Gotta love "Family"

I've always loved this picture... Granted, it's a few years old now... I took it right before Kelly introduced me to her family for the first, and consequently ONLY time. It was real fun, her step-mom turned her back on me and specifically asked about her x-boyfriend while I stood there, and her brother is a musician who actually seemed to take interest in me, only to find out he's full of shit and did nothing but talk badly behind my back after we left.

Apparently, I'm not good enough... You know, I have tattoos and all so there is no possible way that I could be a good person. For some reason most of them supported her douchebag x-husband (who pulled a gun on me) and her x-boyfriend whom they apparently liked and took on a yearly cruise with them wherever they decided to go.

Sadly, they haven't invited any of us to their yearly cruises or holiday get-togethers since I've been in the picture, even though they live less than 10 minutes from our house. Obviously, I really don't care, if you don't like me, that's your loss. I won't lose any sleep over it and the world can really use less judgmental people like that.

The only people that truly suffer are the kids, Kelly's kids specifically... Especially when various members of the family say they are interested in being a part of their lives, but are still nowhere to be seen or heard from. I guess the good part of all of this is that we've been able to teach our kids by real live examples how NOT to treat people (most importantly family) so at least there is a lesson there for them.

Anyway, here's the picture. Enjoy.

Writing a kid's story just for fun.

It's called "Homer and the Fly".

Here's the beginning...

When he was older, people would call him a smart, quick thinking, problem solver! But for now, he was just Homer. A chunky kid with big ears and gap in his front teeth that was far too large to go un-noticed.

Should I bother going on? I've written more, about 2 chapters worth... Does anybody really read these things?

Damn you stupid disease!

This week was fun...

My I.T.P. was acting up causing nosebleeds, blood in my throat and lungs, coughing up blood, headaches, and chest pain.

I went to the doctor, as I am supposes to do at the first sign of anything like this and since my Doctor of 10 years wasn't in, the guy on duty gave me, get this... cough syrup... Sigh. Cough Syrup for a DISEASE that can literally strike and or kill me at ANY time.

This disease will eventually be the death of me. So far, I've been lucky, although last year I came pretty close to death when I caught Acute Bronchitis.

To be honest, every day I've been around since 1996 has been a bonus. I just hope that I'm here to see my kids married and successful...

For those of you that don't know, my Mom had M.S. from the time shortly after I was born until she passed away in 1996. For my whole life, on her bad days, she would always say "I just want to live to dance at your wedding". Fortunately, that was able to happen and it's one of my fondest memories. At the time, she couldn't walk and my Brother and I literally had to hold her up, but she did it. I'll never forget her determination to be there for me no matter how much of a jackass I always was... She always looked past it and saw something in me that I never did.

I wish I could chat with her just one more time. There are so many things that I would love to just shoot the breeze about. Nobody ever promised anybody a perfect happy life, there are going to be ups and downs. Fortunately, neither of them last forever so that I can appreciate each of them.

I can't wait until all of our current issues have worked themselves out and we can live the life we have wanted to live. Seriously, here's a brief overview of the last year:

1. Kelly got in a car accident in January 2008. She needs 3 discs replaced, which isn't covered by insurance in the US.
2. I got in a car accident the day before our wedding (3-20-2008). The insurance company declared the accident MY FAULT even though somebody else hit me because I had to skid to avoid a collision with the 2 cars in front of me.
3. I caught Acute Bronchitis and almost died.
4. I had a few organs removed.
5. Kelly is STILL in constant pain from her accident and it looks like it's going to be MONTHS before she can get a surgery to fix the problems.
6. While we made the best of our Honeymoon, it wasn't anywhere near what we had planned. Kelly was in a wheelchair the whole time.
7. Kelly hasn't been paid disability since January, so no money coming in there.
8. I lost my job in January, so no money coming in there.
9. Kelly's oldest son moved back in with us once he realized his real father was a total douchebag.
10. Kelly's car has broken down a few times in the last year.
11. I've had 2 friends die since March of this year.

That's just the tip of the iceburg. It seems like forever since we've actually had something good happen to us, so I'm really hoping for good news with this interview I have scheduled sometime in the next week. If I don't get the job, I'll have to start looking for work in other states / countries which will just put more of a strain on everything that is happening.

God says he'll never give us more than we can handle. I can only hope that we've learned whatever lesson there is in all of this because I can't take much more.

Dr. Wasab

Say hello to Dr. Wasab E.

I took the family out for Sushi so we could remember what it's like to do something as a family. Rebekah and I had some fun with the remaining wasabi wad that was left on the plate.

Kickin' it with the Fly

Butterfly in her favorite spot.

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Kidless Saturday

Kelly and I went to four different parks yesterday. We're trying to get her walking a bit when she can and yesterday was particularly fun. We started at Colonel Bill Barber park here in Irvine. Kelly sat on a small hill and Butterfly and I ran around chasing each other and a tennis ball. From there we went to TeWinkle Park in Costa Mesa and introduced Butterfly to Ducks and Geese. Let's just say she went nuts, until she got close to the lake, then she cowered and came back to us. From there we stopped at a Bark Park, which was odd because Butterfly basically sat there looking at the other dogs instead of playing... Finally, we ended up at a Volcom Skate Park which was right next to the Bark Park. It was fun watching all the little kids skate and bail and do it again and again. Anyway, here are a couple pictures we took of the extravaganza. It's not often we get any time at all to ourselves, so I consider it a special day. ;)

Homer and the Fly.

I'm just reminding myself to start writing the misadventures of "Homer and the Fly". I'll probably get something together this weekend.

Proud to be an American

My buddy Chris took me shootin' last week. It was WAY more fun than I had expected it to be. When I was an early teen, I used to shoot rifles of all sorts, but never a handgun.

Chris owns some sort of wacky 357 or 9mm or something of the kind. He rented a really light 9mm for us to shoot just to get a feel for a couple different guns. The rules at MOST gun ranges is that you can't shoot more than 1 time every 2 seconds, but not in Brea. We were unloading clips like a video game.

After about 45 minutes of blasting, Chris shows up with a .44 Magnum and a tray of ammo. If you don't know what a .44 is, think of Dirty Harry. Once that thing is fired ONE time, everybody in the place piles in near and watches the sheer ridiculousness of it all. It is SO loud, fire shoots out in all directions... It's just over the top. It truly was so big and just weird. I see NO point in a gun that big... Just point and BLAM!!!!

It was SO fun! So now, Ben and I are making plans to go squeeze off a few with his guns... Good ole' USA. I love it. Anyway, here is the only picture that we took of the evening.

Official BAN on Mattel Products.

Well, Official in my house.

If you knew what had to be done behind the scenes to get their products done, you'd never offer up another penny of your cash for anything with that logo on it.

If you want to know why I've banned them from our lives, just ask. I'll be 100% honest with exactly what went on there for the 3 years that I was there. I promise you 2 things:
1. You won't believe it.
2. It's shocking.

Feel free to call me to discuss, that's the only way I'll talk about it. You know, a friendly conversation between friends.

So, tell your friends, direct them here, do whatever, but that is one company that shouldn't be making anything (much less product for children).

Late Night Ramblings (Transformers 04.01.09)

Luke and I were fortunate enough to go see Transformers on opening day. It was a special day for us because with 4 kids around, there aren't a lot of "just me" days.

Anyway, we were chatting about all of the possibilities of what we were about to see as we rounded the fountain in front of the Spectrum Movie Theater and right before our eyes, the Cop Decepticon (can't remember it's name from the movie). The cool thing about the car was that it actually had a voicebox that was controlled by somebody that was obviously hidden and close so they could comment on what was happening around the car. Because of this, Luke was a little apprehensive to go stand near it because it kept pointing him out "Hey kid with the Mohawk, step away from me before I transform" and stuff like that. Anyway, after a few minutes, I finally got him to go stand by the car... Check it out.



There was one part in the movie when the band "The Used" was being played to add to the drama. They just happened to be one of my favorite bands at the time and when Luke heard the song "Handsome Awkward" he grabbed me by the shoulder and said "Dad, this is the best movie I've ever seen and this is the best day I've had with you in a long time. I love you, thank you".

It's crazy how much the little things your own kids say that mean so much. Not a single day has gone by that I haven't remembered that moment.

Obviously, we're planning on seeing the sequel on opening day too... This time, I'm sure Robbie and Ryan will join us to make it that much more special.