My Christmas Trip - Haiku Style!

The title says it all...

December 22

Trip to Liberty

We left early to beat snow

Missouri was warm

December 23

Slept in until ten

Gift exchange with the siblings

Red Lobster dinner

December 24

Christmas Eve service

It was cancelled due to sleet

Glad the fire was warm

December 25

It is Christmas Day!

We went out to Grandma's house

Got shuttled through snow

December 26

Went to Lebanon

Wife had sore arms and sore back

She sledded with Zach

December 27

Church in Lebanon

I found a new Chiefs Hoodie

We also played Pitch

December 28

Went to a movie

With Pat and Leland Townsend

We saw "The Blind Side"

December 29

We went to the Lake

Ate with Brian and Sarah

Then shopped at the GAP

December 30

Moved antique wardrobe

Party at the Hudson's house!

Met some of their friends

December 31

We left for Springfield

Got to eat lunch with Dillon!

New Year's Eve Party!

January 1

Grabbed a keg with Mack

Picked up an ancient sofa

Rehearsal dinner

January 2

Such a crazy day

Up til three in the morning

Mack-Vestal Wedding!

January 3

First day of weight loss

Became friends with the toilet

Twenty-Four hour purge

January 4

Almost recovered

Headed home north anyway

Felt great to be home!

There you are, a poetic rendition of our trip to Missouri this Christmas season. Mayhaps there will be further postings on it, but just in case, I hope you enjoyed this summary!

Ca Ca Ca Ca Christmas!

At the Victor Old Fashioned Christmas my friend Sarah and I sang a silly Christmas song with the letter "C." It is set to the tune of the "La La La La Lemons" song by Barenaked Ladies. Here are the lyrics we sang!

Sarah-Hi Travis
Travis-Oh hi Sarah
Someone left me this letter "C" and I don't know what to do with it
Sarah-Why don't you hold it up and cheer at a Cubs game?
Travis-Yeah, a lot of good that would do
Sarah-No, I'm just kidding
It's not my "C"
Umm... I was thinking though, you could sing a Ca Ca Ca song with the letter "C"
Travis-Yeah, sounds great...
Sarah-No, I'm serious, you know you could sing some Ca Ca Ca's and then some holiday words that start with "C"
You'd have a nice little song there
Travis-Oh you mean like Ca... Ca Ca!
Sarah-No, not like a crow, c'mon, give it a try
Travis-Oh, okay...

Ca Ca Ca Ca... Creamy
Ca Ca Ca Ca... Carrots
(Sarah-I guess)
Ca Ca Ca Ca... Cabbage
(This is fun!)
Ca Ca Ca Ca... Crispy Crunchy Coleslaw!

Sarah-Uh, I think we're almost there...
I was just thinking sort of more festive holiday words that start with "C"
Like this...

Ca Ca Ca Ca... Crying
(Travis-Uh huh)
Ca Ca Ca Ca... Crabby
(What?)
Ca Ca Ca Ca... Chaotic
(Ahhh...)
Ca Ca Ca Ca... Coal in your stocking!

Travis-Hey, I'm not getting coal!
My holiday is going to be filled with cheer and good tidings
Such as...

Ca Ca Ca Ca... Cookies
(Sarah-Yum!)
Ca Ca Ca Ca... Carols
(Sounds fun!)
Ca Ca Ca Ca... Candy Canes
(I love those!)
Ca Ca Ca Ca... Cracklin' Roaring Fire

Sarah-I think we've got it...
But here is a final verse with the meaning of the holidays
Using the letter C...

Ca Ca Ca Ca... Caring
(Travis-Awww...)
Ca Ca Ca Ca... Covenant
(That's Right)
Ca Ca Ca Ca... Celebrate
(That's not a hard "C")
Ca Ca Ca Ca... Christ Child is born!

Travis-I got one...
You're going to love it!
Sarah-I love it already. Let's hear it.

Travis-Ca Ca Ca... Christmas!

Sarah-Perfect!
Travis-Now, listen to us...
'Cause "C" is such a festive letter...
(Sarah-That's true)
For words like candy canes and cakes the letter "C" lights up your face
So just go Ca Ca Ca Ca CA... with us!

(Everybody)
Ca Ca Ca Ca... Cookies
Ca Ca Ca Ca... Carols
Ca Ca Ca Ca... Candy Canes
Ca Ca Ca Ca... Cracklin' Roaring Fire!

Hope you enjoy! If you missed the actual live performance, then you truly missed a once in a lifetime opportunity. Your bad.

Twenty Things

Well, due to the long time since the last blog entry, and the majority of the world's short attention span, I've resolved to do the following for an update:

Top Twenty Things I've Done Recently That Might Be Interesting to Someone!

20. I shaved probably a good 4 inches off my beard. When it pokes me in the eye in my sleep, it's just too long.

19. I've written (and when I say written, I mean taken the exact same music and put new lyrics in) two Christmas songs for Open Mic Night on December 12th.

18. I just returned from a Thanksgiving vacation to NYC! First time there, and believe it or not, I didn't look to put a down payment on any real estate there.

17. I have a racquetball-sized welt on my back from an incident that occurred at 5 in the morning... but you should've seen the racquetball! Bazinga!

16. I've watched and LOVED the first season of Flight of the Conchords... getting ready for the second season soon. Thank you Netflix.

15. I attended the Chiefs game this year in which the beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in overtime! Booyah!

14. I have recently enjoyed his first TimTam Slam!

13. I just bought a ham to get a free turkey... look out smoker, I'm making big plans for this winter.

12. Two of my best friends are getting married within the next month... don't worry, they aren't getting married to each other.

11. I'm also great friends with the fiancees of the two friends that are getting married... if I've confused you, then I've succeeded.

10. I have missed the season premiere of the ninth season of scrubs. I am upset, but know I can be quickly consoled by Hulu.

9. I love the lineup of Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas because it gives me more excuse to watch plenty of Charlie Brown and Snoopy.

8. I hung up our Christmas lights with the assistance of my lovely wife. Thankfully, no one got injured.

7. I replaced the one of the headlamps in our Mazda 3s which included getting into some tight spaces. Thankfully, no injuries.

6. I plugged in our Christmas lights. Unfortunately, I got injured.

5. The most disgusting thing I saw whilst walking in NYC was a pile of poop in a corner along the sidewalk... it was of the human persuasion.

4. I was hit by a deer while traveling in Missouri in the first week of October.

3. Three days after receiving my car back from the deer accident repairs it was hit while parked in Iowa City. Thankfully, the guy left a note and insurance took care of it all.

2. I have a new friend named Greg. He works at the McEleney Autoplex Collision center (I really have the deer and random guy who hit my car to thank for this).

1. Number one thing I've done lately (that I can share on this blog)... I had my first glass of eggnog of the holiday season! (Huh, I guess I didn't really place these in order of excitement)

Thanksgiving Cometh

Woohoo, Thanksgiving is on its way! Today I received an email from my friend Carrie who M-J and I are going to see over Thanksgiving in New York! I can't wait to see all the fun sights, take in some authentic New York cuisine, and enjoy a relaxing, classic Thanksgiving with my wonderful wife and friend. By the way, this is the same friend who is marrying one of my best friends, Travis Mack. He owns a fishing lodge in Canada, called Eagle Falls Lodge... check it out, it's amazing. I've just been enjoying pondering about Thanksgiving and the joy that it brings. So many things to be thankful for...

Also, M-J's dad is coming tomorrow for a visit, so we went to get stuff to make pumpkin pie fudge!

This is a short entry, but thought it would be nice to share what was on my mind right now. Hope you are excited about the oncoming holiday as well!

Automobile Jinx

Well, I have quite the current unfortunate time with my car, let me recount:

Over a weekend in October, heading from my friend's house to my parents' in Missouri, a deer jumped out in front of me and I unfortunately made contact with it; it dented in the side of my car, broke a headlight, and the worst thing of all... punctured my windshield washer fluid. I was unable to wash my windshield for days. It was awful. In all reality, I was thankful that I was able to make it back to Iowa and get the car repaired, and as always, thank God for insurance. But what I was most thankful for, was that I assisted in lowering the deer population by one. Scoreboard deer! Scoooooorrrrreeeeeboooooooaaaaarrrrrrddd!

Well, as fate would have it, three days after getting my car back, I was walking back to my car, which was parked on the street in Iowa City near Mercy Hospital. It was on a Friday, and it was pouring rain, and I just finished spending three long days at a conference. Well, as my car came into my view, I realized there was a flyer in the windshield, and as I got closer, I noticed the right front fender was discolored. When I got to my car, I realized my car had been hit, but at least the guy left a note. What a blessing, but my car was hit, and I had to go back to the body shop. When I called the guy at the collision center, he was afraid I was upset with the first repair they made, but found it hilarious that I had another repair to get done (I was not quite in the finding it hilarious mood). Well, all-in-all, I now have two new fenders, and completely repainted bumper, two new headlights, and of course, my beloved windshield washer fluid reservoir. Life was good again.

Oh, but wait. On my way in to work today, I rode in with a friend's carpool because I was actually picking up my car today from the repair. Halfway in to Iowa City, we got a flat tire on the interstate (which of course was oodles of fun). I had the privilege of changing the flat tire and putting on the donut (which I was happy to do), but can you imagine the spectacle of three grown women dressed in professional garb and one scruffy bearded dude on the side of the interstate changing a tire. I suppose it was a blessing that I was there, not because they couldn't have done it themselves, but that they didn't have to get dirty, and we were only about fifteen minutes late.

Anyway, look out everyone, I'll be back on the road again soon, and who knows what the jinx will bring next...

Frustrations Mounting

Sorry this is not the normal, laid-back, somewhat humorous (hopefully!) blog I usually post, but I'm too frustrated with how the day has gone to not write about it. Aside from the mild stresses that car upkeep costs cause, the remainder of the day has included these items:

A call letting me know that the car costs would be a bit more than expected.

The realization pointed out by a co-worker that himself and I were placed on only 40% appointment this summer instead of our usual 50% appointment, lowering our overall earnings by about 20% (Arrggh!). Although the money stuff does frustrate me (I have a wife, and we have a life, and we budget, and save, and have plans for the summer...long story short, I EXPECT to be payed the same as usual...my workload hasn't change and my expectations haven't changed, and if they have, they've only become greater), the real issue that I'm more frustrated with is that my boss declined any opportunity over the past month to speak with my and my co-worker about the upcoming drop in pay. I've never felt more disrespected. It makes me feel like I'm just a trained monkey to him, doing his work and receiving whatever he feels like paying at the time, without having to concern himself with letting me know. Words are probably not doing justice to how aggravating this is. Oh well...

And lastly, to top off with a cherry on the crap-sundae that this day is turning out, I've just received an email from my boss (he's out of town at a conference), basically saying he's decided that before the experiments that I planned to do this week can be done (which he'd known about for sometime) he thinks we need to do a different series and look over them together...even though the window of opportunity to use the instrument needed for the first set of experiments is small. Oh yeah, and he didn't forget to add an additional note: (that currently feels incredibly condescending) Don't forget to make sure progress is being made on your other projects.

Thank goodness God is good, and I know he's in control...because if I was in control, I would be breaking things.

Pimp My Oil Tank Vol. 1

So after three years of living in Iowa, in our very first home together as a married couple, Mary-Jane and I have decided that we must remove the super-old heating oil tank that had been last used at the same time that carrier pigeons were the main form of long distance communication (give or take a few years). This huge ugly beast of pale yellowness had recently began leaking a little more than I prefer (yet it is empty---so we were told), and I've decided the cost of Oil-Dri is now quite worth it (Neither is the nasty stink that wafts from the old oil). So, my good friend Ben and I were taking a look at the leak and he asked if we had considered removing it. I replied yes, but had not really taken the time, and wasn't sure I has all the correct tools to take things apart without damaging anything, but he felt certain he and I could do it.

He also said he could take it to the dump on his trailer for me, or might know someone that would recycle it or use it and maybe pay a couple of bucks for it. Part of me wanted to say, "Heck yeah, get that hunk of junk out of here for good!" However, a part of me also remembered how cool I thought it would be to turn this sucker into a nice, large smoker that I could attach axles and wheels and maybe a hitch to, so that it would be mobile. Just as I began to answer Ben, he said to my surprise, "Y'know, this thing would make a cool smoker!" At that point, I felt that the destiny of this old oil tank was set...We would take this hunk of junk and rebuild it into the ultimate barbecuing machine...

And so begins the first portion of this transformation tonight, as we attempt to remove the oil tank from my basement and load it on to Ben's trailer to be taken out to EIBC where the next volume of Pimp My Oil Tank will tank place...with hopefully explosive (but not damaging results). Be sure to tune in next time for more revealing details of the features and changes that will be designed for this outdoor cooking creation(with pictures to follow!)