Friday, December 28, 2007

Christmas Break 2007

I'm using my time off between the holidays this year to continue to unpack from our move and do some repairs and improvements to our house. Here are a few highlights.
  • Replaced the transformer in the door bell.
  • Assembled a computer armoire so the computer can be in the living room.
  • Installing a new sink in the 1/2 bath. (Still a work in progress)
  • Hooked up water to the fridge (we have ice but no water from the dispenser)
  • Light the pilot light or the fireplace.
  • Got the Saturn in the garage and more junk to the basement.
  • Measured electric usage with my new Kill a Watt device. An excellent Christmas present from my dad.
  • Shopping at the outlet mall.
  • Having fun with Lily.
Here are a few more pictures.

Lily enjoyed helping us out.

Fixing up the house

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Christmas 2007

Danielle, Lily and I just got back from visiting family for Christmas up in Michigan. We had a dusting of snow, so I guess that counts a a white-green Christmas. We enjoyed visiting with our family and showing off Lily. I posted a few pictures for you all to enjoy. I'll post more later when my to do list gets shorter.

Christmas 2007

Monday, December 17, 2007

Is Freedom of light bulb too much to ask in America?

It looks like our beloved congress and president are going to sign the Energy Bill. A little-noticed provision of the energy bill is going to phase out the traditional light bulbs and replace it with an energy efficient bulb. Now I am all in favor of efficient light bulbs. I bought 30 compact florescent for our new home. According to the box I'll save nearly $1350 over seven years. But why is this a matter for Congress? I have a light bulb in the attic that is a traditional 60w bulb. It will be lucky to be on 3 hours a year. Why should I spend extra money for a efficient bulb in my attic. Some light fixtures don't have room for the efficient light bulbs and some people cannot stand the light that comes from florescent bulbs. Their might even be medical reasons to avoid florescent light. The law has terrible unintended consequences. I want the right to pick what light bulbs I use in my house. Why are we letting our country to be over run by bureaucrats? One more reason the vote for Ron Paul.

Saturday, December 15, 2007

We are now living in our home

As of Thursday night we have been living in our house. I'll be taking more pictures of the completed carpet later. But for now I have posted a few. We are in midst of a major Ohio snow storm complete with accumulations, rain, sleet and freezing rain so I need to leave for the apartment and get the last few things.

Home ~ We are in!

Sunday, December 09, 2007

House day 10 Fans, Fans, and more Fans

Danielle's Parents helped us out again today and we got all the painting finished in the rooms that need carpet. We also finished up 5 or 6 fans.

House day 10

Saturday, December 08, 2007

More House Pictures

Day 6

house Day 6


Day 7

Danielle, Karen, Rachel started painting color.

Day 8

House Day 8


Day 9

House Day 9


Special that the my Aunt Karen who worked diligently the whole week with us. And thanks to Brian, Patrick, Rachel, Nate, Eric, Dean and Ruth for all your help.

Thursday, December 06, 2007

I can't believe the number of people I know that actually want to vote for [Ron Paul]

“I can't believe the number of people I know that actually want to vote for him.” This was a statement made by a friend of mine about Ron Paul. He was saying this out of frustration. I am saying the exact same thing, but out of delight. I have known about Ron Paul for years and wished he would run for president. When I heard that he was running for president I was happy but figured he would only appeal to a few economic geeks like myself. After all who would vote for a guy that is anti-Iraq war, pro gold standard, pro-life and against nearly all types of government assistance and programs? Then I read on wikipedia that he a significant following on the Internet. The more I investigated the more support I found for him. I was amazed! There are people that feel the way I do. So why am I so passionate about him? Honesty and Consistency. If you listen to his speeches he says the same things, never pandering to the audience. I may not agree with everything he stands for, but I know where he stands and I know he is not going to change his mind. I wish the same could be said about our current president.

Ron Paul has the best foreign policy of all the Republican Party presidential candidates. I agree with his foreign policy, not because I’m simply against the war. I have carefully studied and researched foreign policy. While our intentions maybe noble, we cannot spread our good will through force or war. We can achieve much more in peace than we ever can in war. The terrorists of 9/11 didn’t attack us because they hate our freedoms or riches. They did not primarily attack of because of their religion. They are attacking us because they view our military actions in the Middle East as an occupation and threat to their holy land. We as Americans must understand this. “International pacifism” will achieve more trade, more friendships and perhaps lower prices at the gas pump and more peace. If we were to leave the Middle East, they would no longer view us as occupiers and lose their incentive to attack us. I’m not saying there will never be a terrorist attack, but there would be much fewer. The world will always have its nut cases. On 9/11 we lost 3000 people and several billion dollars in structures. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has cost us 5000 Americans, tens of thousands of Iraq’s and is approaching a trillion dollars of borrowed money, which Americans will have to pay for through taxes and inflation. How many more American soldiers are we willing to lose, how many families are we willing separate, and how many more dollars are we willing to borrow? If we ended our global military adventures, and had a strong defense at home we could save enough money to save social security and let the young opt out. With additional budget cuts we could even get rid of the income tax.

My friends, my support for Ron Paul is not some sort of hippy movement, but a result of diligent studying. I urge you to consider voting for this man for president. In October and November Ron Paul raised over 10 million dollars. This was more that the leading republican, Rudy Giuliani raised in the three months of July, August and September. December 16th will be another fundraising record for Ron Paul, which could push his fundraising total over 20 Million for the quarter. There are many people who feel very strongly about his chances to win. My hope is that this will be the election that will go down in history as the election where Americans said enough to the old way Washington is run.

Monday, December 03, 2007

Home Owners Day 2-4

Day 2

Day two I drove to Columbus and Cincinnati to pick on a Washer, Dryer, Side by Side Fridge and an Oven. We used Creg's List list and saved a lot of cash. I was thankful to have my coworker Devon help me on the trip to Cincinnati. He also helped us rip out most of the carpet. My camera wasn't working so we didn't get any pictures.

Day 3


I'll let the picture do most of the talking.

House day 3


Day 4
My Aunt Karen was able to help us prime and help with Lily.
House day 4

Friday, November 30, 2007

Home Owners Again

Today Danielle and I closed on our house. Once again we bought a foreclosed house. We ending up playing the housing market. We sold of house in Nicholasville just before the housing market really started to fall and then bought this house in a foreclosed *fire* sale. The house needs new paint and carpet and new lights/fans and a REALLY good cleaning. Here are the first pictures. I hope to keep track of our progress.

Sold!

Ron Paul's Fundraising



In October and November Ron Paul has raised 10.3 Million Dollars. This was more that any of the other Republican Candidates raised in 3 months during the 3rd Quarter. Greater than Rudy Giulian, Greater than Mitt Romney, Greater and Fred Thompson, and all the rest. Freedom is popular! Look out for December 16th. Ron Paul's Grass Roots supporters are attempting to raise 10 Million in one day for the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. I'm guessing they will raise 8 Million. On November 5th they raised a record 5.1 Million.

What is interesting about raising money in politics is not so much how is spend it, but the amount you raise so you can prove that you can win.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

November Pictures

It looks like I have gotten a bit behind on posting pictures. Here are about 35 pictures from November which include: Halloween, our Thanksgiving trip, Awana and Lily. Tomorrow we close on our house. Any one want to come paint?

November 2007

Monday, November 19, 2007

Rolling Over!

Lily most have know that today was her 5th month birthday because she started rolling over like crazy. Danielle was able to capture on video her 4th rollover. Such amazing accomplishment our young daughter has achieved! Lily is also eating rice cereal and working on getting her first tooth.

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Short Version 0:14

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Long Version 2:11

Saturday, November 10, 2007

House!

If all goes according to plan we will be closing on a house by the end of the month. It was a bank owned property and was a very nice price. It backs up to a 10 acre park, in Xenia. I will need tons of paint and new carpet. Anyone want to come help paint?
New House

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

$3.00 Gas??

Q. What does the difference between this










and this








have
to do with this ?











A: A lot. Back in the good old days our money was backed by gold or silver. The first picture is a Peace Dollar coin made of 90% silver. In fact, if you had paper money you could redeem it for silver. Now of days our money is backed by faith in the Federal Reserve, which sadly is bad thing to have faith in. See the Federal Reserve can create more money whenever it wants. This is both a good and a bad thing. Good if you are the one getting the new money first. These people are typically banks, Wall Street and the military. It's bad if you're the one to get the new money later, that is most of us. See, to make things simple, prices are basically the ratio of dollars to the number of goods or services available. So when the Federal Reserve prints more money out of thin air that forces prices up. This is inflation. It gets worse. When banks run out of money (typically to bad loans) they can ask the Fed to create more money just for them. Wouldn't it be nice if they did that for you when you ran out of money to pay your bills? Also since banks can typically loan out 10 dollars for every dollar you deposit, this creates even more money backed by thin air. So tomorrow when the Fed lowers interests rates again, this will cause more people to borrow money because it makes loans more attractive. The more people borrow, the more money banks create, the more money banks create, the higher prices go. This also causes our US dollar to be worth less compared to other currencies. For example the Canadian dollar now buys $1.05. Since oil is traded internationally with US dollars and the dollar is worth less, it takes more dollars to buy the same amount of oil. While the rate cut may be good for people getting mortgages, along with the banks, and wall street, it is bad for people who have to buy food and pay for gas. The Fed has way to much power. Why should some people benefit from their action and the middle or lower class suffer? This is one of many reasons I'm supporting Ron Paul for president. He would not abolish the Federal Reserve, but allow gold and silver coins and certificates to fairly compete with paper federal reserve notes as legal currency. Competition is an excellent way to prove which method is better.

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Week ahead

We had a decent weekend. Michigan Football has clawed its way back to up to 12th in the BSC Poll. We had a good T&T outing to John Byran State Park. We put an offer in on a house in Xenia. Hopefully tomorrow we will find out if the owner (bank) will accept our offer. It shall be an interesting week. I'm riding my bike into work tomorrow. It will be a cold ride with temperatures around freezing. When I have more time I'll share my feelings about the current economic situation in the country, which I predicted about two years ago but didn't right down. How we could have deflation and inflation all at once.

Here is proof that being a parent has changed me...
Good Moon, Good Night Lily, and Good night world, Good night nobody, and good night noises everywhere.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

9 new fall pictures

I'm getting a bit behind on new pictures of Lily. Here are 9 new ones.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Enjoying the sunrises

One of unintended results of the later time change, the high gas prices, and my love for bike rides, is that recently I have been able to enjoy the sunrise of my bike treks to work in the morning. To day was exceptionally beautiful. The whole eastern sky was painted a brilliant red and orange. Truly awe-inspiring. I feel the the sunrise is God's blessing on each day.

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

1971-S Eisenhower Dollar



Today I visited 2 banks in Cedarville in search for dollar coins to add to my collection. As of late I have been interested mostly in the older silver coins mostly for their intrinsic value in silver. This also renewed my coin collection. I was looking for Susan B Anthony's, but oddly enough one of the the banks had a single Eisenhower Dollar the I eagerly bought. Upon closer inspection I noticed that this coin was a 1971-S. The S is very significant since it was minted out of 40% silver and was never intended for circulation, only meant for collectors. The collectors had to pay extra for this coin and came in a nice package and certificate. The odds of find such a coin must be extremely rare. Some one would have had to take the coin out of it original wrapper and spend it. It was quite the find and only cost me a dollar to find a coin that is worth about $3.40 in silver. The coin sells for about $8 on the internet with wrapper and certificate.

Saturday, October 06, 2007

Just being a Baby

Back by popular demand another 6+ minutes of Lily movie.

Thursday, October 04, 2007

Great Ron Paul Main Stream Media Clip

This is about the best main stream media clip about Ron Paul. I have seen to date. Ron Paul Raised 5 million last quarter. Which has gotten tons of attention. Ron Paul has a great shot at winning the Republican nomination. Please take 3 minutes and watch this clip. This is a very important election and won that Christians must be in prayer over. Become educated about all the candidates. ronpaul2008.com



The economics of fund raising is fascinating. It has been proven that money alone can't win an election but the media loves it win all this money is raised. I'm guessing because most of the money goes to ads which is the income for the media. So when a candidate has money they take notice.

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Others Receiving Votes

With 2 wins against Penn St and Northwestern Michigan Football now has more wins this year than loses and for the second week in a row is included in the "Others Receiving Votes" section. My lucky brother got to see the Penn St game at the Big House. Major envy here. Kentucky Wildcats continue to pounce and are now ranked #8.

Vacation Pictures

Danielle, Lily and I were able to take a great Vacation to the Smoky Mountains. We enjoyed staying in a small cabin with a great view. We were able to make it to Clingman's Dome, Cades Cove, and Gatlinburg. Danielle also found great craft treasures. We were able to visit friends in Kentucky. All in all a very good trip.



The day we got back we were invited to a corn maze. I use to get paid to walk corn fields. Yesterday I paided to walk corn fields. Oh the irony. We had a great time. Enjoy the pictures.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Ultimate Frisbee

Today I played on the Cedarville Computer Services Ultimate Frisbee team. Our team only had 7 players so I had to play the whole game. Man I'm out of shape. I guess bike ridding does not translate being in running shape. Oh well, We had a good time and only lost 15-10. Danielle and Lily even came to cheer us on.

In Economic News. The fed thought it was a good idea to devalue the dollar once again through cutting interest rates. The Canadian dollar today now will by 1 US dollar. The good news is that I'm sure I have about $4 Canadian leftover from our honeymoon that I bought for something like $3.25 back then. Silver is one to $13.33 or so, so my investment in 6 silver dollar coins is starting to pay off. So the moral of the story is: too many people with bad loans == bad for the economy therefore, lets lower the interest rate to encourage more people to borrow more $$$ so we can raise the rates again so we have more bad loans so we can lower the rates..... hmmm Good thing I am not the head of the Fed, I would just be lazy and set the rate at 6% and never change it, or even better yet let people buy and sell things with gold or silver and not have to do anything. OK end of Economic rant and time for bed. Good night moon.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

38-0

After two miserable weeks for college football, Michigan was able to make good on Hart's promise of victory. It was very nice to see yet another 38-0 shutout of Notre Dame. But even better was not to see a 0 in the wins column. Still no ranking yet not even in the "others receiving votes" section. But that is the way it should be. Next week is Penn St. Might a win there put Michigan in the "others receiving votes" section? On a related note the Kentucky Wildcats are 3-0, beating Louisville in a barn burning. Kentucky is now ranked 23rd. To all my friends in Wildcat country. Go Cats!

Thursday, September 13, 2007

More Pictures

I've gotten a bit behind on posting pictures. So here are 80! We had a good visit from my Parents and Grandparents last weekend.

Thursday, September 06, 2007

a good debate night for Ron Paul

Last night I let my obsessive nature get the best of me. I watched the Republican Debate and follow up last night from 9-midnight. I felt the Ron Paul did exceptionally well despite Fox News effort to dismiss him as an outside wacko. Ron Paul placed 1st in the text message poll by a margin of 15 %-pts out of 8 candidates. Incedently, Sean Hannity was wrong you could only vote once per phone, yeah I tried it. It became clear that the other candidates could no long ignore Ron Paul. Fox News did give him more time to speak than the last debates. Two other factors happened last night that I think had side effects that greatly enhance Ron Paul's chances of winning the republican nomination. Ron Paul hit the nail on the head on his first question. The question was about Fred Thompson. Fred Thompson in now officially in the race. Which does dilute the vote among the 8 other Pro-War candidates. Ron Paul is the only Republican against the war. Mike Huckabee also did very well according to the poll. He thinks that the war in Iraq was a mistake but we need to keep our troops over their to fix what *we broke.* So now with Fred Thompson in the race and Huckabee now joining the ranks of Rudy Giuliani, John McCain ,Mitt Romney. So now we have 5 candidates all fighting for pro-war voters which amount to about 30% of the population or about 75% of Republicans. If split evenly is 15% each. Ron Paul appeals to traditional *Pro-Peace*, non-interventionist Republicans, the young, Libertarians, non-voters and some Democrats. The pieces are falling into place for a Ron Paul Republican nomination. Any one else want to jump in the race and fight for votes among the *big 5*?

Here is another thought for Anti-war, pro civil liberty democrats who really don't care if Hillary, Obama or Edwards wins. If you think the war is immoral and must end then think about hedging your bets and momentary crossing over to the republican side and vote for Ron Paul in the primary? Think about it. If Ron Paul wins the primary no matter happens, even if the democrats happen to lose the election we can bring our troops home. Certainty Ron Paul must be better than Rudy or McCain!? You might even find you agree with a lot of what Ron Paul supports. Indeed Liberty is Popular. Government is not the solution Government is the problem. Watch Ron Paul Highlights.

Sunday, September 02, 2007

More Lily Pictures

We got a new camera for our anniversary since our older one was on the fritz. So here are some more cute pictures of Lily.

Three Lily Video's In One

I have gotten a bit behind on publishing videos of Lily. So since I am behind a took three movies which include tummy time, wading into Lake Michigan and talking time and combined them into one. This is over 6 minutes of raw unedited filming. Toward the end we get some great smiles. Hopefully next time, I'll have the ambition do to some editing.

Ode to Rachel

This is a great clip from the wedding reception of Rachel and Patrick Dudenhofer. So here you have it *Ode to Rachel* to the tune of Gilagins's Island.


Tuesday, August 28, 2007

2 months Doc visit

Lily had her 2 month doctor's visit. He weighed in at 11 1/2 lbs at 23 1/2 inches long. She had 3 awful shots but she did very well and is now finally resting. We are glad to have a healthy and cute baby girl!

Monday, August 20, 2007

No Inflation if....

...if you don't want a roof over your head and you don't want to eat. I just learned that the CPI, the governments way of calculating inflation does not include the price of housing (up to about 15% a year until now) and the *core* CPI which does not include food or other energy related items. So it makes me wonder if they include 286 computers in the CPI, which I'm sure have negative value by now. Any one want to buy some gold?

On a related note, Danielle has reported that hot dogs at Walmart are up 100% from a buck-fifty to $3.00.

Sunday, August 19, 2007

2 Months with Lily

Today Lily turns two months! She is growing very quickly, soon Danielle will be sorting out clothes that she is too big to wear. I have to say that God has blessed us with a beautiful baby girl. She sleeps through most nights and she love to smile and her mommy and daddy. I often times find myself rushing home to see her. I think perhaps that my favorite times with her are when I get to rock her to sleep and pay silently for her and for wisdom as a parent. I added a few more pictures to her online album.

Lily

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Capitalism without failure is like religion without sin

"Capitalism without failure is like religion without sin" is my new favorite quote of the day. Danielle told me that she heard this on the news tonight. This is in reaction to the billions of dollars the Fed *Pumped* in the banking system. As far as I understand it, many banks came up short on their balance sheet at the end of the day. This was due to basically over lending to people who cannot pay back their loans. Normally when this happens banks will borrow from another bank, however this time a *panic* occurred and banks were not so willing to lend each other money. So then Fed *loaned* (*Pumped*) the banks money to cover where they were short at low interest rates around 1% and sometimes the Fed does not require the banks to pay them back. As we all should know the Fed doesn't really have the money it *pumps* into the banking system, so this money is really created out of thin air. Anytime money is created out of thin air it causes prices to go up -- inflation. So when you see then price of food goes up or college tuition goes up you can thank the people who bought houses they could not afford. (Along with a crazy powerful banking system.) Ron Paul is right, inflation is a tax on the middle class and the poor.

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Rachel and Patrick

Well after nearly 1000 mile round trip to the wedding we are back home. Major congratulations to Rachel and Patrick! Enjoy the Pictures. Lily was a great little traveler!

2007.08.12 Patric and Rachels Wedding

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Jim & Marisa and the Wii

WE had a good visit with Jim and Marisa. We played Ticket to Ride. I beat Jim in Football on the Play Station 2. We went to the outlet mall. Brian also let us come over and play on his Wii, ... Yeah I really want one... Enjoy the pictures.

9/11 Report


I made it through, yes I read the 9/11 commission report. I have to say I not nearly as bored out of my mind as I thought I would be. The book for the most part was very well written and very informative. It is a book that most of us should become familiar with before voting next year. I few things I will remember from the book. The inability of the government to communicate was very problematic and adding more layers of bureaucracy and is not going to help. America's foreign policy of intervention does have unintended consistences. Most importantly Americans by and large are very heroic and we must honor and remember the people who gave their lives to save others that day. Please remember to be in prayer for our nations' leaders and they have very hard choices to make in the next few months.

Friday, August 03, 2007

Gov't Credit Card Maxed Out?





National Debt Clock




Once again the United States in close to running up against its debt limit of $8,965 Billion. The Debt currently stands at 8,947 Billion and increases at a rate of 1.43 Billion a day. So in about 2 weeks the Federal Government runs out of money it can borrow. Congress must pass a law to raise this limit in order to prevent a shutdown. Since no congress person wants to be on the record of voting for more debt and since a new limit must be passed it become quite the political show down. Last time the Democratic minority forced the Republicans to vote for the debt increase. This time since the Republicans are the minority, it looks like the Democrats will have to vote for the increase of the debt limit. It could be quite the show. Also of note the federal budget for Fiscal year 2008 in due at the end of October. Since the Democrats are not getting along with Bush we have yet another opportunity for the government to shutdown if not budget deal is reached. Yeah for gridlock. Here is an interesting essay by Ron Paul back in 2004 about debt limits.

Thursday, August 02, 2007

Very Happy Baby

Lily enjoys smiling and laughing. Danielle took a bunch a great pictures Enjoy!

Monday, July 30, 2007

Scoop Made it to New Zealand



My Geocaching Travel Bug Scoop Made it to New Zealand this week! It mission is to travel around the world heading west. It is now only about 6,000 miles away from Mooch my travel bug which is heading around this world going East. Mooch is currently enjoying the island life in the country of Mauritius, which is in the Indian Ocean. Much thanks to the great geocaches that have help the Travel Bugs on their mission. Travel bugs by far are the most interesting part of geocaching. I didn't even know about Mauritius until my travel bug visited there.

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Project Scan-a-lot

I bought a auto-feed Picture Scanner. I am currently in the process of scanning I'm guessing well over a thousand pictures. I'm be posting some of the soon.

This Weeks Pictures

Sometime I'll have time and ambition to write some text, but for now here are the pictures from this week. Enjoy

2007.07.29

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Prayer Requests

Please be in prayer for theses two international events that God has laid on my heart.

Korean Christians taken hostage in Afghanistan.

This can from a student at Cedarville:

I am in exchange student from South Korea and right now the Taliban in Afghanistan have captured 23 South Korean Missionaries and are holding them hostage. One has already been killed and the other may be released, or they may not be. Please pray that God will deliver them, this He would strengthen and comfort the families, and that ultimately He will be glorified from this situation. Pray for deliverance. Thank you.

Economic Crisis in Zimbabwe

With 80% unemployment at hyperinflation many people in Zimbabwe are having trouble buying or evening finding food. Mugabe's price controls have left store shelfs empty and/or store owns in jail. Please pray that God works in this situation and the people would have food and see their need for the Saviour.

See News about Zimbabwe

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Democrats

Ok, so I watched part of CNN's Youtube Democratic presidential debate last night on my computer. I guess there are some things I just don't understand. Why if you are opposed to the war in Iraq would you be in favor of a war in Sudan? To me this is like hmm war in Iraq (The evil Republican's war) not going so well... I know let's move the troops to Sudan and see if that war (The benevolent Democrats "peacekeeping") goes any better. I guess it is about the children in Sundan but their are children in Iraq as well. I personally don't follow to logic, but perhaps someone could explain it. I'm open to hearing and understanding new ideas. On a related side note I just checked out the 9/11 Commission report today from the library and I'll report back on what I think about the book.

Our country and World is in much need of prayer. We also must remember that God is in control.

Monday, July 23, 2007

Roller bading with Lily



Danielle, Lily and I went roller blading on the Bike Trail toward Cedarville. Watch what happens when I trying to do to much at once.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Happy one Month Lily

2007.07.19


Lily, Danielle and I celebrated celebrated Lily's first month today by going to Coldstone. Yesterday we had a good visit from Aunt Pat, Uncle John and Dabney. Enjoy the pictures!

Prices Doubling Every 35 Minutes?


The country of Zimbabwe, Africa is leading the world in inflation at the moment. Black market inflation is currently running at 20,000% and predicted to rise to 1.5 Million % or price doubling every 35 minutes. So a loaf of bread that costs 1 dollar before you watch the evening news will cost 2 dollars by the end of the evening news and tomorrow at the same time will cost $41.96 and by the end of the month $1,273.97 and by the end of the year will cost $15,000.00

The country has officially stopped calculating inflation and forced store owners to *rollback* prices to the *official* exchange rate, meaning the store owner had the choice between going to jail or selling a $30,000 dollar cars for $60. Needless to says store have no merchandise left after shoppers bought and fought for everything they could. Many store owners were arrested and many riots took place. While as fascinating as this all is from an economic side, this is a humanitarian crisis as people are having trouble finding food to eat to survive. Please pray for the people of Zimbabwe. I hope that someone can find the red stop button on the money printing press. I guess they will have to since the country is having trouble importing ink for the printing press. One cannot print money out of thin air forever.

Monday, July 16, 2007

Master of a New Grill

2007.07.26

Much thanks to Ann's Mom for the Gas Grill. Danielle and I were able to enjoy wonderful pork chops tonight for an outside picnic in our yard. I also included a few new pictures of Lily in the album as well. Click on the picture for more pictures.

Lily's First Friend


Lily was able to meet Vivian yesterday as part Our Church Small Group. Vivian was born just 3 days before Lily

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Goodnight Moon

Goodnight Moon is a book I remember being read to me as a kid. I'm sure it one of the most popular kids books ever. Here is a video of myself reading Goodnight Moon to Lily.

Sunday, July 08, 2007

Lily Video #2

My goal is to post one new video of Lily a week. Here is #2. She is in her crib trying to fall asleep to the Rock a by Baby music.

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First trip out of state.

Lily had her first real road trip this weekend. We had to travel to Lexington to close on the house and pick up our check. Yeah for no more mortgage. We were able to show her off to many of the people I worked with at Asbury. We also stayed with Roger and Nelda's. We had a good lunch at Sonny's with Melanie, Dave & Ginny and their 3 boys. I add a few more pictures. We think that Lily has blue eyes which showed up well in the pictures. The trip was fun but tiring. Lily did grow tired of her car seat after a few hours in the car. I don't think I would blame her.

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Friday, July 06, 2007

SOLD!

It is finally official we sold our house in Nicholasville. We now have a check and no more mortgage! Praise God! The house was sold by a narrowest of margin as far of their mortgage went.

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Happy 231st Birthday America

In the spirit of the Holiday I did a little decorating. This week we also took Lily Mini-golfing at Young. I also included more pictures of her in this album. Enjoy!

Lily Grace #2

Sunday, July 01, 2007

Wiki Trail Sign?



For nearly 10 years the bike trail signs at Xenia Station have the mileage to the next town left blank until now. I personally decided that they need filled in. In the spirit of Wikipedia, the encyclopedia that any can edit. I wanted the trail sign mileage to be edited by anyone. I used dry erase markers to fill in the the mileage. I see two drawback to this: 1) My handwriting is not the neatest and 2) the black on green cannot be read far enough away. On the positive side: 1) It is very cheap, I already had the the marker, 2) It has easily be modified or removed without damaging the sign. I believe this is the first internet mention of "Wiki Trail signs". So far after about four weeks of testing the marker has stood up the the rain and sun.

Saturday, June 30, 2007

Lily Video #1

I had grand plans of taking a bunch of video of Lily and then doing a bunch of editing. Since that has not yet happened. I thought I would create a simple video of her enjoying her bouncer. I know at least the grandparents will love the whole thing.

Friday, June 29, 2007

Google Alert

Thanks to Google Alert I saw that my Uncle was mentioned in a blog. Good read if you like programming or engineering.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

My own mom, now a blogger

I am very pleased that my own mom has entered the world of the bloggers. Be sure to visit her blog often.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

One Week Old

Lily got a good report from the doc today. She is very healthy and growing. She weighed in at 8 lbs 8 oz up from 8 pounds even when she left the hospital. I added more pictures to the online album this evening for you to enjoy.

Friday, June 22, 2007

We are home!

Lily was able to come home around noon yesterday. She is doing great, she loves to eat, sleep and to be held. I have about 15 more pictures up. I was having trouble with the technology yesterday thus the delay in the pictures.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Pictures!

Lily Grace
I added a few more pictures of Grandpa & Grandma with Lily @ 7:30 tonight

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Lily Grace


Our daughter Lily Grace was born today, Tuesday June 19th at 6:13PM. She weighed in at 8 pounds 11 ounces at 20 1/2 inches Long. Danielle and Lily are doing great and resting. Lily has long wavy brown hair - which I am very excited about since baby girls look really cute with hair! I'll have more pictures tomorrow after I get some sleep.

Still a few hours off?

3:31 PM Eastern time Wow, the hospital has free wireless internet in her room. Still no baby yet but hopefully in a few more hours. We hope to have picture up tonight.

Monday, June 18, 2007

Off to the Hospital

According to the ultrasound our baby weighs 9 pounds 1 ounce accurate within 6 ounces except when it is not. So tonight we are going to the hospital - yeah for inducing. We are doing well and very excited. Feel free to guess on the baby's weight.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Father's Day '07

This father's day has become deeply reflective for me. I stand at a vantage point of looking back on my childhood memories with my Dad and looking forward to being a father in the very near future. I have much to thank my Dad for. My dad taught was the importance of many things which include:
How to have a relationship with God,
The value of hard work
The importance of Family,
How to make hard decisions,
The importance of understanding how money works, and how to avoid needless debt,
That nearly everything could be taken apart and fixed,
The fun of playing countless "side yard" football with my brother,
How to catch fish without using a bobber,
How to drive safely,
and how to be a father through example.

I can attribute my career path of computer programmer to my father. He taught how to use the Quick-Basic programming language when I was in 4th grade. He taught me the single line if statement, the goto statement, variable assignments, and math operations,the print statement and the sound statement. Believe it or not that we all we needed to solve me problems and have loads of fun. But most importantly it allowed me to program and build excitement for the endless possibilities of computer programming.

Thanks Dad. I love you.

Nesting for Father's?

I found it interesting on what I found important in getting ready for the arrival of our little girl. Since Danielle and I (mostly Danielle) have gotten everything else ready weeks and months before today. I become concerned with cleaning my desk and washing the car. Since was park our car outside, it falls prey to much bird do-do. I just couldn't imagine taking our beautiful daughter home in such a dirty car. So Danielle helped me clean it inside and out. Our girl is special and deserves to come home in a clean car. :-)

At this point I think we are as ready as we can be at this time. Tomorrow will be a big day for us with ultrasounds and doctors advise. Please keep us in your prayers.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Happy Birthday Danielle!

Danielle was able to celebrate her birthday today. She opened presents from me and in the afternoon we went shopping and played mini-golf at Young's. She ended up beating me by one stroke. oh well. Happy birthday Danielle!

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Economics of Used Cars

So, I did a post about politics so, I thought I could also to a post of money and economics.

By far the best thing I ever bought was our 1994 Saturn SL2. We bought the car about 4 years ago for $2,900. It has only 61K miles on it and included just about everything we needed or wanted: AC, Power windows and locks and cruse control, and tape deck, automatic transmission. According the the sticker price the car new cost $15,360. So the original owners put had the car for about 8 years and 61K miles which translates into $1,557.50 a year or 20.4 cents a mile. Now, that is just for the car not counting tax, insurance, repairs, oil, or gas. The car now has 135K miles on it. I have spent about 750 for tires, breaks, and other small repairs for a total cost of $3,650 which translates into $912.50 a year or just under 5 cents a mile. Another advantage is having a low value car is that you don't have to pay to have to car itself insured, just insurance to drive the car. (By the time you pay a $1000 deductible and the extra premiums, it's not really worth insuring.) Another important thing to remember is driving low priced used car is having it paid for in full, no car payments! A used car does have more risk of needed repairs but not 12 thousands dollars worth. According to reviews on the web many 94 Saturn Owners have their car last over 200k miles. At this rate with assuming another $750 in repair to get to 200k, the price per mile drops to just under 3.2 cents per mile or 488 a year. Ok that is a lot of assuming but oh well :-)

Incandescently, the advertised MPG was 23 city 32 highway. I'm still getting 25-29/31-39mpg. Which is very good even by 2007 standards, one would think that in 13 years the MPG would have increased to 30/60+ ok I guess that Honda's and Toyota's can get that.

Bottom line financial tip. When buying a car look for a older model car with lower millage if you look, you can find them. By and large price drops with the age of the car and reliability drops with millage. Use this paradox to your advantage. Just think, No car payments, much lower insurance, much lower license and tax charges. But it does help to have a friend that in knowledgeable about car repairs :-) Do your homework and check out the reliability.

Another Update

Danielle had a doctors appointment today. The doctor guesstimated by how Danielle measured that the baby is already about 8 pounds. So, we have an ultrasound on Monday, which will tell us the size of the baby and what to do next. Danielle is doing great. All things considered, she is very comfortable. We spent part of the evening mini-golfing at Young's while enjoying a 79 cent frozen coke drink from Speedway.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Taking her time

I guess that our little daughter is deciding to take her time. With less than 90 minutes left today, it's very clear that we are now officially past due. Danielle is doing well, we are just eagerly waiting to meet her. We are passing the time with walks, puzzles, and free mini-golf at Young's thanks to coupons on the Mountain Dew cans.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Strange Maps

Yet another great blog site, right inline with my childhood interests: http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/ I'm sure I'll be spending hours here.

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

What happened to the Ron Paul Comments?

OK a rare political post.

After the Republican debate on June 5th. CNN put up comments on their political ticker blog about the debate. A VAST (I'm guessing between 80%-90%) percentage of the comments where in favor of Ron Paul. The link URL was

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/06/05/who-won/#comments

However, if you go to this link it redirects to:

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/06/03/who-won/#comments


Which are the comments from the Democratic debate! I verified this from looking at my browser history. View the original comments here.

Ron Paul has a huge following on the internet. At this moment he is the #1 Republican candidate on the facebook poll, and the voted #1 best candidate for nerds on Slashdot. If you have not heard about Ron Paul I challenge you to read what he stands for. There are few that would question his consistency in defending the constitution. He is an open candidate that is not your typical corrupt politician. You would be hard pressed to find any figure in Washington with this record.

He has never voted to raise taxes.
He has never voted for an unbalanced budget.
He has never voted for a federal restriction on gun ownership.
He has never voted to raise congressional pay.
He has never taken a government-paid junket.
He has never voted to increase the power of the executive branch.

He voted against regulating the Internet.

He does not participate in the lucrative congressional pension program.
He returns a portion of his annual congressional office budget to the U.S. treasury every year.

Too bad there were not more congressmen and senators with this record.

Monday, June 04, 2007

Pregnancy in Review a Father's perspective.

*The days are being accomplished* As the Danielle's due date approaches, I find myself more reflective. I have received tons of advice and suggestions. Seeing as I have no clue what the next months *really* hold, I find most of the advice nearly worthless at this time. I know that I am going to look back and think, yeah they were right, but at this time I don't know enough to act on the advice. Each little girl I see make we wonder what our girl will be like.What color will her eyes be? What color will her hair be? Will she listen to me? Will I even know what to advise her? Will she enjoy the adventures of bike riding and geocaching like me? and/or will she take after Danielle and constantly be thinking of creative ideas. Ideas that are useful for not simply decorating, but creative ideas to help and serve others. What will she make her life's ambition? What will Danielle and I do if we disagree on how to raise our daughter? I pray that I will be a good example and that by God's grace she will become one of God's Children. As I await the birth of our daughter, I know I'm not ready of all this, but I know that God is faithful and step by step He will lead and instruct us. Through it all I know that out family must learn, to love, forgive, learn and laugh together.

Sunday, June 03, 2007

Nathan and the Brotherhood

I thought I show off my new camcorder. Enjoy this video of Nathan's parting gift.

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Wedding Pictures

I thought for fun I'd upload our wedding pictures.
Our Wedding

Why a Daughter Needs a Dad


Simple touching book with a 100 reasons why a daughter needs a dad. Good book for all future fathers.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Baby's Room and Quick Update

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Danielle and been busy making the baby's room pretty and usable. She has done a wonderful job. I know our bundle of joy will have a happy home. Danielle and been feeling real well and contently looks forward to the birth of our daughter. Last weekend we made a trip back to Kentucky to visit a few friends and pick up a few items at our house. Praise the Lord our house in *under contract!* Please pray that everything come together for a quick closing. My countdown clocks says less than two weeks left (+ or - a fortnight). The time is near!

Vision On Wheels

Below is an interesting cross county bike project sponsored by Cedarville University.

About the Project

Vision On Wheels is a cross country bike trip designed to raise support and awareness for Fisheni – an African village in Zambia Africa. The Women of Vision chapter at Cedarville University has committed to supporting the Fisheni Village over the next 10 years. Their work focuses specifically on health, literacy, and water related issues of this AIDS torn village. By touring the US, Vision on Wheels will partner with Women of Vision and Cedarville University in an attempt to help bring support and awareness for the Fisheni Village.

Two riders, Jason Briggs and Derek Stambaugh, are planning on biking from the middle of May to the early weeks of July. Their route will take them from the Pacific to the Atlantic with stops along the way in places like the Grand Canyon, Colorado Springs, St. Louis, Cedarville, and Philadelphia.

Our goal is to raise $100,000 for Fisheni. All money that is donated will go towards the community development work and will be applied by World Vision and the community leaders of Fisheni.

Sunday, May 20, 2007

28.9 Miles of Bike Path Fun

Xenia - London Bike Rail


On Saturday Danielle and I drove to London, Ohio to pick up a hutch. The hutch will serve as the baby's changing table & storage. Since we were all the way over in London and since London happens to be the end of the bike trail that runs from Xenia to Cedarville to South Charleston to London, I decided bike home all 28.9 miles. The trail was very nice and enjoyable. I was able to find 3 geocaches on the way home. The whole trip took me over 2 1/2 hours. The trail is mostly flat and parts are open and the wind was a factor to my disadvantage. I'm hoping someday to ride bike trail the 50+ miles from Xenia to Cincinnati. View a map of the trail, I road from the Blue Map Marker to the Green Bicycle in Xenia.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Draining Cedarlake Reveals *Treasures*.

Summer 2007 Cedarlake


Summer '07 at Cedarville University means a summer full of construction. Projects include a new Chuck's dishpit, a new Biblical Studies Building, and Weir Dam Project. The lake has been lowered a few feet which reveled a toilet, bicycle, and skateboard. Who knows what else the lake might reveal. I'll see if i can get more picture of the lake treasures. Rumors include more toilets, orange trees, fridges, engagement rings, textbooks, pet gold fish... Enjoy the pictures.

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Baby's Room


This weekend with the help of Alicia and Danielle's mom, they we able to get the baby's room, the hall way and my study painted. Here is a picture of all their hard work.

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Commuting to work via Bike Trail


Google Earth View of my Ride to Work

I finally decided to go for it. I rode my bike the 9 miles from Xenia to Cedarville. I averaged about 12 mph for a total cycling time of 45 minutes one way. I only had to get up 5 minutes earlier than normal to arrive by 8 am. I did learn a couple of lessons at the trip. I overload my backpack which made it a tab bit harder to breath. Next time I'll bring my work clothes the day before . Even though the shower was freezing cold and it was only in the low 50s in the morning, I enjoyed my ride to and from work. It was great exercise and I saved about $2.00 in gas. (18 mile round trip / 27 estimated MPG for my Saturn* $3.019 current price for gas in Xenia). This is part of my great plan not to have to drive my car to work accomplished so far by either car pooling or cycling in myself.

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Olivia Clair



My cousin Janelle and her husband Bob are now proud parents of a baby girl. She came into this world at 8:15 pm Tuesday May 1st. She weighed in at 7 lbs. 8 oz. and 20 1/2 in. long.

Both Janelle and Olivia are doing well.

See Pictures at Uncle Dan's blog site

Sunday, April 29, 2007

This week by the Numbers

2 Number of Geocaches Dad and I found this weekend in his new car.

3 Childbirth Classes Completed 2 to go.

$2.959 – 2.999 The range of the price of Gas I observed Friday traveling to Michigan Not counting the two outliers of $2.899 & $2.879. I bought gas at the $2.879 price.

4 Number of time Danielle and I have Attended Emanuel Baptist Church, Xenia

4 Number of new counties that I found a Geocache in this week

4 to 8 Number of weeks left in Danielle’s Pregnancy

18 Number of horse and buggies observed while driving through Shipshewana, Indiana

41 Number of consecutive days I have found at least 1 Geocache.

61 Total counties I have Geocached in

232 Miles to Grandma’s House. (Danielle had a Baby Shower This Weekend)

563 My Geocaching find count.

10,683.32 - 13,148.00 The 52 week range on the Dow Jones Avg.

$129,800 Current asking price for our house

133,742 Miles on the Saturn

$8,822,312,309,909.44 The Outstanding Public Debt as of 29 Apr 2007 at 10:26:22 PM GMT

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Mapping the Xenia Bike Trails in Google Maps

I have started mapping the bike trails around Xenia, using Google Maps. I hope to add more trails and landmarks soon. Feedback is welcome. Please let me know if any corrections are needed.

Spring time in Xenia

At least it's finally spring here in Xenia. This weekend has been filled with fun activities which included going to a Red's Game with Danielle, Ben and Ann, going a long bike rides, hiking at John Bryan State Park, geocaching and going to Udders & Putters at Youngs. The Red's game much to my surprise turned exciting when the Reds scored for the first time for single run home run with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th to tie the game. Yeah for extra innings. We we glad it only took one extra inning for the Reds to pull off the victory. I rode over 14 miles one way on the bike trail from Xenia to Corwin. The first 14 miles where great, but the last 14 back were a bit taxing, I need to stop listing to the voices in my head the say go farther. Oh and yes, Danielle beat me at minigolf. As a soon to be father, I'm looking forward to doing all these fun things with our girl. Danielle continues to do very well with her pregnancy only 5-9 weeks or so left.

Freakonomic Blog

I stumbled onto a new blog site which has become on of my favorites, the Freakonomic blog site. This one is worth keeping up with and their book is excellent as well but I'll let their site do the advertising. I can't wait to read their new book.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

New Bike


Since Xenia has about 200 miles of connected paved bike trails, I thought it was time to upgrade to a nice new bike. I bought the Giant Cypress ST from K & G Bike Center in Xenia. The bike shop let me test ride several bike on the bike trail. This bike is very comfortable and great for using on the trails. I am very pleased that I can ride at 12-18 MPH, which will allow to me quickly reach several geocaches in the area.


Monday, April 16, 2007

Easter '07

Easter '07


Click Picture for more images and video.

Easter '07 will be remembered for the snow. After seeing temperatures in the 80's in Ohio we were greeted with snow for Easter. I guess with Michigan if we don't get a white Christmas, it will make up for it sometime. We had a great time with family. We were able to see most of the family at just two event which made this weekend very relaxed. I was able to go geocaching with dad on Saturday, and with Danielle while driving to and from Michigan. I was able to add 5 new counties to my list.

Saturday, April 14, 2007

IWU Visit

Danielle and I visited Alicia today at IWU. Man, they keep building and building more and more, it's crazy, they even took over Nebraska St. Their cafeteria and Cafe complex now rival most mall food courts. So many options from subs, the sandwiches, to pizza, to Mexican to Chinese and more it's just crazy! IWU also is building more dorms and classroom and a new college church.

We enjoyed our visit we played cards, watch Duck tails on DVD, played hockey-foosball and ping-pong. The best part of the pay was going the the best Ice-Cream shop I have ever been too, perhard the best in Midwest Ivanhoe's. Hmmm warm strawberry shortcake with fresh strawberries, warm shortcake and hard Vanilla ice cream. We we able to solve and find this geocache while eating ice cream. It doesn't get much better. Well, 70 degrees and summer would have been nice compared the snow covered roads in mid April. I also found two other Geocaches adding a total of 3 new counties to my list. It was a good day. Now to watch more Duck tails.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

First Travel Bug to Come Home

Just before we moved to Xenia, my first geocaching travel bug made it home. I hide it in Atlanta Georgia in December 2005 while on business travel. It's goal was to come home to Nicholasville, KY. So after 15 months 6 states and 2293.9 miles Tigger made it home. I'm going to release him again with the new goal of reaching Michiana where I grew up. Perhaps I'll be able to retrieve him during a visit back home.

Travel Bugs Route