courtesy (part 2).....

I could get to "part 100" by the time I am done.

So, as Morgan waited in the car line today, Ms. RangeRover came around the bend, and parked herself in "new spot #1" at the front of the line. Then, a father driving a minivan, did the "creep" as though he had seen his child, but did not. Then after staying in the "pick-up" spot for a while was forced to move, so he went towards the handicap spot. Just amazing.

As for the bike incident I mentioned yesterday, it was nothing major, as I saw what was going to happen before it happened. Cell phone driver, who was not sure where they were at the time, decided to do the "move over 3 lanes in 1 second" routine. I could see it happening , as she moved her head back and forth, but never losing a second of the earth shattering conversation. I gave a gentle tap of the horn (which is hard to find on the bike), then made sure I looked at her (which I'm not sure in menacing or not, as I now have a full tinted visor) after we were stopped at a light. It probably did no good, but I can hope she might have given a thought to what might

have happened.

Last night was the HOG Christmas party. Here Cassie is with Santa. Somehow he knew to get her a High School Musical 2 DVD and calender. :-) Both Morgan and Cassie made out like bandits at the party, and on my dime. As with all HOG meetings, there are raffles for giveaways, and a 50/50, with again all our remaining funds going to a local charity. I put my $10 in for 7 merchandise tickets, and seven 50/50 tickets. Not paying much attention, a woman's shirt was up for raffle. Wouldn't you know I have a winning ticket, so Morgan went up to claim "her" prize. About 2 minutes later, another woman's shirt, and another winner, but this time Cassie claimed the prize. We also won $15 in one of the 50/50 draws, but somehow I only got my original $10 back, and Cassie kept the other $5! Oh, well. We had a good time, and we are all looking forward to the toy shopping, and delivery to the children's hospital on Saturday.

My friend Kellie, and her kids are a bit under the weather today, so here is my wishing them well. We actually spoke for almost 45 minutes today while I was at Cassie's swim practice. It was nice to speak with her, but I could tell she was not herself.

As for my buddy, Casey, I am giving a wish and prayer for some "paperwork" to get resolved regarding his meds to handle his Crohn's. With a baby on the way in a couple of months, I would like for him to feel better (and he would like to feel better) in regards to the Crohn's, because he is going to have his hands full with diapers, and spit-up, and wipes, and onesies, etc., soon enough.

My Hurricanes got whipped 6-0 by the Ottawa Senators. Thought they had turned the corner by playing fairly well on the road trip (minus the Buffalo disaster), but to get beat like that at home is not a good sign.

Until the next time.....

courtesy.....

We have our HOG Christmas party tonight, so a quick post before we leave. Besides the party, I am sure we will be discussing our event on Saturday morning. We have something like $1500 to spend on Christmas gifts for a children's hospital, and the local Wal*Mart is going to match our donation. Then we pack the toys in cars, and ride over to deliver them in person. More on that when it happens.

The title of today's post, could be the title almost everyday. As everyday goes by, I feel more and more people just fall into the "I don't care about anyone, but myself, so you'll just have to out up with it" mode. It amazes me what some people will do, and not have a second thought about it.

It could be drivers, people shopping, using the drive through, etc., it just does not matter. Almost nobody seems to think about the people around them. I try to show Cassie these situations, and explain to her about her "surroundings" so that she does not fall into any of these traps.

Well today was another involving our school and the drop off and pick up area. The procedure for those waiting on children is to wait in a line, then when your child arrives to move out of line, and go to the area to get your child. Today, we had another mother get out of line, and sit in the area (it is one lane) waiting on their child, while those with children waiting in the area, were made to wait. This must have happened half a dozen times these past 3 weeks. If it is not that, we actually have someone who will place herself in front of all the cars that have been waiting in line, and make herself first in the waiting area. What are these people thinking? And what do they say to their kids when asked why people are honking horns at them? Do they lie to them, to add on top of their rudeness?

Well, got to run, but I had another car incident while on the bike today. Not dangerous, as I saw the mental midget all the way. Just the normal part of being out and driving and / or riding, while others are not paying attention, or again, just worrying about themselves. I will get more into it on another post.

Until the next time.....

real meaning.....

I am getting tired of Christmas. Not the celebrate Jesus birth, remember the things that are important Christmas. That Christmas, I love, and appreciate more and more as I get older. It is the Christmas of when I leave my front door, and go out into the real world that brings me down.

Christmas time should not mean pressure, but with each passing year it does. The "holiday season" starts earlier and earlier, and every year we seem to have more and more to do. I am reading Kellie's page, and with work, kids, home, church, and all the extras, she sounds frazzled in some of her pages. We are feeling the same way.

Add the "gift giving" part, and it is completely out of hand. I have tried to slow this down in my family, but it seems to fall on deaf ears. I think after this year, I will need to be more stern about it.

Morgan and I have been very blessed financially for our careers so far, and Cassie being an only child has been spoiled by us, along with we spoiling ourselves. Well, now we are trying to take a step back, because we are realizing more and more, we just don't need "stuff", but our prior actions are making it harder to convince others.

My family thinks they all must buy something for Cassie. Well, actually they do not. Cassie has everything she will need for quite a while (again, prior actions by us). We have limited contact with the small family that we have, and with the move, it just adds to the distance, so some are buying for the only contact they will have for the whole year. That is insane. If you must buy something, how about a $10 book or bookstore gift certificate, and a long telephone conversation. She would appreciate it more than most other gifts. Just because she has a Nintendo DS, it does not mean she needs more games. But tell my family about only the book, and you will get eyes rolling from across the country.

I admit, that we were a part of the problem, and did the "spend, spend, spend", and the hustle all over the real meaning of the season. Bigger gifts = Bigger Christmas. That was not the correct thinking. I want to slow down, and enjoy this time with Morgan and Cassie. I can't go back and redo the past, but I can make an effort towards helping with the future. Hopefully, we can get all close to us on board.

I read my first chapter in the Book of John in both my Bible, and the Study Bible my friend, Kellie, gave to us. I am so used to reading my NIV Bible (easier translation) than the traditional King James version, I felt bad at first, but better after doing it because the combination really helped me in the end. I'll probably continue with the "combo" reading until I am more comfortable with the KJV.

Until the next time.....

lazy.....

Well, that was today in a nutshell. Morgan & Cassie did not get home last night until almost midnight, so by the time we fell asleep, a later morning wake up was in the cards. Now, 9am might not be late for some, but if you have kids, it is like sleeping the day away, and if you have young, active ones, it is like a vacation.

Well, here is the Christmas picture for 2007. I've got some sort of "look" on my face, but otherwise, I thought it looked great. It took quite a while to get us at the right heights so that we had mostly tree in the background, but it worked out well. I like doing these pictures on our own, and I'm really happy we did this year's picture as a family. Right now, out here, it is only the three of us, so I am glad we are showing everyone the togetherness of our great family.

Until the next time.....

rain again.....

Another motorcycle / car ride up to the mountains washed out. With the holidays, some travel for Morgan, and tax season started, this was possibly our last chance until spring. If you would have said two San Diego weekends in a row would be rained out, most people would have looked at you like you were crazy.

I read that there might be thunderstorms and possible hail near the coast tomorrow. Neither happens much around here (especially hail), so they may have to call the National Guard if the weather geeks are correct. :-)

I know my friends in NC desperately need rain. It amazes me how an area that gets hurricanes (though none the last 2 years) and summer storms can get so low. Especially seeing that they had to let water out of the reservoirs a couple of years ago because some tropical storms actually filled them. Well I say, you need to dredge them deeper, not let water out of them. I love that area, but some short-sighted thinking in terms of the growth going on, really gets to me.

As I write this, Morgan and Cassie are at a Christmas event sponsored by the radio station. I think it is called Carols by Candlelight. Different country artists are involved. On Friday night there was Juice Newton, Colin Raye, and Joe Nichols. Tonight the big star is Billy Ray Cyrus (Hanna Montana's dad), so Cassie is there with eyes a buggin'. It is funny seeing her with these people. I just asked her to behave, and not attack the man too much. She just did the "Dad---dy..." response.

Morgan and I had another good talk today. Seems like my "funk", and bad decisions over the past couple of weeks, and then our open talks on Monday & Tuesday really helped us. We were able to have a good discussion about family matters like we are used to without any holding back. Does not mean we argued, quite the opposite. We spoke just like we normally have these 17+ years, and it felt good. It always feels good when my best friend is around.

Cassie just called me from the event to tell me to stop text messaging her. Seems she does not know how to turn the cell phone to vibrate or lower the ringer. Now before you think, "another dad getting a 9 year old a phone", that is not the case. AT&T gave Morgan the phone for a promotion. Well, Morgan already has a work phone, and I have mine, so we gave it to her so she could call friends or family back east whenever she wants. As soon as AT&T stops paying the bill, she is minus a phone.

We finally got some Christmas shopping done for the extended parts of the family. We don't do a great amount of it, but we had been putting things off for too long. We also finally took our Christmas picture. We are going away from the traditional "Cassie only" picture for us, and instead have the whole family near the tree. I like it, and it was the first time I ever used the automatic timer! Another trick learned. After we do any "magic" to it, I will post it.

My friend Kellie kept telling me that a gift was on the way, and it arrived yesterday afternoon. It is a beautiful Study Bible. It is greatly appreciated, and will be used by all of us in the family. Thanks again, Kellie. We love ya!

As a matter of fact, I am going to put some time into getting some reading started that Kellie and I discussed after I wrap up here.

Until the next time.....

to the principal's office.....

No, not Cassie. It was the whole family's turn, as we had our interview with the principal at Maranatha Christian School (www.maranathachristianschools.org/). Mrs. Malanga is a very nice lady, and we had a very nice visit. The school is very nice, with all the newest educational tools for the kids, and the education would keep Cassie challenged. They really seem to want Cassie to join, but the class size is a problem. Right now the 4th grade is full, so unless someone leaves, Cassie will not be getting in. The school is relatively new, so right now there are only 2 classes with 26 students in each one, and no room for expansion. If it was meant to be, she will get in.

I made an inquiry earlier in the day about purchasing an income tax practice in the area. It seems that a financial planning / accountant / law office were looking sell off the income tax clients who only came in for income taxes returns, and did not use the attorney or financial planner. Guess the clients were not enough income generators for them, as they are looking to move about 100 income tax clients with an average fee of $506! I almost fell off my chair, as that is about 3 times my average fee. They were looking for a set price, but I only will only purchase based on the clients that stayed, and the fees collected. Also, it seems like they want to sell to a CPA only, which upsets me, because my 22 years doing returns, and the number I have done personally over those years, should offset any three letters that would appear after my name. Not that I am bitter or anything. I might know more tomorrow, as after my initial contact, I was told a CPA was making a full price offer for the clients, so it does not look like I will get a shot at presenting myself.

Morgan, Tanner (morning show partner), and Eric (a friend) are starting to make their plans for their Ireland trip. Looks like they will be going around St. Patrick's Day. They just need to get their thoughts all together so they can start planning everything. They should have a great time together traveling. Me, I'm not much of a traveler (especially flier), so I am happy that Morgan has friends she can do this with. The walls around me take a bit of time to fall, so maybe, in the future, I will like traveling more.

My friend, Kellie, is still putting up Christmas ornament pictures on her page. And me, nothing. I need to get around the neighborhood and take some shots of the more "creative lighting".

The Hurricanes lost again to Tampa Bay tonight, 2-1. We did not score until the last minutes of the game. Ugh! So far, the Lightning have our number this year, and it's frustrating. It is even more so after the real nice 4-0 win over the NY Rangers on Monday night. Everything clicked, then 2 nights later, nothing.

More rain in the area this weekend, so another ride to the mountains is out the window. This is part of the storm that hit Washington & Oregon hard, so it has the natives, restless. Already starting the sandbags in the areas hit by the fires. Hopefully, it will be a nice 2 or 3 day light rain, so we will have no mudslides, and I will not have to water the lawn for another week. :-)

Until the next time.....

housekeeping.....

A boring day today. Worked on some clients' monthly paperwork, and that was pretty much it. Hope to get a ride in after this post and before I take Cassie to swim practice. After that, some time with Morgan, and/or gaming.

Just to tie up loose ends for the past few days, what happened between Morgan and myself was 100% my fault. I was starting to get into a funk the past few weeks coinciding with me starting this blog. I tired to deal with my "problems" on my own without Morgan, trying to shield her, in hopes that I would figure it out myself before she caught on. WRONG!!!

I mentioned I would start this blog, but she seemed disinterested, so I took that as a "let's not tell her, or send her the link" idea. Mistake #1. Also in that time, the "funk" about being out here was getting to me at different times, and I kept that from her. Mistake #2. Then, add to it the fact that I was starting to read the Bible in hopes of getting a "direction", and never said anything to her about it, or asking her to join me. Mistake #3. Put them all together and it looks like I am hiding "a life" from her, and with that, you get a potential disaster. Mistake #4.

Luckily, I have a loving and understanding wife, and after 2 days of discussions/fighting (whatever), we have patched these problems up. We both understand each other better now, and I have told Morgan everything that I have been thinking over these past weeks. I feel a tremendous amount of relief, and much better now. I have promised her that I will try not to hide any feelings from her. We are in this together. Again, I am a lucky man.

So last night, for the first time, Morgan read these pages from the beginning and says she will now be reading the posts regularly. She even said she liked my writing. :-)

We also stopped by the store and bought her a Bible so that we could possibly do some of the reading I am going to start together. I did not know she had lost her only one before we met, and never replaced it.

Doing these things together. I like that. Hopefully this will close this matter, and get the drama out of our lives for a while.


A big thank you, to our friend Kellie for her direction in starting our Bible reading.

Also, want to have you give a thought and prayer to my friend Casey. He has been going through a tough time with his Crohn's disease, and hopes the doctors finally have him on the right track to get a handle on it. He has been feeling pretty bad the past couple of weeks. He has gone through enough with this. Hang in there buddy!

Until the next time.....

cleared the air.....

Well to follow up on yesterday, I feel better, but Morgan and I got into talking about my situation again, and I think I have seen the light. When talking to her, I come to realize that right now, I am just not good with the "city people" as compared to the "country folk". I know that sounds bad, but it is not meant to be. Right now I am just not adjusted to "big city" life and the "distance" the people in this area put between them and others.

Also, it seems that in my "funk", I was not discussing as much with Morgan as I would normally do. She has not read this blog until now (Hi, honey!), and there were more feelings being put here than what I have been telling her over the past few weeks. That was wrong of me, and now she will be reading this, and I also will be discussing more with her.

I needed a "wake up call", and I think today's talking/arguing/fighting/discussion (take your pick) was really a good thing. I have been a bit distant with her, but more because I was trying to get this settled on my own and not hurt her. We have been together 17 1/2 years, and I need her to help me. We have a partnership, and a very good one. She means everything in the world to me, and I don't want to hurt her anymore.

I feel much better about everything, and I love my wife even more for working with me to help me through this.

Until the next time.....

to tell the truth.....

Played some games of NHL hockey with my friend Chris last night. Chris is a fellow gamer, who had seats with his wife behind us at the Hurricanes games, and also became an income tax client. It was nice meeting and becoming friends with them. We had a good time, and played for a couple of hours.

Unfortunately, it also brought about some "blues" as I thought about the people I left behind in NC. I have never been easy to make friends with, but in the past few years, Morgan & I were able to get some more "couple" friendships, and I had become friends with more people than I had in the past 20 years.

So, when Morgan came home today, she asked if all was OK. I could have said "yes", and just let it pass, but I decided to be honest. That is a good thing, but in this case, it threw her for a loop. Her first thoughts are that I am packed and ready to go. This is not the case. I am enjoying my time out here, but if given the choice, I would return to NC and the area we lived. Right now there is no choice, as Morgan has about 27 months remaining on her contract, and about 21 months before they would come to her with an offer for an extension. I am fine with that, and we will see how things play out.

It made me feel better to tell her, but it also made me feel terrible to see how upset she was after I told her. I put her first in this decision to come back out here, and it has backfired, but at the same time, if I was selfish and said "no" to ever coming back out here, there probably would have been problems down the road.

I never thought I would get homesick, again. Maybe I was just denying it to myself. In any case, I feel terrible about making Morgan so upset. But also, I am not in a "leaving" mode. Just feel that when this is done, I would like to go back east.

I am sure that we will shed more tears over this, and she will be upset for a while. I was not looking to upset her, or us. I just thought it was right to tell the truth.


UPDATED 5PM Pacific:
I actually feel better now that Morgan and I cleared the air on some things. That does not mean this is settled, but I feel better that she knows a little more of what I have been feeling.

Part of this actually comes from my dentist, who I just visited. We were talking about him living and going to school all over, and settling in San Diego, and he said that he feels that a job may take you to a place to live, but "home" is where you feel the most comfort and good friends. That sums up my feel about this situation. I like living here in San Diego, and may make some friends, but for now, my "home" feel is in NC.

Until the next time.....

rain, then cold in San Diego.....

Well, I should not say cold, but to the natives, and to those living here for quite a while, they would say so. After the nice cleansing rain of Friday, it was a crisp, breezy & cloudy day today in the 50s. Of course, it will be back near 80 by Tuesday. To me, the last two days weather was just like some fall days in NC. Kind of made me homesick, so got a bit of the blues today.

Again, I love being out here with Morgan, and this is better than her traveling all the time, and her not being happy trying to live a split life. But, try as I might, I just can't see myself calling out here "home". But, I need to get over these blues, as I don't want my mood to effect Cassie, or upset Morgan into thinking I am having thoughts about leaving. I am not. It is just plain ol' missing people and places.

Funny though, as last night we were at a party at Morgan's bosses house. His wife asked Cassie if she liked it better in NC or San Diego. Cassie said NC, but felt a little bad about doing so. Then the wife tells us she also prefers NC to San Diego, as they lived there for about 4 years a while ago. So, at least I know I am not the only one. :-)

Was very lazy today, and even fell asleep while watching some of the college football on TV. Just a little worn, but I'm better now. Would feel even better if I did not watch the Hurricanes get whipped 8-1 by the Sabres. Anyone but Buffalo beating us. Those sting more than others. We did win on Friday night, so not a total lost weekend, but it was not a good win. Their next 4 games are on the road. They need to get this fixed, and fast.

Had a nice church service tonight. Pastor Ray did an impression of Billy Graham that was unbelievable. He was describing when he first came to know Jesus. Pastor Ray will not be there the next 2 weeks as he and his wife are going away to celebrate 30 years of marriage. They were married young, as he has just turned 50. Guess that's not too bad, as I will be 55 on our 30th anniversary.

I have decided to try to read the Bible each day. I think this will help me get through this time, and see exactly where I am as a Christian. I have never done this for any period of time, so I am actually going to start at page 1, and go forward.

Until the next time.....