Sun-04-may-2008 Mike weekend Two years in the making and a lot of hard work, my back yard is 99% cleaned out and usable. All the thorn bushes finally gone. Many, many trees taken out. Poison Oak and poison ivy almost completely gone.

Took Maddison to church today. Now that she is out of the womb, the sounds don't bother her anymore. The most interesting fact I learned in church today was more Americans believe in prayer than in God. I find that weird.

Talking about wierd, we went to Walmart after church to get some baby formula. The formula was locked up in front of the store with the smokes. We asked why. The reason is that powdered baby formula is used for drug processing. Yep. I went home at looked it up and it is true.
 Thu-01-may-2008 Mike Happy May day Happy May day. Maddie is now 3 weeks old. Before I know it, June will be here! :) Aaron, Paige, and August will be taking swimming lessons this summer. I will get this yard into shape. Anne and Maddie... not sure about their goals :)

I just purchased a new mower. A Craftsman 26 HP 54" deck mower. I did some research and it was the Consumer Reports 2007 'Best Buy'. Better yet, because I purchased a 2007 model in 2008, I got the mower under $2000 (18 something). So for my collection, I Now have a Craftsman Gas powered weed eater, a Craftsman 6 HP 22" push mower (best I have ever had), and now a Craftsman riding mower. But what is a mower without attachments? I additionally purchased a pull-along yard sweeper for all those leaves that my 100 + trees drop. But with the money I saved, I could not stop there, I purchased a snow plow for my really long driveway. Note: This is my Anniversary, Fathers day, and Birthday gift all rolled into one. ;)

I'm still playing with Linux video. I can't tell you enough how great a video tool 'mencoder' is. Do you want to covert an AVI file that you have created to MPEG4/DIVX? Why? So you can burn the file directly to DVD or use more advanced video editing tools.
mencoder input.avi -o output.mp4 /
         -of lavf -ovc lavc /
         -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4 /
         -lavfopts i_certify_that_my_video_stream_does_not_use_b_frames

I have to laugh at the option "I certify that my video stream does not use b frames" LOL :) What is great about using the mpeg4? You can create web friendly resolutions, DVD resolutions, or HD resolutions with it. So how about creating the really simple DVD from that?

mkdir DVD
dvdauthor -o DVD movie.mp4     
dvdauthor -T DVD
mkisofs -dvd-video -o DVD.iso DVD
Then burn the ISO. pretty darn simple. ;) Yes, making DVDs professionally on Mac OSX is much better. But I call this the quick and dirty "get-r-done" method. :) Tue-29-apr-2008 Mike Make slide movies with Linux You can make great Slide movies for your DVDs using command line Linux. The commands you need are 'convert','cp', and 'mencoder'. For more advanced image tricks and stuff - also use Gimp.

To setup your Hi-Res photos run this command:

for name in `ls -1 *.JPG` ; do convert -resize 720 -quality 100% $name small$name;done

Each JPG will become a 1 second frame in a movie with this command:

mencoder "mf://small*.JPG" -mf fps=1 -ovc lavc -o ./dest.avi

You you use Gimp to merge photos and other tricks, you many want to increase your frames per second (fps), but this of course will increase the number of JPGs you will be working with. So you will need to copy some frames, edit other frames with text, and so on. Just thought I would share :) Fri-25-apr-2008 Mike More Maddie I just put up 12 photos of Maddie on Anne's flickr.com site for those in the family group. I will have twice that many more up soon. They all have been tagged with Maddie and 2008. I will put the dates in the info. Wed-23-apr-2008 Mike what is good, bad Back in Nov 2007, it was discovered that a particular plastic could be harmful to humans. These plastics contain PBA aka 'bisphenol A'. Anne and I did not discover this until last night watchin the news. Many companies are recalling baby bottles and sippy cups. Anne asked me if we were safe. I had no clue how to tell. But after *alot* of research, I now know.
No 7 aka PC plastic is not safe

Yes, we were using baby bottles and sippy cups with #7 plastic. Why do companies make bottles and sippy cups out of this plastic? They are harder to break. Why is #7 bad? Bisphenol-a is a known endocrine disruptor. Meaning it has estrogenic properties which has shown to cause a bevy of health problems such as:

* precancerous tumors in breasts and prostate gland
* a decline in semen quality in males,
* early onset of puberty in females,

Research is showing that when plastic containers, mostly those used to hold liquids and foods, are leeching Bisphenol into the foods and liquids they are holding. Heating food and liquids with these plastics is shown to increase the leeching of this contaminate. Bottom line: It's icky and if you don't want to chance it on your children. Tue-22-apr-2008 Mike home movies and the Cubs I am still working with new pictures and movies. I'm done with the first DVD and starting a second. On the second DVD, I have added a out-take section of some fairly humorous stuff ;) I continue to get better and better with video editing.

Today I heard something that I thought I would never hear in my life. "Ronny Cedeno has a career-high five RBIs, including his first grand slam!". I have pleaded that Ronny be traded to another team for quite some time. This last week, it is like someone replaced him with someone that can hit. I simply can not believe how well he is doing. God must have blessed him. Thu-17-apr-2008 Mike Maddie 6 days Today Maddie is a week old. This photo taken yesterday by Anne is of Maddie having her afternoon nap. Mon-14-apr-2008 Mike Family stuff Maddison had her first 'well check' today with Dr Zimmerman. Still healthy and grew a 1/2 inch :) Paige and August are doing really well with Maddison and love her. I was worried that they might get jealous and act out, but I have not seen this yet. But we are not silly, the newness has not worn off yet.

I have compiled more movies. I received 3 requests to put them on YouTube, but I have opt'ed for the time being not to do this. If you want to see a few movies of Maddison (and the other 3 kids) I can burn you DVDs.
Here are a few photos of how Maddie has affected our lives:
(Mike's note: Mom is still up and taking the photos)
(Anne's note: amatuers!)
(Mike's 2nd note: Maddie is actually a quiet baby even when crying.)

Maddie sleeping

Aaron sleeping on chair, Paige sleeping on floor

August and Mike sleeping on bed Fri-11-apr-2008 Mike Maddison Rae Gibson
Maddison Rae Gibson
was born April 10th, 2008
at 7:35 AM
19.5 inches long
She weighed 7 Pounds 13.5 oz

I must say it was an exciting day for the entire family!
With all the media that I took, I already have a great movie of her. :) Wed-09-apr-2008 Mike Top Nerd Music Videos I'm doing yet another YouTube post. I give you my top nerd music Videos:

#1 White & Nerdy

#2 Mathmaticious

#3 Buy Mii a Wii

Tue-08-apr-2008 Mike First two new home vids Well, I have finalized the first two (of many to come) home videos.

1) "Pickup at Rogy's" with Paige and August.

2) "Saturday at the Playground" with August, Aaron, and Paige.

Here is what I have in the development stages:

1) "Miranda's 13th B-Party" with Miranda, Will, August, Paige, and Aaron.

2) "Christmas 2006" with Faye, Tom, Amy, Mark, Anne, August, Paige, and Aaron.

3) "Christmas 2007" with Faye, Tom, Amy, Mark, Anne, August, Paige, and Aaron.

4) "Day with Paige" - with Tracy, Aaron, and Paige.

Let me know if you are interested in any of these.
 Mon-07-apr-2008 Mike Home Movies I have been making "home videos" since the birth of Paige. With all the quality issues of Windows (frame skipping, black spots), I have always edited and mastered the videos with Linux. I have to admit, although the end results have been good, the results have been nothing spectacular either.

After Tracy died, I purchased a Mac to hopefully create better quality videos. Unfortunately I discovered that my JVC camera's firewire was not compatible with OSX. This was very much a letdown.

I now have another daughter about to be born. This has given me the video itch again. This also made me look at my options. I even have considered purchasing a new camera to work with OSX. But recently I discovered that my Sony S60 Camera actually makes fairly decent movies. I assumed it would not because of my experience with other Sony cameras. With this discovery, I finally learned how to edit videos on my Mac with very, very, nice results.

The new problem was that the camera only uses solid state Sony Memory Stick Pros that Sony discontinued. But I found I like the solid state memory better than digital MinIDV tapes. But Amazon came to the rescue with large Sony Memory Stick Pros for really low prices. With the two I owned, and the three I just purchased I am now in good shape. Additionally, the Sony memory sticks are of course reusable many times over than tape.

Yes, now that I learned how to use my Mac OSX video editing software, I have to agree, Mac OSX is the best platform for video editing. But I also have learned the Linux continues to be the best audio editing platform. So, I have been putting together some great "home videos" with my Mac OSX and Linux computers. I would like to share these with you on my blog, but they are way to large in size... even for Broadband users. So what I think I will do is post when I make new videos. With your request, I can burn these to DVD or, if you send me USB sticks by mail, I can mail those back with the movies. Thu-03-apr-2008 Mike Hot and Not First, let me complain about the Cubs. Yep, loosing the first two games. Who is hot on the team? Fukudome and Lee. Wow what an intro for Fukudome. Who is not? The remainder of the Cubs team.

Now a little on Aaron. This week Aaron breaks 2 boards at a time and moves ups a stripe level. Yes.... I have photos. And boy do those broken boards look hot! ;)

Hot coffee! The BBC has a story that many coffee drinkers will love. The caffeine from a cup of coffee a day can help prevent Dementia, by blocking the damage of cholesterol. Ok, at least in a study with rabbits. This is in addition to the already-known protection against Alzheimer's Disease. More research is needed to test the effect on humans of course.

Maddison. We now have a new date for the baby, April 10th, if Anne makes it that far. Paige and August ask every day now when Maddie is going to be cut out. Anne is crying for no reason while buying the kids presents... yes it is the hormones ;)

Lastly, Yeah Kansas and UNC for making it to the final four. To bad one of my teams has to eliminate the other. Now I childishly say "Booo UCLA and Memphis" :P Tue-01-apr-2008 George Presidential Appraisal
Hello, This is George W Bush. I'm a loyal reader or Mr. Gibson's web site. I just wanted to share this personal message with Mike.
Audio Message Mon-31-mar-2008 Mike Happy 5th bday Paige! Paige
Paige, like Aaron and August this year, got her own personal cake and presents for breakfast this morning.. and we all gave her a pinch to grow an inch :) Sat-29-mar-2008 Mike The coming Baseball season Baseball season starts Monday (also Paige's Birthday) and I'm all excited :) The funny thing is, as I wait for our national pastime to officially start, I keep reading how the Cubs will be in the World Series. [chuckle]. Nothing I have read actually supports this. Even Sports Illustrated has the Cubs loosing the World Series, without a shred of text that would lead me to believe this will happen. Is it that people believe Lou is the leader to do it? I don't think so. He is not the greatest manager to ever happen. He spent the entire last season scratching his head because he could not fine tune anything. Despite that the Cubs did win the division, and I feel they have had a good chance of doing that again. Could it be that Dempster forcasted winning the World Series at the beginning of Spring Training? Come on, I doubt it. This is the guy I, and many others have refered to Dumpster... the man the buckles time and time again under pressure. Yes, we do have the dynamic three back... Ramirez, Lee, and Soriano. We have Wood as a closer (if he can stay healthy... yes I have my doubts). And the new comer, Fucudome, with lots of unseen promise. But the last three years, they Cubs have shown they have trouble firing all cylinders in a consistent manner. Remember last year, the new comer Fontenot, and how hot he was for 2 months? The problem was no-one else was. If any of the big 3 could have stepped up also during that time. If I see consistency happening when we leave the month of June, maybe I will believe. But with so many other talented teams in the National League like the Mets and the Rockies that have their act together. Actually if I were to guess, I would say NY vs NY...
Now for something completely different... Listen to the annoucer of this ball game:
Youtube Link Fri-28-mar-2008 Mike Blast from the Past Going through old disks, I found something kinda cool. My complete and original Arcade page. So, for my pleasure of skipping down memory lane, I have just restored the Arcade Page on my site as it looked June 2004. So here is a taste of some of the builds and restores that I did. What fun! Thanks Tracy for putting up with it :)

This to this
This to this
This to this
This to this
Go to the link above to see more. Thu-27-mar-2008 Mike I love YouTube I love YouTube. In many ways YouTube is better than TV. OK.. well.. yeah, TV is there on YouTube. For example, CBS, Showtime and others have their own channels on YouTube. There is one channel, MinisodeNetwork , that specializes in all sorts of remade TV shows for the Internet. But over all, there is a lot of originality on YouTube. But I will not try to hide the fact that there is also more "waste of time garbage" on YouTube than one would find on TV. None the less, I love it. At any time I'm subscribed to between 45 and 60 channels. As a small sample, I have made a list of channels that have 15 or more shows that I love by category:

Here are my top 3 educational YouTube show:

National Geographic
Household Hacker
oskay

Here are my top 3 entertainment/celeb YouTube shows:
WHAT THE BUCK!?
gettyimages
Entertainment News Magazine

Here are my top 5 general humor YouTube shows:

The Onion
The Guild
ROCKETBOOM
Lasagna Cat
Ring Tales

Here are my top 5 music channels:

jgelhaar --http://www.youtube.com/user/jgelhaar Boyce Avenue
David Sides
Official Justin Timberlake Channel
Ningyo

Here are my favorite 5 adult humor YouTube shows:

Cute With Chris -- http://www.youtube.com/user/cutewithchris
GoPotatoTV
Mediocre Films
The Monkey Box
Cracked


**Other mentions: simonscat, sheltonfilms, LibertyFillmore, malakhhatzadik, unclehighbrow, Wed-26-mar-2008 Mike Anne Here is a photo of Anne enjoying her pregnancy. NOT! :)

Hang in there Anne.
Update: I just showed Anne this post. After viewing it, she said that she would "rather shoot her self in the left foot and make her right foot jealous than be pregnant ever again. Tue-18-mar-2008 Mike Postng stuff A quick FYI - I posted some pre-Easter pics of the kids on Anne's Flickr site.

Very shortly, you may notice that the post count on my site will jump highly. Many of my old post were lost. If you look at some the of older dates you might notice there are long periods with out posts. Well, I have found them and will be adding them back into the data. Tue-18-mar-2008 Mike Happy B-Day August! Happy 3rd B-day August!

What ever you do, don't pinch her to grow an inch. She is growing too fast :) Tue-11-mar-2008 Mike Light at the end of the tunnel Now down to the last weeks, Anne and I are really curious what Maddie will look like :)

1st look (Sep 2007)

2nd look (Feb 2008)

next? Thu-06-mar-2008 Mike Mike learns gun safety Here is a recently scanned in photo from my Mom. Me and my sis are enjoying Christmas morning in KY. That is my grandfather in the background. I'm just sharing because I found this photo humorous. Mon-03-mar-2008 Mike What I learn I finally got to see the David Davis Mansion... after living here in the Bloomington area for nearly 14 years. David Davis had a very interesting life and mansion. Now the important fact that I learned... the David Davis Mansion currently sells chocolate cockroaches for 60 cents a piece.

I learned that computer Deli has a sale on 4G memory sticks for $19. I also learned that there are a few Heyworth children (not my own) that use their USB memory sticks to pick their nose.

 Sun-02-mar-2008 Mike 1907 in 1907

The average life expectancy was 47 years.

Only 14 percent of the homes had a bathtub. Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.

There were only 8,000 cars and only 144 miles of paved roads. The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.

The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower!

The average wage in 1907 was 22 cents per hour. The average worker made between $200 and $400 per year. A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, A dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.

More than 95 percent of all births took place at HOME

Ninety percent of all doctors had NO COLLEGE EDUCATION! Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press AND the government as "substandard. "

Sugar cost four cents a pound. Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen. Coffee was fifteen cents a pound. Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used Borax or egg yolks for shampoo.

Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from Entering into their country for any reason.

Five leading causes of death were:
1. Pneumonia and influenza
2. Tuberculosis
3. Diarrhea
4. Heart disease
5. Stroke

The American flag had 45 stars. The population of Las Vegas , Nevada , was only 30!!!!

Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and ice tea hadn't been invented yet. There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day. Two out of every 10 adults couldn't read or write. Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.

Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at the local corner drugstores. Back then pharmacists said, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health."

Eighteen percent of households had at least one full-time servant or domestic help. There were about 230 reported murders in the ENTIRE U.S.A. ! Tue-26-feb-2008 Mike Happy Birthday Aaron Happy Birthday Aaron! Yes he was spanked and found himself under the bed this morning :) But he also received a personal cake for breakfast ,a birthday song, and one last really cool present.

Pictured above is a photo of the ice cream birthday cake being served Saturday. Man was that a hard cake to cut! Thanks to everyone that came to Aaron's birthday party Saturday. He had a great time, enjoyed seeing everyone, and loved the presents. Sat-23-feb-2008 Mike Questions UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

Why isn't the number 11 pronounced onety-one?

If 4 out of 5 people SUFFER from diarrhea...does that mean that one out of five enjoys it?

Why do croutons come in airtight packages? Aren't they just stale bread to begin with?

If people from Poland are called Poles, then why aren't people from Holland called Holes?

If a pig loses its voice, is it disgruntled?

Why is a person who plays the piano called a pianist, but a person who drives a racecar is not called a racist?

If it's true that we are here to help others, then what exactly are the others here for?

If lawyers are disbarred and clergymen defrocked, then doesn't it follow that electricians can be delighted, musicians denoted, cowboys deranged, models deposed, tree surgeons debarked, and dry cleaners depressed?

If Fed Ex and UPS were to merge, would they call it Fed UP? ?

Do Lipton Tea employees take 'coffee breaks?'

What hair color do they put on the driver's licenses of bald men?

I thought about how mothers feed their babies with tiny little spoons and forks, so I wondered what do Chinese mothers use. Toothpicks?

Why do they put pictures of criminals up in the Post Office? What are we supposed to do, write to them? Why don't they just put their pictures on the postage stamps so the mailmen can look for them while they deliver the mail?

Is it true that you never really learn to swear until you learn to drive?

If a cow laughed, would milk come out of her nose?

Whatever happened to Preparations A through G?

As income tax time approaches, did you ever notice: When you put the two words 'The' and 'IRS' together, it spells 'THEIRS'? Fri-22-feb-2008 Mike getter done The baby's room is done. It turned out very nice, I am quite pleased. Very soft and comfortable.
I'm working on the seven Archangels in the Angel Wiki. I have totally redone the page on Michael. As far as the Wiki software itself, I have coded everything but the search.
It has been snowing a lot lately. But we did get a break from the snow to see the full moon eclipse. For that matter, it has snowed a lot this winter. But baseball is starting and February is almost over. This also means, March Madness, Spring, and the Girl's birthdays are around the corner. Mon-18-feb-2008 Mike Angel wiki Instead of posting a new post on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday - I have been creating a new Wiki. All fresh code, created for the sole pupose of a public Wiki on Angels. So yes, I guess I decided on how I was going to present my research on Angels. Better yet, this will give others the oportunity to share what they know.

The link is http://mrgibson.com/wiki/angelwiki.php Thu-14-feb-2008 Mike Happy Heart Day 

Yes, it is Heart Day! 



The day of flowers, candy, hugs, kisses, stuffed animals, and more.



So, to my family and friends,

or whoever might read this,

Happy Valentines Day everyone.
Wed-13-feb-2008 Mike Might of Michael Most Christians probably believe there are seven Archangels, some believe there are many more. Some Protestants view Michael as the sole Archangel, as the only one explicitly mentioned as such in the Bible. Michael is the one I am going to write about here. Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Jesus was actually the Archangel Michael in incarnate form. In this view, Michael is the first and greatest of all God's creatures. But let me note, they are the only branch of any religion to believe this.

Michael is also a prominent angel with Judaism and Islam. With Michael, *most* Christians, Jews, and Muslims have *most* of the same beliefs. Regardless of which major faith's angelic beings are being followed, Michael ranks as the highest. Michael is considered to be of the class of seraphim. In all three religions, God states Michael as being the highest within the angelic ranks. Michael is considered by some to be the angel of the burning bush through which God spoke to Moses. He is mentioned as both an angel of destruction and vengeance in the name of God, but also as a protector and the angel who kept Satan from claiming the body of Moses. He is the leader of the celestial armies and is the angel who fought Satan during the War and enchained the rebel leader. (Judaism does not believe Satan is a fallen angel nor that there is a struggle with Satan).

I could keep going with Michael, for I have omitted a lot of information in this post; but I will stop here. Wed-13-feb-2008 Mike A blurb about Satan Let me start this post by saying, I'm still considering how I'm going to present my research on angels. I have talked to a couple of people about it. I may actually do many posts or start a WIKI so that others can contribute. I am looking for ideas.

For the first post on angels, I'm going to talk about a very controversial angel. One angel, that if I were to write a book about angels, I would not put a lot of focus on. Not really, even though he is interesting. The angel I'm talking about is Satan. Just writing a small blurb on Satan is not easy. There is sooo much text on him.

I will start with the basic Christian beliefs. Starting with the belief that Satan is a fallen Archangel whose original name was Lucifer. In addition, Christians believe other archangels are in an on going war with Satan. More over, Christians believe not only is Satan is a fallen angel, but devils or demons are other fallen angles that serve Satan. Satan and his army of fallen angels are shown in the bible that they have some responsibility of causing man to fall and are permitted to tempt man. Able to deceive, demons can appear as angel of light. They can take possession of our bodies, but they can be exorcised by God's power through Jesus; although some can be exorcised only by prayer and fasting. Satan and his fallen angels can tempt us away from God. They are even called the god of this world, but their power is broken by Jesus Christ's sacrifice. Additionally, devils are afraid of the Gospel. Lastly, in the end they will suffer eternal torment.

Judaism has a totally different view of Satan. Significantly, Judaism does not believe Satan is a fallen angel nor that there is a struggle with Satan. Satan, or the Challenger, is the angel who serves God by giving man challenges that he must resolve in the right way. In Judaism, Satan's proper name is Samael. Sun-10-feb-2008 Mike Kids photos I just posted a few photos of the the kids that Anne took this morning before church. I posted them on Anne's Flickr site. You will need to be logged on as friends or Family to view them.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/anne_gibson/
 Fri-08-feb-2008 Mike Friday stuff I'll start this post with a joke.

A blonde was weed-eating her yard and accidentally cut off the tail of her cat which was hiding in the grass. She rushed her cat, along with the tail over to WAL-MART! Why WAL-MART?? HELLOOOOOOOOO!

WAL-MART is the largest retailer in the world!!!

OK. that was a pretty bad joke.

On a less humorous note. I stumbled on one of the most useful youtube videos I have seen for teaching children and adults about credit unions:

Credit Unions Vs Banks: video

Lastly, I have been thinking about sharing something a little different. For a long time, I have been studying about angels. On my own, no college courses or anything like that involved. I have been doing this since the early 90s when I was in the Air-Force stationed at Langley AFB. At one time I had a book worth of notes and research completed by the time I moved to Normal. Unfortunately, I lost quite a bit of that (possibly in the 7 times I have moved since I started?). I think I'm going to start publishing on my web site this information I have collected over the many, many years. I doubt I could get published any other way :) Thu-07-feb-2008 Mike Anne 
Anne, I just wanted
  you to know that

        I
 .Love.    .Love.
LoveLove .LoveLove
 LoveLoveLoveLove
  .LoveLoveLove.
    .LoveLove.
      .Love.
         v


  You
Tue-05-feb-2008 Mike The Early Valentine Aunt Liz sent me this Valentine in an e-mail. It was rendered in very bad HTML by an email client at some point after being forwarded several times. I cleaned it up a bit so that it looks nicer, added a background, and rewrote the HTML so it renders correctly. Here is "The Early Valentine" 
For God so loVed the world 
    That He gAve
       his onLy
       BegottEn
           SoN
             That whosoever 
   Believeth In Him
      Should Not perish
    But have Everlasting life.

John 3:16
Something I noted after reconstructing this email, there are 51 letters on the left, 51 letters on the right. Mon-04-feb-2008 Mike SB Sunday Thank you to everyone that came over to watch the Super Bowl with us. It was definitely a great game. Probably one of the best ever. We enjoyed everyone's company.

The play of the game was when Elie Manning, with one minute remaining, escapes a sack to find David Tyree - who makes a great catch. link

Before the game, Plax stated the score would be 23 NY 17 NE. Watch what Tom Brady had to say about that prediction before the game.link. I guess Brady really underestimated the Giant's defense. What makes this funnier is the fact they could only score 14 points.

This, or this, or this was probably my favorite commercial. Well..... I has to be the one with Richard saying "...squeeze those buns..." Sat-02-feb-2008 Mike Groundhog day! First, happy birthday Mark! We are about to go eat with Mark and Amy.

We all had the day off of work, school, and pre school. But let me tell you, Anne and I worked all day and night on the house and preparing food for the Super Bow.

We have started on the baby's room, cleaning out all the furniture. Soon, we need to shop for the carpet and padding. We have picked out the paint at Menards and will try to match a pink carpet to that.

Tonight we are going out to see UofI Gymnastics match. Hopefully the kids will enjoy this. Hopefully, Anne and I enjoy this. ;)

Lastly, I would like to share my newest inside joke catch phrase, "Princess twin powers, activate!" :) Wed-30-jan-2008 Mike Ron Paul and his zealots This post is a complaint post

Today I voiced my opinion that Ron Paul's plan to remove the FBI and the CIA is not an intelligent option. I was also voicing my opinion that his tax plan is not a viable plan as Mitt Romney stated. Mitt Romney is correct, we can't support any type of government with a flat 1% tax on everything, no exceptions.

OK. I was dealing with the extremist, white male, Republicans. You know the ones. The racist, "you have no right to tax me", "charity and financial aid are for the lazy", "only those that fit in my definition of normal have rights" type. You must agreee with what Rush Limbaugh, Pat O'Reilly, and Mark Larsen have to say. Logic and common sense have no basis. You may not disagree with them even if you are a Republican. Yep, that type.

Well, I did disagree with what Larsen said. Additionally I stated that Romney is a possible vote for me. Lastly I stated that Ron Paul's followers were acting like sheep.

How long did my opinion last on the Internet? Maybe one hour until one of Ron Paul's or Mark Larsen's (or both) supporters erased my opinion. But this media is not controlled by them. So, come on.... delete this. Wed-30-jan-2008 Mike June 16, 2008 I just found out a something this morning. The Cubs and Padres are to play the last Hall of Fame Game this year. Major League Baseball announced this will be the final Hall of Fame Game, a tradition which began in 1940 and the last remaining in-season exhibition game on the schedule for many years. This will be the seventh appearance for the Cubs, who last played in Cooperstown in 1995 when they beat the Tigers 8-6. Sammy Sosa won the Home Run Derby afterward. Because of increasingly difficult scheduling problems, Major League Baseball has announced that the midseason tradition will end after this game. Also interesting is the game will be on my birthday. Slightly on the same topic, my birthday and Fathers day are the same day this year. By that date, I will be a father once more, and tragically cheated of two days of celebration. Two days in which I receive gifts given to me for the task of being born and seeing to that others were born. ;) OK, that was way off topic :) Tue-29-jan-2008 Mike Fish Heads Fish Heads for Anne. Mon-28-jan-2008 Mike Winter Jam 2008 pt2 Vol 1 ep 6 Note: this audio log contains a sound clip of "Group 1 Crew" live at Winter Jam 2008, Jan 24th.

Amy has also posted videos of various performances on her YouTube site.

One last humorous item. When I saw this video, I just could not stop laughing. Nothing against Romney, I rather like him as a candidate. Just too funny. Fri-25-jan-2008 Mike Winter Jam 2008 I went to Winter Jam 2008 last night with Amy and Aaron at the Red Bird Arena in Normal IL. Froze our butts off outside waiting to get in.

Winter Jam 2008 is a bunch of Christian bands touring across the US together. Most of these bands I had never heard of before, but then again, I don't listen to a lot of Christian music. The concert started a little after 6 PM. The concert also had several breaks in it containing prayer. This is not something I'm familiar with in a concert, but something I understand given it was billed as a Christian event. There was a very impressive stage setup with professional lighting, techtronics, ect. The sound system made for a very loud evening. Every fabric of clothing moved on my body to the music and the bass rattled my chest.

Here is how I rated the bands: 
PureNRG      Rated B-
Group 1 Crew Rated A
Mandisa      Rated B+
New Song     Rated A-
Skillet      Rated A
BarlowGirl   Rated B+
Connersvine  Rated B+
Mercy Me     Rated B
The POP teen group "PureNRG" tried their hearts out to put on a really good show, but fell a little short of doing so for me. I appreciated the effort on stage, but I felt like I was watching Nickelodeon. Maybe if I was 10 I would have liked it better. I had to give them at least a B-. How many bands do you know that do more than 5 backflips?

Overall, the best in vocals was "Group 1 Crew". The music from this band was a perfect mixture of Hip Hop with the great soulful, R&B voice of Blanca Reyes. I actually liked them enough to buy their album based off the show. They also signed the CD for me (how cool).

Mandisa's show was professional and her singing was what one would consider on par for her reputation as a great singer. A little too much focus on her American Idol fame through out the show though.

Best of Show was the Hard Rock band "Skillet". I will note that it felt odd, kinda out of place, listening to them without the presence of a mosh pit.

Even though I thought the group "New Song" started a little boring, the Best Jams went to "New Song". There was a couple songs that really show-cased some talent. I need to mention the performance of Matt Butler of "New Song" and how well he can Jam with the Cello, Keyboard, and Violin. Yes, I was very impressed with his Cello solo.

Lastly, the only group I knew of before hand, "Mercy Me", I found boring. Amy and Aaron seemed to enjoy it - singing these songs that they knew so well. But listing to the songs for the first time and watching the show; sorry, boring at times. If I had gone by myself, I probably would have skipped out after the first 2 songs and left about 10 PM. I don't have all bad things to say about "Mercy Me". Barry Graul, their guitarist, really, really rocks. But he showed his talent more when he played with a couple other bands. Especially with the group "New Song".

In conclusion, from how I rated the music, it is my opinions that this concert was well worth the $10 a person to get in. Maybe I will go next year ;)
 Wed-23-jan-2008 Mike Presidential pardon Yes, this clip is old, but I am suprised that most people do not know that President Bush Pardoned HIMSELF against POTENTIAL WARCRIMES
See details on CNN
 Wed-23-jan-2008 Mike Happy Joy Joy volume 1 ep.5 part 1.mp3
volume 1 ep.5 part 2.mp3 Tue-22-jan-2008 Mike Obama Bashing I find the Republican machine very distasteful and I am quite ashamed to share the country with a few of Republicans. Republicans continue to exploit religion in many ways. Those that insult intelligence by claiming that Christianity and Republicans go hand in hand, while creating lies for political reasons. Now those that use hate mongering of Muslims.

What type of lies? Barack Obama has had step up his efforts to battle back against e-mails that falsely label him a Muslim.

"I think it 's very important for people not to buy into the kinds of dirty tricks that we've become so accustomed to in our politics, and people need to understand I'm not and never have been of the Muslim faith," he told CBN's David Brody.

The sad part is this lie is that Obama life is well documented, including the spiritual aspect of his life. In fact, Obama has never been a Muslim.

In e-mail messages that have been circulating as long as Obama has been a presidential candidate, the Illinois senator is said be a Muslim who refuses to recite the pledge of allegiance, and one who "joined the United Church of Christ in an attempt to downplay his Muslim background."

To quote Obama on this, "...to try and feed into this fear-mongering and try to question my faith commitments and my belief in Jesus Christ, I think is offensive," Obama also said. "And I want to make sure that people are absolutely clear about what's going on with this, and if they get another one of these e-mails that they're deleting it and letting their friends know that it's nonsense."

Obama describes his Kenyan father as "raised a Muslim," but a "confirmed atheist" by the time his parents met. But Obama has described him self a Christian for some time. To the best of my understanding, the turning point for Obama was in his twenties, when Obama was working with local churches as a community organizer and became baptized. He has been a member of Trinity United Church of Christ for over twenty years. Thu-17-jan-2008 Mike Vista Bashing Aaron made it to the Geography Bee, but he didn't win. I'm still very proud of him. If he ever gets in again, we know what to expect the next time around. :) Oh well, Aaron still learned a lot studying and prepairing.

These audio posts are quite fun to make. I don't know if anyone enjoys hearing them though :) Apparently Windows XP, Mac OSX, and Linux user can hear these fine, but Windows Vista Home Edition users can't. So I give you vol1ep4.mp3. Sorry Amy. Mon-14-jan-2008 Mike vol 1 ep 3 vol1ep3.mp3 Mon-14-jan-2008 Mike Family times I'll start this post about Aaron. Real proud of him. Three Bs (including art and gym) and five As on his report card. Additionally, Aaron also made the Geography Bee. Out of 100 kids, 25 were picked. So I have been helping him study for this. Because he has so little time to prepare, I have been focusing on US, Europe, and the Middle East with him. He will be in the bee this Wed at 9am.

August has been on a bit of a dry spell, so Anne and I are real hopeful that she will be on the potty full time before the new Gibson arrives. We are also trying to get August prepared for Heyworth Preschool in hopes that she can go to school this fall with Paige.

For the last week, I have started working with Paige to teach her how to read and spell. Mostly 3 letter words with a few 4 letter words (no, not that type). I hoping to give her an advantage before she starts kindergarten this Fall. Paige appears to enjoy this and I feel like I'm getting good father/daughter time.

Yesterday the whole family went to the movie theater with the Christmas present we received (thanks Amy). This was August's first theater movie. It turned out to be a ton of fun. We viewed the modern day remake of "Alvan and the Chipmunks". I got a few chuckles out of the movie. The kids loved it. August called them the "catters" instead of chipmunks. Sat-12-jan-2008 Mike Star Family I HAVE to post this. As a huge family guy fan and a huge StarWars fan, someone might think I would have seen what looks to be the coolest thing ever.... Blue Harvest (Family Guy). Nope, I did not see it. Missed it completely. What is Blue Harvest? "Blue Harvest" was the season premiere of the Sixth season of the FOX series Family Guy, which aired on September 23, 2007. The episode was a spoof of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, recasting the show's characters into Star Wars roles (Stewie as Darth Vader and Brian as Chewbaca). Additionally this was the first time in the history of Family Guy there was an episode that was an hour long (with commercials).
It was also made to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Star Wars franchise. (Yes, I missed it) This episode drew 10.7 million viewers, and earned the highest Nielsen rating of any Family Guy episode since the show returned to air in 2005. Here is a clip off of you tube. This is a video I will at least want to rent with it comes out later this month.
Fri-11-jan-2008 Mike more 'stuff' Well, the flooding is well over now in my area. It was the worst 24 hour flooding I had seen since Thanksgiving 1987 in Western Ky. That was when I could not get home because all the roads were closed. Unfortunately for the Pontiac area, it was the worst flooding.... ever. And they are still dealing with it.

Solved the Rubik's cube this morning. First time in more than 20 years. I was in high school the last time I solved it. OK, in my defense, that was about the last time I really played with the cube.

US citizens born after Dec. 1, 1964 (that is me), will have to get a more secure drivers licenses in the next six years under ambitious post-9/11 security rules to be unveiled Today by the federal government. Yeah! Probably some big brother stuff. Oh, and the poor high school drunks, how will they get their alcohol now if it is too hard to make a fake drivers licence! Tue-08-jan-2008 Mike just 'stuff' My diet has bottomed out where I am bouncing between 206 and 208. Aaron on the other hand has lost 22 pounds on his diet total. Dr Zimmerman was amazed and quite pleased while explaining to Aaron how much healthier he is now. He is still short for his age though, but so was I at his age.

Anne has a couple of blog posts about Paige.
post 201 and post 203 (need to be in Anne's list to see). Where I keep asking my self, "Princess like Prince?" OK, I'm sure no-one finds that funny, including Dad ;)

It started raining yesterday afternoon and rained all night and still this morning. Roads closed all around me. Some fields became lakes. I think we had our whole years worth of rain. Mon-07-jan-2008 Mike Born a Baptists gibsondigital Born a Baptist

Each Friday night after work, Bubba would fire up his outdoor grill and cook a venison steak. But all of Bubba's neighbors were Catholic....and since it was Lent, they were forbidden from eating meat on Friday. The delicious aroma from the grilled venison steaks was causing such a problem for the Catholic faithful that they finally talked to their priest. The Priest came to visit Bubba and suggested that he become a Catholic. After several classes and much study, Bubba attended Mass.....and as the priest sprinkled holy water over him, he said, "You were born a Baptist, and raised a Baptist, but now you are a Catholic."

Bubba's neighbors were greatly relieved, until Friday night arrived, and the wonderful aroma of grilled venison again filled the neighborhood. The Priest was called immediately by the neighbors and as he rushed into Bubba's yard clutching a rosary preparing to scold him, he stopped and watched in amazement.

There stood Bubba, clutching a small bottle of holy water which he carefully sprinkled over the grilling meat and chanted: "You wuz born a deer, you wuz raised a deer, but now you is a catfish Mon-07-jan-2008 Mike After Santa I have the morning after Santa (Christmas morning) pictures up on photo album. Here is the direct link. Fri-04-jan-2008 Mike Cousin 'It' or August I have here a possible rare siting of Cousin It captured by the Paparazzi. Yet there are few skeptics that believe this is just a photo of August. So, is this a photo of Cousin It or August-Lee? You decide. :)

 Thu-03-jan-2008 Mike Shooting stars It has been a while since I posted. The holidays are over and I'm not back down to 206 for my weight and hope to have my diet back on track.

I will start on a Christmas slide show that I hope to get done today.

On Thursday, SETI Institute and NASA scientists will take their research instruments and their coffee for a 10 hour continuous flight to map what they say will be the earth's most brilliant meteor shower of 2008. Scientists believe the Quadrantid meteor shower could flash over 100 visible meteors per hour at its peak, depending on location. A Gulfstream V aircraft will take off from San Jose, Calif., and fly 14 scientists and their instruments for 10 continuous hours at 47,000ft., over the Arctic and back to San Jose. The primary goal of the lengthy airborne mission is to observe the Quadrantid meteor shower in ideal and virtually unchanging conditions far above light pollution and clouds to determine when the meteor shower peaks and how the flow of meteors are dispersed.

The Quadrantid meteor shower typically begins every year about Jan. 1 and lasts for just under a week. Researchers theorize the Quadrantids were formed 500 years ago in a breakup event involving a near-Earth asteroid, 2003 EH1, and a comet observed in China in 1491, C/1490 Y1. Thu-20-dec-2007 Mike The slope looks good The diet is going very well. But then again, for guys it is always easier at first.
So for I have continued to loose about 1 pound a day, but Christmas and Family will be here shortly :)
2007-12-12 214 lb
2007-12-13 213 lb
2007-12-14 212 lb
2007-12-15 211 lb
2007-12-16 210 lb
2007-12-17 209 lb
2007-12-18 209 lb
2007-12-19 208 lb
2007-12-20 206 lb
 Wed-19-dec-2007 Mike Look who showed up! I took all the kids to what I thought was going to be a normal night at J's Dance Studio. But we were all surprised with when Mr St Nick showed up. The girls could hardly believe Santa was in Heyworth! :) I have all the photos I took in my photo album.

Aaron finally received this Fall school photos. I hope to have this uploaded soon to the photo album and either handed out in person or mailed. Tue-18-dec-2007 Mike At last! At last Canada has apologized to the United States for all the bad things they have done to us!

Watch :)


 Tue-18-dec-2007 Mike Mild Grumbling Well, this morning was my first stall in weight loss at 209. I guess it is good I did not gain. I was hoping to continue my pound a day rate.

Now once again, both of my blue and orange football teams have the same loosing record. Last night's game really upset me. I realize that the Bears' offense has some problems, but last night, their defense was awesome. But other than the Bears' offense, I can tell you something else that was not awesome -- the NFL Referees!!! Either they are worthless (I doubt), or biased (possible), or just plain paid off (I believe)! What THE HECK! As far as I am concerned you could knock off one of the Vikings' touchdowns. They would not call most of the holding by the Vikings, but they would call the exact same hold for the Bears. And that intentional down call was a load of Penny poo tm I dare one of those refs to defend their decision on that call. OK, this is no longer a mild grumbling, but more of a rant, so I will close this post with that (I am trying to keep my blood pressure down). By the way Bears, GREAT defense last night. Mon-17-dec-2007 Mike Winter Weight Not feeling the greatest this last week, I decided to change my eating habits and go to the doctor. OK, the doctor idea was Anne's. The doctor put me on medication for high blood pressure and told me to start eating right and to start exercising. I had already agreed to the eating right, but still have not done any exercising. The good part so far is that I have lost a pound a day and have gone from 214 to 209. I had been bouncing from 211 to as much as 216 one morning. I hope to get down to the range of 190 to 195 so I can get off the medication. Getting old stinks :P Fri-14-dec-2007 Mike Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday Uncle Lynn! I hope you have a good one. Fri-14-dec-2007 Mike Lucas Christmas Cards OK, I'm classifying this post's topic as humours, although a few of these images would be better fitted for the topic geeky :)

Every year from 1977 to 2007, Lucas Films releases a Christmas card. You can't buy these cards at any store. They are only for friends, family, employees, and business partners of Mr. Lucas. Here are my favorite five ordered by date:
1979

1981

1994

1995

1999

 Wed-12-dec-2007 Mike Family Treats - part II This is a followup from the last post. After tasting all the treats, the Chocolate Peanut Butter Snacks were the better tasting one. We have decided, despite what the cereal box states, vanilla is best left out of rice crispy treats. On the other hand, peanut butter and Hershey Kissables is a great addition.

I have also created a new topic that is food related for the other recipies that I have posted and will post in the future. Mon-10-dec-2007 Mike Family Treats The Gibson variation of classic treats. Mostly Anne's ideas, but my idea of the Kissables.

Christmas Chocolate/Vanilla Rice Crispy Treats
(it looks Christmasy anyway :) )

1/4 cup of butter
12 ounces of Marshmallows
1 teaspoon of vanilla
6 1/2 cups of of Rice Crispy Cereal.
10 ounces of Heresy multi-color Kissables.

*Note: The second batch we experimented some more - we put 1/2 cup of crunchy peanut butter - I will let you know how that taste :)

In a pan, melt butter and marshmallows over low heat while lightly stirring. Blend with vanilla. In a large bowl, add marshmallow mixture to cereal and Kissables. Stir till completely mixed. Spread into a greased pan. Cool. Cut into bars.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Snacks

1/2 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup Heresy multi-color Kissables.
1/4 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of crunchy peanut butter
3 cups of Captain Crunch

Line cookie sheet with waxed paper. Combine corn syrup, Heresy Kissables, and sugar in medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat. stirring constantly until mixture just comes to a boil. Remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter until well blended. Stir in Cereal until all pieces are evenly coated. Drop by rounded teaspoon onto prepared cookie sheet. Chill 30 minutes or until firm. Sun-09-dec-2007 Mike Freezing rain The Gibson clan is sitting in the house this weekend. Why? Because we are on our second day of freezing rain. :) Actually it is nice not needing to be running around. We have our Christmas shopping 99% done. I have to buy for some friends and Anne. Anne is done. Additionally, the Christmas cards are done. I have to admit, having both tasks done earlier than normal is nice. Even the stuff that needs to be mailed out, is mailed with more than enough time to get there (instead of the last minute).

[Sigh] Football season is a wash. My Bears and Broncos could not do anything this year. In fact I have walked away from the TV this afternoon, and probably the rest of the football season.

Anne and I have started some online shopping for the baby's room. Sooo many options. So many price ranges, and with that I'm sure some of the price differences is due to quality and other because of the nature of the purchase. The key is trying to figure that out.

Aaron's baby room was done in the Winnie The Pooh theme. Paige's baby room was done in a Boyd's Bear theme. August's baby room was done in Raggedy Anne theme. For the newest Gibson, we at first was thinking of another Raggedy Anne theme, thinking it would save us money. What we discovered is that no-one sells Raggedy Anne stuff. Not marketable and no one pull royalties off it (such a capitalist world). So we simply can't find anything in this theme. Instead we are going with Hello Kitty. Sun-09-dec-2007 Mike Happy Birthday It is that time of year again...Happy Birthday Dad and Aunt Liz! Tue-04-dec-2007 Mike Honey When I was a kid, my Mom would give me honey for my sour throat. Well, I have some news that should make Mom proud. A teaspoon of honey before bed seems to calm children's coughs and help them sleep better, according to a new study that relied on parents' reports of their children's symptoms. OK. that does not prove anything, but it is evidence. This old folk time remedy did better than cough medicine or no treatment in a three-way comparison. Honey may work by coating and soothing an irritated throat, according to Dr. Ian Paul. "Many families are going to relate to these findings and say that grandma was right," said lead author Dr. Ian Paul of Pennsylvania State University's College of Medicine. The research appears in December's Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine Federal health advisers have recently warned that over-the-counter cough and cold medicines shouldn't be used in children younger than 6, and manufacturers are taking some products for babies off the market. A few pediatricians interviewed by the media (I think) who read the study said they would tell parents seeking alternative remedies to try honey. They noted that honey should not be given to children under age 1 because of a rare but serious risk of botulism.

For this study, they recruited 105 children with upper respiratory infections from a clinic in Pennsylvania. Parents were given a paper bag with a dosing device inside. Some were empty. It does not say why some were empty, you would have thought it would at least had water. Some contained an age-appropriate dose of honey-flavored cough medicine containing dextromethorphan but no honey. And some contained a similar dose with real honey. The parents were asked about their children's sleep and cough symptoms, once before the bedtime treatment and once after.
All of the children got better, but honey consistently scored best in parents' rating of their children's cough symptoms.

OK, here is the big disclaimer: The study was funded by a grant from the National Honey Board (Surprise!), an industry-funded agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The agency had no influence over the study design, data or results, Paul said. Sat-01-dec-2007 Mike Christmas pic I think most family members has seen the photo the kids made today. I have an unformated, high-res version of the childrens santa photo, different than the one on Anne's blog and sent out in email. here it is. Fri-30-nov-2007 Mike Three Followups (1) Vics on the bottom of the feet, does it work? I believe the answer is yes. Anne and I have given it several tries on ourselves and the girls. Additionally the feet do appear to 'absorb' the Vics. But it is not a long term but a fairly temporary solution (maybe a hour and a half).

(2) Yes, the kid's Christmas list on my site is an updated version of Anne's list on her site.

(3) I have another self compiled arrangements of sound bits using very simple Linux tools called 'Christmas Cheese'. Here it is - enjoy the stupidity :) Thu-29-nov-2007 Mike A little Linux experiment Compiled myself using very simple Linux tools. Here it is Mon-26-nov-2007 Mike Christmas list for the kids Aaron's Christmas list:

1. Starcraft expansion packs (PC version)
2. The three warcraft games (I,II, and II -- not WoW)
3. A civilization game (PC version)
4. Some GameBoy-Advanced games (Pacman, battleship,clue,risk,diner dash, pokemon)
5. Firestar book by Chis DE Lacey
6. Harry Potter book 3 or 5
7. A chemistry set
8. Christian music
9. The Joseph and his Technicolor Coat movie.
10. CD by Kids Bop
11. Shirts size 14/16
12. Socks around size 6
13. Robe

Paige's and August's Christmas list:

1. Anything Hello Kitty
2. Dolls/ also anything that does housework small broom or vacuum
3. Sizes shirts 5/6 and pants are 5 slim/ Sizes shirts 4/5 and pants are 3T
4. Shoes size 11/ size 8
5. Costume Jewelry
6. lip gloss
7. Robe
8. nice smelly lotions
9. Books or Flash cards for age five and 3 years
10. Funky socks (mommy's have a been taken)
 Thu-22-nov-2007 Mike Happy Turkey Day! It's delicious Turkey Day.... and glorious Football... with that comes horrible pickled beats and nasty cranberry sauce. ;)

So here are some Thanksgiving Turkey Facts:
  • Turkeys are able to adapt to a wide variety of habitats. However, most turkeys are found in hardwood forests with grassy areas.
  • The best time to see a turkey is on a warm clear day or in a light rain.
  • Turkeys have heart attacks. When the Air Force was conducting test runs and breaking the sound barrier, fields of turkeys would drop dead.
  • Turkeys can drown if they look up when it is raining.
  • Turkeys spend the night in trees. They fly to their roosts around sunset.
  • Turkeys fly to the ground at first light and feed until mid-morning. Feeding resumes in mid-afternoon.
  • Gobbling starts before sunrise and can continue through most of the morning.
  • A wild turkey has excellent vision and hearing. Their field of vision is about 270 degrees. This is the main reason they continue to elude some hunters.
  • A spooked turkey can run at speeds up to 20 miles per hour. They can also burst into flight approaching speeds between 50-55 mph in a matter of seconds.
  • Benjamin Franklin wanted the national bird to be a turkey.
Now that Christmas season is almost here, Anne has the kid's wish list on her web blog.

My wish list is simple, just this:
 Tue-20-nov-2007 Mike Cheney Dick Cheney on why America shouldn't invade Iraq (1994)


1. No one would support a US invasion, least of all important Arab allies. This would make it an unpopular American occupation;

2. In the absence of a strong central government, Iraq would essentially go to pieces, splintering along religious and ethnic lines

Link Mon-19-nov-2007 Mike Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy Have a Happy Birthday to my older, younger sister. Thu-15-nov-2007 Mike In the news In the news... Tom Gibson bagged a huge buck this week. For it's size, the deer oddly only had eight points, but a H-U-G-E and impressive spread! Congrats Dad. :)
Link to photo directory with buck (tongue and all)
Aaron made the newspaper yesterday with his martial arts class:
Link to photo directory of newspaper article Sat-10-nov-2007 Mike I wonder Happy Birthday Mom! I hope you have a good day. Did you get some catfish for your Birthday in Marion?

OK, Aunt Liz sent me this via email. I looked it up on and it has been labled as undetermined if it is true. But I'm posting it anyway incase anyone can prove it one way or the other given most caugh medicines for small children have been pulled off the shelf.

The email:
"VICKS VAPORUB...TRY IT, IT WORKS

I wish I'd known this when my family was young during winter colds and coughs. I am going to try it myself. Share with young parents.

Isn't life strange. When we had a lecture on Essential Oils, they told us how the foot soles can absorb oils. Their example: Put garlic on your feet and within 20 minutes you can 'taste' it.

Some of us have used Vicks Vaporub for years for everything from chapped lips to sore toes and many body parts in between. But I've never heard of this. And don't laugh, it works 100% of the time although the scientists at the Canada Research council (who discovered it) aren't sure why.

To stop night time coughing in a child (or adult as we found out personally), put Vicks Vaporub generously on the bottom of the feet at bedtime, then cover with socks. Even persistent, heavy, deep coughing will stop in about 5 minutes and stay stopped for many, many hours of relief. Works 100% of the time and is more effective in children than even very strong prescription cough medicines. In addition it is extremely soothing and comforting and they will sleep soundly. I heard the head of the Canada Research Council describe these findings on the part of their scientists when they were investigating the effectiveness and usage of prescription cough medicines in children as compared to alternative therapies like acupressure.

Just happened to tune in A.M.Radio and picked up this guy talking about why cough medicines in kids often do more harm than good due to the chemical makeup of these strong drugs so, I listened. It was a surprise finding and found to be more effective than prescribed medicines for children at bedtime, in addition to have a soothing and calming effect on sick children who then went on to sleep soundly. Polly tried it on herself when she had a very deep constant and persistent cough a few weeks ago and it worked 100%! She said that it felt like a warm blanket had enveloped her, coughing stopped in a few minutes and believe me, this was a deep, (incredibly annoying!) every few seconds uncontrollable cough, and she slept cough-free for hours every night that she used it. If you have grandchildren, pass it on. If you end up sick, try it yourself and you will be absolutely amazed by the effect." Sat-03-nov-2007 Mike On the Roll Aaron is on the roll... Honor Roll that is. After having a year off of it, he is back on. Last year was Aaron's first year in Heyworth so I was a bit worried, but I'm very proud of his come back in grades.
 Wed-31-oct-2007 Mike and Anne boo! OK. I have a lot more Halloween topics to talk about, but for the time being, I'm posting a cap of today.

Here is a photo of August at daycare before her parade. Here is a photo of August lining up for the parade. The one in the elephant suit is her boyfriend. ;)

Here is a photo of Paige at the dentist office where she got her "gravity" (or as some refer to as a cavity) filled. She was a brave little girl. Anne and I became worried about the pain medicine they gave her when she saw kites. Then we looked up at the ceiling of the photo of the kites Paige was looking at. The assistant was worried about how much Paige talked and was wondering if they would get her quiet enough to work on. :)

Here is a photo and another photo of Paige and August in the costumes.

Lastly, Here is a photo of Aaron's class in the parade and another of Aaron dropping back to get his photo taken. Tue-30-oct-2007 Mike Dressing up -More Halloween stuff Tonight Aaron went to his martial art halloween party while Paige went to dance. His instructor had a pretty good party planned. Aaron also got to preview his halloween costume:
Link to images.
While Aaron was trying out his Egyptian costume, August was trying out Aaron's uniform:
Link to images.
What is cool about that picture is that my camera phone traced the path of August's hand :) Fri-26-oct-2007 Mike Pumpkins-More Halloween stuff I promised that I would post a lot of Halloween stuff. So I guess I'm really behind on these posts. Tonight I thought I would do this post on this years and last years pumpkins.
I have always enjoyed doing pumpkins. Since having Aaron in my life and now the girls, it is even more fun. So it could be said that every year the pumkin carving is a big deal. Sometimes a whole lot of work and research goes into them, but not this or last year ;)
Last year we went with a scary, but pretty simple design.

Another photo of last years pumpkin.

Paige had helped a little bit with last years pumpkin but has no real experiance and August had none. So I drew 4 very simple designs and had the girls vote for one. This is the design they chose. photo
I let both help carve. August did not want nothing to do with putting her arms in to pull out the seeds. Paige was a whole lot less worried about it than last year.

See last years post on this: link

This year is the first year I let Aaron go about it alone. I did not help him clean, design, or carve the pumpkin. This is what he came up with: photo
 Fri-26-oct-2007 Mike A how proud I am of Aaron post Aaron got his report card today. Very, very good grades. Yeah!

*Also, I should note that this was a very good day for August too - she went the whole day/night being dry and wearing underwear. (It is a good thing that August is still to young to care about what I write about her ;) ).

Aaron also broke is first board Wed. night. This is a right of passage in Tae Kwan do class. Here is a photo of the board before Aaron's foot hit it.
Here is a photo of the board after:

 Tue-23-oct-2007 Mike Aaron and Mike 1999 I'm going to start to post nothing but Halloween stuff till the end of the month, including older stuff that has not been on the site and other photos that have.
Here is a picture of Aaron and I on Halloween 1999:

I am the druid Allinon and Aaron is Mr Bones.
Here is another of Amy and I as children with Grandpa Gib:

 Thu-18-oct-2007 Mike Found in the paper Darn Congress:

Hmmmm....:

 Sat-13-oct-2007 Mike Only if ... I thought to myself this morning, what could I share with the readers of mrgibson.com? First, I think I will share a bit about myself. Anne took a photo of me hammering away at a Lynyrd Skynyrd tune. Every morning, I put on my hair and play the guitar.

Enough about me, I have a new rug rat comming, and I'm thinking a bit about his/her schooling.

What do you guys think? Thu-11-oct-2007 Mike Only if ...




Aaron would write his name:

Aaron'); UPDATE Students_Grades SET Math='A' WHERE Student ='Aaron Gibson'; Wed-10-oct-2007 Mike More photos as promised Anne's second sonogram looked good. The baby is about 6cm long and was kicking and sucking it thumb. Which is kinda cool considering how small it still is.
Here is a 3GP movie of Paige dancing. If that does not work for you, try this slightly larger MP4 version of the movie. If you are a Microsoft Windows user, you probably need quick time installed. Paige is the one in the dark and light purple.
Here is an action photo of Aaron in Tae kwan do class. The instructor is teaching Aaron how to 'pull' the attack of the other student (see the other kid's hand in Aaron's arm pit?). Tue-25-sep-2007 Mike More photos as promised Yesterday Anne had a Sonogram. Viewable is little G's arms, legs, and even fingers. The Doctor and Anne decided to play a prank on me and tell me Anne was going to have twins. Supposedly, according to them, I turned white. :)

Here is a photo I find humorous. It was taken in Wisconsin at AirVenture in July. It was to be proof that Aaron saw and listened to Chuck Yeager. You can tell that is Chuck, can't ya?
I promised I would post a picture of Aaron in his white uniform. Aaron looks kinda Bruce Lee like. Also a promise of a picture of Paige in her tutu. I took a lot of photos of Paige and even a movie, but between the glass and the motion - most did not turn out well. I'm taking the Aaron and Paige tonight so I'll try again. I'll try to do a small (15sec), low-res movie again of paige dancing.
 Mon-24-sep-2007 Mike More to come First, We finally have a date. The newest G has the arrival date of April 24th. Secondly, Aaron is doing well (from what I hear and see) in basketball (making baskets) and in Tae kwan do. I have some photos of Aaron in gear and of Paige in Ballet. I made a video of Paige last week but for some reason it did not save. I'll try again with both. Additionally, I have a great deal of photos from this summer and more recently. Hopefully I will get these posted over a few weeks. I just posted 3 new wedding photos on my photo album:
- Picture 1
- Picture 2
- Picture 3
Lets see if I can't get some posts out a daily basis (with spell check going). :) Fri-07-sep-2007 Mike peanut butter and jelly time! Here are my top 3 Peanut butter and jelly videos!
#1 video

#2 video

#3 video
 Thu-06-sep-2007 Mike family pic Just a picture I wanted to share from last weekend. Yeah, it was kinda chilly that night.
 Fri-24-aug-2007 Mike Tooth fairy I promised Anne I would get around to posting this letter from the tooth fairy to Aaron. This is what the tooth fairy has to write when they forget to put money under the pillow after a dentist appointment.
The letter. Thu-23-aug-2007 Mike stuff going on Paige is currently in Rogie's Official Pre-K program, but as of yesterday Paige has been accepted to Heyworth preschool. We are looking at Heyworth's Christian Preschool also.
Aaron is enjoying 6th grade and sits by his two best friends (I hope that is not a bad thing).
August is doing well and Paige is 'teaching' her since she can't go to school yet.
Yes the Cubs are *still* in first place (holding breath til October). If Soriano comes back hot, the cubs might have a chance.
After three years in a mini-van, I'm back in a SUV. We traded in both of our cars yesterday. I now drive a "Red Rock" 2007 Jeep Commander - Jeep's answer to the Hummer H3.

Jeep Commander is mechanically similar to the Jeep Grand Cherokee. It has the same basic architecture and running gear. Size-wise, the Commander is only 2 inches longer than the Cherokee and shares the same wheelbase dimension. The big difference is the Commander's taller height (well only 4 inches taller). This allows the interior seating to be "stadium style" (like the Nissan Xterra I used to have) with a third-row of seats. An additional plus is that all of the seats fold flat, but I don't get the height I had in the van.
Anne now drives a "Khaki Metallic" 2007 Dodge Durango

Since the Jeep seats 7 and the Dodge seats 8, both cars (trucks?) can easily haul all the kids. Both vehicles also have All Wheel Drive with additional 4x4 high and low. Which makes us both feel better about living in the country during winter. Wed-22-aug-2007 Mike computer humor This is for those in the Microsoft OS/application support field.
 Thu-09-aug-2007 Mike Corporate greed Here is something interesting that is hard to believe. Johnson & Johnson, the health-products giant that uses a red cross as its trademark, is suing the American Red Cross, demanding the charity halt its use of the red cross symbol on products it sells to the public. It seems J&J began using the trademark in 1887, 6 years after the Red Cross was formed, but 13 years before the charitable organization was chartered by Congress. Lately the ARC has begun licensing the symbol to third parties to use on fund-raising products such as home emergency kits.
Personally, I don't believe a red cross or plus sign should be trademarkable any way. Thu-02-aug-2007 Mike web page changes The calendar that I promised is up and running. I also have created authenticated sessions that are now used throughout the web site. Most areas allow anonymous access, but some areas will now require logins to access. Login user names and passwords are the same as on the GibsonDigital Site. Thu-01-aug-2007 Mike stuff First things first. The Cubs are in 1st place! I had to post that :) If you had asked me in late May, I thought it would have been impossible with the way the season started.

Secondly, I have been itching to write how fun the Bloomington Blues Festival and the Oshkosh AirVenture was this year. The Blues Festival was well worth it and the kids had a blast. Plus everything was free for the kids from admission, to face painting, to free harmonics, balloons, etc.
AirVenture was fun and yet another different experience from the last time. Aaron, Dad, and I were only there for a couple of days, so we did not get to see everything. Not super prepared for the camping. But still a really good time. From experience I would say one should be there starting Tuesday through Thursday. Monday things are just getting started. Friday and Saturday are way to busy.
 Sat-21-jul-2007 Mike something to think about "Life Is A Gift" Today before you say an unkind word - Think of someone who can't speak.

Before you complain about the taste of your food - Think of someone who has nothing to eat.

Before you complain about your husband or wife - Think of someone who's crying out to GOD For a companion.

Before you complain about your children - Think of someone who desires children But they're barren.

Before you argue about your dirty house someone didn't clean or sweep - Think of the people who are living in the streets.

Before whining about the distance you drive - Think of someone who walks the same distance with their feet.

And when you are tired and complain about your job - Think of the unemployed, the disabled,And those who wish they had your job.

But before you think of pointing the finger or condemning another - Remember that not one of us are without sin and we all answer to one MAKER.

And when depressing thoughts seem to get you down - Put a smile on your face and thank GOD you're alive and still around. Life is a gift, Live it, Enjoy it, Celebrate it, And Fulfill it. We Serve an AWESOME GOD!!!!!! be thankful.
~Author Unknown Fri-20-jul-2007 Mike AirVenture I'm gearing up to go to AirVenture 2007 in Wisconsin! For those that don't know, this is the largest (number of planes and acres) and the "WHERE IT HAPPENS" airshow with thousands of airplanes. I have not made it since 2003. This time I'm taking Aaron and Dad (whom have never been) and we will be camping at Camp Scholler (hopefully). I also hope to meet Jim and walk the war birds. So like the last time, I'm sure I will have tons of photos and stories. Wed-18-jul-2007 Mike Buzzy I'm just writing to let people in on a few minor things. First, I will be writing an on-line family calender for this site. It will be private like the photo album, but it will use the same key as the photo album so you don't have to log in twice.
Annabell the three legged turtle is still alive and kicking (all three of her legs anyway). Aaron has done outstanding research on a diet that she loves. This includes certain bugs, certain plants (like spinach) and other stuff (like boiled eggshells). She gets walked more than the dog, I think.
This fall Aaron will be in Martial Arts on Tuesdays in Heyworth and Paige will be in Ballet on Tuesdays and Thursdays in Heyworth. August has to wait till she is three :(
in memory Sun-15-jul-2007 Mike New photos of the kids I have added 16 new photos to the online photo album under the folders 2007Jun and 2007Jul. 13 of the photos were taken yesterday. You can find the link on the right side of the front page of my web site. Here is a preview:

 Wed-11-jul-2007 Mike New GEDCOM Tools released I'm happy to announce a new release of GEDXchange GEDCOM Tools. I have been working on these genealogy tools for a long time. I have even silently released packages this year in the 0.5.x line. But today I'm releasing the 0.6.x line with 0.6.0. There are significant improvements since 0.5.0. Screen Shots can be seen here. Bug tracking has been reopened on tresgeek again at this site. Grab the 0.6.0 source (or greater) here . Some tools require X11lib to compile. Downloading GDXlib is no longer required. Thu-05-jul-2007 Mike Me and my favorite son Mon-25-jun-2007 Mike Just wanted to say Congratulation Chris and Liz Gibson (The newlyweds)!
and
Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!
 Thu-21-jun-2007 Mike Genealogy in the information age *sigh* Genealogy in the information age is disappointing for all average Joe or Jane that use Windows, Linux, or Mac OSX :( Interfaces are hard to use. There are no good XML format standards. GEDCOM 5.5 is not scalable and built off some bad ideas. Some of the better saving formats are proprietary and don't work between programs.
Just for fun, I have created my own XML format that I like much better than GEDCOM XML 6.0 and GEDML, but if I'm the only person using it, well, not very useful.
Currently the only application I know that works on all three platforms is GRAMPS. Storage is good and accepts GEDCOM files. But.... As far as I'm aware, no one else uses their format, the interface is difficult to use, and not all that easy to install on Windows because of dependencies.
The partial answer-- I believe an Open Source application written in .net/mono would be the answer for this with a XML format that is more flexible than GEDCOM or GEDML.
Easier interfaces? That needs more study I think. Tue-19-jun-2007 Mike First wedding photo Here is the first wedding photo that I have recieved (Thanks Mom :) ) Our official ones may not be here for a little bit. I will post more or alert when I have some to put in my online photo album.
UPDATED 6AM June 20th
Here is a photo of our cake. Another thank you to Mom. Mon-18-jun-2007 Mike My Fathers Day I had a nice, quiet Fathers Day. In the morning Aaron and I went to the Heyworth Centennial Park to go Hiking [photo of Aaron] and have a picnic. I'm really glad Heyworth has such a great park for a small community. Later I grilled out on my new grill and I had my Fathers Day Dinner [photo of kids]. Lastly I opened my Fathers Day gifts including this spiffy tie [photo of tie] :) Sun-17-jun-2007 Mike Happy Fathers Day HAPPY FATHERS DAY DAD! :) Sat-16-jun-2007 Mike A good birthday I woke up this morning to singing and a specialty birthday cake. After eating cake in bed, I then got 38 pats on the butt from everyone in the house. I then opened Paige's present to me. A pirate ship! I wanted a fishing boat. Instead, here is a picture of me in the bathtub with my present. I then opened August's present to me. She just happened to know that I like Justin Temberlake [photo of CD]. Aaron got my a Sudoku game. Here is a picture of Aaron and I playing the game. Lastly, Anne gave me some cool Cubs pajamas :) Here is a picture of me in the kitchen with them holding the last of the cake. Mom and Dad called me and I opened my gifts from them while they were on the phone. I got sheet music and a tuner. The tuner is light years more advance than the last one I had. Not only does it recognize single strings, but will recognize whole chords when strummed. I finally got my dulcimer [photo of tuner] tuned and played with it. Later the Gibson gang all went to Clinton to eat at the Three Star Restaurant with Amy and Mark. I got a 'Computer Genius' coffee mug and Carlos Santana's Music CD, Cologne, and deodorant. Here is a picture of Amy and I at the Restaurant. Next, Anne, the kids and I went to Weldon Springs. The park was very busy so we went home and all got our swim suites on and went to McGraw park for some water fun. Fri-15-jun-2007 Mike A song for someone I was never a fan of Pink. Just thought she was so so. Today I stumbled on this song on a glass artist's site and thought it was fairly cool :)
Here is the video
Apparently Pink dose not like Bush. Tue-12-jun-2007 Mike While we were gone Here are some more scaled down photos (originally 1280 pixels wide - now 400 pixels wide) from my camera phone taken while we were away on vacation.
Photo of Paige playing at the water park
Photo of the baseball game at Wrigley Field. Cubs beat Atlanta braves 10-1.
Photo of Anne after the game standing out side of Wrigley Field by the statue of Harry.
Photo of Paige and August at the top of the Arch in St. Louis.
Photo of Aaron, August, Paige, and Anne outside by the Arch.
Photo of Anne, August, Aaron, and Paige walking away from the Arch.
Photo of August and Paige playing with a brass king cobra and her eggs at the St. Louis Zoo. Thu-07-jun-2007 Mike Taking a break on the honey moon Photo of Anne at the ball game. Cubs win on her birthday!
Photo of something Anne and I found humorous. Chicago Cop parks and leaves car not only in a no parking zone, but in front of a hydrant.
Photo of Anne at the Old Chicago Inn on Day 2.
Photo of me on Michigan Ave by a rare R2D2 Mail Box.
Photo of us saying bye Wrigley Field....
*Many* more photos will be posted in photo area. Sat-26-may-2007 Mike A whole bag of stuff #1
Paige and Anne have spent the last week recovering from their surgeries. Both are still a little sore, but much, much better. After Paige's tonsillectomy, her voice will remain a noticeably higher pitch (which I'm still getting familiar with :) )
#2
Don't have pancake mix? Everyone wants pancakes? I have a fair substitute... corn muffin mix. The directions say to make muffin mix, add one egg and 1/2 cup of 2% milk. For pancakes, add 3 eggs, 1 1/4 cups of 2% milk, and two cap fulls of vegetable oil. Mix till very rich and smooth.
#3
I have learned more programming languages since I was 10 than I can shake a stick at, but never Python. After a couple of days studying Python, I must say I'm impressed. Truly a geek's language. Object oriented and extremely flexibility. Thu-17-may-2007 Mike This week in baseball The Cubs continued this week with bits of promise while just hanging below .500 in wins. Unfortunately, after loosing two games with the Mets and now to face the White Sox in this weekend series, it is looking a little overcast.

Suffering a neck spasm this week, and missing two games due to it, Derek Lee continues to lead Major League baseball in batting average. Another strong year for Derek and as the Cubs keep learning, it can be difficult to win without him.

Aramis Ramirez hit a grand slam to help Carlos Zambrano gain a land slide victory over the Mets (10-1) on Tuesday. Ramirez leads the cubs in runs batted in and home runs. The area that Aramis lacks is consistency to pull for the team when no one else is.

An interesting note not related to the Cubs: Barry Bonds has been voted by fans as the least like-able player (including SF fans) and voted by MLB players as least friendly player. Information on this can be found at ABC, ESPN, SI, and other sports publications. So in a nut shell, the guy has been a great player since the begining, but enough of an ass that no one cares he is still making history. Sun-13-may-2007 Mike Happy Mothers Day! Happy Mothers Day! Fir-04-may-2007 Mike He is not shy I had to post this one from the Dem debates on 04/26/07 Sen. Mike Gravel
Funny. I'll give the guys +2 points on putting it all out there on how he feels.
 Fri-04-may-2007 Aaron My puzzles These are the first puzzles that I have made. Print them out and have fun.

Puzzle 1
Puzzle 1 text
Puzzle 2
Puzzle 2 text

Aaron

---
This is also Aaron's first post on my site :) ~mike Thu-26-apr-2007 Mike Hector the Dog - Part 1 Let me state first that I'm quite proud of Aaron. Aaron has just completed his first 'major' character role in a school play as Hector the Dog. Aaron told me about being if this play and that he had to practice 'talking like a dog'. Other than that, I really did not know anything else about it. I never saw Aaron practice his part at home and assumed he had a small part. Before his first performance (Grandparents day), he told me that he opened the play. Then I heard about how well he did from his grandparents, then I heard how well he did from the other children on his second performance.
I saw his third performance on Tuesday. He was great. He was in every part. He did not sing in this musical but he was the comedy relief throughout the performance. His timing was good, never missed a line or bark and the audience always laughed. He showed no signs of stage fright and never missed a queue. I was quite proud to be his father.
His grades for the play were as following:
   Play Participation    4/16/07  A+
   Play practice         04/18/07 A+
   Play practice         04/20/07 A+
   Play practice         04/23/07 A+
   Play performance      04/24/07 A+
His teacher wrote:
Aaron -
You were a little hesitant at first about being the dog but you practiced and practiced. Then for the performance you were FANTASTIC! You should be so proud of yourself. I am proud of you! Thank you for working so hard.

Miss Zimmerman
So I leave this post with a promise of pictures and video soon. :) Wed-11-apr-2007 Mike Another GIF slide show I received so much positive feed back on the Christmas GIF slide show I created, I created another one of Paige's birthday party. The slide show can be viewed here. If you like this format, I will post Easter photos this way also. Thu-05-apr-2007 Mike God in practical light Dr Collins Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., is the director of the National Human Genome Research Institute wrote on CNN:

"... I see DNA, the information molecule of all living things, as God's language, and the elegance and complexity of our own bodies and the rest of nature as a reflection of God's plan."

"..DNA provides the strongest possible proof of our relatedness to all other living things.

But why couldn't this be God's plan for creation?"

"I have found there is a wonderful harmony in the complementary truths of science and faith. The God of the Bible is also the God of the genome. God can be found in the cathedral or in the laboratory. By investigating God's majestic and awesome creation, science can actually be a means of worship." Sat-31-mar-2007 Mike Happy Birthday Paige Happy birthday Paige! My little girl is 4 years old.
Mon-26-mar-2007 Mike Skunks and Turtles
This Sunday at church, the pastor said everyone is either a skunk or a turtle. He then said skunks and turtles tend to marry. Anne and I looked at each other and laughed. We knew she was the skunk and I was the turtle. This morning I was going to google an image of a skunk and turtle and found this advice from Claudia Arp:

Do you control the remote, love to surf the Internet or habitually wait for your spouse to answer the phone? Do you like peace, hate conflict and avoid emotional issues?

Then you may be a turtle.

Or do you confront issues head-on? Are you an advice-dispenser and problem-solver? Do you hate silence, love having people around and get a rush from defending your point of view?

Then you may be a skunk.

If you're a turtle, there's a good chance you're married to a skunk - or vica versa. For some reason, these natural opposites have an affinity for each other.

If You're a Turtle :
1. Get in the habit of turning off the television, computer, VCR and so on.
2. Really listen. In other words, put down the book you're reading and make some eye contact.
3. Say, "Honey, would you like to go for a walk?"
4. Every day find a way to encourage your skunk spouse, including compliments and assurances of your love.
5. Make yourself vulnerable to your spouse. Share your real feelings.
6. Keep your promises.

If You're a Skunk :
1. Start your sentences with "I" instead of "You." Avoid absolute statements.
2. Resist the urge to criticize or give unsolicited advice.
3. Avoid discussing hot topics late at night or when you are tired.
4. Choose your battles carefully. Then approach your turtle spouse cautiously when broaching a sensitive subject.
5. Measure your words. Avoid flooding your spouse with too many details or repetition.
6. Look for the positive in your mate, and develop more compassion. Remember you don't always have to be right.
 Mon-19-mar-2007 Mike August's Birthday Aaron's and August's birthday photos are now in the online photo album.

August had a very good 2nd birthday. :) First we went to IHOP to have pancakes before church. After church, we went to my house to open gifts and eat cake and icecream. She had a fairly large 'hello kitty'cake. We then went to the zoo to enjoy many, many, animals that August referred to as 'kittys', 'doggies', and 'horseys'. Some animals, like reindeer, we understood how they could become a horse in her eyes. Or a seal was a 'fishy'. But other animals we could not put a finger on how she classified them. ;) Lastly, for super, Anne fixed August's favorite dinner; pot roast. Thu-15-mar-2007 Mike This world People are evil and bean-bag stuffing is evil. Thu-08-mar-2007 Mike Pizza Healthier Deep Dish Pizza with no bread crust?

4 ounces cream cheese or cream cheese substitute
2 eggs
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp garlic powder
2 cups 2% or ff shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup no sugar added pizza sauce
1 cup 2% or ff shredded mozzarella

pizza toppings of choice (like turkey based peperoni or sausage, mushrooms, onion, green pepper)

Preheat oven to 375. Beat together cream cheese and eggs until smooth. Add parmesan and spices, mix until smooth.

Spray oblong casserole dish (for thick) or 13x9 pan for thin crust. Sprinkle with the 2 cups cheese and pour egg mixture over and spread out into pan. Bake for 15 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes. Spread pizza sauce, toppings and remaining cheese. Return to oven, Bake until lightly brown and bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting. Enjoy! Tue-06-mar-2007 Mike Status of MASE Although I have not posted about MASE since August, I do occasionally work on the code. I continue working on the new network engine for MASE (I'm calling version 5). This engine is a total new approach like version 4 was. The remainder of the code remains the same with some additional functionality and logic. I hope soon to pay UHACC some money so that the UHACC CVS can be updated with all the new code. Hopefully soon I will have a new release that works with multiple clients that is much more flexible. Sun-04-mar-2007 Mike Blast from the past I met up with Tim O yesterday. He is an old friend from highschool. I had not seen him in almost 20 years. We got caught up on things, exchanged stories of the past and present, and talked about where the 'others' are in life. While talking, he handed me three poloroid photos that he had that he wanted me to see. It is hard to believe we once looked like this.
Here is a photo of Amy, Deana, and myself. The three of us visiting Tim at the hospital after he smashed both ankles.
Here is a photo of Tim and Tracy goofing around at her home.
Here is a photo of Dolores and I taken by Tim at our wedding.
 Thu-01-mar-2007 Mike Goodbye February! Goodbye February! I can't believe it is March already. I love March, April, and May. Winter should be ready to exit our lives soon and make room for spring :) Paige will no longer be a toddler as she turns 4 at the end of this month. August will no longer be a baby but a toddler as she turns 2 this month.

So I leave this post with something to remember February with:
 Wed-28-feb-2007 Mike The Unfortunate I just wanted to share with you:
There were an estimated 754,000 homeless people in the United States by a federal US organized person count conducted January 2005.1 That is far less than the 1% of the current 301,273,957 US population2, but still, three quarters of a million people is a large number.

This count does not take into account homeless people living in other circumstances such as motels or those "doubling up" in someone else's home. 3
What is important about that number is the fact that the report estimates that there are about 300,000 more people than available beds in shelters and transitional housing.

Additional info of those counted:

45% black
41% white
14% other

Significant:

24% of all adults in homeless shelters were disabled. That is about 180,960 people that most likely attribute an additional X factor to their homeless life.

How has this changed from the near past? Probably not much.

"The 2000 Census pegged the number of homeless people at 170,700, but it was widely considered an undercount. In 1996, the Urban Institute used data collected by the Census Bureau to estimate there were between 640,000 and 840,000." 4

1 Department of Housing and Urban Development
2 US census
3 CNN
4 Yahoo.
 Mon-26-feb-2007 Mike Happy Birthday Aaron! Happy 11th birthday Aaron! Spanked 11 times, pinched once, and shoved under the bed for good messure! :) Pictures of his birthday party soon.

For the time being.... Here is a picture of Aaron sitting by his cake at GodFather's Pizza (minus Gandalf, Frodo, and Sam cake figures):

Paige and August

 Wed-21-feb-2007 Mike Uncertainty I wish someone would ship me a bottle of certainty :)
http://putative.typepad.com/putative/2007/01/fedex_refuses_s.html

More stupidity from a post 9/11 world. Mon-19-feb-2007 Mike Sharing help desk knowledge Been on a tech call or a help desk call? Then you probably know what PEBKAC is. If you don't, it is an acronym which stands for "Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair". Very useful when a help desk call is actually logged.

Another word you need to know to be a real help desk hero:

power-cycle

This is a standard diagnostic technique. Involves removing power from a printer/workstation/server and reapplying it. This will usually clear most error conditions and allow one to resume normal operations.

I don't get *too* many of these, but the conversation might go:

Customer: My computer froze when I started Internet Explorer...
Me: Did you try power cycling it?
Customer: Try what?
Me: Turn off the computer by holding down on the power button, then turn the computer back on.
Customer: But I'll lose all my work!
Me: Oh, just trust Microsoft's auto save feature..

OK, enough of that, now the next term: ID-Ten-T Form

So...for real problem callers, there is a special form to fill out, the ID-Ten-T form or (ID10T Form).
Ok, that one is as old as the hills... :P Wed-14-feb-2007 Mike Happy Heart Day!
I hope *EVERYONE* has a great Valentines Day! (even if you are still snowed in :) ) Tue-06-feb-2007 Mike Linux is so alien Taking a break from fighting with the centeralized campus backup system, I found this funny cartoon today from www.Dilbert.com
Released Jan 25, 2007
I find this strip funny from both perspectives :) And no, I have never run into this problem personally.

 Mon-05-feb-2007 Mike Now that football is done Now that football is done (poor Bronco's, poor Saints, and the poor, poor Bears. :(), I can go back to focusing my attention to Baseball! :) I will be honest, I really was not excited with changes in what the Bears and the Broncos had to offer before this last season. After all said and done though, the Bears did better than I expected and the Broncos did worse than I expected. But I am excited with what the Cubs have to offer this coming season. Offensively anyway.

Fist, the cubs have the last 3 season's best offensive players back; Ramirez and Lee. If Ramirez's season is as good as the last 4, we should count on a lot of RBIs and homers from him. Derrek Lee should be 100% physically healthy this season. The question is, can Lee be as mentally sharp as he was 2 years ago when he had the league's MVP and the hottest bat in baseball? Jones did not have the season everyone expected him to have last year. Will he come around this year? If he does it would make a huge difference. Then there is Blanco and Barrett who have been the X factors in the offense of the last few seasons, often coming in big on key moments. lastly, here is something to get excited about. The Cubs have signed Soriano who hit .277 with 46 homers, 41 doubles and 41 stolen bases for the Washington Nationals last season. He should be the key factor to make the Cubs more competitive in our division.

Fingers crossed. Fri-02-feb-2007 Mike Get it done right First, Happy birthday Mark!

Have you heard the saying, "You get what you pay for". Not always true. It maybe that you get what the service provider pays their employees.

In 2006 I got a flat tire when I ran over a broken bottle a student had thrown in the ISU parking lot. I took the car in to get 4 new tires to Walmart. Oddly after getting 4 new tires, my car kept pulling to the right. So I took the car in 3 more times and they could not fix it. I basically learned to drive with the car always pulling; continually wondering how this was wearing my tread on the tires. I took the car in to another local place to check the tires and alignment they could not get it right either. Yesterday I took my car in the local Toyota dealership to rotate and inspect the tires, oil change, new brake pads, check belts, and all that good stuff. Guess what? My vehicle drives true again!!! I don't care if I have free tire rotations for life at Walmart, I will never go there again.

The Toyota Dealership also told me that I had the wrong coolant in my vehicle! I had just had my coolant system purged by Jiffy Lube 3000 miles ago. Doh! So I had that extra expense because of Jiffy Lube. I guess I will not be taking my car back there either.

The most interesting thing about this experience is they did not charge me more for their services, in fact, less. Lesson noted. Wed-31-jan-2007 Mike Paige, Aaron, August Just wanted to write how proud of Paige I am and how she is becoming a big girl. :) Paige knows why ;)

Aaron is still sick. One week now. His throat looks bad, hopefully will get better soon. He has been to the Dr twice and is on medication |:/

On another note, the upstairs bedroom is almost done with the painting (egg white and yellow). August's and Paige's furniture will be in Friday afternoon. Fri-26-jan-2007 Mike HDTV a success I purchased a Philips amplified antenna from Walmart to try to get some HD on my new television. This project was a success. Why?

(A) In fact it was a success despite the fact I had the gain all the way up (and still is; the manual states don't turn the gain all the way up as it can reduce quality and reduce reception) and I still received plenty of stations on a cloudless sky that did not reflect any waves back to earth.

(B) A success because with full gain I received 24 stations; 12 analog and 12 digital channels (I threw out most of the analog). Additionally I was able to get stations I have been wishing to watch that local cable and satellite companies did not wish to carry; like channel 17 with their additional digital weather station. If I could obtain 5 additional channels (CNN,WGN,ESPN,Comedy channel, and Commcast Sports) it would be perfect.

(C) Lastly it was a success because I feel fairly confident that with the antenna placed under the TV (small and hardly noticeable), I can now watch the Super Bowl in HD. :) Wed-24-jan-2007 Mike Pursuit of a HD Super Bowl The Bears made it to the Super Bowl! Da' Bears! Personally I did not think it would happen, but it did, and I'm glad. So as it turns out, I'm having company for the Super Bowl because I have a HDTV. The problem is I don't have a HD signal. I called Dish Network and they want a considerable amount of money to upgrade per month. Of course if I was a new customer, I would get it at the same price I'm paying now. Hmph. I think I will be leaving Dish Network. Anyway, CBS channel 31 (WMBD) is carrying the Super Bowl. They are located in Peoria. My goal is to go to Walmart and get an antenna booster and watch the game on HD thro