Friday, February 29, 2008

Saint Baldrick's Info

As you know by now, we'll be at Helen Fitzgerald's (Lindbergh just east/south of Watson) on Saturday, 3/8. The event lasts from noon until 8:00pm. I'll be shaved at 1:00. So get there early!

Andy will be there, as will Joey and Emma.

Can't wait to see you!

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Eye Problems & Stairs

I'm falling apart. All of a sudden anything that is closer to me than arms length is blurry. I was fine Friday, I woke up like this on Saturday. Been wearing reading glasses since. I guess I should setup an appointment with Clarkson Eyecare.

Onto other subjects, my cats finally scratched the carpet on the top of my steps to the point to where the tack strip was exposed. Rather than simply fixing it, we decided to rip up the carpet. We were greeted with some hardwood steps that dates back to 1890.

So we've been sanding our butts off the last few days. And the steps are looking great. I can't wait until they're done. I'll post pics. It will rox.

Munchos - the breakfast of Kanadians!

Monday, February 25, 2008

Oscars - Who Cares?

Maybe more tuned in this time around because of the novelty of it being right after the writers' strike. Dunno. But I'll tell ya what. Once you get out of SoCal and NYC, nobody really cares about the Oscars. We don't care how celebrities dress on the red carpet. We don't care whether or not Jack Nicholson finds the jokes humorous.

In fact, Jack Nicholson is everything that's wrong with the wealthy celebrity.

Long story short. You're not better than we are just because you have fame and money. In fact, it makes you shallow. The fact that you think you're better than the rest of us because of your fame and money is exactly why we don't care about the Oscars.

Get over it. Enjoy your evening of awards, but quit wasting our time by broadcasting it on TV, ok? My company's award banquet is in early December. Maybe we should broadcast it and hype it up and shove it down the throats of the wealthy celebrities?

Thursday, February 21, 2008

I feel like crap

Ok, enough with the potty humor. I promise. This is the last one.

Speaking of crap, I haven't heard from Greg in a while. Greg are you still alive? If so, you sux. If not, then you suxed.

This weather sucks. Now that they're done with the rescue I can say that Julie went on a rescue in Mt. Vernon, MO. Yeah, MO not IL. That's the other side of springfield. She's closer to Tulsa than St. Louis. That will be a treacherous drive home. I just heard from one of her coworkers that they're leaving the propery now and on their way home. Scary driving!

I need to go kill some kids. Be good all. Drive safe.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

It's not 42! It's 10^122!

The answer to life, the universe, and everything is not actually 42. It's 10^122.

Ahh, Crap

It is, in fact, IBS. Doctor gave me some meds and within a half hour my pain and nausea were gone. That rox!

Not much else going on really. The kids are doing great, Mommy and I are doing great. We're just kinda waiting for the end of the month so that we can start sending the kids back to the babysitter and return ourselves to normal.

Friday, February 15, 2008

Saint Baldrick's - Reminder

Wow, two posts in one day! ;)

Ok folks. We have $150 donated. We need $2500 to meet our goal! Let's get to work!

http://www.stbaldricks.org/participants/shavee_info.html?ParticipantKey=2008|21488

Cancer Sucks Party - Planning Phase

It looks like we'll be having the Cancer Sucks! party on 3/29/2008.

Almost everyone has been touched by cancer in one way or another. If you haven't, you probably will. Cancer sucks. Rather than throwing an "Andy is better!" party, we're throwing a "Cancer Sucks!" party.

I plan on doing something to somehow honor our loved ones who have had cancer. I'm open to suggestions? Thinking maybe a mural or something and everyone write something small on it? Like "Andrew Kelley, Hepatoblastoma, Diagnosed at 12m, cancer free." I dunno. Again I'm open to suggestions.

Like I said it will be 3/29/2008. It will be at our house. It will be an indoor/outdoor event with a firepit blazing if it's chilly. That's about all I know at this point, so let's hear the ideas!

Since most of you have commentophobia, you can e-mail me if you don't wish to comment.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

I reallly dislike Hallmark holidays

At least I have a wife who agrees.

Happy V-day I guess. Hallmark holidays suck. I hope the rest of you did your part to help the bottom line of Hallmark, FTD, DeBeers, Helzberg, Russell Stover, and the rest of the Valentine Mafia.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Hey Greg....

You suck.

Kanadian.

Spammer.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Andy Update

Andy's oncologist called. His AFP number is 3. Yep. 3. That's awesome! She was also very happy with the way he looked when she saw him.

Andy is now 18 months old. And guess what? He's an 18-month-old baby! He's saying a few words, he's walking. I don't really know how to describe it. But he's caught up.

Yay Andy!

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Back to Windows

So I've been messing around with various operating systems for my basement PC. Basically it's used for web browsing, e-mail checking, and home recording.

I've always felt that FreeBSD was the best server platform. I still feel this way. I am now conviced that it lags way behind on the desktop.

Linux? Forget about it. The zealots will have you believe it is faster than Windows. I tried various flavors of Linux and was extremely disappointed with the responsiveness of the OS.

So I'm left with either Mac or Windows. Mr. Jobs, please come down in price! Dell / Windows it is. I'm back to square one.

Yep. I never thought I'd say it. But Windows outperforms both FreeBSD and Linux on the desktop. Server is still up in the air, but the two best desktop OSs are, by far, MacOS and Windows.

Friday, February 8, 2008

A Friend of a Friend of a Friend of a Friend...

Did you watch Channel 5 after the incident at Kirkwood last night? If you did you noticed Deane Lane (sp?). She had a Kleenex in one hand and a cell phone in the other. She looked like she had been crying. I knew she had a friend at that meeting. Sure enough, when she finally heard from her friend, she mentioned this on the air.

A friend of mine was a friend of one of the officers who was shot. I'm not going to mention names because I don't think that's public info yet. But this friend of mine has been friends with the Kirkwood cop since childhood. My friend is in his 50s.

The St. Louis area is big but it's small but it's big. You, Mr. Kalifornian, think it's small. Nope. Come check it out. As a metro area we rival Phoneix in size.

Yet we're a small town. When a tragedy such as this happens, everyone is a friend of a friend of a friend. You, ladies and gentlemen are at least a friend of a friend of a friend of one of the Kirkwood police officers who lost his life.

A moment of silence please.

...

...

...

Thank you.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Cancer Sucks Party?

The Kelleys will be here on 3/28 for a few days. I'm thinking 3/29 may be a good day for the Cancer Sucks party.

Any thoughts on this? If not, I'll start making arrangements. It will be at my house. We'll keep the firepit ready to go if it's chilly.

And yes, you're invited. Yes, even you who I don't know who has been following along with Andy's progress.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

IBS Sux

Not as much as cancer, but it still sucks. I've been in and out of pain / nausea all day. Getting sick of it.

Follow-Up to Yesterday....

...it always makes me feel good when I say something one day then read it the next day in the Wall St. Journal.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Economic Analysis: 2/5/2008

What's an interest rate? Depends. Are we talking real rate or nominal rate? Because the real interest rate is the nominal rate + inflation, or i = N + I. What's this mean folks? When the fed lowers interest rates, it really takes a chance on causing inflation to rise. Look at that equation. When the fed drops N by something insane like 75 basis points or 0.75%, do you really think real interest rates make the same drop? Guess gain folks. Look at the t-bill. Yeah, do some Googling, I'm not going to do all the work.

So let's say i drops by, I dunno, 40 basis points. But guess what? There's still 35 basis points to be made up. Guess who's butt that comes out of? I! That is, inflation.

With interest rates already being soooo low, dropping the interest rates are not our ultimate solution.

Enter taxes. And the God-awful tax rebate in the economic stimulus package. Want people to spend? Give them more to spend by cutting taxes! Or give them instant gratification by giving a tax rebate! This is fine and will generate a small sputter. Here's the problem ladies and gentlemen. It's an election year. You think Bush isn't playing politics? He wants a republican in the white house after him! The Dems are also making their points on this.

So we spend $150 billion on this package and get a bit of a sputter. Lower-income families will probably spend it. I bet the majority of the middle class pays down some debt! You know middle class Americans are averaging something nuts like $15,000 in "crap debt" (aka credit cards). That doesn't stimulate the economy.

This $150B is not new money! It's government money. We already have quite the debt (Bush's 2012 proposal is laugable but that's a different writeup). We'll either have to issue more debt or raise taxes to pay for the $150B. Sure the tax raise won't happen right away. But it will happen within the next 3 years. Dem or Rep in the White House, it will happen in 3 years.

Toss in some dreary economic data received today and we have ourselves one heck of a CF!

But guess what? GO BUY STOCKS! Yes! They have no doubt gone down in price which means they are now a better value. I do not see them dropping too much more. But don't freak out. You'll buy a stock and it WILL drop a bit. No biggie. You're an investor right? That means long-haul.

Guess what else? GO BUY REAL ESTATE! It's a bargain! Can you afford a second property maybe to rent out? Go buy it! No? Buy REITs!

It sucks now. We're probably in a recession. If not it will hit soon. But I think we're ready for it. I don't think it will be here very long. Just expect to pay more for stuff on the other side of it.

Lessons for today?
1) Inflation will happen. Don't even get me started on gasoline and its economic effects.
2) The stimulus package won't work in the long run.
3) Taxes will go up within the next 3 years.
4) Stocks and real estate are good values now. (See: Contrarian Investing)
5) Recession will happen. Shouldn't last long. The end result? See #1

Monday, February 4, 2008

Health Update

First Andy: He's great! He saw his oncologist today and she was very pleased at the way he is progressing. We also stopped by the fourth floor and said hello to the nurses. They were happy to see him. It felt weird being there. Kinda felt like outsiders. I can't really describe it. Sure he's still an oncology patient but he's basically done with cancer. Like I said, I can't really describe it.

Me: IBS. That's irritable bowel syndrome. We're pretty sure anyway. Colonoscopy will tell for sure. This is actually pretty good news, all things considered. At least it's not cancer.

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Super Bowl Betting

Super Bowl betting is illegal in Missouri I think. But if I were to break the law and bet, which I never would, I would have a game with the rules as follows. Feel free to use my idea at your own Super Bowl party, assuming you live in a state where this kind of thing is legal. ;)

Super Bowl Bets for Charity

NOTE: THIS IS FOR FUN ONLY AND IS NOT ENDORSED BY ANY CHARITY

The following bets all pay even money. If you bet $0.25 and win, you get $0.50. If not, you lose. Plain and simple. No line, no o/u. Just even money.

• First team to score: ______
• Last team to score: ______
• First team to commit a turnover: ______
• First team to use a coaches’ challenge: ______
• First team to use a timeout: ______
• First team to be charged with a penalty: ______
• Last team to score wins game
• There will be a score in the last two minutes of the first half
• There will be a score in the last two minutes of the game
• There will be a score in the first 6 and a half minutes of the game
• There will be a successful two-point conversion
• There will be a blocked kick (kickoff, punt, safety punt, field goal, extra point, free kick, or drop kick)
• Tom Brady will be sacked 3 times
• There will be a recovered onsides kick
• There will be a safety
• The first half will have the highest point score
• The second half will have the highest point score

BONUS: The following are special odds bets!
• The Patriots will score three unanswered times 2.5:1
• The Giants will score three unanswered times 5:1

Betting ends 5 minutes prior to kickoff. All money is collected with the bet. Balances are tabulated throughout the game and paid after the game is complete.

Have fun and thank you!

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Health Update, Cute Pic

It was awesome getting a burst of energy last night. I think it was just pent up from being laid-up all week. I'm happy to report that for the first time I woke up this morning and wasn't in pain or nauseated. I can still feel whatever is bothering me but it doesn't hurt. Kinda weird. Maybe my appendix was swollen and it's healing? Dunno.

You'd think that after being up until almost 1:00am working on my basement I'd be able to sleep in? Wrong. I'm a dad. Remember?

We had a good amount of snow here in St. Louis a couple days ago. When I was going through the camera last night I came across this pic. Cute huh? They were so excited when they realized what was going on. Andy had no clue but he knew his brother and sister were excited so he got excited. At least we know Andy's succeptable to mass hysteria.

Enjoy!

Dad's Chillout Room - No Smoking

Yes ladies and gentlemen look at the time. It's 12:22AM. I'm just now finishing my basement.

I should back up. I worked today. In fact I worked half of yesterday. I'm better. I'm not 100% but I'm better.

While I've been sleeping for the last few days I've been thinking about my basement. My basement is also caled my "office" and the word "office" is always in quotes. It's my place. At least the half on the southwest is my place.

So a bunch of ideas have been running through my head over the last few days. Today is the first day I've actually felt like doing anything. I worked 8 hours today and got to a good stopping point so I was done. I can play the long-hour-day game next week.

So after work I cleaned up my "office" with much help from Julie. I kinda decorated it. The theme is basement. Appropriate, eh? Basically everything I did to the place involves taking something that's been in my basement for years doing nothing and putting it to use.

Tell ya what. I'll post some pics. Lemme go snap a couple.

Ok I'm back. I sure wish I had some "before" pics. We put a lot of work into the basement tonight. We turned it from a cave into a new room in the house. w00t!