In Doubt ,,,,,,,,,,,

As you can see, the few people who still bother to read this. I just don't really have time to keep this updated at the moment. I really enjoy writing my blog and keeping up with the things I do, even the boring things. The problem is I have always done this here at work. I have always had time but that was back when the economy was rather slow.


Now that housing has pretty much made a full recovery and I am selling so many more items, items that require a lot of attention to detail. My time for screwing around has really been limited lately. Friday's are my slow day, by choice. I always kinda decompress and get my head right for the weekend when Friday rolls around.


If it ain't done by Friday it can wait till Monday! As I have said before my work is not my life! I have passed on several opportunities over the years to make work a priority but those damn kids seem to always come first! Just picking I love my kids!! Plus you don't want a lumber salesman who needs to work real hard on a Friday, if he does he must be dragging his feet the other four days.


I could always do the blog in the evenings but that would require me to sit down at a computer once I got home. After sitting in front of one all day at work that ideal just doesn't work! To be honest we don't even have a home computer anymore! Chase has a nice one in his room and I can use it if I ever need to look something up but besides that, no need! Karen has her ipad for work and it seems to work for her so she's happy.


No I don't do the Facebook thing either. In other words everybody in the house has their own computer except me. I always was different! No need to change now.


Anyhow thanks for still checking in on a some what regular basis and I promise to still update on the same basis. All is well, and life is good!

$80 Bucks !!!!!!!!!!!!

I got a new car, it's gets freaking awesome gas mileage! Awesome as in I drove to Blairsville PA and back to Monroe NC, a 956 mile round trip on $80 dollars worth of gas! That's 33 plus miles a gallon! Bad ass..........


I had a good time, got to spend the weekend with my son. We skied all day Saturday and I came home Sunday. A nice quick trip and I will be going back soon! Real soon! I hadn't skied in 17 years and I still got it! I took 2 trips down the bunny slope to get my turns back and then I went straight to the top of the mountain and it was on.


My calves are sore and nothing else! 5 hours total and I never went down. That was a good day, even the kid was proud of me! I love free stuff and now I have ski's. I am even looking into going this coming weekend.

Today Is A Great Day ,,,,,,,,,,,

After my rant yesterday I feel better! Baring any unforeseen circumstances, I will be sitting down for a beer and a steak with my son at the Pine Ridge Resort and 37 Spike Bar and Restaurant at about 6pm tonight. All will be well and I will be happy!


                                     I got the car loaded and full of gas. Life is good.

What Is Wrong With People !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have talked about this before and I will probably talk about it again! It seems every time I do something out of the way for my kid, people, stupid people I work with! Feel they need to open there big mouth and voice their opinion!


Yes some of these people do read this blog and I don't mind, believe me I have already voiced my opinion too! I HAVE GOOD KIDS, They are good because they are my priority!


                                                    PERIOD.......


No exceptions, they come first in our life and if your kids don't then your an idiot! No exceptions! Also let me clarify the "OUR LIFE" part of that last sentence. By saying "our" I am referring to their, meaning my kids, grandparents also. We all stay involved in what they are doing and I think it shows. They know what is expected of them and they share what they are doing with us. We talk! Yes, talk!


Now that Cody is 500 miles away it seems we talk more now than when he was home. I talked to him by phone for an hour last night! When was the last time you talked to your kid for an hour straight. The only way the conversation can go on that long is if you are doing a lot of listening. Not just talking, if you have a relationship with your kids that's not a problem.


From what I have seen over the years there is a big difference. Not all parents seem to understand that. It's a two way street! If all you do is try to control your kids and bark orders at them! You sure as hell aren't listening! News flash!


The reason for all the above ranting is the fact that I have had 3 different people tell me I am crazy. Crazy to drive 500 miles to Pennsylvania just to spend 2 nights and one full day with my kid. Guess what? He is excited I am coming and can't wait to see me. You know how I know that?


                                           He freaking told me so!!


If your kid doesn't feel the same about you then you better work on it! I can't wait to see the kid and spend ONE day with him. You only get one shot at being a parent and being a lousy parent is not an option! I can't wait to get gone tomorrow.......

Got My Eye On The Tube,,,,,,,,,,

The weather channel! I am planning on going to Pittsburgh to see the kid and the weather is kinda acting like it might make it an interesting trip. I can always change my plans but that option is way low on my list. I want to go.


Yes it's been busy here at work and the blog keeps falling further and further down the priority list. Since we started the new program on doors and windows I am just a lot busier. Plus this time of year it's a little slow on the home front.


I ride when I can and do a lot of walking at the country club. No swimming this year I burned out on it early last spring and haven't been back. I did get a new car last weekend. I got a new Ford Focus that gets close to 40 miles a gallon, I plan on putting that to use a lot this spring. I ordered a frame hitch for it the other day and now I need to get a good rack and I will be ready to hit the road.


Besides that life is good!

5lbs,, And Plans Change,,,,,,,,,,,,

I let 5lbs. of air out of my tires and damn what a difference it makes! Saturday I couldn't round up any of the troops to hit the White Water Center so I joined Kelly for a lap at Sherman. I wanted to hit the WWC again but not bad enough to go by myself.


Of course I am still on the lame side of the fitness spectrum but at least I am working on it. Riding with Kelly helps, he pushes me but right now I really do suck! I hate to keep whining about it but damn it sucks to go from really riding good and then hurting on even the easiest trails! I worked so hard to be in shape for my fall mountain trip and managed to carry that up till Christmas.


Only to loose pretty much all of it by the 3rd week of January! It happens I know, but it still sucks. Even though I say I am slow I am still passing most everybody we see I just can't keep up with the really fast guys! Sometimes my friends really piss me off!!


I went back yesterday and did another lap and I enjoyed it. I'll be glad when the weather gets better the trails are really soft right now. Add the wet winter we are having and it makes for a slow go.

Slow Week............

Not much on the home front, "Slow Week". I have walked the golf course every evening but nothing more. I have the car full off gas and I plan to be at the whitewater center all weekend, that's if they have the trails open.


If not the weather is gonna be nice enough to hit the road. I have options and plans. I get through this weekend and then leave next Friday to go see my boy! The countdown is on!


Have a good weekend and hopefully I will have something worth writing about next week. This week has been kinda lame!

Momentum ,,,,,,,,,,,

Just like the Oregon Ducks, when Mariota's receiver's dropped those 2 consecutive 3rd down passes that would have resulted in 1st downs. That was the point they lost the game. The rain has stopped my riding! It's like I didn't have enough time off the bike. Mother nature wants me to sit around for more couch time.


But never fear! I have a rain coat! I got home yesterday and headed straight for the golf course. The dog and I walked till it got dark and we never got rained on. Sprinkled on yes, but not rain. I was ready with my hoodie but we didn't need it. If it lightens up and Kelly gets the clearance from his doctor we will ride tomorrow night.


Of course it will be a road ride, the woods are gonna be a mess for days! I was finally getting used to my new tires. I switched to a real skinny 2/0 recently and it's taking a little while to get used to them. The trust factor, right now I am a little timid with them but every ride it gets better.


Plus I still haven't had a chance to ride them in the dry yet, sense I put them on it's been damp every time I ride. I do like them though, I have always liked the skinny tires and I can usually adjust my riding style to be more precise. When you run the big fat tires you can pretty much just roll over everything and not think much about it.


Skinny tires take a little more thought. Anyhow, now we wait for the weather to get right. On the bright side the temps are back to a tolerable level again. As I said 45 degrees is damn near hot!

Sometimes You Forget ,,,,,,,,,,

For the last 2 years or so I haven't even thought about the White Water Center. The last time I went there was a footrace Chase and I did. For some reason I had it in my head it was just to far to go to ride my bike. I guess I forgot!


Saturday they had the Rumble in the Concrete Jungle there and I went to ride and see it. My bud Kelly was doing it so I thought I would go along for support. First of all it's a good ideal in theory but in reality it was pretty lame. It was billed as a downhill event with a short track race to follow, it kinda was..


The downhill course was routed through the channel in front of the main building. Yes it did go down a hill but it went around the water obstacles and the transitions were terrible. It just looked dangerous. By the ambulance tally I would say I am pretty close with that assumption. Most of the racer boys decided to skip the downhill part and do the short track race.


The only problem with that, it wasn't really a race to the people who where there just for fun. To all the spandex racer boy's it was a full on race! By lap 2 the racer boys where lapping the kids and the really slow people. They needed to have a fun class and a race class. I tried to tell my buddy the whole plan had trouble written all over it!


Well my buddy ended up in the ER till midnight with a severe concussion, he didn't even know who he was when he hit his head and smashed his helmet. He did that trying to get through slow traffic! But overall I think he got away pretty cheap. Our buddy and a really good guy Jason W. ended up in surgery Sunday morning to repair his broken back. Yep I said broken back! He broke two vertebrae and 4 ribs!


Same deal, trying to race through traffic. You can't run the expert's with children, no exceptions! Somebody, who ever was in charge of this, should have had better sense! Anytime you have an event and the ambulance has to pull out 4 times you need to take a good look at what just happened!


In theory it was a good ideal, and a good time for all could have been had. I hope by the time next years event rolls around they have a better plan! People got hurt and that's not good. Of course I know you have to use your own judgement anytime you line up for a race. Yes you except liability when you sign the entry form. I just hate to see people get hurt!


On the flip side I had forgotten how sweet the trails are there. I had a blast riding the trails and in fact I had so much fun I went back and rode again Sunday. From my house it was 40 miles and pretty much all interstate. I will be putting it back in my rotation!

I Didn't Realize ,,,,,,,,,,,

How warm 40 degrees really is! If you don't know where I live, it's Monroe NC. In Monroe NC we hardly ever get below 30 degrees so this 4 day snap of 20 and lower sucks! It really sucks! The dog hates it I hate it the bike just sits in the garage the motorcycles aren't even close to moving.


40 degrees is really warm! I can't wait to see it again. It's been so cold I hate to leave the outside dog outside, and she ain't on the same time table as the inside dog. Every night the inside dog will wake you up to go out at 3am. He knows the deal, I get up let him out he does his business and comes right back to the door. Total time 5 minutes and I am back in bed.


The last few nights I have gotten up and then had to get back up at 4:30 for the big dog. By then she is ready to go back out to her pen. So I am getting up at 3 going back to bed and then getting right back up at 4:30, except at 4:30 I have to get dressed and take the damn dog out to her pen! I get up at 5:30 anyway so by the time I lay back down and fall asleep it's time to get up anyway!


I was even googling heated dog house's this morning! I want to sleep! When it gets back to a reasonable temp one that I feel she will be alright with the heat lamps again she will be going back out! Thank goodness we don't live any further north....


Have a good weekend,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Where To Start !!!!!!!!!!!!!

My last two posts have been nothing more than space savers. Little tid-bits to at least move me back to the top of a blog list. Besides that nothing more.


But now we are back, it's a new year and things might get back to normal. I don't know if I will post everyday this year but I will try. The reason for that is I now have a little more to do here at work. As I said before I am selling more interior doors than I ever did before. I have kinda taken the lead in that area on my own, I would rather do doors than windows and that department needed help.


Plus it makes me look good and looking good can always look good when it's time for review. It's all about the numbers when you are in sales, and I have always been a numbers type guy. Besides since I took the initiative to go all in on doors, all I heard from that department was how busy they where. Now they have shut-up completely!


Numbers: September I sold $6000.00 in doors. December I sold $30,000.00. October November December total $75,000.00.... Not bad for never really trying. We had a door department I used that department. It got to where all you heard was a bunch of complaining from that department. Now they are kinda wishing I would have left those numbers in there department. Life sucks move on..


                      Anyhow I will post as much as possible but it might slow down.




Back to life, I have had so much going on I have hardly ridden my bike lately. A few road rides here and there. But not much more, I slipped out New Year's day and went to Rocky River Trail. I totally sucked! The same trail I was kicking ass on a few months ago was kicking my ass! It's funny how fast you loose "it". I have been doing a lot of walking with the dog but it's not the same as seat time. The change has been nice though, I have said it before. Sometimes I just step back from the bike.


We did get the kid moved to Pennsylvania, he started school yesterday! I plan to go back up in a few weeks to visit but for now we only have one kid at home. It seems really weird, little things like locking the side door last night. We are used to leaving it unlocked when we go to bed, knowing Cody will be home shortly. But now I go ahead and lock it. Weird!


In the morning having to look before you move the car. Not knowing where he parked when he got home. Now I can just backup and not worry about hitting his jeep.


We miss the kid................