Getting my Groove Back…

Yes it’s been awhile since I’ve done serious blogging, and after the week I’ve had I’m trying to get my groove back and find a rhythm that works well for me personally and for the business. My classic mistake is over-exerting myself mentally then burning out on a concept; reason #247 while I may never be an accomplished author.

 

My life underwent a massive change when I moved out here to marry Amy and for a long time I looked at it, thought about it, and planned to ramp it back up, get back into selling computer services to everyone I could find, expanding my company portfolio with tons of new clientele, and making money hand over fist to support my family and all the dreams I always had.

As the lingering effect of green grass, pine trees, and warm soft clay worked its way into my psyche I found myself not really wanting to get back to that quite as much as I had thought I did. Rather than running my hands over a keyboard all day and wincing when I shoved a splinter into my finger in the woodshop like I did so many times in the beginning I now find myself running my hands over the textured surface of pine acacia, and oak, deftly feeling for the right use for that particular piece of wood more than I do at the keyboard, my hands hardened and immune to the small sneaky splinters. Callouses wrap my fingers and joints and the strength in my hands from turning over hardened clay earth to plant seeds and working even harder wood into comfortable furniture  has made my grip crushing where it was once dexterous. My dexterity is visibly less, but I wouldn’t go back to the other way I don’t think.  I don’t think it’s possible to have both really. You’re either one or the other and I’m finding I’m happier out here like this.

The company has slowed down measurably. With Tim on the east and me on the west we’ve both drifted off in little ways to our own things. We’re still working together on projects but not really on the day-to-day stuff we used to deal with. Computers are more a side-line to the project work we’re doing than they are a main source of income. The real work now is sweaty and exhausting and fulfilling. I’ve been wiring up Best Buy stores on contract from their corporate office and earn more in a week than I used to in a month, so it’s ok when I have a month of no work ahead. Now I have plenty of time to plant the rose garden before my next project is due to start. After that one is done I’ll use the down-time to build some more furniture to sell at the market on the weekends. Every Friday is now a reminder to cut the grass rather than to spend 4 hours doing payroll.

This isn’t to say I’m no longer doing computer work. Quite the contrary actually; having the time between jobs to do research into my markets gives me more time to learn and improve my skills, to focus on more finite aspects of IT rather than broad-spectrum wholesale coverage of the entire market. I’d rather get paid more for the things I do VERY well than I would hassle and negotiate rates for stuff that anyone can do with a little college education. Anyone can fix a PC, really, with a little intelligence. Building structured networks that exceed TIA/EIA standards is another matter altogether and doing it better than the next guy is just icing on the cake. After 5 years of sub-contracting for one of our vendors I finally landed a wiring project that includes structured cable infrastructure for the FBI. You really can’t beat that can you? I can talk about all the Blockbusters and Best Buy’s I’ve installed all day long (and those are good clients) but that’s nothing compared to saying I just wired up the new FBI field office. What’s your competition going to say to that? Nothing. They just walk away and shake their head. You don’t get those kinds of contracts without extreme attention to detail and serving out your time doing scut-work to earn it. Finally… maybe… I’m past the scut-work stage… (And if you’re in my market and thinking that maybe we bid the job, nope. I didn’t compete with anyone on the bid. They came to me and said “You come highly recommended. Can you wire our new law enforcement center?” Sure thing. Yessir. Be glad to!

Now that I spent most of a month getting that contract, I’ve been extremely bored this week, so I’m revamping the company website, my own blog, my other website.. you feel a theme developing here? I’ve completely redesigned carolinaregion.com, and I’m working on a new layout for twistednetworx.com that will focus more on three or four core areas of IT rather than trying to land every client that comes to our site. I’m back into web design again, strictly as a solo-practice and very selective about the clients I take on. I’m only taking one web site at a time now and only then if I feel I have the time to give it that it deserves. Otherwise, they can just wait for me to get some free time or they can find another developer who needs the work. I put more time into my code now, but there’s no other projects vying for my time so its easier to be more in-depth with the client that way. I should have done that years ago instead of just walking away from web design for about 5 years. The newer technologies are making it easy enough that my 63 year old mother now admins for two different web sites as an editor and author.

I’ve gotten back into WordPress authoring hard core, though still coding with Joomla when it makes more sense to do so. I’ve even had the time to work with a friend of mine on coding my own custom flavor of Sugar CRM as a product I can sell in his vertical market… all things I never would have had the time to learn or improve upon when I had six employees, 400 customers, and no free time because the phone never stopped ringing.

 

Between work and more work I’m playing in my shop and yard a lot lately. I’ve finally purchased my first riding mower ever in my life so I’m still in that “enjoying it” phase of cutting the grass each week, so much to the point that my mower gets washed and waxed more than my truck does! I’ve been gardening like crazy as well.  A neighbor offered me part of his hay-field for a garden this year and I took him up on the idea with fervor. After two weekends and about a hundred hours I now have over 500 plants in the ground and I’m growing everything in sight. I even had the time to work on a raised herb-garden for Amy (that’s the one in the picture). I finally put in the rose garden I’ve always wanted, and probably went a little overboard, but my wife likes roses and I like giving them to her… so now she has roses growing from the moment she steps out of the truck, all the way around the back of the house, and right up to the back steps! Yeah, ok, maybe I do overdo it a little, but I enjoy it thus far so leave me be.

 

On the more serious side of life Amy has been working herself to the bone. There’s nothing she can do about it; its just the way the job goes, but it’s wearing on her. She needs a break, but we need the business to stay busy because we need the income, so it’s a catch-22. I look very much forward to when some of my projects close out this year so she can financially relax a little and maybe even take a day off if she feels like it!

 

Some of you also have heard about little Piper, our Catahoula puppy. She’s been sick for a few days now. Amy spend the night sleeping on the couch last night with Piper on the floor in front of her. I spent the night on the floor in front of the dog, completely unable to sleep because I was really afraid she was going to stop breathing and I didn’t want Amy to wake up to that alone… We carried her to the small-animal vet today (My thanks to Mt. Pleasant Animal Hospital for being kind on the bill!) and she’s doing better. She’s gonna be on an IV here at home for a few days and then on oral antibiotics until she’s completely better. We still don’t know 100% what was wrong with her. The hospital suspects Parvo even though the test came back negative. Apparently if you catch it early enough it doesn’t always show up. Personally I can’t imagine catching it any LATER than we did… in 24 hours she went from frolicking in the yard to not being able to move her muscles enough to drag herself off her pillow. I don’t think she’d have survived the day without the great folks who took care of her today. It would have broken my wife’s heart to lose that dog… this is the first pet we’ve had in the house that’s really “hers” in the truest sense of the word. I’ve got Bonnie and Jordan has Biscoe and Piper is completely in-love with momma-Amy.

And speaking of Piper and Amy, I’ve been on here way too long so I’m gonna go in the house and goof off with my family a little. Happy trails all. Comment if ya like. You know my narcissistic personality craves the attention of comments!

Peace!

Getting the Garden Started

Wow it’s been a busy couple of days, at least those I’ve been home. For three days before leaving for Denver and for three days since I’ve been back I’ve been constantly getting the garden ready for this year. Those of you who know me know I’ve always wanted a “real” garden and it looks like this year I’m going to have the space and time to devote to it.

The neighbor behind us has about 3 to 4 acres that abuts our property and he only uses it for hay for his horses. He offered to plow me some of his field for garden if I wanted it and I jumped on the idea. I’ve been patiently waiting for about six months for planting time to arrive and now its just about here.

One thing I’ve learned so far this season, though its only just begun, is a huge respect for gardeners of years past who did everything on their own with no machinery. Everything I’ve done thus far this year has been completely by hand and my garden is extremely small compared to others and hand-tilling this will wear you out! Stanly county soil is thick red clay, so thick it often clumps so tight you can mistake it for stone. I’ve had to hand-crush all the clumps, mix about a thousand pounds of clay with 500 pounds of potting soil, and added osmocote to the mix as a booster. Just the rose garden took me almost three days to complete and it’s only 18 feet long.

The newest addition: Herb Garden.

Little ideas here and there have led me to more and more work, two solid days of which resulted in me getting Amy’s herb garden designed and built. After building the first part of it today she’s decided she wants to double it and put one on the other side of the patio, so I’ll get to work on that in the next couple of days. First she decided she wanted it twice as tall. Now she wants two of them! lol. It’s work but I love woodworking and I love gardening, so I certainly enjoy combining the two, especially when it’s stuff she wants!

The picture here is a raised bed I built for a total of about $40.00 in materials. I’d highly suggest building your own over purchasing pre-built beds. It just makes no sense to spend that kind of money when you can do this in an afternoon. This one is 1 foot tall, 12 feet long, L shaped, and 18 inches wide.

The next project is one just like it with a bench in the middle that will go across the patio from this one.

This weekend I laid in the herbs that are already potted and ready to go. This bed you see here (above) has Lavender,rosemary, peppermint, sage, oregano, Strawberries (cause I really wanted at least ONE strawberry plant) and two kinds of peppers so Amy and Jordan can make their Salsa-Verde they like so much.

The garden thus far this year:

Prior to this weekend we primarily put the flowering stuff roses, creeping phloxes (pink fuscia and pale pink), candytuft, Raspberries, african daisies, creeping thyme, lithidora, and snap dragons.

The next obstacle to tackle is the seed germination for the vegetable garden and for the other herb garden, all of which I seeded tonight. I sorted, catalogued, and started 144 new plants, all of which will go in the ground within the coming month. I’m cataloguing these below for my own reference so I’ll know what’s what when its time to transfer them.

Tray 1:

• 6 Cherry Tomatoes
• 6 Beefsteak Tomatoes
• 10 Okra
• 4 Giant Watermelon
• 6 Crimson Sweet Watermelons
• 4 Jubilee Watermelons
• 12 Sugar Baby Watermelons
• 6 Jalapeno Peppers
• 6 Tendergreen Cucumbers
• 6 Boston Pickling Cucumbers
• 6 Straight 8” Cucumbers
• 6 Zucchini Squash

Tray 2

• 18 Giant Speckled Pole Beans
• 8 Cowpeas
• 6 Thorogreen Bush Lima Beans
• 6 California Wonder Bell Pellers
• 6 Straightneck Squash
• 6 Basil
• 6 Coreander
• 6 Parsley
• 6 Early Summer Crookneck Squash
• 6 Dill Bouquet

Tomorrow I’ve got two quotes to work on for customers, 1 project to schedule, and then I’m off to find a place to hunt down some bamboo so I can work up my idea for bean poles, then I’m off to Lowe’s for more lumber for my wife’s herb garden/bench. Oi! Ok, back to work.

Jacob is Gone

It’s a really sad morning here at our house. Little Joshua came running into our bedroom this morning crying because he’d tried to take Jacob, our family’s ferret, out of his cage and something was wrong. Jacob had tried to get out of the cage sometime in the middle of the night and got caught in the door and suffocated. The space was too small for him to escape and I guess he was just determined not to go back in. He did that a lot. He could wiggle out of just about anything, under anything, and between anything.

Some people won’t understand this, but I just wanted to take a moment to honor him here and remember him.  I don’t even like ferrets… I’ve never seen one before that I cared anything for, but this little guy was different from the very first day Hannah brought him home. He was a rescue from the Stanly County Humane Society and when Hannah saw him over the summer she had to bring him home. My first thought was “Great, another pet” but it didn’t last long.

All you had to do was see this little guy in action and you fell in love with him. He played with the humans, the cats, the dogs. Yeah, he even held his own every day playing with my 50 pound dog. Every time I let the dog inside the house, she trots to Jacob’s room to see if he’s in his cage or out and about. If he’s out, she goes looking to play with him. In all the time we had him he never bit anyone, hurt anything, damaged any furniture, or anything else. He was a perfect addition to our little family. We let him out of his cage for entire days, sometimes even all night. He just hung out with the family, laid under the coffee table. He’d even gotten in the habit of trying to follow you into the shower. If you weren’t careful he’d pull back the shower curtain and jump in to wash himself off then tear off through the house like a little madman trying to get the scent of soap off him. He was the coolest little pet I’ve ever had.

He’s gone now and our lives are the worse for it, but our lives are better for having had him as a part of the family, even for only a little while.  He made all of us smile every single day we shared with him.

My Christian beliefs don’t really say much about animals, but I believe that God has plenty of room in all of Heaven’s space for special little friends, so I choose to believe he’s up there entertaining other kids and families and that I’ll see him again one day.

Goodbye little buddy. I’m really really going to miss you. 

Restoring my Dad’s Ishapore Enfield 7.62 Rifle

Little did I know what I had in my hand when I picked up my Dad’s rifle the other day. My father died last year and left me his rifle, but only recently had I been able to go back to see Becky and pick up the rifle to bring it home.

I’m pretty sure he didn’t know it when he bought it, but what you’re looking at in the photo above is the last class of non-sniper military bolt action rifles ever designed anywhere in the world.  The Enfield Ishapore 2A/2A1 Bolt Action 7.62MM NATO rifle is a beautiful piece of weaponry

The rifle often has the misfortune of being called a .308, which is indeed what my Dad fired in it. In actuality, it’s not a .308 rifle at all. The Enfield 2A1 was the last Lee-Enfield rifle ever made. They bear a striking resemblance to their forefather, the British .303 SMLE MKIII, which shoots a 5.65mm round. The only visible difference between the two rifles is the 7.62 2A1 model has a squared cartridge that holds 12 rounds where the original MKIII had a sloped cartridge case that only fired 10 rounds. The only other difference is due do the difference in ammunition types. The ejection claw on the 2A1 model has slightly more metal to accommodate the rimless NATO round.

This particular rifle was built during the last years Ishapore made these. You can tell because the rear sight was changed from a 2,000 meter sighting design to an 800 meter sighting design. When this rifle was put heavily into use, the days of long range volley fire was over in India, so the decision was made to recalibrate the rear sight to a more accurate need of the time.

The weapon specs, if you’re a fan of rifles are:

Production: Ishapore India. also known as the Ishapore Armory, located outside Calcutta in West Bengal.
Designed: 1963
Produced: 1963-1975
Number Built: Approximately 350,000 rifles made.
Weight: 4.7kg unloaded (10.36 pounds)
Length: 44.5 inches
Caliber: 7.62x51 NATO
Barrel Length: 25.2”
Action: Bolt Action
Rate of Fire: 20-30 rounds per minute
Muzzle Velocity: 2,600 feet per second
Effective Range: 800 meters (1/2 mile)
Maximum Range: 2,000 meters (1.25 miles)
Sights: Sliding Ramp rear sights, fixed-post front sight.

Why were these rifles ever made in the first place?

This rifle and it’s 350,000 or so brothers, were created for the Indian army after their army suffered a defeat in 1962 from Chinese troops armed with Type 56 SKS, AK and PPSh submachine guns. India needed a better rifle. They immediately decided to redesign a rifle to use the more popular and more accurate 7.62mm round. They had the 7.62 round, but not enough rifles to shoot all the ammunition they had. Thus, the last of the Lee-Enfield rifles was born. Incidentally it should be noted that the 7.62 2A1 model rifle made by Ishapore has approximately 10% more power than the .303 it was modeled after, which equates in the field to a flatter trajectory out of the barrel, resulting in about 10% better accuracy.

The action and bolt, before cleaning. It’s dirty, but not bad for a rifle that’s 43 years old and been through a war (or two).

The front of the rifle contains a two post sight protector and bayonet mount.

Just a photo sighting down the rifle.  Hard to believe this thing can shoot a 1 inch pattern at half a mile and a 3 inch pattern at 1.25 miles without a scope huh?

At this point I’ve started disassembling the fore-stock and hand guard so I can clean both the wood and the steel. The wood stocks on these rifles is cut from Italian Walnut, which is obviously very resilient!

The trigger has been removed for cleaning. You can’t see it too well here but that black band in front of the stock contains the rifle markings that tell you what it is, and where and when it was made.

 

The Serial number of the rifle: U2940

 

Here she is almost completely broken down. The rear stock takes an especially long flat blade screwdriver to remove, and since there are so few moving parts left in the remaining steel, I decided to clean the remaining parts in-situ instead of taking it all the way apart to get at only one more piece of steel that I can already get to anyway from here mostly.

After some serious time spent with the wood, solvents, and sandpaper I’ve finally gotten the gunk and grime off the walnut and re-oiled the wood so it can retain some of it’s moisture. Having a dry-stock on a wooden rifle is bad for your shooting and bad for the rifle’s longevity as well.

She looks pretty now that she’s all cleaned out. Forty three years of oil, dirt particles, and left over packing grease were gobbed up inside the wood. However, removing that much grease means it has to be oiled a LOT for the next couple weeks.

Finally Done:

Here are a few photos of the rifle after it has been completely cleaned and reassembled.

 

I could possibly have removed the marks left over the years near the action, but I felt it more appropriate to leave them here as a reminder of the other men who held her and fired her in war.

The wood-grain on this thing is beautiful!

Reassembled and beautiful.

The serial number for this rifle.

The Ishapore factory stamp.

 

What is an Enfield .308?

I decided to mention this so others won’t make the same mistake I did at first. Simply put, there is absolutely no such thing as an Enfield .308 rifle. The physical characteristics of the .308 and the7.62 mm NATO round are so similar that many shooters inadvertently use the wrong ammunition simply because it fits. Will this rifle fire a .308 bullet? Yes it will. I shot an entire box of them yesterday as a matter of fact, however it’s not designed to do so.

Why? There are a couple of reasons NOT to shoot .308 load in a military rifle, and I’ll leave the majority of them for another discussion and just give you the important reason: It can blow up in your face. Commercial brass cartridge casings are thinner than military casings. There’s less brass behind the bullet. Both thickness and depth of the rim are slightly different. It’s a very very slight difference, but it’s enough. There may not be enough material in the shell casing to stretch to fill the chamber without rupturing when you pull the trigger. Normally, the case expands to completely fill the chamber, forcing the bullet down the barrel with the approximately 58,000 psi. If the casing were to rupture on civilian brass, the exhaust could instead rupture over into the receiver of the rifle and blow up in your hand. Does it happen often? Obviously not, but I’m not taking the chance any more. If you’d like more info on the differences between 7.62 NATO and .308 Winchester Ammo, you can read in detail here.

Disassembling your own Enfield 7.62 Rifle

I’ll save you some of the headache and frustration I went through trying to find an original schematic for a weapon produced in India in the 1960s, for Britain. If I had thought to bookmark the source forum, I’d gladly give the poster the credit, but I didn’t think to do so. Anyway, the basic configuration and design of the Ishapore 2A/2A1 is based of the .303, so the original 1945 schematic for the .303 will guide you through disassembling and finding replacement parts for the weapon. I’ve put a copy of the PDF on my server. You can download it by clicking here. (2.5mb PDF file)

Final Thoughts

The picture above shows Indian soldiers carrying this very rifle on a patrol during the Sino=-Indian war. Someone long ago laid silent, looking across a mountain valley, 12,300 miles from where this rifle now sits, hands clenched tightly around the fore-stock, squeezing then relaxing to keep the blood flowing during the frigid cold, his body heat leeching away into the hard cold ground hour after hour. He laid there on the Himalayan border between India and China and used this exact rifle to shoot down enemy Chinese soldiers from distances up to 1 mile away, a distance so far that most modern shooters of today wouldn’t even attempt it. At that distance a human body resembles not so much the shape of a man as a tiny speck on a faraway hill or mountain. 

The Chinese enemy they faced later reported that they often thought they were facing machine gun fire, due to the rapidity of shots coming from the muzzles of these rifles. Expert shooters could put from 25 to 40 rounds within a 3 inch kill zone from half a mile. Considering these rifles have no scope and only a 10-12 round magazine, that means reloading two to three times reloading per minute while still reacquiring your target and making the shot again and again.

It’s just awesome to think of that kind of history. I’ll never know the story of this particular rifle, but I’d love to know it’s journey from there to its final destination where it lies now.

Saturday Night

Well it’s almost midnight on Saturday night and I’m out here in my workshop with the dogs, just taking some time to myself. Little one is upstairs in bed, Jo is conked out in her bed after having to stay up all night with the horse to keep it from lying down, and the wife is curled contentedly in her little feline ball form on the couch awaiting my eventual stumble towards the bedroom.

I’m really in the mood do redesign my web site tonight but it’s midnight and that’s a ricidulous notion at this hour. A good redesign would take me at least 20 hours and I’ve not the energy for that, not to mention I know I’ll lose steam about 1/4 the way through the project.

I actually have some work to do for two web site clients, but I’m waiting on information from one of them, the other is a mundane update, and there’s a third that I have to consult on before we can actually begin the project. I haven’t told him yet that his idea for a $5,000 web site it modelled after a site that cost the customer about $25,000 plus another twenty grand of in-house servers and SQL databases. lol. He’ll have to get a little less bang for his buck I’m thinking. I’m glad the web business is picking up though. I’ve had quite a lot of web site work these last 18 months, ever since I “stopped doing web sites”…. seems I have more sites to do now that I’ve retired from that industry than I did when I was advertising it. Maybe it’s the attitude I have about it now. My initial instinct is to turn down new web site work because I only like to work on at most two sites at any one time, and usually the customers lose steam halfway through the project and never wind up giving me the material I need to complete the site the way I want to. Bearing that in mind I just started telling people I won’t start for anything less than three thousand. The serious ones stay interested and then the creative ideas really begin. The not-so-serious ones think I’m just giving them a line of BS and then try to go find an inexperienced college student to do it for $400.00, which is all they think that my 100+ hours of labor is apparently worth.

People have no idea how much behind-the-scenes work goes into getting a portal site to the “ready” stage where design can really begin. Hosting setup, domain reg and setup, sql database setup, php integration to the database, the portal backend, the 15 mods it takes to make the portal backend usable by a non-geek, etc. There’s a ton of work involved in it. I really wish I could run across a good graphics guy/girl who had some experience in PHP as well. I could do a lot with a skill-set like that.

In other news, my Army paperwork is apparently coming along. After talking to my recruiter and him telling me that it was unlikely that I’d get accepted I freaked out a little bit and made some calls to some friends, including a friend that put me in touch with my recruiter’s boss. It seems that during the four times we had to redo my paperwork there was a document mis-filed. Had I not been freaked out and tried to get some outside help I never would have known about it and my paperwork might have been in nowhere land for months before I got an answer. The Major I spoke to had his people fix some things that were apparently missing in my paperwork and now my application to join the Army is currently residing on the desk of the Surgeon General. Why? I have no idea. I’m not sure why either, but it is. I’ve been told my chances for success are pretty good and that I shouldn’t worry, so I’ll try not to. In the meantime those that are praying for me, please continue to do so. I don’t have a “yes” yet!

I’m giving some thought to changing my MOS option to something new. I’ve spoken to some friends who have been in the Army for years and who know the game, and I’ve spoken to some who were/are currently 11B and decided that even though I want combat arms, the 11B might not be the way to go. I keep hearing that I’m too smart to simply hold a gun and be a meat-shield. I spoke to Doc at length about what he does, his actual MOS is 13F, also known as forward-observer. I could still get my Airborne training, still get my Ranger training, and be able to utilize my head and my mind as well as my physical shape to get me ahead. It’s an exciting MOS from what I hear about it but it makes me wonder about the other options that exist out there that just have poorly-written descriptions in the Army handbook. Reading the job description and hearing about it from someone who does it is a completely different story.

Anyway, there’s lots of time for that to be figured out. I still have to get IN before i worry about what I’ll be doing once I get there.

Work has been good lately. We’ve gotten quite a few large projects completed for customers, have a few more on the way, and have been able to start paying off some of the debt we’ve incurred in the last 12 months. (Between my moving around my home and my office this last year I’ve got rent bills due to three different entities! However by the end of September we’ll have paid all off but one and maybe over half of that one.) It’s not all paid off by no means but I feel very nice on days like today when I turn around and write 12 thousand dollars worth of checks, knowing they’ll all cash, and I’ll even have a few hundred bucks left when it’s all done for myself! lol.

I still look forward to the day when I can actually keep some of the income though, but that’s a ways off. If work keeps up like it has these last two months we can feasibly pull through this recession without starving to death. However, if any of you know anyone who’s in need of network cabling, telephone systems, surveillance systems, or computer support, I’m definitely your man. We have great rates, awesome customer referrals, and we warranty ALL our work longer than the competitor, guaranteed!

I can tell you one thing that makes my days better though. I’ve been an S-Corporation for the last two years. All my time was spent working in QuickBooks, analyzing profit and loss from my PSA tools, paying vendors WAY more than we ever paid ourselves, and generally losing all my time to administrative overhead. Now that I’ve restructured into a sole-proprietorship life is SOOOO much easier. I get a check for a project, take out some for future taxes, cut out the expenses and split the rest with Tim. No more having to track someone else’s receipts or expenses, or any of the other annoying paperwork. At the end of the project we split it in half and most of my bookkeeping is performed on a job cost spreadsheet and a hand-written check ledger. Yeah it’s low-tech but man it’s easier to reconcile at the end of the day. At the end of the year my taxes are going to be so much easier. I almost can’t wait to file!

On the other hand, speaking of low-tech reminded me of high-tech, my Droid X is going to be here on Monday. I can’t wait for my new phone! I’m probably going to spend 50 hours on it before I even make calls. It’s got all kinds of crap I’ve been wanting and none of the hassles of my iPhone. AND I get a roaming hot-spot with me wherever I go. Say hello to my 17’ laptop being mounted to the dash of my jeep! I’ll finally have the internet access I need to do just about anything, 3G permitting of course!

Well, that’s all for me for now. My episodes 1, 2, and 3 of Haven just finished downloading. I’m off to watch TV a little bit before bed. Talk again soon!

Thursday

No, I didn’t have anything more interesting to use for a title than just “Thursday”… it’s just been one of those days. Thankfully it’s been a busy one. I’ve received the first of my shipments for our newest and largest surveillance camera installation job. The rest should be in within a few days and then I’ll be off to Plymouth NC to save a company from 40K per month in loss prevention! Other than that I’ve fixed three computer today for the lady who runs the local humane society. Thats been my day so far.

 

Im trying out a new coffee shop this afternoon. As a matter of fact I’m sitting there now enjoying their house-coffee while I compose this post. I’m still very much getting acclimated to Albemarle, trying to find places that seem like “me” to me. I’ve replaced On Cue with Pontiac Pointe…

 

Well there goes my blog post… Wife just called and I have to go help out at the Vet clinic for a bit. It was fun while it lasted. I’ll try to find some more time to write soon.

“You have reached your destination.” <<Now What?>>

It’s been a harrowing few weeks lately. In the last two months I’ve made more life-altering decisions than ever before during my 33 years on this earth. To recapitulate for those of you who missed the end of Tommy’s Life, Season 32:

• My personal life got wonderfully better. I got married.
• My company is suffering the effects of Obama-Care and a crappy economy.
• I’ve decided to rejoin the US Military (Army- Airborne Infantry, maybe Rangers too?)
• I’m trying to stay afloat…

That’s been my last two months in a nutshell. When I first incorporated my company I thought it was going to be a huge step forward for us. Truth be told, it was a great step for the first 12 months, but like so many hundreds and thousands of other companies I have the misfortune of being in the right place during the wrong economy. I’m not blaming anyone, or crying in my beer. Well, mainly because I don’t drink bear and the tears make my coffee taste like crap, so no tears here. I’m just hitting  a point in my life where it’s not as important for me to own my own business, be my own boss, have a nice condo, etc. It’s more important for me to have the satisfaction of spending quality time with my family and providing for them.

So, Tim and I are going to make a few changes to Twisted; mainly I’m going to restructure the company and unincorporate. We’re keeping our clients and going to offer most of the same services, though we do plan to cut out a few of the unprofitable projects that have yet to bear fruit in our orchard of eternal optimism.  I still plan, against the better judgment of some of my friends, to enlist in Uncle Sam’s Army if they’ll have me, so I need to make things at the company more simple. I need it to be such that Tim can do the work while I’m gone and Amy and my accountant can handle the finances without it being back-breaking labor each month. What will change? Well, checks will be sent to Albemarle instead of Greenville. I won’t have to file monthly sales tax payments (yeah!). And I won’t rack up anymore federal 941 debt. Other than that, most things will remain the same.

In the meantime I’ve been trying since June to get into the Army and still can’t get my paperwork sent through properly. I’m probably the most squared-away military recruit my recruiter has ever seen and it’s done me no good. I have every piece of paper, every transcript, medical record, ASVAB scores off the charts, and yet I continue to get caught up because of a few check boxes on my Medical paperwork, though they aren’t supposed to be issues that cause problems. So, for now I continue to work towards getting enlisted and continue to search for alternative methods to generate income for my family in the meantime.

I ran across a high-school classmate today who has some experience with a company overseas so I’ve put in a few applications for work in Iraq and Afghanistan as a Plan B in case I end up finding out that the Army enlistment is a no-go. I guess the pay is a lot better as a civilian contractor, but I’d rather be in the military to be honest. We’ll see how it goes.

In other news I’ve had my daughter for the whole summer so far and it’s been great. This is the most I’ve ever had her and I already can’t wait for next summer (if I’m here). It’s so nice to be able to spend time with her and see her grow up daily before my eyes, rather than in bursts every couple months like usual. She probably doesn’t have any fantastic memories of Dad’s house this summer, but she did learn to ride a horse while she was here and she learned a lot about taking care of pets of all types. lol. If we’ve succeeded at nothing else this summer we have at least assuredly denied NC State the application of yet another veterinary student. Working with Amy full time burns out interns like bad light bulbs. They see what she does for a living and all that it entails and quickly decide to focus instead on a career of waitressing!

While I’m talking I might as well tell you about the plans for the next couple of months. Pending things go well with the Army (crossing fingers yet again) I should be able to depart for BCT sometime around October or November. In the meantime I’ve approached this like I approach everything else  do; lots of research and then more research. I call it the Stovall-Approach to life. Measure 21 times, cut once. My research has taught me that I’m not ready, physically, to excel in today’s Army. Can I pass the requirements? Sure. But I can’t ACE the requirements yet.My research led me to a book by a guy names Sgt Volkin who wrote a very good series called the “Ultimate Guide to Basic Training.” No, it’s definitely not a cheat-sheet for the Army, but it is a good guide to the physical requirements you need to train your body for.  I really like his approach. It’s a lot like what I was expecting; not designed to make you the absolute most athletic guy in the world, but instead to make you the most military-fit guy in the world.

In short, to best prepare this old beat-up body for active duty I’m going to have to make some changes. As soon as I hear a positive commitment from Uncle Sam I’m going to adopt my new fitness regime, (you the reader are assuming that I have one now, right? ha!) which includes at it’s core; going to bed at 9 PM and getting up at 4 AM every day, 2 miles runs before breakfast, and 1 hour of stretching and PT 7 days a week for 2 months.

Those who know me would be proud. I’ve already decreased my caffeine intake substantially. I’m drinking decaf coffee. I’m down from 2 pots per day to less than 1. I haven’t had a coke in over a week. I’ve cut my smoking to 1 pack per day. (No that’s not a major accomplishment, but unless you’re a smoker you have no idea how dependent the body is on nicotine). Once I get the green-light I’ll have to quit coffee altogether and find someway to quit smoking completely. I dread that day, but I know its coming.

Other than that, there’s not much going on. I wake up every day and try to get on top of our current projects, which are very slow right now. Then I spend a couple hours trying to find other income whether it be a part time job, producing materials in the woodshop to sell, or looking for overseas contracts.

Well, that’s life for me right now. I’m gonna post this and leave it at that. Stay in touch all.  A few comments on the blog wouldn’t kill ya!

I Married My Best Friend

When: June 19th, 2010

Where: Our House in Albemarle, NC

Why: Because I couldn’t stand the idea of going a day longer without her as my wife.

Some of you already know the story of the last year and a half of my life, a story which goes all the way back to 1993. If I had carried my cuff links back from my first prom date seventeen years ago I would have never married her. I remember those prom cuff links cost me 13 dollars in charges for failing to return them to Davis Bridal in Manteo. (Click here if you want to see the details pertaining to how this all started.) I think one day soon I’m going to look them up and send them 13 more dollars and a note telling them how this all happened.

Amy and I have been wanting to be married for a long time. We’ve been talking about it almost since the first day we started dating again. I think we’ve both known for many months that we are the two destined for each other. Too many things had to be perfectly aligned in the universe for it to be any other way. She was made for me and I for her.

To all my friends who didn’t get to attend the marriage ceremony: I’m certainly sorry everyone couldn’t be there to share it with us. We’ve planned and planned and thought out ways to have the perfect wedding we want and to be able to have a huge event with all our friends, and believe me when I say we have a huge collection of wonderful people in our lives we would want to share this moment in our lives with. Life and responsibilities for both of us have just made it more difficult that we would have liked to have that perfect day the way we originally planned and so we decided to be together now for the sake of each other rather than wait for the sake of others.

So at 6 PM on Saturday we had the ceremony with some of our family present and a very few friends who could make it on short notice. Between 10 AM on Thursday and Saturday afternoon we managed to get the suit, dress, flowers, food prepared, guests, a preacher, and get the house completely cleaned and ready to accept company. It was a whirlwind of activity and I can’t imagine trying to plan it again, but it went off absolutely beautifully and afterwards we sat on the porch together amidst our friends and family and agreed that it was somehow absolutely perfect. It was us.

Then, in typical-geek-fashion, we announced it to the rest of the world via Facebook at 11 PM that night, after everyone had gone home and we finally had a moment to relax and just enjoy the remaining company. We laughed about it and thought to ourselves, “well, it’s going to be interesting in the morning” and went off to bed.

In all honesty, there was no way to call everyone at 10 PM that evening and even if we tried, amidst the collective 500 people we both know who deserved to know or to attend, the task of telling everyone was insurmountable. So, please accept my pardon if you feel slighted about finding out about it on the web, but at the end of the day we did this for each other, and we hope you’re happy for the both of us.

Amy and I have known for a long time that we are meant to be together. Too many things have aligned in the universe for it to be any other way.

Will there still be a big event? Yes!
Do we know when? Not yet.
Will everyone be invited? Of course!

In the meantime I have comfort that I’m married to the woman of my dreams and I’ve been gifted with something more wonderful than words can say. She carries my last name after all these many years! It’s so very hard to believe that she’s my wife! I’m still fearing that I’ll wake up only to find it all a dream.

I’m going to have to work every day of my life to be worthy of the woman who’s decided to share her life with me. I’m truly the luckiest man in the entire world today and every day henceforth from now on.

If you want to see the pictures and videos from the wedding, they’re all available online on my Facebook account, but also on Flickr (which is open to anyone, so you can see them without being a facebook member).

Wedding Photos on Flickr

Wedding Video on YouTube

That’s all for now! I hope you all find the happiness that I have and that you can appreciate it like I do, daily.

A Change in the Wind

   I’ve been wanting to make this post for over a week, but I feel I needed to wait until the time was right, and I feel like that time has come, so I’m going to share with you what’s been going on these last few weeks in my life, and what’s to come in the near future.

How to say it:

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I’ll paraphrase:

As soon as I can possibly do so, I’m joining the US Army. Whether I’m going the National Guard Active First program or regular Army has yet to be decided and mainly depends on the current recruitment opportunities offered by the two branches. Truthfully my first instinct is to join the ARNG (National Guard) only because though I’m still not given a choice of bases, I’m guaranteed to be based in North Carolina, which fits with the goals and reasons I have for joining in the first place.

What are you thinking, Tommy?

I’ve heard this one a few times this week, along with “you’re crazy” and “what??” followed by a quizzical expression that means they think I just started speaking in a foreign language and couldn’t possibly have meant what I just said. So I’ll tell you the real reason and hopefully you’ll understand it and support me in it.

Reason #1

I want to have a family. I have the single most wonderful woman in the world who loves me and whom I love with all my heart, who I hope one day soon will agree to be my wife. I want to raise our kids together, hers, mine, and maybe one of “ours” if life and the universe permits… To do that I need to be able to provide for my family.

Of course I already have a job. I own a company. I have responsibilities there too but they come secondary to my family. My daughter deserves a Dad who can financially care for her, help put her into college one day. My wife (future-hopeful-tense) deserves a husband who can provide for his family and who can be a breadwinner and put food on the table every week of the year. My family needs someone they can count on to care for them and in this economy it seems the best method I can think of (and I’ve spend considerable time considering alternatives this last six months).

Reason #2

I want to serve my country. I’ve always wanted to serve my country. I joined the US Marines when I was 16 years old in the DEP program and shipped off to basic in August of 1995. Unfortunately at that time the condition I had with my knees prevented me from qualifying for the Marines because they would have had to assume a huge insurance liability. (In short, they thought I would get hurt because of my knees and since it was pre-existing, the Corps was open to a lawsuit if I wasn’t operated on first. The operation would have put me on Parris Island for 16 months, so I chose to avoid that and pursue college instead.) I could have enlisted in the Army that very day, but for whatever reason I didn’t. Maybe 15 weeks of Parris Island had predisposed me to not wanting more torture at the time. lol.

I’ve sat idly by and watched my best friends (Doc and Desmond) be pulled away from their families to serve their country and to fight to defend the freedoms I have and I’ve spent many years thinking it was my duty to stand with them and do the same. I don’t think anyone who isn’t willing to fight for freedom deserves to have it and I love the freedoms my country has to offer, even considering the horrible shape I think it’s in right now politically. That’s a blog post for another day…

Reason #476

Since this economy started the perpetual nose dive it’s been on, my business has suffered tremendously. Everyone is feeling the pain and I am no worse off than any other. I don’t want pity for my circumstances. I simply want them to change. Considering the changes I have tried to affect in the last eight months or so have born little fruit I’m choosing an option that will allow me to continue to own my company, continue to see it survive, and will put me in a financial position to pull it back on course.

I’ve spent the last 12 months staying one step ahead of the collectors. Tax payments due. Auto payments due. Child support due. I make enough money to pay one of them if I rob the other two, but I have to pay another the next month and rob the other two and the circle has been going on so long that I’m tired of it. I’m too good at what I do and too smart to be where I am financially. For the last three months I’ve been facing the fact that if i want to support my family, provide for Amy and Hannah and Jordan and Josh – a family of 5, keep out of child-support court, stay out of jail, evade the tax agencies, and in general just be able to enjoy my life; something has to change. If I serve and volunteer to go active duty immediately upon enlistment, I can affect that change. No one gets rich in the military, so in case you’re thinking of sharing your horror stories, Don’t. I don’t want to hear them. I’ve done the research diligently, asked the right questions, and spoken to the right people to know this can be a financially sound investment in my family. My insurance will be provided for. Amy, Hannah, Josh, (I include Jordan too, but she’s covered already through her own enlistment) will have better insurance. There are bonuses for certain MOS enlistments, such as Infantry. (If you volunteer to get shot at, that’s worth a bonus apparently.) Enlisted pay sucks but if I go active and deploy the bonuses for combat pay, danger pay, and others kick in. It will most likely take me two to three years if I can fast track to Officer, and then the pay just about doubles again.

What Comes Next?

Well, I go to enlist tomorrow, depending on how things turn out with the ARNG I’ll either be National Guard or regular Army. I’m going to volunteer for 11B (infantry) and I’m going to volunteer for Active First, which means “Here I am, Sir. Learn me and Burn me and send me to the sandbox as fast as you can.” From the time I enlist there will be some unknown time until I ship for OSUT. (One Station Unit Training). Rather than go through 9 weeks of BCT (Basic Combat Training) and then 5 weeks of AIT (Advanced Individual Training), certain MOS’ (job descriptions) like Infantry have a program called OSUT (One Station Unit Training). This means me and everyone who’s training with me for Infantry will go straight through BCT and AIT all at the same time at the same base, hopefully Fort Benning, GA. No pass Go, no collect $200.00, and no break home in between. From there, it’s unknown yet and fairly unpredictable how things will go.

What’s the Goal?

The end goal here is to volunteer for active duty overseas as quick as I can and get it over with. Do I want to get shot at on a daily basis? No. Am I crazy and wanting to get myself killed? No. Truth is I stand a much higher chance of dying in a car crash driving back and forth between Greenville and Albemarle than I do ever even getting hurt in a foreign country during active service.  I’m hoping to National Guard because as soon as I return (in about a year) I’ll be able to return to Twisted Networks on a full time basis and continue to serve my country on the ARNG schedule as needed indefinitely; 6 years, 8 years, 20 if I’m able. That keeps me in the state near my family and if I bust my hump and work hard I can get a full time station close enough to live home with Amy during the week all the time. Is that guaranteed? No sir it isn’t, but it’ a hell of a lot better way to care for my family than what I’m doing now.

33 and Joining the Army?

I’m well aware how old I am. I know it’s hard. I’ve been smoking for 15 years and I’m going to be (competing is the wrong word here) having to stand toe-to-toe and excel with a bunch of 18 year old boys fresh out of high school. I’ve done the research for the qualifications needed to score the best possible on my “point areas” and I  know what I need to meet to ACE the equivalency scores of guys almost half my age and they’re within my capabilities to achieve.  The army promotional system is based on Scores. You score enough here and there and you qualify (depending on TIS) for promotions, etc. The APFT (Army Physical Fitness Test) isn’t that hard compared to the Corps, but it’s still going to be tough regardless. For a 33 year old male smoker, in order to score a perfect 100 on the APFT I’ve got to be able to do 75 pushups in 2 minutes, 76 sit-ups in 2 minutes, and run two consecutive miles in 13 minutes and 18 seconds. Can I do all that now? Yes. Can I do it all in two minutes meet the run time requirements? Hell no! Can I do all THREE consecutively in order and maintain those numbers… GOD NO. I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me before OTUS arrives.  Thank God I already nail the weight class requirements on the head. The ideal weight for me is 200-205 which I’ve been at for almost a year now. I’m pretty sure the running and working out is going to shave that down a few, but I can add some back easily enough if I need to I suppose.

In other ways I stand to benefit from my age. I’ve been through USMC basic and I survived and I remember the head games and I know what to expect (and I don’t care who you are, USMC basic for the uninitiated teenager is the closest thing there is to Hell on this earth!) I remember puking my guts out in the gas chamber, but even though you want to die, you don’t. Even though you THINK you’re going to hold your breath… you’re not. lol.  I remember literally doing pushups counting in the hundreds until they made grown men cry like babies for it to stop. Drill sergeants in the Army are different from the USMC and expect you to act your age and 15 extra years of living has granted me (hopefully) a maturity 18 year olds don’t possess. That’s an edge. It makes me more eligible for leadership positions and those in turn improve everything else. I really don’t want to be one in a group. I want to lead. Always have.

The ASVAB is going to be another challenge. I took the ASVAB right out of high school and scored a 98 out of possible 99. I’ve taken three practice ASVABs recently just to see where I stand and I scored a 91, so I haven’t forgotten TOO much since the good old days but I’ve got studying to do still.  The army requires a 31 to enter, which isn’t saying much but MOS’ like 11B require a CO score of 90 (CO is AR+CS+AS+MC), meaning I have to have score high enough in the areas of Arithmetic Reasoning, Coding Speed, Auto and Shop Information, and Mechanical Comprehension to qualify for certain guarantees and bonuses for enlistment. Can I pass the infantry test? Right now yes, but I’d like to pass it with enough shining color that when I’m compared to the other guys billing for my slot that I stand above. In the Army (and every other branch) your ASVAB score follows you forever like a story about a bad ex-girlfriend in high school. You never get away from it.

I’ve received all my college transcripts from ECU and COA and tracked down my DD-214 from the Marine Corps. The only thing left is to take the ASVAB and sign up!

What About My Company?

Yes, of course there are considerations there, literally hundreds of them, but they’re being handled. Twisted Networx has good people and we do good work and it will continue functioning as normal during my hiatus through BCT and AIT. Once I’m active, I’ll be less involved in the day to day operations but I’ll still retain oversight and still be doing work, if not on a “daily” basis.  The truth is, and I know it comes as a shock to some people, but I never intended to be the chief technician of my company forever. I built it to own it and to see it grow. I’m lucky enough to have one or two good people, who I think in my absence, will actually make it in to more than it is now. The proof will, in the end, be in the pudding as they say. I do things MY way, so my team does things MY way because I’m the CEO. We’ve worked together long enough to know that we all share the same vision of where we want it to be, but we have different methods of getting there. Getting me out of the way for a little bit will be a chance for the others to step up and grow themselves and prove to both themselves and the world if they’ve got what it takes to run a business. Will things be done “my” way while I’m not present? Probably not. They’re probably setting up a list of “Things to do away with when Tommy is gone” as I write this, which will be followed by a New York Times Best Seller titled “What Tommy Didn’t Know” which I’ll have to stomach daily when I return…. I’ll deal.

The Hardest Thing

The single hardest thing I’m going to face is leaving my family. Amy and I have worked so very hard this last year for me to at first “BE” home at all, then to be home 2 days a week, now it’s 3 and sometimes 4 days a week that we’re able to be together as a family. Once this starts I’m going to have to live not seeing her face for months at a time. That’s going to kill me. I’m trying to remember she’s the reason I’m doing this and to use that as my fuel for getting back home as fast as I can.

I’m going to have my daughter this summer, for the first time ever. Michelle has been awesome enough to let me have her the whole summer! I’m going to get to spend every day with her, and then have to send her back to her Mom’s and tell her that I don’t know how long before Daddy will be home again. That part is just going to suck. But I remember what it was like with my Dad growing up. I love my Dad but he bailed on child support for most of my life, just as he did with my other siblings. I don’t want to be that kind of Dad. I’ve had to struggle to pay it and at times it’s been months between payments and my daughter deserves better. I want to be able to buy her a bike without thinking which bill I’m going to have to let slide to do it. I’m tired of having all the right ideals and not being able to live up to the man I’m supposed to be to the people I love. So it’s time for a change! I hope they know that I’m doing this for all the right reasons and not because it’s something I “want” to go do.

I wasn’t raised to be the kind of man that can live off his wife. True, Amy makes a great salary, and I don’t feel like I need to make more than her to be a man. Amy went through most of a decade of school to get where she is and I’m so proud of her… you have no idea how amazed I am by her daily, just seeing the independent woman she’s become. But at the end of the day I’m in love with a really strong woman, a really really strong woman, and it takes a stronger man to earn that kind of love and to keep it and I need to start doing that better than I have this year so far. I need to provide for the family I have and to be able to look them in the eye with pride and to ensure for their health, their safety, and their future and this is how I know I can do it.

July 2010: 9th Annual Pig Pickin’ Birthday Bash (and Reunion?)

It’s the annual Scooby “Hey Mama, No Drama, Pig-Slayin’, Birthdayin’, Drink-Drinkin’, Canoe sinkin’, Volleyballin, Hey-Y’all-in”, bonfirin’, very tirin’ Barbecue Event of the year!”

Everyone is invited! Come one come all, come short, come tall, just come! This is my once-a-year non-related family reunion where all my friends, their families, and as many newcomers as we can get can gather together for one day of the summer to hang out, eat good food, and have a good time. It always winds up being a birthday party for at least two people. This year’s official party people are Mom and Amy (And Bridget I think). (No, you don’t have to bring gifts. Showing up is all we’re asking.. though I’m sure the party girls won’t turn them down if you do! lol”

I’ve been throwing this event since Doc and I started it in 2001 and there won’t be many more years left to do it on the beach, so I want everyone to enjoy it as often as possible!

Changes for 2010

There are two main changes this year to the event:

1. More guests: We’ve packed as many as 60 or so at these events in the past and never come close to running out of food or space or good time, so I’m broadening my horizons this year! Past guests have turned this into a chance to bring more and more of their families each year, so I’m going to try to do likewise. The Jordan side of my family has never had a reunion so I’m extending the invite to any family member I can find in the hopes that we can expand the tradition by bringing family and friends together for one great day.
2. Menu Change: Trying to coordinate who is bringing what gets more difficult each year, especially as the crowd grows in number. If a person bringing a critical food/dish/accessory can’t come it causes a crisis. So this year, we’re making it really simple. Bring Cash! We are going to cook and provide ALL the food and accessories this year. You just have to show up and have a good time. We’re certainly not trying to get rich off this thing, but a pig, cooker, and tents to feed 60 people runs over $400.00 so we’re asking the following: (no exceptions)
• Adults Over 16: $10.00 each
• Kids Below 16: Free
  It would be REALLY nice to collect some of the monies before the event, so if you KNOW you’re coming, contact me or mom via email, Facebook, or mobile phone and I can tell you how to send your money in advance via cash, check, etc. It’s not a requirement to have your money before you arrive, but it would make it easier on purchasing food.
  My email is tjordan@carolinaregion.com.
  My Facebook is: http://www.facebook.com/tommyjordaniii
  My mother’s email address is boutlaw@carolinaregion.com
  Mom’s Facebook is: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=521333113

When is the Event:

The “event” seems to expand a little more each year, so I’ll list the general guidelines and we’ll go from there. The Pig Pickin’ itself starts as soon as you can arrive on Saturday Morning, July 10, 2010. In recent years we have had more and more people showing up a day or sometimes TWO days early to hang out, help out, and just visit the beach and friends. Over time we’ve developed a tentative playbook for each year. It goes something like this:

• Thursday July 8th: Myself and a few volunteers go down to get the cooker test-fired, all the materials gathered up, and start getting ready for Friday. Thursday night is spent hanging out in the front yard with the volley ball net, canopies, drinking sweet tea and telling stories of  previous years while wondering what it’s gonna be like this year.
• Friday July 9th: Pre-partiers show up and hang out. All the tents and canopies are setup, kids swim in the water in front of the house, and most of the out-of-towners come down to Manteo to get their hotel room and visit OBX. There is a friday night ritual we’ve started and plan to continue:
• Option A: We get together all the people with four-wheel-drive vehicles and head out to drive on the beach and experience the wonder of the Outer Banks like it was meant to be: from the back of a truck with a cooler of drinks! Recent federal legislation is limiting access to the beaches so we can’t plan for this until the actual day of the event because we never know if the access ramps to the beaches will be open or not. (Hence option B)
• Option B: We throw a huge bon-fire in the back yard once it cools off and we sit around and hang out and relax in preparation for Saturday’s long event.
• Saturday July 10th:
• 6 AM: The pig goes on the cooker! Show up anytime between 6AM and 11 AM and you might be put to work! lol
• 11 AM: The “Event” begins and folks start to show up in earnest. Kids can swim. Adults can sit in the shade. There’s canoeing, swimming, volleyball, all kinds of stuff.
• 2 PM: I shoot to have the pig done and have folks eating by 1-2 PM. If you’re early, that’s great. If you come later, don’t worry. We always have enough food for the stragglers! It’s an ALL DAY EVENT.
• Evening: (Somewhere between 8-9ish) we have a bonfire again or head to the beach, or both!

Where is the Event:

Mom’s house in Manns Harbor North Carolina. You can visit any of the posts from previous years to see what we’re gonna do but it’s a half acre of grassy lawn right on the water. We’ll have the volleyball net up and things for the kids to do and we’ll have the tents and pavilions up so the adults can get out of the sun. There will be canoes and stuff to do in the water for kids of all ages, plenty of space to sit back and relax, a good crowd of friends and family, and more. I don’t know how much more yet, but I’ll post it as I come up with the plans.There’s usually a boat or two to go out on the water. Sometimes we’ve had people show up with jet-skis, etc. Last year we had three guests arrive by boat! All we need is someone to parachute in this year and we’ll have covered all possible venues for entry!

Rules for the Event:

To keep this a fun event for all involved we kind of separate the day into two parts. Anyone wanting to do some serious drinking is welcome to do so any time before Saturday morning, and on Saturday night. Since we try to keep this a family-style affair, I do ask that you keep your wits about you during the main event on Saturday.

Drinking is perfectly fine, just be level headed and don't get obnoxious. From about 11 AM until 6 PM on Saturday is likely to be filled with family, some younger children, etc and I want them to have a good time too and feel like they can bring their families the next year. In all the years we've been doing this, we've never had anyone get out of hand but I feel better if I say it up-front. Anyone that gets obnoxious gets ejected from the event via slip-n-slide!

Pets: Lots of us have pets and mom has a big yard, so a reasonable amount of pets are acceptable. If you want to bring your dogs, just be aware that when the food is served they will need to be staked, or roped up in the back yard so as not to cause a mess while we're trying to eat. Other than that they can be loose all day as long as they’re behaved. If your dog is aggressive or barks all the time or in general just annoys everyone but you, I reserve the right to drown it or tie it to my dog and let it learn some manners! lol.

Other than that, just don't trash my  mom’s yard.  Clean up behind yourself, keep the cigarette butts and trash off the grass and put where it belongs, and don’t break anything you can’t afford to repair. That’s about it. lol.

Overnight Guests –Hotel Rates

Mom has talked to the Duke of Dare motel and they are extending us the same rates they did last year. (Great benefit of having a motel as a client!) If you need hotel accommodations for any of the nights in question the rates are as follows:

• No Pets
• Single Queen Bed Room - $58.30 per night.
• Double Queen Beds Room - $77.50 per night.

The hotel is very generous to give us these rates in a tourist beach in the middle of their busiest season. In order to be sure you have a room, please book your rooms no later than June 20th. You can call the Duke of Dare motel at (252) 473-2175‎ and tell them you’ve been given special rates and you’re with the Brenda Outlaw party for the July 10th weekend. If you have any trouble booking your rooms or getting the discount, let me know and I’ll help you get your reservations. (The owners give us this discount so the in-house staff doesn’t always know about it. It caused some confusion one year…)

Things to Bring

We’re handling the food this year so that makes life a lot easier on everyone, but there still might be a few amenities guests who haven’t been here might want to bring.

• Alcohol: We will provide a large variety of soft drinks, teas, diet sodas, caffiene free, and all the normal stuff to keep most folks happy, but if you want alcohol it’s BYOB.
• Camp Chairs: We usually borrow a bunch of chairs and tables for everyone but you can never go wrong bringing your own camp-chairs.
• Water-Stuff: If you’re bringing kids and they want to play in the water, its clean, safe and they’ll have a great time. The water level at the dock is a little over two feet, and you can swim out to deeper water with no problem, so it’s great for everyone from ages 8-80 without supervision. If you have little children floats, beach balls, and the like can be fun. We’re already going to have canoes and life jackets for those who want to go out on the water.

Who Else Is Attending:

This is another change from year’s past; I’m not going to publish a guest list. Every year I forget people to invite and then I feel like a dirtbag! lol. If you’re reading this post and you are a friend of ANY of us, you’re so very much welcome to come. We want as many friends and family as we can get to help us enjoy the weekend. We save money all year to be able to do this once per year so the more the merrier!

PLEASE RSVP!

I’m publishing this post on my blog, on Facebook, via email, and through friends. My blog post will be updated regularly throughout the process with new information so feel free to bookmark the page and check back for updates. Please remember to RSVP via email, phone, text, facebook, or carrier pigeon so we know how many are coming and how many to cook for. We just need need confirmed numbers when it comes time to purchase the food and supplies.

Still need convincing:

If you’re still not sure, take a look at a few links and photos from past year’s events!

• BBQ 2009
• BBQ 2008
• BBQ 2007 (2) (3) (4)

 

Running out of Bedrooms! (and loving it)

Its been quite awhile since I’ve had the time to write like I wanted. It’s 7:30 in the morning now, the boy child is entertained watching cartoons, the dogs are fed and taken care of, and my only goal for the early part of the day is to let Amy and TK sleep a little longer.

With the work load at the clinic and the additional stress of monitoring the mare 24x7 for the last two weeks there has been very little time for either of them to relax. I’m hoping they both sleep until 10, but I know it’s unlikely.

It’s really proving to be a year of change and growth here for our family. Last year this time it was Amy and me, with her son on the weekends. Now we’ve got our newest member, Jordan, added to the mix and by summertime we’ll have my daughter for a few months. I remember when we got this house thinking we’d never have it full, but this summer we’ll have 3 kids here and a family of five! I’m a little stressed out thinking how we’re going to pull it off, but the other part of me can’t wait to have the whole family together.

Now, as much as I’d like to continue this right now, I need to get little-man fed before he starts a mutiny. Back later if I can get the free time!

Valentines Day, Moving Day, and The Transporter

Yes, I feel a little bit like Jason Statham this evening, from The Transporter. To clarify the reference, it’s been 48 hours of non-stop mind-wrenching, finance crunching, body-bashing, mind-numbing exhaustion. Quite honestly I should be in bed already but I’ve wanted to catch up with all of you who read the blog so I’m using this time to unwind, after which I plan on very unceremoniously planting myself face first into my pillow and recuperating until sunrise.

Slow morning

Well, it’s 9:30 and I should be working but I figure since I started working at 7:15 instead I’m entitled to a few minutes of down-time to write on the blog.

Life here has been up and down lately, busy then slow, then back to generally hectic. Work is going ok these last ten days or so. We’re not screaming busy or anything but we’ve had a run of days where we’re doing $300-$500 days back to back. We need that to crawl our way slowly out of this last two months of incredible slowness. I can’t wait until life straightens out a little and I can stop avoiding calls from creditors. It’s hard to stay motivated some days when it’s a constant barrage of Child-Support, Car Payment, and Landlord juggling. Those are the three bills that eat up most of my income each month and I always make enough to pay two out of three, plus all the other stuff like power and phone, but never enough for all three. Juggling these three bills has become a way of life I’d just as soon put behind me. God I miss the days when I made two-grand a week…lol.

My free time is still just that, free. You can’t work twenty-four hours out of the day, even if you want to. There always comes a point at which I have to stop and wait on someone, wait on business hours to reopen, etc..

There’s not much going on with my free time lately. I’ve been spending a lot of time with the puppy trying to get her trained. Today was the first day she didn’t pee and poop on my hardwood floor. She peed on the pad and went outside for the other…. whoever thought I could be so happy about mundane things. You can’t appreciate the perspective until you’ve spent every day cleaning pee off the carpet, rugs, and hardwood eight to nine times a day.

Facebook:

In typical fashion Facebook has changed their format yet again, instigating yet another round of people creating “I want the old facebook back” groups or voicing their gripes through status updates. It’s amusing to watch. For some reason this social network has inundated itself into people’s lives very deeply.

Unfortunately for some people, things do change. Facebook will never stop evolving. It’s not a deep-seated desire to make your life confusing, but rather their way of staying the world’s most popular social network. The net evolves, technology evolves, so yes… technology based on the net has to evolve. Just accept it and deal with it.

Maybe I’ll go write a post about How-To on Facebook.

Not eBay I swear!

No, I’m not turning my blog into another eBay auction house. If you’ve seen some of the recent few posts you might be wondering. A and I have both been sitting on a bunch of material that needs to get sold.. guns, computer parts, old wedding dress, books, etc.

While I do have an eBay account, and one with absolute perfect feedback for the last six years, I’m lately finding it difficult to get the motivation to want to list anything at all on eBay. Between the increased seller fees, paypal fees, credit card fees, and endless amount of consumers wanting everything for nothing, I’ve become disillusioned by the whole process. As a buyer I use it all the time, but as a seller I just find it too bothersome any more unless you have a real niche market or want to spend six months trying to sell that five dollar item.

So, in a sort of quasi-socialistic-marketing approach I decided to list my items for sale on my blog and see what happened. Will people be interested? Will anyone visit the items? Will selling through my blog work? I have no idea. It’s just a new idea and I want to see if it will work. After all, if I sell through here I have no reason to screw anyone on shipping to cover fees, and have no hassles getting the product out the door. All the items are ready to ship and the sooner they do, the sooner I’ll have my office-space back.

Wish me luck!

This blasted weather…

It’s 6:30 on Friday night and I’m waiting for Amy to get back home. I got home tonight around 5 pm and was given just enough time to kiss Amy hello before she had to leave on an emergency call to put a horse to sleep. She had thawed steaks for dinner, but that’s on hold for now until she gets home.

The drive from Greenville this afternoon that should have taken three and a half hours instead took a little over five thanks to the impact that bad weather has on driver’s good sense. I don’t know what it is about a traffic accident that causes people to slow down so much that they backup for over five miles on a four lane freeway just to rubberneck at some other individual’s misfortune. After sitting in the traffic for most of an hour I decided to use some of those cool toys I have to make a break for it and find another route. Thanks to the help of the GPS in my iPhone I was able to get out of the worst of it, but it took over five miles of back road to get past it. I tried coming back near the interstate intermittently now and again, only to see signs of further congestion on other streets as well, so I just found alternate routes one after another paralleling highway 40/64 until I finally dumped out one mile ahead of my exit, so all in all it worked out nicely.

Forty miles later I just about got sideswiped out of existence thanks to a eighteen-wheel dumptruck that decided my lane looked more appealing than his. I’m just glad to be home! Amy called and I could tell she was worried my mood was shot to pieces and wondered if I’d get home grumpy and ill, but one look at her smiling face put my perspective back where it needed to be. Then of course she had to go.

A fresh look

It’s currently 12:43 AM as I sit here and compose this before bed. Those of you who are returning will notice the blog looks quite different. Some of you will like the changes and others might not. Some have commented that it “feels more like me” while others have argued just the opposite.

While I’m not sure yet of my thoughts on the matter, I am quite certain the time had come for a change.

Links to other blogs

I got the blogroll re-added after being removed for a couple of hours while I did some design work on the blog structure. I have a few friends who have been linking to me for years and I’d like to reciprocate the favor. If you aren’t aware, one of the best ways to generate search engine relevance is through link back popularity; the more people who have links to your site, the better search engines like Google grant you relevance in the blogosphere. With that in mind, if you would like a link back to my blog I would certainly appreciate it and will reciprocate in kind if you let me know you did it.

While rebuilding the blogroll listing on my own blog I decided to go with alphabetical since people might get the impression that they are more or less important to me if I listed them in the order

Another day in the snow

The morning started way too early today. Joshua was up at 6:30 and let the dogs in the house, after which Amy had to get up, make him to back to bed for an hour (hopefully) and put the dogs back away in the garage. Not one to break with tradition I slept peacefully through this entire ordeal.

White memories

     Amy is making breakfast as I write this. We woke this morning to a white wonderland outside. I should say the rest of the house woke while I slept on for about another hour. By the time I joined them, they were already tired and ready to come inside. I guess I missed my chance to spend time with them in the snow. Maybe they’ll want to do it again later and I can be part of it.

 

In the meantime, here is a picture of our wonderland this morning.

 

 

I’d better run and get my laptop off the breakfast table before breakfast is served.

Talk again soon!