Squatter

Looking at this pic, you might think he is doing his business, but
he's not. He just likes squatting for some reason. He plays with his
toys and reads books in this positition.

Personality keeps popping out everyday. I love it.

Goodbye Tree

Took down the tree and stuff yesterday. Here's a 60 second clip, nothing too exciting:

Back to work today, although I am quite excited about this time of year. Discussed 2009 goals and intentions part 1 of 2 with the Sheen last night. It left me super duper excited about next year. Think big. BIG.

Schlegel Christmas 2008

This Christmas vacation was nice. My entire immediate family traveled to have Christmas in The Natural State, with huge gatherings, multiple cappuccino conversations, and just plain old chaos. We also took yesterday to get some much needed family photos; first time in over 10 years I think.

A few of my favorites...

'Momma'


Nate and sons


My family


My mom and sisters


Emily and sons


Grandsons (all seven of them)


The guys


Grandsons again


La Familia (click to enlarge)

50 Years of Manliness

My dad turned 50 on Saturday!! I love to reminisce on good times whenever celebrations, especially birthdays come around, so let’s dig out the memory box and highlight a few:

My dad taught me how to throw a fast ball. FAST. He was my Little League coach, and whenever I would get upset or wild on the mound, he would call “time” and come up to the mound and say things like “Jake. Just rockin-fire buddy. Rockin-fire. You can do it. Stay calm and just throw the heat.” Then I would throw STRIKES! What a dad!

He bought me my first car, and went OVER the allowance. We test drove my Z34, then he let me drive it home. I remember him spending hours in the garage with me showing me how to buff it like glass. What a dad!

He had a cigar with me in celebration of Jeremiah’s birth. A chocolate one, mind you, but nonetheless. Haha...

Dad, happy birthday to you. 50 healthy years is an amazing accomplishment with so many more to come. We love and support you, and can hardly wait to celebrate your birthday and Christmas this week.

Love,
The Family

p.s. there should be a package in the mail probably today.

Silent Night...

I was minding my own business, having a venison steak with Sheen and JJ, when all of sudden there was a noise from outside. I heard a car door shut...

Then a door bell ring....

So I went to answer the door and saw nothing. I immediately thought "those darn ding-dong-ditch kids again..."

But THEN, music. Sweet music. I stepped out a little further and saw these guys. All 18 of them.


Thanks everyone, for making our night! Jeremiah enjoyed it, you could tell.

Twitter

There's a new technology in my life. Twitter. It's been around for a while, but I've never used it since it works best if you have unlimited texting available on your phone plan.

Which Sheen and I now do.

So text away! And sign up for TWITTER for gosh golly's sake.

If you're ever wondering what I'm up to, look to the right. It says TWITTER UPDATES.

A New Face. No Really...

I was reading this article this morning and am not quite sure what I think about it, except one word: weird.

There have now been four face transplants in the world, and this one in the article was the first in our nation, in Cleveland.

Basically, a women went through a 6 to 10 hour face transplant surgery, receiving a face that was harvested from a cavader including blood vessels, muscles, and skin. I can't imagine receiving a new face, nor donating mine. It's just a weird thought. But it sounds like the cases so far have been of faces that were completely mauled by a bear or dog or severe burns.

Anyway, all this to say that I think in the near future we will be seeing some astounding medical advances, as if we're not already. I've heard of limb transplants, which really stretched my thinking, but a face? hmmmm.... what's your opinion?

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-sci-facetransplant17-2008dec17,0,1710951.story

Christmas Website

The last 2 months or so I've had a level of anticipation and excitement that only a geek would have. It's for our "Christmas Website" that we just launched a few days ago.

Feel free to go check it out: HERE

The Internet is becoming more and more popular these days, and snail mail seems to be becoming less and less. So that's why we started this site; with the hopes of connecting with family and friends we haven't heard from in years, along with those family and friends that know us all too well. It's a holiday site, and I plan on updating this site again next year. We printed it on the postcards we sent this year as our Christmas card.

I would love to hear what you all think of this idea... All three faithful readers of mine LOL. And sign the guest book!

My Smellevator

I have access to exactly 5 elevators on daily basis, but I usually try to avoid using them despite the fact that I work on the 5th floor.

These elevators are like tupperware, containing the scent of whatever comes inside. It may be fried food, second hand smoke, perfume, second hand gas...you name it.

I want to invent the smellevator. Basically, it's a state-of-the-art scent dispensing unit that emits the good smelling things in life every time someone exits to their desired floor.

Things like...

-New Car
-Coffee shop
-New clothes
-Ocean waves
-Fresh peaches and plums

Is there anything especially unigue about your work place?

More RSS info

I shared in an earlier post the concept of RSS. Now let me show you why it can be so great if you follow a handful of blogs like me.

This is my homepage. www.google.com

Google has this thing called iGoogle, basically a personalized, customized, version of google.com just the way you want it. You can add "gadgets" to it. You can see my gadgets in the picture. One of my gadgets is the Google Reader (RSS Reader) which contains all of the blogs that I follow.

So.... whenever a blog that I have subscribed to in my reader posts a new post, it shows up here. On my home page. In my Reader.

It's like an email inbox, right there on my home page, telling me if I have new items to look at. This way I don't have to spend 10 minutes multiple times a day going out to check on a list of blogs. If someone posted, it shows up here. All I have to do is launch my Internet web browser.

Brilliant.

And yes, it's 26 degrees in Alma right now. Brrr.

Ear Infections, Schmeer Imnections

The doctor told me today that there is some "blockage" in J's right ear, potentially affecting his hearing.

So... this means medicine administration, and a follow up visit in 3 weeks.

I get angry at this type of stuff. Usually I just go home, put a blanket over my head, and cuss the devil out.

Kidding of course. But seriously, the main purpose of this post was to put up that picture of Junior and Me from this morning. Isn't he amazing as he swallows chunks of pear?

Kissing Toilets

Perry Noble blogged today about kissing toilets. If you're looking for a good way to spend two and a half minutes, I suggest you go read it HERE. It relates to his little girl who is not yet two years old.

2nd Place Skates

Sheena's ice skates lost the first place prize in the "homemade ornament exchange" contest by a single point on Saturday night, and I lost to Evan in the paper/rock/scissors tournament. If I could sum up the night in one word, I would have to say: funnighteventhoughtheskatesdidntwindangit



P.S. I made the lame angel.

King stands for...

A good friend named me king of the blogs, but I cannot accept. Becky is just a nice person. And so is Chaz.

I want to give my Pastor that title, mainly for two reasons.

1. I started a blog because I got hooked on his shortly after he started his, and I couldn't sleep at night. So I copied him.

2. He is the person behind that manly costume pictured left.

I gave him some grief in previous post. This one is meant to make up for it. No sense in beating around the bush, right?

Keep rocking the king PK, it looks good on you.

I read a lot of blogs

I know some of my blog readers have a list of blogs that they check regularly. They sit down at the computer, and go from one to the next hoping to see something new.

Couple of questions for ya:

-Do you find yourself checking blogs numerous times a day to see if something new has been posted since the last time you read?

-After checking a blog often, and not seeing a post after many, many days (...cough..PK..cough...) do you get frustrated about the time wasted in all of this checking and just hope, I mean really hope, they will get back on the ball and post more often like they used to when they started blogging and then said they got too busy to blog because of the house building, and electrician work, and two dogs at home, and coffee, and other stuff, etc, etc?

-Do you ever wake up at night while in the middle of a dream thinking you were falling?

If you answered yes to any of these, I may have the solution for you. It's called an RSS reader. I use it to keep up with more than 20 blogs and I don't have to answer yes to any of those three questions anymore.

RSS is like checking your email. You simply check your RSS "inbox" and if anyone has posted, it shows up there. If not, you basically have "no mail." Simple as that, and it's free of course.

I'll share more on this later. But if you're as eager as a liger (lion and tiger mixed) then google it and figure it out on your own. Not sure RSS can help with the thrid question though.

Chaz is Mr. Schnaz....

My good Arky friend joined the blogosphere, and all I can say is, it's about time!


Landon, publicly known as Chaz can be found on his new blog HERE. So go leave him a comment!

I think I just let the dog out of the cats bag or whatever that saying is.

Peace.

Christmas Conversations

Copy/paste this on your blog. It's fun! And if gets you thinking about Christmas too.

Evan put this list on her blog, here are mine.

1. Do you have a real or artificial tree? Both, but the main one is real.
2. Do you like eggnog? LOVE IT! I plan on making eggnog lattes this year.
3. Favorite Holiday memory? As a kid, waking up and seeing TONS of presents under the tree. One year I got a mountain bike. Another year we got go-karts. As an adult, being with family. Nothing beats that. EVER.
4. Favorite Christmas movie of all time? Don't have one. I like the 3 Santa Clause ones.
5. What do you have for dinner at Christmas? Depends on where I eat. Each side of our 5-sided family has their own version. :)
6. Favorite Christmas song? Carol of Bells
7. Favorite Christmas treat? Probably eggnog. Also like candy canes.
8. Do you put up lights on the outside of your house? Yes. A friend of mine said you have to put up more each year. It's our third year and we've followed that command so far. I think we'll do a different theme next year though. I want to build a high tech system that incorporates video and sound with our lights somehow.

...in due time....in due time.

What about you?
Becky, I hope to see yours...

Mr. Mom

I'm at home today, again. Yesterday and today this dude was throwing up. He's getting lots of rest though, so that's good. Can't think of anything else to report or blog about right now, so have a wonderful day!