The number you have dialed, 911, has been changed

Something to make up for the damage..

2009-03-09T14:07:00.001-07:00

So I may have done just a little bit more damage to the Jeep today, but hopefully these stickers wwill make up for it!

And besides that, it went for a good cause!

my work desk

2009-03-05T23:03:00.000-08:00

25 random things about me

2009-01-26T21:44:00.000-08:00

This was originally a Facebook thing, but I thought it would look better as a blog post.
The idea is that you write 25 different random and personal things about yourself, then post it. Then others do the same. So here goes:

I don't like forwards or chain letters as a rule, but I will make this exception this time!
My father is the man I respect the most in my life. He has had to deal with more drama and personal issues than anyone else in my life.
Clutter is a constant frustration in my life.
Owning a Jeep has completely changed my life and it was completely unexpected.
I am thankful for so very much in my life although it is sometimes easy to loose sight of it.
I DON'T DUE DRAMA! Why is there always so much DRAMA??
If I could only keep one TV channel it would be Discovery HD Theater
I often go through periods of very low self esteem.
I believe that the chain of thought in my brain is very different than many other people.
I sometimes unintentionally hurt others even though I have the best intentions.
I put large amounts of importance in what other people think of me.
I find it SO MUCH FUN to motorboat.
I love my parents so very much and wish that I was better at communicating with them so that we could have a more solid relationship.
I LOVE FOOD, but hate what it does to my body.
If I had the option to marry Kristen all over again, I would do it without hesitation.
I find lack of funds to be very frustrating.
I have ZERO artistic talent.
Me and Laziness are way to intimate.
I would love to tell my birth mother/father thanks for putting me up for adoption and that I have no bad feelings about them.
I often think about long lost friends and ex-girlfriends.
I love to sing to myself, but I don't like to sing on a stage in front of others.
I am a complete Star Trek geek.
I love to troubleshoot.
I would rather be in a small tight group of people than in a large group.
I married my best friend.

Look at all the pretty pictures!! (this should be a long one)

2008-12-06T21:48:00.000-08:00

Well, there should have been pretty pictures, if I had taken any! So maybe this should be titled "I wish I had brought a camera"....
Let's start with this very cold missing picture of Kristen, Webber, some Reedy Creek Peeps, and me all standing around at 5am outside a tent in the EPCOT parking lot for the SALSA sale. For those that don't know, the SALSA sale is this HUGE "garage sale" that Disney does right before Christmas. We bought just over $500 in merchandise that cost us $116 dollars.
I think it should also be noted that I have already been up since 1600 the day prior to go to work all night till 3am. This fact will be important later.
Here is another missing picture of us looking at vehicles that the credit union is selling outside the SALSA sale right next door, including some Jeeps.
So here is a missing picture of us shopping around the big tent full of merchandise..
And here is a missing picture of all the purchases that we are carrying out to the car.
Then, we decided to go see the Jeep "one last time".
Well, by this time the car sale was actually occupied by representatives. I'm not going to bore you with all the details about "crunching numbers" or making Scott (our representative) buy gas for us out of his pocket, or sitting around for very long periods of time while all the employees got their stuff together, but suffice it to say that we ended up with a new Jeep Wrangle Sahrah 08 at a pretty good deal.. at least according to Kelly Blue Book.
So here is a missing picture of us racing home to clean out Kristen's Saturn, eating KFC, and racing back to trade it in.
Here is another missing picture of Matthew in some sleepless coma waiting at the table in a tent (again) while other "representatives" crunch some numbers.
So we ended up home around 4pm.
Here is another missing picture of Matthew, all passed out, after having been up around 26 hours or so...
So Kristen is thrilled she has the vehicle of her dreams, and I am happy for her as well. I am sure that I will be not "quite so happy" when that first payment bill comes, but it's all worth it in the long run.
So here is a missing picture of me with a neck brace on. See, Kristen's "dream vehicle" is a stick shift, and Kristen can't drive stick, and as anyone who has taught someone else to drive stick, it tends to hurt your neck.
I actually think I may drive stick better after having tried to teach her to drive stick. I also think that after a couple of more lessons she will have it down fairly well.

Webber's father and step-mother are in town. Here is a very cool missing picture of the $500,000 motor home they came down in with all the amazingly cool super high tech features. Yeah, those are some great missing pictures.

You know, at some point I thought I married a woman who LOVED taking pictures SOOO MUCH that she wanted to START A BUSINESS or something... but maybe not....

Ok, so I am going to set up my Christmas tree now, and NOT TAKE PICTURES...

New Quote

2008-12-03T01:59:00.000-08:00

All that is necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing

Turkey for me, Turkey for you...

2008-11-24T02:30:00.000-08:00

This year, due to work schedules and such, Kristen and I will be celebrating Thanksgiving on Wednesday rather than Thursday. My parents will be coming over and hopefully Webber and his mother as well.
I am only mildly nervous about this for 2 reason.

Time has not allowed me to accomplish all that I want to accomplish before this dinner. I would have liked to have already done all the shoping and prepairing. This should have included pulling down the Christmas decorations in preperation for the decorating.
This is the first year that I will be frying the turkey and I would hate to do something to make the turkey not taste good.

This 2nd point also makes Kristen a little nervous, but for a COMPLETELY different reason.. Perhaps a picture would allow me to show you why she is nervous....

I am not afraid of this happening, but if it does, it will be a great adventure that we will talk about for the rest of our lives...

Gotta love a good story...

Anyway, here is the turkey song from Adam Sandler...

Thinking about my job....

2008-11-22T20:03:00.001-08:00

I had a little time while at work today to write this out. It’s just list of things I have been thinking about lately about my job and what I do. A couple I may have seen somewhere else, but for the most part I think these may be originals…

The 911 TRUTHS OF DISPATCH.

911 calls will randomly come in all at once.
A dispatcher will never eat a hot meal while on duty

If a dispatcher gets a hot meal while on duty, no matter how quiet the day has been, it will instantly become too busy to eat.
Once the call volume has subsided, the food will be cold.

The units in the field do not understand the job we do.

The units who take the time to learn about the job we do realize that they cannot do our job.

Most people do not appreciate us until they need us.

Eventually everyone will need us.

You can handle thousands of calls absolutely perfectly, and no one will notice you.

The one call you handle poorly will end up on all the news channels.

Your coworkers will become a very dysfunctional family to you.

You will see them more than you see your actual family.
You will experience all range of emotions together.
Every personality type will be represented and will be forced together in stressful situations for extended periods of time.

At the end of the day you may be tired, but you know you made a difference in the lives of many different people.

ICE Adventure

2008-11-20T03:04:00.000-08:00

In true yearly tradition I spent part of my day today at Gaylord Palms Ice attraction:
Special thanks go out to my new brother Jason K who once again was kind enough to front the tickets for us.
It was also a great opportunity to spend some time with my friend Zach, whom I don't get to see all that often...
I think he enjoyed himself.... :-)

After ICE we came home for some much needed grilling of hot dogs and hamburgers! I have been craving hot dogs since a discussion broke out about them on a mutual friends Facebook page. It's amazing what thoughts get stuck in my head from things like Facebook. We played a little Halo 3, watched some Knight Rider and southpark, played some more Xbox, then Zach left.

Then I finished of the campaign on Gears of War 2, with the help of Kristen holding the strategy guide. Thank you to Kristen.

The Xbox has returned...

2008-11-17T00:59:00.000-08:00

For those of you that care (I know Kristen does) my Xbox has finally returned from Microsoft. It came just between the release of a couple of games I was really looking forward to. Gears of War 2 and Command and Conquer Red Alert 3. Neither of these games make Kristen very happy. Gears of War is a little too bloody for her and she thinks that all my real time strategy games are very boring.
So what is up with the Foxtrot post? Well, when I went at 7pm to GameStop there was a line of teenagers out the door to play this World of Warcraft game.
Well, I guess they could be doing something worse like drugs or graffiti or something. Also, I can't give them to much grief because even I sat outside that store for the midnight release of Halo 3.

Ok, so on to something new....
I can see the new lights on the MK Castle from the work parking lot. There are a few more lights this year I believe. At least it looks like more from my parking lot. Apparently the tree is not up yet as Disney has elected not to pay to have it moved after the filming of the Christmas Parade. I seem to think that kind of cheats those who are paying for the private Christmas party a little. I mean, don't they expect a Christmas Tree at the Christmas party??

The Red Ring of Death

2008-11-07T20:26:00.000-08:00

For those of you not aware, and how could you not be, my Xbox 360 received the RED RING OF DEATH 2 weeks ago. For those of you not aware, this is a fatal error that happens sometimes due to a flaw with the design of the console. It requires you to take the console apart, ship it to Texas, at your own cost, wait for repair, and wait for them to ship it back. It's also VERY FRUSTRATING.
I have learned today that mine was shipped and will return to me on the 11th.
This is also very frustrating because a great game that I had on reserve came out today, GEARS OF WAR 2.
I have been looking forward to this game for a while, even though Kristen has not. She is not a fan of the first person shooter (or in this case, 3rd person shooter) and also not a fan of all the gore that this game comes packaged with.
Oh well... I guess I will have to find other things to do with my 360 time, like my PS3 or my Wii.

New Room

2008-11-06T01:19:00.001-08:00

Ok, so it's not a "new" room.. but it is a VERY clean room. Which almost makes it feel like a new room.

We have needed a new bed frame for a few months now and were finally in the right spot to buy one. That installation called for the need to vaccum under the bed, which led to cleaning the whole room (most of which was done before hand by Kristen), and that lead to the rearranging of furniture.

The room is much more open now and a much more enjoyable place to be, which I think is very important in a bedroom.....

Obama wins...

2008-11-04T21:22:00.001-08:00

.... now what?

To my Bride

2008-11-04T00:57:00.000-08:00

This is a poem By Pablo Neruda
Sonnet XVII
I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
Or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
In secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms but carries in
Itself the light of hidden flowers;
Thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
Risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
So I love you because I know no other way
I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
So I love you because I know no other way

That this: where I does not exist, nor you,
So close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
So close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

-----------------------------------------------

I thought that an appropriate opening for my first entry in my new Journal. It is dedicated to my new wife who understands me more than I thought anyone possibly could. She accepts me as I am, shows me patience and understanding, and performs functions as my conscience, foundation, inspiration, and lover.

My old online journal is here but with the future of yahoo 360 rather unstable, I decided to move things to a new platform. If anyone has any ideas on how to archive my 360, please let me know. I would hate for all that work and input to go to waste.

I have missed keeping an online journal. It gave an outlet for things that I have a difficult time expressing otherwise and allows me to get my thoughts and feelings out in front of me.