So today in the good state of MO we got hit with a snowstorm that has been going on for a full day now.  I was fortunate enough to have advanced in my career enough to where I now have a position that allows me to work from home on days like today.  I no longer have to risk life and limb just because a boss says I do.  It did get me thinking about a few things though.

All day long they have had school closings at the bottom of the screen for NBC.  I get having it on last night and this morning but when I was watching the news at noon and it was still there I had to wonder why.  Are their kids or parents checking the noon news to find out if their school is closed.  Do they not know at that point?  I can only imagine some poor kid freezing at a bus stop all morning till his parents  see the noon news and pick him up to take him home.  Probably have to chisel the ice off of him first.

What does it take too for a place to worry about it’s associates safety.  I understand some places need to be staffed such as helpdesk areas because you need people to take calls but when do you need to find a better way to have people available without risking safety?  Is there a better way?

It also got me thinking that this is one pro to school.  It usually closes easily and if your in college you can just say screw it I am not going in.  No one can stop you and the worst a teacher can do is threaten a lower grade.  I would sometimes take a lower grade. 

Anyways those were my thoughts about bad weather days.  Do you have to go in to work no matter the weather?  Did you ever skip school because of weather?

When I got Married I quickly realized I would need to get creative with Gift Ideas.  Let me explain why.

In December we have Christmas, January is a month off, February is Valentines Day, March is my wife’s birthday, and April is our Anniversary.  Whew!  I have one month off but then 4 months close together of gift giving.  Here are some ideas I have come up with though to handle this otherwise difficult situation.

One of the first ideas I had was to take my wife to Sephora.  Not to buy anything but to try out perfume and see what she likes.  I then kept a note of anything she liked so that I would have plenty of Perfume to buy for her without wondering if she would like it or if it would smell good on her skin. Even better is that if she runs out of a particularly favorites scent ( she usually does ) I can re-buy it for her and she loves it as much as a branch new scent.  This is the idea that has the potential to never end.

I also listen carefully to her.  My Wife is very vocal and while she is never hinting at gift ideas she always gives ideas.  Recently she commented that she needed more bras for instance.  I am not going to even try and figure out what she wants, the sizes etc so I got her a Victoria’s Secret gift card and she got to pick out everything herself.  She was ecstatic and I got brownie points for listening to a problem and then offering a solution.

There is also the home made solutions.  One Valentines Day I got a giant red poster board, cut it out in the shape of a heart, and on one side I wrote my own letter and on the other side I posted some of my favorite notes she wrote me so she would know they fill my heart.  It cost me very little but had a very profound effect.  Get creative and think outside the box.  The mere fact you tried is enough to make her go wild.

If you have the money then have flowers delivered to her at work.  Not only will she be completley surprised but then she gets to show it off to everyone she works with making you the hero of the day.  When you get home and see her she will be beaming with happiness and pride that you did something so nice.  This is a big one that has never failed.

Finally there is the all to easy Amazon Wish List.  Sometimes I buy right off of it and sometimes I use it as a guide to find things she may not know about but would love.  It’s easy so while it will make her happy, be careful with it because it can also say you did not put much thought into it. Never a bad idea though if your not sure what your significant other wants.  The most important thing though is to just listen and you will find that gift ideas never run low.  By paying attention to her interest and hobbies I can come up with plenty of ideas on how to make a gift out of it. 

What have you done that has worked as a great gift idea?

I have thought about this and why I crave Pizza Hut so often.  You see it’s easy to see why when you look back.

When I was a kid we had the book it program at school.  For those of you who are not sure what this is it is basically an incentive program setup to get kids to read.  Here is some more information on Book It.  I loved pizza as a kid ( who didn’t though right? ) and did not mind reading.  My parents were both avid readers and always read to me as a kid.  So the teacher would set some goals of what we needed to read and if we met that goal by the end of the month then you would get a coupon for a free personal pan pizza.  There was not a month that went by where I did not meet this goal.  In fact at some point I get a medal because in all the years I was involved with book it I never missed a goal.  To me there was no better incentive than a delicious pan pizza all to myself.  I would even remind my parents about my free coupon when it was on the fridge.  I could never wait.  That was how at a young age Pizza Hut was associate with Reward to me.  More than that it became associated with warm feelings.  I worked hard, achieved a goal, made my parents proud, and I get a pizza to enjoy.

As if all that was not enough I grew up in the age of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  Can anybody tell me what pizza chain was in the TMNT video game on the NES system.  That’s right it was Pizza Hut.  Now we have tossed into the mix the coolness factor where the Turtles and Pizza Hut are linked.  The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles eat at Pizza Hut so I must too.  Anybody remember the original VHS copy of the first live action Turtles movie as well?  There was a pizza hut commercial before the movie played.  It was the one where the kid was bored in left field but then the ball comes out to him, and he is freaked.  He closes his eyes and puts his glove in the air and catches the ball winning his team the game.  They all cheer and congratulate him and then celebrate at Pizza Hut.  I am 25, and have not seen that VHS in at least 15 years.  I still remember it vividly though.

This trend of Pizza Hut as good and a reward followed me through out my life.  When I was in high school my parents would occasionally go out of town, which meant I was stuck at home and could not have anyone over.  I did once and got busted because the neighbors are spies.  Anyways what I would do instead is rent movies, have soda, and you guessed it order Pizza Hut.  Again this was a way of comforting myself and making a bad situation good.  I got a whole pizza to myself and watch horror movies no one else would like.

When In College my roomate and I who lived on the same dorm floor and then moved into a house together where we lived for 2 years would order Pizza Hut to have fun. That’s right we didn’t have much money so Pizza Hut would make us salivate like Coyotes who had not eaten in days.  Coyotes who now spot a wounded animal that they can take.  It’s insane I realize but when you can’t afford much Pizza Hut can be a real treat. 

So how do you break this chain?  How do you convince yourself you do not want something that you really really do want even though you are fully aware that it is terrible for you?  My whole life this chain has been a reward and something to enjoy but it should not continue this way.  Do you have something like this for yourselves?

This is one I really had to think about.  You see I am a Tech Nerd.  I have my bachelors degree in Computer Science and continue to work in my field.  I get to play with, break, and then develop troubleshooting steps for new technology as my job.  I always want the latest and greatest in gadgets even though I can almost never afford it.  With that in mind the choice seemed obvious.

It’s my laptop of course.  It is so multi-functional and without it I cannot pay my bills ( I give a hoot and e-bill…okay so it doesn’t rhyme ) and of course use it to access Xanga.  This is my portal to so much and allows me a creative outlet in so many ways that I would lose my mind without my laptop.  This is all on the basis that the Internet is not a gadget but a tool used in conjunction with the laptop.  I use this everyday and it helps calm my mind down after racing at work through so many problems, emergencies, and other daily situations.  Tomorrow morning myself and others I have been working with are meeting with the CIO of our company ( it is a major financial firm worth billions and let’s leave it at that ) along with other senior directors.  It is to demo the video solution we are delivering to our financial advisors.  You do something like that and not feel a bit wired.  If it wasn’t for my laptop and Xanga I don’t know what I would do.  This is the gadget I could not live without.

Would you consider the internet a gadget?  Why or why not and if not then what defines a gadget?

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As a kid living at home I was not interested in the least in cooking.  I mean I can but just did not want to.  As I got older though and began to watch Food Network I found that cooking can be fun and enjoyable.  That network actually excited me into cooking.  Since then I have found some truly delicious recipes that I thought I would share with you today.  Here are two delicious recipes for shrimp that I recommend you all try.

About a year and a half ago I was diagnosed with Graves Disease.  What that means is that my thyroid was pumping out hormones so fast that it was uncontrollable.  Prior to being told this I never knew what a thyroid did or what it’s purpose was.  Once it was explained to me by my doctor though I began to understand the numerous strange things I could not explain.

You see what drove me to see the doctor was a few different things that just began to click on my mind.  I began to pay attention more to what I ate, and weighing in at only 180 ( I am 6 foot tall for reference ) but eating McDonald’s two or three times a week did begin to seem unusual.  Then I noticed that if I was on my feet for a half hour or more I would get faint, sometimes even throwing up.  I also noticed that I was hot all the time.  I could walk outside in the dead of winter without a jacket.  Not for a long time but still.  So I went to the doctor.

He did some test and when the blood results came back it looked like every hormone possible was out of whack in one way or the other.  It was simply unbelievable.  Now that we knew that we needed to begin treatment.  How do you treat a thyroid gone wild you ask?  Well this is how.

I needed to see a specialist.  They no longer cut out your thyroid but instead treat it with radiation.  It begins like this.  They hold this machine to your neck for 10 minutes or so.  You have to sit as still as possible for it to be effective.  Once it is complete they give you a very low dose of radiation to see how much of it is absorbed by your thyroid. This takes 24 hours though so you go home and come back the next day.  The next day they hold that machine to your neck again and now they can tell how much of the radiation was absorbed into your thyroid which helps them determine how much or how little you need.  Mine absorbed a shocking 76.7% of the radiation which the doctor had never seen in all of his years of doing this.  Off the charts to say the least.  Then they take you for an Xray of sorts and see the size of your thyroid.  Mine turned out to be two to three times the normal size.  It was because of all this that I needed only a low dose of radiation.  How do you take radiation though?  Well in this case it was through a straw.  Yeah that’s right you drink radioactive liquid.  For the next three days after that you cannot be around people, babies, or small animals.  I could have actually hurt babies or small animals if they got near me.  That is freaky to think about!  I also had to eat all my meals off of paper or plastic products because the radiation comes out through your saliva glands.  I had to sleep on the couch while my wife slept in the bed so that I would not harm her.  You think it ends there right?  Nope!

Now that they have treated your thyroid you still need to get those hormones that your body normally produces.  See if they did their job right you should not have a thyroid gland anymore and so begins the hormone replacement pills.  It’s nothing but guess work folks.  They put you on a dosage, you take it for a month, and then go back to the doctor for more blood work.  They then decide if it is correct or not based on your hormone levels.  This can take a while.  The worst part is that once they think they have it, well your levels can still get thrown off over time.  The biggest frustration is that because of this I have put on 50 pounds and nothing I do makes a lasting impact.  Until they get my TSH hormone correct ( still a work in progress to this day ) I am going to struggle with some weight gain.  Now it appears to have plateued at least but I would like to lose it. 

So there it is folks.  I am writing this becuase nobody really understands what a thyroid disease can do to you.  I know I sure didn’t until having gone through this mess.  However now you do too.  Just info I wanted to share.

While I have nothing against cats I am most assuredly a dog person.  The reason is because of the joy that they bring to life.  There is nothing so great as coming home to a dog who is overjoyed that you are back.  To see them so happy and playful makes even the most miserable days so much better.  There is nothing like having a puppy fall asleep in your lap as he sighs with contentment.  To me a dog brings more joy to life than any other animal can.  A dog is reminder to love often, unconditionally, and always to forgive.  I can’t imagine my life without my puppy bailey.

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My Scariest nightmare is something that is easy to remember.  You don’t forget the ones that wake you up sweating and screaming.

I was walking around the mall but no one else was around.  It was eerie as it appeared that all the stores were open and there was light everywhere.  I turned a corner and there was a line of guys walking towards me in a menacing manner.  I turned around and tried to get away.  I was able to run unlike in other nightmares where everything moves in slow motion.  However as I was running away everything went black. It stayed black for some time and when I was able to see something again I was back in the mall but I did not feel like myself.  I felt more like a third party external viewer, removed from the whole thing, and yet I was drawn to the trash can.  Inexplicably I could not look at or go anywhere but to the trash can.  As I got next to it the lid flipped open and inside was my body, chopped limb from limb.  On top of the bloody, gory, carnage that used to be me was my head and the face that shown was a terrified horrific image.   Half of my face was cartilage and bone with the mouth twisted in a disgusting fashion that I would later see again in ” The Ring “. 

To me there is nothing more terrifying then to see yourself dead.  In this case not just dead but mutilated and there was nothing you could do about it.

I just blogged about my scariest nightmare to enter The Uninvited Scariest Nightmare Contest for 1,000 credits. You can earn free credits too! Brought to you by The Uninvited – In Theaters January 30th.

There have been many compliments given to me through out my life time and all of them are remembered.  Here is one that sticks out in my mind every time.

I was in college taking 18 credits hours that semester so I could graduate in 4 years and I was working 25-30 hours a week at Family Video as well so I could have money for food.  Needless to say I was going out of my mind with all the work and stress I was under.  This was a regular Friday night at Family Video aka we were packed and had lines that never seemed to end with people wanting to rent videos.  I was checking some videos out for this mother and her autistic son.  He whispers to his mom and she politely tells me that her son thinks I look like Elvis which is a HUGE compliment coming from him.  I can understand what he meant because I was unable to keep my sideburns in check so they had gotten long and flared out like Elvis.  Well it stopped me in my tracks and I smiled as I had not received a compliment in I don’t even know how long.  I thanked them both profusely for it as it completely made my week.  I had been dealing with so many upset, impatient, and sometimes rude customers on top of my school work, tests, midterms, finals etc. and they stopped to give me a compliment like that.  I will never forget it for as long as I live.

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One of the biggest lessons I learned in College was to never take a low level class taught by a PhD Professor.  Let me explain why.

I took a class my first semester and final semester of college in the one and two thousand levels.  Both classes had the same results.  The topic was interesting but the teachers took them too seriously.  What I mean is this.  They thought nothing of assigning two to three papers a week.  That’s right a week.  It’s almost like they fail to understand that you have other classes that also assign homework.  They also are extremely picky about what you write about, how you write it, and what format it is in.  Trust me if you think you are a good writer then ask a PhD go over your paper and then see for yourself.  They live to tear paper to shreds.  I have a theory about this and I have labeled it PhD Rage.

It goes like this.  You have an individual who worked their butts off writing more than any person should getting ripped to pieces by their professor.  This can go on for many many years.  Once they are done with this and earn their degree they are under the impression that this is now normal.  then they go on to teach low level courses at a college where they do not hold tenure.  Imagine how that must feel to work so hard for a prestigious degree only to teach at a freshmen or sophomore level.  It makes them insane so they now have their students write papers like they were required to do when writing for the Thesis.  Now they get to tear someone’s paper apart instead of the other way around.  Suddenly you take what could have been a very interesting course such as Sexuality and Spirtuality or Who am I: A course to find out what you want to do with the rest of your life and suck any and all enjoyment out of it.  So for anybody in College or about to enter College heed this advice.  No matter the class, no matter the subject, if it is not required for your degree then stay away from PhD taught courses.  You can thank me later.