Jethro's World

My busy week has turned into a busy month... so my weblog has been neglected.

I had about half a day to relax when Steph and the kids were up in Canada, but the rest of the time I've kept busy with things picking up at the box factory, doing odd jobs around the place, and doing a little work on the church's new video upgrades.

Next Tuesday, the 26th, is Steph's thyroid surgery. She is understandably nervous, and is definitely not thrilled about having her neck cut open, but I will be glad when the cancer is removed from her body. She is scheduled to be in the hospital for two nights following the surgery. Everything seems to be in order for next week... childcare is planned, meals are going to be delivered to us, an extra set of hands will be around to help with Steph's recovery -- thanks to some very thoughtful friends and family.

That's it for now... Steph has pictures from Canada to download to the computer, so maybe I'll do a photo entry this weekend...

Posted by Jeff at 9:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

If you are driving down the highway and a truck kicks up a rock and cracks your windshield, and that rock was not part of a load being hauled by that truck, then it is not the truck driver's responsibility to pay for your new windshield. It's just part of the risk you take driving on the road, and should be considered part of the cost of owning a vehicle -- pay for it yourself.

END OF STORY.

Posted by Jeff at 10:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

It's easier to eat cake with a spoon than it is to eat ice cream with a fork.

Posted by Jeff at 1:24 PM | Permalink

So you know how in kids' books the animals are always eating grass covered with 'sweet morning dew'... well, my question is this...

Who in their right mind was eating grass at the crack of dawn and figured out that the morning dew was sweet?

Posted by Jeff at 9:34 PM | Permalink

I was awakened last night by the sound of what I thought was a WWII era bomber. I quickly ran to the window to discover that the aircraft in question was not a bomber, but some strange space-going craft; the likes of which I have only seen on Star Wars. As the spacecraft circled around the neighborhood, it suddenly lost altitude and slammed into a grove of trees; sending a huge fireball into the air.

I quickly jumped into my car to investigate what had happened; but before I could get close, I was met with a strange force that would let me go no further. From the center of the crash site came a purple-hued energy field with such heat that I was forced to duck under the dashboard to keep from being incinerated. The radiating heat was almost unbearable, but at least I was still alive... and then everything went black.

I woke up in my bed this morning wondering if it was all a dream. One moment I'm in my car battling some alien force, and the next minute I'm waking up in my bed. I decided to go out into the back yard to investigate further, and everything seemed normal... that is until Noah noticed something unusual on the ground. He bent down and picked up a piece of red-hot metal and instantly burned his hands. The metal must have come from some sort of aircraft wreckage... so was it real? Or just a dream?

I had to go ask some of my neighbors if they had experienced anything strange that night. Mike, who lives next door, was standing out in front of his garage, smoking a cigarette -- as he usually is. I asked him if he had heard anything about a UFO crashing in the area, or if I had only dreamt it. He replied, "Look at your windshield. It's all melted; of course it really happened."

Just then a swarm of emergency vehicles went flying past our houses. As I turned to the east to follow them, I noticed a crowd of people gathering along the sides of the street; trying to catch a glimpse of what was happening. Lasers began flashing all around us -- all emanating from the point of impact. Police and military personnel returned fire, but their bullets were no match for the laser beams shooting out of the serpentine cannons that rose above the crash sight. I couldn't believe my eyes... I was witnessing The War of the Worlds in my own backyard. Just then an 'army man' with a rocket pack and a large machine gun swooped in and took out the alien being... and it was all over.

And then I really woke up. I'm not sure if I have ever had a dream within a dream before... surely none that I have remembered so vividly. It makes for a strange feeling when you really do wake up...

Posted by Jeff at 8:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Well, since Tammy thinks it's been a long time since I did an entry, I will give a brief update.

After a second full week of taking Robitussin, I decided to give it a rest, with the hopes that I would get better. It was obvious things weren't improving after another week (bringing the life of my chest cold/cough to 4 weeks), so I went to the doctor again yesterday morning. She thought I was well beyond the average 10-14 day duration of a typical cold/flu virus, so she actually prescribed some antibiotics, some Robitussin with codeine, and an inhaler. Now hopefully I can kick this nasty ailment.

Other than that, we had a nice time at Thanksgiving (my mom hosted this year). We had a wonderful meal and a nice time visiting. My cousin Nick came this year, as did Kris' sister Tiffany... it was nice to have a different mix of people for a change. We played with the kids quite a bit, and then ended up playing a few games... Apples to Apples seemed to be the favorite.

The day after Thanksgiving, I put up the Christmas tree (and spent close to an hour tracking down a burnt out bulb). Then I headed to Canby to get dog food and a new bookcase for Noah's room. Noah 'helped' me put the bookcase together, and then we loaded it with his books. I'm sure I could have put it together a lot faster without his 'help', but he wanted to help so badly that I just had to let him.

Noah's New Bookcase (Dark Walnut Finish)

Saturday morning, Roger and I installed a new home theater system for some friends from church. It turned out very nice. When I got home from that, I had just enough time to put up the outdoor Christmas lights, and then run to the hardware store (with Noah) to get some replacement bulbs. I've never figured out how I can put the Christmas lights away with all of them working, and then pull them out 11 months later with 5-10 burnt out bulbs.

Saturday night I went and played some cards at my friend Sabino's house. I think I stayed up a little too late though, because I felt miserable by the time Sunday morning rolled around.

So there you go Tammy, an update of my not-so-exciting, lung-hacking life. I just hope these antibiotics work so I won't be barking like a seal when we have the Roth gathering at your house here in a couple weeks.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go take some more nausea inducing drugs...

Posted by Jeff at 10:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

While investigating a link from JD's Miscellaneous Flotch, I discovered a great website for converting just about any unit of measurement you can think of: ConvertIt.com.

I was reading about the 30,000 Calorie Sandwich, and wanted to convert 152 teaspoons of canola oil to cups. For those who want to know, that is just over 3 cups... I'm guessing he deep fried something in that, as I can't figure out how you could put 3 cups of canola oil on a sandwich.

I will be adding ConvertIt.com to my Odds & Ends section forthwith.

Posted by Jeff at 10:35 AM | Permalink

Some of you may have noticed the link to Charlie FM on my sidebar (under Odds & Ends). Charlie FM is Portlands newest radio station, and they claim to play everything. While they don't quite play everything, they do play a much wider variety of music than any other station in Portland. They also don't have any DJ's... just a few prerecorded messages now and then that are often quite amusing.

Well, the other night, after taking Noah trick-or-treating, we were driving home with the radio at a low volume (and of course, it was on Charlie). It was at this time that the following exchange occurred:

Steph: Hey, I guess Charlie is alright after all.
Me: Why do you say that?
Steph: Because they're playing Michael Bolton. [Turns up radio]
Me: They do play everthing, you know.
[Song ends]
Charlie FM voice: Counting down the top 10 scariest songs of all time, on Charlie FM. Song number 8...
[Begin next Michael Bolton song]
[Process repeated until 10 Michael Bolton songs have been played]

That has to be the funniest thing I've heard in all of my years of listening to the radio... I was laughing so hard that I had trouble staying on the road. Steph seemed a little offended at first, but even she admitted that it was pretty darn funny.

By the way, if anyone is interested, we have a Michael Bolton CD for whoever will take it... it's the perfect gift for the Holidays. :-) I tried to give it away at our garage sale, but nobody would take it...

Posted by Jeff at 1:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)