Hello Friends

I want to start this blog by talking about Pearl Jam. I was finally able to see Pearl Jam in concert last night and it was worth every penny! They played for 2 1/2 hours, and put on one hell of a show. It ranks in the top 5 best concerts I have seen. Maybe #2, second to Carbon Leaf.

Seeing Pearl Jam has been on my list for many many years, I missed when they came to St. Louis 6 years ago, and was not going to miss them again. I have a short list of people and bands that I wanted to see.

Tom Petty, Robin Williams, Pearl Jam, Elton John (laugh if you must be I hear he puts on an amazing show) and the Eagles. I have seen them all except Elton John. Those are the shows that no matter the price, I wanted to see them. Robin Williams was awesome and worth the money.

So, moving on. Work has been going great! I feel as if I have found the job that I was meant to do. I love the DOOH (Digital Out of Home) world, it is so fascinating, and being on the cutting edge of technology excites me. For those of you who wonder what I do. My title is V.P. Of Business Development. Which means I handle the sales, and the sales people and new technology. For example: One of the things that I am working on is Sun Light readable touch screens that are weather resistant, expensive, but possible. On a smaller scale I am looking to incorporate an automatic hand sanitizer into the side of the AO for outdoor events. So, my days are crazy, which makes them fly by.

The downside is that I drive 45 minutes each way, which is tough and makes my day that much longer. And with me being so busy, Emily has really stepped up around the house, which makes me feel bad. So, I am trying to re focus my time so I can back on the helping around the house train. When I worked from home I was able to help all the time, run the errands, keep the houe picked up, etc. So, Emily has been amazing the past few months, a little upset that I have fallen off on the help, but I am getting back to it.

Emily will be moving to 1st grade next year. She will miss 4th grade, but it will be less work at night. 4th graders tend to work on their own more, so she has some down time during the day, not much, but some. But she has 1-2 hours of school work when she gets home. 1st grade is not stop all day, but no work when she gets home. She is pretty excited about it, but sad to leave 4th.

Soccer season will start up at the end of June, not sure where I am going to find the time to coach, but I enjoy being on the field wayyyy too much not to coach.

Pool should be open and ready to go with the heater rolling this weekend, so some quality lounging time is in store.

Emily and I started doing P90X, we are on week 2. It is a 90 day intense work out. We work out 6 days a week at 4:45, people are getting amazing results. Emily is looking great (not that she ever looked bad). She can fit into her jeans from freshman year of college. She ran her first 10K last week, and now is running 4 or 5 miles like it is no big thing. I am real proud of her for working so hard.

That is the main updates in our lives, all is well, we are both healthy and happy and Winston is still fat.

Keep on Keeping on! Mrrrrrr!

Cecil, Meet everyone, Everyone...meet Cecil

So, after some time spend over a few drinks riding around in the Edge, we came up with a name, but after telling Emily, we have changed it to Cecil. I actually like Cecil much better than the first name...which was Cletus.
So...world here is Cecil.

Forgive me Father for I have blogged

Life has been flying by lately. The last time we talked I was just getting ready to start my new adventure, and it has been crazy ever since, which is a good thing.

I love my job, I love the product, I love the digital signage world, I hate my drive downtown. I went from a 20 step commute to a 45 minute commute each way. The good news is I get to listen to quite a bit of Howard Stern, he keeps me sane.

There are so many great things happening with Ad Oasis, if you have not had a chance to look at the website, please do so, you will love it! www.ad-oasis.com. Alright, enough shameless promotion of my work.

Life has been wonderful for the Tyler household, Winston is still fat. He had to get over his stomach issues, and now we are weening him off that food and onto diet food. The vet has compared his journey to the Biggest Loser.

We are bearing down for the opening of the pool, which I can not wait. Emily most likely will not be teaching summer school because of budget cuts, and she is now trying to find something to do. I, would enjoy a few months of pool time, Emily was bored on her Spring Break. She is a worker, and I am proud of her for that.

We have found a church that we both really like, Windsor Crossing. I bring that up, because it has been a long process and many Sunday's sitting in churches that we didn't like. It is very tough to find a church, giving our different church backgrounds, that we: A, both like, and B. connect with the Pastor on a weekly basis.

We get the baby question almost every week, and the answer is....(drum roll), whatever the Good Lord decides for us. We have talked about a family, and when the time is right, we will have one. That is the best answer for you.

When are you dating someone, everyone asks when are you getting married. You get married and everyone asks when are you having kids. You have kids and everyone asks, when are your kids going to college, then it is when are you retiring, and finally when are you finally going to kick the bucket. So, right now, we are working towards When, we are living the now, and loving every minute of it.

Select Soccer Season is over, and I miss coaching all ready. Ready for June to get back out there.

Alright, off to bed!

Keep on Keeping on!

Crazy week

The older I get, the more that I believe that everything happens for a reason, granted, you might not know that reason right away, but I have a lot of faith that everything will always work itself out.
Monday I bid fair-well to my short lived career as a Door salesman. As many of you have told me, you didn't really see me selling doors and windows. I quickly landed back on y feet and accepted an offer from a company that I have wanted to be apart of for a few months, but the timing was off.
It is right up my alley of what I love to do, in the advertising and Digital Signage world. I am very excited about this opportunity to join an already thriving and wonderful company! My job will be a mirage of many different jobs that will I am sure will change on a regular basis based on what comes up for that day.
I encourage you to take 5 minutes and visit www.ad-oasis.com to see what all we can do. Trust me, it is very very cool! Let me know what you think.

Here is a brief description:

The AdOasis is designed to engage all the senses, putting an advertiser’s message front and center. It refreshes consumers with a cooling mist or warming heat. It has state-of-the-art, eye-catching graphics; all the while relaxing and engaging customers with pleasant fragrances and digital audio.

Keep on Keeping on....I know I have.

Noodle's Snow Day

Before I get into Noodle's snow day. I would like to wish a Happy Belated Birthday to Momma T.



A Snickers ice cream cake, with fudge and Oreos in the middle with devil's food chocolate cake on the bottom...from Baskin-Robbins; the best ice cream in the world.



Momma T and Norah blowing out the candles. Happy 25th!

Last week we got about 6 inches of snow, and Noodle was tired of being next to Chic all the time and begged me to spend the day with him. We had a great time, but as always, he drank too much.

Here is Noodle making a Noodle Angel

Noodle sledding on the sled that Santa brought us.

Another shot of Noodle sledding

Afterwards we moved inside in the warmth to play a few games of ping pong. He has a pretty good serve, but he can't handle my backhand.



After the Pong beatdown, Noodle wanted to take some shots.




After Noodle gets drunk, he always has to eat.




And then the food came right back up



All in all it was a great day. Love spending time with Noodle.

Still have not named the new car, but we are working on. We should have it narrowed down in the next few days.

Keep on Keeping on!!

Rembering Arnie

I have some sad news to report: Arnie is no longer with us….Go ahead, take a moment to digest the news, it is still hard for me to say. Arnie is gone. But we have to face the facts and realize that Arnie was awful old and he would want us to be happy.

For as much crap as we gave Arnie, he was the best road tripping vehicle that I have ever owned. He might have been ugly, but he was a lot of fun!So, through all the tears, I wanted to take some time to remember Arnie: the good times we had. Please post any Arnie stories that you have as well, it helps with the grieving process.

Noodle and Arnie on the way to Kansas City to see Uncle Bear


This is Arnie and myself in Chicago. He had a great time.


Ben Grubb, Musick, Myself and Arnie in Mexico for Musick's wedding. Man Arnie was hammered all week.



Guys Weekend at the Lake. Arnie got real drunk and went skinny dipping. Crazy bastard!



Arnie and I at the World of Coke. The kicked him out after he drank too much soda he vomited.



Emily, myself and Arnie swimming with the dolphins. He was a little freaked out first: Had a little oil spill.



Bear and Amy, Emily, Me and Arnie on the Beach in Florida. He loved the ocean.



The Gang and Arnie at Mark and Anna's wedding.



So Glad that Arnie could make it to our wedding. He was able to blow bubbles as we left.



Here is Arnie playing with Norah. He was so gentle..



Paddy and Arnie getting so quality time together.



This is Arnie as we were leaving for the dealership. He didn't know this would be his last trip. He had gotten so old he was not cleaning himself.




Arnie parked next the new ride. I think at this point he knew something was going on, because he refused to look at me.

Arnie you will be missed, you served us all very well!

The new ride is a 2009 Ford Edge from Dave Sinclair Ford.



We have not picked out a name yet, we are on 'C.' For those who don't know, we do name all of our cars and in alphabetical order. It started with my folks when they got married and we have carried it on. the Camry is Be Be. We have, for the past 6 cars, picked up some beer and would drink until a name would arise, most of the time we would have a DD and take a road trip. Many people have been apart of the naming game, so once a name is picked, I will let you all know.

Thanks for all those who contributed to Arnie's memory.

Keep on Keeping on!

Job

I wanted to be able to answer a lot of the questions I have been receiving pertaining to my job. Yes, I have in fact left Fill N Thrill. It was a very tough decisions and there are many factors that myself and Emily have thought about over the past 2 months, but ultimately felt it was time to leave.

I developed a great relationship with the CEO and my business partner, so walking away was a tough choice.

I do not wish to go into all the decisions here since I do care about the company and the CEO. I wish them all the luck.

Moving on though, I was also waiting to leave until I had another opportunity, which I do have. Until it becomes 100% official, I will have to leave the name out. But I will be the Assistant Marketing Director and a Territory Manager. I will be doing in home sales basically, along with Marketing. I am very excited about this opportunity, I am able to stay in the Marketing world, which I LOVE and be able to get out there and meet some new people. The job is a lot like I had with Culligan at the Lake with Mom.
It will be the first time in 10 years that I will be a W-2 employee, so we are pretty excited about that. The job gives me everything that I wanted: The freedom to basically set my own hours (no I will not be working evenings, Yes I know that is when both people are normally home, but that is not how this company works). The challenge of Marketing and good pay. All around it just seems like a great fit!

The word that has been floating around my head for the past few days is Grateful! Focus on the good, and what you have, not what you don't!

So, I will keep you all posted. Noodle and I had a fun day in the snow yesterday, so those pictures should be posted soon.

Keep on Keeping on!