THE TIMEKEEPER CHRONICLES

I recently shortened and updated the earlier version of this video in which depicts Mikayla's journey with Osteosarcoma. I added a few extra pictures near the end, and took a few out in order to cut it down to one song (slightly extended).

Plans are to share this video with folks involved with the upcoming Relay For Life in April. Susan is on the Mulberry board, and think sharing this video would provide our experience..the bad and the good. God Bless.

*Update for techies: I switched from Youtube to IMEEM - I like the look and performance of this player better. CYA

I yanked the hd out of the corrupt pc (on the floor) and stuck it in an old computer I had in order to retrieve as much recent data as possible. This was fun.
Here I am considering a final fate for the PC
Here is it getting formatted


Hello folks. Nice to be here. There has been some much unexpected technical difficulties at the Miller's house. One big enough to have to do the ol' FDISK! I will take some of the blame for this failure, but I give most of it to STUPID NORTON INTERNET SECURITY.

You know, I'm big into keeping our computers/home network safe from all the crap that's out there. And I have been updating and giving my money to Norton for the last 6 years to do so. And overall, everything has been fine until.....they recently wanted me to update my Norton to the latest NIS2008....for free! How could I not do that? Well, I shouldn't have, because the next thing I know web pages wouldn't load, you couldn't print from either IE7 or Outlook Express. And here I go, searching about a million forums, Windows updates...every where in order to find what what happened, and to get a fix. In my journeys, I did find enough information to get the thing to where it would work, but things still weren't quite right. In another forum, I discovered that the problem could lie in the registry. Our computer *had* two admin accounts, one being mine, and one being Susan's. It was her account that had all the problems (now why is that?) Anyway, a long story short, I went screwing around with the registry to see if I could get it to work, and WALA!.............IT DIDN'T! Not only did it not fix the problem, it completey CRASHED.

My head hung low. I've been defeated. This piece of crap. Like alot of people nowadays, the home computer is almost a necessity because we now do so much with them. My biggest thing has been the videos, pictures, all the editing software, financial stuff, etc. But, I am at least half way smart, I did have a bunch of backups...actually one as recently as January. How about that.

The Dell had to be formatted, and a fresh copy of WinXP Pro installed. And there is NO Norton on my computer. (I recommend AVGFree for all you cheapo's out there - it works perfect). Other than all the work that I had to do get this thing up and going again, it actually has been a blessing because the thing runs as good as it did when I got it. And Susan is happy because I can now stop talking about getting a new computer (at least for a while).

Just in case your interested, there's a WOOT-OFF happening now. Also, if your an avid Woot Checker such as myself, here's a neat little tool made just for woot checking so you won't miss any of those deals. Pretty cool.

Cya

Some pics from the old days when my daughter actually liked me :-)

I printed this out, and put in on the fridge. Yeah, you know. The way things 'oughta' be. What is up with these liberalized women?(Again, I'm in the dog house)



You married dudes out there should click on this pic, print it out, and put it on your fridge too and see what happens.

First, you should get this nice note...

Then, you should have this newly designed toilet paper to use.

At least, that's what happened to me.

Geez. I was only trying to be helpful. You know...give out some pointers.

LOL

The Man. The Dude. Eighteen years old. He made it. It's hard to believe that Susan and I have an 18 year old. That just don't sound right. But, it's true, and we are very happy for him.

His big gift was a new laptop. Actually a birthday/early graduation gift. He was very suprised.

Here's a little slideshow of pics from Jeremy's birthday party/dinner.

Alright. I know everyone has been so worried and concerned about my well being. But, I'm ok. Don't worry. I'll be alright. The doctors said I should be back to 'normal' in...well...in a few years. If I'm lucky. Whew.

The funniest thing about this whole puking bug was my daughter freaking out when she she heard me in the bathroom in that initial barf that set it all off. As I was sitting there, I knew it was coming, and I grabbed the garbage can, and the real show began. Then I heard somebody's feet hitting the ground, the beads hanging from Mik's bedroom doorway clanging against the door, then footsteps pattering across the hallway floor rather quickly. I later found out that Mik had ran into our bedroom and woke mom to tell her that "Jeremy is in the bathroom puking his guts out". Mom said "oh no, is he sick too?"(At this time, Sue didn't know I was that sick...I had told her I wasn't feeling that good earlier in the night). Then, they both realized I wasn't in the bed, and mom said, "no, it's your father!". Mik said "no way! That's dad? Oh-My-Gosh!" Since I hadn't puked in 11 years, she had never heard that kind of noise from me. Shocking!

Now, you have to imagine a 230lb dude in a bathroom with no sound barriers, and the only thing you hear breaking the silence of a peaceful night, is this extremely loud act of forcefully throwing chow, echoing through the house. It would wake up anybody. Then, when she realized it was me, she couldn't believe it. And then to hear them both do the re-inactment...well, it's just funny.

Anyway, all better now. Back to life.

Not that this happens very often....I actually had to call in sick today. Last night, I knew I really wasn't feeling all that great, but headed to bed around 9:30pm (early for me btw). And tossed and turned, then woke up around 12:30....sicker than a dog!. I had the twirls, fever, and all - - in a bad kinda way. Right now, I still feel like crap. I hope it's just a 20.5 hr bug, because this is nasty and more than a day of this might finish me off. Needless to say, Susans gourmet tuna casserol did not tast as good coming up as it did going down. (Don't you just love the detail in this post?)

Well, I'm going back to the couch and try to get to feeling better. This sucks.

I am in search of 2GB (4X512MB) PC800 RDRAM ECC 45 for my good 'ol Dell Deminsion 8200. Unfortunately, this stuff is easy to find....but freakin' expensive. I actually want someone to just give it to me, because I'm too cheap to buy it. Not really. I'm just trying to extend the life of my pc without having to take the plunge yet for a new one. Besides, I just bought a new couch set with the the tax refund, so there went the pc (I'm kidding, honey).

So, what the heck, I thought I would just post this here just in case someone comes across my blog and has some of this stuff laying around (haha). Shoot me a comment if you know where I can get some for CHEAPO!

I didn't know you could bake clams. But I guess you can. Or it actually doesn't mean you bake them. You kinda steam them.

Anyway, Susan received some fresh clams and lobster from New England during her birthday, and she stunk up my house those nasty critters. But she loved them. Goody.

Here's a before and after pic of Mr. Crabs....(she said they were screaming "HELP, HELP!" while she was lowering them into the boiling water! I told you she was mean!

Before

After

Wow....I'm married to an old lady! HAHAHAHA Of course, I'm kidding (I'm sleeping on the couch tonight for sure). Anyway, I won't say how 'young' she is, but I know she still enjoyed her day.

In a prior post, I mentioned that JM had totaled his truck. Here's a pic that I had on my cell phone the day we went to get the stereo and tag off of it. What a drag.

But oh well. You can't take this material stuff with you when you die, so thank God JM was ok and the other driver was ok as well. The only things hurt was some pride, and this poor truck.

Since then, JM ended up getting a 1997 Chevy Lumina....the babes are just chasing him all the way down the road for a ride...LOL. The other pics are of me, JM, and his posse installing the stereo in the his *new* car.

Might as well start off with some random pictures from the recent Holiday festivities.

Me and Mik trying out the ROCKBAND game for XBOX360. I have to say...IT ROCKS, DUDE!


Here's Jeremy trying out the ROCKBAND too.


The kids opening up gifts at Jeff and Tiff's house Christmas Eve.
Paige is obviously happy about Christmas.
Yes, believe it or not, Jeff actually put up some Christmas lights. It was worth the pic.
Jeremy, Paige, Madyson, and Mik

I'll have more pics to post soon.
CYA

Well, I guess it's been a while since our last post. Christmas was here and gone, and we went right back to work. Then the new year came and went, and we went right back to work. Another freakin year. Come and gone. Geez.

And finally, I'm off from work and am getting around to some updating. I'm sure, as with everyone, we're kinda glad the whole holiday is over. Too stressful.

Anyway, I've got some time this week, so I plan on getting some posting done here, and share some more pictures.

Hope everyone is enjoying their Christmas Holidays. I know we have and are looking forward to 2008!

Here's one of my favorite Christmas ornaments.

Here's some great Christmas tunes for your enjoyment - straight from Miller's music library. Enjoy!

A few pics from a recent car/craft show in downtown Bartow. The only thing I didn't like was that there were no Cutlass's there! Bummer!

A girl turning 13, and all she really wanted was her peeps to come over and party by a bonfire pit. Go figure.

They did have a good time. Our friend from SpaceWalk came out and did some temporary tattoos. I had the shed all cleaned out and lights up, the stereo cranked up. There was even a fog machine and strobe lights. I have to say it was a very cool party.

Me and the little lady hanging out at the Lakeland Christmas Parade.


Well, needless to say it has been an eventful week. There have been twelve hour work days, school chorus Christmas Concerts, school band Winter Concerts, truck crashes......WHAT???

Yes, truck crashes. Seems as though Mr. Jeremy didn't like the paint on his truck, so he decided to have it side swiped by a big FWD truck. Thankfully of course, everyone was ok. Just some soreness. So, as of right now, I just don't know if the insurance company is going to total the truck or not. I have a feeling they might. In any case, we might be seeing the little Ranger for the last time. Hey, I can't say too much, because I've torn up some vehicles a few times in my day...and survived. LOL

Still trying to get ready for the Holidays. We have hardly done any Christmas shopping, so the plan is this weekend to get busy and git-r-done.

I'm off this week so keep checking back for more. CYA.

Somehow, I managed to obtain this pic of me and Juan (a.k.a. "Two", or "JuanEl") from some old days at the Westvaco. I must have scoffed it up during the hostile takover of the plant a few years ago, before it all got thrown away...that is a whole 'nuther subject there......that I certainly wouldn't be able to talk about without using a ton of expletives. Dang it all. Actually, this picture makes me sad, because these were the "good" days.

Anyway, that's Juan on the left, and I'm the super-studly looking dude on the right, of course. And if you look behind me, there by a tank away's back, you can see Sam C. working on what appears to be an agitator.

Just a few pics from the recent Thanksgiving Holiday. We ended up having an early Thanksgiving "brunch", since I had to work Thanksgiving night (bla). Hope everyone had a good time....



The Family Pic

Danney and Mik

Me and the Bro Dan....need I say more.

Piggin out

I'd say someone had a little too much to eat.

Here is Jeremy, Danney, and Mik....obviously happy because we were about to go somewhere fun :-)

Here is Ashley J, Susan, Mik, and Jeremy. I'm not sure what Jeremy is doing here, but it looks like he would have rather poked his eyes out than take this neat picture, in which was taken at Venice Camp Ground some years back when we used to go camping.




The other picures are of us trying to make our way down the Myakka River. We had a super time, and it seems like yesterday :-)

Funny. After I just make a post about how much I love my "foofoo" coffee maker, and how dead I would be if I didn't have it, here comes an article from Reuters about the "TOP FIVE CITIES ADDICTED TO CAFFEINE"! And wouldn't you know it, TAMPA RANKS SECOND, only to Chicago. Go figure. That is a bit suprising considering how hot it is down here. Maybe they only surveyed yankee transplants, huh. That would skew the numbers. Read the article below...


Chicago most caffeinated U.S. city: survey By Kristina Cooke
Tue Nov 6, 3:41 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - The windy city is also the most wired, according to a survey that showed people in Chicago are the most caffeinated in the United States.

Chicagoans eat more chocolate and drink more cola than other U.S. urbanites, and are among the top consumers of energy drinks and coffee.

They are also likely to say caffeine is good for you, according to the poll conducted by Prince Market Research.

Tampa, Miami, Phoenix and Atlanta rounded out the top five most caffeinated cities, while residents of San Francisco, Philadelphia, New York, Detroit and Baltimore consumed the least caffeine.

"It's surprising perhaps that some places you may think have a lot of hustle and bustle like San Francisco, Philadelphia and New York, were the least caffeinated cities," said Todd Smith, a spokesman for HealthSaver, a healthcare discount service that commissioned the poll.

The survey looked at consumption of coffee, tea, chocolate, sodas, energy drinks and caffeine pills in 20 major cities in the United States by interviewing 2,000 people.

Seattle took the top spot in just caffeinated coffee consumption. Nearly 60 percent of residents in the city said coffee would be the most difficult caffeine product to give up.

The growing popularity of "high-end" coffees, energy drinks and green tea has added to more caffeine consumption around the world, according to HealthSaver.

Half of all the people questioned in the poll said they drank coffee every day, followed by 21 percent who drank caffeinated cola.

New Yorkers and San Franciscans were also among people most likely to say caffeine is bad for you. More than 70 percent of people questioned in the poll said they were not addicted to caffeine. The older the age group the more likely they were to say coffee would be the most difficult caffeinated product to give up.

The BIG 22 Years Old HAHAHAHA (Gotta love the hair!)

Discussions around the lunch table come up about this new HDTV technology. and I usually get asked "what is all this HD stuff about" or "what's the difference in digital or HD, or 720p, or DLP, etc, etc. Well, here's a link to one of my favorite "Digital Media and Technology" sites. The site is called AFTERDAWN.COM. They have a pelethra of factoids on everything and anything to do with video technology. CLICK HERE and just read through the guides and it should answer any questions you may have concerning HDTV.

Just so I can brag a little, we currently have a 50" LG Plasma, with 720p resolution. No, it's not the 'full hd' in which would be 1080p, but honestly, it is crystal clear with excellent detail. It has an absolutely remarkable picture, especially when watching something broadcasting in HD. And dvd's are awesome too, and we aren't even watching HD dvd's yet (notice I said "yet"). But, it has the HDMI inputs from a progressive scan HDMI upconverting dvd player, in which deliveres an awesome picture.









Our home theatre.

This machine is the next best creation (other than FREON). If it weren't for this coffee maker, I'd be dead. Really. It's like having a Starbucks at home. It's a therapeutic life line. This is a Keurig - it makes one cup at time. And you can even get all kinds of flavors. My favs are the Timothy's Kona and the new Jet Fuel! OH YEAH!!! That's what I'm talkin' about. Anyone that works shift work, THIS THING IS A MUST.

As you can see by the pictures, I'm just getting my first cup after a week long on nights, and I'm totally out of it. LOL