The Spectrum

Newest pic of the recovered Reese...

Since it has been a year since Katrina I started reflecting back on my trip down to New Orleans for clean-up and the amazing goodness I saw in so many people. I will never forget the faces and the people we met in that week. I can't believe it has been a year, a conversation I had with a gentlemen and his wife who were volunteering from Missouri and staying with us is what really pushed me over the edge when it came to wanting to start my own business.

They told me stories of their lifestyle and how the freedom the business allowed them to have was a blessing to their children and friends. Not financially, but in time. They didn't have to use vacation to go to New Orleans and help, in fact they offered that any of their employees who wanted to go could ride with them, have no travel expenses, and not have to use vacation time. I will do that for my employees someday...

On the flipside, there has been a terrible story in the news here in the Nati, for those of you who are out of town you can read about it at this link:

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060829/NEWS01/608290340

Absolutely mind-blowing, this child never had a chance. I've given Reese an extra squeeze and kiss every night.

Weekly Update

Alot has gone on in the past week, here are the highlights:

- Reese has her first cold, I guess making it seven months was a good run. Bon has been phenomenal at taking care of her. She has the vapor machine in her room, Bon put some blankets under her crib mattress to prop her up a little at night, and she gets the Baby Vapo-rub applied to her chest. It is very sad to hear her trying to breathe and sounding like Darth Vader.

- One of the hardest things to do is to wipe the nose of a baby, I read somewhere that most kids don't figure out how to blow their own nose until 4 years old!

- Work and class are still rolling on, going very well. I am extremely proud of Mama she is really doing well with her classes and is proving to be a great role model for her 3 little girls!

- This is the last football-free weekend until February, I am extremely fortunate that Bon likes it, Notre Dame plays Georgia Tech next Saturday night.

- Last Saturday we attended my cousin Jamie's wedding in Chi-town. It was good to see some of our family, and we got the opportunity to hoop it up. The game abruptly ended when the Doc went down with a "cramp". I think we were about to beat him...

- Wednesday we took Reese for an EKG so they can take a look at the Q-T interval to see how things look before proceeding with other tests. For those of you who may not know Long Strand QT Syndrome is a heart condition that has taken the lives of a few people in Bon's family, including her brother. It is hereditery and Bon may be a carrier so we are trying to do our due dilligence.

- Thursday I took an alternate route to work due to some minor traffic congestion, on the new route there is a freshmen school which had just begun class that morning. I had no idea and was going 45 MPH. Well a Statey was sitting in the school parking lot, speed limit of 20 mph apparently, so I was pulled over. The bad part is that instead of just getting a ticket I have a mandatory court appearance since it was 15+ mph over in a school zone. So I go to court on September 12th. More updates on this to follow...

Watch this video clip, awesome!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1cxOg_UnG8&search=Notre%20Dame%20Football

Go Irish!

Another Anniversary...

Saturday marked the one year anniversary of Dragonfest and the birthday of my late grandfather.

For those of you who do not know the story, last year on August 12th we headed down to Daytona Beach to share a weekend with Rhino in preparation of Jum going to boot camp.

We, (Jum, myself, Rhino, Daddy B, and Andy), headed to a casino boat with our sights set on a blackjack table. We arrived, sat down at the table, and Andy says to the dealer, "You can go ahead and give us the money now and save some time, because we are going to win it." The dealer laughed, I'm sure he hears that alot.

Well, about 2 hours later, we all stood up from the $5 blackjack table and walked away with over $13,000 collectively. (See photo of what 132 $100 bills looks like.)

It was a night we will never forget, I can't believe it was a year ago already. Here's to you boys, let's do it again soon...

Happy Friday

Another week down, and definitely looking forward to chillin' this weekend. Bon and I should be receiving the final two installments of the first season of 24 tomorrow. This show is the real deal. I think we will be in great shape to catch up by the start of the new season in January.

Another NFL pre-season game tonight on TV, which is always exciting. I know some folks do not like the se games, but I really enjoy watching the scrubs.

Lastly, if you want to play a good prank on someone go to the web-site www.snakesonaplane.com and you can set-up a personalized message to someone from Samuel L. Jackson. It is pretty sweet, I highly recommend it.

Chillicothe PR

Funny story, I am listening to the radio in the shower yesterday morning and this guy calls into the DJ's, one male and one female. The caller asks the female DJ out on a "date", she says "where do you want to take me?"

His response, the Ross County Fair!

The male DJ then interjects, "Chillicothe, right?, isn't that where they have the big biker sex party every year?"

Wow, good thing I am from Ross County, Missouri...

Yes he does...

Back by popular demand, a pic of Reese, now 6 1/2 months old and cool as ever. She is wearing my favorite bib in this one, "My Daddy Loves Me," truer words may have never been spoken.

Props today go out to Miss Russell on her wedding day, congrats, you deserve the best.

The first NFL preseason game is on TV tomorrow night, and so it begins...

Anniversary

Bon and I celebrated our 7h wedding anniversary Monday night. We had a lovely dinner at a wicked nice Italian restaurantee (as the Grumpy Old Men would say) and had a wonderful time. It does not seem like 7 years have passed. A lot sure has changed, and I anticipate a lot more changes in the next 7. Bon is the greatest blessing I have or will ever be given.

Work is going extremely well, and it seems like I need to do a better job of making this a priority. There are a ton of interesting things I come across or think about that seem "blog worthy" but they never make it up. Mad props to Steve Carr who does a phenomenal job of making his blog a must-read on a daily basis.

More props go out to Momma who aced her first 2 accounting quizes and is providing credibility to the fact that she is the first ever employee to agree in principle to work for Momentum Financial, we got a steal folks.

Off to my homework, got class tomorrow night.