Well, I'm back

That's right, I'm back. I know I haven't blogged in a while, but who has the time with a four year old running around? Things around the homestead are doing fine, both of our female goats had kids over the last few days, so now our heard has doubled. Farm is just a busslin.
Getting excited about magic again, that's because the Pacific Coast Association of Magicians is having their convention in Seattle in 2012. I have already paid my registration, and as soon as I can, I'll be booking the hotel room. I know it's still a year out but I like to have my ducks in a row so I don't have to worry about it. It's gonna be a long year.

Snowed In

What a week!!! There was a lot, and I mean A LOT of of snow over the weekend, my car is stuck in the driveway,as is my wife's truck. the roads are icy and it's below freezing. We ain't going anywhere till this stuff melts. That makes things difficult at work as I really can't afford to miss three days of work with Christmas coming. I did get most of my shopping done last month.... ONLINE. I am not going anywhere near a mall after, well, NOW!
I know it has been a while since my last blog, depression has been really getting to me, haven't felt like much of anything the last few weeks, and I mean ANYTHING. Maybe I'm lazy too. I have dozens of magic books and DVDs I haven't even touched yet. These were from some conventions and swap meets I have been to over the years. Last week I bought a really nice set of linking rings from my good buddy Tim. I have been drooling over these for some time, so when he offered them for sale, I snapped them up!! Tim is a good guy and showed me several magic effects while we were at the restaurant, a bit of overload at the time. I wish I could hang out with him more often.

I Need to Get it Back Together.....NOW!

It's been a bit since my last post, haven't felt like doing much of anything as of late. I new to get back into the game magic wise, my skills in sleight of hand are deteriorating, I am forgetting routines I used to know well, I need to make time to practice, I need to make time to exercise. The only exercise I get is playing air soft once a month, the only magic I am around is the monthly club meetings.
I did do a paying show for a birthday party last month, I was lazy and just stretched a buskers set to 30 minutes,but they didn't know. They loved the show, it was hard for to be motivated to get out to do the show. I think this weekend I will go thru my videos and find an Ambitious Card routine and work on that as well as the Tarbary Rope act and work on the sleights I have studied Harry Anderson's Three Card Monarch, I want to do that at the next meeting.

VACATION.... ABOUT F%$#@ING TIME

Yes, I am finally on vacation, and it's about time. I am still bitter about work but that will fade in a day or so, it is nice to get away from that place. Sometimes that place feels like a cancerous tumour that can't be removed. The work it self isn't so bad and it wouldn't be bad at all if the folks I worked with cared about the place and would actually do their jobs. Another thing is the "Employee of the Month" thing we have, I could care less if I get this, but it's the way they give it out. Other employees are voting on who should get this "honor" so it's more of a popularity contest than a "who does their job" contest. This should be based on how well you do your job, and being in on time. I know I won't get this because I believe you should get your work done first then jerk around and I'm an ass about it. But any way, I have 15 paid days off, but I am split them up. I am taking 5 this month, counting the weekends before and after that makes for 9 days off. I am looking forward to snuggling with my wife for 9 nights, not having to rush to get stuff done at night so I can leave for work on time. Most of all, I am looking forward to spending the entire day with my wife and son. I am also taking 5 days in July and splitting the rest over the rest year and I really need it.
I spent Friday doing a show for a school assembly at Elk Plain Elementary School. They wanted a 20 min show, so I figured an extended street show set would be perfect....until I saw it was the entire school and staff, there was about 450 people there and I was thinking"What did I get myself into?" " How will a street show meant for a few people go over for an entire school?" I'll tell ya.... It went over freaking GREAT!!!!! I said screw it , just do it. I had them hooked from the first sponge ball vanish into the card tricks and KILLED THEM WITH THE CUPS AND BALLS!!!!
Sunday, I took the family to Wild Waves/Enchanted Village for a day of sun and fun and it was a perfect day. I bought season passes for the family back in February for 49.99 each, almost 50% off the regular price. It wasn't too hot or cool, the water was heated to a perfect temperature and the place was dead. There were no lines for anything the entire day!! The only down side was because of some changes in the water park area, the only activities my 3 year old son Andrew could do were Hook's Lagoon and the wave pool, but he still had fun in the water. When he finally went on the dry rides, all he wanted to do was drive the little cars in a circle, he would ride, go around, get back on and do it again. we did this for over an hour. It's O.K. this was meant to be a fun day for him.
It is an exciting week for me, my wives' birthday and oldest sons high school graduation is this week. My wife has hinted that she would like her rotor tiller fixed as a present,so that takes care of that. My sons' graduation present is a different story, I have no idea what to get him. I will figure it out.

I don't want it to get here too fast, but I am excited about this weekend, I will be performing at Meeker Days in Puyallup, WA. Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Hopefully the tipping will be better this year. Looks like the weather is gonna be nice this year and hopefully there will be lots of people there this year.

Fathers' day is Sunday, my wife, bless her, asked me what I would like to do, well I am performing all day at Meeker Days that day but we could have breakfast at the Original Pancake House. These guys make some killer pancakes!!!

Grrrrr!!!!

Sometimes ya just gotta wonder, " Is there some kind of force that is out to get you?", a favorite place of mine, Tacoma Tactical Air soft, was shut down by the city. Turns out there was some issues with the building, no fire alarm, sprinklers and some other issues. They are moving to a new location in Fife, but it will be a few weeks before anyone can play. They have to rebuild EVERYTHING they have build in the first building at the new location. You would have thought the city of Tacoma would have inspected the building first! Anyway there are trying to raise some money to make the move faster, I think I will go there and pay for some stuff I ordered early and see if that will help them out.
I do have a 4 day work week, Saturday is the D-Day scenario game at Operation Paintball in Graham, so I took Friday off. Although I am not in shape for an all day war, I am looking forward to this. I do have 3 weeks of paid time off coming, but because of the shift I work, I have to split it up so I can do some fun stuff with the family.
I really wish something close to Summer would get here, I have 3 season passes to Wild Waves I can't use until it warms up, I can handle swimming in this weather, my wife and kid can't.
I am feeling burnt out magic wise, I want to learn new stuff and work on the old stuff,but I don't feel like it. I have a DVD from L&L Publishing on the Ambitious Card coming in, I do want to really work on that effect.
I have shows coming up and don't want to mess them up, especially the busking. I will be at Meeker Days again this year, busking, I didn't get the Kids stage this year, again, this year the stage went to Steve, the pretty good. The city of Puyallup says what I do is too small for the kids stage, I don't do big illusions, however, Steve's show is too big for their stage. He does do a great show and I know he can modify the show to fit their stage, but he will have to leave out several big parts of his show. There other down side is he got the worst time slot to get, the dreaded 8pm slot, the festival ends at 9pm on Saturday. I will be there to watch his show and be there for support, sometimes folks don't know when they are supposed to clap ya know.

I Know It's Been a While....

It has been a while since my last post, the last few weeks I haven't felt like doing anything other than sleep. It may be a side effect of the meds, maybe I am in a rut, I have made an appointment with my doctor to see what's going on. Before things were going down hill a bit, the family and I did have some fun, going to the Spring Fair and Demolition derby. I really got to pull my head out of my ass, I have a paintball D-Day scenario game, the Roy rodeo, and I will be busking at Meeker Days. I need to get into my den and PRACTICE!! my routines or I won't make shit there. I also have some stuff I hope to sell there, really easy magic tricks for kids. I have about 150.00 invested in those tricks, I hope to at least double my money.

Now Where and WTF???

Things have been up and down the last few months, I posted some time ago what my daughter did with the cell phone that I was paying for. This was October and she hasn't spoken to me since, I think she is being unreasonable, she ran up the charges, she should have to pay for those charges. That was the second time her phone was shut off and I told her it would not come back on, she did finally pay for the charges. The phone stayed off though. She was also upset that I didn't save for her college. I haven't exactly been a great spot to do that, I made a mistake several years ago that cost me my freedom, and left me with some pretty sizable fines, and being where I was, I couldn't pay child support. The state is like the Mob, they don't care what your situation, it's like they say in one of my favorite movies, "Goodfellas" "Fuck you pay me".
I worked two jobs for almost two years to pay the back child support, fines, and the cost of court supervision. I worked my ass off to dig out of a hole, and after rebuilding a life she sticks her hand out. At this point I'm glad I didn't give money, I found out that she got a nice sum of money from her mom and is just blowing it on every thing but school!! I say if she wants to go to school so bad, join the Service or get a job. I won't coddle her, but now what??

New Medication Working?

I have been on a medication called Abilify for the last few weeks ,my mood seems better, I have motivation to do stuff. I just need the time, there are so many effects I want to learn and practice, I don't know where to start. Working on the Rings, Cups and Balls, Thumb Tips, Ambitious Card and who knows what, I have been working on these things at work when I have a bit of down time.
I just got some cool stuff in the mail today, L&L Publishing had a special, 8 Dai Vernon DVD and his book for 175.00, that's too good a deal to pass up. This company has had some great deals as of late, so I'm building up my DVD collection. I need to take a break and stay off that site for a while.
Went out and played Air soft late Sunday night with my stepson, Jasper's coworkers from Best Buys Geek Squad. Oh boy!! These guys had no clue how to handle a weapon that is not in a video game.... this was a blood bath. I am sure if this was a video game, I would be the one getting my ass kicked, It was still funny though.

Well, I Guess I Can Stop Bitchin..... For Now!!!

Yes, I can stop complaining for now, maybe it's because of the new medication I am on or the pep chat my good friend Tim Flynn gave me. Or the combination of both, he said that instead of complaining on the bad stuff, take a minute and look at the good things in your life. That's what I have been trying to do. My wife, son, more motivation to do magic, play airsoft and paintball. I can't wait to get back out there and show them young whipper snappers what an old army fart can do! While they are running around like a bunch of idiots, I am holding my position waiting for them to enter my crosshairs!!

My new den is as done as it's gonna get. looks fine, I have space to work uninterrupted but still hear whats going on in the house. I have been working on an Ambitious Card routine with cleared plastic cards, the kicker is at that the end of the effect, the spectator is holding a solid block of plastic when they thought they were holding the cards. I have also been working on Simon Aronson's Random Shuffle Shuffle Board. Great effect

Got to see an old friend from my Army days, Bernie and I were in the same squad while I was stationed in Egypt. I found him on Facebook, we shot some messages back and fourth. Then on Saturday while I was at the butcher, I checked my email on my phone and there was a message from Bernie saying he is in town for a 4X4 swap meet at the Puyallup fairgrounds. I met up with my wife, handed her the meat and shot down to the fairgrounds. I sent him an email via facebook and surprised the crap out if him. I guess he wasn't expecting me there so fast... Hell, I haven't seen him in 15 years. My wife and I met up him the next day, it was funny because I have told so many stories of those days overseas and it looked like she didn't really believe some of them. One when I was trained to be a combat life saver, or when some of the squad left our outpost to head to the little town to get some beer for everybody. He confirmed every story!

It was good seeing him..... hopefully it won't be another 15 years........

And Now Where???

Well, my new den is done, it's a little small, but there is just enough room to practice in front of a mirror. I have been working on Harry Anderson's "Three Card Prince", I bought this effect at the PCAM in 2004 and just never got around to learning it, I am surprised I still had the instructions. It looked confusing at first, but as with all magic effects,you keep at it, it will come. Sunday was a sad day for the Tacoma Magic Club, we held a Broken Wand ceremony for long time member Don Brisbane. Don passed away a couple weeks ago and we decided to have a celebration if his life at the meeting. There wasn't a dry eye at the meeting, I have known Don for about 16 years. He was one of the first magicians I saw at the club perform, I will never forget his "Too Many Bottles" routine or his "Paper Hat" and "Side Walk Shuffle" routines. He is a dear friend and will be missed very much.
Things are heating up at work again(what else is new) now it turns out that the guy we hired specifically to work Saturday and Sunday night graveyards, can't work Sundays due to childcare issues on Monday morning. I don't want to sound like a dick, but he was hired for those days, childcare is not our problem. My wife and I have made child care arrangements so I can sleep. On top of that the other guy who can work nights, doesn't want to, so the store wants me to change my nights off. I can't do that, Saturday and Sunday are the only days I have with my family and the only nights I have with my wife(wink). I have been there 15 years this summer, these two combined have been there two years..... do the math.
I guess the one great thing to really look forward to is spring, fairs and fastivals will be starting. I put in applications at the Puyallup Fair, Spring fair, Meeker Days and the Pierce County Fair. We will see how things go.

Gettin It Put Together

So here it goes, I am getting my den together, seeing that setting up the basement didn't work out. We spent several hundred dollars having someone who said they knew what they were doing put in wiring and put up walls and it did look nice. For some reason, every time it rained heavily, water would accumulate on the floor down there. The sump pump was working, and when we lost power during a heavy rain storm, there was about 4 inches of water down there. I had to keep everything off the ground, it was a real pain in the ass getting down there to practice and keeping the basement warm during the winter. It also stayed damp and my props were starting to mildew. Darlene offered up the office, she moved all here sewing stuff to the extra space in the bed room. I packed away the things I don't use, put together and repacked my kids, family and busker shows. I also finished treating a bunch of ropes for various effects, I was taught by an old club member, Lloyd Cripe, to wrap scotch tape around the ends of the rope loosely and then put fabric glue on the ends. It will last for years and they did, I just thought it was time for new sets of "You Do as I Do Ropes", "Professor's Nightmare", and "Tarbary Ropes"
The desk set up is nice, I got a good deal on a T.V and DVD player and I also hooked up my Tape to dvd burner. Once the desk is cleared, I can play magic DVDs and practice without disturbing my family or being disturbed.
Things are still a bit messy
Some of my DVDs

My books, well, most of them.
My new Cups and Balls table that my good friend, Tim Flynn, made for me. I found tennis balls to do the routine with.

Sit And Ponder:"Why"

I sit and type, I hate typing, can't do it for crap. I should take a class, but I'm not motivated, in fact, I am completely lacking any motivation to do anything. Right now I am currently moving all the savable magic stuff from the basement to a room in the house, the office to be exact. Darlene has moved all her craft items to a corner of our bedroom and gave me the office. The basement has been having some flooding problems over the last couple years, I have everything off the floor, but it's still damp and some things have gotten moldy. I have had to throw out 10 years of Linking Ring and Magic magazines along with several items that couldn't be saved. I am in the process of replacing these items, fortunately they are not too expensive. The silks, ropes and books were able to be aired out and are fine, now I just have to organize everything, but I'm not motivated. It will most likely have to be put off for another weekend, again, as I can only catch a couple hours sleep and then it's off to a company get together for Darlene's work... at Tower Lanes in Tacoma.... big spenders. I will be grumpy as it is.
I am really tired of this weather, I want to get out and do some busking, I have put in entertainment applications for the Puyallup Fair and Spring Fair and Meeker Days. I hope to get on the Kids Stage at Meeker Days this year as well as do some busking. I found a web site that sells effects at whole sale prices so while I am doing some shows this year, I can sell some stuff and make some money. These items require little or no skill, Ball and Vase, Zig Zag Rope, Coin Slide, Fan-Ta-Stick, Svengali Deck, etc...

Bah! Humbug!!!!

Don't know where I am on the fence right now, I tend to get a little down this time of year and a bit angrier. Stores and malls are crowded, folks are ruder. Last Saturday, my wife, Andrew and I went to South Hill mall. It was close to closing, so we split up, she was going to Old Navy to get some shirts for Andrew and I went to Game stop to get a gift card for our nephew. On her way to Old Navy, she passed one of those kiosks that sell that fufu lotion, the salesman grabs my wife's hand and wouldn't let go! She tried to pull away several times until the guy finally let go, she calls me on her cell phone in tears to tell me what happened and then held me back so I wouldn't pummel this jerk! We ended up calling mall security( what a joke.. Paul Blart?) and they called the police. There was nothing they could( or would) do. The officer said because there was no malicious intent, the salesman didn't break any laws, there was nothing the police can do. So! If I am busking, and there's no malicious intent, I guess it's ok for me to grab people and hold them against their will and make them watch magic!!! If I had been there and seen this, I would have put 2 taser darts in this guy. We go back the next day to finish our shopping, we go to the food court to get some lunch, the moment I leave Darlene and Andrew to get food, this same jerk comes to my wife's table trying to make a sale!! Are you F#@$%^ kidding me!!! What is with people now a days!!!
Work is getting a bit rough again, the guy who works my nights off was let go this week. I will be working every night until we get someone hired and trained, as I write this, I am on day 8. Now there is someone here that can work my shift, but he has an "I don't care attitude" now. I am in a catch 22. I can take one night off a week for now, but doing that while working graveyard is useless. I would get home catch a few hours sleep, get up, do family stuff , go to bed at 11pm, get up at 5am am go back to bed at 10am and up again at 6pm. This guy doesn't do anything at night and I am not gonna bust my ass all week so this guy can chill for one night. It's less stressful for me to just work it. As it looks right now I will be going thru the first of the year.
I finally got my Christmas shopping done, I hate shopping this time of year!!! People are rude and it's all me,me,me. I don't know if I'm am guilty of this me, me thing. I went to Wal Mart to pick up a Radio Flier tricycle that I ordered for Andrew, while I was there, Darlene called me and asked if I could look for some Legos. She had been to several places and had no luck. I looked up and down the toy isles for a while and I finally found two boxes of them, one medium box and a small box, almost equal to a large box, they will have to do. After I get these and leave the toy area and head to the DVD section, a woman comes up behind me and says"Did you have to be greedy and take them both" Now when I was looking in that area, there was no one there and I told her that. She insisted on one, the bigger of the two boxes of course. I said "No, I was here first" at that point she blocked my cart and tried to reach in. I pulled back and told her to "Back off!!" She continued to get belligerent, to the point where I felt I needed to pull out my cap stun. I told her to get back or she was going to get pepper sprayed. Really, this woman gets into shopping rage over something like that. And yes with things the way they are now, I carry either a can of cap stun or my X 26 taser. I am really trying to get and stay in the Christmas spirit, but at this point, with the fact that there's a good chance I will be working straight thru to the end of the year, I don't know why. I think when I get home today, I will read "Old Man Logan" again.

Is It Just Me....

Some things really get under my fingernails, with all the crap going on in this world, people BITCH about the stupidest things. This movie 2012, which I want to see, is stirring up this end of the world stuff based on the Mayan calender. Read a book, it's not the end of the world, it was the end of their calender. They basically ran out of stone, it was like all that Y2K crap in 2000. Still here!!!
Listened to the local news, the smallest most insignificant things are making headlines, instead of hearing about the brave soldiers that are fighting for us, we hear these dumb biddies that keep complaining about the bikini barrista stands and trying to put them out of business. This is part a being in a free country, you also have to put up with the stuff you don't like. The complaints from the ladies are; "I don't want to pull into a latte' stand and have my kids see a half naked woman" REALLY!!! Look, it is no secret that the latte' stands have girls in bikinis there. LOOK AT THE SIGN!!! "Hot Chick-A-Latte', "Barrista's Gone Wild" What more of a hint do you need?
The next argument,"I don't want to drive by and have my kids see these ladies thru the window" Are you kidding me??? How is kid your see gonna see someone in a window passing at 40 miles an hour. I am a grown man and I can't do that. Do you know how many cars I have almost rear ended trying that?? As long as they are not breaking any laws, and a few of them have, let them run their stands. I am not saying this because I am a guy, I am saying this because I hate stupid crap. Now, I don't go to these places because they make a lousy cup of coffee( I went once just to piss off the women out front protesting the stand) If I want to go out and pay 4.00 for coffee, I go to Starbucks If I want a lousy cup of coffee made by a half naked woman, I'll have my wife do it, tell her how good the coffee is and get laid later.
Now the holidays are coming up and fast. I am really starting to dislike this time of year. They had Christmas stuff up in October...OCTOBER!!!! Sales are starting already, my kids are giving me their Christmas list. My daughter, who is being a total bitch and charged 136.00 on her cell phone without asking or paying for it, gave me a list. She'll be lucky to get a 5.00 gift card to the dollar store. To be honest, the only reason we are putting up a tree is for our three year old son, Andrew. This is all for him.
We have the employee parties coming up, nothing more I like than spending an evening with a bunch of people I can't stand, there are only two people there I can trust. I could be watching wrestling or catching up on some recorded shows. Case in point, I am working right now, a couple hours ago, someone comes in and asked if anyone had found a couple packs of cigarettes. I didn't know, they told me about what time they were here, and asked if I wouldn't mind checking the video. Later in the night, I checked, and low and behold, the lady was in here. She bent over to get a beer and 2 packs of cigarettes fell out of her pocket. They laid on the floor for about 10 minutes before one of my coworkers came by and picked them up. I later texted him and asked if he found anything, he texted back"They came by earlier asked asked and I told them no we didn't find anything, they are trying to scam us. You should know better than to believe these people".
On a pleasant note, I watched the World Magic Awards last night. I made a point to get everything done so we could watch uninterrupted. Lot of good magic, some mediocre magic and some bad magic. Michael Finney is always funny, Barry and Stuart were great. The other acts were predictable, and can someone explain the appeal of Ed Alonzo? The worst act on the show was the act done by this a woman from Budapest, the color change gloves was hard to follow. The suspended body transposition was poorly done. All in all it was nice to see magic on T.V.
Next week, will be hanging out with my friend Tim Flynn, Tim and I met a few years ago at the Gazzo Master Class. This class was a blast!!! I got to hang out for two days with a bunch of magicians. Gazzo is a really nice guy. I bought a table from Tim a few weeks later as it match the size of the ones Gazzo uses for street performing. It has served me well for many years, but now I think it's time for a new one and a really solid stand, both of which he is making for me...I can't wait to see them!!
Here's the thing about Tim, we never really hang out or session, yet we still came up with the same ideas on the cups and balls so we are not transferring the ball back and forth from each hand several times. Looking to gets some tips on the Linking Rings and maybe coins and cards, I won't be able to stay too long..... Wish I could though.

What a Treat!!!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my wife, Darlene is off for most of the week. Wednesday, I got home from work around 8am as Darlene was waking up. It was nice to come home and have her there. We talked and cuddled a bit before Andrew woke up, then I played my new game for about 30 minutes. My wife said she had a surprise for me when I get up.. A big pan of homemade lasagna for dinner.
Didn't sleep very well, my shoulders and neck have really been hurting me for the last week.... a lot. I have been racking my brain trying to figure out what I did, did I strain myself again? This pain is very different... It's like I am being stabbed all the time, then it hit me, the new bi polar medication that the doctor added two weeks ago, Lamotrigine. looked it up online and some of the lesser side effects are severe neck and muscle pain... really... there are a lot of side effects on this medication that I wasn't told about. Why the hell couldn't I get increased sex drive or the weight loss. The side effects are worst than the reason you are taking the meds for. It should say meds are for inducing nausea, weight gain, head aches, neck pain, muscle pain, vomiting, sleepiness, increased sex drive...etc.... Side effects are: treats bi polar disorder. As I type this I am in so much pain.... Dammit!!!

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

I am by no means a game dork, I cannot recite the lines from any of the Star Wars films(ok I know a few) I can't tell you what the maximum warp speed of a Constitution Class Starship is, but I do enjoy Star Trek. I love Godzilla movies, I have all 29, I love Japaneses Sci-fi and oddities. I have more than a few bootleg DVDs i.e. things that WILL NEVER be released legitimately on DVD, The first Fantastic Four movie from the mid 90's, a movie SOOO bad, Stan Lee bought it from Rodger Corman so it would never be seen. Same thing with the Captain America movie, Legends of Superheroes from the 70's. Adam West and Burt Ward trying to reprise their Batman and Robin roles from the 60's... Bad, bad show, lasted 2 episodes.... Anywhoooo, not a game dork, but when this game was coming out, I really wanted to play it. I have the other Call of Duty games and the online play is phenomenal!!!! Darlene was off for the next few days and seeing as I had to work, she was willing to go to the store and pick the game up for me at midnight so I could jump right in when I got home and start playing.
Great game, I suck at it though, I can't take 2 steps without getting killed. Like the others, I will catch on and get better at this game. These guys have no life, for example, if my wife comes over to me while I am playing and wants to make love..... game's done... back in 15... don't want to leave the X Box 360 on too long. I will be playing and earning rank.

A Day out and About....

Well... the one day off I will have for the next 12 days was very well spent. I can home caught 4 hours of sleep and got up to spend some time with the family. We got to the zoo around 2 pm, the weather was chilly and a bit wet. We had the whole place to ourselves!!! No lines or rush to view the animals, we took our time and enjoyed the sites. The only problem I had was getting in, I remember back in the "Day" you paid your admission and you went in. NOW.. they want your zip code and city. Apparently if you live out Pierce County, you pay more, then they give you this computer ticket that has to be scanned at a turnstile to get in. What happened to the days when you could just buy a ticket and go in??? Andrew went NUTS!!!! He is at a great age for this, it was nice to just let him sit in front of the exhibits and just look the animals in the eyes. These were magical moments.
At first, Andrew was really intimidated by the elephants, these are massive creatures.

A Sand tiger shark... The sharks are my favorite exhibits, these creatures are both fearsome and beautiful.
Andrew wishing he was a spider.....
MEERKATS!!!!

My wife, Darlene was a big fan of Meerkat Manor, a show that lasted 2 seasons on Animal Planet. We spent about 40 minutes watching these little cuties.....

Just missed the Gibbon swinging by. The Gibbon would hang on the ropes in front of the window interacting with us.
After the zoo, we took a ride on the light rail running thru downtown Tacoma. We promised Andrew a train ride after the zoo, he was very excited and really enjoyed the ride.

For dinner we ended going to a little Mexican restaurant in Spanaway called Hidalgos, as the Asia BBQ stand at the Freight house Square was closed. Very tasty food at reasonable prices.

Sometimes Things Can Be Too Much....

I want to do this more often, but I hate typing and sometimes not knowing the words to express how I feel makes me feel stupid. The only reason I am posting now is because my friend Tim mentioned that I haven't posted in a while.
Where to start...Things have not been going great at work, just about everyone has a short fuse. A is pissed off at B for not doing their job, B is pissed off at C and C is pissed off at everyone. This is one of the benefits of working alone, if something doesn't get done, I have no one to blame but myself.
I really don't like working alone anymore, my wife and I work opposite shifts, I am alone when I go to work, I am alone when I come home... no one to greet me when I come home. My wife commented that is feels like we are roommates. She's right, we only have a couple hours in the evenings, half a day on Saturday and we have Sunday for a family day if we want to do something. I am working 6 days this week, have Sunday off then I have to work 12 days straight. The guy that normally works my nights off is going out of town and we are short handed as is it, we just don't have enough people to fill all the shifts without overtime.
To add to the frustration, the customers seem to be becoming bigger jerks than ever. I work in Tillicum, not the best area, there are a lot of low life's here, you have to have eyes in the back of your head. One of my fears is that some were to happen to me, and one of these low life's find me first, they are more likely to go thru my pockets, empty the register, grab whatever beer they can carry before or even IF they call for help. I am disliking these people more and more each day. At the first of the month, their welfare kicks in, at 12:01am on the first, they are hitting the ATM. They get upset with me because their money isn't in. When it does finally hit, they are like hyenas and the ATM is a carcass. They gather around, each one withdrawing as much as they can as many times as they can before the ATM runs out of money. In my opinion, if you are on welfare, food stamps,or both, you should have to provide DSHS receipts for what you are spending the tax payers money on. I am sick of my tax dollars paying for their beer, cigarettes, gambling habits and drug use!!!
Enough about work, things are O.K at home, just wishing I could spend more time with Darlene and Andrew. Andrew is growing like a weed, and learning fast.... too fast. I like to play Call of Duty on line on my X Box 360, you can play with anyone around the world and I have gotten to talk to folks as far away as Australia. I have to really watch what I say when I am playing as Andrew will repeat EVERYTHING. It's at the point now where I will be playing, I'm not cursing, but when my character get shot, he'll yell "Dammit" or "SON OF A BITCH". Needless to say I am trying to be very careful when I play and he is around.
My 18 year old daughter is being a complete and total bitch, I had to shut off her cell phone for good on November 1st, I got the bill on October 28th and it was for over $400.00. I called Verizon to see what happened and they said that on of the phones have over 136.00 in download fees for songs and ring tones. Holy Cow!!! I called her and asked what was up and why, she said she was bored. I told her to have the money to me by the 1st of November or the phone will be shut off and stay shut off, her response was "It can just be an early Christmas present" No money by the 1st and she was ignoring my calls and text so the phone is gone. I later got an e-mail saying the I never want to talk or see you again. At this point, although I am hurt, this is her choice, not mine and this is one less leach I have to deal with. I am getting a strong feeling that my oldest son is going the same way as he has made no effort to come over for almost 2 months. I have tried to set up a visit, he is busy every weekend, they do however have time to see their grandma each week..... go figure. The way I see it, I have a few more months of child support left to pay then I'm done. If they can't make time for their dad, then the bank will be closed!!! My ex has given Margaret the money that's has been saved over the last 18 years for school and she has spent it on everything BUT school. She has complained that I haven't given her any money for school, not true, when they were visiting, they were paid to to chores on the farm. She did not put one cent away for school.
Done with that, I would like to spend a bit more time on the magic thing, I was off for a week due to a strained abdominal muscle and took that time to learn a couple new effects, Daryl's Acrobatic Knot, 3 Fly 3 and the Rubic's Cube. The cube was pissing me off, if you make a wrong move, you have to completely take that damn thing apart, put it together and start over. I took that thing apart 10 times before I got it down, I even made a few new curse word in the process. Working on the effects now, hoping to smooth them out.
I talked to my good friend Tim, he is making a nice oak table stand and a new table, looking forward to seeing it. Today...well I hope to get home and catch about 4 hours of sleep, I would like to take the family to the Zoo as we haven't been there in a while. Andrew is 3, this will me a magical experience for him. Then we plan to park the car at the park and ride at Freight house Square and take to train around Tacoma. And last but not least, there is an Asian BBQ place in the Square that serves a great Bulgogi beef..... DINNER TIME!!!! The family really needs a day together as the next 2 weeks are gonna be really rough.

Turning 40 And Now????

Well folks,or given the comments I get off this blog, folk, I hit the big 40. Yes I am 40. I really don't know where to go, I have two grown kids and a toddler. I have a wife I love and loves me, but is a bit peeved at me because I will use the credit card from time to time. I shouldn't buy frivolous stuff given the way things are. My latest, and will have to be my last purchase for a loooong time, an M16 airsoft rifle. Why? when I have all this paintball gear. Paintball is expencive to play. I used to go 2-3 times a month, went down to once a month, down to a couple times a year, down to once a year. It costs me about $80.00 to play, now a day of airsoft costs about $10.00. So I can go more often and work on my paintball skills without spending a lot of money.

Blog, Blog, Blog, Blog......

Yeah,.... I know it's been a bit since I have blogged, been a bit busy. Last weekend, I took the family to the Pierce County Fair. It's a small fair held in Graham and the main reason I went was to see my good friend Jeff Evans perform, which was the best part of the fair. Jeff puts on a really good show and he was promoting his new magic DVD. On Tuesday the 11th I went to Issaquah to help Jeff with his DVD release party. I had a good time helping out and teaching the young ones magic tricks. And It was a 4 day weekend for me, which made for a short work week. On Sunday despite the cool temperatures in the morning, I took the family and a couple friends to Wild Waves. We had the whole park to ourselves!!!! We didn't have to wait in line for anything!!! Even when the temperature warmed up a bit, it still wasn't crowded, we were there from open to close. I am a bit sore from running up the stairs to the water slides so many times without a break. After that we all headed to the Olive Garden for dinner, it was nice to spend the day with some good friends. What a great day!!!! We have really gotten our money's worth out of the season tickets. We will try to go at least once more before the Summers over.