It's been a while...

since last we spoke...

So many things have been going on recently that they've obviously overwhelmed my ability to blog all about it. Even so, I'm going to soldier on and give it my best effort right now.

First, my oldest daughter was out recently. She actually made the trip to Sunny Sidney with her (possibly serial killer) boyfriend. They were plenty bored most of the time, but there were moments of entertainment. We played a little rock band and plenty of XBox (well, the SKBF and the boys did anyway). We also played a little racquetball - I say a "little" racquetball because the competition left a "little" to be desired. ;-)

Not long after they left, we went down to the Ford dealership, threw the old diesel up on the counter and said, "Gimme another one of them!" While we were at it, we also traded in the dodge 1500 for a, wait for it, Ford Focus. (The car is just a bit too large to fit into my wallet, unless I take out ALL the credit cards.)

Both vehicles are Ford Metallic Blue and they both have basically all the options you could cram in. For instance, they both have sirius satellite radio, they both have power sun roofs (rooves? roofes?), power windows, locks, trunk openers, etc. The diesel even has power mirrors that stretch out for pulling a trailer, and pull in for when you're driving into your garage or the car-wash.

We got a fantastic deal, but it's going to be a while before they're both fully paid off. The Focus pays for itself in gas, though, getting anywhere from 33 to 38 mpg on the highway (depending on the wind). Don't get too close to any trucks, though, as they'll nearly blow you off the road (but in a bad way).

Last week I was in Denver attending an IBM training course. It mainly focused on the Power 6 hardware and virtualization. It was a really good course and I was surprised to find that I really learned a lot.

As you probably know, I never did end up buying the motorcycle. :-( I think I mentioned in an earlier post that the guy somehow confused the year 2003 with 2006 when calculating the value of my trade in. Needless to say, I was not amused, and the deal fell through. I'll look again later in the season. Although, I did see a really nice Star motorcycle on the way home today... Kind of a black cherry color and a really great shape. I don't know much about Star motorcycles, but when I'm done with this post, I'm gonna check it out.

Suzanne loves her new diesel. It's a little bit narrower, and a little shorter, than her old truck, but it has almost everything and it runs like a freaking champ. Not only that, it's got the new 6 litre engine with more torque and horsepower than her old one. It's also pretty easy on the eyes. She treats it more like a BMW than a truck, though, and can't stand taking it into the dirt or the mud.

Um, I guess the horse is still alive.

The dogs are good... we had Moose (the hounddog/St. Bernard-mixed puppy) neutered recently. He took it like a man... right up until losing the nuts, then he took it like a eunuch. Either way, it was pretty unpleasant. Although, it was also kind of comical to watch him take two steps, stop and lick his sack, then take two more steps, stop and lick his sack, etc. He gave that poor thing a beating (notice how I didn't say a lickin' - yep, no low-hanging fruit here...)

The boys are doing well - we got a trampoline recently and Chris spends most of his spare time on it. Bouncing, or laying down, or rolling around, or just sitting. He, um, really likes the trampoline.

Work is going pretty well. Nothing much to report there.

The boys "accidentally" destroyed the PS2 last week. Somehow, even after the first one walked through the cables strewn across the basement, yanking the system onto the floor from a height of 3 feet, the second one did exactly the same thing. Then, for good measure, when the lid would no longer stay closed, Chase thought it would be a good idear to give it a couple of really good slams. Surprisingly, it didn't work any better after all that. In fact, it stopped working altogether.

Fortunately, their dad is a frickin' genius and was able to reassemble all the bits and breathe life back into the shattered remains. Not surprisingly, they're not allowed to play any video games until further notice.

Funny story: Suzanne was still able to bitch about the new truck... something about the gas tank not being as big and the fuel economy not being as good. Of course, the old truck got exactly the same mileage, it just didn't have a computerized instant mileage calculator in the dashboard.

Mind you, this is the best vehicle she's literally ever even been inside in her entire life. Thank goodness she was able to come up with something to complain about! I think we can all rest a little easier now.

I guess that about brings up to speed. Now quit bitching about me never updating this damn blog!

Love and kisses,

Your hero, Anthony.