The other night we were driving to my sister’s house, where we stayed this weekend.

As Anna was going into the left of the left turn lane, she suddenly switched to the right left turn lane. I asked why she did this and she said tha tthe car way up ahead had it’s emergency flashers on and sure enough it did.

As we were slowing a Porsche was passing us in the lane we just changed from. For some reason he really wanted to hurry up and wait. I told Anna to leave slowly when we get the left turn arrow, because I wanted to see if the guy would honk at the car with the emergency flashers on.

The light turned green, we barely move and “honk……HONK…. HONK“. Sure enough, the guy was not paying attention to the fact that the car had its flashers on and that no one was in it. Oh it was a funny thing to witness.

Christmas just keeps on going.

My sister showed up and had more gifts (aka more stuff to try to pack LOL)

Well, she nailed it. Anna got a silly gift and a very nice fancy keychain. “VERY” nice.

As for me, well I got a gift that jumped up in rank to about the 3rd best gift of the day. A guinness hat, WITH A BOTTLE OPENER ON THE BILL!

I now have the following types of bottle openers…..

• belt buckle
• Park Tool opener (bike tool manufacturer)
• bike chain and sprocket bottle opener
• spatula with opener
• snowboard bindings
• standard wall mount opener
• Tiki handle
• flip flops
• and finally the Guinness hat

Merry Christmas from California. I am writing this from my parents house while sipping a cool refreshing beveredge.

We’ve been in Cali since Friday and are having a good time.

However I only brought one pair of shorts, so I’ve had to wash them every day. Why? BECAUSE IT’S FREAKIN 80 DEGREES! That’s why. Somehow it’s just not christmasy when you see Santa surfing in H.B. (Huntington Beach). And then you see all the people trying to look cold. I must laugh at the girls wearing their Ugg boots and short skirts. I also snicker at those people wearing long pants and sweatshirts with the hoods over their heads. Oh and a beanie under the hood. Come on, it’s not cold. It’s been in the mid to upper 70’s.

We did the present thing, this morning. It was hilarious. Almost like watching Ralphie and Randy from A Christmas Story. Ganoosh was constantly exclaiming “That’s mine….. that’s mine….”. I was waiting for the “OH WOW! A ZEPPLIN!” But since we didn’t buy her one, I was pretty sure she wouldn’t say it.

Liana ended up with a pony this year. This is that pony you may have seen at Target. If you haven’t, it may have been due to all the kids that were playing with it. You can feed it, pet it, groom it and even “ride” it.  It’s interesting, all the sensors that are in it and how it responds to a myriad of stimuli. (yes I did write that, remember I am enjoying beveredges). Now the issue is trying to fit it and everything else into the family truckster.

Oh and this family truckster is Anna’s present. The 2008 Toyota Sienna. Just shy of fully loaded. It is a great travelling vehicle. Plenty of room, DVD player, GPS navigation, 15 cup holders (still not enough) and heated windshiled wipers. It drives so sweet and we love it.

Everyone made out like bandits for Christmas. I got to see my family, Anna got to get out of town, the kids got more stuff than they realize and my parents got to see their grandkids.

This year I think more people were in the Christmas spirit. I say this because even at the liberals “Mecca” (aka Starbucks, a place I try to avoid however they have taken over all the good coffee shops in So. Cal) I was wished a “Merry Christmas”. WHAT?! Merry Christmas from the place that has these little quotes on their cups that sometimes say things just shy of ‘Religion is the opiate of the masses’. I was in shock. However I smiled and said it right back and as I left I turned and said “MERRY CHRISTMAS!” loud enough for all to hear. I wonder how many thought I was about to blow the place up?

We will be making our return trip tonight. We have realized that even though we have a DVD player to keep the kids entertained, SLEEP is much better at keeping the children quiet.

In closing, I want to wish all of you, who read this, a Merry Christmas!!!! I hope you have a great day and reflect on what this holiday is about. The joy, the happiness, the politeness and the Christmas spirit does not have to end tonight. 

Peace, Love and Joy from the Lord Jesus the Christ to you and yours. May God Bless.

WOW! What a surprise today.

UPS showed up and dropped off an envelope to me. I open it and there is a gift certificate! Needless to say, but I’ll still say it, I was surprised.

I could not figure out what it was for and I called and asked people at work but no one knew. As time went on I was really starting to wonder if it was meant for me. Then I get a call from corporate….

“Hi Todd? Did you get a gift card today?”

NOOOO!!!!!!! THEY’RE GOING TO TAKE IT AWAY!

“Yes I did.”

“Congratulations, you won it for making the most telemarketing calls one week during the contest”

Well, I thought someone else did. As it turns out, the person that was announced as the winner, really wasn’t. They miscounted and I actually won.

I am really stoked about this, especially since it will be a big chunk towards the new camera that I want.

That’s right, I said it. HO HO HO Are you offended? Why not? Maybe because it’s NOT OFFENSIVE!

My niece brought this to my attention and I thought it was an urban legend. But it turns out to be true. Santa’s in Australia (this is the only place I’ve seen it happen) are being told to not say “HO HO HO” because it can be offensive to women. They are being told to say “Ha Ha Ha” instead.

This is a prime example of how the PC police have taken over. This word was NEVER offensive until some stupid unintelligible rapper said “ho” instead of “whore”.  In fact, they didn’t even take the word “ho” from Santa, they just shortened the word whore. So how can you even equate it to Santa’s laugh?

I guess we need to recap what the PC police have done to Christmas. I’m sorry, X-mas…. oops I mean the holiday.

•  Christmas tree. It is now a Holiday tree
• Merry Christmas. It is now “Happy Holidays”
• Christmas carols. Nope, holiday songs (even though they are about Christmas)
• Manger scene. Wouldn’t want people to know what Christmas is about or anything.
• We now have scientists going around telling kids that it is impossible for Santa  to deliver  all the gifts in one night, because he would catch on fire due to friction. (Ya and maybe because he’s not real”

• And finally Ho Ho Ho. Because it might offend someone. Well, if you’re not a ‘ho’ and Santa is not calling you one, then how can it be offensive?

At the risk of offending people that read this, I will not wish you a Happy HOliday.

Merry Christmas.  That is, if you want one. I’m not trying to tell you what to do.

I have not really gotten into who is running for president, yet. But so far I am really liking Mike Huckabee. He seems to be a very honest and upstanding guy. I’ve only read very little about him, but I like what I have read so far.

He seems to be really interested in technology and reducing dependence on foreign oil. These are things that go hand in hand and need to be explored to the best of our abilities.

He also like to promote a healthy lifestyle. As made evident by his Healthy Arkansas initiative. And he has a very good reason to promote this lifestyle, since he was diagnosed with type II diabetes.

I think he is a man worth checking out and voting for.  http://www.mikehuckabee.com/

I bought a new 6th Generation 160gig iPod. Not cheap as you know. So I get it home, burn some movies and I can not play it on my TV. I follow all the directions and nothing.

So I do some research and find out that rotten Apple has decided to go to vertical integration. Meaning you can only use their accessories on their new iPods. So I spend $350 on the iPod and am now forced to spend $50 on a cable and another $20 on an adapter so I can kep my iPod charged while I’m playing movies. So I buy a new cable and it is the wrong type, kind of my fault. It’s one of the new 5 output cables, the type where each color has its own output. So I call 1-800-rottenapple and they tell tell me, in broken english, that I need to buy a new Universal Dock. So, since this guy is a “genius” I believe him. I ask if I need to buy the Apple A/V cable as well and I’m assured that I do not. Well, I just got home, after trading for the newDock, and this new dock does not work.

What is up with this? I thought Apple was the greatest company in the world. well, it seems to me that they are trying to get their money back that they supposedly refunded to the iPhone buyers. Weren’t those merely gift certificates to their stores? So they made even more money off of their customers that they screwed over.

It’s international talk like a pirate day!!!!!!!!!!!! So come on everybody, talk like a pirate, have a little fun. At work, when people call in ask them “how aRRRRRRe you doing?”

What is a pirates favorite fast food place?   aRRRRRRby’s

What is a pirate’s favorite profession?  aRRRRRchitect

Liana heard the doorbell ring, at daycare this morning. So she ran to answer it. She is quite the polite little girl and believes that people should not be kept waiting.

So she answered the door and there stood 2 mormon missionaries.

Oh ya, I almost forgot. She was naked.

As you all know, Titus has been through a lot in his 15 months and 3 weeks of life. More noticeably his eating problems, from his milk and poultry allergy, to his underdeveloped esophagus (did I spell that right?).

Due to these problems he has problems eating some foods. Mostly he only eats level 2 baby food. Well, he should be on solids by now and off of his formula.

With these problems our pediatrician has suggested that we get him some therapy and it’s not cheap. You also may know how much we do and have spent on T. Roughly $800 a month for formula and then the doctor visits. He is our million dollar little man.

This therapy is called Early Intervention. What this does is help toddlers, that are slightly developmentally behind, catch up. They come to your house and play with the child and do an evaluation. They watch for fine motor skills, speach, interaction and more. Now, many of you know me and know that I have issues with therapists and psychologists. Too many Dr. Phil’s out there that want to make a buck by saying you or someone you know is messed up. I know some are good, but I am of the opinion that they are the minority.

So the group came to the house and played with Titus. They did some neat stuff like taught him American sign language for “more” which is something we were working on. They did it in just a matter of minutes. As they played they were watching him and evaluating him. He really loved the attention. After all this was finished they said they would write up their assesment and let us know if he qualified for it. To be qualified, a child must show at least a 25% delay in 2 out of 5 areas.

Fast forward several days and we receive the assessment.  The assessment detailed those areas Titus was slightly behind in. Now please note that Titus was really sick for a long time and he spent many weeks in hospitals and never got to really play and learn what he could do, due to his health problems. He is not developmentally behind due to any other reason than lack of exposure to life. The areas they stated he is behind in are; Fine Motor, Language (he’s only 15 months old) and Relationship to Inanimate Objects. HUH?! Relationship to inanimate objects? Ok, so my child does not love lamp. (if you have not seen Anchorman, you need to)

What all this means is that he will participate in the program to get him back up to speed. And should also help him with his food aversions. This is the critical issue in my book. My son needs to learn the goodness that is bacon! We are looking forward to this as Titus needs to get to that normal stage. He is so excited to be walking and we think that if he can eat like he should, then he will sleep through the night and be an even happier child.