-more @#$%ing snow-

this HAS TO BE the last snowfall of the year. it just has to be. why has every snow storm of the year come on a monday? its strange. for those of you who dont know we are in a heavy snow warning and could get 6 inches or more by this evening...with another 2 or 3 tonight. woo hoo to that.

kleigh and i took my dad up to the u of m again this morning. we drove up to my grandmas in anoka last night and stayed up there with her so we could "sleep in" a little bit and still get to the U by 8 am. he had an appointment at 8 and than another at 11. they were nice enough to move his 2nd appointment up to 10:30 to help us stay ahead of the snow a little bit. the drive home was a little sketchy in places, but overall not too bad. all the schools in the area released early today due to the storm...so i was kind of nervous about driving home. but, we made it.

tonight is the twins season opener. i am of course going to sit and watch. i dont expect them to be any good this year...and i dont expect them to win tonight...but i love baseball, so i will probably watch way too much of it in the coming months. if i can get a nap in between now and game time things will be good.

-cant sleep-

i was kinda bored today and wanted to make sure i did something different and fun this weekend. so kleigh and i jumped in the car and made the rounds to the local waterfalls. ive never seen them frozen before and i guess i didnt think that they still would be. up above there is minneopa falls. as you can see theres still ice going up about 3/4 of the way. kinda cool lookin if you ask me. kleigh loved it...she was so excited. which was a relief because i thought she might be bored. we hiked all the way down to the bottom and got a good look at it from right below it. (click play on this video to see the view from there)






after minneopa we cruised out to minnemishinona falls. i had never heard of it...and i dont know how to pronounce it. its out of judson bottom road and i guess its land that was privately owned that the county just bought. its a cool area kinda out in the middle of no where. this one was still really frozen...they say its about 50 feet high...thats it below.

im going to add some more pictures to the "pics of me and family" and "pictures taken by me" links on the right. go check them out, wont you?

-the beard poll-

soon friends, summer shall be here. and with summer comes important decisions...should i shave my bikini zone? a one piece or a two piece? (im going with a 2 this year) so heres the new poll... should i, paul schroeder-rogers-roberts-schroeder, shave my beard off for summer? heres the catch, i will NOT get rid of all my facial hair. i just wont. if i did that i would look like a 12 year old. so heres the options...

1)keep the beard as is

2)go back to the thinner version of the omish beard

3)go way back to the sideburns

4)give a handle bar mustache a shot

5)other-leave sugguestions as comments

heres about what i look like clean shaven:

and heres with the beard:

me with the thinner omish beard:

and finally me with the sideburns: (im the one in the middle)

-weatherman-

ive decided to pursue a new career. i want to be a weatherman. im sure they get paid more than i do, and apparantly they can be completely wrong most of the time and still get paid. last friday the forecast was 4 to 8 inches of snow, possibly more. we got about a half an inch. today it was 2 to 6 inches of snow...we got exactly nothing. not a flake. my forecast for tomorrow...87 feet of snow! my salary requirements...$250,000 a year. these models that they use to predict storms...maybe its time to admit they dont work very well and figure out a new way of weather prediction. like flipping a coin or something.

its only thursday. i need a sleep in day. saturday will be that day. (sleeping in to me means getting up at 8 or 9) i miss the days of sleeping in until noon. work has been busy this week, not due to a sudden upturn in the economy or anything..weve just had a couple guys take a day or 3 off. so...we have to pick up the slack a little bit. combine more work with a grumpy 3 year old and i am just tired. borderline exhausted. (and maybe a little hungry.)

the wine cafe here in kato was nice enough to sponsor our softball team again this year. someone was "nice enough" to break in to their business and steal quite a bit from them. but even after that, they were nice enough to help us out. so thank you to the wine cafe for that. my new header banner up top there...yeah there...features me in last years wine cafe softball shirt. if anyone tries to steal the number 16 or the name pablo this year i will punch them square in the neck.

anyways...im on lunch break and should probably get back to work.

-lil stinker-

kleigh is rarely a pain in my backside. shes generally a great kid. but tonight...well, she was a demon tonight.

i got home from work and we jumped right in the car and went to get one of my new tires fixed. it seems one of the tires i bought last tuesday was no good. ive had to add air to it every day since they put it on. so instead of fixing it, they gave me a new one for free. woo hoo for getting stuff done right. since we were out and about anyway i decided we'd go up to the mall to get some stuff...laundry soap, coffee...you know, the necessities. kleigh of course wanted to play on the toys...so we did that for a few minutes. i than decided we might as well just eat up there since were up there. i even told her that we'd go on the merry go round after we ate. so while eating, she stands up and runs full speed away from me. by the time i got up and ran after her...which of course probably looked real cool to all the people sitting and eating...she was out of the food court and heading towards the journeys area of the mall. have you ever tried to explain to a 3 year old why she can not run away from you? you just get a whole series of "whys". it would be cute if you werent so pissed off. anyways...i brought her back to our sitting area and explained that she had just been naughty enough to lose the merry go round ride. is that really fair that she misbehaves and i end up losing my free merry go round ride??? no its not. she was pissed. so we left, got our stuff at target and walked to car. my hands were completely full of stuff. both hands. so i told her she had to hold onto my pants and walk to the car with me. i told her NOT TO RUN AWAY. so what does she do? she runs away. from one side of the road to the other. ARGH! great idea kleigh. i of course was red faced mad.

she is now screaming at me because she wants to wear her shoes to bed...i need to go get her to go to bed. she is seriously having a really bad night. thank god for tylenol or my head would have exploded about 3 hours ago. gotta go...g'night all.

-too quick-

i think i get on here every sunday night and complain about the same two things...the weekend was too quick and i dont want to go back to work tomorrow. boo hoo i know. but...seriously, this weekend was too quick and my god, i do NOT want to go back to work tomorrow.

yesterday we went to church and out to eat at outback steakhouse in burnsville. church was really good and i ate way too much...but it was soooo good. today my grandpa had us over for a late lunch/early supper...lupper/sunch? whatever it was, it was good. the kids and i then ran up to the nursing home to see my grandma. her roomate just passed away a couple nights ago in the room, and i know this is very childish of me...but it kinda creeped me out to look at her empty bed. we stayed with my grandma until she got called out for her supper. than it was home. since than kleigh and i have kinda just been laying around on the couch while dylan played his video games. a lazy sunday evening i guess. this weekend went way too fast. i do NOT want to work tomorrow.

mandra bought kleigh a new twins jersey for easter. its cute. here she is wearing it over her easter dress.

i hope you all had a great easter!

-GJS-

you woke me in the morning to say

"he is risen"

and i replied with a smile

"he is risen indeed".

and somehow you always leave a room

alive with truth and beauty.

and you carry yourself like you know

that its all just a matter of time.

i said "but what if im too far down this time?"

too proud to hope, too weak to climb.

but you just pierce me through with eyes

that know im not.

and i can

you carry yourself like youre sure of it.

that the stiches desolve and the wounds all heal in time.

and your words are giants next to mine.

and your thoughts are giants.

i only hope that

someday

i might resemble you

in even the smallest way.

i only hope that you can be proud of me.

-christopher simpson-

-a mess-

its friday...well its saturday now i guess. the snow storm kind of missed us. we only have about a half an inch out in the yard. thats much better than what they were forecasting. i had to drive north today though...so i went through the worst of the storm. they already had 5 or 6 inches just 20 or 30 miles away by noon today, and it was still snowing really heavily as i drove through. i saw about a dozen cars in the ditch and one pretty serious rollover accident. all of the glass in the car was broken...and i could not see anyone in the car. so, either they were laying down or they had been ejected. i was about to turn around to go see if everyone was ok, but emergency vehicles pulled up just before i got a chance to exit and turn around. i figured at that point the best thing to do would be to stay out of their way. i cant help but sit and wonder if anyone was seriously hurt or killed.

anyways, work ended up taking a little longer today than i hoped. i suppose thats to be expected when youre forced to drive 30 MPH slower than normal. after work i had to go up to the county offices to sign some paper work for the adoption. after that i came home. kleigh wanted to watch the simpsons so we laid down and watched for a bit...next thing i knew i was waking up after being asleep for 2 1/2 hours. thats too much to sleep on a friday afternoon/evening. its now 12:30 am and guess what?..im wide awake. i need to stop taking these friday naps. theyre just a waste of time.

dylan and i watched gladiator tonight. it is one of my favorite movies ever and ive seen it too many times. but, its been awhile since ive last watched it so it was kinda nice to watch it again.

tomorrow...we are driving up to the cities for easter church. than on the way home were going to stop somewhere nice for easter supper.

have a good weekend everyone! happy easter.

-no more snow!-

yesterday after work it was about 50 degrees and sunny. it was so nice to be able to to sit outside on the deck and just soak up a little sun. tonight...a winter storm warning. 4 to 8 inches of snow by tomorrow evening. that should make for a fun day of work. at least itll be friday. it makes it a lot easier to get through that kind of mess knowing the weekend is hours away.

i had a meeting with the caseworker for kleigh today. we finished up some paper work and kleighs adoption plan should be mailed to the state tomorrow. the court date for finalization should hopefully be set soon. i cant wait to have this done. its been going on for way too long. i honestly feel like the drama around her has aged me 20 years. but its worth every bit of the stress. soon she will be my daughter. i might remember how to breathe once its all said and done.

mandra has the kids for the night...so i went to a movie with andy. we saw sweeney todd. if youre planning on seeing the movie dont read the rest of this paragraph. i dont want to play spoiler. sweeney todd is the new tim burton movie...so its johnny depp and helena bonham carter as usual. and its really dark. imagine that. this movie is honestly just a disaster, an unbelievable disaster. and im not saying it was bad, i actually really liked it. its a musical so the 1st half hour or so was kind of awkward as i adjusted to most of the lines being a song. after that 1st half hour i was used to it and i could just sit back and get into the plot and the characters. the movie sets up as a typical revenge fantasy movie...and that bothered me. im sick of revenge fantasy movies. it has been far too over done for too long. so after the set up i had my mind made up that i was not going to like the movie. but the movie twists nicely and his need for revenge actually ends up costing him everyone he loved and everyone who loved him. there were a few too many throats getting slit...and too many meat pies made of human body parts...but i walked away feeling like it was a good movie...in a plane crash/train wreck kind of way.

anyways...no kids to put to bed...no kleigh crawling in to my bed and telling me shes scared in her room...its gonna be lonely in a way. but i am going to sleep like a baby.

-a quote from cs-

To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal.

-C.S. Lewis

-news from japan-

hello to my 3 regular readers...i do believe 2 of you know chris myers?..2 outta three aint bad. unless of course ive been lied to through song. i recieved an email from him this morning...


"Well here she is... the latest edition to the Myers family, Selah Ann Myers 　- born at 2:20 pm on April 19. Height is 49cm, weight is 3295grams (thats 19.3in and 7.3lbs) here is a few pictures for you guys- sorry if you have a slow internet connection. They will also be posted on my photobucket page... just search for graceisfalling Will keep everyone posted."


heres one of those pics...shes a cutie! congrats to chris and saki!!

click here for more pics of chris and fam

-good ole grandpa-

i went and got 2 new, well...used...start over...i went and got 2 front tires that have never before been used on my car. my grandpa was kind enough to go with me. "why, paul, did you bring your gramps gramps with you to purchase new-used-used-new tires?" you may be asking. settle down friend. listen here to what i say of it...anytime i take my car to anyone other than my grandpa to get any type of work done they convince me to get work done that my grandpa later tells me i didnt need done. had he not been there they would have told me that all 4 of my tires were in need of replacement...and i would have smiled and said "ok...go ahead and change them all and give me the most expensive tires you have." i of course would have thought nasty things about these people and their schemes...but they still would have gotten my money. when i walk in with my grandpa i simply say "hes been a mechanic longer than ive been alive...dont dink with me."...and like magic, they dont. so...i have 2 new previously loved tires. and all for a fair purchase price. to thank grandpa for his help, kleigh and i took him to perkins. "how was perkins?"..i hear laurie asking...laurie, it was ok.

its 10 o clock. sadly i was in bed by 7:50 this evening. all this nonstop running here and there caught up with me a little. i slept for an hour or so...laid in bed and listened to music for a bit...and than finally just decided to spend a little time here. soon, it will be back to bed, where hopefully i can just sleep for 6 or 7 straight hours. damn my infant bladder.

we waited at the tire shop for about 45 minutes or so while they changed out my tires. kleigh, my grandpa and i. they had candy machines there. i wasnt prepared with quarters like i usually am. my daddy grade has been reduced after tonights performance. anyways...kleigh came up to me and asked me for money. she wanted candy. i told her i was sorry but i didnt have any quarters along. there was a younger guy standing near us waiting for them to finish up on his car. he overheard the conversation and instantly went into his pocket and found 3 quarters and handed them to kleigh. moments like this shouldnt be that big of a deal...its only 75 cents, but i thought it was great of him to make her day like that. i think its awesome when strangers help people out in little ways. i told him one was plenty and offered to give him 2 back...he said "dude if you dont use them, pass them along to other little ones." what a great thing to say. what a great concept. heres some help, use what you need, use what you dont need to help others. i wish the world always worked that way.

-why im an idiot part 2-

this is part 2 of a series i started back in july of 2006. (click here to read part 1) i know what youre thinking..."paul, this series should have a countless number of chapters by now." and i hear you. youre very funny and witty in what you think. and in defense of your thought, i probably should post something in this series at least 37 times a day. but friends, id like to get through this life of mine with at least a little bit of self respect. if i were to rip on myself 37 times a day i would have very little chance of that. so im going to keep it to a minimum. but today, something needed to be said.

in my defense, i was tired when this happened.

kleigh and i drove my dad up to the U of M today. all went well. the drive up got a little sketchy at times as it was snowing pretty hard and making it hard to see. but we made it up...we waited for 2 or 3 hours and we made it back. we dropped my dad off in peter town (can you believe the tornado was 10 years ago already?) and headed home.

i have a garage...for those of you who dont speak french...i have a car hold. (thanks to moe from the simpsons for that one) i also have a driveway that is capable of holding at least 4 or 5 cars. so where do i park my car when i get home? where i always do, on the side of the street. so i parked the car, got kleigh out of her newly purchased "big girl seat" and took her inside to go potty. thats right, i blogged the word potty...what of it neely? when she was done i decided we should make a store run to stock up on goods. so we made the store run. in the middle of the stock up part of the trip my cell phone rings. its dylan. "dont forget we have that thing tonight" he says. apparantly i had already forgotten. "what thing?" i say. he fills me in on how tonight is the night we have to go to his school to sign up for spring sports. so i have 20 minutes to cruise home, pick him up and than cruise to his school. so our goods...yeah, not purchased.

anyways...i get home and park on the street, where i always do. he comes out and gets in the car. i decide to whip a u turn in the middle of the road. why not? well heres why. i didnt quite make the full turn around. i knew i was going to hit the curb...but oh well, ill just bounce up and than roll back down, right? no sir/ma'am. i smacked the curb, and i smacked it good. i bounced off of it and started to drive away. only to realize i had completely destroyed my front right tire. were talking rim on concrete...which is a very refreshing sound. so i reparked the car on the road, where i always do, jumped in my moms car and drove dylan up to school. we were only about 5 minutes late.

the moral to the story?..im an idiot. please do not comment on this post. i will punch you in your neck.

goodnight all.

-a ps-

oh and one more thing...a "prophesy" is only a prophesy if it actually happens. if it doesnt happen, its not a prophesy. an example: if i say "god is going to raise ____ from the dead" and than ____ is not risen from the dead, im not a prophet, im a jerk for making stuff up and attaching gods name to it. and an even bigger jerk for raising the hopes of ____'s family unrealistically high. its bad enough to lose a loved one. its a million times worse to be mislead into believing your loved one is about the be brought back. i honestly can not believe this happened. and now im shocked that there are people out there standing up for the people involved. this is just insanity disguised as faith.

-sunday, boring sunday-

sarah, fred, dylan, tyler, kleigh and i drove up to minneapolis yesterday for a motocross event at the metrodome. ive been to 100's of twins games at the dome...and one vikings game, but never anything like this. it was strange to see it converted over this way. overall though it was a lot of fun. i dropped way too much money on food, but i do that every time im at the dome.

this (the video above) is how they kicked things off. it was so bright and loud! kleigh hid behind me and held on for dear life until it was over. she did really well for the races. i did distract her with various treats, (start sarcasm here)which is what a good father does(end sarcasm here). we finally got home at about 1 am so it was a really long day. i think i finally fell asleep at about 2:30. this morning kleigh woke me up at about 8:00 but i managed to talk her into laying back down. she went back to sleep until about 9:30. so...i am really tried. old man paul isnt used to these late nights anymore.

tomorrow, its back up to minneapolis so my dad can get some medical tests done at the U of M. hes been sick more than not for the past 10 or so years and no one in mankato or even rochester has been able to help him out. so were hoping they can get to the bottom of things up at the U. the good news?..i get to sleep in a little longer than i would if i were going to work for the day. so a big woo hoo to that.

-heartbreaking music-

-woo hoo for this weekend-

ive just been in a funk this week. there hasnt really been any good reason for it, its just been a funk. but today is friday. work is done for a couple days. that alone was enough to...ummm...defunk me. yup im going with defunk. i got done with work at about 3. came home. got a knock on the door...it was angie. havent seen angie for a long time. angie just had a baby about a month and half ago and she is a cutie. click here for a pic.

anyways kleigh wanted to go to the mall tonight. i know, i know...i cant believe it either. so we went to the mall. kleigh is one pound away from out growing her car seat...so its booster seat time already. we had to go to 4 stores to find a pink one. she had to have a pink one.

at the mall. i ran into my old production manager. i havent had any contact with her for about 4 years now. about a year and a half ago she tried to wake her husband up. he had fallen asleep on the couch. he wouldnt wake up. so she nudged him. he was dead. he just died in his sleep on the couch. he was so young...and in such good shape. i used to play softball against him a couple times a season. just an all around great guy. they were highschool sweet hearts. anyways, i talked to her for quite awhile tonight. it was a hard conversation to have. i can only imagine how hard things have been for her and her children. what do you say to someone who has been through something like that? i really just felt like the best thing i could do was say very little and let her talk as much as she wanted to talk. if youre a prayer person, keep her and her family in mind.

im declaring today joey cape day. joey cape of lagwagon and bad astronaut and me first and the gimme gimmes and afterburner and...i think thats it. i have been completely hooked on all things lagwagon and bad astronaut this week. "hoss" and "lets talk about feelings" by lagwagon are 2 of my favorite albums ever. well, in the top 20 forsure. their 2 more recent albums "blaze" and "resolve" kinda dissapointed me for awhile. they just felt like a step backwards in ways. but this week they all of a sudden hit me. now on friday im really starting to think of them as great albums. they have their weaknesses of course. but looking back so did hoss and feelings. who cares you may ask??? im not sure. im just making chit chat.

-links-

i just added a "blogs i read" link list on the right side there. no...not there. yeah, there. i know so many people who blog on myspace and facebook and various other places that i just cant go and link to everyone. so heres the deal, if i have not linked to your page and you wanted me to, do not be angry at me. just ask me to and i will. the flipside to that, if i did link to you and you dont want me to link to you just let me know and i will take your name down. make sense? good and good.

-responsibility road-

im really sick of hearing about this eliot spitzer story, its just everywhere the last couple days. but i did think this was funny. watch the video above and click here to read the news story. sounds like he may have taken a wrong turn somewhere along the way.

...and this picture...what kind of face is that hes making?? i like it. its a good face. but man, look at the look on his wifes face! can you imagine whats going on in her head?? $80,000 on prostitutes huh?? hmmm. wow.

-news, moods and updates-

i am in a blah mood today. blah i says. mandra has the kids for a couple days. so that gives me a chance to kind of relax and i think it makes me realize how tired i am. theres just no time to be tired. now i can be...so i am. and man, am i tired.

kleigh told mandra today that she (kleigh) wasnt going to get bigger because she was very sick and going to die. mandra told her mom. mandras mom goes into a speech about how "sometimes kids are more sensitive to this kind of thing..." blah blah blah. basically implying that maybe kleigh is aware of a health problem that us adults arent. my opinion?..kids talk about things that they have just been exposed to and dont understand. there is NO reason to put a thought like that in mandras head...or in my head. kleigh says everything is dying or dead. shes been doing it since grandpa Tom died. its a fresh concept to her, and one that boggles the brain, even for adults. dylan came home sick today...kleigh associates sickness with death...so it would make sense for her to mention death today. theres no child prophesy going on here.

on that note, i feel like i am surrounded lately by people who just NEED to believe in something. one day i was reading my horoscope...just for fun. i got the chills by how accurate it was. i was more than a little spooked. i went to read it again only to realize i was reading the horoscope for the wrong sign. oops. so i read them all...at that point i realized they were so vague and generalized that i could take something from every one of them...if i WANTED to believe in that kind of thing. horoscopes, fortune cookies, tarot cards...all that. they all play on our fears and insecurities as human beings. am i/will i be loved? will i be financially secure? will i be healthy? every one of us want those answers. i do too. i just dont believe those answers are handed to us through a deck of cards, newspaper clipping or a piece of paper stuffed in a cookie that tastes like stale cardboard.

a funny side note though. about 2 years ago a friend of mine got a tarot card reading...she bought into it a lot more than i thought she would. so to prove how dumb they are i went online and found a site where you can get a free online reading...i got one myself. part of it said "you are entering a dark period in your life due to marital unfaithfulness"... "ha", i said. i may have said "fooey" too. a couple weeks later...on came the dark period. strange? yes. am i going to make life decisions based on cards. no.

desperate situations in life make us way too eager to believe in something. i get that, ive been there. but im sick of all the people who take advantage of desperate people. john edward can go to hell for what he does to people. and these people on late night "christian" tv who are selling "Holy Handkerchiefs" to people for "only $19.99"...promising them healing and wealth. ridiculous. it makes it so much worse when these things are done in the name of god. people have dreams and proclaim them as prophesy. certain world leaders claim god told him to drop bombs on people in another country. etc etc etc. i could go on and on with examples. faith has become laughable...and its a tragedy.

-invention-

crazy people know a special place to go when the pressure is on

neurons realign until the feeling is fine or the trouble is gone

they're in the business of inventing saviours

there's always trouble

so tell yourself again that help is on the way

and safety abounds

when you need some kind of guarantee

that you're protected

you start to trust the things

that deeper comfort brings

before you've checked it

you might be waiting for a long time

-david bazan-

im rambling now..sorry. rick is out of the hospital and seems ok. he may have pneumonia and/or swelling of the lining around his heart. so they are treating him for both. but overall, it looks to be something he will get over. which is good news. thanks for all who sent me a message or called wishing him well.

-the schroeder family ERunion-

no friends, that title is not a typo. i am just extremely clever and witty when it comes to hospital visits. or...a dork. im not sure which yet.

rick is going to be spending the night in the hospital again. it sounds like the same thing as last time and shouldnt be serious. which is good. but shouldnt they be able to do something to stop this from happening? not too long after andy called me to tell me about rick, dylan came home with a tooth shaped hole in his inner lip. nice and deep. so i had to take him up to the ER. so the ER was filled with Schroeder's for the night. it was an ER Schroeder family reunion. dylan had to get 2 stitches in his inner lip. he took it all really well.

too much stress for one night. im taking a bath. thats right, i said a bath. after that im gonna get some sleep. if you have bad news of any kind...do NOT call me with it tonight! :)

-rick-

i just talked to my cousin andy. my uncle rick is in the hospital with chest pains for the 2nd time in about a week. last time they didnt think it was anything serious, and im hoping and praying for the same thing this time. but please keep rick in your prayers just in case. i really, really dont want to hear any bad news about rick. it would just be devastating.

-weekend fun-

kleigh and i jumped in the car yesterday morning and drove up to the cities. we spent the first half of the day looking at the animals at the minnesota zoo. we went to a 3D movie at the imax, and kleigh was of course scared of the sea monsters. she made it through the movie but refused to wear the 3D glasses. after the zoo we jumped back in the car and drove over to maple grove for church. after all the insanity here at a local church i needed to be reminded that faith and insanity dont always walk hand in hand. it helped. ross met us there at church. after church we ate in maple grove and did some kittie shopping. at 10:34 i had about an hour and a half left to drive and i thought "ill be home around midnight." at that minute i realized it was that one night of the year that we lose 1 hour. and it started to really snow. argh. thank god kleigh slept until 10 this morning. i didnt get to sleep until about 3 am.

its snowing again now. stupid snow.

kleigh wants to go to the mall now. imagine that. im going to take her for a bit. have a good sunday.

-charlie trouser chest-

i stopped at a certain stop today. sat down to talk to one of the guys who works there. can you guess who came walking in? thats right friends, charlie trouser chest. he walked in...wearing those lovely man-pants, that wonderful belt AND those breath-taking suspenders. he sat down next to me and joined in on the conversation. it took everything i had to not sit there smiling big the whole time. if only he knew how much time and energy has been spent in the last 2 weeks assigning him his new name. oh charlie trouser chest, when will you ever learn?

its friday night. i napped half the afternoon away. woke up and took kleigh up to the mall. we made the usual rounds. came home and i laid down with intentions of just laying there until kleigh fell asleep but i ended up falling asleep first. i woke up and she was watching the simpsons. shes finally asleep. now its 11 pm and im groggy, but not really tired enough go to bed. i suppose two naps will do that huh?

i woke up this morning to a temp of about 10 below zero. its march! this global warming business can kick in at any time. im so sick of winter. but im sure we have one more big march snow storm left. seems like we have to get one last blast every year.

g'night all...

-music-

i need some new music! any recommendations? comment me with your recent favorites.

-adaptation-

i want to be new

-the polls have closed!-

the results are in...

charlie trouser chest is the winner with 40 votes.

randall highwater is the runner up with 15.

and johnny high-pants has taken up the rear with 9 votes.

my st peter high school math tells me that that is 64 total votes. i expected 5 at the most. i appreciate the participation. its been fun to watch. florida really came through for charlie. goodnight to all!

-randall-

only 14 hours to go voters! charlie trouser chest has really run away with things. the florida votes must have come in sometime last night. as promised, i did not toss them out...and they will not be recounted. i know there are some randall highwater fan outs there. nows the time to get your vote in. if the vote counters in alabama and oregon could submit their votes i think we'd see a difference in those polls. (wink, wink)

have a good wednesday. god, is it really only wednesday? im going to go punch my own head now.

-responsibility-

im tired of excuses. (my own included.) all the things we do and say to each other that are so damaging. and when confronted with what weve done or said our fingers immediatly point to someone else. its our parents fault. its our grandparents. friends and family have made us who we are. or worse yet, god created us this way, its his fault.

are we not responsible for what we say? are we not capable of thinking before we speak? are we not capable of carrying and dealing with our own feelings of fear and guilt without transferring them over to others? can we not say "im sorry...i made a mistake. its my fault" and really mean it? im sorry has become such a meaningless quick fix. i think its time we all start thinking before we act or speak. how much better would the world be if we never had to say im sorry because we stopped ourselves before doing or saying something stupid? its a dream world, i know...but it seems great to me right now.

-1 day left...ps...-

i should add too, even if you are voting in Florida, your vote will not be thrown out or recounted in any way.

-1 day left!-

friends, theres only one day left to vote. "what the heck is paul talking about, with his voting talk?" you may be asking. well in case you missed it, click here to read the story and than vote in the upper right hand corner, yeah...there. for those of you who have voted...vote again. (if you clear your browser histroy, including cookies and than come back to the page you can keep voting over and over again) its a tight race and every vote counts. dont let your favorite fall behind here in the final hours. tragedy is not using the voice you were given, especially in life changing times such as this. so vote, wont you?

-bush whackin-

-click on image for animation-