Question:

If you could stop any song from ever being played again, which one would it be?

I'll start it off:

Pour Some Sugar On Me -- Def Leppard
or
Last Resort -- Papa Roach

One More

Some of the BGG's on Ladies Night

Idlewild Blues.....

Half Way There

The MS walk is now a month away. I would still love it for more people to join our team, as most of our members are virtual walkers which means they are supporting the team but cannot be there to physcially walk. There is some room at my Mom's house if anyone wants to sign up and come down on Saturday and spend the day in SD before the walk on Sunday. If you would like to join our team as a walker or virtual walker visit this website.
Then click on the link that says Join Our Team.

We have made it to the half way point for donations. Thank you everyone who has helped support me and this cause. To donate to me online visit this link. If you would like to support another walker on the team simply click the My Team Page link and then click on the name of the person you wish to support. Thank you again, love to you all.

Da na na na na na

They say its your birthday...

Sunday brought the Askew Birthday Party. The Eldridge's graciously opened their house once again for a lovely day. A bounce house in the front yard, a pool in the back yard and yummy food inbetween.

The day included but was not limited to bouncing around in the bounce house, smacking a pirate pinata to get some candy, singing happy birthday over a pirate cake, playing pin the flag on the mast and goofing off in the pool.

Below you will find funtastic photos of these events.

Baby Kate was so cute in her party dress. Photos of Uncle Paul holding Kate, Cyndi and Kate watching the pinata getting smacked, Angela holding Kate for the first time and a photo that finished taking as soon as Kate was done smiling.

Here are some head shots from the day of the party.

From R to L and Top to Bottom

James, Abby, Cyndi, Conner, Drew, Kate, Curly

BGG's

After the poker party, it was girls night out! Moe and I headed out to Fashion Island to meet up with Curly at work. After Curly checked out we headed upstairs to Red Robin for some booze and food. Our waiter was HI-larious. We got quite a few looks with the glasses we were wearing. Moe and I while walking to put some stuff in the car even stopped one woman dead in her tracks. After dinner we went across the street to the movies and saw Reign Over Me the new Adam Sandler movie. We grieved the Charlie shaped emptiness in our booth. It was good times with great friends.

Pokers

On Saturday afternoon Paul and Bradley drove down to the Eldridge home while Cyndi followed them. The boys were all meeting up to play some poker while Moe, Debbie and Cyndi headed out to do some grocery shopping and grab lunch. The boys had fun. Bradley came in second to Moe's brother Mark and Paul won all his money back by playing different card games after he was knocked out of the poker tourney. Paul and Cyndi were also excited to meet Kate for the first time. And as always it was great to see our buddy James. (The older kids were out with Grammy at Build-a-bear.)

Employment

Short version: I got a teaching contract for the rest of this school year

Extended version: I was called on a Monday and asked if I would be interested in applying for a temporary teaching position in a near by school district. I said sure. On Thursday I was called to say an interview would be scheduled for 3:15pm on Friday and could I make it. I said that sounded good.

So I showed up had my interview that lasted less than 30 minutes, my feeling was that it went alright but and that it was a good experience to have had the interview as I never had one before, however I figured there was someone else they were interviewing that would have been more qualified, experienced or something. Then at 8:30pm on the following Wednesday my phone rings and it is the Superintendent of Personnel with a job offer for me. I had to listen to the message three times before I believed what I heard.

I proceeded to call Paul to tell him about it but he didn't answer. I waited till he got home. Paul said what are you waiting for call them back. I did and set up a time to come sign the contract the next day. We proceeded to call family and friends and tell them the news.

I am nervous about the upcoming position, I know there will be a lot of work ahead of me. Thank you for all of you who have been praying for me to get a teaching job. I appreciate it, while this is only temporary it will really help me get my feet wet and be a great experience.

Catch Up

For St. Paddy's Day we headed out to La Mirada Park. Paul and Cyndi haven't been to play disc golf here in forever. Since it was a beautiful day out we wanted to do something outside and thought this would be a good way to spend the day. Paul won of course, but we had a fun time hanging out together.

Hmm....with an ad campaign like this, it makes me think they've given up already. Hey Job, here's to 10 straight losing seasons!

It's happening

The winds of change are blowing. Get ready this is going to be one heck of a ride. Keep us in your thoughts, keep us in your prayers.

This is why we walk

These are the faces of MS. Support me in finding a cure.

MS walk, Join me!

Keep It Up

I am setting up a at my mom's for either the 2nd or 3rd weekend in April. I will be collecting items that anyone would like to donate (as long as it will fit in my 4runner) the money collected will be added to our team for the MS walk. Our goal is to raise $1,000.00 for this important cause, we have a little over $400 raised so far.

Thank you to those who have donated cans and bottles or purchased braclets and MS bears (Amy, Jeric, Mom, my neighbors at the Apollo Apts, Morgan, Trisha, Moe, Beth, S.Whittier SD)

please keep it up! Thank you to those who have donated online

(Bill and Marie Dougherty, Grandma and Grandpa Goedhart, Paul and Cindy Goedhart, Mark and Betty Hutchins)

Please continue supporting me, my team and this cause in any way you can through donations (recyclables, items for the garage sale, online donations), prayer, being a workout buddy, or joining the MS walk. I greatly appreciate it and I know that we can make a difference in the lives of those who are living with MS.

Thanks again for all your hard work.

St. Patrick's Day

What did Winnie the Pooh ever do to you?

Luckily the plot was foiled. Tigger wanted for questioning. Eeyore, Piglet unavailable for comment.

Progress

Since I got my fitness center pass at Biola two weeks ago, I've only lost a pound and a half. I had been stuck for a while before that so I was hoping the weight would start coming off again. I think I may just be redistributing my weight because I have gone down another pant size. I've heard that changes in your waist are more important than the actual weight, so if that's true then I'm still doing good. It's just more fun to be able to see the numbers on the scale drop.

Wahoo

Congratulations to Erin and Austin on their recent engagement!

Paul and I are so excited for you.

Is being quiet such a bad thing?

Tonight I was accused of being too anti-social at work. I talk to everyone in my department, but apparently that's not good enough. My co-workers think that it's odd that many people in other departments around the campus have no idea who I am (by name) even though I've been at this location since August.

Does it really matter? Most of these people I only see in passing any way. I am friendly towards everyone...I say hi and bye and ask how they're doing. I don't avoid talking with anyone; I just have no need to force anything more. I don't plan on hanging out with any of them, I am never around any of them for more than a couple of minutes, and any time I do somehow get in the loop and hear what's going on with various people I realize more and more that I have no interest in getting involved with them.

It's hard enough for me to socialize with people I do want to be friends with. It's not in my nature to be real talkative. I've accepted who I am. Social situations are awkward for me, but it's ok. I've learned to deal with it. I'm just not going to invest that much energy with random people at work.

Well....you see....um...

Tomorrow I'm taking a 17 year old to have a circumcision since his mom "kept forgetting to have it done".

He wants to know if it will hurt.

Auto junkyard pics...

You can find a lot of cool stuff at an auto wrecking yard. Among the highlights: Sonic the Hedgehog for Sega Genesis, an AOL 2.0 diskette, and a videotape of the Menendez brothers trial from 1993, several people's bankrupcy notices, and pictures of 40 year old wannabe gangsters trying to throw gang signs.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame put out a list of the top 200 albums of all time. There are a lot ranked pretty high that really shouldn't be.

Here's the top 10. The rest can be found here.

1. The Beatles -- Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
2. Pink Floyd -- Dark Side of the Moon
3. Michael Jackson -- Thriller
4. Led Zepplin -- IV
5. U2 -- Joshua Tree
6. The Rolling Stones -- Exile on Main Street
7. Carole King -- Tapestry
8. Bob Dylan -- Highway '61 Revisited
9. The Beach Boys -- Pet Sounds
10. Nirvana -- Nevermind

From the odd holidays file...

Middle Name Pride Day

When : Always March 10th

Middle Name Pride Day honors the seldom used middle name that often sets you apart from others. It was selected with care, so you should be proud of it.

Here's two big reasons to be proud of your middle name:

First, there are plenty of John Smiths and and Mary Jones. Its the middle name your parents gave you that makes your name unique.

Second, your parents chose your middle name with great care. It often was selected to honor a friend or relative. That person may have possessed certain characteristics that they want you to inherit.

Do you know why your were given your middle name? If not, todays the day to find out. If it was in honor of someone, find out a little more about that person.

We encourage you to enjoy your middle name on Middle Name Pride Day, and every day!

Wow, I didn't know I was such a big Bob Dylan fan. With a track record like this, how could anyone not be?

Some Good News

Congratulations Leslie Joy!

News traveled today that my cousin is pregnant with her first child. Joy and her husband are looking forward to meeting their new addition which should be sometime in August. We are all so happy for you. Prayers for a healthy pregnancy and easy delivery are with you.

Peace

My mom talked to Ron today and things are not looking good, some scary words were thrown around. She cannot hear at all now. We were told that Aunt Robin is terminal. She will not recover from this. The doctors are giving her weeks to months to live. Please keep the ENTIRE family in your prayers. Pray for peace with the diagnosis, for comfort for Ron and the kids, that Robin wouldn't be in much pain.

Thank you for your continued love and support during this time.

Meeko Bud

Meeko waiting for Mommy to come home.

Such a pretty face and cute personality

Friends! Meeko giving Buddy a bath.

Happy Early Birthday

I was down in San Diego for the day on Sunday. My mom and I had Brunch together then we headed out to do some shopping while my laundry was being done. I picked up a belt and some jeans for Paul and a shirt and some jeans for myself. We headed over to the movies but did not see anything worth paying to see, so we headed home to do a little light housework. For dinner I called up Amy and the three of us went to eat a Buca. We had a delecious dinner and I mentioned to the waiter that it was Ams birthday so he brought out an apple desert and had all the other waiters come and sing. It was fantastic, she didn't see it coming. :)

I'm not internationally known, but I'm known to rock the microphone...

For some reason this blog became an international hit today. With a 16 hour period we had visitors from:

United Kingdom (5 times)
United Arab Emirates
France (2 times)
Hungary
Spain (2 times)
Netherlands
Germany
Turkey (2 times)
Norway
China

Trivia time: What song is the title of this post from, and who is it by?

What's stuck in Paul's head?

Flogging Molly
"What's Left of the Flag"

Race Day

On Saturday we got up and headed out to Santa Anita racetrack. KROQ was having one of their microbrew festivals so the place was packed. I made money in 3 races, Cyndi in 1. It wasn't great, but our winnings paid for parking, lunch, and admission so that was cool. Cyndi signed up as a designated driver which meant unlimited free Pepsi for the day. They also had a concert by some band called Building a Better Spaceship. They were ok but forgettable. It was also giveaway day so we got free jockey lamps when we went in. I also hung around the KROQ booth enough and talked them into giving me a Kings prize pack. It turned out to be the two mini jerseys that were given away before the Gretzky one I got last week as well as a really nice display case for all 4 jerseys. Afterwards we went out to dinner at Twoheys and then stopped by to visit Mair for a bit.









Paul and Lisa May from KROQ.













Building a Better Spaceship


















"I think I got it down Job"














Cyndi hydrating.












California skies.













Looks like we have a hockey game to go to.













A jockey lamp. You know you're jealous.

Please Hire Me

Paul and I looked around a tie shop that had all sorts of cool ties.

I would not suggest wearing these to a job interview.

Teenagers...

Friday night Paul and I decided to walk around Downtown Pasadena. We walked around, had dinner and looked around some of the shops. This antique place was pretty cool.

There was a woman in the courtyard singing but Paul said that no one was going to sign her because they could just pay Jewel to do it herself (all her songs were covers of Jewel). This picture doesn't do it justice but it looked really cool with all the lights going across the walkways.

Near the end of our walk we came upon 3 teenaged boys who were runing in a circle trying not to get hit by the water as it was spirting out of the ground. The water won. We watched as they all eventually got hit. When the water was off for a minute they would each pick a spot where a hole was and put their face down right above it and see who would get hit with the water. By the end they were all soaked.

I must be getting old because all I thought was if I was the parent picking those boys up there is no way I would let them in my car, they would be walking home.

Updates

I've been slacking on the posting lately. We had a good run there, posting for about 3 months straight, but once we missed a day, we fell into a bad habit of not posting much at all. I took a bunch of my kids to a program that teaches them about resume writing, job searching, etc today so while they're in class I get to sit here, check email, and blog.

Today is my grandparent's (on my mom's side) 60th wedding anniversary. My grandpa was supposed to marry someone else in August of 1946. That didn't happen, so he started seeing my grandma and they were married March 1, 1947. I guess they knew what they were doing since it lasted this long. I'm told my other set of grandparents will also be celebrating their 60th this year too, and my parents hit 35 years in January.

Last week I got to take a few kids to another Kings game. The game wasn't that exciting, but they were giving out mini Wayne Gretzky jerseys so that was cool. It's part of a series they're giving out to honor all the jersey numbers they have retired.

I had another kid come back and find me at work. He was a pain when I worked for him, but he was still a likeable kid because he was goofy. He was missing his two front teeth. We found someone to buy him some new teeth after a while. He liked to play with them though so we'd be sitting in group having a serious discussion and his front teeth would be popping in and out of his mouth. He was one that I wondered what happened to him so I was glad to hear that he had stayed out of trouble the last two years and is actively working to make up all the school he missed.

It's weird turning on KROQ and hearing someone you know and have spent time with...

Cold War Kids
"Hang Me Out To Dry"