Michael Phelps - you know what I find kind of disturbing about all this........even Bill OReilly missed to boat on this one.  I watched a replay of one of his shows from late last week in which he had guests on discussing whether or not Kellogg's made a FINANCIAL mistake by firing Phelps.  

It's sad that it's all about money anymore.  No one is questioning the negative impact this is having on kids that look up to the guy as a role model/hero/whatever.  That's the kind of standard these guys should be held to - act like a role model for the future generations.  Instead of talking about that, everyone wants to know if sponsors will be hurt financially.

Like it or not - it's against the law what he did.  So you can argue whether or not the law is just but IT'S THE LAW.  You cannot have a society that chooses which laws to follow and which ones to ignore.  

Sad.

Feb 1, 2009 - It goes without saying - this was a blast! I just wish someone else knew how to drive so I could have gone for a ride!

JT doing what JT always does....pushing the envelope.  Wonder where he gets it?

Feb 1, 2009 - I almost forgot to post this one. This is just a quick shot of Dylan helping me cook breakfast on the wood stove. That day we had panacakes and bacon.....all cooked on the stove. Gotta love it. Also, can you believe how big Dylan is getting?

Feb 1, 2009 - Christl helped me bring in a load of wood again.
This time I tried stacking it differently so that we could fit more and it
seems to have worked nicely. Admittedly I didn't take my time stacking
the "lincoln logs", as Dylan referred to them but they did the trick nonetheless. As of today, they're still standing...although the front one is only about two or three levels high at this point. And while on the subject of wood - NO - the heat has still not run. This is an amazing streak without the heat running......dating back about an entire calendar year. The recent warm weather is really making me want to get out and bring some more wood down. Next order of business - I NEED TO FIND A TRUCK!

January 25, 2009. The pond has been frozen for a couple weeks in a row and the skating has been great. JT was rippin' around as usual. Dylan was a pleasant surprise - not only asking to join us but doing a great job of joining in the games. Normally he has a tendency to shy away from the games but to his credit he hung in there.....sometimes playing goal, sometimes 'D' and sometimes up front. We had a near record turnout today despite not having the changing hut from two years ago.

OK - I just got done venting to Christl about this but decided it wasn't enough so I decided to post this........

http://uk.reuters.com/article/autoNews/idUKTRE5136YP20090204

I'm sure you've heard about this program - analog tv is going away.  What is analog tv you may ask?  Well, I don't even think Granny had analog tv there at the end.  If you don't have cable and/or a box on your tv used for changing the channels, you probably have an analog signal.  Yeah, not many people.

So for whatever reason, the government decides to get involved in this (this started under Bush) and try to "help out people" by issuing $40 coupons to help people buy digital sets.  Ok, I don't agree 100% but I'll deal with it...ignoring how much money has been spent on advertising and printing and mailing those coupons.

But now.....NOW.....they're delaying the cut over.  Why?  WHY?  Because "about 13 million" people are holding expired coupons AND the government has run out of these coupons and millions of people are waiting for coupons.

Now the silver lining to this story is that the government was somehow able to raise something like 19 BILLION - BILLION with a 'B' dollars by selling off the old analog airwaves.  But - how much has been and will be spent on this whole freakin' program?

I'm sorry - this is not food or clothing or even child care or something essential.....this is T.V. we're talking about.  And I don't want to hear any arguments about not understanding the program or not knowing about it.  If the tv is so important then they've most likely been watching tv.  And if they've been watching they've seen the commercials.  No TiVo's involved so they can't be skipping over commercials.  The deal is simple.- you go to the website - https://www.dtv2009.gov - fill out a form which consists of your name/address, how many coupons do you want (you can actually request TWO) and that's it.  You then have 90 days to use the coupon(s).  Oh, and for those without internet access......1-888-DTV-2009.  And I'd like to see a report of the number of coupons that were requested via the online order form.  The people can pay $20 a month for internet access but can't afford a one time $40 converter box?

Ok, I'm kind of calmed down now.  Comments welcomed.