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20130930 - Up and in for a busy day at work. I bailed a bit early to get to D's game just as it started. The boys played a great game and D got a couple hits, scoring once and driving in 2 RBIs, that is 3 of the 4 points that won the game. I hope others see it, he is working super hard. Home and boys ready for bed and I packed some ebay sales for shipment. Then off to Bible Bangers, no Doc, he was already in bed.

20130929 + UP in the am and all to church. It was a good service. On the way home L dropped me off to get a haircut and then grabbed some lunch at KFC, then picked me back up. Home and we ate. J took a nap, DG&I moved more mulch. L cleaned out her garden. I then worked on some bills and then took D out selling wreaths, he sold a bunch. Home for a couple min, worked on bills then ran out to pick up G and his friends from a bday party. Delivered the singing goofy little boys to their homes and then home just in time for a Scout meeting where the adults for Jack's Den signed up for lessons through the end of the year :-) Up late finishing the bills and then trying to get ready for the week ahead.

20130928 - Up in the am and to the baseball fields. D had a tournament game and he played very well. he had several plays that looked like a prop baseball player, very fluid and perfect, maybe 3rd base is his spot... It was a rough game as errors crept in (none for D), and the boys lost their first game of the Fall tournament. Home and I started working on the card catalogs L had painted, trying to get them to fit in our room :-s It wasn't easy and I had to skip the beginning of G's baseball practice, but I got them in there with a bit of sawing and a BIG hammer... They look really nice.

On to G's practice and had fun with the boys, D was catching, J was gone with a friend and ended up staying the night. After practice DG&I ran to the store to get a present for a birthday party we rushed to that really wasn't until tomorrow :-( We stopped and got wings on the way home, running into my buddy Ed at the restaurant. Home for a wing feast and then settled in to watch the OSU game and post things on ebay. Lilly used G for a pillow and I ended up watching the game with a sleeping family. Everyone to bed and I stayed up watching more football and posting more things.

20130927 - UP in the am and in to work but not to the desk. Straight to the shop floor and the system was down :-o well just receiving. So I was helping fold boxes and asking the ladies what they thought about blah blah that happens back at OOBA. They were like, 'What is OOBA?'. I could not believe that they had worked here for months and 30 yards away the Out Of Box Audit area is unknown to them. So I took them on a tour of the shop floor that their receiving feeds everyday. They LOVED IT. They asked questions and some of the things we saw and answers they got improved the process INSTANTLY!!! I would have loved to hang out on the floor all day, but I had meetings to get to :-( Into the big conference room for the first meeting and the only time I left that room all day was to go out to eat with Richard, Dave and John.

After work I headed home and got the fam. We all headed to dinner at Panera. After dinner we walked across the road to the Gahanna high school football game. As soon as we got in the gate D vanished with his friends... J soon after and D talked the entire time. A person we know and some of his friends that built their own planes, flew their planes over the stadium during the Star Spangled Banner; pretty cool! We ran into lots of friends and it was great weather for football. We left at the end of the 3rd quarter with Gahanna up 40 something to 7. Home and boys to bed. I took pictures of stuff to post on ebay and then headed to the basement to watch more of the Zeitgeist documentaries and updated the blog instead.

20130926 + Up in the am and out to work. Meetings all morning and lunch with Kevin. Back for more meetings and then out the door late. Home and ate w/ LJ&G, D went to the 8th grade football game. After dinner L went to pick D up J got left at home alone to wash dishes and G&I picked up a couple of G's buddies and took them to their 1st Cub Scout Tiger meeting: give it another try ;-) the meeting went well and we got the buddies dropped off. Home, boys cleaned up and off to bed. I ran to store to find an OSU pollo for work with no luck. Home, couldn't sleep so up browsing online auctions for things to sell...

20130925 + Up and in to work. Full day of calls and meetings... Rushed home and changed and to G's game. When I arrived at the field, there it was... the feather... Things seem to be turning around... Gma&paW down for the games. G did good and hit off the kid pitchers, but the other team was bigger and creamed us :-( After G's game we headed to D's game where things were going better. It was a tight game but they squeaked it our for their first win of the Fall tournament.

Home and GpaW ran G and I to pick up the Black car from Tuffy where I had them give me a 'Professional' opinion (yeah, the same guys that have maintained the car for 10 years and replaced the brakes for $1,300 and didn't happen to notice the frame rusting through...??? I have had words with them on this...), they say it looks good. I ran through Wendy's and then home to eat. G read some to GmaW and then Gma&paW headed home and the boys headed to bed. Long fast day...

20130924 + Up in the am and in to work; more meetings, more calls... Stopped by the auction house to get the purchases for OhiOOddities. Home and nothing. Yes nothing on the calendar... REALLY? is that actually possible??? Relaxed a bit...

20130923 - Up in the am for an early meeting. Worked all day and then headed home. LJ&G were waiting for me and we ran the black car down to Tuffy to drop it off and have them give me a 'second opinion' on the frame work we had done. Home and we ate and the J showed us how to make the new craze ruber band bracelets. I ran to pick up D from baseball practice and then we stopped at Scouts. At Scouts we coordinated the painting of the baseball buildings at Jefferson and then headed home. D ate and I shipped ebay sales. I put the little boys to bed and then headed to Bible Bangers. It was a small group tonight so we ended early. Home and Jeff stopped by and we finalized how we are going to move fwd. to bed late and then J up in the middle of the night.

20130922 - Up in the am and G&I took Doc to the 'Hood' in black car Doc got repaired for us. The car ran good and looks and feels solid. We got to the hood and G wandered around Doc's block with the dogs and explored the piles of this and that everywhere. We then went to the Cole's house in Blacklick and help pack up a bit for their move to a new house today. G&I split off to get gas and swing through the house. We got our load to the Cole's new house in Westerville and unloaded it. We then had to run to a bday party for one of G's buddy's. I headed back and helped a bit and then had to get G...

G&I headed back to the Cole's and then back home where I had all the adults from J's Cub Scout Den to figure out how to hand things off... We came up with a plan that should make things better where J&I can do things together and the load of the Den spread across all the parents. I think it will work. Now prep for next week....

20130921 + Up to a raining morning and J&I out for a special treat. First stop was the post office and then 2 different McD's for some bfast. We then made our way to the Ohio State fairgrounds to buy a couple tickets and stand in a huge line to get on a bus. That bus delivered us close to our ultimate destination 'The Shoe', The football stadium at the Ohio State University! Uncle John and Aunt gave us tickets (that Lucia dropped off 20130919) to the game!!! :-) We went up 472 steps to our seat in C deck and the rain stopped just in time to watch the band come in (one of my favorite moment in time). J was mesmerized... The game got off to a fast start and we were well in the lead early on. We made a trip down to get some snacks and then enjoyed more for the game. I loved watching J watching everything. Looking all over the place with his sharp eyes and commenting on the most minute thing going on. Than halftime and fabulous Script Ohio (one of my other favorite moments) and today there was a special treat. The Ohio School of the Blind marching band did a Script Ohio in the shape of the braille, scyced with the TBDBITL that the tuba players dotted the 'i' at the same time. It was super cool.

Halftime festivities over and people leaving by the thousands J&I set out to find some of our friends we knew were at the game. We first went looking for our friend Bill the police officer at 14b, when we got there he was already gone; he was called out early to direct traffic because of the mass of people leaving early. J&I leave early? Not a chance, not during one of these 'several in a lifetime moments' we were experiencing. On to the next friend and we ran into the tuba players!

We found our friend Roger in section 22a. There was plenty of room so we hung out in the 23rd row :-) Close enough? NO WAY! I stayed up with our friends and J made his way down to the 3rd row for the 4th quarter and coming back to check in and tell us all the cool things he was seeing and the pictures he was taking. WOW!
Game over, OSU 76 vs Florida Rattlers 0!

We made our way to the line to get on the bus and it was HUGE, almost reaching to High St from the stadium :-o Jack decided we should walk back to the car :-o so we cut over to the oval and then up past the Student Union and onto High St. We walked a bit and then ducked in to a sub shop and got some grub. We ate facing the street watching the people going by. Back out on the road and we decided to see how the bus line was. It was a lot shorter so I was spared the several mile hike.

Back to the car and J&I headed home. Home and we hung out for a bit and then went to Home Depot for some supplies. We then met up with the Mallonns for a nice ice cream treat to celebrate Connor's bday! What a fun full day!!!

20130920 - UP ad in to work and a full day of meeting... Jack was a helper at school for a kid in 2nd grade, also named Jack -> http://mrshofmanns2ndgrade.blogspot.com/ I Left work late and met the fam at Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner. The boys and I found this cool car on the way out. Home and we watched a couple of the old (1966) Star Trek, boys don't like them as much as the new movies. I stayed up late processing pics and videos.

20130919 - Up and into the office early today. Walked the floor and then had meetings all day. Did get a call from D's principle letting me know all eyes are on D at school to try and help figure out what the sudden change is. I also took a break to have lunch with Dave P. Got the new iOS 7 installed on the iPhone, not sure I like it... On the way to the car, n the middle of the parking lot... a feather...

Home, checked in with DOC on the cars and then in and had dinner with the fam. Hung out for a bit and then ready for a the first Pack meeting of the year!

Do you see what is missing? J&G are NOT in this picture... G quickly decided that he did not want to participate in Cub Scouts. J after a HUGE screaming fit about getting dressed for the meeting and restating he didn't want to go, forfeited his scarf and his membership as a Webelos Scout. I went to the meeting, told the 2 leaders that neither of the two little Winger boys would be participating in Scouts... I then told the adults in what use to be my Den that I would be stepping down, and the planning meeting we had already scheduled for this Sunday to get their help (because I was already overwhelmed with volunteer positions) would be a transition meeting and I would be out as well. I was very sad at the meeting; Scouts for the last several years is the only thing J&I did regularly together... :-(

Home and cousin Lucia stopped over for a nice visit.

I don't get all the feathers recently... How can all these bad things happening be the right path...???

20130918 + Up in the am and NOT into work. I hung out at home and spent our tax refund on bills, talked to the principle of D's school about his recent behavior... on to the bank and then to the accountant to pick up and pay for the 2012 taxes. In to work and had a fast and furious day. Home for a quick change and then to the ball fields. On the way to G's game I stood and watched D get to 3rd base and then was stranded there :-( On to G's game and it was a good one! The boys are getting better, G had some good hits tonight. After the game we rushed to try and catch some of D's game but it was over... They lost. Home and the boys and I finished watching Star Trek and then off to bed. National Treasure was on and I couldn't sleep so up till 2am...

20130917 - I was up very late last night trying to catch up and eventually went to bed even more frustrated than previously thought possible... I was going through emails and found another email where the school had charged me another $50 for D's lunches... Hold on, school has only been in session for 1 month... So I did some digging and discovered I could see exactly what was being purchased at school: plate lunch + chips, pop tarts, chicken nuggets everyday!!! Average $6/day!!! Some how D has spent $108 on food the first month of school!!! Furious I go back to my inbox and BLAM! An email from AT&T to Dylan 'You are over your monthly data plan... Your bill will be increased by $15 this month' = 3rd month in a row!!! Head exploding I am not even sure how I got to sleep...

Up and ready for work I pulled D in for a talk. I tried to explain to him how his bad choices were pilling up; baseball errors = not playing infield, back-talking L&I = no football games/activities with friends... Hope some of it sinks in... In to work and feeling like crap about the morning I had with D and all the recent news/changes at work... Out in the field after talking on the phone with a customer, look down and there's a feather... Tim was on his way out to see me and we talked quite a bit out there. He could tell I was upset and talked about raising his son, went through the same stuff... Later in the day before I left Tim stopped and talked about work which brought my spirit up, he said the changes I have brought have been felt by everyone in the building and I couldn't stop... This made me feel bit better in the midst of a crappy day.

Home and finally a night of nothing on the calendar. We all took a bike ride to Rita's for a treat and then stopped at the ball fields to see big head and others we knew. Home, the boys got hair cuts and then the boys and I hung out in the basement playing the xbox. After the boys went to bed my neighbor asked that I come down for a chat. Exhausted, I loaded up and went down to chat. NO SHIT?! he wanted to tell me that D was talking about his son at school and it bothered him enough that he had to talk about it with his parents... WHAT IS GOING ON???? I stayed there for a couple hours talking with them and them home completely defeated. Obviously I have done something horribly wrong in raising D... :-(

20130916 - Up and in to work. Handing more things off and getting more things piled on... Fast full day an then ran for gas on way home. Home for quick change and to ballfields where D was playing and so was G. I got to J for 2 minutes today: 1 minute at the concession stand and 1 minute when I tucked him into bed... Down to field 4 to coach G's team. They did good and G got to pitch again, he is pretty good :-)

The boys won and I dropped G's buddy Owen off at home after the game and his mom shared the letter G wrote to Owen in school today, all about baseball of course...

Home talked to D about his game, it wasn't very good, they lost and he was stuck in outfield for the whole game... Boys to bed and Doc and I off to Bible Bangers. On meeting, not really into it now, too much going on... Home and at desk trying to catch up... Discovered D is spending $6 a day on lunch + other crap...

To bed completely frustrated with everything!

20130915 + All up and to a new church with some friends. It was ok, we will see... Went to lunch with the Mallonns after the service and had some good grub. Home and J's buddy Conor came over to help us move some mulch and then play.

D&I installed the dryer stand he made last weekend. Then D&G took off playing while I fixed the drying rack.

L out to eat with her friends and D&G brought a bunch of kids (the Bowman boys) home to play football in the backyard. Penn stopped over for a chat on the back porch, we chatted about being grumpy and how we both missed the class in college on how to have a $1M house + a vacation house + $100K cars...

Good to know I wasn't the only one that skipped that day of school...

All extra boys gone and D had to whip us up some dinner. It was pretty good. Boys back outside to play, I did the dishes and then we watched Star Trek until time for bed. To bed early, exhausted.

20130914 - Up in the am and GmaB Sam Lena LDJG&I to D's baseball game. I coached 1st base and it was quite an interesting game. In the second inning the assistant couch for the other team got thrown out of the game for not keeping his mouth shut... A few innings later our coach got in a fight with his dad who was keeping score and threw his own dad out of the game :-o Then later in the last inning a kid from the other team violently threw his bat and was thrown out of the game. This meant they instantly forfeited the game because they only had 8 player and with his ejection they had only 7, so no longer a legal game... very odd game indeed, but they won!

Home played football w/boys. D&I took G to bday party huge house. Home fixed climbing wall watched some football and posted eBay. DJ&I to pick G stayed for wiffle ball game. Picked up wings on way home. Ate and watched OSU football. Up late bidding on stuff and texting Obie while he was on live TV :-).

20130913 - Up early and met the customer for bfast where I got the inside track on what he wants me to do for him. Out on the floor again going through the new operation, more meetings and the day was over quickly. Home and D was at baseball practice so LJG&I hit Long John's for dinner and then picked D up. We stopped at Blockbuster to get some movies on the way home and then I watched the new Star Trek with the boys. Little boys to bed, LD&I up to watch 'Now You See Me'

20130912 + Up and another rough start to the day. Headed into work and was moved to new customer. Oh and by the way, today is your first day and they lead for the new customer will be here in 30 minutes :-o The new customer showed up, I jumped on the task and off we go. We had a good walk through the site, some good meetings and then out to dinner. We ate at the Fish Market; I had an awesome steak, crab legs and a HUGE dessert that was so big people at other tables were laughing at my reaction to the size of it. Home late and shared some of the dessert with L and told her about the crazy day.

Other news = G's baseball game was rained out tonight. Kind of glad, that means I didn't miss it :-)

20130911 - Up and out to work. Not a lot good going on anywhere for me at the moment... Meetings and calls, and meetings about meeting and calls... With everything here and at home in complete chaos it would be nice to know if this is what is supposed to be happening... Answer provided, feather... Now what exactly am I suppose to do? Back in for a couple more meeting, 2 good, 1 not so good...

Back outside to take another call... can this all possibly be right, the right direction??? Feather 2... SERIOUSLY... 2 IN A ROW!?!?!?!... Back in to finish the day and then headed home. Lightening and rain = no baseball game. I hung out on the back porch and shined my black shoes listening to the rain. LDG and 1 other boy came home from the ball fields. L told me J got kicked in the face back at the playground today and came home covered in blood... L went to pick up J, D&G playing on the x-box while I ironed some shirts. Up and hung out with the boys. I showed them pics of GpaW&I on top of the World Trade Center and the monument pools... All boys to bed. Up late renaming pictures.

Now what do all these feathers mean...???

201309010 - Up and into work. Full day of getting more things done, planning on how to break the RFQ news to the employees in the building... Called uncle Russ for his Bday and left a very LOUD slooow message for him :-) Called my buddy Scott for his Bday, texted Joe and Mary for their 19th anniversary and received word from my buddy Arno in Holland that his second son Lars was born today!

2013 - B-day - Lars van den Hoogen

1994 - Anniversary - Joe & Mary Dixon

1962 - B-day - Scott Wallace

1940 - B-day - Russ Halstead

On the way home I stopped to pick up some things I won from an online auction and then home through the construction. I have had an ongoing email 'discussion' with our school's superintendent about how illogically crazy it is that they changed the bus routes to pick D up at this corner. Yes right where the street is dug up and the backhoe is... Does anyone use a brain anymore... I think bicycle helmets should be banded... Home, L had her first day of being the lead teacher, Tuesdays & Thursday's this year. It must not have gone well or something else happened because the house was silent as I entered , no one even saying hi... We ate dinner, D acting very odd, not eating... Tried to go outside and throw the football, ended in all 3 boys screaming at each other. In to change and head to a scouts board of review. Home and the boys were whisked off to bed, I fell asleep on the chair. Then wide awake, up late on the PC...

20130909 - Up in the am and into work and cleaning tasks out like crazy, nervous day at work, the big reveal at 5pm staff meeting where it was presented that we (I) did not win the big RFQ we were working on :-(
Drove straight to the ball-field to watch D play, he had a great game, we beat the kids with the travel team on it! The adults from the other team were ridiculous... Home and then ran out to drop off awards at Scouts. L had her first day of school today, but I didn't get to talk to her about any of it because i was involved with the game and then more activities later... Back home and got Doc for Bible Bangers. We had a good meeting and talked about how to manage these kids we have that are turning into teenagers... Home, L dead asleep, so I was up late on PC.

20130908 - Up late and all ready. LD&I went out to bfast at the local Creekside Cafe, it was super good. We stopped at the library to drop off some books and then Blockbuster to drop off videos. We stopped at Meijer where it took L 3 minutes to get what she needed an back to the car. Then on to home Depot for supplies. On to Easton where we went through a couple cool stores and finally Dick's so D could look around. I got a text that Gma&paW were at our house with J&G so we finished up our shopping trip to head home. INSTANTLY D TURNED BAD... L&I looked at each other like 'What just happened', he was fine all morning.... Home and of course it got loud fast. I had to separate the boys into different areas of the property so the neighbors could enjoy their Sunday... GpaW gave L&I a lesson on their car, they are letting us use it until we figure out what to do with the black car's rusted through frame... I had to go to a Cub Scout adult leader meeting and then home all boys already to bed, and L, so I stayed up trying to get things done and ready for the week ahead... up til 3 am worried about tomorrow...

20130907 - Up in the am and down to D's baseball game. It was a good game but D was making too many errors. Gma&paW arrived for the game, they were to take all of the boys up to the Farm and to a play tonight, but D blew that with his horrible behavior... and he blew a nice break for L&I... L&I left the game before it was over to head to the OSU Football game. She mentioned on the way there she told D he could watch the game. Well being grounded from all electronics I had unplugged the TVs at the cable box and the internet, no electronics means no electronics... I had a big list of things for D to have done before we got home and had asked a friend to stop over to check in him and and talk with him while we were at the game.

At the game, and the atmosphere is historical and the traditions are awesome.

Watching the band come in and today another 700 alumni band members meant the band was HUGE.

It also meant a special treat, 4 script Ohios

After the game we survived the 3 mile line to get to the bus and then to the car. We had to stop at a CVS on the way to dinner to get a screw for my glasses which fell out during the game, meaning I had to wear my spring clip on sunglasses at night to hold my glasses together. We went to dinner but L was too busy being worried about D at home alone for it to be enjoyable... I dropped L off at home and went to my friends to see what he got out of D. The bottom line is D wants our attention, and if being bad gets that attention, then that is what he is going to do... Great.... Back home, L already dead asleep, I stayed up late watching more football with D.

20130906 - Up an into work. Was a normal busy day until the drive home. I called a counterpart to check on the HUGE RFQ we have been working on to keep the business unit I am responsible for and found out we lost it... This is NOT GOOD... To try and lift my spirits I called home to see what we were going to do, being Friday night and all we usually go to dinner as a family. Well the call was something like this '...you need to get home, your son is out of control, he is screaming and raised his fist to me...'. GREAT, even better news than I just got about work... I got home and somehow didn't explode, but simply told D he was staying home and all of the yards must be mowed before we got home... LJG&I got in the car and headed to dinner. G got to pick so we ended up at L's favorite place, the Golden Corral... We had plenty to eat and the boys trained L on how to use the chocolate fountian, I believe quietly hoping she would fall in love with the idea of a constant chocolate fountain and install one in our house... After dinner we drove through a couple of car lots on the way home and picked up some chicken sandwiches for D. D did have all of the yards mowed when we arrived. All boys to bed. L dead asleep on the couch.

20130905 - Up in the morning and in to work. Another day of meetings and calls. Left a couple minutes early to get home, change and go with the fam to G's baseball game. It was a VERY LOOOONG GAME.... The boys did good, way too many errors. G was all attitude, it needed adjusted... He got a couple nice hits and struck out once. Each of the boys got a hit! I like that :-) The boys won 17-9 and were all tired and ready to get out of there. As I was cleaning up the field I went to get a big rock to cover the base peg hole so it is easy to find for the next game, I reached down and there it was, all by itself... a feather... Home and finally got some dinner. Homework checked and boys off to bed. Up late cleaning up past pic and video files.

20130904 - Up and off to work. A usual I listened to a devotional on the way to to work, Our Daily Bread, and today's topic was "A Special Day". It asked what is special about September 4 and gives 2 or 3 important things that happened on this day. I first thought 'so it is Sept 4th. Just any other day, why would those events be special to me..' As I drove down the road I kept thinking over Sept 4th... and then it hit me... it was a historic day. So I looked up some more events

25* 26 important events the happened this day in history:
422 St Boniface I ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1609 Navigator Henry Hudson discovers island of Manhattan
1781 Los Angeles founded by 44 settlers
1833 Barney Flaherty 1st paperboy (age 10) for "The New York Sun"
1862 Robert E. Lee's Confederate army invades Maryland, start of Antietam Campaign.
1881 Thomas Edison, 1st commercial electric lighting system is switched on for 85 paying customers.
1885 Exchange Buffet opened in NYC. 1st self-service cafeteria in the U.S.
1886 Apache chief Geronimo surrenders to U.S. government troops, last major Indian war.
1888 George Eastman registered the name "Kodak" and patented his roll-film camera.
1917 American forces suffered its 1st fatalities in World War I (France) .
1923 1st USA dirigible, "Shenandoah," began maiden voyage in Lakehurst, NJ. (Later crashes in OH)
1933 1st airplane to exceed 300 mph, JR Wendell, Glenview, Il
1939 WWII The Polish ghetto of Mir is exterminated
1945 The American flag is raised on Wake Island after surrender ceremonies there.
1951 1st live, coast-to-coast TV broadcast, Pres Truman from CA to NYC
1952 Mary (Terry) & Martha (Eubanks) Winger were born
1957 Little Rock AK, Governor calls National Guard to bar Black students from entering a high school
1965 Beatles' "Help!," single goes #1 & stays #1 for 3 weeks
1971 "The Lawrence Welk Show" was seen for the last time on ABC-TV.
1972 US swimmer Mark Spitz becomes 1st athlete to win 7 olympic gold medals
1981 Longest baseball game 20 innings, Mariners 8 over Red Sox 7 at Fenway
1993 Jim Abbott (born without a right hand) pitched no-hitter for the NY Yankees
1998 Google founded by Stanford University students Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
2003 Keegan Reilly, 22, 1st paraplegic climber to reach peak of Mount Fuji.
2012 Matt Winger Laid-off

#25 was personal... Very personal... I had not realized, exactly one year had passed by since I was laid off. I tried to make sense of it, what all happened and why, what was God's plan... I reviewed what had happened to my family and how we were impacted: 7 months of finding ways to make money instead of a 'normal' 9-5 job. In the last year I had: Learned many new things about internet businesses, met many new people, went to countless auctions and sales, coached 5 baseball teams, went on 3 Dad & Me Days, created 2 businesses (OhiOOddities and OhiOOrigins), was appointed to the City's Landscape Board, reduced our debt, built our net worth, gained the valuable experience that we could make it, and landed another good 'normal' job. WOW, that is a lot!

But why did I go through it? Why didn't things just stay normal? What was the end goal???

Well I know on of them, and it was to meet this guy, Tim Y, from work. When I first got there he had only been there a couple months. He opened up right away, showed me the ropes, was easy to work and get along with, and he is one of those guys you feel like you have known a long time and just trust. But Tim was gone a lot, and I didn't know why, and being new I wasn't going to ask. Then I found out he was undergoing chemo for prostate cancer. Tim didn't expect special treatment or slack off during this, he was at work as much as he could be and was always present on the phone. Tim and I spend a lot of time together, some of it productive, and all of it fun. He is a great guy and makes me laugh, helps me and others through the day. Several weeks ago Tim had surgery and was out a couple weeks. But, before I am sure what his Dr. recommended, he was back on calls and email and working, and then back in the office. His hair was coming back, his color, his strength, the humor. It is great to have him around all the time again. I am inspired by his drive and determination to beat cancer, and he has! I am sure God will reveal more to me as time goes on, but this one was a clear sign; that I was brought here, to this job, through these experiences, to meet Tim.

#26 2013 Tim Yoakem beats cancer

Evening events: L hosted parent information day at her school, D had baseball practice, J got grounded from his bike for riding alone in the woods at the park, G's baseball team lost their game. I lost the static IP I had had for 10 years for out internet at home and spent about three hours recovering websites, cameras and links.

* Correction added to events made total 26. I forgot the birth dates of two of my wonderful Aunts :-o I received a gentle text reminder that it was their birthday 9/4/52 & that they are a "very important members of my family support system" :-)

20130903 + Up and in to work. The long weekends are nice, but the mountain of mail... Had a surprise call from my buddy Andre today, the Europeans are now starting to not like President Obama so much, with his new undefined war on Syria... Finished the day and then home for a quick change and off to D's baseball game. D had 2 errors and then turned a double play. He got walked, a goot hit and then struck out. The team is making way too many errors to win... the other team only had 1 earned run out of the 8 tonight... Home and J&G lined up for their spankings, they were BAD at the game... I made them some snacks and we watched some prepping show until L got home from D's 8th grade open house. All boys to bed. couple of things done at the desk...

20130902 + Up in the am playing referee again... Separated the boys, got a couple things done at the desk and then grabbed G for some errands. Our first stop was to get me a bike so we could all ride together. We went to Sports Authority and found a $300 bike on sale for $179 and I had a 25% off coupon. So we got the bike for $144! G tried out putters while they did final set up on the bike and then we loaded it up and headed out. G busy talking about where we were going to ride, BIG PLANS! On to Meijer where we picked up supplies for L to make jam from the grapes on our vines (would have been cheaper to buy grape jelly :-) Then G&I stopped at Wendy's for lunch an he ate 2 chicken sandwiches :-o Home and got the new bike unloaded. Then back to the playground with DJ&G all on our bikes. We rode around an around and I showed D how to ride down steps. We dug through the trash to find some treasures and then back home. I worked on the old dryer for about an hour, found the problem and now L has 2 functioning dryers :-) we had a nice dinner on the back porch, the boys played airsoft in the backyard and then we all rode to Rita's for G's ice cream reward for learning to ride his bike. My buddy Fave stopped by while at Rita's to chat for a bit. Home and all boys cleaned up and off to bed.

20120901 - Up in the am to boys out of control... L went to get groceries, the boys worked on my bike and I got a bit of the desk cleaned off. L home and we had a family meeting with the boys. Trying to figure out why they are dirt mean to each other and how we are going to fix it (I voted for severe beatings ;-) The bike repair failed, these tires just don't hold air :-( loaded everyone up and we headed to Johnstown for the annual Swappers Day. Gma&paW met us there and we walked around amongst hordes of armed citizens. I mean guns everywhere! There is a bit of everything here. Always amazing! Drove home and Gma&paW followed so they could see G ride his bike. We had a nice Chinese dinner and Doc joined us. We sat on the back porch and watched the boys shoot each other. Gma&paW left, boys ready for bed, we watched a movie. I stayed up late updating blog entries for July & August 2012.

WingerBLOG

20130930 - 1st Tournament Game

20130929 + Door 2 Door

20130928 - Make it fit

20130927 - Gaining Yardage

20130926 + 2nd Try

20130925 + Work, Loss, Win, Safe

20130924 + Nothing?

20130923 - Snappy

20130922 - 2 New Hoods for G

20130921 + 76 Thanks to John & Mary!!!

20130920 - Bull Horns

20130919 - Early & Scout Out

20130918 + Lilly 5

20130017 - Bad, Ok, Good, Horrible...

20130916 - 2nd Pitch

20130915 + Missed Class

20130914 - Base & Foot Ball

20130913 - End 2 Looong Week

20130912 + New Direction

20130911 - Supposed to be Bad?

20130910 - Another Historic Day

20130909 - Bad Day

20130908 - Good Then Instant Bad

20130907 - 4 Script Os

20130906 - D Out Of Line...

20130905 - Long Game

20130904 - Sept 4 and This Guy

20130903 + Line'em Up!

20130902 + Family Ride

20130901 - Swap It