Home....

Finally home...I was in Phoenix last week for training. Didn't want to post anything about that until after I got home. But I'm back now and man, being in Phoenix the week leading up to the Super Bowl, which is where it was being played, was pretty cool. I didn't see too much stuff related to the game, but I did go to the NFL Experience. The NFL Experience is an interactive setup at the location of the Super Bowl for fans to come out and check out all things football. They had passing, running, kicking and tackling area where people could attempt each activity. Mostly kids and teens doing these things, and had I had any of my children with me, then I would have too.

I did get myself on TV for a few minutes. I was that annoying Jack Hole on his cell phone, behind the guys doing a live shot for the NFL Network. I was waving a poster and jumping up and down, waving and making faces. I was everything I hate when I see people doing that on TV. BUT...now I can appreciate it a little more, because maybe they have 8 other people at home laughing and excited to see them on TV like I had. Doubt it...those people are usually drunk. :)

I spent most of my time though, in the pro shop and vendor shop. The pro shop was cool...and I got a Patriots Jersey...#76 - for those of you without an official Patriot roster sheet. Then I sinned a little and coveted all the memorabilia that was on display in the vendor shop. Thousands of autographed footballs and baseballs, pictures, jerseys. My favorite thing there, and something I would absolutely cherish in my house, was the above picture. Only 200 of those bad boys were painted. It was live in person at one guys booth, along with a bunch of other oil paintings. The thing is probably 4 or 5 feet high and 3 or 4 feet wide. Simply gorgeous.

Other notes: I have no idea how my beautiful wife does it. While I was gone, she had 7 coughing, sneezing children 2 or which had a nice case of pink eye. Bad enough to deal with on her own, but to make it worse, she also had laringytis, a cough and then caught pink eye as well. I'd have quit. I'd have been so angry and annoyed, I'd have just quit. What an amazing woman.

Watched the Super Bowl last night...sweet depression. The Patriots had their chance at a perfect 19-0 season. they were the better team all season, jsut not on the most omportant night of the season. As awesome as it is to watch your favorite team win, its equally sucky watching them lose. Make it even more tough, yet a little cute, this year was my oldest son. He's finally at an age where he feel passion for something and his thing is football. We were excited and ready all weekend. When the Giants scored their last touchdown with less than a minute to go...he just cried and cried. It was pretty pathetic, but I was so proud of him :). These are the times a real fan is born. Thankfully he woke up this morning and wasn't too upset and got himself to school. Now if only tonight when I'm supposed to be sleeping, I could NOT think about how they should have won, like I did all night last night.

Lastly...I have removed all references to who my family is and where we live. Too many stories of weirdo's out there and really, this blog is just for fun and to keep family updated. I'll go ahead and use fictitious names per person as each story needs it. Those who know us, obviously you'll know who and what I'm talking about...those who don't, well hopefully the stories will be written well enough and funny enough to make it worth your time.

Good Times....Good Times....

Official Weigh-In Day: 213. Down a pound...could be better but I'm not disappointed.

This has been one crazy week. 6 out of the 7 kids have some sort of sickness. Uno has stayed home from school with a fever and sore throat. Cinco has lots of nose congestion (polite way of saying, he has a ton of snots). Quatro and Seis...ditto. Tres has this cough that sounds like she is trying to bust through a brick wall, using sheer cough force. And then there is Siete...mister I don't want to (more like he can't) sleep for more than 30-60 minutes at a time at night. He's congested in his nose, which gets in his chest, which causes him to cough, which wakes him up. He's also running a fever and I think he also has caught a nice case of whine-engitous. That's the medical term for, I don't want anyone to do anything accept serve me or I'll whine...but not to close or I'll whine. He has that something serious. He also only wants Wife at night, which normally a person would say "hey...better her than me...I'm going to back to sleep". Unfortunately, I end up staying up too, cuz I just want to help her out and feel guilty in bed while she stays up all night.

So, any help here would be great. How do you know when enough is enough with situations that arise in life. I can't get too specific, as people from all parts of my life read this. But as I've mentioned before, things at work were pretty frustrating and that situation has been fixed. That being said, there is still some lingering frustration and pride issues going on. I've been praying and asking for prayers, but I still am pretty full of pride I guess, because I can't shake that "I've been wronged" feeling.

On that same note, I've started to meet once a week with 2 close friends of mine, Chuck and Ryan. We are meeting once a week and hopefully keeping each other accountable for certain things that we feel are issues in our lives. We've met twice so far and its great to get together and talk. Ryan is younger than me and Chuck is older. It's amazing how you think your problems are all your own, but you hear people in different stages of their lives struggling with similar issues. God's so good to me to have put these guys in my life.

All for now.
God is Good!

The Wickinator...

So I need to thank Mr. Petree for his great idea for a white elephant gift. We had a Christmas White Elephant exchange here at work the week before Christmas. Per John's story of his gift, I stole it like it was my own. I gave an 8x11 framed and autographed photo of...well of me! In the words of Cousin Eddy...That there is the gift that keeps on giving....all year long. It got lots of laughs, which I hope is a testament to the funny pose in the picture and not because I'm just a funny looking guy. The picture has been dubbed the "Wick-in-ator". It's been put on a few peoples desks...brought to very important meetings, you know, for inspiration...I think it's even been on the Presidents desk at one point. (I did make some of that up for comedic value...but not all of it)

Oh and at the end of the White Elephant exchange, I let the poor soul who "won" this piece of art know, there was a Chili's gift card taped to the back of the picture! Thanks again John!!

So Good Times....work let me swap out my training to a different week, so I'll be home to see The Oldest Boy's school program. Now I need to remember to click record on the video camera. Last year we all went to his program, I held the cam corder up for the whole 30 minute deal, only didn't realize when you click the still photo option on the camera, while video taping, it stops recording the video to take the still shot, but doesn't go back to recording. I sat there video taping nothing for almost the entire 30 minutes. *BE thankful kids...Doofusness runs in our veins...yep even if you are adopted!

God is Good!