ChadderBox

Telemarketers

2009-07-14T13:00:00.007-05:00

We have all seen their numbers show up on our caller ID only to be followed by a "UGH" and a roll of our eyes. We hesitantly pick up the phone and have to say hello like 20 times before the goofwad on the other side finally says, "Hello, Mr. So-And-So." This is where it all goes wrong. Those few seconds of quiet on the other end when I am saying, "Hello....He-LLO.......HELLO" is when my blood begins to boil. I mean come on, if you are going to call my house at least have the decency to be ready when I answer the phone. GOOD GRIEF.

It's like when you go to a fast food restaurant and you pull up to the drive-thru and your in a good mood. Ya know, those times when you are about to get your favorite burger and fries and you can already taste it. (Teale's mouth is most likely watering over a Big Mac right now.) Anyway, you pull up and a voice comes through the menu sign thing saying, "May I take your order please?" NEVER take the person on the other side of this menu sign thing seriously when they ask you this the first time. It never fails that I go through my whole spill with special orders and everything............and THEN there is the dreaded moment of silence when you start to wonder if this menu sign thing has just hung up on you. Have no fear, it did not. Soon you will hear the voice again. It may or may not be the same voice you heard before, but it is a voice nonetheless, and they say, "Can you please repeat that?" Are you SERIOUS? Your once happy demeanor turns sour and you would WATERBOY that menu sign thing if you weren't so stinking hungry.

I digress. Back to the subject at hand. Last week our lovely home received a call from one of these ever so friendly telemarketers. Teale and I are sitting on the couch watching t.v. and minding our own business when the phone rang. If you are wondering where Harper was, well she was already in bed! Want to know why she was in bed? IT WAS 9PM. GRRRRRRRR. So we are watching t.v. when the phone rings and our caller ID pops up on the television. I look at Teale and say, "You've got to be kidding me!?!?!" The conversation with the aforementioned Goofwad went something like the following. Mind you, my blood was already a steady gazillion degrees when I answered the phone. I will be known as CCC (Calm & Collected Chad) and Goofwad will be known as (GW) below.

CCC: Hello?
CCC: HELLO?
GW: Hello, is this Mr. CCC?
CCC: YES!!!!!
Teale: (In a quiet, whispering yet stern voice) Chad, CHAD....shhhhh, Harper's in bed. (This let me know I needed to take this conversation to another room.)
GW: (While I'm walking to another room) Mr. CCC, my name is Mr. GW and I am with Dingbat Inc. I'm calling to let you know that we are in your area this week running specials for carpet cleaning, washing.....
CCC: (Finally, I make it to our bedroom and shut the door and stop GW mid-sentence) SIR, DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS?
GW: It is 3 minutes till 9. (He was very aware of this, so apparently they have until 9 to call you....BEWARE)
CCC: WHY IN HEAVENS ARE YOU CALLING ME SO LATE? I HAVE A CHILD IN THE BED FOR PETE'S SAKE?
GW: I had no way of knowing that, sir.
CCC: COMMON SENSE SHOULD TELL YOU NOT TO CALL ME SO LATE IF YOU DON'T KNOW ME. THIS IS AN UNREASONABLE HOUR TO TRY AND MAKE YOUR SALES PITCH. DON'T EVER CALL THIS HOUSE AGAIN. ::::Click:::: (I hung up without waiting for a response, which I now regret. I should have waited to hear his excuse.)

In reality, I know he was just doing his job. I know the company he works for is who had him make that call, but it is absolutely ridiculous to be receiving telemarketing calls so late in the evening. Maybe, just maybe, they won't call back. :) Doubtful though.

OH and I have been known to give the phone to Harper when one of these folks call as well. And if any of you who read this blog are telemarketers, please don't take offense to it. Just don't call my house and we can live happily ever after. :)

Father's Day Blunder

2009-06-22T12:03:00.002-05:00

So yesterday was my first father's day with child in the house, and in all honesty I had forgotten until we got to church. It's tough to remember these things on a Sunday morning when you are frantically trying to get ready and get to church, which I might add we were actually on time for for once. :) We get there and I go to my class and Teale goes with Harper to hers. All is normal. Then after class.....you know, the time between class and service when I should have been introducing myself to visitors and the such.......I go and sit in my assigned seat on my assigned pew and soon after Teale and Harper come out. Harper's kind of mellow at this point and her daddy decides he wants to see her laugh, so to old faithful he goes........throwing her up in the air. This NEVER fails. She will always squeal with delite. This time was no different than any other time UNTIL.......until I threw her up one time and caught her a little too close to daddy's face. My mouth was wide open in laughter and as I brought her down my tooth met her forehead. As you can imagine the D.R.E.A.D.E.D. silent cry started (this is when you know true pain has been inflicted). Soon after came the scream and the evil eye from mommy. Ok, so it wasn't an evil eye, but at this point I pretty much feel like the worst da-da-da-da-da-da-da ever and I'm a little over sensitive and embarassed, so give me a break ok?!? As you could expect she reached for mommy and mommy was able to make the tears disappear in like 2.2 seconds. I think I'm gonna call Guiness.......has to be a record. Don't worry though, there's no longer a tooth mark on her head and I have finally convinced myself that she doesn't have a concussion, nor does she have permanent brain damage as a result. Is there a worse feeling than knowing you have just inflicted pain upon your child......not in the form of discipline? Anywho, I'm sure we will chalk it up to bad luck and be flying through the air by the end of today. :)

On a separate note, I want to say thank you to Teale and Harper for a wonderful Father's Day. They purchased a running trainer for me for Father's Day. I have been working with him on increasing my speed for about a month now and I'm starting to see results. They also gave me a box of Sour Patch Kids.....YUM.....and a bag of Starburst Jelly Beans........DOUBLE YUM. It was a great day. Words are not sufficient to express the blessings that God had bestowed upon me.

CBS Canceled 'The Unit', Voice Your Displeasure

2009-06-10T10:46:00.004-05:00

I received several comments both on this blog and personally regarding their displeasure with CBS canceling 'The Unit'. The last comment I received on this blog mentioned a way to contact CBS to voice your unhappiness. I decided this was post-worthy and thought all of you guys might like to have this information as well. It is nothing more than a link to CBS that allows you to give a short statement of your displeasure. I know it probably won't mean a hill of beans to this station, but if nothing else it gave me an outlet to vent my frustrations.

The gist of my statement to them went something like this:
I want to take just a moment of your time to voice my displeasure with the fact that CBS has canceled 'The Unit'. This is one of the only shows on television that my wife and I actually sat down and watched the night it came on TV. We just simply could not wait for the next episode. The characters became very real to us and the show portrayed real world problems that face our brave soldiers. To drop a show that averages 9 million viewers on a Sunday night at a 9pm time slight must be beyond my comprehension. Many of those Sunday nights it started even later (around 10pm or so) due to the Sunday Night Football Game. I can't imagine you have anything else (other than football of course) that can come even remotely close this many viewers on this night and at that time slot. It is my personal opinion that given a better night (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, or even Friday), it would see ratings get an even larger boost. I know I am only speaking for two individuals here, but I thought someone at CBS should know of the disappointment that my household (as well as many others I assume) have with your station. We now choose not to watch local CBS affiliate because of our disappointment. I know we are only a drop in the barrel, but please realize you have now lost two viewers.

If you would like to contact CBS to voice your opinion, click the following link http://www.cbs.com/info/user_services/fb_global_form.php, choose 'The Unit' as the show, enter your name and email address, and then write a short statement of disappointment. Also, if you don't mind, leave a comment here. I would like to personally know how many of you contacted CBS to help us try to save 'The Unit'. Now get out there and be a radical for once.

Vote.....Vote......Vote II

2009-05-27T12:05:00.002-05:00

Hip Hip Hooray! Harper won her first round in the Babies Gone Wild "cutest baby" contest. She is now in the semi-final round. Voting is currently taking place and will conclude Sunday evening at 6pm CST. Because she is now competing against lots of other babies who also won their first round gallery, we NEED your vote(s). Yes we have figured out how to vote multiple times, as long as you have multiple email addresses. Click here to go to Teale's blog to see how to vote. Whether you live in the Birmingham area, or wheter you live 3000 miles away from us, you can still vote. Teale and I appreciate all of your votes. It will be so exciting to see her on the cover of Alabama Baby magazine if we can pull this off. As of right now, we are WAY WAY WAY behind.

Here is a thought, if you have nothing better to blog about today, you could blog and send all of your readers to Teale's blog at chadtealeandbaby.blogspot.com to show them how to vote. You don't have to, but I'm just sayin.....

Proud Daddy...................check

Competitive Daddy.........check

Look at this picture and tell me, "Is there any doubt that my little MoJo should win?" :)

'The Unit' Canceled

2009-05-20T12:54:00.003-05:00

I had to take just a moment to voice my displeasure over the fact that CBS has canceled one of my all time favorite shows, 'The Unit'. If you have never watched this show, you need to run out and buy season one and get started. Better yet, if you have Netflix, order a season at a time and sit back and enjoy. If you enjoy shows like '24', you will LOVE this. I know this post was short, but I just had to let the world know that I was very upset that CBS has canceled this show. CBS better be happy they are the SEC network and show the SEC game of the week during football season or I would have a good mind to never watch them again......well at least until another show I liked came on. :) It is my hope that another network will pick this show up and give it a better time slot than the 9pm Sunday night time slot it had. :Fingers Crossed:

Vote.....Vote......Vote

2009-05-12T08:34:00.002-05:00

We have entered Harper into a "cutest baby" contest that a local radio station is hosting. She has to win this round to get to the next round, but whoever wins overall gets their photo on the cover of Alabama Baby Magazine. How cool would that be? What we need is your vote. If you don't live where we live, that's fine. Vote anyway. Spread the word and tell everyone you know to vote. :) If she wins this round, I'm sure you will see another post like this one in the near future. If you visit Teale's blog, she has made it SUPER EASY for you to vote. It may take 1 minute of your time.....max. Don't forget to click on the link they send to your email box to confirm your email address. If you don't, your vote won't count. Click here to go to Teale's post and vote away.

Whazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzuppppppppppppp

2009-05-06T15:29:00.003-05:00

I know you all remember the old commercials where everyone yelled "Whazzzzzzzzzuppppppppp?" to everyone else. On the phone, at a friends house, talking to your mom, whatever. Yes it was a commercial for an alcoholic beverage, but it was funny. Well I have walked around for a while now saying that to MoJo. I don't know why I do it......well yes I do......I did it one day and she smiled so I have done it ever since. On a side note, isn't it amazing what we will do just to get a 1/2 second smile out of a child? I always look at Teale and say, "Ya know, we didn't use to be this goofy." Now we make all kinds of sounds and faces that I didn't even know were possible....just to see our daughter smile. I've never played peek-a-boo so much in all my life. Anyway, I guess me saying Whazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzupppppppppppppppp has caught on. Like father, like daughter. Just sayin.

I guess it could also be her best Michael Jordan impression.

Drive-Thru Dingbats

2009-04-08T15:37:00.004-05:00

A while back I had decided that every once in a while I was going to post about drive-thru workers that infuriate me, so here we are. A few nights ago Teale and I decided we wanted Zaxby's for dinner. First of all, the lady that works this drive-thru sounds like a stinkin robot. Seems like she is always working when we go there. If you have ever seen "Deuce Bigalow", then imagine the girl with the tracheotomy hole in her neck. Have her pictured yet? Yeah, well we found her. She works at Zaxby's. I can't order there without laughing. We put in our order and drive around.....I pay.....she give us our drinks. She then proceeds to tell us that they don't have any chicken ready.........huh? this is a chicken place......IT'S ALL.......YOU........DO. I digress. She then proceeds to ask us to pull up and they will bring it out to us. I look in my rearview mirror and guess what? THERE IS NO ONE BEHIND ME. I turn towards her to ask her why, but I then figured it better to just pull up instead of arguing with stupidity. Now, will someone please explain to me why I needed to pull up? Even if......EVEN IF a car had been behind me, may I ask what you were going to give to them? YOU HAVE NO CHICKEN READY......REMEMBER? We pull ahead enough for the imaginary car to pull up to the window, so she can apparently give them their imaginary chicken. Within about 30 seconds of pulling up they bring our chicken out and you got it.......still no car behind us. And we wonder why our economy is so bad......

Economy, P90X, and Turning 30

2009-03-27T11:09:00.005-05:00

Wow! I can't believe it has really been over two months since the last time I posted. Things have been quite hectic for me at work and since that is where I do most of my posting from...shhhhhhh.....that helps explain at least some of my lack of posting. ADT, where I work, laid off 500 people about 3 or 4 weeks ago.....thank goodness I wasn't one of them........so that explains the hecticness (is that even a word?) where I work. It is tough on those that get laid off, but it is also tough on those that are left, because we have to essentially cover the work that those 500 people were doing. Having said that I am entirely grateful to have a job and still be able to support my family. On a side note, am I the only one that is getting tired of hearing about how bad the economy is? It's no wonder that the economy has gone down the tubes, because everytime you turn the TV on it is gloom and doom. Personally I think this is good for the economy. I think you have to have cycles for something as complex as our economy to work. I do realize that I am saying all of this while I have a job and there may be those out there that have lost their job, but it is just my two cents. I firmly believe that if all of the news outlets got together tonight and decided that tomorrow they were all going to report that the economy has made a turn and we are no longer in a recession that we would be amazed at how quickly things would really turn around. I think that some of us are so scared of things right now that we would step over a dollar to pick up a dime.

I digress. Moving forward. The diet has still been going good. I am down 13lbs this year. As of this morning I was officially at 172, which 50lbs lighter than I was two years ago. Maybe I should get Teale to take a picture of me in the jeans that I was wearing two years ago. It is quite funny. I have about reached a weight that I want to be at and now I just want to work on trying to tone some of the flab that I have, so for Valetines Day I talked Teale into buying me the P90X workout. I know you have all seen it. It's the infomercial is called "Get Ripped in 90 Days." No I'm not foolish enough to think I'm going to look like those folks in 90 days, but I have heard it was a great workout and it will help me to get in shape. I'm here to tell you that this workout is no joke. I did it one week and injured myself. I won't go into details......well, because it's just gross. But after sitting out a week, here I am back at it. Officially I am on week two of the 12 week workout program. If you are thinking of buying this, I say go for it, but beware that after the first few workouts, you feel like an absolute bum because the folks on that DVD are INSANE. OHHHHHH I almost forgot, also beware of the Yoga. I must admit, I went into the Yoga workout very skeptical. Hardest workout I have ever done, bar none. The workout is an hour and 30 minutes with no breaks. For the first 45 minutes you are on your arms in the downward dog position.....aka butt WAY up in the air.....with very few rests for your arms. I HATED this workout. I was yelling at the TV saying, "Give me a BREAK!" and "This is RIDICULOUS. Who can successfully do this?" Teale came down to see what I was doing and was immediately like, "OH MY!" She said I was sweating about as hard as she had ever seen me sweat before. Now that I have scared you, I still think it is a good program and you just have to know how to pace yourself. "Do your best, and forget the rest." To go along with this I have changed my new years goals just a bit. I had several workout goals. Most of which I am doing well in, but my running goals are changing. I am now focusing only on speed and not distance. My speed in the 1.5 mi absolutely stinks. I need to shave about 2 minutes off. That is A LOT of time. Any suggestions?

I'm sure most that read this blog also read Teale's blog, so you already know that I turned the big 3-0 this month. Oddly enough, I feel the same as I did when I was 29. Can you believe it? WELLLLL.....except for the injury that I had, which was the first time I ever experience that. I have been blessed so much throughout the years and I am so very thankful for everything I have, but most of all I am thankful for my wonderful wife and beautiful daughter. Teale stands behind me in everything I do and I am so very thankful to have someone like that in my life. She's always positive, and never a debbie-downer. I can always count on her to be there with good, honest advice when a big decision comes our way. And Harper, I mean what can I say. She changed my entire world. I never knew life could be like this, but oh what a joy it is. There is nothing better than coming home from work everyday and seeing that little girl look up and smile at me. I have been blessed beyond measure and if the next 30 years are as great as the first 30 were, then I have truly received blessings in this life I don't deserve.

I hope all is well with everyone and I will try to keep this updated more often now.

Free Blog Design

2009-01-16T10:03:00.002-06:00

Teale's blog designs are being featured on The Pink Potpourri in the Free Friday Giveaway. Check out The Pink Potpourri for details on how to enter for this great giveaway. I know that all of my readers already know how creative Teale is and how awesome she is at anything she endeavors to do, so get out there and spread the word.

Happy New Year 2009

2009-01-12T13:28:00.002-06:00

So it has been a while since I have blogged and I know the new year has already come and gone, but I wanted to go ahead and mention my personal goals for this year. They are all weight or workout related.

First a little history.......
Two years ago on New Years Day I stepped on the scale and weighed 222 lbs, much to my dismay I might add. Then and there I told myself that this is ridiculous and vowed to never weigh that again. That was the most I had ever weighed and I determined that I wanted to be healthy for any kids I might have one day. I'm 5'10" and according to health standards I should weigh between 150 & 170 lbs. Yep 222 was a LONG WAY from 170, but I made the vow. Fast forward to the end of that year and I was down to 206 lbs......a net loss of 16 lbs throughout the year. Probably could have done better, but not too shabby to have kept it off. At the end of 2007 I again made a vow and it was to never weigh above 200 lbs again. Fast foward again to the end of 2008 and now I weigh in around 185 lbs......a net loss of 21 lbs. That brings my total loss to 37 lbs over the past two years, but as you can see from American health standards I am still considered overweight. This brings me to this years goals:

1) Weigh 170 lbs by the end of the year....a net loss of 15 lbs. I REALLY would like to be about 165, but I think 170 is more realistic. As a short note here I have determined that by the end of February I need to be consistently at around 180 lbs or I am going back on a very strict diet.

2) For those of you that don't know I now run 4 to 5 times a week and am now running around 3 miles. By the end of the year I want to be able to run 8 miles with relative ease.

3) To go along with running distance I need to work on speed. Through several things I have read, one of the best ways to lose weight to alternate working on speed and distance, therefore I have a goal to be able to run a mile in 7:59 or less, and/or a mile and a half in 11:59 or less.

4) I have also been working on my push-up count in one sitting. I am currently on a program to be able to do 100 push-ups at one sitting. I can currently do around 65 and by years end I want to be able to do 150 at 1 sitting 3 times a week.

5) To go with push-ups I am doing the same program for sit-ups. I can currently do around 55 or 60 and by years end I want to be able to do 150 at 1 sitting 3 times a week.

6) This one will probably be the most difficult for me. I want to be able to do 15 pull-ups at one time. Yeah I was the kid that they would pick up and hang on the bar during P.E. and I would kick fiercely to try and pull myself up, but NEVER could get even 1. VERY EMBARASSING. For Christmas I asked for a pull-up bar.....the Iron-Gym if you have seen the commercial. I received it and have been practicing. I can now do 1 1/2, but still none from a dead hang so I have a ways to go.

I know this post might not have meant much to you, but it is something I wanted to be able to write down so that I could look back at the end of 2009 and see what I have accomplished compared to my goals. Thanks for taking an interest and my plan is to dedicate a post for each one of the goals that I accomplish as the year progresses. :)

Manhunters

2008-12-19T10:24:00.003-06:00

This might not be interesting to everyone, but maybe someone out there will find some interest in it. I have found a new can't miss TV show, at least for myself. It is called Manhunters and comes on A&E on Tuesday nights at 9PM CST. This show is about the U.S. Marshal's Fugitive Task Force. Essentially these are the guys that track down the most dangerous of the dangerous fugitives in this country. If you like suspenseful movies such as Breach, or TV shows such as The First 48, then I think you will love this show. Or if you are like me and wish your career was in law enforcement, then you can live vicariously through these guys. Oh to be one of these guys helping to take down the thugs of this country. Thank goodness for guys like these.

Future Delta Girl?

2008-12-12T16:07:00.003-06:00

I think so. Teale dressed MoJo is this wonderfully fun ladybug outfit the other day and since she ALWAYS gets to post all the cute pictures I got on my hands and knees and begged her to at least let me put these on there. She obliged since I haven't blogged in a while. So here you go. I think we have a future Delta Xi Omega Ladybug on our hands. When I saw her in this I couldn't quit singing the 2nd verse to the Epsilon Pledge Song.

Delta girls are really neat

And they have nice smelling feet

And they're really pretty too

And we love them! YAHOO!

AND..........now you're singing the song. Sorry about that.

Adventures in Babysitting......

2008-11-24T09:51:00.005-06:00

SOOOOOOO....Friday night was my first time alone babysitting. Yep, it was just MoJo and Daddy. Mommy done runned off and left us to fend for ourselves, albeit for just a few hours. NEWS FLASH.......To all you moms out there, leaving baby home alone with dad causes just a little nervousness, but I digress. After mom left we sat on the couch and made funny faces at each other for a little while. We sang songs for a few minutes thereafter. Then we had a conversation that went something like this.

Dad: Well it is just me and you kiddo, what do you want to do now?
MoJo: aghoauroaugnatkaroueroialng translated I'm thinking I would like to sit in my bouncy seat for a little while
Dad: Oh really?
MoJo: yaorueakghauroaiureagahutgo translated YEAH.....it's so cool. The seat ACTUALLY vibrates and if I kick just right it bounces a little.......oh oh oh AND these little spiders will go up and down, up and down, all the while singing the Itsy, Bitsy Spider which is WAY cool. AND if you sit me just right I can see the ceiling fan, which is quite astonishing.
Dad: That sounds awesome. I might need to get a seat like that for myself.

So into the bouncy seat we go for a little bit. After sitting there for about 20 minutes or so she lets me know that she has had about all of the Itsy, Bitsy Spiders she wants. I announce for her to give me just a moment to go throw something away and I will be back to get her in just a minute, to which she kindly obliges. Funny thing happened though. Once I get to our garbage can in the laundry room I notice this long, black line that looks like something has been drug across our floor. OH NO, nothing was drug across our floor, something was ON our floor. ANTS. FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD, it is 20 degrees outside and we have ants just waltzing in our back door as if this is their house. I kid you not that there had to be at least 5 million of them. I couldn't even see the white laminate flooring underneath them and if you listened really closely you could even here them chanting, "Left......Left......Left.......Left, Right, Left." They were here to take over.

UH OH........you guessed it. MoJo was NOT HAPPY. I could hear her in the living room screaming, "You said just a minute........YOU SAID......JUST.....A.......MINUTE." What is a dad to do? Ants are here to take my home away, baby screaming, ants here, baby screaming, ants, baby, ants, baby, AHHHHHHHHHH. I compose myself, adrenaline is going so I pick up MoJo (bouncy seat and all) and place her out of reach of the ants, but close enough to see daddy and the war that is about to take place. I then strap on my M-16 a.k.a bug spray, and announce, THIS IS MY HOUSE DAD-GUM-IT......NOBODY ATTACKS MY HOUSE.......CHAAAARRRRGE! My first few shots took out about a million of them. The battle that seemed like an eternity was over in a matter of moments. The poor guys never stood a chance, although I must admit they were persistent. For the next few hours I would see a couple come wondering under the door looking for their buddies, to which they would then meet their demise as well. MoJo was quite the little soldier herself. She cheered me on throughout the war. OK, OK, so she was REALLY screaming because she was NOT HAPPY, but potato - pototo.

Finally I'm able to console her and explain to her why daddy had to just leave her there for a few moments, and she completely understood and agreed to take a short nap while daddy buried all the dead soldiers. Right as I finished she announced that it was bath time, which was to be immediately followed up with dinner. I COULD NOT deny this request. After dinner we were both so worn out from the battle that we agreed upon kicking back on the couch for a little R & R. After about another hour, mom walks through the door and asks, "How did it go?" To which I respond, "I think it went well." Shhhhhh.....don't tell her. :)

Congratulations to Obama

2008-11-05T15:03:00.004-06:00

I know.....I know. Those of you that know me saw the title to this blog and are thinking, WHAT?!?! But what else am I going to say? No matter how angry I get or how frustrated I am I can't change the fact that the majority of the country voted for him. Last night I became more and more angry as the election results came in. I even told Teale that the title to my blog today was going to be "I'm Ticked". I have thought and contemplated a lot about what I wanted to say, and honestly I could think of nothing better than congratulations to Obama. I honestly believe that he deserves congratulations. He worked just as hard as McCain did to be elected and he convinced the majority of the United States that his ideas are best. Don't misunderstand what I am saying. Don't navigate away from this post thinking that I support and/or agree with Obama. I DO NOT. But the very office for which he is about to hold commands and deserves my respect. As I sat and thought about this I thought about how great a nation this is for us to even have the opportunity to vote on our next leader. It is our choice. There are so many around the world that don't have that priviledge. The thing to remember is that when there is a choice involved there is always the option of choosing wrong, much like we as humans are free moral agents and have choices to make. Sometimes we make the right one and sometimes we don't. I personally believe that America has made the wrong choice in this election. As wrong of a choice as I think we have made and as disappointed in the United States as I am today, I would still rather be here than anywhere else in the world. Yes I am scared of the country that Harper is now about to have to grow up in. Yes I hate the fact that immorality is already at an all time high and is sure to increase with him at the helm. And yes I'm afraid another wake up call for this country is right around the corner. Who knows, as sad as it is, maybe another wake up call is what we need. So on this day after the election I ask myself, "What can I do?" I can pray for this man that is the new leader of the free world. I can become more involved with those around me to try and set a better example. I can raise my daughter in such a way that she is a positive example and exemplifies Christ to those that she surrounds herself with. Sure I'm only 1 man, but you never know how much you might influence others. You can't change a country in one day, but I can sure start walking down that path and give it my best shot. In short, instead of being angry I'm going to reallocate those emotions for better use. I am going to pray that this man will turn from his ways and be the leader that he needs to be. I am going to make sure I keep doing things the right way. I'm going to keep on keeping on. Why? Simple. Christ made me a promise. In Matthew 28 He said, "I will be with you always, even to the end of the world." What else could I even begin to ask for? So I conclude by saying this. Congratulations Mr. President-Elect. My prayers are with you.

Happy Birthday Teale

2008-10-31T09:27:00.003-05:00

Her birthday isn't until tomorrow, but I am on here today so I wanted to go ahead and post it. For those of you that don't know she is turning the big 3-0. Ok, so that isn't true, she is only turning 29. I hope you have the best birthday ever.

P.S. For those of you that may have missed it yesterday, you might want to read the next post down about a new trick or treating philosophy I have decided to follow. Keep checking over the next few days because I have several other stories similar to that to share with you.

New Halloween Philosophy

2008-10-30T09:39:00.002-05:00

As much as I wish I had come up with this, I did not. I found this online and it very much fits for this halloween I think.

This Halloween, I will be practicing a fair redistribution of candy with trick-or-treaters that come to my house. We're just trying to spread the wealth around a little.

* Trick-or-treaters who have under 50 pieces of candy in their bag will receive 10 pieces.

* Trick-or-treaters who have between 50 and 100 pieces will receive 5 pieces of candy.

* Trick-or-treaters who have between 100 and 150 will receive nothing and I will probably take candy away from you next year, but I want your support now so I'm not going to mention that.

* If you have over 150 pieces, I will take away half of your candy and require you to provide candy to all of your friends that have under 50 pieces. If you do not give your friends candy, then I will take away the rest of your candy and give it to them myself.

* If you have no candy at all, I'll give you 25 pieces of candy and a college scholarship.

Your loving neighbor,Mr. Obama

I am absolutely terrified that America is stupid enough to put this man in office. WAKE UP AMERICA.

Don't Know What to Post About

2008-10-15T09:23:00.003-05:00

I'm starting this post because I haven't done one in like 12 days, but here is the interesting thing.....I have no idea where this post is about to lead. I don't have anything specific that I want to blog about. I guess I'll start with the fact that life at home with MoJo thus far has been great. It is hard to believe that she was brought into this world over 5 weeks ago. It is even more amazing to see the changes in her. She is growing so much and so fast. She is sleeping great. Every few nights she will sleep for 6 or 7 hours straight. That my friends is what we call heaven on earth. She really is great. She doesn't cry much at all. There are exceptions to this rule, but for the most part she really doesn't cry. An example is bath time. She is fine going through the process of taking her clothes off and cleaning her up from her dirty or wet diaper, but then.........then.......you pick her up and as soon as that first toe touches the water it is as if the world is ending. It's ok though because even her cries are cute........well...as long as they aren't at 2:30 in the morning. I was telling Teale the other day, "Isn't it funny how cute these cries are during the day, but then in the middle of the night you think to yourself 'I think she is going to cry for the rest of her life.'" I don't know why everything is so much more exagerated at night. I guess it is just part of being tired. Most of the time though she is just chilling out and looking around and checking things out. This week we have had a wonderful Gospel Meeting with Brother Larry Acuff. I must admit that I had never heard of Brother Acuff before, but wow he is good. I must say that I have been tremendously blessed to have been a part of these services every night. Having said that, Harper has made the trip to her first Gospel Meeting everynight this week as well and what a trooper she has been. We always get there right as it is starting (we live about 30 minutes from the church) and we go in and find our seat and she does pretty good through the song service and right at the end of song service she starts getting a little squirmy so Teale takes her back to feed her and is usually back out in the auditorium by the time the invitation song is sung. After service we promptly put her back in her car seat and she is just content to sit and stare back at the huge conglomeration of folks that make their way over to sneak a peak at our pride and joy. Ok, so starting this post I didn't know what I was going to write about, but it seems to have turned into a post about Harper. Imagine that........a dad that can't quit thinking about his daughter.

5 Years Ago Today....

2008-10-03T09:24:00.012-05:00

I woke up thinking, "I'm getting married tomorrow.......a woo hoo." Five years later I still wake up (allbeit with a 3 week old I wake up a lot earlier now) thinking, "I'm married.......a woo hoo." Time seems to have flown by and it seems as though life gets even better with each passing day. Thinking about the day that we got married still gives me goose bumps. Everything was so perfect, even down to the wedding pictures with your dad wearing the fake finger. What a memory! Thinking of that day I can't help but go back about 10 months before and think of the day I actually asked you to marry me. Wow, what a day! Let me tell you, even though a guy might know with 100% certainty that a girl is going to say yes, there is still a nervousness that goes along with it that is indescribable. I'm sitting here laughing while thinking of all the stuff (I will save all the blog readers the details) I went through to make that day work out JUST PERFECT. And if I do say so myself, it went off without a hitch.....well mostly. There will never be a day that I don't think of the shock and surprise that was on your face when you saw me come down those stairs (allbeit with beads of sweat dripping off my head). And now5 years later......now we have a child!?!? Like a real, live, whole nother human being living with us that we are responsible for!?!? How crazy is that? Who would have thunk that they would have actually let us take her home from the hospital? In the words of Garth Brooks, I guess "we're two of a kind and workin' on a full house." In all seriousness, I'm so very thankful for the life that we have and I couldn't picture it any other way. I am so very blessed to have you in my life. I'm anxious to see what this ole world has in store for us throughout the next 5 years. It will be interesting to sit down on October 4, 2013 and reminisce about what these next five years have thrown our way. I can't wait to get started.

So in the words of Rick and Bubba (sorry to those of you that don't get to hear these guys on the radio), "Happy Anniversary Baaaaaby, I've got you on my mi.....hind."

One Last Blog....

2008-09-08T11:52:00.003-05:00

well.....until MoJo arrives anyway. We are pumped, amped, fired up, and anything else you can think of about tomorrow. Sleep will definitely be hard to come by tonight but we will try our best. I woke up I don't know how many times last night dreaming about it. WOW. Have I mentioned that we are pumped, amped, and fired up? It is going to be so weird going to bed at night and not feeling her kick from inside Teale's tummy. I was telling Teale yesterday that it feels like I have been crawling into bed for my entire life and putting my hand on her stomach to feel Harper kick. I don't really know what else to say in this blog except...........

Yes I know he has an LS"WHO" hat on. BOO to that.

OHHHHHH, I thought of one other thing. Why don't we have a contest? Let's see who can come the closest to guessing MoJo's length and weight. The person that comes the closest will get......um.........they will get...........um...........OK, OK, so I don't have anything to give you, but we will call you the winner. How about that? Here I will start it off, I'm guessing 7lbs. 7oz. and 19 1/2 inches long. Here is the last picture of Teale that we have to give you a reference point.

READY............SEEEEEET................GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

HOLY COW!!!!!

2008-09-04T11:43:00.001-05:00

I get a call at work the other morning at around 8am. It's Teale and she says, "I've got really bad news.....This is for REAL." STOP THE PRESSES right there. Put yourself in my shoes and try to picture what was going on in my head as she said that. EXACTLY......You hit the nail on the head. I'm a husband who has a wife that is 9 months pregnant.....I'm at work......She's at home.....and I hear "I've got really bad news.....This is for REAL." Immediately my mind goes to thinking, "Do I have time to drive 35 minutes home to get her? Who is close enough by to pick her up in case she has to go now? ect...." You know....those flight of the bumble bee thoughts that run through your mind when you think, "OK we are about to have a BABY." But OHHHHHHH NOOOOOOOO. That isn't what was happening at all. She follows up, "This is for REAL," by stating, "The lamp on the TV is gone." By this point my brain had kind of revived a little bit from the lack of oxygen, but it's not quite there yet and I start thinking, "Lamp? What lamp?" In my head I'm running through all of the TV's that we have and I can't remember one being on a TV. Now my brain is back to a lack of oxygen, because I immediately start thinking, "She must be talking about a lamp in the living room. SOMEONE HAS BROKEN INTO OUR HOUSE overnight (without our knowing it, mind you) and stolen one of our stinkin lamps. WHAT THE HECK WOULD SOMEONE WANT WITH ONE OF OUR LAMPS?" This doesn't make a whole lot of sense right? Yeah....laugh it up clowns.....but put yourself in my shoes and imagine your wife telling you she is having the baby now (so I thought)......and then moving on to the fact that someone has broken into our house and stolen A STINKING LAMP (so I thought). I will give you all just a moment so you can gather yourselves. FINALLY she explains to me that the lamp IN (not ON) the TV went out....code for "I can't watch TV." It might not seem big, but there is a HUGE difference in the terms ON and IN. If I were a cat I would be down to 7 lives by now. Long story short...we have had this TV for 3 years (which means it is still under the 4 year warranty, "ROCK ON") and the lamp finally went out (much like a light bulb) and Best Buy is coming to fix it on Monday (Yep, the day before Miss MoJo arrives). I think we will be alright for another 3 days.

Anyway, all this got me to thinking about the fact that, "HOLY COW!!! I'm about to be a dad." Ever so often I still look over at Teale and say, "What in the world am I going to do with a baby?" I mean....I've never had one before. I know it will "just come to me" as so many have said, but that doesn't exactly cure the anxiousness. I will now be responsible for another human being in a way that I never have before. Can I do this? Of course I can....and I will do it well. I have always preached to those around me to not be afraid of failure, because it is through failure that we learn some valuable lessons. Think of all the things you would have missed if you hadn't tried because you were too afraid. Where would this world be if Bill Gates had been afraid of failure? What about Michael Jordan? He missed more shots than he made in his great basketball career, but we remember him for always having the ball in his hands at the end of the game to take the winning shot. He wasn't afraid to fail. But this is different. I'm not really afraid of failing, because I have no choice but to succeed. This is a situation in life that is far too important to fail at. Failure is not an option. The more I think about it, the more prepared I feel. The anxious (nervous) feeling of ruling over the life of another human being now leaves and the anxious (can't wait) feeling of holding her in my arms and bringing her "HOME" takes its place. HOLY COW I'm almost a dad, but I couldn't be more ready.

It's Here, It's Here.....

2008-09-01T22:53:00.002-05:00

For those of you that got all excited and thought I was talking about MoJo.....Not so fast my friend. No, I'm talking about football season. I have been sooooo ready for this football season to finally get here ever since it was realized that my Braves weren't going to make the playoffs this year. I've told Teale all summer, "Let's get through opening weekend of football and then I'm ready for MoJo's arrival." Saturday night we had plans to have a few Alabama fans over to watch the Alabama vs. Clemson game. Well about noon on Saturday I am sitting on the couch and Teale is laying down and she looks up at me and says, "You are going to be upset." I was like, "Why? What did you do?" She said, "I am having contractions." I told her that if she comes during this game she is going to get a spanking just as soon as she is old enough. As you all know she has not yet made her appearance and we think that the contractions were happening just because of the way she was laying.

Needless to say, it was a great weekend of college football. My favorite of course was the Tide's win over the Clemson Tigers. I must admit I was pleasantly surprised by how this game turned out. I had picked Alabama to lose this game. I just thought it was going to be too big of a game for so many freshmen to be involved in, but you would have never known that Alabama even had a freshman playing. I hope they can keep it up in the weeks to come. I had picked my Tide to go 8-4 this year, but is it now possible that they could go 9-3? Overall the entire SEC had a great weekend, which is what I like to see. Well, as I type this, Tennessee just lost to UCLA in overtime. I am by no means a Tennessee fan, but I always pull for the SEC team when they are playing someone outside of the Southeastern Conference. I hope your favorite team won this weekend. Anyone else out there as excited as I am that football Saturday's are back?

2008 Olympics

2008-08-18T11:53:00.009-05:00

My blogging has seriously stunk it up over the past month or so. I will try to get back on track. There hasn't been a whole lot going on. We've been glued to the TV for the last week or so watching the Olympics. How about Michael Phelps? Wow, my hat's off to him. At one point Saturday night as we were watching him attempt to get his 8th gold Teale was standing up screaming, "I CAN'T TAKE IT, I CAN'T TAKE IT, I CAN'T TAKE IT. " All the while I was standing and screaming, "COME ON. COME ON. HE'S GOT HALF A BODY LENGTH. COME ON." You would have thought we were watching football or something. This brought up an interesting thought. What is the most fond memory you have about the Olympics (from this year or years past)? We were trying to figure out if Phelps getting 8 golds at 1 Olympic Games was it for us. It has to be right on up there....

But then we thought of Kerri Strug.

And what about Mary Lou Retton.

Maybe for you it was the 1980 US Hockey Team (yes I know this is for the Winter Olympics, but it is still an Olympic memory).

What is your most fond memory?
Do you have any that beat out Phelps quest for 8 gold medals? I believe that now has to be my favorite.

To Be.....Or Not To Be

2008-08-01T22:51:00.004-05:00

Wow! It has been a little while since I have blogged. Not too much has been going on, but I have been really busy. Does that make any sense? Since the last time I blogged I have been given the FedEx Ground account at work. What that means is that if you have a new FedEx warehouse that goes up somewhere in your area, then I am designing the burglar alarm system for it. That is kind of interesting and pretty cool actually. Having said that, have you ever been blessed with something so wonderful and yet you still have problems enjoying it? Of course I'm talking about my job. I mean, it truly is a great job and I have been blessed beyond what I deserve to have it. It's not going to make me a million dollars or anything like that, but it pays the bills and most importantly it is going to allow Teale to stay home with MoJo, which is my top priority. But still, there is something missing. I can't explain it, nor do I fully understand it. I am so stinking busy day in and day out from the time I get there until I walk out the door, and yet......I feel bored. How is that possible? I'm not miserable by any stretch of the imagination, but I also don't know that I can see myself doing this for my entire career. Simply put, I guess I don't feel fulfilled in what my career is turning into. Is this normal? Is it childish? Am I nuts for feeling this way? I mean I am on the brink of 30 years old and still feel like a kid that is just now deciding what he wants to be when he grows up. I think we have the college thing all backwards. I had to come out of high school at 18 and decide what I wanted to do with the rest of my life careerwise. That is a HUGE decision and one that I would venture to say that most 18 year olds aren't ready for. I don't know what the solution is, but I wish there was a way to wait and make a decision like that after you have matured a little bit. That was a little off subject, but I guess I have always just thought that it was possible to really enjoy whatever career you choose. After all, it is a choice. Don't take this post to be a depressing one, because it isn't meant to be in the slightest. Anyone that knows me well knows that I am VERY happy and always OVERLY optimistic. It is more of an inquiry to find out how you feel about your career and what helped you get involved with something that you really enjoy. And yes, being a stay at home mom counts. That, in my opinion, is the toughest, most rewarding job available. So, what is your career of choice? Do you enjoy it? What do you wish your career could be? What is holding you back? Let me know what you think.

Atlanta Braves

2008-07-23T11:57:00.006-05:00

This past Saturday my dad and I took a trip over to Atlanta for a Braves baseball game. It has been a couple of years since we have been, so this year for Father's Day I gave my dad two tickets to a game. We are a couple of the biggest Braves fans you will ever meet. We finally got the opportunity to go this weekend. We had great seats as you will see from the pictures. We were just outside of the infield dirt down the first base line and 12 rows up. Although they lost 8-2 to the Washington Nationals we had a great time and can't wait to go back. Below are some pictures from the trip.

This is the pitcher (Jair Jurrjens) and catcher (Brian McCann) as they walk to the dugout after warming up.

This is the scoreboard just before the first pitch.

Uh-oh. The pitcher wasn't doing so well, so manager Bobby Cox made the AT&T Wireless Call to the Bullpen.

These last few pictures are of what Teale told me my objective was at the game. My objective was to get several pictures of Jeff "Frenchy" Francouer. Yep, she's into younger men. :)

The last one wasn't close enough you say? How about his giant picture on the jumbotron?

Still not good enough? It's only a picture and not REALLY him you say? Geez-a-loo, how about this?

Ah. Just right. Can you tell I'm a husband that knows how to cover all my bases (no pun intended)?