Ahh the Holiday's

Another non-white Christmas is in the books: I remember more snow as a child. Maybe it is global warming, or I just remember what I want to remember as a child, which is also very likely. I also feel that more people put up Christmas lights when I was younger. Not sure if it is the more “PC” Holiday Season era or people are just lazier or once again, I remember what I want to remember.(WARNING, OFFENSIVE MATERIAL COMING NEXT. SKIP TO THE NEXT PARAGRAPH IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE OFFENDED). I would also like to wish everyone Merry Christmas! I hope that everybody had safe travels and Santa brought them everything they wanted.


Our first Christmas as husband and wife was very nice, thank you for all the nice cards that wished us a good first Christmas! We really enjoyed receiving Christmas cards, it was the high light of our day to open the mail and see the new cards. We proudly taped them up on our fridge. As I have said before, I love Christmas, the songs, the presents, the lights and just the general feel of happiness that Christmas brings. The one thing I do not like is all the sweets and candies that accompanies this season. I have worked very hard to stay in shape and it seems that every corner there is a piece of fudge, or Hersey kiss, cookies or pie. I like a fat kid when it comes to candy, so we just don’t keep in the house, but I think over the past week, I have eaten my weight in candy. If there is candy out, I grab it.


Christmas Eve day found us at the bowling alley with the In-Laws. Emily’s uncle Jerry, his long time girlfriend Mary and Jerry’s daughter Bretlyn always come over Christmas Eve and we play games and have gift exchanges. Over the years I have grown quite fond of Emily’s family and look forward to spending time with them. Not that I ever did not enjoy their company, but in the beginning of our relationship I was just Emily’s boyfriend who she brought home for Christmas and I was still a little nervous about fitting in and hoping the family likes me. Now, that Emily has a ring on her finger, they have to like me, so I am no longer nervous. Ha.



Linda is one of the nicest women I know; she reminds me a lot of my Mom. She is very thoughtful and genuinely cares about people: Emily takes after her Mom quite a bit. Lin is going to be a wonderful help when Emily and I have kids. Her and my Mom are going to make amazing grandmothers!


Russ and I share a love for good music that we can play loud with his surround sound. The women of the house don’t seem to enjoy hearing Dark Side of the Moon for 10 hours, but I sure the heck do. He enjoys a nice cocktail sitting on the couch with the music blaring, my type of night! He reminds me of Justin in the sense that he over analyzes most of his purchases, but always gets the best deal. We spend a week talking about switching to Direct TV or staying with Charter. When I want to purchase something new, between Russ and Justin I feel pretty confident just to purchase what they did knowing that they researched the snot out of it and found the best deal.


This year brought a friendship to Andy and me. Andy is Emily’s older brother, who is a year younger than I am. I have always liked Andy and knew that we had a lot in common, but never really had much of a chance to hang out. This year he flew into town for my bachelor party and really gained a lot of love for my future brother-in-law that weekend. After that weekend Andy and I have became pretty close and I always look forward for him to come in town. I am trying to get up to Chicago to spend a weekend with him.


So, back to Christmas! Christmas Eve night Emily and I went to Justin’s for a little while to see Mom, who was in town. Christmas morning we were back at Justin’s at 6:45 to see Norah open her gifts from Santa. Norah is 2 ½ years old, so this was the first year she understood about Santa. It was real neat to watch Norah tear open gifts. Around noon we headed back to Emily's folks house to open some more gifts and an amazing Prime Rib dinner. It was a hetic back and forth few days, but very nice to spend time with family. Out next step is to take down all the decorations and back up on the roof for round 2 of Josh vs the Roof! We have a few days to get the house in order for our New Year's Eve party, which I am very much looking forward to. It will be a great night with some of our closest friends.


For those wondering: Here is what I got Emily; A coat, a pair of boots, spa treatments, and stuff for her classroom. We tried to keep a low cost Christmas so we can put more money into the house.
A few notable gifts:
A Custom made sign from Justin and Meg. It will be hung this weekend.

A miter saw from Moma. (I am trying to get more into word working).







A Tool Chest from Russ and Lin. This was very un-expected and very much appreciated! I just need some more tools to fill it up.




And Artie Lange’s book from Emily, which I am very excited to read!

Those are just a few of the many gifts I received. All the gifts that I got are awesome! Thank you to all my family who helped make Out first Christmas memorable!
I hope that everyone has a safe and wonderful New Year! In the mean time: Keep on keeping on…mrrrrrrrrrr

2008...gone already?

It is that time of the year when people reflect on the past year and start thinking about the New Year, making resolutions and setting new goals.

So, I start with 2008: a year in review
2008 started in a great way. Emily had just moved in and our relationship was going great, I was waiting for our corporate office to sell so I can buy an engagement ring…again. Planet Cash was doing well, and only looking better. After a year of being in a horrible place in my life, I was starting out in a great place in my life and the future looked bright!

The summer of 2008 started with a mess of weddings, keeping our house clean and Emily getting ready to start a new job. 2008 marked a lot of good friends tying the knot and starting their new lives together. I was much honored to be a part of their special days. I have been blessed with many good friends and it is always an honor to stand with a great friend as they say I do.

Our wedding came and went
http://jettyler.blogspot.com/2008/09/ahhhmarried-life.html and we didn’t have much time to recoup as we jumped right back in the real world. Emily had started her new job and I had a lot of house work that need to get done.

2008: Engaged, married, new house and new job for Emily. I really couldn’t have asked for a better year. I really do thank God quite a bit for everything that Emily and I have been blessed with. There are many days that I just sit and think our lucky I am. I have a wonderful wife, a beautiful home, a great job and amazing friends. 2008, to date, will go down as my best year of my 27 year life.

2009 seems to bring some changes to our lives as well. It is no secret that Planet Cash will probably be sold early in the year. That will be a big change in my life. Granted, I don’t go in, but I do work from home every day and put a lot of effort in the behind the scenes work of Planet Cash. It has been what I have known for 3 year, and it will be weird not having the store anymore. It has been wonderful working with Justin and has made our relationship much better, not that it was ever bad.

So, 2009 looks to be starting with me figuring out my next move. I know that the next move that I make will be a long term situation, so I want to make sure that I think carefully about it and make a move in the best interest of Emily and myself, not just for me.
There are no kids in the 2009 future, but we will talk about in the fall and see where we stand. I want to have my next step figured out before we talk about bringing a child into world.

My 2 big goals for 2009 are to keep my healthy life style and make my next move in our life.
Thank so everyone who has helped make 2008 the best year of my life. All my family and friends who have helped make into the man I am today, like it or not. Ha ha. Looking forward spending New years Eve with everyone!
What are your New Year resolutions?

Don't call me a fair weather fan

It’s hard to be a fan…
As many of you know, I am huge football fan, and have been all my life. I would almost call it my religion. As a child I collected Starting Line-ups : at one time I had one for every team. On Sunday I would get out the ones from the teams that were playing and I would grab my yellow wash cloth that was my referee flag and watch football all day. The ritual still continues, just without the flag, although I would like to have a yellow flag again.

The San Francisco 49ers have always been my team and to this day are still my favorite (hence the Man Cave). For those of you who are wondering how I became a 49er fan: It was Jerry Rice. He was my hero growing up, I always wanted to be a wide receiver and at the time, and currently, the best receiver to ever play the game. I have stuck with my team through the past 5 losing, it gets though, but I fight through it.

The past 5 years I have become a very large Chiefs fan. When the 49ers and Chiefs play, I still cheer for the 49ers. A couple of years ago I purchased season tickets and began making the long drive to KC from St. Louis on home games. When they had away games, I will be up at Game Day, since they have all the games televised. Emily loves football season, just ask her. Ha
This season has been really tough for my football heart. One Sunday this year have both of my teams won. The Chiefs are currently 2-12 and the 49ers are 5-12. The Chiefs have lost 6 games by 7 points or less this year and the 49ers are improving every game, but this slow process really wears at your fan-hood. It is even tougher when you have to drive 3 hours to see your team loose every time.

This past Sunday, as true fans we are, get to the stadium at 8:30 to tailgate. When we got to the stadium it was 62 degrees outside. At 10:30, we felt a big gust of wind and by 11:00 it was 34 degrees. It had to be one of the craziest weather experiences I have been through. Then the cold rain starts. I can handle cold and I can handle rain, but 32 degrees with rain is not a good environment to be in, especially for the Chiefs. So, we packed up and headed to a bar to watch the Chiefs blow a 16 point in one quarter and lose their 12th game of the season. The one thing no one can call accuse me of is being a fair weather fan. I have stuck by both my teams for past few horrible seasons, I keep on cheering and proudly showing my colors, but it is getting harder and harder.

The good news is that we switched to Direct TV (we saved $60 month and have more channels) and for the last 2 weeks of the season, I get the NFL Sunday Package, which shows every NFL game. I will get to watch the Chiefs and the Niners on the same Sunday from the comfort on my own Man Cave for the first time ever. Needless to say, I am just a little bit excited.

Until Next time: Keep on Keeping on…mrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

So this is that thing called work

Today marked day one of "official" work at Water Way. I worked the line from 10-3:30 Wednesday.
I have gotten in the habit of staying up late and sleeping in until 10 or so. Up until today, I have not had any real reason to wake up super early. As long as I get collection calls done, it doesn't matter if it is morning or afternoon. So, Tuesday night I was in bed at 12:00, which is early as of late, and after 45 minutes of tossing and turning, I got up and played Guitar Hero for an hour and finally was able to fall asleep. I got up at 7:00 to eat breakfast with Emily and start collection calls at 8:00 so I could walk out the door at 9:30 for work, so I am rolling on 5 hours of sleep and worked a full day. This feeling of being tired from work is all new to me.

The day went pretty fast, it was a sunny day so we were busy. Surprising, Water Way's busiest time is the winter. People are desperate to get the road salt off and sure the heck don't want to brave the cold of cleaning it themselves. So, any day that the sun is out, Water Way is bumping.
But I had a good first day, I learned a lot and realized that people can be really ignorant to those kids working the line. The kids work their butts off on the line for tips and when it gets rolling, they are doing non-stops cars for an hour or so.

Today a gentleman, let's call him Jerk, came in with a 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee, not a super expensive car, but a nice car none the less. It is not as nice as half the cars we wash. This Water Way is in a pretty nice part of town and in an expensive business district, so people have money and drive nice cars. And 99% of them are super cool. Any who: Jerk buys a $20 car wash. Keep in mind, all we do for this car wash is: wash, hand dry, vacuum, wheels and wipe down the interior. No Armal All, no detail brush, just the basic wash plus wheels. The car wash is bumping, long lines, 34 degrees outside, these kids are earning their tips. Jerk walks up to his car and throws a fit. Complains about his wheels not being shiny enough, which is fair since he did pay extra. The kid redoes all his wheels and then asks if there is anything else he would like him to do. Jerk says,"don't worry about, I will do it myself, and just so you know I am not going to tip, maybe next time you will learn to get it right the first time." I walked over to try to help (since I am going to be sales, I have khakis and a polo, and look like a manager, and the manager on duty was tied up). I ask, "Sir, what can I do to make this better?" Jerk: "Clean the shit out of my wheels and do a better job next time." Part of me wanted to grab him by the collar and say, "I am a grown ass man, don't talk to me like you are better than me." But, I just smiled and cleaned the wheels. The wheels at this point at already been cleaned twice and where perfect, but I wiped them down again.

The manager has now walked over and Jerk continues to pitch a fit. Points out every single drop of water that was missed, and dirt in his interior (which he did not want us to do, just a wipe down). In the end, the manager had detailed his entire interior, which is a $50 service just because this guy was so ignorant and rude, the manager just wanted to get him off the lot. I was appalled at Jerk. It would be like going to McDonald's and ordering the McRib and getting mad that it is not real Ribs. Duh, you paid $3.00 for it. Water Way is an express car wash. They do a great job on detail work, but when you just order a normal car wash, you can't expect them to get it done in 10 minutes and have every single little piece of dirt picked up and 100% dry. Water his in cracks Jerky.

I really did feel bad for the kid who tried very hard to make Jerk happy and Jerk told him off. Ignorant people really piss me off. I have no problem with someone pointing out a spot we missed, to be honest, that happened a lot today. Every time a car is done, we open the door for the customer and ask if everything looks okay. A lot of the time they will ask if we can wipe this certain spot, and we gladly do and they thank us and drive off. There is a right way to deal with things and Jerk was the total opposite of right. He is one of those people that is such a jerk, that you just do whatever you can to get him out of the store because he will throw such a fit that other customers will see him. I can see Jerk ordering a cheese burger and yelling at the waiter to send it back because it doesn't taste like steak. Jerky.

On a happy note, I did make $53 in tips for 4.5 hours. I didn't even think I would get tips while training. Not a bad gig for high school kids. They can make good money. So, I work Thursday and then Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday on the line and then off to selling. My 5 days of manually labor will be over!
Man, this is 2 rant blogs in a row, sorry for the anger guys.
For the mean time: Keep on Keeping on....mrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Cranky

I am currently sitting in the Dobbs waiting room. Arnie is getting his oiled changed, so I sit and wait. The waiting is set up with 2 chairs on one wall and 3 chairs on the direct opposite wall: around 5 feet away, so not a large space.
I am the first one in and sit on the side with 2 chairs. Soon after a gentleman comes on the opposite side and sits his drink down on the far right chair and goes to the restroom.
Before he gets back a gobble neck lady with a puke green blazer comes in with complete disrgard to the gentleman's drink, plops her fat ass down in the middle chair, puts her purse on the left chair and drink on the right chair. So, now, there is one seat open because she thinks she is better than everyone else and can take up 3 chairs. Argggg.
Now, the first gentleman with the beverage is the king of stupid small talk. He is just a good ol boy who is not from the city. It is his first time in this Dobbs. I heard him ask the manager "been busy?" Manager replies with; "Yes. " And country man replies: "I'll bet...I'll bet. "
You'll bet what? 5 minutes later he blurts out;"What a rainy day." No one responds. Ha. Really, it"s raining sir? The all glass wall when you walk in really blocks my sight, thanks for telling me. Alright, that is my rant, Arnie is ready to go. Hey. You know it's raining outside?

Day one of Training

Day one of training was Thursday for 2 ½ hours with Ryan “Gino” Barden a good friend of mine and fraternity brother. Ryan is the Senior Service Consultant at Water Way and in charge of the hiring and firing and training of SC’s (which will be me) at this Water Way location. Most of the months Gino is the top SC in the 15 store company, he is good at what he does.

Heading into training I was not sure what to expect. So far the manager has seemed to be walking on egg shells with me. It is not every day that a 27 year old who owns his own business comes to work at a car wash. He is used to high school and college kids who need to be slapped around from time to time. A typical SC works the line for a month or so, and Gino told talked them down to a week, which I am very appreciative for also. But on the other hand, I don’t want to start this job seeming like a guy who owns his own business and is only is working because his wife kicked him out of the house during the day….

For those of you wondering: I have not had a job where I have had a "boss" for about 6 years. I have in the past, worked my ass off at jobs, and am very proud of the jobs that I have done. I actually, contrary to popular believe, don't mind working. I just have been fortunate in the past to have jobs where I made my own schedule, or I was the boss making the schedule. So, this will be a change for me, but a good one. Baby steps to a full time "real" job...baby steps

So, I digress. But, training went very good, I was very impressed with Gino and his organization and how he ran the training; I know that I can learn a lot about selling car washes from him. It is a different type of selling than I am used to. I am used to being in people’s homes for a few hours and having plenty of time to talk and get to know them. Here I have 15-30 seconds to greet them at the gas pump, figure out if they want a car wash and then convince them they want detail work. Quick…quick…quick.

Here’s how I make money. The basic car wash is $9.99. For everything over that, I make commission. So, if you get a Hand Wax for $49.99, I make commission on the $40. The Max; Car wash/detail is $120. The % that I make is on a sliding scale, the more I sell, the hire commission I can make. Any where from 6%, up to 12%: paid monthly. The morning shift, which I work, does around $1,000 in car washes. Just FYI. Oh yeah, and I get $0.10 off each gallon of gas. Not a bad deal there.

Sunday from 1:30-3:30 I start my first day of working the line. I have about 20 hours to fulfill; but as Joel (store manager) told me, I can do it whenever I want, as fast or as slow as I want. I figure, I might as well get it over with and work it in one week. Granted, that is a lot of work in one week for me, but I think I can handle it: I did used to work full time. Ha. I will keep you updated after my first day of working the line.

By the way, Guitar Hero: World Tour is awesome. I personally like it better than Rock Band. The drums have cymbals, the graphics are better and I like the guitar play better. I did try to sing, and on both games, got booed off the stage within minutes. So, I am not a singer.

In the mean time: Keep on keeping on…..mrrrrrrrrrrr

Thanksgiving

I would like to start by offering my condolences to the Mayer family. Drew, who was a groomsman in my wedding, called Tuesday night and informed me that his Opa had passed away. They were a very close family, so I know that he is hurting.

Also for Emily’s Grandfather (lin’s Father) who passed 2 weeks ago. He had a un expected death. We were both very happy that he was able to make our wedding and make it into our wedding album. They say death’s happen in three’s.

JOB UPDATE

I had orientation Tuesday afternoon with a room full of high school kids who love to talk about their pot smoking out loud. Not where I thought I would be with a college degree and owning my own business for the past 3 years. Oh, what boredom will drive a man to do. I have sales training Thursday and then next week I have to work the “line” for 25 hours before I start selling. The line is cleaning cars. So, if you are near the Water Way in Westport next week, swing by and I will clean your car….you better tip me. Ha

Grandpa

Alright, now the sappy part starts. I normally do not write about these experiences, but what happened last weekend with my Grandpa was emotionally draining and has had a profound impact on me. Grandpa has been in and out of the hospital for the better part of 6 months. He has been having heart problems, which when your heart is not operating at 100%, it messes with the rest of your organs, such as your kidneys and lungs. He has been needing stints in his heart put in, but the doctor was waiting for him to recover from his last surgery. He had been doing much better, and then Friday happened.

Emily and I headed down to the Lake Friday to do a little bit of shopping and see Moma. Our family always does a family Christmas, with about 25 of us. This year, since ½ the family sees a snow flake and looses their damn mind and can’t even mention the word driving without having panic attack, we decided to combine Thanksgiving and our family Christmas. Last year it was canceled and moved until January. Aunt Connie and my cousin Tony, who live in Reno, flew in for their first family Christmas in many years. We always do a white elephant gift exchange and for those of you who don’t know: Everyone brings a gift between $20-25. We all draw numbers and #1 grabs a gift and opens it. #2 can either steal #1’s gift or open a new gift, and so forth until everyone has gone. Each gift can only be stolen 3 times. I hate to use vicious when describing a family Christmas, but damint, it gets vicious: and we look forward to it every year!

So, I called the cousins to see if anyone else wanted to head down Friday instead of Saturday and we could grab a few drinks. We don’t get much time with just the cousins and no kids around. Tiffany and Tony were the only 2 cousins who seem to love me enough to come down early (My new two favorites). Mom, Emily, Winston and myself were on the way to a drive through light park and then they were going to drop me off at the bar to meet up with Tiffany and Tony. On our way Mom gets a call that Grandpa was having heart problems and would be heading to the hospital. We drop off Winston and head back to the hospital.

After a several hours of waiting and wondering and many test later, we learned that he had pneumonia, which didn’t seem to explain his vomiting, cold sweats and not being able to breath. They had sedated him in the ambulance in order to put a breathing tube down his throat, which is never a good sign. But, he was stable and they were going to move him to an ICU room for the night. The time was now 12:30am and we decided that we will make sure he gets to his room okay and then head home and get some much needed sleep. Around 1:00 the nurse asks for Kathy Tyler, who is the power of attorney for Grandpa, and technically has the final say in what happens. 15 minutes later all the brothers and sisters were called in for a meeting. At this point, Tiffany, Tony, Emily and my self knew that something was not right. 20 minutes later they come out teary eyed and tell us to go say our last good bye’s to Grandpa. In the matter of 30 minutes Grandpa went from stable to getting ready to take his last breathe. I will never forget the walk back to his ICU room. I had so many emotions rolling around in my head. I had no clue what the hell just happened and the thought of telling someone that you love good bye for the last time is something that I have never gone through. I have lost 5 very close people in my life, but I have never been there at their side as they take their last breathe. And this was what I was preparing to do.

The doctor said that he was not sedated any more and should have woken up 2 hours ago. They have been trying to wake up, but with no luck. With the 45 minutes of almost no oxygen to him, they assumed he was brain dead and at this point, he was just running on the medicine they gave him to keep him alive. It would be just a matter of minutes until he took his last breath. I called Justin right away, he had keep his phone close, and informed him what was going on. I could sense the total feeling of helplessness in his voice. I knew he desperately wanted to be there; not only to say good bye, but for Mom. We decided that driving at 2:00am was not the best idea, and the chances of Grandpa still being there were very slim. I hung up with phone with Justin knowing the he would not sleep the rest of the night.

The Chaplin came in around 2:15 to do the final prayer with us, and after that I said my final goodbye, told him I loved him and walked back to the waiting room knowing that was the last time I would see my Grandfather. I had made peace with this. He had put up a good fight, but he was tired. Worn out after a long battle and this was his time. Grandpa had lived a great life and touched so many people; this seemed like the time for him to take his trip to the sky.

We made it back to Mom’s around 2:45, just awaiting a phone call from the few family members that stayed in the waiting room. 7:00 comes around and Aunt Vickie, who was sleeping on Mom’s couch, wake up with no phone call. We called up there and we were told that he had responded to a needle by pulling his hand back. I quickly get ready and Tony, Aunt Vickie and myself head up to see him…again. When we got there, the family that had stayed all night went home to get some sleep and I was left with Uncle Mike to hold down the waiting room and inform the family on any changes. At 9:30 the nurse comes out and says that he is up right in bed, still with a breathing tube, but is responsive and can have visitors. So, less than 12 hours, I make the same walk where I had made peace with the passing of my Grandpa, now walking it with new hope that he is still around. And sure enough, we walk into that room and Grandpa’s eyes light up and he waved. He couldn’t talk, since the tube was in his throat, but there he was, alive and kicking. I left the hospital at 2:30 when new family arrived to take my place to hear Grandpa talking like nothing had happened 12 hours earlier. By Sunday he was the same ol Grandpa, just hooked up to machines.

All the nurses and doctors were calling him the miracle man. I am not sure what everyone believes, but I believe that miracles happen, and this was not Grandpa’s time. Aunt Connie said that he went up to Heaven and Grandma pushed him back out the door.

Update: We did learn that at one point he did have a heart attack. The pneumonia has been going on for a few weeks, but his body was so frail that he didn’t feel it. At this point, I am not sure at what point he had the heart attack. We will know more in a month on the condition of his heart.
He had surgery Monday to put the stints in, which was risky due to his frail condition, but it had to happen. He came out of surgery okay and is still doing great. Crazy…just plain crazy.
The whole experience has made me appreciate life more and just how precious it is. The feeling of making peace with his passing and then less than 12 hours being able to communicate with him is just surreal. I can not think of any other word to describe it. As I sit in writing this blog, I am still awestruck by what I experience Friday night. I just shake my head and marvel at the fight in that man that I call Grandpa. My grandpa, who I love with all my heart and is the glue that holds our family together, literally fought for his life and came out ahead to live another day.

I have always loved and appreciated my family, on both my Mom’s and Dad’s side. My Mom’s side is extremely close. Those who know my family understand 100% what I mean, if you don’t, you need to meet them. I talk to my cousins more than most people talk to their own brother and sisters. It is such a blessing to have such a wonderful family. Don’t get me wrong, there is bickering and whining, just with ever family, but our family solves it with a beer and hugs it out.

My dad’s side is also very close and super awesome. I know super awesome sounds like a 4th grade saying, but it the best way to describe them. Both sides are amazing people and I am very lucky to have them all in my life. My uncles on my Dad’s side are actually my 2nd cousins, so, their kids are my 3rd cousins. Norah and Caleb’s kids are 4th cousins and they know each other, fairly well. I don’t know of another family were 3rd and 4th cousins are the same as 1st cousins.

The point of this rambling is that I appreciate my family, and as a kid I took them for granted, not realizing how special my family is and how rare it is to be this close with your extended family.

If you took the time to read my random thoughts, thank you very much, this was something that I have been wanting to blog about for a few days.

In the mean time: Keep on keeping on…mrrrrrrr

Christmas Lights

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Our family didn't have the weekend that we had planned on, but we survived and came out on the other side for all of us to live another day, so we must be thankful. I will write more about the weekend later this week.

As promised, I will post pictures of the Tyler household with the Lights on. This might be my last year putting up the lights myself. Leaning over my 20 foot roof looking straight down at concrete is really not my idea of Christmas jeer.
I had an 18 foot ladder that would get me up on the roof above the garage, but not on the tall roof. The garage roof is not tall enough that I can step from that roof onto the taller roof.

So as you can see from the picture, I had to use the ladder to get up on the shorter roof above the garage, then pull that ladder up and set it on the roof, which is at a slant, to be able to get up to the top of the roof. As you can imagine, the ladder doesn't sit too nicely on a slant, so I had to make sure I stayed on the right side of the ladder so it would go into a spin, knocking me off the roof and falling to be holiday death.

Emily kept rushing me because we had dinner plans with her folks and that seemed more important than my safety. I kept telling her that you don't rush things when you are more than 20 feet off the ground. So, she ran in and uped my life insurance plan and kept rushing me.

I am only smiling here because Emily just went over my life insurance plan.

But, as most you know, I did survive, (sorry Jason, you can not marry Emily yet, you must wait for my liver to shut down, which is not too far off).

Here are the pictures of the house all lit up.

It says Merry Christmas above the garage

I wanted to line the drive way with lights, but Emily can not be trusted backing out without running over them. A few more lights will be added, but nothing major, don't want to look like Christmas puked in the front lawn.

And yes, Truman loves the ordiments on the tree. I had to go get shatter proof ones and then double wrap the hook to each branch so he can't knock them off. He gave up after a few days. Josh...One. Truman...-Zero

Until next time: Keep on keeping on... mrrrrrrrrrrrr.

The Big Announcment!

So, for those of you that were wondering all weekend what the big announcement is: I shall not keep you waiting any longer. I have a job! Yes, I will finally be getting house of the house; much to Emily’s delight. As much as Emily loved going to work every day as her husband stayed home and planned out his nap time, she is very happy to see me get out of the house.

I hit a whole new level of boredom this past month. Granted, I started to build things, but all the improvements for the house that I wanted were either: 1. to expensive to do now, i.e.: granite counter tops, or 2. I have no clue how to built it i.e.: new kitchen cabinets. So, I watched a lot of movies and became Emily’s errand boy. So, needless to say I am very excited about the new job and getting to leave the house more often!

It is just a part time job that I will be doing, still can’t find the full time job that I want, so for now this works. I will be working at Water Way selling car washes. A good friend, Gino, is the sales manager there and has talked to me about working there for a few months and finally boredom got the best of me. I do really think that I will enjoy the job, I will be out talking to people and extra money is always nice.
My first day will be December 3rd. I will be working 2 days at one location and 2 at another. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday’s. I am not too happy about the Saturday deal, but Friday tends to be Emily and I’s date night any way, so we stay home and Emily works Saturday’s as well. Work starts at 7:15, and am off by 2:00 and then I will head home to make collection calls for Planet Cash. The other good thing is that Emily goes to the gym at 5:00 am, and I want to go with her, but now I have no reason to get up that early. When I start working, I will be able to go with her, which she will enjoy.

On a totally different note, lights are up, BUT, will not be turned on until Thanksgiving night. Pictures and the story of the crazy ladder situation will be posted Thursday night.
Until then: Have a great day and keep on keeping on!

Tis the Season!

Tis the Season!
Even though it is still “technically” fall, it sure the hell feels like winter to me. Currently, my weather bug says it is 34.2 degrees in St. Charles, with an over night low of 17. Based on weather, winter is my least favorite season. I do not hate the cold, I would just rather it be warmer. For those who are wondering, spring is my favorite season, followed by summer and then fall, and then the red headed step child of seasons: Winter.

What I do love about winter is the holidays; Thanksgiving, followed by Christmas and then New Years. It is such a happy time and seems to be an extra pep in everyone’s step. Everyone seems to be much nicer and children are much better behaved to ensure good gifts from Santa. Despite the cold weather, there is a smile on everyone’s face. I enjoy Christmas music and the decorations. I love seeing houses that are all lit up and am thankful they don’t live next to me. Nothing beats a hot coco next to the fireplace. And even though they are annoying, I enjoy the bell ringers. It makes me happy to see people fighting the cold to raise money for those less fortunate that us.

Christmas is by far my favorite holiday. I love giving gifts that were not on their list and seeing their excitement when they open them. I would much rather give than recieve. Latley our family has had to tone down Christmas because we were giving too much. We were spending close to $1,000 each person. And as our family grows, $1,000 each person is not a fesible of an option. So, we still give gifts, just not as crazy as we used to. As a child, Christmas was always a large production in our family. My Dad started the tradition of disguising what the gift is so we couldn’t guess. If you put a shirt in a box and wrap it up, everyone knows that it is some kind of clothing. Dad started with a noise maker in a box. Justin and I each had one and we messed with that damn box for hours and ever could figure out what it was. To be honest: I don’t remember the gift, just the noise maker. So, Justin and I still will try to disguise what our gifts are. Example: if I get Justin a shirt, I will put it in a bigger box with a phone book in there to throw off the weight. The problem is that our wives seem to do most of the wrapping and they don’t like to play our game…Scrooge!

I have enjoyed sitting in front of the fire with Emily watching a movie or TV. There is something very nice about hearing the fire crack and spending quality time with my wife. We have talked about converting our fireplace to gas, but, as much as of a pain it is to get the fire rolling: you just can’t beat that real fire sound.

The big question for me is when to put up lights. I don’t want to be the first neighbor to do, so I have been waiting for someone else to put theirs up. We have decorated the inside of our house, and the tree is up with lights, but no ordainments yet (hopefully going to work on that tonight). The issue this year in the new house is I need at least an 18 foot ladder to get up on the roof and I sure the hell don’t want to do it without Emily being home, just in case I fall off, I need her to call 9-11. So, issue number one, I only have an 8 foot ladder and Emily doesn’t get home until after dark. Herman is supposed to give me a 25 foot ladder, but we will see if that happens. Let’s hope for good weather this weekend and I will have to borrow a ladder. I might put the lights up and not turn them on until another neighbor turns his on.

Everyone try to stay warm and make sure to check back Monday, I should have a nice announcement to make, and no Emily is not pregnant. Mrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Hold Strong Arnie...hold strong

Arnie has served me well for almost two years, but it seems that he is on his last leg. The plan has been to keep him until he hits around 100,000 miles and with 87,000 we are almost there. I know the Aztec looks like an over sized station wagon, but it is one the best road tripping vehicles I have ever owned. With 24-25 MPG on the HWY and 20-21 MPG in the city: I don’t know many SUV’s that can match those numbers. But, the past month Arnie has been giving the Tyler household some issues.

It started with the check engine light...again. Don't remember what exactly was wrong, but I know it cost us a lot. Oh yeah and he got new tires. He should have been happy.

Then 2 weeks ago the lock cylinder locked up while in the Target parking lot. You know when your steering wheel locks up and you have to wiggle your key and turn the wheel at the same time and then all is fine. Well, I wiggled for 20 minutes and no luck on getting him started. I was 200 yards away from Dobbs (who is amazing) so the manager drove over to see if he can get Arnie rolling. He tried for a while and realized that I have to tow it in. So, I know wait an hour for a tow truck to tow me 200 yards. 200 flipping yards. So, $300 later Arine is back home.

Last Thursday while pulling into the dry cleaner, he dies. Luckily I was turning off the HWY and rolled into an oil change store. They ran some test and had absolutely no clue why Arnie was being such a bastard. So, for the 2nd time in 10 days, Arnie rode into Dobbs on the back of the tow truck.

It turns out that the wiring was loose on the fuel pump and the very nice people at Dobbs did not charge me for fixing him up. So, Arnie is grounded, not allowed to leave town and his drive time has been drastically cut down until the end of the year when he will be traded off for a new vehicle. Oh yeah, his front left brights are out as well. Emily and I are just hoping that he will make it just a few more months. So close Arnie, yet so far away.

Vehicle Names??
For those wondering about the naming of vehicles: here is the story. Our family has named our vehicles in alphabetical order for as long as I can remember. Trucks/SUVs are boys and cars are girls. I am not sure how it started with my folks, but the tradition continues. Arnie marked the alphabet starting over and the splitting of families. Justin and Meg will start with Justin’s new car at ‘A’, and Emily and I will continue with my new car at ‘C.’ Emily’s Camry is Ba Bay.
Our vehicles have mostly all been named on road trips after a few adult beverages have been drank. Names are thrown out there until something sticks. We went through 20-25 different names before Arnie became Arnie.

Here is the history of my cars:

1988 Dodge Spirit: Don't actually remember the name. Anyone?

1994 Saturn: Qbert

2000 S-10 Xtreme Serendipity

(only brand new vehicle I have ever, and probually will ever own: only had 18 miles on it)

2000 Bravada: Titus

2004 Avalanche: Vahuna

(This is my favorite Vehicle to date)

2000 Elentra Hatchback: Woody

(Was purchased for traveling, Woody got 30 MPG. Ugly, yet practical)

2004 Aztec: Arnie

2008 Camry: BaBay

(Emily's Car)

Honda Ridgeline: C????????????

And I'm back

It is amazing what boredom can inspire a person to do. I have started to build stuff. I have never built anything in my life; outside of shop class in 7th grade (which Justin still uses the chair that I built)! Once Lange and I built the bar, I realized that I enjoyed building things and actually can do a pretty good job at it. The problem is that I don’t have a lot of the tools to build really cool stuff, so I have to stick to stuff that I can carpet and cover the crappy job that I do.

We bought a new bedroom set when we moved into the new house. The bed frame has 2 rows of built in drawers on all sides, which is really nice to have: but add that to our double pillow top mattress, it makes for our bed to be over 3 feet off the ground: which means short stubby Winston is no longer able to make the jump. Hell, short skinny Emily can hardly make the jump. Russ, my father-in-law, brought up the point that when Emily is pregnant there will be no way in hell that she will be able to make it up on the bed. Now, my first solution was for Emily to sleep on the couch, but when that didn’t yield the laughter I expected; I immediately started the plans for the stairs.

As cheap as I have become, I was able to use extra wood from the 2x4 and Justin had a lot of wood that was perfect for the actual stair and the back of the stairs,(called the riser) so all in all the investment in the stairs was very low. I knew that I had to build stairs that were not just okay for Winston, but a pregnant Emily. I drew up a couple of different layouts for the stairs. It took about 5 different measurements to get the right size and spacing. I did not want them to be too steep, but if they were too much at a sloap, they would extend over 3 feet. They ended up only being about 2 feet long and a little less than 3 feet tall.

I quickly realized that you have to get EVERY stupid measurement right, or the whole stair case is off, even if I was only building 4 steps. Being new into the whole world of carpentry, I made a few mistakes, but they were easily fixed, and if not, they will be covered with carpet. I am actually real happy with how they turned out. They are very study: Emily and I both can stand on them. Winston can now make it up on the bed and Emily won’t have to sleep on the couch when she is pregnant.

Here are some pictures; I still need to carpet them, so bear with me.

I took these pictures at night while Emily was sleeping, sorry for the dark pictures.

JOB SEARCH

For those interested, the job search continues. It does begin to wear on a person when you send out what seems like hundreds of applications to only get a few call backs. Apparently a Loan Shark is not the experience they are looking for. My goal is to apply to at least one new job a day. I have had many calls for jobs where I am out on the streets every day knocking on business doors asking what paper products they use. Those are the people that we ask to leave our store on a weekly basis, not really the job that I am looking for. Insurance agents also seem to be in high demand. I get lots of emails and calls for that. I have a few promising leads out there and hopefully one of them pans out.

So, in the mean time I will find little projects to do. Emily always seems to have a list of things that keeps me busy through out the day. I also have the difficult task of making sure the couch doesn’t move, which is very tiring and requires a nap on occasion.

I am actually back at working at Planet Cash part time. Justin is still there every day, but we have hit a point when we need some help making collection calls and someone to help with customers on certain days. So, I will be making collection calls, mainly from home, and heading up to the store one or two days a week to help out. So, i appoligize in advance for being in a crank ass mood, collection calls are no fun, and put anyone who does them for a period of time in a bad mood. But, that is part of the business and we have to get our money back.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day and hopefully more projects to come!

The New & Improved Man Cave (and pictures of the house)

After a long, long week of working on The 2x4 and painting the Man Cave: it is finished. I would like to say a HUGE thank you to Jason Lange, who was over every day helping work on The 2x4, there is no way I could have finished on time without Jason! Also, I would like to thank Goldstein for letting me us his saw all week!
So, without further adu, here is the finished product:


This is at the bottom of the stairs



the side view.

a view from the back: Yes that is Chick & Noodle there.

Justin, Paul and Lange enjoying the 2x4

Jason Lange showing off his mug I got him for all his help





Up close shot of the stripe. This stupid stripe took me about 18 hours. Not as easy to get a straight line when the floor is not level (basement floor is slanted towards the drain in case it ever floods).

My cousin in Reno requested pictures of Emily and I's house. I had not realized that I did not post any. So, here they are:





This is walking into our front door. The Tylers sign is made by Upper Case Living. Mikala King, who is John's wife, who married Emily and I, sells it. Very cool stuff: and cheap; check it out.

This is our dinning room, to the left when you walk in the front door. We don't dine there yet.

This is our formal sitting room. We sit there...sometimes.

This is a view of our living room from the sitting room.

A shot of the sitting room from our living room.

A shot of our kitchen from the living room. The door to the deck is on the right.

Here is our living room looking at it from our kitchen.

A side view of our kitchen: taken from the entry way to the dinning room. On the right is our mud/laundry room.

This is at the top of the stairs. This is Emily's office area. The Master Bedroom is to the right.

A shot of Emily's office area from the Master Bedroom.

The Master Bedroom from Emily's Office. And Upper Case Living above the bed

The masterbed room from the Bathroom

The Master Bath from the Master Bedroom

One of the guest rooms. This is where Moma sleeps.

The Day Bed guest room. This will become the nursey.

This is my office.

The back of our house.

The deck that is off the kitchen.

A picture of the pool that I float in.

One more shot of the pool

Hope everyone enjoyed the house and know that you are all more than welcome anytime!