My little place online

Every once in a while, not too often, I go and check the StatCounter user stats for my little space here. It's really funny to see the strange ways people find their way here. I know there are a few folks out there that harbor strange masochistic tendencies and read my posts on purpose, and some of you even comment once in a while - not that I'm a comment whore mind you. I like hearing what ya'll have to say and all, but I've tried to maintain that this space is for me and my goal to record life as it happens so one day I'll have something to look back on and chuckle.

Today I took a look at my StatCounter account and two things jumped out at me that I thought I'd spend a second recording what I found. First, it's important to note that I don't get a whole lot of traffic. Now, for those of you who might not understand the mentality of some of the more hardcore bloggers, the amount of traffic a blog gets is almost as important as the number of comments left. For me, I'm surprised that even Wifey cares what I have to say so if I ever get more than one hit a day I'm feeling way ahead of the game. Typically, I'll get 10 to 20 unique looks a day, and I'm sure some of those are search engine bots or mistakes or wrong turns. [See the second piece of this post for a very funny example of that.] So, when I checked today, and saw the following, I was... shocked is too lame a word. But, I'm no linguist so I'll just leave it at that. Check this out...

Do you see last Wednesday? I think a WTF is in order. Why the hell would 77 different people want to come see what I was doing on some random Wednesday? Then, Wifey helped me remember what last Wednesday way. Yup, a little incident I like to call, "Bad Chicken Day." Post 1, and post 2 described my want, then disappointment, with a certain chicken joint down the street. Now that's funny. People went online looking for info on that event and they ended up at my blog. I wonder if I set any records with how fast most of them hit the back button once they realized where the heck they found themselves. Too funny. But hey, thanks for making it seem like I had something interesting to say for once!

Story #2 is really kind of funny, and I thank Wifey for pointing it out to me. StatCounter not only tells you how many folks show up to your space, it also records where they come from. [This is particularly handy for seeing if certain people who should have no business coming around still do.] And, if they used a search engine it will tell you what they searched for. So here, check this out. Try to see if you can find what Wifey and I found so funny about the search that took place when this person found their way to my blog...



Did you catch it? It had something to do with the combination of where the search originated and what they were searching for.

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So, for those of you too lazy to play along, here is where they were searching from -


And this is what they were searching for



That's right folks - someone from the extremely fundamentalist state of Iran was checking out images on the web of Hef's former girl toys...


Now that is funny stuff. At least to me. And that is all that matters.

Hope you're finding humor wherever you can-


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I want...

...to build this -

Found it in a Lowe's Creative Ideas magazine I get, really easy to build, but pretty expensive (~$800). Oh, and you need a yard too. Well, it will stay in the want column for the time being then. But, I'd be happy to help any of you build it if you'll promise to invite us over for the first batch of smores!

Full article at Campfire Stories.


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The weekend #3

I can't believe we had enough that went on this weekend to make enough for three posts. And to be honest, there doesn't seem to be an end in sight, what with so much left to do on the house and Red's third birthday coming up in two weeks with a bunch of people coming over for a shindig. Last post, I promise. But, as always, this space is for me right? So I'll just post what ever the heck I please thank you very much! :) Not like the three of you who bother to read this have lasted this long anyway.


For the past two years, things have been a bit hectic around here during the spring. In the spring of 2007 and 2008 I was going through a job search, the second time without a job to fall back on, so the flower planting usually got bumped in favor of something else. Like I said though, I made it a point to get the flowers in the ground before June this year and I'm glad I did.

| - Wifey and Red did a great job getting the baskets and pots looking fantastic while I was busy cutting the molding.

- The clematis I planted last year are coming back with a vengeance!

| - Nice clean flower beds.

| | - I put the impatiens in and among the spent crocus and daffodils so they would grow while letting the old bulbs recharge for next year. I snipped the leaves of the tulips last year and they were a huge disappointment this year. The leaves came up but no flowers! I learned my lesson, let the leaves stay and plant other things in between.


If you're from around these parts hopefully you were able to enjoy the weather as much as we did. I was so sad a week ago, as it was cold and pouring outside, when I was looking through pictures from a year ago and saw JAM and his friends outside on a day so warm that they were playing in the sprinkler. The weather definitely took a turn for the better as once again JAM was able to hook up the hose and run around with his friend from next door.

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Finally, I've got to post these. No, they weren't from this weekend, but again - this is my space - my rules. Check out my little future high-maintenance baby girl - all blinged out. Should that be blung? Anyhow, she's having so much fun in these pics, I just had to share.

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The weekend #2

Sunday? No, nothing much happened Sunday. Just a solid 13 hours of work, that's all. From hanging the hallway molding to planting all the gardens to patching the holes in the kitchen wall and ceiling, I was one tired puppy Sunday night. The good thing? The gardens are in and it isn't even the end of June (!!!) and if I hadn't been so tired I would have finished cutting and installing all the molding.

The bad thing? It wasn't that I got too tired to finish. The reality was I was so tired that I made a stupid mistake and cut the final piece of molding too short. And, I planned ahead so well that I bought only just enough molding (this stuff is expensive!) so I had none left over to cut another piece. stupid, stupid, stupid! So, I'll have to make yet another run to the HD some night this week in order to finish.

| - I know it isn't uncommon for walls in a home to not be exactly square to ceilings but, if you look close enough, this house takes the cake. I had to custom cut the tops off of all the doorway moldings to make them fit.

- What a mess.

| - But, being up and cutting drywall at 10:30 on a Sunday night was super fun!

The weekend #1

Saturday was one of our favorite days of the year - Maryland Day. We typically try to get as much as possible in, visit as many cool things as possible, get all hot and sweaty and dehydrated and annoyed because we did too much. But this year was different. With three kids in tow we spent the morning at Wifey's former place of employment and "World's Best School"'s 60th anniversary open house. With all sorts of familiar faces who we haven't seen in a while, a fantastic playground (fenced in!!!!), a lunch we brought with us so we didn't have to pay ridiculous UMD prices for food, and cake (provided by said school for said anniversary), it was a great time.

Witness...

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If you ever get the chance, you've got to check out Maryland Day. Right around the same time each year, loads to do, even for the kids (the whole mall is covered with bouncy things and the labs and farm are open), the wind tunnel was way cool a few years back... just lots of fun.

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simple diversions

Just funny, that's all.

Dude behind the counter needs to get a raise, that's all I need to say. I wonder if he really did get it right. Oh, wait... one of the comments says he forgot the meximelt. :)

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Everything's dumber in Texas!

Two things came my way today that dealt with the mistake I like to call Texas. I really don't have to add much to the commentary, they pretty much speak for themselves.

First, from deep in the heart of spirituality and moral values, comes this little news story I found quite interesting.

Then, my basketball buddy Josh sent this along. As those crazy kids say, I was ROFLMAO.
man, I'm old. Anyhow, enjoy -

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Quite the distorted view

Wifey sent me a funny video today that got me thinking about something. I try to keep things lighthearted around here but I just had to try to get my thoughts out there and see if I wasn't crazy.

According to Sean Hannity, President Obama was improper for, as he stated it, taking some credit for eliminating the pirates who held Captain Phillips, the merchant ship captain who was held last week by 4 pirates (and as an aside - I really still can't believe there are pirates left in this world).

Here's Hannity's analysis of Obama's actions during the 'crisis'-

With that said (and I had to turn it off after about 1:33 - let me know if I missed something interesting that came later), let's see... who do you think was more improper in taking some credit....

Obama?

Or Bush?

Yes Mr. Hannity. Once again, you are right on target with your criticism.

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All I wanted was some chicken!

Apparently I wasn't the only one with the Popeyes idea. In fact, everyone and their brother decided to go get some chicken today. I was soooo looking forward to my chicken, too. I stopped by on the way home from work and this is what I ran into...

I know, the picture stinks (taken with my crappy cell phone camera), but it tells a bit of the story. The line was so long outside - cars wrapped all the way around the building - and not moving that I went inside. What was I greeted with when I entered? More than 30 people in line already. The line wrapped all the way around the seating area and back out into the front toward the door again. How nuts am I? I got in line. I WANTED MY CHICKEN!!! Well, that lasted about 10 minutes or so until I finally gave up. I only gave up when I heard the girl behind the counter telling someone that "it was going to be 12 minutes." I didn't know what "it" was, but if she was telling him that, and he was more than 30 people in front of me, with another two dozen or more waiting in cars outside, there was no way I was going to get food before midnight.

Yup, the line beat me.

But, I wasn't going down without a fight! After we punted and I whipped up some toasted cheese sandwiches for the kids and a Wifey put together a quick quiche for us, then tubby and bedtimes, I had to run out to Target. Then, as I was leaving there what do you think I saw, just across the parking lot? Why, it was none other than the Popeyes that had beaten me earlier. I thought, seeing as how it was almost 9:30, that I shouldn't have any trouble grabbing some chicken to save for lunch tomorrow. Oh, was I wrong. When I got there, at 9:30 mind you, there were still cars lined up around the building but only a few people on line inside. Applauding myself for not being as lazy as the mopes waiting in their cars, I parked and walked to the door - only to find it locked with a 16-year-old girl standing guard. When I asked what was up she told me that had run out of chicken.

Um, I'm sorry, can you repeat that?

Popeyes ran out of chicken. A CHICKEN JOINT RAN OUT OF CHICKEN!!!!! And I was pissed. I wasn't mad at all earlier, I appreciated the popularity of their event so how could I be mad? I was a little ticked that they hadn't had the foresight to bring in another fryer or whatever they needed to keep up but to actually run out of the one food you serve? That was just stupid. And I let them know it. I went onto their web site and sent the following:

I visited the restaurant for your PayDay event and had a horrible experience. At about 5:15pm I saw a line of cars around the building waiting for the drive through so I went inside. As I got in line there were 32 people in line ahead of me. I waited for just under 15 minutes and the line did not move at all. We heard the workers at the counter saying they were waiting for chicken to cook! I couldn't believe that there wasn't ample prepared chicken ready for the crowd you knew you'd get for this event. I left after that. Then, I was out again this evening and I visited the same store at 9:30 only to find the door locked with a worker telling us that they were out of chicken. I tried twice today to visit your store, and neither time were you ready to receive me. I pass your restaurant every day going to and from work, but my experience today doesn't make me want to return in the future.

Yup, I had practically sworn off of their food before this, but their smartly planned event got me back in the door. After this? I doubt I'll be back. It's like they say - let 'em know with your wallet right?

Looking forward to the next Ben and Jerry's free cone day.

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What's for dinner?

Spread the word - the universe's best tasting (and surprisingly, not as bad for you as you might otherwise get*) chicken is on sale tonight!

Oh yes, I do mean !!!!! Or, as a much younger JAM used to call it - Pop-Yes.

Apparently, today is Popeyes Payday. I don't care what they call it, if it means cheap chicken then I'm all for it! That's right, 8 pieces of chicken for $4.99. I... am.... THERE!

Enjoy - just make sure you take a nice hot shower after you're done. That stuff is so greasy it follows you around for a while.

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*Thanks to The Daily Plate for the following little comparison I put together-

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A plan that worked?

Months ago Wifey called to tell me that water was dripping from the kitchen cabinets. I came home to find a significant amount of water dripping down between our nice new kitchen cabinets, right under where I knew the water lines run in the ceiling above. I had to take down some cabinets, call in an emergency favor from plumber-friend-former colleague Mike, and the offending leaky old copper pipe was replaced. Not without damage to said new cabinets mind you! For some reason I didn't have any pictures. I know, weird.

Then, a few days ago, I posted about the continuing issues with our home - specifically the water pipe from hell that decided to strike again. This time it was coming from further down the same line, after the part we had replaced earlier. Poor Wifey had to call me again about water dripping from around the same area, this time a bit higher on the wall, coming out from the crown molding. After cutting some holes in said wall and ceiling, it became obvious that major work had to be done to remove the rest of that dang pipe once and for all. If I chose to go through the ceiling in the kitchen I wouldn't have been able to get to the whole pipe, and I would have had to rip out a bunch of sheetrock and the drown molding. I was not looking forward to that. So, I decided to go the opposite direction, down.

Witness...

- A hint of carnage from the hallway upstairs.

- Some of the floor in Pudge's room removed.

- Where Red and Pudge's dresser usually sits. The new pipe is the small white one in the middle. The copper one to its right is a hot water line, and Mike said they never get the pinhole leaks like the cold water lines get so we left it alone.

- Good friend Mike. He took a day off of work to come help me out. Not too bad for him though. Good a day off and made some extra cash. :) I joked with Mike that he was over fixing my broke-down house so much he was on my blog more than my kids. Here (he was the one who came over after my hand ran into that knife).

- Full length of floor removed. On the left at the end is the heater vent for the kitchen outside of the laundry closet and on the right is the bathroom fan for the downstairs bathroom. Going through the floor like we did allowed us to get all the way to the end of the horizontal section of the pipe. If we wanted to get rid of all of it I would have had to move the stackable washer/dryer in the laundry closet and rip out the wall in that space. Maybe eventually, when we washer finally dies, but I didn't want to add much more to this project than was absolutely necessary.

- More carnage. Kept the air cleaner going to try to get rid of some of the sawdust from Pudge's room.

- 'Lil 'ol me, putting down the new floor.

- New floor, in!

- Carpet about to be laid back down.

- Pudge, post tubby, not aware that he was taking his life in his own hands by walking on a floor his Dad put down.

- Pudge being cute in the newly renovated closet. Come out of the closet dude!

- Dresser and book shelf back in place.

| - The garbage bag I asked Wifey to tape up in the kitchen to catch the debris. Not a bad idea if I do say so myself. That will come down when we're ready to patch the hole. No point in having a open space if it isn't necessary right?


Well, there it is. A project finished in one day. If you don't count the hole in the ceiling. I can hardly believe it! Even with a trip to Home Depot in the rain, stopping through nap time, and working with a sprained knee, it got done. Yeah for small miracles.

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