Penneys in July

I have been meaning to get these posted on here. We got these taken at JC Penneys in July. They turned out GREAT. The only thing is, we did not order enough pictures. You see, for those who have not experienced this sort of thing, they make you select your pictures right after they are taken. That means, they put you on the spot while your five-year-old and toddler is in the process of destroying the studio. Here's Kim chasing our kids all over the place, and the staff member is showing me55 great photographs, asking me to select what we want in about 2 minutes and 30 seconds. People are waiting for their pictures to be taken (of course they have kids too, who are about to lose their patience with us) and the staff member is getting sick of showing me pictures over and over and waiting for me to decide what we (I-again, Kim is chasing Carson all over the place). Why is the world they do not allow you to go home and select your pictures in the privacy of your home while your children are napping or watching Jimmy Nuetron, I'll never understand that.

But, as you can see, the pictures themselves turned out great.

JACKSON'S FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

It's official. Jackson is a big boy now. I can't believe it. Yesterday was his first day of Kindergarten. It went very well and he was super excited about it. You should have seen him standing by the front door several minutes before it was time to leave, backpack fastened tightly to his back. Our whole family was there to walk him into his new school. Carson was waving at people he had never met, As we approached the building Jackson blurts out, unprovoked: "I'm not even nervous at all!".

But once we got in the classroom, you could tell that statement was not really the case...check him out here...I snapped this from across the classroom as the kids and there parents were filing in and addressing Mrs. Baugh. Looking a little nervous here, if you ask me! Check out the look on his face!

So as me, Kim and Carson are saying our goodbyes in the classroom, he covers his face with his pencilbox. We left, realizing the we had one little boy left and we were carrying him. The other son was now a big boy. As I buckled Carson in the van before Kim headed for daycare to drop him off, I mentioned, "Hey Carson, this will be you in only four years". Kim about started crying and told me not to say that - as though I had just said something terrible. But it's true and that might be even more amazing.

It has been brought to my attention that the last few posts have been lacking good youngster photos. These two pictures will stop that trend!

Here's Carse eating some yummy corn on the cob yesterday, 8/12. Notice it's just his size!


This one was taken this afternoon in the backyard. We think Roscoe will be the size of a horse before too long.

After months of repeated ear infections, Carson got his ear tubes on Thursday. We drove down to Bedford so that he could get it done sooner. This was an actual surgical procedure, so of course he had to be put under and everything. And, he had to fast since basically dinnertime Wednesday night. This part was tough, because Carse ussually wants his breakfast and his "Uh-Oh" (his drink) as soon as he wakes up in the morning. Since we couldn't explain to him why he could not eat of drink, he we upset and understandabley confused why would would not get him something to eat or drink. Then, the doctor was once agin late and his 11am procedure did not happen until 12:30pm. Everything went fine, though, but the doctor said that there was alot of pus in his ears and that it sure was a good thing that we did it. The toughest part of the whole thing was right after they did it...Carse spent about 20 minutes in recovery and then they brought him to us after he started waking up. They told us that he would likely be upset and they were right on with that. He had a hard cry for well over an hour and there was nothing that we could do about it. They said that he was basically like being drunk and the disorientation and dissiness really tends to upset them when they are that young. Plus, all the crying filled him up with air and he kept arching his back, belching and farting - so that might have been a big part of his discomfort. finally he calmed down, thanks to the light switches in the hospital room. He rather enjoyed turning the lights off and on and that calmed him down finally. Then he ate some mashed potatos and chicken strips, drank some more uh-oh and he was in good shape after that. The transistion from pissed to feeling pretty good was a quick one! A a couple of hours later he was home and acting mostly normal. We just hope that the tubes do not fall out early or the tube could get clogged with junk and be basically usless. The doctor was a little concerned about that happening - maybe clogging is more likely than falling out. But right now it looks like a good thing we did it. Hopefully he will hear better and have much healthier ears!

I’m starting to get pissed…

I’m not a business guru and I am certainly not an expert on marketing. But I did minor in Marketing back at Ball State University and I would like to think that I did learn at least a little from the many Marketing/Advertising classes that I completed. It helped me to become aware of the tactics that advertisers will use to target people for promoting their products. It helped me to understanding that there are several important issues to carefully consider when marketing your product….because the last thing you want to do is piss off your target audience. Well, I’m getting pissed.

Maybe I should have pursued a career in marketing, because even I know not to do some of the things that these nimrods like Speedway and Rhapsody are doing.

There are two examples that are just flat-out misleading. I think the average person would agree with me on these things.

Let’s start with Speedway….you know, the gas stations. Look, people are already pissed off about the gas situation. It’s getting freaking ridiculous, folks! So what does Speedway do? Well, they have a rewards program, the Speedy Rewards Card. Yeah go ahead and click the link and check it out. Now, up until recently I have been pleased with the rewards program. It’s been a good thing for me. But last week, I’m driving past a Speedway, and notice the large sign on the marquee stating that August was “Double Points month!”….Note that this was on a marquee, and you ain’t gonna find no damn small print on a marquee, right? Right! I did not buy gas that day….but I noticed it, and I decided that I would make even more effort to purchase gas at Speedway for the entire month of August….even if it meant going out of my way a little.

So the next opportunity, I did…..as I was pumping the gas, I noticed several other signs declaring “DOUBLE POINTS on your Speedway card in August!” I finish pumping and as I am pulling away I take a look at the receipt to see just how many points I had earned since I just spent over 40 bucks on their gas. The points earned was NOT DOUBLED! I grumbled something about it to my wife, who gets tired of me being a cheap ass, and I just tried to leave it at that and forget about it. But then yesterday, I get more gas at a different Speedway location – Same damn thing – NO DOUBLE POINTS…..And then it hit me…..I got suckered…..Double points are only for certain items like dried up hot dogs and gross breakfast sandwiches…I don’t know about you, but I am not eager to eat an egg product prepared at a gas station. So SPEEDWAY is on my defecation list.

Then there is Rhapsody….. you know, the music download service. After I got my Sandisk Sansa mp3 player last month (which I enjoy) I accepted the invitation that came with it….a one month free subscription to Rhapsody To Go. This was, after all, a $15 value….The card that promoted the service states (and this is verbatim, folks) “Rhapsody To Go gives you unlimited access to our entire catalogue of over a million songs and lets you take it with you on your Sandisk Sansa for no extra charge”. Let me repeat for those that did not see those last three words: “NO EXTRA CHARGE”. I’m thinking, geez, I’ll load up on songs for the month and then cancel before it has been a full month. Hell, all I have to do is dial 1-866-420-5833 to cancel anytime. This is a no brainer…duh….free month of Rhapsody service….NO EXTRA CHARGE…unlimited downloads…these are the actual words used…..I should have known it was a crock of feces. Turns out there are Additional charges for each and every song downloaded – to the tune of 88 cents each. Now I figured this out just in time before loading my mps player up with a hundred songs – but I could have easily downloaded them with no worry because, as advertised it was a free month of service with unlimited downloads with no extra charge. By the way, I checked out the fine print on the card and it only refer to details about the one-month trial period – nothing about the fact that you still have to pay for downloads…..It’s just stupid….I mean what is the point of having Rhapsody and paying the 15 bucks a month for it? Geez, you can go the Wal-Mart.com and get whatever you want without having to have a subscription!

Nuff said……okay, tell me what you think? Am I being a little unreasonable here?

I had so much fun posting the Bob Knight golf video, I thought I would also post about one of my other favorite clips. Anyone, like myself, who grew up in the 80's remembers "Always Something There To Remind me" by Naked Eyes. Well, it is my pleasure to present to you, some dumbass named Tony singing...

"Always Sentimental Remind Me"

We made what has become our annual trip to Ruse-Hulman for Colts camp this past Wednesday. It was 97 degress with a heat index of 105, but we still had a great time. It was me, Jackson, and our great visitor from the North - Todd. This was his first time to Colts camp, and he loves football more than anyone else I know, so he thoroughly enjoyed it. He took his football that Marvin Harrison threw to him after pregame warmups this past season. He was able to get Peyton, Mike Doss, Jeff Saturday, Tarik Glenn, and Dallas Clark to sign it. Obviously 5 quality starters. It was awesome. I was able to get Peyton Manning to sign my Tennessee Vols hat....I bought that Vols hat last year in hopes I could get him to sign it, but no luck last year...So I now have a Colts hat and a Vols hat each signed by Manning - Sweet! See picture below!!!