Pre Race Ritual

No! This isn't me!!!  I route for number 99.

Well my brain is fried and after working on policies for the last 12 hours, I'm in one of those sort of don't give a crap kind of moods.  So tonight, I'm swallowing all my pride (what there is of it) and hope to make you giggle a little.  I'm learning more and more who reads this stuff so if one of my referral sources, friends, enemies, whatever, and see me on the street after reading this, don't give me any crap.  To all of you who have a poor self image of yourself, I'm right there with ya baby. 

I'm not even sure how to start this, but here it goes.  This weekend I'm doing a mountain bike race in Fountain Hills.  Not a big deal, just another bike ride.  The funny part though, would have to be my usual pre-race ritual. 

Realize now, that I'm not the baldest guy in the world.  In fact, I can make Sasquatch look like he's thinning.  This is typically no big deal, after all that's what clothes are for..right?  My fear........losing my clothes.

Now, remember I spent the younger part of my life (dang that was a long time ago) working in hospitals.  When someone is brought into the ER in pretty rough shape, what's the first thing they do?  Cut your frigging clothes off (mind you, you have to be in pretty bad shape for this to happen, but I've seen it, heck I've cut clothes off of some people)!!  It's just easier for them to evaluate you and hook up all those wires if you are garmentless.(like that word? :) )

This is sort of going down the same road as the old adage your mom used to say, "make sure you have clean underwear on".   As a cyclist, I won't go into the underwear thing (they don't wear any).  

So!!!! Long story short,  I don't want to be racing, have a major crash, and whammo I'm in the ambulance struggling for my last breath.  I'm not worried about dying, you know what's on my mind???  Are they gonna cut off my shirt and say "holy crap look how hairy this guy is".    Now that people, is one of my biggest fears while racing.  Isn't that pathetic? 

A few years ago, one of my teenage employees turned me on to Men's Nair.  I'm sure it's the same as woman's nair, but it's a little easier to buy when it says "men" on the bottle".  Plus it was a teenage guy that told me about the stuff so I'm sure I'm not the only guy out here using it. 

Ok, I'm a pretty limber guy.  Problem is, I'm now 40, and one of my shoulders has pins holding it together and the other one I hurt last year and it hasn't gotten any better.  Needless to say, they just don't move like they used to. 

The hairy chest I can handle (minus the small amount of flubber that seems to be growing), but a hairy back......ugh!!  Not happening.  If I'm going to crash going down a rocky cliff, by God my back is going to be smooth as silk when I get to the hospital.  

I'm too self conscious to ask my wife to help me, so ya I nair my back by myself.  Even I get a laugh out of this while I'm attempting it.  So I hide out in the bathroom for about 1/2 hour with my latex gloves, bottle of nair, and some old towels that I'm throwing away when I'm done.   So I go to town squirting the stuff on my hand and gracefully (not really) putting it on my back.  I swear the stuff is always about 32 degrees cuz I about go into shock every time it comes into contact with my skin.  Ok......Low back....Piece of cake.  Upper back.........not too bad.   Middle back.......are you friggin kidding me!!!! There is one spot that I pretty much have to twist into oblivion to touch.  I look like the 40 year old virgin and the elephant man having some sort of weird seizure.  I truly look pathetic.  Every bit of pride I have is out the door when this is going on.  I'll tell my kids when their older just in case they have to go through the same thing, but for now, I'll just let them believe their dad is a manly man. 

After you put the Nair on, you're supposed to wait 15 minutes then wipe it off.  Well hell!!!  Now I have to try and reach all the same places that I cramped trying to reach the first time.   If my grandma is looking down from heaven, she is laughing her butt off while watching me attempt this pride less feat. 
If I really had guts, I'd post pictures, but not in this lifetime.:)

So there you have it.  My pre-race ritual.  Now if Newell reads this, and since he's racing with me, I'm sure to get a little bit of crap at the race.  I'm hoping he will be too busy until after we get back to read it. 

If you have issue with your body image, know that you're not alone.  This is something that has bothered me my entire hairy life.  As I get older, I don't quite care as much, but as you can see, I'm still willing to turn into a contortionist every so often to avoid any humiliation. 

Well there you have it.  Hope you had a laugh on my account.  Time for my glass of wine and little bit of TV.  Have a good night. 

My Weekend on Call

It's 10pm and I should be getting ready for bed, but seeing as how I'm working from home this week, I don't mind being a bit tired in the morning.  As soon as I'm done writing, I'm going to pour myself a small glass of wine, sit my boo'tay on the couch and watch "chopped" :)  I can't cook for crap, but I'm really enjoying the cooking shows lately. 

Anyway, I don't do it very often anymore, but I took call over the Thanksgiving holiday.  With Michael being out due to the accident, I had no problem covering for him.  I feel like every time I go on a call, its a major gut check.   I must admit, I'm horrible at practicing what I preach.  Live each day to the fullest.....I always say this yet I fail so frequently at doing it. 

My first call out was Thanksgiving morning.  I was asked to go pick up the equipment of a patient who passed away earlier that morning.  Normally we don't do pickups on weekends, but I didn't want the family to have to look at the equipment the entire weekend.   The gal who passed away had earlier moved down to the valley to be with her son.  Once her cancer was diagnosed as terminal, she told her son she wanted to pass away in the White Mountains.  Her son rented her the most beautiful little house for her to stay in.  This is where she stayed until the end.  What an amazing gesture by her son.  When I arrived, her two sisters were there trying to make all the arrangements.  They did their best to be strong, but by the time I left, there were no dry eyes in the place. 

My other pick up was the day after Thanksgiving.  I had never met this lady, but in the brief moment I spent with her spouse, I was heart broken.  These two had gone to high school together then lost touch once they graduated.  Just two years ago they met up again and fell for each other.  The moved in together and looked forward to a bright future together.  Just one month ago, she was diagnosed with cancer and given 6 months to live.  She barely made it one month.  The husband tried to be so strong, but you could see him fighting back the tears as he told me their story.  So very heart wrenching. 

Here most of us are getting ready to chow down on Thanksgiving meals yet there are so many out there dealing with such pain.  It's a stark reminder for all of us once again to cherish the moment.   Look around, there is usually someone that has it much worse.  I think it's our responsibility to recognize this struggle and do our best to help.  Put our selfish selves aside and go out of our way to make someone elses life a little bit brighter.  Make someone smile. 

I didn't want this to be a gloomy post, but just wanted to share a little more about the weekend.  Time for the glass of wine and the comfy couch.  Good night.  I'm too tired to proof read tonight so forgive me for any grammatical mistakes.

Dancing with God

Got this email this morning.  So OSSM!!!

Dancing With God

When I meditated on the word Guidance, I kept seeing "dance" at the end of the word.

I remember reading that doing God's will is a lot like dancing.

When two people try to lead, nothing feels right.

The movement doesn't flow with the music, and everything is quite uncomfortable and jerky.

When one person realizes that, and lets the other lead,

both bodies begin to flow with the music.

One gives gentle cues, perhaps with a nudge to the back,

or by pressing lightly in one direction or another.

It's as if two become one body, moving beautifully.

The dance takes surrender, willingness,

and attentiveness from one person

and gentle guidance and skill from the other.

My eyes drew back to the word Guidance.

When I saw "G: I thought of God, followed by "u" and "I".

"God, "u" and "I" dance."

God, you, and I dance.

As I lowered my head, I became willing to trust

that I would get guidance about my life.

Once again, I became willing to let God lead.

My prayer for you today is that God's blessings

and mercies be upon you on this day and everyday.

May you abide in God as God abides in you.

Dance together with God, trusting God to lead

and to guide you through each season of your life.

This prayer is powerful and there is nothing attached.

If God has done anything for you in your life,

please share this message with someone else,

for prayer is one of the best gifts we can receive.

There is no cost but a lot of rewards,

so let's continue to pray for one another.

And I Hope You Dance!!!!!!!!

Good way to end the weekend.

I've decided to stay home all this week and finish updating all of my  policy and procedures.  My goal is to be finished by December 2nd.  This is a pretty lofty goal as I have no idea how many more I have to complete, plus I still have to submit them for approval.   Today I have overtaken the dining room table with about 4 notebooks of information, my laptop, a printer, a cup of coffee, and my lovely blackberry which continues to beep constantly with texts and emails.  I'm also listening to the sounds of Landau Eugene Murphy Jr.  This guy is amazing.  If you like Sinatra, you will love Landau Murphy.   Next up will be Bob Seger's greatest hits.  He doesn't allow his music on I-tunes so as soon as I saw the CD on my daily trip to Wal-Mart I just had to grab it. 

Well last week I told you I would post some pics of Michaels accident, here ya go.  I don't have any of Michaels broken teeth (they have since been fixed and he claims they look better now than before the accident) but heres a few of his truck and the car that hit him.  Sorry for the quality of pics on the car, I had to take them through the fence. 

In talking to the tow truck driver, I guess it took two trucks to pull the car away from the front of the grill of the Dodge pickup.  Now look at the gals car hit him.  She best be thankful for airbags.

Everything was smashed up to the firewall.  I think I'm going to have my son drive a 91 dodge pickup when he get's his license:).   That thing is a beast. 

Michael's wife is finally being released from the hospital today.  They diagnosed her with severe concussion syndrome.  She's had a lot of problems with nausea and dizziness.  Please keep her in your prayers as they move forward past very stressful week.  Oh and on top of all this, the other driver had no insurance.  When it rains it pours. 

On a much brighter note, we celebrated little Keevan's birthday last night.  3 years ago, the little guy was born on Thanksgiving day.  He's been such a little blessing.  Every morning he awakes with a smile and just makes the beginning of everyday a little brighter. 

His favorite things right now are Diego and Fire Trucks.  He got plenty of both but as you can see, Diego wore him out. 



Isn't he just adorable??

Well I best get some work done.  Will post again later about my weekend on call.  Eye opening weekend.  Time to refill the coffee cup. 
Hope you all have a great day.

Thanksgiving

I love this time of year. Out delivering meals right now. This year we help people in 4 different towns. Snowflake , Showlow, Cibecue, and Whiteriver. The Apaches are always so greatful.
Rusty-------Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

What a Night

Well it was a bit more of an interesting evening than I would typically like.  We're starting to run low on Oxygen Concentrators and with a 4 day holiday coming up I didn't want to risk being low on machines.  I was planning a last minute trip to Phoenix last night and as I was walking out the door I get a text from Michael.  Michael is one of my drivers and I depend on him a lot.  The guy is a working machine and always gives me 110%.   Looking at my phone it says, "Me and Tracy were just in a bad accident on our way to ER".

Ok, first I can't believe the guy was coherent enough to send me the text.  You have to know Michael.  He's a cowboy from Montana and when I say cowboy, this guy is the real deal.  From riding fence line while running cattle to sleeping every night in a bunk house.  The guy is just plain tough.  Before walking out the door, my wife was just getting home and says she just passed the accident and said it looked pretty bad. 

Apparently Michael was approaching the left hand turn lane (heading east) getting ready to turn left into Maverick gas station.  Coming the other direction, through the intersection, a young girl swerves directly into the turn lane (there is no reason to turn left coming from the west) and head on into Michael.   Michael later tells me that all he saw on his right was an Expedition with kids so he had no option  to swerve without possibly hurting those kids, so his truck took the full impact of the oncoming car. 

When I get to emergency room there are ambulances and fire trucks all over the place.  I didn't have to wait long before they let me in to see him.  The guy is lying there with a neck brace on texting on his phone:).  Front two teeth shattered the guy was rock solid (i'll post pics once I have permission).  All he was worried about was his wife who at the time I got there was having a CT scan done to check for any internal injuries. 

I just received a text from Michael and he says he feels like he got kicked in the face by a horse:).  I responded that he looks like he was kicked in the face by one.  Apparently Tracy didn't sleep well and is in a lot of pain.

Christy just let me know that she was able to get Michael in to see a dentist today (Thank you David Halls).  Maybe he'll be pretty again by Thanksgiving. :)   

Anyway, I'll keep you all informed as I learn more.  Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.  If anyone knows of an inexpensive truck for sale, please let me know. 

Seth

If anyone knows me, they know my kids are my everything.  Everything I do is typically in one way or another for them.  99% of the time, I never ever take them for granted (the other 1% is when they are driving me crazy). 

A few posts ago, I said to hug your kids today as you never know what tomorrow will bring.  I'm sure at some point in everyone's life, we ask God, why??   You look at little kids like Ronan and wonder, what is God's plan with this.  I'm sure you're wondering where I'm going with this......

Newell has given me permission to mention him so I'm taking this opportunity to do so.  Over the last year or two, Newell has become one of the best friends I've ever had.  We don't get to see each other very much, nor do we talk very much, but when we do it's an amazing conversation.  Whether it be about work, family, beliefs, opinions, whatever it may be, I leave the conversation in deep thought. 

I invite you to read a little of his blog then please keep him and his family in your prayers.  http://shamelesscyclist.blogspot.com/  is a brief story of what's going on with his kids.  I don't want to give false information or overstep my bounds, but even as I type this I get teary eyed thinking about it.  Imagine yourself, going to be every night wondering..........wondering what's next.  His blog doesn't even come close to showing what he's really going through.   Him and I have great talks about faith and God's role in this whole thing.  All I can say is that Newell has been the best example of Faith to me.  Break time....gotta take a walk for a few...........................

Does Seth go through this so that people like me can see God's work?   So that people like me are taught to be better, to expect more of ourselves, to live each day making a difference in the lives of others.  As usual I have no answers, like the rest of you, I can only assume.  

At the end of the day, most of us go to bed knowing that tomorrow is just going to be "another" day.  Newell doesn't have this luxury, tomorrow isn't something he takes for granted.   Please please please, when your head hits that pillow tonight, have Newell, his wife, and his kids in your thoughts and prayers. 

Bret Michaels posts Ronan's pic

Not sure any of you are keeping up with Ronan's mom's blog (I sort of quit as the F-bombs were a bit much) but I checked in today and saw this.

http://www.facebook.com/BretMichaels?v=app_2392950137#!/BretMichaels?sk=wall

Bret Michaels posted Ronan's Pic on his facebook page.  This is OSSM!!!

Spiritual Running?

I'm not a runner but came across this cool little write up in Kristin Armstrong's blog.

"When you run, there are no mistakes, only lessons. The art and science of ultra running is a process of trial, error, and experimentation. The failed experiments are as much a part of the successes as the combination that eventually works.

Lessons will be presented in various forms and intensities. Each lesson will be repeated until it is learned. When you have learned one lesson you will be presented with another.

The learning of lessons does not end. There is no part of your running experience that does not contain lessons. Each time you run there are lessons to be learned.

Life's answers lie within. Life's questions can be answered from within. Running is the medium through which these answers will be revealed. All you have to do is look, listen, feel and trust.

As you advance to greater challenges, you will continue to gain knowledge of yourself. Periodically you will be required to reach ever deeper in to your inner being, seeking out the strength needed to continue the endeavor of the moment. The strength you seek is layered within. The number of layers in infinite. All you have to do is believe, have faith in yourself, and expect to find that which you seek."

Cool huh??

And for you single moms out there, Kristen rocks!!!  What an amazing woman, mother, person!!!  Lance, what were you thinking!!!!!!



Monday again???

Is it really Monday already???  I need one more day added to the weekend.   Saturday was really pretty unproductive, but yesterday I kicked some butt updating our policies and procedures.   My goal is to be finished by the end of November so that my staff and I can go over all of them and make sure we are compliant and are doing everything we need to be doing.  After that, I will submit them all to our accreditation organization then all we can do is be as prepared as possible for our unannounced survey. 

The only thing that stinks about this whole accreditation thing is that no matter how good you are or how good the company is doing, if it's not on paper, then it's assumed that you didn't do it.  My guys going the extra mile for a patient is not something we document.  It's become a "cover your ass" world.  I understand the reasoning behind it, but it sucks that this is what our world as come down to.  Document this, document that, prove it, prove it, prove it.  

No longer can a doctor just write a prescription ordering a product.  Now he has to send us a ton of paperwork proving why the patient needs it.  So what that the guy was turning blue in the doctor office, prove to me why he needs oxygen and justify why they guy is blue.  This is the kind of crazy stuff we have document. 

A few months ago I had to prove why I provided a power chair to a quadriplegic.  I must have sent 30 pages to medicare justifying why this guy couldn't use a manual wheelchair.  C'mon people, at least use common sense when it comes to auditing claims. 

What's crazy though is that with all the crazy bureaucracy and hoops we have to jump through, I can't see myself doing anything else.  It's sometimes pretty stressful, but most of the time the difference you are making easily counter balances the crap we have to deal with.

On the weight loss note, first, no I haven't lost a friggin pound.  Second, I'm now officially as round as I am tall.  I finally bit the bullet and went bought pants size 34x34.  In college I wore 29 x 36.  I'm shrinking and expanding!! 

I picked up the new TV and DVR on Saturday which will go in the suite next to us.  I'm going to offer to all of those that participate in the challenge this year, an opportunity so set up their bike on a trainer as well as join in the Insanity workouts in the evenings.  Working out is definitely more fun with a group.

Oh and speaking of working out, I get this text from Newell this weekend asking me to do the Leadville 100 with him.  First of all, 100 miles on a mountain bike is just plain torture.  Second,  my back barely tolerates 20-30 miles on a road bike.  They say that 100 miles on a mountain bike is about equivalent to 200 on a road bike.  That's just crazy!!  Even Lance says this is one of the hardest races he has ever done.  All that said, I let him put my name in the hat.  I figured it would motivate me to hit the back rehab a little harder.  Now I just hope and pray they don't draw our names:).

Well I need to get some work done.  Hope you all have a great day.

Gotta Vent

Today I need to vent a little about something.  Ok I realize this has nothing to do with work, but in a round about way, since it has to do with me and I own the company, I'm gonna write about it:) . 

As I've said many times before and I realize it's really nobody's business, but I whole heartedly believe in God.  I believe He created all the beautiful things around us and is always "watching" over us.  I won't bore you (at least not in this post) with all my opinions as they really have nothing to do with this, but here it goes.  Yesterday my 12 yo son's teacher/principal sent home this survey asking about "texting etiquette".  By this I mean the questions pertained to the rules we have at home regarding cell phones and texting.  What times are you allowed to text, do your parents check your texts, how often do they check your phone, what kind of texts are morally correct, etc.  There were a few more but these are what I remember at the moment. 

It's a house rule that we know the passwords to any and all electronic devices around the house.  We (my wife and I) are allowed to check these devices at any time and we do.  We monitor what kind of music the kids have on their ipods.  We limit the amount of time each of them are allowed to use the computer, ipod, etc.  If they abuse it, they lose it.  I'll be the first to tell you my kids have it way better than I ever had it. I want them to, yet I want them to learn the value of work.  It's not an easy road to travel.  There's a lot of middle ground, but we do our best to keep them grounded and not take things for granted. 

Anyway, we have rules.  My problem with the survey..............what business is it of the teachers what rules we have for our kids?   Good parents have rules and they have consequences, but how we make up these rules and what we do to enforce them is no business of a teachers or a schools. 

I'm not done complaining.  My kids go to a Christian school.  It's a small school and the education is excellent.  I went to Blue Ridge all my life and feel I had a pretty good education, but the public school system is no where near what it used to be.  I realize that by sending them to a private Christian school, there are going to be a wide array of opinions on what is taught, after all, even being a Christian is today's world is not very easy.  There are opinions everywhere.

When I was little kid I grew up going to the Baptist church.  Then in high school I started going to the Catholic church.  Once I hit college I found that I really enjoyed a local nondenominational church.  Why did I like it?  The music rocked!!  As a college kid it really allowed me a way to connect with my God.   Oh and one more item, remember I was a biology and chemistry major.  If you want to find a ton of people who doubt God, just go to a college biology building.  Scientists and Creationist just really never seem to agree on much.   I'm saying all this to basically explain that I have a pretty open mind when it comes to what people believe.  Doesn't God himself tell us not to judge others??  Who are the worst about judging others?  People and their religions.  God is God.  I don't know if the dude is tall short, black or white, English or French, I have no clue.  I do know that He's pretty friggin amazing though.  He does, after all seem to put up with all my pathetic issues.

There are a lot of beautiful people in this world.  Each one is a child of God.  Whether it be a little kid in Africa who has never heard of the Bible or some punk ass teen in south LA, each is a blessing from God.  Who are we as humans to judge anyone?  We have no clue what another person has been through, why they are the way they are or why they believe what they do.  I'm sure in the end we will all realize the Plan God has for us.  As for now though, isn't it up to us to make the world a better place?  Not by pushing our beliefs on others, but for loving and respecting one another.  God is all about Love! Nothing less nothing more.  His greatest commandment is Love.  If we succeed with that, then everything else falls into place. 

Ok I'm rambling, but my point is, I want my kids to grow up open minded.  I want them to love and respect others.  Do I want them to worry about whether or not were "saved" by faith or works? Absolutely not.  You can't have one without the other so why bother with the argument?    I don't want my kids growing up judging others.  We all fall short of the Glory of God.  It's not rocket science to see that most of us fall way short.  Yet like any good loving Father, God sets us straight and lets us move on to our next screw up. 

I think I've really talked in circles about this, but hey, I feel better now about my original complaint:).  It's time for me to get back to working on my overly fun accreditation material.

Hope you all have a super day.  Oh and Hey Danielle!!!! Have you had that baby yet??  Did you get the footballs and baseball glove???  Hope you and your growing family are doing great. 

One more thing

Hey!!!!!!!!!!!!  Go hug your kids!!!  I don't care if they have been a pain all morning, they forgot to do their homework, they whined about their chores.......whatever they may have done, remember, today your kids and you woke up healthy!!!!    You are blessed!!!!!  Make the most of it!!!!!  Live it to the fullest people!!! 

Ok I'm going to bed now.

Winter is Here.

Looks like winter is upon us.  What a gorgeous today, makes it feel like the Christmas season.  I'd love to say I was sitting in my warm office today watching it snow, but nooooo, I was out back filling tanks all day.  Our fill plant is inside one of those big steel containers, you know, one of those things that looks like it just came off the back of a train.   We chose the steel container as the local fire department said it would be the safest way to go.  I mean, if youre going to blow something up, what's better than being stuck in a solid metal container?   The down side, especially this time of year, this thing has no insulation.  It's nothing but solid cold steel.  On top of that, remember we're working with liquid oxygen which  I think is something like minus 297 degrees.  Uhhh that's beyond cold.  Well, when you put cold steel, cold weather, and liquid oxygen together you get a lot of frozen things that are covered with frost.  Ok, I'm making it sound worse than it really is, but after filling 160 tanks which took me until about 6pm this evening, I was a bit frozen.  I had two of those oil heaters going, and they didn't do a darn thing except for run my electric bill up. 

So, guess what were doing next week.......we're going to enclose the entire steel container inside a wooden insulated shell.  That's right, I'm gonna be warm this winter.  This is how bad it got today.  We can fill 20 tanks at a time.  At a certain pressure we spray this "special" solution of leak detector (they call it special so they can charge me 50 bucks a gallon) on the valve of each tank to be sure there are no leaks.  After the tank is full and taken off of the line, we spray the valve one more time just to be sure it's not leaking while the valve is closed.  Well at about 5pm tonight I went to spray one of my last batches and guess what......the leak solution was frozen!!!  So to finish up, I had to go mix the formula with a bit of warm water just to get me through the next few batches.  By the end of the evening, my nose and my toes were pretty much frozen.  I'll be looking forward to my new insulated fill plant very soon.  Maybe if it's warm enough, I'll just move my office out there for the winter:) .

On another note, being that the roads are very frozen, it doesn't look like I'll be riding outside in the morning.  I've already brought in the dreaded trainer from the garage.  I really hate riding indoors, but right now my chubby ass needs all the help I can get.  So at 5 am, I'll be pedalin' my rear off in front of the tv.  I'm looking forward to the next weight loss challenge.  I'm amazed at how hard of a time I've had losing a single pound.  Remember, a few posts ago I mentioned that the owners of my building are going to let me use a suite to work out in?  Well guess what.... the 40 inch TV will arrive on Friday:)!!!!  Originally I was just going to set up the bike trainers in there, but now I think I'm also going to have the Insanity Work Out in there as well.  So for all you folks looking forward to the challenge....You're going down!!!!!  I'm going to woop  you all.  I'm going to fit in my little tiny bikini by next summer:)  That is a horrible thought, even to myself.  There's a nightmare in the making.  Ugh!!!!

Ok, it's getting late, the little glass of chocolate wine (it's yummy) is started to make me a bit tired.  Gotta get up in six hours.  Hope you all have a good night a great day tomorrow. 

Brrr it's cold

I started off today with a 6 am bike ride with Ben.  It was a balmy 21 degrees when I left my house.  Crazy as it may sound, I really enjoyed the ride.  I dressed almost perfectly and with the exception of my toes, I stayed just warm enough to be comfortable.  Ben on the other hand, showed up in shorts and these wimpy little gloves. The guy is a friggin attorney, and one of the best friends I could ever ask for, but he's too much of a tight wad to spend money on some warm cycling clothes.  Maybe if he gets cold enough, it's motivate him to spend a little.

I'm home today with Keevan (my 3 yo) and should be working on my policies and procedures.  It's 1pm and I'm just now sitting down at the computer.  Some days I'm just not motivated to sit at a desk.  Even after I'm done posting this little update, I'm not so sure I've convinced myself to get any work done (though I have done 3 loads of laundry so far:) ,,,I'm going for that husband of the year award thing........Not!!!!

My makeshift desk (it'll be an official home office one day) at the moment allows me to see our entire back  yard and instead of realizing how nice it is, I'm sitting here realizing how much work needs to be done back there.  The only nice thing I'm looking at is a huge tree house that my dad and father in law built for my kids one Christmas.  Other than that and two huge pine trees (which hold up the big tree house) there's not a whole lot to sit and enjoy this time of year, leaves and pine needles everywhere. 

I must say, that when I can look past all the paper work I should be doing right now, I really enjoy my time at home with Keev.  He's such a fun little guy.  This morning we headed down to the bike shop to pick up a few tubes and some more warm clothes.  Todd has a little playroom in the back for his kids and apparently Keevan spends so much time at the shop he made himself right at home and headed straight for the play room.  Not 30 seconds later, here he comes with a little stroller full of stuffed animals telling me that Elmo was hungry and that he was going to cook him some lunch.  Gotta love the innocence of a child. 

I have no idea how many people read this blog anymore.  I've looked at the stats and see that some of you poor souls still torture yourselves with this boring material, but the stats tell me nothing about where all these readers reside.  If you work at the hospital or one of the doctors offices we service, I'm letting you know now that were going to have another weight loss challenge after the holidays.  Lord knows I need the motivation.  One cool thing that I'm going to try and offer during the challenge is a workout time in the mornings.  What I mean by that, is the owners of the building where Alpha Oxy-Med is, have agreed to let me rent a smaller suite for the winter.  I'm going to put a flat screen TV in there and try to offer either  P90x or Insanity in the mornings.  I'm not sure if I can make this happen, but I'm going to give it a shot. 

I've got so many things that I want to do, I just don't have the time (or make the time) to sit down and do them.  One thing that we have done every year during the holidays is provide 5-6 meals for families that just don't have the money to have a good Thanksgiving dinner.  If you know of anyone in either the Pinetop Show Low area, the Snowflake Taylor area, or the Eagar St. Johns area, please  send me an email with their name, address, and phone number and I'll do my best to make sure we make their holiday a little more joyous. 

Well I guess I better get back to work (or start some work) or maybe throw in another load of laundry.  Maybe I'll just go play cars with Keevan:).  Anyway, hope you all have a great day.  Stay warm,  It's supposed to snow tomorrow.