Beaten by a 5 year old.......

Mrs. Lime and I went out to eat with one of her friends and her 5 year old daughter. Mrs. Lime and her friend were talking business, so I decided to strike up an extended conversation with my new 5 year old friend.

Me: So, is the peanut butter and jelly sandwich pretty good?

5: Yes!

Me: Looks like you got some big fries with that sandwich, eh?

5: Yes, these are the biggest fries I've ever seen! I can't even fit them into my mouth!

Me: And looks like you got a sucker too.....

5: (to her mom) Look, Mom! I got a sucker!

Me: So what do you like to eat besides peanut butter and jelly?

5: Cheeseburgers and Macaroni and Cheese! Did you know my mom cooks my Macaroni and Cheese with pieces of salmon in it?

Me: Really?

5: Oh yeah! It tastes really good.

Me: So does your dad do any cooking for you?

5: Yes, he cooks Macaroni and Cheese too.

Me: Does your dad cook it better than your mom?

5: Yes! He cooks it better than my mom, but be sure you don't tell her that.

Me: OK, your secret is safe with me.


We then proceeded to play a game where one of us would draw a picture and the other would try to guess. It seemed to be a game that I was destined to lose. I actually draw pretty well. She always seemed to guess the pictures on the first try when I drew them. Some of her first guess wins included a McDonald's sundae (complete with the corporate symbol on the side which obviously gave it away), a bird, a tree, a book, and a drawing of my 5 year old friend (I still have no clue how she knew I was trying to draw her given the low quality of my drawing).

Obviously, as a 5 year old, her drawings were a bit more creative, so I had my work cut out for me. Her first drawing was a couple of half circles next to each other. I guessed rainbows, moguls, and hills. I was finally told that they were eyebrows and that I should have guessed that much sooner. Tough crowd.

Next, there was a picture of a blue line with lots of green scribbling above the line. I told her I was going to get this one on the first try. She told me she didn't think so. I guessed grass. Nope! I then guessed a wall, a plant and a fountain. I was told that wasn't it either. I asked for a clue and she said that 'they were in the world all around us'. Well, that certainly narrows it down. I fired off a couple more guesses without any success. I asked her to tell me what it was and she told me it was a bush. I said that I had already guessed a plant. I was quickly told by my 5 year old friend that a bush is not the same thing as a plant. Glad I know that now.

She played with my mind a bit after that. She drew a picture with a rectangle and a dot in the middle of the triange with green shooting out of the top of the triangle. I guessed that it was a grocery bag or a picture of myself. I was quickly given a hint that 'they were in the world all around us'. Haven't I had this hint before? I gave up and was informed that it was a tree. She giggled and was quite proud of herself that she drew something that I already drew and that I still couldn't get it.

I was humbled by a 5 year old. I dropped my head in shame and headed home.

Dead man walking......

There's a guy in my workplace who, much like me, is very schedule-oriented. So when I walk in the door each morning, he's usually doing the same thing he does every other day.

Every day I come in, he is in the kitchen area of the building. What's he doing in there? He's heating up 5 sausage links (!) and 3 scrambled eggs. Every single day. This man is in his 60s and he's eating multiple pieces of sausage and eggs on a daily basis. I'm no rocket scientist, but shouldn't this guy be dead by now of a massive heart attack? It would seem to me that he literally has cholesterol, not blood, flowing through his veins.

More power to the guy, I suppose. Anybody that can eat that kind of food on a daily basis and still manage to avoid being 6 feet under deserves some sort of praise.

How you know you're working in a female-dominated workplace, Volume 3

I went over to the kitchen area in our building to heat up my lunch. As I walked in there, 3 women were having a conversation. I was actually standing in between them as they talked from opposite ends of the room. The conversation went something like this:


Woman #1: Where are you going?

Woman #2: Yeah, where are you headed?

Woman #3: I'm heading down to drop this off with Bill.

Woman #1: Who's Bill? Is he that one guy that you were kissing on?

Woman #2: And you were rubbing up against his leg, weren't you?

Woman #3: Yeah, that's the one.

Woman #1: So what does that make you?

Woman #3: A slut.

Woman #1: **laughing** Yeah, that's right.

Woman #2: **laughing** She's probably going to do something 'bad' to him.

Woman #1: Look at this poor guy heating up his lunch. He's probably wishing he didn't even bother with lunch right about now.

Me: **chuckle** Something like that.

Woman #1 and #2: **laughing**


So, in closing, sexual harassment is OK at work as long as you're of the same sex of the person you are harassing.

With 85-90% certainty.........

We'll be having a baby girl in early February. I think the 10-15% is in case our baby was trying to hide something. My dad mentioned that he only remembered one time where they missed at his work, so I doubt we'll have any surprises.

Between my wife liking the color purple and the pink for the little baby girl, we're going to have one ugly pastel house. I'm going to paint the basement black when it's finished just in protest.

My Tigers (football) nationally ranked......

Great to see the team rewarded for their 4-0 start with a national ranking. The Tigers are ranked #25 in the nation in the AP poll. It's the first time in over 2 years that the Tigers have been ranked and only the 5th time since 1925 that the team has started 4-0. Here's to hoping that they continue their great play in the coming weeks.

Concordia Fall Festival

There's a little town in Missouri called Concordia. It's largely a German town and my family is originally from that area. The population is only a few thousand, but there are many more people on the farms surrounding the town. Life is a bit slower in this town, but that's not always a bad thing.

On the weekend after Labor Day each year, the town holds a street fair. It lasts from Thursday through Saturday. They close off Main Street for several blocks for the fair. I went down on Saturday night to take in the parade. The street was relatively clear for these pictures because the parade was about to start. People had cleared to either side to let the parade through.

Here's a picture looking down towards the carnival. You can see the ferris wheel in the distance......



This picture looks the other way down the street towards the Lutheran Church. You can see the steeple from several miles away in any direction.......



There were kids lined up all along the parade route.......



Even sitting on the tops of the buildings to watch the parade.......



The parade always starts with the police and fire department. Following them is the color guard, which is manned by veterans of the military. The color guard stops in front of the main stage and everyone along the route stands as the flag arrives. A young girl sung the national anthem and then the color guard proceeded on through.



The grand marshal of the parade was the commander of the B-2 stealth bomber fleet, which is based a few miles away from Concordia at Whiteman Air Force Base in Knob Noster. All of the stealth bombers are based at that base for security reasons (located in the center of the country where they are safe from attack). They fly directly from Missouri to any place of military action non-stop, refueling in mid-air. They flew many missions to Iraq during the 2003 war.

Next came the Fall Festival Queen and her court.......








And some younger queens........



Next came the marching bands......



And what would a street festival in a rural community be without some tractors!!!! I'm sure most will recognize that the first one is a staple of rural America, which is a John Deere tractor.




In this small community, there's pretty much a church on every street corner. Most of the people in the community are regular 'God-fearing' people who attend church on a weekly basis. One of the two high-schools in the community is a Lutheran school. So it only makes perfect sense that there is a section of religious floats in the parade. I snapped this photo just as Noah and his ark 'floated' by me in the street......



After the parade, it's time to head off to the beer garden. There a city park in the center of the city that covers roughly a square block. During the fall festival, it becomes a large beer garden with food, music, and booze. A good combination for a party. People from the Kansas City area comes down to the festival just to hang out in the beer garden. The garden has a few thousand people in it on Friday and Saturday night. As far as you can see, people having a lot of fun........






As you might expect, plenty of German food to go around. The beer sells quicker if you eat something that needs to be washed down. On the left of this picture are slim sausages called 'long johns'. On the right, bratwurst........



Here we have a very popular snack at the festival called raw hack. What is it, you ask? That is raw ground beef mixed with herbs and spices. Most spread it on saltine crackers and eat it. It's pretty good stuff if you have the stomach to handle it. They actually sold out of the stuff by 8:00 PM on Saturday night. That's how popular it is.......



An interesting visitor to the beer garden is the 'belly boys'. I really don't think these pictures need any description. I took these pictures of the boys dancing on the dance floor in front of the main stage in the beer garden......







Over on a side stage, there was a band playing 'big band' music......



And a picture of the midway/carnival on the way out of town.......



Had a great time with everyone. I lost my parents somewhere in the beer garden around 10:00 PM, but I did confirm that they survived the night in one piece. I'm sure that there were some people in the beer garden that didn't fare nearly as well.

Beaker at a poker table........

I've decided to post my brief experience with a player who sat down at a casino poker table and managed to do everything wrong that he possibly could in my short time with him at the table. What made it all the more enjoyable was that he was a beaker (i.e. KU fan).

First, I'll go through everything that he did. Then I'll tell you why he just screamed 'easy money' to every other player at the table.

Guy sits down at a 3/6 limit table. He carefully unstacks $60 in three neat stacks of 20 chips each. He then takes the chip rack and looks for somewhere to put it. He finally puts it back on an empty table behind him. He's wearing a baseball cap with it pulled down very low over his eyes. Doesn't say anything to anyone at the table.

He gets dealt his first hand where he is the big blind. 6 people call in front of him and he just checks. Flop is A73, all different suits. Everyone checks all the way around to him and he quickly checks as well. Turn card is a 2. Everyone checks around to him and he quickly checks again. River is a 10. It's checked all the way around to him once again and he quickly checks. Everyone is very tentative to flip over their cards because no one really has anything or they obviously would have bet. Beaker is the final player to flip over his cards to reveal A8. He has a pair of aces and wins the hand.

I and one other guy laughed when he flipped it over and we enquired why he didn't bet on the hand since he had flopped aces. He said, "That's why I never play those hands. I was worried about the kicker."


OK, now let's go over just what this guy did wrong........

-Beaker did not buy in for nearly enough money for this game. $60 is only 10 times the big blind. That's not nearly enough. An early hand loss could result in him being very short-stacked and leave him tentatively playing any hand he gets after that.

-He also stacked his chips uniformly. Dead tell that he is most likely a tight player. If he was a loose player, he would have stacks that were not uniform in height or were not straightened up. I stack my chips both ways when I'm at a table depending on how I want people to perceive my play style.

-He was looking for a place to put the chip tray. A definite tell that he's a new guy. Regular player are usually just going to throw the tray on the floor at their feet unless there's a drink table next to them.

-Cap is low on the brow and no socialization. He's trying to make sure he doesn't give anything away to the better players by shadowing his eyes and not saying anything at the table. That's a dead giveaway that a scared player has entered the game.

Regarding his play on the hand.........

-After the flop, the beaker needs to bet on that ace. It lets him know what everyone else has by whether they call, raise or fold. Also, the fact that he bet may give people at the table the feeling that he's an aggressive player, which would be great considering that his play style is the exact opposite. He can always consider folding if he's reraised by another player.

-If he didn't be the flop, he certainly should have bet the turn or river. There are plenty of people that will call with worse hands than he had. Make them pay for looking at more cards.

-By far, the worst mistake he made was showing that he had top pair from the flop on without betting. It was obvious to the table that he was a very passive player. The other players now know that they can push him around with raises if they want to do so when he is one of the blinds.

-His comment afterwards that he doesn't usually play that kind of hand was a cardinal sin. That told the rest of the table that he only plays premium hands. This is a big no-no in a casino. A tight player will make money when his premium hand wins while other players call with sub-optimal hands. If he's already announced to the table through his actions with his chips when he sat down and his comments and play, no one is going to call him when he does have a premium hand and raises. He's never going to get paid off and will end up a loser even with a run of decent cards.

I did go out of my way to try to get him irritated and hopefully start playing more hands than he would usually play. I had a guy next to me that was a MU fan that I had been talking to while I was at the table. We were discussing football. I made a comment to the MU fan, making sure that it was ridiculously loud that KU football didn't have a chance at winning a single game in the Big 12. I looked over after 10-15 seconds to see that the beaker had an angry look on his face, but was trying to keep his emotions under control. Since I knew he was listening at this point, I continued the conversation with my MU friend by saying (loudly) that at least KU was unique in the Big 12 by having the only dance squad with a male dance member. I looked out of the corner of my eye to see the beaker glaring at me. That, my friends, is how you tilt a player at your table.

Pictures of the baby, not the belly.......

For those that are tired of seeing Mrs. Lime's belly, here's some pictures from today's sonogram. Baby is very healthy and VERY active, but unfortunately, was uncooperative in trying to determine the sex of the baby. It wouldn't flip over so the nurse could check it, so we'll just have to wait a bit to find out that. Until then, here's some picture of the baby to hold you over.

This is a side shot of the entire baby. You see the head on the left, rib cage in the middle and the legs on the right.......



In this picture, you can see the baby yawning in the upper right part of the picture. There is an arrow pointing to the mouth with the eyes and nose to the left and above the mouth.......



This is a picture of the baby's foot. You can see the foot starting at the bottom center of the picture with the toes showing up just barely below the center of the photo.......



Finally, this is a picture of the arm and hand of the baby. The arm goes from lower right of center diagonally toward the top left of the photo. You can see all the fingers extended.......

Pennies........

Ever since I was a kid, I've been facinated by coins (amongst many other things). My dad has a collection of pennies and I always thought they were pretty neat to look at.



There's all kinds of variations throughout the years as the style of the coins change. Old pennies have the wheat pictured on the back and are called 'wheat pennies'. During World War II, the government needed the materials in pennies to create bullets, armor, vehicles, etc. So, they used steel to make pennies for a few years, resulting in a penny that was a bright, silver color. Eventually, they switched the wheat on the back of the coin to its present-day state with the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the coin.

I was always interested in the dates and condition of the coins. I know that the better condition coins are always worth more to a collector, but at the same time, I always thought it was pretty neat when a coin had a mark on it, was partially smashed, discolored, etc. I always wondered what happened to that coin during its life that would cause that to happen.

I would also look at the dates of the coins. For example, I might look at a coin that said '1973' and be amazed that the penny I was holding was actually older than I was. I might look at a penny from the 1960s and know that penny was created before JFK was even president. I'd just play games in my head thinking of what that penny (or other coin) had been around to 'see'.

Also, there's a small letter just below the date on the penny. It's usually a 'D' or a 'P'. This letter is a code used to signify where the penny was minted. 'D' stands for the Denver, Colorado mint and 'P' stands for the Philadelphia mint. There may be other letters used, but these are the two places that have been minting pennies for many years.

I still take time every now and then to reach into my pocket and see what I have as far as pennies go. Obviously, the pennies can come from anywhere and anytime and somehow end up in your pocket through one transaction or another. I was looking through my coins and found one from 1981. First thing that came to mind was that penny was around for President Reagan's entire 8 years in office (1981-1988). Next was one from 1993. I graduated from high school that year. Final one was from 2000. Easy one there. That penny has been around for my whole married life.

Then I realized that 2007 will obviously hold special significance because my first kid's going to be born that year. This lead me to a further realization. My kid is going to be born after all these pennies that I've been looking at up to this point. Whew, I'm getting old.

Belly Pics - Week 19

I got to feel the baby kick for the first time. Pretty neat stuff.

The walk that nearly killed me.......

First, some background information. When our dog, Casanova, was young, we took him out on the 4th of July to a fireworks display. It turned out to be a very bad idea. He was frightened out of his mind and has been scared of loud noises ever since. It was so bad one night over at Blondie's place that, when the fireworks were shot off outside her apartment, Nova literally has the s#$% scared out of him to the point where he relieved himself in her dining room as soon as the fireworks started. That's something he NEVER does, so you know it was a scary moment for him.

Flash to tonight. I decided to take Nova out for a walk around the lake at our apartment complex. Nova was walking along, having a wonderful time marking all the trees along the path. About halfway through the walk..........BOOM........BOOM!!!!!!! For some reason, a fireworks display began about 2 miles from where we were walking. Instantly, our walk became a very quickly paced trot.

Suddenly, I felt like I was a water skier being towed by a very powerful boat. I didn't have much control over the walk at this point. Nova knew where home was and we were heading there RIGHT NOW! There was a slight problem though. I had just gone out with Mrs. Lime's parents for dinner and was very full. So my dog is dragging me along at breakneck speed. I honestly can't blame him for running from loud noises (seems like common sense to me), but I was hurting! I started feeling sick because of the pace of our walk/run. It was all I could manage to not get sick on the way back. Thankfully, we finally got back just before I became ill. Nova was quite happy to be back and safe from the barrage of loud noises.

Belly pics - Week 18

We're actually into week 19, but I'm a bit late on posting this picture from a few days ago. Mrs. Lime is feeling movement on a pretty regular basis now.

Nightime playtime............

Last night, I happened to ask Mrs. Lime whether she had felt any movement yet. She said that she hadn't felt any movement, but did feel a bit queasy at times.

Mrs. Lime called me this morning with some information. Evidently, the baby was very busy last night while she was working. She felt the baby moving for the first time and it was moving a lot.

So, obviously that's pretty cool that the baby is starting to move. But it decided to move around a lot at night. So I'm not sure if I should be worried about this. It could mean one of two things.......

---The baby might be like my wife and like to stay up late. That might be a bit rough considering I'm an early-to-bed, early-to-rise type of person.

---The baby might be protesting her talking all night when she's up working her job. In that case, the baby and I will get along just fine.

I'm leaning towards the kid being one to stay up late. My wife always does that, so the baby will probably just adopt her habits.

Female-dominated workplace, Volume 2

You know your in a female-dominated workplace when.......

---There's a Hawaiian themed 'snack day' at work and everyone shows up in flowered shirts, handing out fresh flowers and leis.

---Everyone in those flowered shirts take a group picture to commemorate that snack day.

---One of the ladies shows up to the snack day playing a ukelele.

---The two ladies who sit in cubes next to you exchange stories about their menopausal hot-flashes for over an hour.

---The romance novel library has a recent addition called 'Lust and Money'.

---The freezer is packed full of low-calorie frozen dinner to the point where you can't even fit your own lunch in the freezer.

A friend heads off to Iraq......

I have some good relationships with some guys who I've only met a few times, but talk to via the internet on a pretty regular basis. One of those guys just landed in Iraq. He's blogging his experiences while in Iraq. Here's the link to his blog.....

A Marine's Story

This is not his first time in Iraq. He's a good writer who, much like me, likes to mix in the funny with the serious. That would appear to be a good combination of traits to have if you're heading into Iraq.

Also, he's a die-hard Mizzou fan, so you can't beat that.

So, so surreal.........

I watched and listened to the streaming video online this morning of the original news coverage from 9/11/2001. The news coverage started with a story about the upcoming fall TV lineup. They then had a segment about cholesterol. They had a guy dressed up in a Mr. Peanut suit playing a game of HORSE in midtown Manhattan. The point was to emphasize exercise to keep healthy. They then had an interview with the wife of a popular band.

During all of the segments, I was watching the people outside the windows of the studio. Taxis were driving by, people were walking to work........just normal everyday stuff. Only thought that came to mind was that these people have no idea how their lives are going to be dumped head over heels over the coming day.

Some poker time at the casino.........

I went out to the local casino to play some poker the other night. It was an interesting night. I played for 6 hours and ended up breaking even. I actually played very well. Poker is one of those games where you can make the right decisions on occasion and it simply doesn't work out as well as you'd like it. I had two hands that could have easily gone my way and would have resulted in +$100 by the end of the night. But you have to take the good with the bad.

I think my reading abilities of other players are really starting to improve dramatically. I had several great reads on some players that really saved me some money. For example, in one hand, I had JJ and raised. Got 3 callers. Flop was 943 with two cards of the same suit. I bet, one guy raised behind me and another guy reraised that bet. The guy who made the last raise was someone who I felt I had a pretty good tell on. He'd laugh and joke with me unless he had a hand. When he had a hand, he still would smile, but wouldn't talk or give a 'toothy' smile. After his reraise, I smiled at him and said that he must have a monster. He smiled..........no teeth. I took my cards and showed them to the dealer and an older guy next to me. I said that these cards were no good. The older guy acted shocked that I would fold that hand with a flop of 943 on the board. Result? The guy who I thought I had a read on had 44 in his hand. He had hit three 4's on the flop and had me hopelessly beat. The dealer and the old guy were both just as shocked that I made that kind of a read.

In another hand, I had AA. I raised and got 3 callers. Flop came down 962 rainbow (that means that all three cards were different suits, thereby reducing a chance of any possible flush in this hand). Great flop for me, so I bet. The player behind me, who had just sat down, raised the pot. The other two players folded. I had this guy read as a pretty tight player. He had just started drinking, but I had learned from talking with him that he just arrived, so he's not drunk at this point. I think I'm in trouble, so I just call. 4th card is a ten. I checked and he bets. I know I'm in trouble now. I believe he has 99 in his hand, making trip 9's. I just called. River was a king. I check and he bets. I call and immediately say out loud (so the whole table can hear it), "You have trip 9's, right?". He laughed out loud and flipped over 99 for trip 9's. I flipped over my AA and told him good hand.

I did this for a couple important reasons. First, I wanted the table to see that I raised with AA and just simply got outdrawn. That tells them that when I raise, I have good cards. The reason this is important at a limit table like this is that I don't want too many people calling when I have good cards. I want to isolate players and only be against one or two players. That makes it much more likely that I'll win. Second, by calling out exactly what he had, I'm showing the other players that I can even read players who just sat down at the table. It makes me look like a tough player and they'll be more willing to lay down their hand if I start betting or raising, allowing me to even bluff in certain circumstances.

Later, I was big blind and had 62. 4 people called and I was able to check and see the flop. The flop came 762. I checked and everyone checked behind me. The next card was a jack. I bet and everyone else folded. I flipped over my 2 and told the table I had a pair of 2's. This is also important to let players know that I will 'bluff' on occasion. I actually had two pair, but the players didn't know that. They only know that I had a 2.

Late in the session, I was down about $75. I got AJ of hearts and called. 7 players total were in the pot, allowing for the possibility of a big win if the cards fell right. Flop was Q93 with two hearts. While I didn't pair anything, that's a dandy flop for me. I now have two cards to come. If either one is a heart, I have the best flush possible. I have a 33% chance of winning the hand at this point, which is most likely a better chance than any other person in the hand at this point. 5 people call in front of me. So there is now $36 in the pot. I have to put in $3 to call, so I'm betting $3 for a chance to win $36. This makes the pot odds 12 to 1. If your pot odds are larger than your chance of winning, you have to call no matter how far behind you believe you are. My odds of winning at this point are 33% (1 in 3). 1/12 is greater than 1/3, so I call.

Next card is an Ace of clubs. I now have top pair, but still have not hit my flush. Given that there are 6 people still in the pot at this point, there's a decent chance that someone out there has two pair or trips, so I have to assume I'm still behind. I now have a 16% chance of hitting a heart on the final card to hit my flush. I check and someone bets $6. Two players call that bet. So there is now $54 in the pot. I have to put out $6 to make the call. This makes the pot odds 9 to 1. My odds of winning at this point are 16% (1 in 6) 1/9 is greater than 1/6, so I have to call.

The river is a 8..........of HEARTS! BINGO! I've hit my card. I checked, hoping that someone will make a bet so I can raise the pot behind them. Pot odds aren't a concern at this point, because there's no hand out there that can beat me at this point. The lady behind me checks and another player behind her checks. Uh oh! C'mon, someone bet! I look over to the last player still to act. Thankfully, he is stacking 6 beautiful $1 chips and slowly pushes them out onto the table. Whew! I raise the bet to $12. Shockingly, the lady who checked behind me actually calls the $12 bet. The guy who helped me out by betting $6 now actually folds, knowing he doesn't have the best hand with myself and the lady both putting out $12. She said she thought she was beat. I flip over my ace high flush and collect a pot of $84, basically putting me even for the night.

I played a couple of hands before I left and ended up losing a couple of bucks overall. Lots of entertainment for a cheap price, so I certainly can't complain.

One other quick tip for those of you who want to play at a casino table. ALWAYS be sure to socialize and get the table talking and having as much fun as you can. People are more likely to bet worse hands if they're having fun. It makes it a profitable table for you in the long run. Also, if someone happens to beat you with a bad hand, make it seem as though it's now a rivalry between you and the other player. It doesn't have to be a mean-spirited rivalry, but it makes in more likely that player will enter more pots when you are in the pot, which also increases your profit in the long run by increasing the size of the pots that you are involved in over the course of the night.

Taking a wrecking ball to a system.......

One of the systems I test at work is a Change Control system. Basically, when someone has a problem or needs something done, they enter the information into a change control system. That information is then passed to whoever needs to know about the request so they can make the proper changes, install new computers, etc.

So today, I was testing the system and I input a new change in the testing environment. As we testers so often do, we try to keep ourselves entertained while doing our work. Since this is a testing environment, I put in that the change was to 'Install a new right tackle on the Chiefs' offensive line'. I put the location as 'Arrowhead Stadium' and that the person issuing the request was 'Herm Edwards'. I then added a couple of groups to the request and hit the submit button.

Unknowingly, one of the groups that I had used on the change request was a group that is in Maryland. By hitting submit with that group on the request, the system had sent the request to a large group of workers in Maryland. Since the e-mail that is sent looks no different than the production version of the e-mail, everyone in the Maryland group went into panic mode thinking that someone had infiltrated the production system and was sending out spam/joke e-mails.

5 minutes later, I was sitting at my desk, not knowing that anything was amiss, when a co-worker that is a few rows over came by my desk and said that they were just coming by to verify that I existed. After I finished joking that I did, in fact, exist, he told me the situation and that the government people in Washington D.C. just wanted to verify that I existed and that there wasn't someone infiltrating the system who shouldn't have access. He chuckled that he didn't know why they couldn't figure out that a request for a right tackle requested by Herm Edwards would raise such eyebrows, but evidently it did.

No harm done in the end. Just more amusing than anything else. Also, all those government people in Maryland who thought they had got rid of me when I quit my job out there this summer now have to come to grips with the fact that I'm now causing havoc on government systems in Kansas City. I'm sure they're pretty happy about that.

It's football time........

Great time of the year.



Today is the first Red Friday of the year. For those that aren't KC area people, every Friday before a Chiefs home game is called Red Friday. There is a huge pep rally thrown in an area of the town called Westport (was founded as a trading post in the mid 1800s and is now populated by lots of bars and restaurants). Several thousand people cram into Westport for Red Friday. They have several of the Chiefs players show up along with the Chiefs Cheerleaders (obviously the focus of most of the crowd) and basically throw a huge party to get everyone fired up for the game.

Also, on the Red Friday before each season opening game, they have people all over the city selling special edition newspapers. Everyone that is selling the papers on street corners, in front of businesses, at bus stops, etc. is a volunteer. When I worked at Sprint, they had the CEO, CFO and CIO of the company out selling papers to everyone. All revenues from the special edition sales go directly to KC-based charities. They always end up making over $100,000 for various charities each year.

Also, most everyone in the city wears red-colored clothes to work. It's kind of like wearing green on St. Patrick's Day, except we do it every Friday before a Chiefs game. Tons of red all over the workplace today. I actually am lucky enough to work in a place that has casual as a dress code, so I just threw on the Chiefs Jersey today and headed into work. It's awfully nice to not have to think about heading to an east coast bar on Sundays to watch the Chiefs game. While I liked the bar atmosphere in general with all the games going on, the Eagles, Ravens, Giants, Redskins, Jets and Pittsburgh fans can really get on your nerves after awhile. There was one Raiders fan who was a regular at the bar I watched games at in Baltimore. That at least made me feel a bit at home, especially when we were playing the Raiders.

Tomorrow's a big day for Mizzou as well. They are playing Old Miss (University of Mississippi). If Mizzou can win tomorrow, they will most likely start the season 5-0, which would be great for the University. Mizzou received votes in the most recent top 25 poll. A convincing win this weekend would probably make them ranked after this week.

Two big victories by the Chiefs and Tigers would make Lime a very happy man.

Belly pics - Week 17

Not a ton of growth outward, but definitely filling in the extra space. Two weeks until we find out whether we're having a 'he' or a 'she'.

Inspection day.......

Today we finally get to see just how many ridiculously small things are wrong with the new house we are purchasing. The inspector's going through the house to check for every single little thing that is wrong with the house. I'm intrigued to see what the final results are when we're all finished. It's a new house, so you obviously assume that there will be less problems than a 'used' home, but you never know. I suppose that's why I'm getting it inspected.

The inspector that I asked to do the inspection was said to be a detail-oriented person by my buyer's agent. The exact word he used was 'anal'. I'm thinking that's exactly what I want from my inspector. He's even going to do a infrared scan of the stucco on the exterior of the house to check for any imperfections. Who knew that this kind of stuff was available? It's quite obvious that every field of work has its own set of cool tech toys.

My guess is that the inspector usually has to go in some pretty nasty places to do his work. Dark basements, dirty crawl spaces, bad wiring, etc. He's going to be awfully glad to see a home that is new and relatively 'ick'-free.

Belly Pics - Week 16

This picture was taken a week ago, but I haven't put it up until now. Week 17 picture should be coming quickly.......

Baghdad e-mail.......

This is an e-mail that was sent yesterday to a friend of mine from his brother-in-law in Baghdad.......

I drafted this update last night as I lay in bed, processing something I witnessed a couple days ago. I share this experience with you not to be overly dramatic, or to impress, or to tell war stories. I just wanted to put this image in writing, to tell my friends, family, and colleagues about the very real sacrifices made here in Iraq each day. I ask you to consider this, share it, please don’t forget, because I certainly won’t. This is not my story, I don’t know the details of what preceded, nor the names of those I saw. In fact, I’m a bit embarrassed to say all I did was watch the aftermath, as a bystander.

It was approximately 1525, Sunday, 27 Aug 06. I caught a shuttle bus from Phoenix Base (where we work) back to the Palace (U.S. Embassy) compound here in the IZ. I left work early to attend a 1630 chapel service at the Palace, with only the driver and two other passengers on the bus with me, a light load due to the time of day. About halfway back, we stopped to drop off a passenger at the Hospital. As he stepped off the bus, four of five Strykers (a wheeled armored personnel carrier) pulled up quickly to the curb in front of us. The bus could not pull away, slightly blocked by the Strykers, so I took the opportunity to pull out my digital camera to snap a few pictures of these fighting vehicles and the crews. I took only one picture before realizing there were wounded soldiers, so I quickly put away my camera, a bit annoyed at myself acting like a tourist.

So I watched in silence through the window, no more than 20 feet from these soldiers, feeling thousands of miles away, helplessly watching as though it was something on the evening news. I saw a couple wounded men helped out of the Strykers, others limping with twisted ankles or some unseen injury. Several soldiers were sprinting from vehicle to vehicle, a couple guys were doubled over, hyperventilating and suffering from heat exhaustion, sucking down bottled water and pouring it over their heads. Then a young soldier stumbled from beside one of the Strykers, right next to our bus. He had discarded his body armor, helmet, and weapon. He was distraught, leaning against a tree, sobbing. Another soldier came over to comfort him. At that point, I knew it had been a bad day. So I watched.

Part of me wanted to get out to help, to do something for these guys. I also considered getting off the bus to walk the short distance to my bus stop, leaving this scene behind. But I couldn’t. I guess I wanted to see this and remember it, that was all I could do. Our bus driver looked back at me pleadingly for guidance, so I suggested he pull out slowly and well around the Strykers. He obviously couldn’t understand much English, and didn’t know what I was telling him. Other traffic was now passing both ways, but as our bus driver crept closer to the Strykers, a very agitated soldier stepped in front of the bus and yelled “Back up! Back the F%@# up!” The driver understood that English.

At this point, the back door of one of the Strykers lowered. Someone threw a black tarp on the ground behind the vehicle. At first I thought they were using it as a makeshift stretcher to carry one of the wounded men, but then a stretcher appeared and they loaded someone on. Now our bus started to slowly pull around to pass. As we passed the Strykers, I realized the black tarp was a body bag. The soldiers placed their fallen comrade in the bag, onto the stretcher, and carried him into the hospital. I thought, a young American had just died in combat. Someone’s child, husband, friend was gone and they didn’t know it yet. Their grief would start soon, the soldiers were feeling it now. That bothered me, still does.

What also struck me was how young these soldiers are, how much they care for each other, how hard they work each day in this dangerous place. In the news media, his death will be reported as “A U.S. soldier was killed on Sunday by small arms fire in Eastern Baghdad,” and he will join the list of fallen before him. To many, he will just be a number, but he was real, his friends and family loved him, and so should we. All these brave young men are worthy of all our respect and admiration.Ten minutes after leaving this scene, I sat in the Palace coffee shop, watching people laughing, working, going about their lives. It just didn’t seem right somehow. The feeling I have now will fade, I know, but for now, I will salute the young soldiers I see before they salute me, I will wave or give a thumbs up to every Humvee or armored vehicle that passes me into harm’s way. As I do, some soldiers smile or wave back, others don’t see me, or just stare through me with their mind somewhere else. But I want them to know I appreciate their sacrifice and service.

Believe me, this is not meant to be a lecture or sermon, so I apologize if it seems that way. I know those that read this share my feelings already, but just wanted to share this with you to help me think through it a little. But if you could do me a favor, thank a soldier, airman, sailor, or marine the next time you see one. Or better yet, thank their parents and families. Salute all of them, they are protecting you and are dying for the freedom of this country everyday.I look forward to seeing each one of you very soon. Thanks for reading.