The Biggest Bee I Have Ever Seen

So lets face it, I'm a huge wimp and scared of most bugs. I don't like to get stung, bitten, eaten or whatever they do. So, Jay and I go to the house we are working at right now to get started on the next part of the project only to be greeted by a flying rat with a stinger and a temper.

I choose to camp out down the stairway to avoid any possible contact with this monstrous bug, while Jay sneeks back outside to try to open a window to let it out...he was unsuccessful.

We managed to snap a few pics of this "thing" before it disappeared and we could find it.

Needless to say we got the heck out of there for the day. I don't get paid enough to try to fight this thing off. Call me a panzy, but that thing was huge. As a kid I was stung 20 times at once, I guess that might be where my fear comes from, but anyways I guess I still and a wimp.

A Smokie and a Story

As summer finally seems to have arrived, one activity that I hope will become a regular is the bonfire. We have had a few so far, and I have enjoyed every one. Honestly I could do it every night this summer. It relaxes the mind and soothes the body. Not to mention the delicious 'dogs, smokies and s'mores.

What's most important is that it's almost everything that I want. I've come to learn that you can't have everything that you want, but good friends, some smoky fresh air, tasty treats and a laugh or two...I really can't ask for more.

Tonight's festivities started at 5 and just ended 15 minutes ago. 15 minutes ago being 1:15 in the morning. MB and I went and picked up Dave just before 5 and then hit the grocery store to grab some smokies, buns and beverage and then got to the backyard where we found Hersch lying in the hammock, enjoying the beautiful afternoon. T then dropped me line looking for some eats, well timed on her part, as the fire just started roaring and was ready for some cooking. We enjoyed some delectable three cheese jalapeno and honey garlic smokies...so good, perhaps the greatest smokie flavors ever. Often jalapeno can overpower the flavor of food, but not these, they were the perfect balance of cheese, jalapeno and meat. Hersch stepped out for a bit, but returned with some chocolate ice cream to top off the meal. Taren also joined us to enjoy the evening.
I picked up this hammock last time I was in Mexico which was a year and a half ago and haven't had a place to set it up until now...man am I loving this backyard!!


Conversation was and is always interesting. Covering such topics as what super powers we would want, what our super raft should be made, what we would do for each other if we won the lottery and just how great it is to be outside and be content.
One of the other favorite fire time activities is heating up the roasting sticks until they are red hot and then branding the wood with them. Tonight I decided to take it to the next level and make myself a little name plate. It's hard to do O's but I think it worked out alright.

I also realized that I don't use my camera enough. If I had to put together a slide show of my life it would be some pictures from when I was a cute kid, some sports pics, some mission pics and maybe some of the work we do at our company...pretty lame, I'm going to try to have some more visual evidence that I exist.Dave always enjoys a good story and often has one to tell. Tonight he had a beauty that someone should really write into a screen play...now if I told you that I had a project that would be more compelling than Blood Diamond and more stunning than No Country for Old Men and would win more Oscars...now is that something you might be interested in?

Honestly, I just like this picture. If you look carefully you can see Taren through the flames. I thought that it was cool that the second I took the picture the fire flared up like that.

Anyways, it was a great night, one of the many this summer. When the world isn't perfect, there is always the backyard, our own little piece of paradise. And since the world is never perfect expect to see me in the backyard more often than not this summer. Feel free to come by, bring a smokie and a story, but leave your problems at the door. The backyard is all about the here and now, so enjoy yourself, take a load off and just think about how good it is to have the simple things in life.

Dinner time on Whyte

After a long day its nice to unwind with a good meal. MB met me down on Whyte and we hit up Da-de-o's for some good southern food. A little catfish, some Po' Boys and bread pudding. We beat the dinner rush which is always good and got a chance to watch out the window as the world went by.

There were another 2 fellas sitting a little closer to the window doing much the same as us, just enjoying the evening...or so we thought.

The parking space right in front of the restaurant opened up and one of those "smart" cars was trying to pull into the space. I won't go on my rant about smart cars...ok maybe I will...I hate them. I think they are the dumbest innovation in automotive technology ever. Why would I want to drive around the box my stove came in with a hole cut in the front for a windshield? I bet if I ran down the street with nothing but the clothes on my back and had a head on collision with a smart car I would win. They are stupid, unsafe and can't go faster than 80. I'd rather drive a golf cart around town. It's probably safer.

Anyways back to the real story. The smart car guy wedges the thing back and forth until he gets it right against the curb. Since it has snowed over a foot here in the past few days there was a small snow bank on the curb which made it hard to open the passenger door to open. So smart car's girlfriend is trying to get out and is having a hard time because of the snow. Smart car runs around to help her out and after a few slips she gets to the sidewalk safely.

Then they come into Da-de-o's....

The guy sitting right next to MB shouts out "hey, nice park job dillhole!!" To which smart car replies "what?" the guy responds with "yeah, you really didn't account for your girlfriend getting out with her little sneakers there did you?" Smart car says"well I came around and helped her.."
Guy follows that up with "your a schmuck!" Smart car is speechless at this point and just goes and sits at his table.

Now, my question is...who is the dillhole/schmuck?

Perhaps it wasn't smart car?

In 20 Years....

I was out for dinner last night with Hersch and MB at our usual watering hole. It was an interesting night in that normal you don't have to wait for a table but on this night we waited for over a half hour and how glad were we that we did. As we sat and conversed at our table another patron strolled into the restaurant and sat at the table next to us.

Hersch noticed some striking similarities between me and the man who just sat down. He was my height, with blonde hair and similar build. Upon looking at the table further there were 2 other men at the table. The first was another tall man with a lack of salad on top and a slender build...and the other was a slightly shorter man who seemed to captivate the attention of the other 2. They only difference between them and us was that they were about 20 years older.

The only logical explanation for all of this was that these 3 were Hersch, MB and myself 20 years in the future and had been sent to us as a sign of things to come. We made it our mission to find out as much about these guys as we could. It seemed that I spent a lot if time in Hawaii and perhaps even lived there. I was married and seemed very at ease with life. Hersch was also married and seemed like he spent a lot of quality time with the family...siblings, nieces, nephews and all. MB seemed like he had stories to tell of his adventures and was also married.

Most importantly, it seemed like we were all very happy. That we were content with life and happy with where we were. It was good to know that we could still get together like old times and have a laugh.

Of course I realize that none of this is real and that we can come back and visit ourselves in the past. But it is good to know that good friends can stay friends and that the things that are are important in life don't have to change. That the people who are there for you now can be there for you in 20 years.

That's one of the few things that I want...to have the important people around for a long time

Too much to say...

Its been awhile since my last entry and for good reason. Life has taken many twists and turns that have cause rational and creative thought to totally escape me. I will never go into personal things on my blog but I can't help but think that if I let something out it could help.

The past 8 weeks have been an experience that I never thought I would go through. Not in that it would never or couldn't happen to me but the way that life has gone has been something that I was not prepared for nor could I ever have been. Whatever happens out of all of it I know that I can be better for the experience. However, I know that it is up to me what I do with what I have learned. It has always seemed to me that everything takes a lot long to happen for me than everyone else and it seems like that is not going to change anytime soon. I also know that I have reached a critical point in my life, a quarter-life crisis some might say. I have important decisions to make, things that I want and need to know, hopes and dreams that I want to realize and so on. On the flip side, I also know that I need to be prepared to be disappointed, to struggle, to be stressed, to be alone. I know that there are at least two sides to every situation and even more possible outcomes. Sometimes I'm scared for anything to change and sometimes I want to change everything. Sometimes I worry that I've boxed myself into a life that I can't change and sometimes I feel like I can go anywhere and do anything with life.

I know most of us would enjoy knowing how certain things in our lives will turn out, but at the same time still hoping for a little adventure and surprise. I've also realized that often there is very little I can do to affect certain things and that so much depends on other people.

I guess what I'm trying to say in all my rambling is that I really kind of feel lost in my own life right now and trying to figure out something, anything, just to know how one part of my life is going to turn out...

Guess all I can do is take it one day at a time and see what happens...

Here's hopin"!!

Pizza Delivery/WTF???

So my roommate Kevin got home tonight and was suffering from a severe charlie horse and wanted to kick back and take it easy, maybe watch some basketball, you know regular stuff. He thought it would be a good idea if we got some pizza and took 'er easy, and I didn't think that, that was too bad of an idea, so we ordered some pizza...

Now what comes next is a little interesting, and I know that pizza delivery dudes are working for the good tip, but I didn't know we had to dive this deep in the attempt to do so.

So the "dude" comes to the door with the pizza, and we will refer to him as a "dude", cause he was. "Here's your pizza, 29.55 please" so I get out the bank card, and start to pay. "Hey, is there a game on?" the dude says, and I'm like "yeah, just a little basketball". Dude's like " sweet, sounds like a good night, a little basketball, some pizza, just chillin', maybe a BJ you know? Got a girlfriend?", so I was like "oh yeah, actually just got engaged" (feeling beyond uncomfortable at this point), to which the dude says "oh snap man, you'd better get that in while you can cause it's about to go way down hill, like bad!"

Not wanting to explain my personal stance on life at this point I just take my receipt and close the door, stunned beyond belief that a pizza dude would actually say that at a random persons door!

Can you believe that?

Also I realize that the grammar of this post is substandard but I really wanted to convey how much of a "dude" this guy was, not to mention his poofy afro!

Some people's kids!!

So the other day, I'm working hard with Jay trying to advertise and promote our business in some very specific locations to target people who are still in need of decks in newer communities. We were putting up flyers on mailboxes to do so, when this lady pulls of behind us. She proceeds to tell Jay that what we are doing is illegal and that they will be taken down within 48 hours.

Now, if this is so illegal how come so many mail boxes are covered with flyers and ads that have obviously been there for more than 48 hours. The mail carries sure aren't taking them down, so what is this lady's deal?

As we pull away I look in the rear view mirror to see her taking down the flyer herself!! Unbelievable!! We continued to post them on the next mailbox we saw and then went around the corner to look for more boxes. As we came back down the street we came in on, we noticed that she had followed us to the next box and taken those down too!! I couldn't believe it.

Why won't she just let people try to grow their business is beyond me?!?

Anyways, if you know anyone looking to have a deck built, let me know, we do a great job!!