Lesson

I learned a valuable lesson from a very good friend of mine. He told me that when someone in your life constantly disappoints you, change your expectations of that person and you won't be disappointed anymore. I know it sounds kinda weird but, I did it. The end result, I'm happier. I think this is advice everyone can use. There is no reason to go through life expecting something that won't happen and continuing to be miserable over it. One of the definitions of insanity is doing something over and over and expecting different results each time. I'm not insane. I'm done playing the games. I need to be happy for my own sake.

Thanks Mike!

Catch Up

Man, I need to get on here a tad more often to update. I get so much going on and so much I want to say, by the time I get around to posting I want to say a million things and can't remember it all. I'm just going to start in order of which is on my mind heaviest.

My brother. What a bonehead. My brother has been with the same girl for quite sometime. I think like 7 years. They always seem to have a good relationship although my brother can be very difficult and pig headed at times. They have a little boy together and on September 1st welcomed a new baby girl to the world. She had lots of complications with the pregnancy and ended up have an emergency c-section. She was overdue so I'm not sure emergency is the correct word but still. Yesterday, I get a text from him that simply says "in trouble, %#@$$ left" I was kinda shocked but in the same sense knew it was coming. My brother is addicted to his job and cannot get a break from it ever. Hell, we had a golf tournament and his phone rang on every hole. It was ridiculous. I called him up and spoke to him about it and I told him to find a different job. It was way too consuming and he hates it anyway.
I spoke to my wife about this and she called his wife to make sure she was OK and she found out the real reason. She didn't bash my brother but constantly asked what she did wrong. Turns out my brother was being a jerk and treating her like crap. Being a lazy husband basically. Not helping with chores, not taking the kids out, not spending time with them as a family. I guess the final straw was he called her lazy and said she wasn't crippled. This was an hour after she got home from the hospital.
I was pretty ticked off when my wife called me back. I don't usually get involved in other peoples relationships but I wasn't not going to say something. I vowed to meet up with my brother later on after work to talk. Well, that lasted about 2 hours. I ended up calling my brother and tried to pry out of him the issues, playing stupid at the same time. He first said they had nothing in common. What a line of BS that is. Suddenly after 7 years you have nothing in common. I told him to try again. He started making excuses so I went off. I yelled at him a bit. Told him to get his head out of his ass and be a father and a real husband, not just on on paper. I explained to him what good husbands do and how to treat his wife. I was ticked and on a mission. I told him to stop taking relationship advice from a guy that's been married 3 times, his best friend in particular. Hell, that's be like me taking financial advice from my father. Not really a good idea. I went off for about 20 minutes. The one thing I told him over and over was to get his head out of his ass because his family is the one thing he doesn't want to loose. When I was done, I told him I loved him and will always be here for him. He was crying, so I know I struck a nerve.
My wife went to see the baby last night and take some gifts we had gotten. She had a great conversation with his wife. She's a good person, he's just pig headed. His wives father went to my brothers apartment to pick up some stuff for the baby and her. When he came back, he said my brother was cleaning the apartment. Maybe he listened to me. I can only hope.

This November is very important for this country. I'm a big follower of politics and have my opinions on it all. I'm a registered Republican on paper but a registered American at heart. I'll vote who I feel is better for this country as a whole. I don't care what party they are from, what color their skin is or what kind of package they have in their pants. I want, as all Americans should, whoever is best for the future of this country. I think both candidates have excellent qualities and both candidates are idiots at the same time. I think Obama made a huge mistake for not putting Hillary on his ticket but, then again, does he really want someone that wants to be President more than anything in the world just a bullet away from her goal. I'm not saying, I'm just saying. Know what I mean.
The one thing that may keep me from voting against Obama is the fact that he throws the race card out there too much. I don't care that he's HALF black, which he fails to mention. I don't care if he was half purple. Color doesn't matter. I want to know what he can do for our country, to bring it back to greatness. What is he going to do for the economy, the war on terror, our illegal immigrant situation? What? That's what's important. I do like his lack of experience in the political world. I think that is a good thing only for the reason that he hasn't been corrupted by Washington as much as others. That may be his strongest point for me.
McCain, I'm not so sure about him. He had my vote until he started flip flopping. Make up your mind. Pick where you're going and go there. Don't change your mind on critical issues just because. He has no clue on the economy, at all. That part scares me. I know with him, the war on terror will not be forgotten, that's a given. Despite what others say, I like his choice for VP. She's smart and stands up for what she believes in. I watched an interview with her from about 4 months ago and she has an excellent head on her shoulders. As for her family issues. That's none of my business. Her daughter getting pregnant at 17 just goes to prove that she's more like the rest of us average citizens. That's not a bad trait.
So who will I vote for? I haven't got a clue. The next few months when I see the debates and where each person stands on issues, I'll make up my mind. As of right now, I wouldn't know what lever to pull.
To all the people that say harsh words to each other over their party status i say this..... Get a life! Quit your bitching and get a life. When it all comes down to it, we all belong to just one party and that is the AMERICAN Party.

My job here is done for now. Keep in touch with yourselves.

My Sister

My sister lives in Portland Oregon. We are pretty close and try to stay in touch as much as possible. Whenever she comes to town, which isn't very much, she will stay with us. I was the one who stuck up for her on the bus and backed her up when I could. She did the same for me. She hasn't had the easiest of lives either and I believe that's why we get along like we do. My wife and her are very close as well. So close it's scary sometimes. When they were in town last year, the scene at the airport was rather depressing between the two of them. You'd think they were saying goodbye forever. Man O Man!

Well, my sister called me a couple days ago out of the blue. I was a little nervous at first because she usually shoots me an email instead of racking up the phone bill. It was nice to hear her voice. She informed me that both her and her husband were being deployed to Iraq in April 2009. They will be deployed for approximately one year. That fact in itself makes me a tad nervous. She's a tough girl and I know she'll be OK. She told me that she was the only person she trusted to raise her kids the way she wants and would like me to take them for the year they are gone.

I was a little blown away by this. The kids real father lives not too far from where she lives but he's about as capable as pouring water in a paper bag. It'll work but only for a very very short time. She has some papers for me to fill out and such. Her kids are older so it's not too bad. They are 12, 16 and 19. The 19 year old doesn't have to come but, I'd rather keep them all together. Why separate them more than needed. I'm lucky enough to have a pretty big house and really have no problem with space. I just have to finish off part of my basement and add a stand up shower to my half bath. All this I was planning on doing anyway but now, I definitely have to get it going. Any one out there with a hammer can come help. I'll supply beverages and food.

As for the cost, well, my sister will completely cover any and all expenses for the kids. She'll be sending me their money to take care of them. They have no bills so I will be able to put away a lot of money for my sister and bro in law. My goal will be to have enough saved for them to put a rather large down payment on a home. They deserve that. My life will get pretty interesting next April. It'll be fun, that's for sure.

I'm not a very religious person but, I'll be praying for them as I do all our service men and women. Thanks for all you people do. Without you, this country is non existent.

As for my sister, Thank you for having the faith in me!

My Weekend

I have to catch up on a few things that had happened this weekend. I had an action packed weekend and had a great time. It got even better come Saturday. I took a few days off work to use up some vacation time and I think it was very well spent.

On Thursday, my first day off, my sister in law, my wife and I prepared to have a garage sale. We decided to have it at the sister in laws house as she lives in a more populated area and wanted to get maximum traffic. We spent pretty much the entire day prepping for the event. Hanging signs, pricing out items, and setting up tents. It was fun, not loads but I had a good time. I also got to meet my wife's cousin who was in town from Florida for a family reunion that was taking place on Sunday. Overall it was a good day. I enjoyed myself quite a bit.

Friday, I woke up early, and was at the garage sale all day long. We sold a ton of stuff and made some decent money. Nothing to brag about but I got rid of some unwanted items. What was really cool was going through all my old tapes. I no longer have a tape player so it's kinda purposeless to hang on to all these things. There was a ton of them. My brother in law was the same way. Lots and lots of tapes. All 80's music which really brought back the memories. Music is what kept me sane and alive in my teenage years so it was a nice trip down memory lane.

I received a phone call from a friend on Friday that I have not heard from in quite some time. He told me that he had been giving 4 tickets to the Jets vs redskins game in the Meadowlands for Saturday night. Now I'm a huge Redskins fan and he knows it so this was behind exciting for me. To top it all off, it would be my first NFL game. I was stoked. I could have jumped out of my skin I was so excited.

Saturday came and I was back up to my sister in laws bright and early to continue this garage sale thing. I just had to be back home to my house by 2:30 to leave for the game. The first part of the morning went quite well. We had a few stragglers come in but then it started pouring rain. Everything got soaked. You actually couldn't do anything but laugh. It lasted about an hour and a half with 3 times when it was a torrential downpour. After that, the sun came out and we had ourselves a beautiful day. We sold a lot more stuff and I was pretty happy. And that was all before 1 Pm as I left to go home to get ready to go to the game.

The 4 hour drive to the game was fun. My bro in law and my friend hit it off real well which was nice. The conversation was great and it went by pretty fast. I was pretty excited by the time we got there. The parking situation was weird but we made it. Nothing like parking 3 miles from the stadium and busing it in. I didn't care, I was there and it felt great.

The game was great. Even better so was the Redskins won on a last second missed field goal by the Jets. My buddy was so ticked. He's a Jets fan and although he's used to having a team choke, that was a hard one to swallow.

I had a great time and couldn't thank my buddy enough!

Well, we left the game and headed home. It was 11:00 and we had a 4 hour drive. We finally made it home around 3 am. I crashed immediately and my bro in law stayed at my house. No sense driving back to his house at that point. We had a family reunion to get to in the morning.

We got up around 9 and started getting ready for my wife's family reunion. It was in Alex Bay so we had yet another drive ahead. Only an hour and a half but it was still a drive. First we went to my in SIL's house so her hubby could get ready. While there I took this really cool picture. I thought it was neat so I wanted to share it with you.

We made it up to Alex Bay for the family reunion. It was alot of fun actually. I ate a lot, drank a lot and had a good time. One thing I want to do was take my kids to Boldt Castle. I have never been there so I thought it would be a cool experience. We took the boat over to the island, after my youngest had a nervous breakdown about being on a boat, and nobody was disappointed. If you have never been there, I highly recommend it. Lots of very cool history and absolutely beautiful grounds.

I must say, I had a great weekend. It was long and I was totally exhausted but, it was so very worth it. I made the wife drive home. I had to work in the morning and it was 10:30. I was happy. My kids had a really good time and that's all that mattered.