Thanksgiving

Hello all,

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! Today has been a great day. I started the day by preparing the turkey for its oil bath at Keith Bennet's house. My 12 pound bird was rubbed down with 1 cup of salt and 2 tablespoons of Cheyenne pepper 40 minutes before frying. The bird went into the oil at 11:00 and emerged at 11:47 at 178°F. It looked great! I was then off to Diane's house to carve it up for our meal.

Dinner was great! David and Susie joined us and everyone shared what they were thankful for this year. I thought it was important to say I am thankful for my family. This year has been a stressful year for them as they adjust to life with me working at three different places this year. We have had our ups and downs, but they have stayed with me without fail.

We played games on the Wii and watched football for most of the afternoon. This is the first year in many years I had not fallen asleep on the couch in a tryptophan coma. It must have been from the coffee I drank right before we ate dinner. The two must have cancelled each other out.

Soon it was the evening and time to head home. It had been a long day for the kids. Jennifer, Diane and Vanna were going to head over to Children's Place in Zona Rosa for the midnight sales while I took the kids home to put them to bed. I love you Jen, but you really do not need to go out in the middle of the night unless you just love doing it.

Good-night,

-Andy

Long Weekend

Hello all,

This day has been dragging on. It is my first Holiday week at DST and I was not sure how quickly my supervisor was going to want to get out of the office and start his weekend. From what I had heard from others, the I was expecting to be released sometime around 3:00. Once that had passed, I was hoping for 3:30. Then 4:00 came and passed. I ended up leaving at my normal time of 4:30.

My family went over to Diane's house for dinner and then to see the movie "Bolt" at the Northland Glen theaters off of Brighton and 152. The movie was very good. Ali and Zac enjoyed it a lot. After that movie, Jennifer stayed to watch "Four Christmases" with Vanna and her sister Katie. Needless to say that Jennifer got home late.

It is time for bed.

Good-night,

-Andy

Baking with Jen

Hello all,

Tonight was dedicated to the art of baking. Jennifer made chocolate chip cookies, rice crispy treats and brownies for her office in lieu of the pre-Thanksgiving Day rush of people wanting to be discharged from hospitals. The office is preparing a feast for those that are stuck working the massive influx of tickets that are expected today. The blood pressure will be high tomorrow so why not have the blood sugar as well!

While the items were being baked, Jennifer was able to get through todays "Young and the Restless". It should actually be called the "Old and the Cranky" if you ask me. The main characters have been on there since dirt was new. Really, it can't get much more ridiculous the current story line. Jack Abbott has framed Victor Newman for murder (again). Victor is in Jail (again) and now Nick has to clear his father's name (again). I think this story was recycled from the wastebasket and just updated to include the latest buzz words.

Anyway, good-night.

-Andy

Guys Night

Hello all,

Well, tonight Zac and I had dinner at the dining room table. The meal was exquisite. We had Cheetoes with PB&J and fruit cups. Zac chose to fine vintage Capri-Sun while I chose to drink water with my meal. We decided not to light any candles since guys don't need candles when we eat. Zac helped make his own PB&J. He gathered the bread, jelly and peanut-butter from the pantry. He also retrieved a butter knife from the drawer. He was also responsible for getting the chips and drinks. Zac was showing me what a big boy he was tonight. After dinner, we finished the last of his writing homework for November. We left the last six word problems for later this week.

After homework, Zac and I just played for a bit. We entered his new webkins into the site and then he played PBS KIDS online for a while. Soon mom and Ali were home from their date night and it was time to gather as a family upstairs. The kids were soon in bed and the house was quiet.

-Andy

Sunday Clean-Up

Hello all,

It is Sunday and that means it is time to straighten up the house and get ready for the week to come. Laundry was completed and the downstairs were cleaned up. The kids went to the Sunday School program rehearsal again. There is only two more weeks of rehearsal until the performance. After that the kids will have their Sunday's freed up again.

-Andy

Zac' 6th Birthday

Hello all,

What a great day for a birthday! This morning I woke up early and headed out to pick up donuts for breakfast for a special breakfast for Zac. I picked up chocolate donuts with sprinkles for Zac, sugar donuts for Ali and Jen and I both had cake donuts with chocolate frosting. I made a fresh pitcher of orange juice to wash it all down. Everyone enjoyed the surprise breakfast treat.

Zac and Ali both bowled well this morning. I could tell that Zac had his party on his mind while he was bowling his game. He was just too excited to settle down. Oh well, he still bowled a 76. Ali bowled well for her. Her first game was a 58 and her second game was 69. You are showing improvement! Keep it up!

After bowling, Zac and I headed home to eat a quick lunch and get ready for his party while Jen, Diane and Ali headed out on a few last minute errands before the party. Zac played on the computer while I made his lunch. Soon everyone was back at our house and eager to head to Gladstone Bowl for Zac's party!

We arrived at the bowling alley at 1:30 to prepare for the chaos that was to ensue. There were a lot of great stories from the party, but the one I'll always remember is a picture of Cole, Zac and Noah standing together and smiling. What a great picture. I think those three will find their fare share of trouble in the years to come.

It was soon time to head home and open the presents from the family. Aunt Susie and Uncle David gave Zac two more webkins. Grandma gave Zac a new soccer ball. Vanna and Kellen gave Zac a new sweater, jeans, hat, gloves and scarf. Mom, Ali and Dad gave Zac four huge drawing pads with colored markers. Zac was very excited to have his new toys and thanked everyone for their gifts with a hug.

After opening presents, we headed to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. The highlight of the night was watching Zac celebrate his birthday on saddle. He was so happy to be able to hear his name celebrated like that. He could not stop smiling after he returned to the table. I think that is what put the night over the top.

My little guy is now six years old. Congratulations young man. You have made your father very proud.

-Dad

Friday is Here

Hello all,

Tonight is going to be a quick night for Jennifer and I. Tomorrow our little guy turns 6 years old! Can you believe it? Where has the time gone? After work today, I'll be running home and taking the kids to AirZone for an hour. The NKC School District PTA is sponsoring an event for the kids there tonight. From there, we have plans to go to Olive Garden with Diane. I think Jen is going over to Diane's house to finish wrapping Zac's presents, but I'm not entirely sure.

Well, it is almost time to start the sprint for the night! I better save this one and get going!

-Andy

Cold Weather

Hello all,

Wow, the weather really took a turn from cool to cold today. The high today was 35. The chill put a quickness into my step as I walked to my car this afternoon. It is going to be a cold night. I'm very happy that we have a warm home to hunker down in tonight. I'm thinking about beef stroganoff for dinner tonight. It just sounds good.

-Andy

Class

Hello all,
I was in class again today. This one was not a technical class. In fact, it was a class that covered the core DB2 tables that my application leverages to do its job. It was a good class, but the table schema is immense. I've never seen so many cross reference tables. Anyway, it is a lot to know before I understand "everything".

-Andy

Roof

Hello all,

This afternoon our roof was fixed. Well, it was repaired. The real fix will be to put a new roof on the house. Home ownership is expensive. Two years ago it was a new furnace and AC. Now it is a new roof. I am in the process of replacing windows that are not thermally efficient. When I'm finished it will be a new home! This is the same thing we did with the home on Rhode. We replaced the roof, AC, windows and put on siding. Here we go again. I'm tired of having all of these repairs. I think I need a government bailout. Do you think congress will hand me a check to fix my house? Sorry for the sarcasm, but I could not resist the temptation since it seems that every business / bank is asking for a bailout.

-Andy

Monday Homework

Hello all,

I am writing this blog message after spending an hour and twenty-seven minutes at the kitchen table with my two children helping them with their homework. Before I begin, I would not have traded that time for anything. To see my children's faces light up as I congratulated them on getting something right was something that made me very happy. Tonight Ali's task was to complete three worksheets that utilized her spelling words. She could have finished it in 30 minutes by herself, but she pulled her chair over next to mine and we worked on them together. Ali sat to my right and Zac to my left. Together we worked on the proper formation of the numbers 13, 14 and 15. It was a group discussion sometimes. At other times the room was quiet as fingers were frantically were being counted to see which child could come up with the correct answer. Fun times were had by all.

Soon it was 7:30 and it was time to put the pencils away and hang the homework on the refrigerator for our next lesson. Hugs of congratulations were offered and received by both Ali and Zac. Before bath time, I cut Zac's hair and then sent him upstairs to get cleaned up. Everyone was in their pajamas and waiting for kisses good night when I came to check on them.

Monday night's have become my favorite night as a Dad.

-Andy

Sunday games

Hello all,

It is Sunday. This is normally the place where I talk about how bad the Chiefs are playing and I will not watch them anymore this season. I will not make that statement since I will watch them regardless. They are not very good, but I don't care right now. At home Diane, Jen, Ali and I played farkle at the kitchen table after the Chiefs' loss. After the game, the girls went to SAMs Club for animal crackers and chips for the week while I prepared to make dinner for the family. Pancakes were on the menu for the kids while Jen and Diane had noodles with Parnassian cheese.

After dinner, the family watched Extreme Makeover Home Addition while laundry was being cleaned and put away. It was not very exciting.

-Andy

Last Walk in the Yard

Hello all,

Today was my last walk in the yard in 2008. Yep, I have put the lawn mower away for the year. I cut the grass and sucked all of the leaves up for the last time. The yard looked GREAT (for about 30 minutes). Now I need to put stabilizer in the gas and store everything for March/April. I'm very proud of my yard this year. It is still green and very thick. Not too bad for a guy who does not have a sprinkler system.

-Andy

Friday

Hello all,

It is Friday. The weather is looking good for this weekend's activity of mowing the yard and putting leaves into bags. Tonight we are having Vanna, Kellen and Diane over for dinner. I'm making pork loin in molasses sauce. The molasses adds a sweet taste to the meat. It only takes an hour to cook on the grill and then we are ready to eat.

-Andy

Second Day of Class

Hello all,

Today was my second day of class. My group assignment did not go as well as we had expected. Our three investments in the game lost 23% of their value in play money. We started out with $100,000 to invest in two stocks and one bond. After two years, the group had grown to $152 K. Then the stock market dropped at the end of October and our investments are only worth $82 K. I'm glad it was not real.

-Andy

Mutual Fund Class

Hello all,

I am in a Mutual Fund Overview course for DST today. It reminds me a lot of finance from college. The topics are common stock vs. preferred stock. Dividends were a large part of this mornings lecture as well. It has been a good review. Tomorrow is suppose to be the day where I put it all together.

-Andy

Sinus Infection

Hello all,

Last night I spent the night in the recliner with Ali in my lap. When she was younger, I did this regularly. Now four years later, it is not as easy to have us both "fit" in the chair. I'm tired and cranky. It is going to be a long day. I took her to Gashland Clinic this morning and it was confirmed that it was a sinus infection. Now she is on an antibiotic for two weeks.

I need a nap.

-Andy

Kids Homework

Hello all,

This evening was an adventure in homework for me. Monday night is when the kids get their week's worth of homework from their teachers. It is due on Friday, so tonight we start it and work on it a little every night to have it completed in four days. Zac's homework was centered around telling time and finding dates on the calendar for November. It was a lot of fun having him find the third Thursdays of the month and circling it. We then compared socks and arranged them in biggest to smallest. I had the biggest foot. Ali had the smallest foot. We finished with some simple math questions.

I then turned my attention to Ali's homework. I checked her worksheets on language arts. She successfully matched the "sh", "th", "ck" and "ch" sounds from her spelling list to each of the word sound lists. We then started in on her math worksheet. Things were going good until we reached the final questions:

How many 25's does it take to make 100? Without counting again, surmise how many 25's it will take to make 300? This puzzled Ali. She had the first answer as 4. But without counting again, she did not know how to figure it out.

Enter Dad.

On a sheet of paper I wrote the following

4 x 25 = 100
4 x 25 = 100
4 x 25 = 100

I showed her that if she added up the 4's, it would answer the question.

I then showed her how to do it with variable substitution: Y x 25 = 300. Y = 300/25, Y = 12.

I let her know that Grandpa Scott would be very proud of his granddaughter right now.

That was the final exercise of the night. The kids were free to go have fun. I just sat at the kitchen table for a bit and thought about how bright my two kids are and how much fun I'm going to have watching them grow.

Good night,

-Andy

Success

Hello all,

The window in the laundry room is in! It only took three trips to Lowes to get everything we needed to complete the task. My first trip was to buy the actual window. The second trip was to buy tin to put under the window for flashing. The final trip was for window foam to seal the gaps between the window and the window frame. What an adventure. All in all it took two hours of continuous work. I had my first experience with using a saws-all. That was cool. I now know what I want for Christmas.

After the window was installed, I measured the kids windows and the bathroom window. It should be $200 / window for me to replace them myself. It was almost $500 a window for a contractor to do it. If I do this right, I should save $900. Not bad for a two hour lesson.

-Andy

Friday

Hello all,

Today is Friday. There are not a lot of people here today which makes it a slow day for me. I've made progress on two issues that I've been assigned, but nothing that is ground breaking. Tonight my mom is coming down to KC to show me how to replace a window in the house. If I can learn how to do it, then I'll really save myself some money down the road. Wish me luck tomorrow.

-Andy

Productive Day

Hello all,

Today was a good day for me at work. I made my first "real" Java code change today in Vision. I created a "View Call" method that is used to determine if an account exists on the current page with a "real" name. If a record in the Array does exist, then return true. If all entries have a default name, then return false. It was only six lines in total, but it is a change that I created from scratch. I almost feel like I did when I was writing code for SODS/PAT back at Embarq. Success is nice. Now I need to get it through testing and promoted to production in December.

-Andy

Long Day

Hello all,

It has been a long day for me personally. I am happy the election is finally over. The nation can now get on with the business of running their own lives. Friends can be friends again. Barack Obama won the election in a convincing fashion. Clearly he his the chosen leader of the free world. Now it is up to him to follow through with the promises that he made to the country and lead the nation. I hope he will not turn the United States into a socialist state. I don't think one man can do that. I don't think all of our liberties will be taken away as some have stated. There is a reason there is a series of checks and balances in government. They are there to safeguard the people from its government.

Now go and live your lives. You are responsible for yourself. Do not look to the government to solve your problems.

-Andy

Go Vote

Hello all,

Today is a great day to go and exercise your right as an American. GO VOTE. Don't leave it up to your neighbor or your friend to do what you have been given by the thousands of men and women who have died to allow you this opportunity. Go, vote for the next President, Senator, Congressman, and local officials. YOU have NO VOICE if you do not vote.

This morning before I left to vote my daughter Alexandria asked me who I was going to vote for. I told her my choices and why I chose them. She is going to vote at Oakwood Manor today. It will be interesting to see how the races shape up in a K-5th school.

-Andy

Monday Morning

Hello all,

Today has been a good dau so far. I have two tickets going to production on Tuesday and they were signed off this morning. I also helped Zac finish his homework on castels this morning before school. He was the chief designer and he told me what each of the rooms looked like in his castel. We sure did have fun designing it. Thank you Zac.

I should be going.

-Dad

Quick Sunday

Hello all,

Today was a great day. Ali went to Harvesters with her Girl Scout troop to help sort and weigh food. She and the rest of the family then went to Good Shepherd to help sort the food for our food pantry. After a quick shower, the family headed over to the Hermsen's home for a bonfire. The kids got a kick out of roasting hot dogs and marshmallows.

It is 9:30. Today was the first day of switching back to standard time. I'm beat.

-Andy

Wind is blowing...

Hello all,

The wind is really blowing today. Any leaves that were still on the trees are flying off of them today.

-Andy