Woody's Place

Hi There...

Sorry I've been away from the blogosphere, but resigning from a company you've worked at for over twenty three years tends to be a little distracting.

It was a really tough decision, but I think a correct one.  The writing was on the wall and I thought it better to leave on my own terms than to wait until it was convenient for the owners to let me go or demote me.

I've sinced hired on with a former competitor and I'm hopeful they will allow me to help them improve and build up their business they way I did for my previous employer.

Other than that not too much to report.  Obama still sucks.  None of the GOP candidates are exciting me much.  The MSM/DNC Cabal is ruining America.  Gas prices are too damn high.  Life goes on.

Nice Evening

Just got home from work... There's a roast in the oven, the place is spotless, and my wife is awesome.

New Addition To The Family

Forgot to post this little addition to my collection that I got for Christmas this year:

One of these days I'm going to replace that wood stock with a folding composite version, add a scope and bipod, and get some bigger magazines.

I also got a full, unopened crate of ammo for it!

I think I'm almost ready for the Zombie appocalypse.

One Million Hits!

This little blog of mine just crossed the one million hits milestone. Woo hoo! I think I'll take myself out for a steak tonight, I deserve it.

Man Cave Update

It's been a long time since my original man cave post, and we've acquired some new stuff and done some redecorating, so I figured I'd take some snaps and try posting some panoramic photos.

Although there are a few artifacts and jaggies if you look closely, I think the panoramas came out decent, and they give you a pretty good feel for the space. 

Ohio Winters Vs. California Winters

I am sick and tired of friends and family on Facebook teasing me over the winter we've been having here in the Midwest, so I just posted this mock weather forecast:

I know I should have taken the high road, but... well, I just couldn't resist.

Blogging? Fuhgeddaboudit

I apologize that I haven't been blogging much lately... I've been preoccupied with some "family" business:

Best TV show evah.

Happy New Year!

Here's hoping 2011 brings good things to us all... including some spare time for me to blog once in awhile.

Fifteen Years Ago Today

After a month of ups and downs in the neo-natal ICU we weren't sure we'd bring our baby home at all, much less in time for Christmas. Then we got the best Christmas gift ever...

Merry Christmas y'all!

Global Warming My Ass... It's 6° Outside!

It's Chili Season

Ground beef + kidney beans + pinto beans + corn + diced tomatoes + minced jalapenos + minced onions + minced cilantro + (freshly) minced garlic + cumin + chili pepper + salt + sugar + lemon juice + olive oil = AWESOME.

Sorry I Haven't Been Blogging Much Lately...

You see, I've been a little distracted.

But I'm almost done with The Pacific, and there's only 2 more episodes of The Walking Dead left to go, so I should be back to my normal semi-regular bloviating before you know it.

 

Half A Million

Today this little blog of mine crossed the 500,000 pageview milestone, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank some of those who've made this little achievement possible:

• Thanks to President Barack Obama Barry Soetoro for creating a huge legion of people who are getting tired of being lied to.
• Thanks to the MSM/DNC Cabal who refuse to report anything contrary to the agenda, unintentionally sending most of those truth seekers to blogs like mine.
• Thanks to Rose McGowan, Robin Meade and Denise Milani and all the other lovely ladies in my Babes section, for bringing in untold thousands of visitors who've then clicked through to explore the rest of the site, hopefully picking up a kernel of right thinking along the way.
• Thanks to Al Gore for creating the absurd myth of global warming that allowed my chart to become one of the top images on Google for the topic.
• Thanks to my man cave, especially the home theater, for being totally awesome and attracting tens of thousands of web surfers.
• Thanks to whatever cosmic mystery created today's unusual surge in traffic, making it the biggest day my blog ever had.  I'm on track to top 5,000 today, more than double my average.
• And last, but not least, a heartfelt thanks to all my regular readers, lurkers, commenters and all the good people in my blogroll list to the right.  Without your interest this little soire would have been called off at 50,000 hits.

Now, how to celebrate? ... Perhaps I'll go out for steak and then retire to the man cave.

Rest & Relaxation

First three day weekend I've had in... months?  A year?  I don't even get that many two day weekends. So today I:

• Opened all the windows and let the 68° breezes blow through the house.
• Read a book in my awesome massage recliner.
• Admired the beautiful blue skies and fluffy white clouds from said recliner.
• Took a nap in the recliner.
• Watched TV... from my couch.
• Played fetch with my dog.
• Took my daughter to dinner at Smokey Bones and had a delicious filet mignon.
• Went to Cold Stone Creamery for some gourmet ice cream.

And now I'm about to finish off the evening in my home theater.  Quantum of Solace?  Braveheart?  Finish watching the last Matrix movie?  Hmm... tough choice.

Tomorrow I'm going to try twice as hard to do nothing.  Hope your weekend is just as productive.

FYI: I Make Use Of The Second Ammendment

 

Take Me Out To The Ball Game

I had a nice evening at the ball park tonight with the wife and daughter.  The home team lost, but our consolation prize was a warm breeze, blue skies, hot dogs, peanuts, cotton candy, and a remarkably good hamburger for yours truly.

Wow, I Did It Again!

I survived yet another trip around the sun on this big blue ball of confusion we call planet Earth.  Can you believe it?

The year I was born:

• Richard Nixon was President.
• Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong set a human footprint upon the lunar surface.
• The US unemployment rate was 3.6%
• The entire US national debt was $366 billion.
• A first class stamp cost six cents.
• Mario Puzo's The Godfather novel was released.
• Sesame Street begain airing on PBS.
• Woodstock happened.
• The top song in the Billboard charts was Zager & Evans "In The Year 2525".
• Led Zeppelin released their first album, Led Zeppelin I.
• The Beatles gave their last live performance, a jam session on the roof of Apple Records in London.
• Boeing's new 747 jet made it's maiden flight.
• Canadian left wing socialists bombed the Canadian stock market.
• American left wing socialists (and future friends of Obama) Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn organized the "Days Of Rage" protests riots.
• Ted Kennedy drove off a bridge.

And forty one years later this world is still a big ball of confusion.  Some things never change.  C'est la vie!

Reasons Why I Wasn't Blogging This Weekend

#1 This was my first weekend off in... well, since January I think.  Had to do some of the family / home stuff that regular folks enjoy.

#2 I had some friends over that I hadn't seen in awhile.  We hung out and talked.  Real face to face social interaction... you remember that don't you?

#3 I was reading a good book.

#4 I was assembling some new bookshelves and organizing the contents:

Now... what was this shit I heard about a new immigration bill?  Obama's not content with screwing up the economy and our healthcare, so now he's going to trash our sovereignty?

Seperated At Birth?

Blog buddy Lord Mock sent me a photo to illustrate the uncanny resemblance of our younger selves.  Notice that even the pants are the same...

Like he says, it's either very cool or very creepy... I think I'll need to have a little talk with mom and see if I have any other secret siblings out there.

Welcome to the family Mock!

Long Time, No See

I haven't been blogging much lately, but I figured I should post an update to let everyone know I'm not in the slammer or something...

Here's the list of all the things I've been doing lately in lieu of blogging:

• During the days I've been working 50-60 hours 6-7 days a week.  Staying in business and keeping my job would be swell if I can manage it.
• During the evenings and in the wee hours when I can't sleep (due to the above) I've been reading all of R.A. Salvatore's Drizzt novels and short stories, in order.  That's 22 paperbacks and 10 short stories!  I'm about two thirds through it at the moment.
• On the weekends I've been watching the Deadwood Season 2 & 3 DVD sets I just picked up cheap on Half.com.  Now that is some great TV! 
• In between I play the occasional pinball or arcade game in the man cave.

And that's about it... yeah really.

Until things get back to normal (and God forbid this is the "new normal")  I'll be leaving most of the current events stuff to all the wonderful folks in my sidebar who have the brain cells and attention to spare for it.  For now I'm just too tired to dwell on anything outside of keeping my head above water and keeping my sanity.

Man, I'm Glad I Had A Snowblower!

Driveway done.  Sidewalks done.  Most of both neighbors sidewalks done, even the crazy one.  All in under 40 minutes.

The guy down the street came out when I did and he was only 1/3 of the way down his driveway when I went back in.  I'd have gone down to help him out but he had an Obama sign out in 2008, so he would probably rather wait for help from the Overlord.

Woody's Homemade Salsa

Just in time for the Super Bowl, here's my homemade salsa recipe:

• 4½ cups (3 cans) petite diced tomatoes
• ½ cup (1 small can) tomatoe paste
• ½ onion (red or white), finely chopped
• 2 jalapeno peppers, minced
• ½ to 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1 large (or 2 small) garlic clove, minced
• ¾ cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon suger
• 2 cups water

Pour all of the garlic, tomatoe paste and seasonings into a blender or food processor.
Add two thirds of the chopped green pepper.
Add half the jalepenos (including the seeds).
Add half the chopped cilantro.
Add half of the chopped onion.
Add half the water.
Add one third the diced tomatoes, or half if your blender will accomodate it.

Puree mixture until smooth, then pour into a large bowl or tupperware containter.

Stir in remaining tomatoe, onion, green pepper, cilantro and water to the desired consistency.

Add remaining minced Jalapeno peppers (without the seeds) until you reach the desired "heat" level, or divide into two batches for mild and not so mild salsa.

Optionally you can substitute a red chili pepper for one of the jalapenos for a bolder flavor.

Goes best with white corn tortilla chips.  Also makes a great base for chili!

My New Year's Day Tradition

CHILI!

INGREDIENTS: ground beef, diced tomatoes, tomatoe paste, kidney beans, black beans, pinto beans, a little corn (adds color), fresh cilantro, onion, green pepper, jalapeno pepper, diced garlic, cumin, salt, sugar, chili powder, paprika and a little corn starch

DIRECTIONS: Cook and mix all this stuff up until it looks and tastes awesome.

It's cooking right now.  The whole house smells delicious.  Can't wait for dinner time.

A Corgi Christmas

Okay, just one more bit of Christmas stuff to share with you guys.

This is a short little video I made of our dog Chloe and all her goofy antics on Christmas morning. Most notably, that she saw our daughter get a stocking, remembered that she had her own stocking, found her stocking hanging up, and proceeded to beg until we gave her what Santa brought for her.

She is so smart... and such a stickler for tradition.

Cygnus "Carol Of The Bells"

Here's a special holiday treat.  It's a Christmas tune I recorded back in '97 (I think) when I used to noodle around with keyboards and musical equipment.  My musical project (not really a band per se) was called Cygnus and focused on electronic music, usually with some kind of space or sci-fi vibe. 

I'm not going to win a Grammy for this, but I think it came out pretty cool, and made a nice little Christmas day blog post.

It was taken from a casette tape, so the sound quality isn't the greatest at times, but it's all I've got.  I'm not even sure I could recreate it if I tried.  I think I've forgotten how to hook up all that stuff, much less operate it and play chords and notes and things. 

(This is also my first YouTube video.  Woo hoo!)

Hope you guys all had a wonderful holiday. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Man Cave Update: Home Theater

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It's been over a year since I built my man cave , and I've been getting anxious to put the finishing touches on it.  After a year and a half of weekends spent cutting, drilling and nailing, I felt like I'd dropped the ball on the 5 yard line.

You see, the home theater is the centerpiece of any self respecting man cave, but cashflow issues meant that I had to settle for a dinky 27" flatscreen and an old Sony surround sound system... and it was a little underwhelming to say the least.

Now, at long last, I've picked that ball back up again... and here's the result:

My home theater is now fully realized, thanks in part to my 2009 income tax refund that I am taking an advance on (courtesy of my savings account).

The Perfect Way To Finish Up Halloween

I Am Not Normally An Impulse Shopper, BUT...

I got an e-mail offer from Dell today that I just could not pass up.  Check out my new system:

Dell Inspiron 546 minitower
AMD Athlon II Triple Core 425 (2.7GHz, 1.5MB) 
6GB DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz
ATI Radeon HD3200
750GB Serial ATA
19 in 1 Media Reader
Window 7 Ultimate 64 Bit

Dell ST2410 Full HD Widescreen Monitor

Dell AY410 2.1 Speaker System

Dell V305 Printer / Scanner

Microsoft Wireless Desktop 3000 keyboard & mouse set

$140 off the system + free shipping, 50% off the monitor, 50% off the printer, 40% off the speakers.  Like I said, it was a pretty good deal. 

I have been using the same PC since... gee, 2002 I think, so I'm really looking forward to this long overdue upgrade.  I know this isn't cutting edge, but it's a big step up from the old P4.

Fun In The Suburbs

So last night at 1:30AM my neighbor was sitting in her car (in her driveway, not her two car garage) with the stereo up so loud it probably woke up our whole street.  I stomped over and knocked on the tinted window, and after about 45 seconds she rolled it down and I yelled at her.  She apologized, saying "this da only place I got to kick it"...

Hasn't she ever heard of headphones?  Or perhaps there's something more than music involved in "kicking it" that she didn't want her three kids (that she also woke up) to see?

I didn't smell any booze or pot, but she was definitely under the influence of something.  She even apologized if she was "talkin funny" as I walked away.  Do I have a damned crackhead living next door?!

About ten minutes later two sheriff's cars pulled up and after about ten minutes it looked like they loaded her in the back of one and took her away.  She must be on probation for something else and they saw she was intoxicated.  I'm sure she'll blame me for that... great.

This used to be a nice, quiet suburban neighborhood, but now I'm wishing I'd built out in the country somewhere instead.  And it's only one or two families that ruin it, the rest are all fine folk.  Sad to let the bad apples win, but that's the way things work I guess.

Anybody want to buy a ten year old three bedroom ranch with a cool basement game room, home theater and a free outdoor rap concert every Friday night?

Today Is A Good Day

The sun is shining, I don't have to go to work, I scored almost two million on my Sorcerer pinball machine, and it's the ninth anniversary of this lovely creature promising to stick by me for better or for worse.

Like I said, it's a good day. 

Home Away From Home

Well... here I am stuck working nights and weekends while one of my employees takes some time off to be with his wife and new baby.  At least I have a pretty nice office to sit in for hours and hours.  Figured I'd take a picture while I had it all cleaned up and spiffy looking.

Man I'm bored to death... can you tell? 

Oh Scrap!

My bloggin' buddy(?) Cbullit from Soylent Green sent me this, and according to the meme I have to forward it to ten other bloggers and then share "10 Honest Things" about myself. 

Hmm...

Figuring out who to send it to might actually be harder than thinking up some dirt to dish on myself.  I don't have a very big blogroll, some there have already been tagged, and some of them don't really delve into the personal, their blogs are 100% politics and vitriol (talking to YOU Hank).

How about I do eight and we just call it fair?

1. Where Are My Keys? - Madeline's Dad (yeah, that's what he goes by) is a pretty friendly chap.  He's bound to come up with something interesting.
2. Third World County - David was one of my original blog buddies from back on my first blog.  If he can find time his list will be a fun read no doubt.
3. Mitchieville - Let's see what those Canadians are all abooot.
4. O'Shea Family Weblog - I guarantee the word "man cave" will appear on Brian's list somewhere.
5. That Was Then, This Is Now - Cory is a real sweetheart, but she's probably going to throw us at least one curveball...  
6. Shooting The Messenger - Fits has some tales to tell... not sure if he's legally able to yet.  He'll probably have to check with his lawyer first.
7. RT's Ponderings - Come on RT!  I know you've got some good stuff from your heavy metal days.
8. When Your Only Tool Is A Hammer - Enjoy your vacation Hammer?  Good, now get working on this assignment.   

Okay, now on to my 10 honest things:

1. I'm a damn good shot with my Glock 19, but only so-so with my Tec-9 or my Calico M-100. 
2. I'm a bit of a wuss.  I tear up every time I listen to Kenny Chesney's "There Goes My Life" (just did again) or Barber's "Adagio For Strings", and that "Fallen Soldier's Homecoming" video made me weep profusely.
3. I've never played poker in my life.  Card games bore the shit out of me. 
4. I barely graduated from high school.  Not from lack of smarts, just from lack of giving a damn. 
5. I have a huge collection of Dungeons & Dragons books and memorabilia that I've been collecting since I was ten years old.  It totals well over $6,000.
6. I was married in full period costume on the deck of the HMS Britannia at the Treasure Island Casino in Las Vegas, and a pirate even swung down from the crow's nest to deliver the wedding rings.  My wife looked especially lovely that day... I married up for sure.
7. I honestly do think a good majority of our nation's ills can be traced back to Democratic politicians or their allies in  the media.  This blog persona is not an act.
8. I do not enjoy rollercoasters and thrill rides, but I once made my dad whiteknuckle the dashboard while driving my '93 Pontiac Grand Prix on State Route 127 in Tennessee.  That car could really straighten out some corners!
9. I watch this video on YouTube at least once a week, and sometimes several times a day.  Does that make me a sucker for a good pop tune, or a little bit freaky?
10. I think I'm part hermit.  I can go entire weekends without leaving the house, and barely even going above ground.  My man cave really is cave-like for me, it's not just a phrase.

And there you have it.  Now, let's check out those other blogs and see what they have to share... 

I Survived Sleepover 2009...

My wife throws a big (9 girls this year!) mystery party / sleepover for my daughter's girlfriends every summer and yesterday was it.  They had a great time solving the "Mystery Of The Missing Archaeologist" seeking all the props and clues my wife planted all over the house and yard. 

After the mystery was solved they gave my game room quite a workout.  Who knew twelve year old girls were so into pinball and foosball?

I think it'll be a few days before I can bring myself to call it a "Man Cave" again... Sheesh!

As soon as they've all gone home I'm going to lock myself in my office / subterranean lair and take a long nap.

PC Maintenance Time

My old PC had been running kind of slow, and my OneCare antivirus subscription had expired, and I still had $50 of birthday cash left, so I popped  overto Best Buy and picked up their Norton Antivirus / Norton Utilities combo pack.  Norton's always had a pretty good reputation as far as virus and malware protection, but what really caught my attention was the utilities suite. 

The Norton registry cleaner removed a ton of errors, and their registry defragmenter tool cut the physical size of my registry file down by a whopping 25%.  And that savings is just a few weeks after I'd run Microsoft's free Windows registry defrag tool! 

The Norton disk cleaner and defragger work just as you'd expect, and the manage startup option allows you to manage what applications run at startup, and prioritizes them so your PC boots faster. 

The most impressive feature, in my opinion,is the one that let's you manage the Windows Services that are running on your system.  Let's say you are editing a movie and you need all the CPU horsepower you can get.  The manage services tool allows you to temporarily shut down all the non-essential Windows services like Tablet PC input, Certificate Management, NetLogon, Themes, SmartCard, Telephony, Cryptographic Services and all the other junk you never need.  Speed really picks up nicely when you run this, and when you're done with your work you can turn it all back on with one click.

If you need some antivirus and/or PC tuneup software I'd recommend you check this one out.

The Big Four O

Today is my birthday.  I think I'm officially middle aged now.  40 is middle aged right, and 50 is over the hill?  Maybe I've got them reversed.  Anyways I'm not a young sprite anymore.  Even my chest hair is going gray.

I had a nice evening Sunday.  Mom stopped over and had dinner with me and the girls.  We had some wonderful lebanese food from a place around the corner.  How lucky is my Mom to get HER favorite food, gyros, on MY birthday?  I should have made her eat some Mexican instead, but I guess I'm getting mellow in my old age...

Got a few phone calls.  Got some funny cards.  Some of the cards contained moolah, so I went on Ebay tonight and bought 15 or 20 of the older Forgotten Realms paperbacks that were still missing from my collection.  Thanks y'all!  I've almost got the whole collection complete now.

My mother also gave me this fabulous gift: 

It's an autographed copy of the Depeche Mode's "Violator" album cover!!!  Wow!  I was blown away. That's going to look frickin' awesome hanging up in the man cave!

To cap the evening off, my thirteen year old daughter joined me in the home theater to watch Depeche Mode's concert video "Devotional" with the surround sound cranked way up.  It was almost like being right in the audience.  It is incredibly cool that my kid enjoys my favorite band and we can share that kind of stuff together.

Anyways, forty's not so bad I guess.  I mean, there IS only one alternative to getting older right?

Photo Faves: Happy Day

Sunshine, smiles, my baby girl, and my wife the total hottie. 

When I die this is what I'll be remembering. 

Photo Faves: My Baby & Me

Since today is Father's Day I'm posting one of my favorite pictures of my daughter and I.  This is from '97, when she was two years old, having lot's of fun getting spun around in circles at the park.

Good times.

Photo Faves: Butterfly

I took this photo of a butterfly in the field next to my grandfather's house in Tennessee.

It came out pretty nice I think.

Life's Sitcom Moments

Every once in awhile you have one of those funny moments in real life that seem to be right out of an old sitcom or episode of I Love Lucy. 

This evening my lovely wife decided to make tacos for dinner and try out that recipe that I found on the web last week for Don Pablo's salsa (the BEST salsa IMHO).  She'd just finished mincing the jalapenos and reached to pull the taco shells out of the oven.  The cookie sheet was hot of course, so she says "ow ow ow" then proceeds to stick her burned finger in her mouth, whereupon the jalapeno juice on her finger makes it's presence known and she goes "OW OW OH CRAP OW" running for the sink. 

All the while I'm sitting at the penninsula just laughing my ass off.

Good stuff. 

P.S. Not sure if my wife skimped on the ingredients out of fear of it being "too spicy" (for her it means actually HAS flavor), or if the recipe is close, but no cigar.  Next time I'll make it myself and use more jalapeno, onions and cilantro. 

BONG 13

My favorite band is Depeche Mode, and during their heyday they released an album called "Music For The Masses".  The cover art, designed by Martyn Atkins, featured orange loudspeakers broadcasting the band's music from various locales:

The art for the accompanying singles "Strangelove" and "Never Let Me Down Again" also featured the speakers, but with the catalog numbers (BONG13 and BONG14) stenciled along the rim of the speaker:

 

I'm not really sure what the BONG thing means, some inside joke I'm sure, but they've been using it on all their singles since the very beginning.  These iconic loudspeakers were also present in all the music videos for this album and hanging from atop the stage during the tour that summer. 

Fast forward twenty years and now I'm a grown man converting my basement into a man cave and looking for some decorations to put in my game room. 

Hey!  Wouldn't it be cool to have one of those BONG PA speakers hanging up in here? 

My uncle Jimbo just happens to be a fantastic artist, so once he agreed to help me I knew it was a done deal.

MAKING THE BONG:

First I found an old horn style loudpseaker on Ebay.  It was a little dinged up, but that only made it look more authentic, like it had been on tour with the band or something.

 

At Jimbo's direction I sanded it smooth and primed it, then we spray-painted it orange.  Jimbo's mad art skillz allowed him to created a stencil template in CorelDraw that was perfectly adjusted for the curvature of the horn.

 

Jimbo removed the stencil and touched up the lettering, then we applied a coat of satin clearcoat for protection.

 

Once the BONG was finished I designed a bracket to hang it in the corner up near the ceiling, and had a local hitch shop fabricate it for me.  I mounted the bracket into the masonry with lag bolts, attached the speaker and viola, instant Depeche Mode shrine!

It's one of the coolest things I own.  Thanks Jimbo!

The speaker is still functional and one of these days I'm going to rig up some sound effect or music clip to play from that thing when I press a little hidden button.  Perhaps an air raid siren at high volume?  A short clip from the BONG 13 single "Strangelove"?  Maybe a really obscene fart sound?  The possibilities are endless...

Photo Faves: Men On A Mountain

My dad, my grandpa and me on top of Black Mountain, just outside of Crossville Tennesee.

Pretty cool setting for a nice family photo. 

Wii Fit Is Full Of $#!T

So yesterday was my wife's birthday and she got the Wii Fit fitness game for Nintendo Wii.  So I decide to give it whirl, just to see what it's about.  After completing the "body test" Wii Fit tells me I am apparently too fat to live.  I'm so large I need to call the fire department to come cut me out of my house since I can't fit through normal human-sized doorways.  I'm so heavy I need to rent a U-Haul just to get around town.  I'm so huge it's almost off the chart, literally.  According to the Wii Fit character I have a 70" wasitline.

Now, I know I'm chubby.  I could lose about 20-30 pounds for sure, but obese?  Come on Nintendo.  I think you left this game on the Japanese setting.  Not all people are built to be little munchkins like you guys.

My wife seems to like it though, which is what counts.  It was her birthday present, not mine.  Don't expect to see me back on that thing anytime soon though.  My pride just won't allow it.

While I'm on the subject, here is a picture of my wife's Wii Fit yoga trainer. I think her name is "OWW JESUS"... or at least that's what I hear my wife calling her.

Photo Faves: Bug Kid

Here's my daughter as we head into the "It's Tough To Be A Bug!" 3D movie inside the Tree Of Life at Disney's Animal Kingdom.

The funny 3D glasses combined with the "What?" look on her face is priceless to me.

My Wife

I post photos of hot babes on the site every now and then, but I can't let Valentine's Day pass without posting my favorite babe of all time.

Pictured here is my wife on our wedding day.  She's the love of my life and I never tire of her smile, her laughter or her companionship...  or her good looks I suppose.

I'm a very lucky man.

Photo Faves: My Daughter

This is one of those magic moments when everything comes together; good light, nice setting, and the personality of your subject coming through.

This is still one of my favorite photographs of my daughter ever.  She's a cutie pie.

Photo Faves: Sledding

This is the first and last time my daughter ever let me take her sledding.  I guess I should have started on a smaller hill... 

Photo Faves: Bubbles

I took this photo of my daughter at a birthday party a few years ago.  

I love the squinty smile and how the bubbles caught the light.

Photo Faves: President Bush 2004

I've always enjoyed photography, and I've managed to get some pretty good shots over the years, so I think I'll start posting them every now and then here on the blog.  Just for the heck of it.

We'll begin with one of my favorites:

This was taken during the 2004 Presidential election when President Bush visited our area.  The young girl was sitting on her father's shoulders trying to get a view of the President.  I think it perfectly captures the excitement of an event like this, and the fact that President Bush is still in the picture but out of focus gives it a little artistic flair.

One more photo of the President looking right at me after the jump.

Gratuitous Puppy Pictures

These are our two Welsh Pembroke Corgis, Seamus and Chloe.  Chloe (darker face) is the high energy dog who always wants to play fetch... and I do mean always.  Seamus is the mellow teddy bear who just wants to roll over and get his belly rubbed. 

 

Dogs fill up all the empty space in daily life with love and laughs.  These two especially.

My "Man Cave"

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My home was built in 2000 and had a large unfinished basement with decent ceiling height.  In late 2007, after years of putting it off, my wife and I finally decided to turn it into finished living space.  We did most of the work ourselves with the assistance of my father-in-law Bob and his huge colection of power tools.

Now, after a year and a half of weekends and evenings, it's about 90% finished.  The bathroom is incomplete and there's much more decorating to be done, but it's close enough to be enjoyed and finally looks good enough for me to share some pics with my blog buddies, so here goes.

THE GAME ROOM - This is the main room you enter when coming down the steps.  There's a foosball table, an arcade game, some pinball machines, a slot machine, a dartboard and a variety of fun and funky decorations.