November Scattershooting

Well, I really need to make time to blog more I really miss it. Here are some random thoughts in my head right now or things that have gone on lately with my family.

This last Wednesday, November 29th I was off of work to take my Mamaw to a test with her cardiologist. I wore shorts, a t-shirt, and sandals in the 80 degree high weather for most of the day. When I was taking her home around 6:00 p.m., the weather dropped 20 degrees in one hour as the cold front moved in! We had a high of 80 and a low of 36 degrees (Canadians, that's from 27 to 2 in one day)! Then on Thursday, the high was 36 and the low was 27 with rain, sleet, then SNOW! Our office closed early and I played outside with the kids making snow angels and throwing snowballs on our trampoline. My baby girl loved it and was giggling the whole time (except when she had snow on her face).

I heard today that the former Oakland pitcher Barry Zito is meeting with the Texas Rangers today. Man, I sure hope we get Zito but I think he's just posturing for some other team to give him more money. I'm excited about our new manager and the direction that we're heading but we need more pitching badly!

We had some of our family in town from Canada on Thanksgiving and we really had a blast with them. My wife's Uncle Craig married a great Canadian gal and they live up there now. Their oldest son and daughter are both married now (one in the Dominican this last Spring) and both of the couples came down to see us. We ate turkey, they went to the Cowboys football game, we ate Mexican food, danced at Billy Bob's in Fort Worth, and generally had a great time! The guys had planned on going to the football game, but Heather's uncle Terry made it even more special. He got a suite at the game and got a ticket for everyone including Granny who hadn't been out of her retirement home room in who knows how long. Channel 4 news did a piece on the whole thing and they were on TV! We couldn't find a babysitter for the kids on a holiday so I stayed home with the kids and Mamaw. It was very special for all of us.

Collin's Thanksgiving 2006

At the boys school today, Collin showed me where his teacher had posted his assignment where he wrote out "I give thanks for . . . ." I got tears in my eyes as I read what was in his little heart and I was thankful for his great witness at school.

"I give thanks for my thankful God. He tells me to become a man of God. I give thanks for my wonderful Jesus. He died on the cross for my sins. I give thanks for my wonderful family. They take good care of me. I give thanks for my cute sister. She likes to play with me."

Sorry, this was taken with my Treo phone so it's not the best quality.

It's a mouse . . . and not for the computer!!!

Well, here I am up late and wide awake. Why? Because we found a mouse in our garage tonight!!! That's the first time that has ever happened.

The weather here is starting to get colder and we found out that others are experiencing the same thing. About 10:15 p.m. Heather came to tell me that "something is in the garage!" When I checked it out, I found what I think was a "house mouse" trapped in an empty trash can. Notice that I used the word "was" since I took care of him cleanly and humanely. Thank the Lord that he was in the empty trash can! I took a picture of him, secured the lid on the trash can (which I will always do from now on), and researched it on the Web since I had no idea what to do.

After my research, I found out that drowning the critters was the best way to kill them if you catch them alive. So, I took the trash can out into the yard and filled it with water while I made a 24 hour Walmart run to get a trap and poison. I found some droppings but not a lot. However, where there is one there is probably more. I thought that it was gross, but Heather was thoroughly FREAKED OUT.

We have an exterminator coming tomorrow so we'll see how this shakes out. I'm hoping for quick and easy solutions to this problem!

Update: We had to clean out the garage really well and disinfect it. We put out some rat poison but the exterminator said that he thought it would be fine. After several weeks, we still have not seen or found evidence of any more -- thank goodness!

Budgeting experiences

I recently had the need to document our budgeting experience so I thought that I would share it on the blog. Before I get into our own experiences, I found a very cool tool from Motley Fool for tracking your spending that may be of help to someone. It is a PDF file that you print off, cut out a section of it, use a little tape strategically, and you have a spending tracker that you can keep your credit or debit card in. Very good idea for some folks!

Through our almost 12 year marriage, we've moved from:
* about a year of not tracking anything but our major bills,
* to using and Excel spreadsheet to track our "spending" (not budgeting for the future but tracking our past),
* to using Excel to manage our budget (updating the spreadsheet once or twice per month),
* to now using a cash system for most of our key spending categories (and still using the spreadsheets to track everything).

The key benefits that we get out of the cash system:
* We feel more stable. We know where our money is going and we are in control.
* We feel more secure. We have a specific plan and know at any time how much money we have for each key category of our budget. Security is a key need of most ladies so this will help them tremendously.
* We feel more spiritually-focused. We're less apt to spend just to keep up with the Joneses, more apt to ensure our planning is Biblically based (like tithing first and ensuring good balance), and making us more accountable for practicing self-control.

Other notes about our budgeting experience so far:
* Using our spreadsheets we can track our spending on key categories over time and use that information to improve our planning and future budgeting.
* To determine our cash categories, we looked at some of the categories that were most out of control and temptations for us as well as what's practical (the electric bill is not a cash category).
* Using cash in those key categories forces us to plan our spending (especially since we only have one cash folder) and also insures that our spending is "pre-approved" with the other person.
* When we went to our cash only system for key categories, we reduced our spending in those categories by 31%!
* Our current cash categories are Eating Out, Groceries, Miscellaneous, Entertainment, Clothes/Cleaners, Child care, Gifts, Home, and Mad Money. "Mad Money" is for Heather and I to use at our own discretion so budgeting doesn't get too oppressive. We don't want to feel handcuffed but have some fun within reasonable boundaries.
* Changing behaviors (especially spending habits) is a learned thing and takes time to become a habit. It takes a few months to get used to the cash system or any new system (and getting receipts regardless of your system) but it's well worth it. Even our kids now ask for a receipt after they buy anything!

So, that's our journey so far and it'’s not too difficult for you to do. Remember the benefits of stability, security, and spiritually-focused living with your material resources.

Which way did he go?

Sorry! It's been so long since I've posted I feel like a blog loser.

I've just been busy with work, family, and parenting so my priorities have been right! At work, we are kicking off a Web redesign so there's a lot of work to be done there but it fun and exciting. Speaking of parenting, my wife is working a lot this month and that means that I've got more time with the kids so we've been playing more games (like Battleship and Uno) and even camping (that'll be a separate posting).

I've also really tried to focus on my Mamaw lately and she is doing much better. We got her going with Assisted Living and we are adjusting pretty well now. My Mom and I are now using a new blog that I created to record her health information (private!) so that we can share it with each other and we also have something to print out for the doctor's records. It's been some work to get it going but it's well worth it.

I also helped my Pastor start a blog for our Men's Ministry called Band of Brothers. It's been fun and very useful to help the church get started and be able to post, send out via e-mail (using FeedBlitz), and catalog for future use his devotional thoughts each week. We are also using categories that will come in handy for the future. The blog allows us to be able to search the entries also and keep everything in one place instead of stored in bunches of different e-mails.

Okay, I'll post again when I finish polishing up a few postings that I have saved over the weeks.

Camping at The Vinyards in Grapevine

The Vinyards is a relatively new facility on the south side of Grapevine lake. The city of Grapevine took a park that was in that location, shut it down for awhile, and converted it into the campground. The facilities are new, in great shape, and some of the areas still have good trees. It doesn’t have the boat checkout/rental or swimming areas that you would expect from a campground on a lake. In addition, since it’s an urban area you don’t get to see the stars like I normally like to see camping but it’s advantage is that is close to town with no long drive and close stores if you forget something.

I wanted to take the kids somewhere while Heather was elsewhere and we had lots to do the rest of the weekend. The Vineyards was perfect for this scenario – very short drive but still a good camping experience. We were in site #45 which only had one big tree but was right on the edge of a big field perfect for running around and playing.

Whenever we go camping somewhere, I normally take a few minutes to drive around and note the good campsites. By documenting the good sites, I can use that information next time we go camping somewhere, pass that information on to my friends, and now that you’re reading this . . . you can benefit from this information. I consider good camping sites that are by trees, pretty level site area, space for the kids to run around, playgrounds fairly close is a bonus, and with points for sites that are relatively close to the bathrooms. Good sites that I scouted at Vineyards are 15, 16, 18, 25, 26 (great), 27 that are close to the playground area and 43, 44 (great), 45, and 46.

Proverbs on Arguing

I can't remember who it was that suggested it but I started reading the Proverbs chapter for that day a few months ago. Today is October 19th, so I read Proverbs chapter 19, you get the idea. I normally read to the boys (5 and 7) before they go to sleep at night and about a week ago I didn't have a book. So, I grabbed my son's Bible and read the Proverbs of the day for them before bed. It was so great, that even if I have a book to read them now we read the Proverbs first.

The thing that we have been dealing the most with lately is the boys arguing with each other. Yes, they are young and they are brothers and they will fight and argue. However, that doesn't mean that we shouldn't correct the behavior and live in a home with no peace. Isn't it amazing what happens when you are consistently reading God's word! This week has been really bad with the arguing and check out some of the verses that jumped off the page to us from Proverbs 17 and 18 below. These are taken from the New International Reader's Version (NIrV) which is great for kids. I hope that these verses may be an encouragement/challenge to you also.

• Proverbs 17:14 “Starting to argue is like making a crack in a dam. So drop the matter before a fight breaks out.”
• Proverbs 17:19 “The one who loves to argue loves to sin.”
• Proverbs 17:27 “Anyone who has knowledge controls his words. A man who has understanding is not easily upset.”
• Proverbs 18:6 “What a foolish person says leads to arguing. He is just asking for a beating.” ("beating" is pretty harsh!)
• Proverbs 18:13 “To answer before listening is foolish and shameful.” We have talked a lot about listen before you speak and this was great confirmation.
• Proverbs 18:21 “Your tongue has the power of life and death.” We had a good discussion on speech that brings life (like encouragement, compliments, thank you, and "I love you" ) and death (being rude, name calling and cut downs, arguing, yelling at each other, etc.).

Notes from a championship team

Fantasy baseball this year was fun! Winning is always fun but it was also great to get to know a different group of people. I was asked to join an already established league of mostly people from the northeast (New York, Baltimore, and that region).

Cheesehead's Awards:
* Best Closer: K-Rod (Francisco Rodriguez) – LAA (Papelbon runner-up)
* Best Power Hitter: Ortiz – Bos (Berkman and Hafner runner-ups)
* Best Early Season pickup: Jonathan Papelbon – Bos (April 11)
* Best Mid-Season pickup: Jered Weaver – LAA (June 12)
* Best Late Season pickup: Frank Thomas – Oak (when he got hot and Hafner went on the DL)
* Best Trade Bait: Chris Shelton – Det, when he was hot I got Zambrano and BJ Ryan for him and Guardado (traded on April 20th). Zambrano and Ryan went on to be premier players for me and Shelton and Guardado dropped off the face of the earth after the trade!
* Most elusive stat: Holds – I scrambled for those all year.
* Most volatile position: Relief Pitchers (see “Most elusive stat” above) and Shortstop (Peralta, Furcal, Glaus, and Hanley Ramirez all played there for me).
* Biggest Risk: Picking up Clemens early and taking up an important roster spot for so long with no production.
* Best move I didn’t make but should have: Picking up Scot Shields one day earlier. I decided not to pick him up on one day and changed my mind the next day. When I went to grab him another picked him up and kept him all year.

General notes:

• All of my positions had a player in the top 5 final rankings.
• I squeaked by in the Starting Pitcher department. Zambrano was the #5 starting pitcher in the final rankings. Schilling was out of the top 10 and Zito rounded out my best three on down the list.
• I was too loyal to Pudge (could have upgraded him in July or August) and Mark Buehrle. I’m not kicking myself for keeping Dontrelle Willis all year – it’s tough to give up a 22 game winner with an ERA under 3 from the year before.
• I had 7 players in the top 20 final overall rankings for our league – Ortiz (7), Berkman(11), Utley(13), Papelbon(14), Guerrero(16), A-Rod(18), Crawford(20).

Mamaw's back home

Thank you for your prayers and concern for my grandmother. She has recovered well from her incident and is now back in her retirement home. We did have to move her to the “assisted” level of care instead of “independent” but the transition was smooth.

Her facility is around 80% independent seniors and 20% residents who need some sort of help. She had to change rooms since her old room did not have the proper alarm systems that are needed but that turned out to be a blessing. Her new room is just down the hall and around a corner so it wasn’t difficult for my Mom and me to move her on our own. Her new room is in better shape, has a much better view, better sunlight on the windows, and a better area to entertain the kids down the hall if needed.

She is now getting assistance mainly with them administering her medications but also checking on her periodically (especially at night) and being available to assist her with a few other things if it’s ever needed. My Mom and I have also taken a more active role in helping her keep her finances straight and things of that nature since her cognitive ability has suffered some lately.

We are very thankful that this specific event did not result in more long-term or serious consequences. We are also thankful that it made it clear that we needed to take steps to minimize the risk that future “events” will result in serious consequences.

Make it obvious!

It seems like everywhere I drive lately in Dallas there is construction going on. Yesterday, on my way back to the office from lunch I got some dirty looks from some construction workers as I drove by a job site. When they started yelling, I looked over and saw a worker over by the side of the road with a stop sign and I realized that they expected me to stop! Since I was already well on my way through their zone and there wasn’t anything going on that I could tell, I just kept going and cleared the way for them. I started thinking about what I did wrong and what lesson I should learn from it.

Replaying the scene, I realized that there was a normal stop sign on the corner (that I stopped at) before entering the construction zone. I did my normal looking around to make sure no one was coming and I did take note of the construction going on. I realized too late that the worker standing on the side of the road had a stop sign pointing toward me and that he expected me to heed the sign. He wasn’t in the middle of the road (but right by the curb), he wasn’t holding the sign (it was resting on the ground), he wasn’t waving the sign, and he wasn’t doing anything else to get my attention until it was too late. I understood that I really had not done anything wrong. If they really wanted me to stop, they should have taken action that caused me to notice.

After this thought process, it occurred to me that this experience had application on the Web – make it obvious. As one very good and simple book that I would recommend on Web usability states clearly in it’s title Don’t Make Me Think (by Steve Krug, currently in its second edition)! If you want me to take a specific action or do something that’s important on your site, then make it obvious and don’t make me have to scan the whole page carefully and over-analyze my options. Put a call to action in “the middle of the road” which on the Web is 1.) in the middle of the page, 2.) the upper-most section (the masthead), or 3.) the right-hand column. Also, make it clear what is needed from the user – do I need to just click, enter some information, etc.