"Making Up For Lost Time"

A very busy last couple of weeks. In fact, so busy that I didn't have time to finish this post last week! So I will combine last week and this week as there was quite a bit going on. Last weekend we went to the Dallas Arboretum for a little fresh air, some exhibits on our fine state, and traffic!! So much so that we had nowhere to park and had to take a shuttle. Never go on Easter weekend...ever! Chances are there's about a million people that have the same idea. Here are some good pics though:


Here we see the sign that greeted us and explained just what the heck was going on out there.


Here are Zach and Emmy with their grandma Mary on the bus out to the gardens. Between the air conditioning and the comfy chairs this may have been the best part of the day lol.


Zach: "Hey Dad, did you know that goats will eat leather?"
Me: "Oh yeah? How'd ya find that out?"
Zach: "Cuz this one just ate your wallet!"
Me: "I didn't know my wallet was real leather...see if you can get my Subway gift card out of his mouth...and my driver's license..."


Yup...that's one big flower hat...

This week I officially graduated from my training class at HealthMarkets!! I can't believe it has been eight weeks already. Plus I just found out that they lowered the expectations on us to make bonuses so my base pay is only part of the story. I really want to be with this company for as long as possible and I know the only way to accomplish this is to strive to not be 2nd or 3rd best but 1st. I know that I will be in this position for at least until Feb 4 2009 so I better know what I'm doing. And I do. Seriously. I've been on my own all this week and I haven't come across anything I can't handle. When we have our next 401K party it will be nice to get a nice little check this time. You know how hard it is to watch other people get checks while you sit there not knowing who anyone is? Not next time.

One of my favourite comedians is John Pinette. If you don't know who he is, but you watch Seinfeld, you would know him as the fat guy who got robbed in the Finale. But his comedy is self-preciating but in a good way, like you know he really doesn't feel that way about himself. Sometimes I feel that way, like if I beat people to the joke about me it will make me feel better. Sometimes it does, sometimes not. Here's a clip of him:



Makes me want to go to a water park now ha ha.

I have my own desk and cubicle now...what shall I decorate it with...hmm...maybe this:


I'll be the envy of all the other adults up there ha ha.

"One Great Weekend!"

What makes it so great? Well, lots of things actually! Last night I was supposed to go out with a friend and Cari was going to have some of her friends over for a girls' night. One thing I've learned is that things can change in a second. First, my friend cancels. Then, some of Cari's friends can't make it. Fortunately, we usually make the best of it though. I hung out with Zach instead and made the most of it. We cruise down town to...well...down town. What I love about going there is you never know what's going on there. And as it turns out, the auto show was going on! Zach couldn't stop running from car to car which means I couldn't stop running after him! He had a great time though. We had a great time:


Zach: "Hey Dad, can we buy this car?"
Me: "Um...yeah...I'm gonna go ahead and disagree with you there..."


Zach: "What about this one?"
Me: "Um...hmm...(opens wallet) No."


Me: "Bumblebee? If you can hear me...say something."
Zach: "Dad..."
Me: "You called me...Dad...can you transform?"
Zach: "Dad! It's not him!"

Afterwards we stopped at Jack In The Box for a little dinner, came home, put Zach to bed and sang a few songs (competitively of course lol). Tonight Emmy gets to go to the Stars hockey game with her aunt Keri! She may not like hockey but I'm sure she will enjoy the cotton candy or whatever she talks her aunt into buying her! Zach is staying with his grandma Mary and Cari and I are going on a date! Not sure where we're going or what we're doing, but we really want to try something different. So we're just gonna get in the ol' car and see what we haven't done. We tried that a couple of times before and ended up having dinner at like 9pm. Good times lol.

This has become one of my favourite YouTube clips. Imagine the amount of time and patience it took to make this AND...he opened them up! I may not have the time to make something like this but I could...if I wanted to.



You have to have some kid-free time every now and then. Dr. Phil said a long time ago that couples who don't take time for themselves and only think about their kids tend to forget how to communicate and end up losing interest with each other which usually leads to divorce. I really don't want that to happen. Cari and I have always been able to talk about things though. I think that's always been the one constant in my relationships. Good conversation cannot be faked.

"A Day At The Races!"

Pine derby races, that is. Our mission (should we choose to accept it...and we did lol), was to take a block of pine wood, shape it to the model car we desired, and decorate the crap out of it. Between Emmy and Cari I think they accomplished that:



Unfortunately, due to an error in gluing the wheels (which admittedly were kind of tricky on my part) Emmy's car didn't pick up the speed that her competitors did, and came in last each time. Ah well. At least it looked awesome. There were some pretty cool cars up there. One even went one of my favourite directions and made Bumblebee. It won like every race too!

Took them to the park a couple of weeks ago. That was such a great day. It was beautiful outside and I hadn't taken them there in a long time. The only thing that got on my nerves was when we were feeding the ducks. There's this long path that leads to a porch-like area where we can sit and throw bread, or in our case, crossiants (they were old lol). So we walk down there and as we're doing our thing these people walk down to right behind where we are and just stand there staring. Not at us, but it sure felt that way. I was like "Hey, people here". Eventually they figured out we were there so they left, but man, talk about third wheels. Here are a few pics:



Finished my FIFTH week for HealthMarkets and now it's almost starting to make sense. All that's left to do is to figure out how I'm going to say what I need to say in order to be the best. That's right. The best. First time ever I wanted that. All my life I was always content with middle of the road. Heck, sometimes middle of the road was a lofty aspiration. But it took a long time for me to accept that I could do anything I wanted. The only difference between doctors and everyone else is that doctors knew what they wanted to do. I think I could be a doctor. Seriously. I just don't have that passion for wanting to know every inch of the human body. Seriously.

"If I Had A Million Dollars..."

...oh man the fun I could have. Let's assume I won a lottery of around $2 million or so. After the cash option and taxes have been taken out, there was exactly $1 million left over. Let's see what ol' Mikey would do with it:

- $84,000 to go towards paying off ye olde mortgage

- $260,000 in an interest-bearing account for college for two kids ($130,000 x 2)

- $10,000 to pay off our car

- $50,000 for gifts for friends/family (cuz you know they'd be thinking about what's theirs lol j/k)

- $10,000 for one great trip to...somewhere...probably Hawaii

Let's see, that adds up to...$414,000. And we're not even halfway done yet!!

Ahh, what a fantasy.

Now maybe in 1970, $1 million might have been enough to fulfill all your wishes with enough left over to never have to work again.

Flash forward to 2008.

Hey, guess what! Now people treat $1 million like it's nothing. And with inflation as bad as it is, they're probably right. Which is why we need to start planning now, not when we're 60 and have nothing to rely on. The 401k is a thing of beauty for us young people (well, young-ish lol) and must be contributed to as much as possible.

Finished my fourth week at you-know-where. It's really starting to make sense now. What's weird is I really don't get it when it's being taught. Only after it's had time to sink in does it kind of make sense. I know I will be great at this. I have to keep telling myself that. All things come to those who wait, so I shall be patient and know that I have found a place that will take care of me if I take care of them.

Man is YouYube addicting! Anything you could imagine is alive and well and very much in motion. Here is one I found:



Basically a seaplane pretends it is going to crash into the fishing boat only to pull up at the last minute. Ha ha ha. The song playing is by the Moody Blues. I never would have listened to them if ol' Dad hadn't brought them to light many years ago. He's building us some multi-purpose shelves for either the home or garage which will be invaluable. Maybe he's okay lol. The truth is, I always thought he wasn't that great of a dad until I had kids and saw firsthand how challenging it is day in and day out. To quote Dr. Cox when J.D. was downplaying the role his dad played in his life, "He could have done a much worse job."

Got soccer games today and tomorrow! Then going to see Navid's kid tomorrow afternoon. Real proud of him. Hope someone tells him that every now and then cuz it makes a world of difference sometimes.