what’s in a name?
June 30, 2008
We had a court appearance today to change the middle name of our son, Byron. He was originally named Byron Thomas, but we’ve changed his middle name to Haderlie, in honor of Melanie’s family. Byron was named after his great-grandfather, Byron Frank Haderlie, who was Melanie’s father’s father. The change of the name is fitting because Byron has always been so close to his Grandpa Haderlie. Now we get to notify everybody, such as his school and the church, that the name has officially been changed. We also need to order an amended birth certificate. This could get messy …
Change for Change’s Sake
June 30, 2008
what should be obvious
June 29, 2008
This sounds like it should be a no-brainer to me.
As to oil prices, there is this thing called Supply and Demand. Demand (including speculator demand) is high. The speculator part of demand falls dramatically when there is even a glimmer of an increased supply.
Five years ago we were told that increased refinery and oil pumping capability in the US would do no good because it would take five years for those to affect gas pump prices. Query: if we had greatly increased supply over the past five years, would not oil be at about $75/bbl, still high, but not headed to $200? And if we do nothing to increase supply now, where will oil go?
What will happen to the US economy in a time of $7/gallon gasoline and diesel fuel? And how long can we continue to send trillions to the Near East where it is used to buy the most profitable parts of the United States?
Are any politicians actually addressing these problems? Obama would hit the oil companies with new taxes. I do not recall a time when increasing a tax on a business caused a lowering of prices for that business’s goods.
The US does not need to be crippled. We have enormous energy resources in the US. We need to develop them: or we will soon have a very green, very clean, US — only we won’t own much of it. And as energy prices rise, we won’t commute and we can’t afford to change jobs. Like peasants.
conversation
June 25, 2008
I got home tonight and found that Ryan was still awake. I peeked around the corner and saw that he was straightening his blankets on his bed, as well as arranging his toys. I came in and knelt down by his bed and had him come give me a hug. I gave him some loves and talked to him a bit when, out of the blue, the following conversation took place.
Ryan: I don’t have anything in my bed.
Dad: You don’t? Should I look?
Ryan: No.
That’s a fun conversation to have with a kid. It just begs for you to take a closer look, huh?
welcome to the blogosphere
June 23, 2008
The Bartletts have joined the blogosphere. Let’s all give them a nice warm welcome.
middle-aged
June 23, 2008
So, I think I’m middle-aged. I turned 34 today. I enjoyed a nice lunch out with some of the guys from work (thanks for lunch, guys!) and then went shooting with my father-in-law tonight. It was a good day. I am feeling kind of old, though.
run!
June 20, 2008
There was this house down the street from me known as the Pond House. It was called the Pond House because, well, it was owned by the Pond family. The home was located on a large lot, which has since been subdivided into five residential lots. Before the subdivision the lot had just tons and tons of trees and bushes.
Well, one day Gino Silva (previously referred to as a juvenile delinquent) stopped by the house and had us come check something out at the Pond House. The point of interest that day was something attached to a horizontal branch of one of the pine trees on the lot. It was … a lot of bees. By a lot, I mean “a lot.” “A great deal.” “More than one by a bunch.”
The group of bees was about 18 inches in diameter and about 24 inches tall, the whole bunch seeming to exist as one mass hanging from the branch. It all seemed to move as one single living organism, parts of which were flying away on occasion. As we looked at this … thing … and watched it pulse and breathe, I heard a word that immediately caused me to freeze: “RUN!” Turning to look at who was yelling it, I saw Gino standing there with his arm cocked back and 10 inch chunk of concrete in his hand. As he released the projectile and it sailed into the bees, I realized that I had neglected to follow some instructions which had been given me, namely “RUN!”
Well, I didn’t get stung, as I finally came to my senses and made good time getting out of there. In fact, nobody got stung, though Gino would have been the most deserving of it.
Black Gold
June 18, 2008
There’s a new series that has just premiered tonight on TruTV. It’s called Black Gold, and it’s about the race for oil in West Texas. As my company is kinda in the oil industry, I think it might be interesting to see what it’s like to try to get oil from the ground.
subprime six
June 18, 2008
Have you heard of The Subprime Six Scandal? It’s, uh, interesting, to say the least. Imagine a bunch of politicians ripping the mortgage industry like nothing else, only to find that a number of them have been getting “favored status” VIP loans from those very same people they are ripping. The sad thing about this is that there’s not a dang thing anybody will do to hold these people accountable for their actions.
burned
June 16, 2008
I remember this kid who lived down the street from us when we were kids. His name was Gino Silva and he was the truest definition of “juvenile delinquent” that I’d ever met. Well, one day, my brother and Gino and some other kids had found some type of large lizard which Gino had decided to keep as a pet.
Well, when they looked at it up close, it looked as if a bunch of ticks (or some other clingy parasite) had gathered on its neck. Apparently, when boys find something like this, they need to incorporate their passion for burning things to remedy the situation. In short, they tried to use a lighter to burn the little buggers off the neck of the reptile. No, it didn’t sound smart before they did it and it just ended up making the lizard angry. Sure, the things jumped off but it was pretty unsuccessful.
Meanwhile, Gino must have gotten bored with the whole thing because he decided to do something else with a different lighter. He stuck it under the seat of my brother’s pants while Chris was bending over looking at the lizard. Um, that was also something that didn’t sound smart. The next thing I knew was that Chris was jumping up and down and running around while grabbing at the underside of the seat of his pants. Gino “came to the rescue” by kicking Chris repeatedly in the butt to try to put the fire out. The fire was extinguished and everybody just went back to goofing off, but I remember seeing the 1.5″ hole that was created.
Honestly, now. What sort of idiot intentionally sets another kid’s pants on fire!?
