I’ve been away from blogging for the past week or so because my dad had a stroke last Tuesday. I was on my way to the Sutherland Institute for their environmental forum when I got a call that an ambulance had left my parent’s house.
My dad is doing much better this week and will likely be going home soon. There isn’t anyone I know who is as cool and as stong as my Dad. I’m glad he is going to be able to pull through. It sure stinks to see something like this happen to someone you love.
If anything good can come from this event I’m hopeful that it is a greater education on the part of anyone who sees this post on what the symptoms of a stroke are and a how important it is to get medical help as quickly as possible if you or someone you know gets any of those symptoms.
It isn’t often that I can say Bob Lonsberry is exactly correct about something. This article is one of those few cases.
UPDATE 04/18/2008 11:03AM: Guy Murray at Messenger and Advocate has an even better rundown on the weakness of Texas’ case after the first day of hearings.
H/T Alienated Wannabe
Lisa and I are complete noobs when it comes to shooting and purchasing handguns. We’ll be taking a class this week that includes some range time and use of several different handguns. Hopefully that should get us off to a good start. If any readers have good advice on purchasing firearms it would be much appreciated.
Here are the handguns I’m most interested in right now. They’re all 9mm. My wife and I will both be practicing with this gun and I want to buy something she’ll be completely comfortable shooting.
H&K P2000 I haven’t fired this yet but respect H&K’s reputation. We want a reliable weapon so this is currently my first choice.
Walther PPS This is a brand new model. That concerns me. My bro-in-law has one we’ll likely be trying out at the range before we make a final decision.
Sig P239 A small gripped gun with a single stack magazine. I’m assuming that will be easier for a woman with small hands to use and easy to conceal if necessary. Am I wrong? I’m tempted to go with the model that shoots .357 sig ammo (also available on the p2000) but that could get expensive.
If anyone has ideas on how I can help make shooting enjoyable for Lisa I’d appreciate hearing them. She’s been very ambivalent about guns as long as I’ve known her. She does want to get one now though so I want to ensure we do things correctly.
I’m not quite as bitter this year as I sit down to write my Independence Day post as I was last year and I’m not sure why. Its not like I have more hope this year for a less intrusive government than I had last year. We’re faced with a government that is out of control in its efforts to control more and more aspects of our daily lives. We have only socialized medicine, more nanny government, and fewer liberties to look forward to over the next few years no matter which party is in charge. Yet even in the face of all this…I’m in a great mood.
I do have one more kid this year…maybe thats it…or maybe it is that 22.5″ Weber Charcoal Kettle Grill I got for Father’s Day this year 
I’ve used it at least a dozen times already. Life is so much better when you have well grilled beef on your plate regularly.
Happy Independence Day everyone! Thanks for visiting my blog from time to time. It sure is fun to be able to communicate with the world so easily…even when I don’t often have many interesting things to say!
Now…go fire up your grill and put some meat on it. Here’s what I recommend:
Jeremy’s Original Tri Tip (Santa Maria) Roast Recipe
Ingredients:
2 to 2.5 lb Tri Tip Roast (Go to Sam’s Club or Costco…they almost always have this inexpensive but delicious cut of beef)
Your Favorite Beef Rub (Lawry’s Seasoned Salt and black pepper will work if you don’t have your own recipe for a good beef rub…I’d add some extra garlic powder though)
Grilling instructions:
Apply the rub generously all over the roast then let the roast sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.
If you have some oak wood chips (or mesquite) go ahead and throw them on the hot coals to add that excellent smokey flavor!
Cook the roast over medium high to high indirect heat for 25-30 minutes turning once (or until internal temp reaches 125-130 degrees) then cook over high direct heat for 3-5 minutes per side to properly sear the roast.
Allow the meat to rest for 15 minutes under a tent of foil then slice thinly against the grain. The outer portions of the roast will be medium to medium well for those who don’t like that much moo in their beef. The inner section of the roast will be perfect.
Serve with home made baked macaroni and cheese or in sandwiches. This is my favorite food to grill. It is very easy (I’ve never had it not turn out) and it is absolutely delicious.
Happy Independence Day!!!
One of my favorite websites, Cooking for Engineers, published their list of Father’s Day gift suggestions. Anyone who wants to buy me something for Father’s Day should check it out!!!
(I especially like the Weber 22.5 inch Charcoal Kettle Grill and the Alton Brown cookbooks)
Here’s hoping this works out successfully as soon as possible!
A new kid is a nice way to end the year for lots of reasons! Here’s the video!!!
My friend Cody dared me to post a link to this piece by Thomas Sowell in today’s Baltimore Sun.
I rarely back down on a dare!
It is a good piece…but not as good as this one by Orson Scott Card which helped me reshape my erroneous ideas on public policy relating to marriage.
The gyrobike allows kids to learn how to ride a bike without falling. A gyroscope attached to the front wheel base stablizes the bike and assists kids who are learning to ride a bike by automatically steering bike into the direction they are beginning to fall and preventing an accident while at the same time teaching the learner how to correctly keep the bike upright when the gyroscope isn’t there. Very cool…and tons better than training wheels. I know what Corryn is getting for her next birthday!
Ok…finally…here are some pictures from the happiest place on earth!
Corryn was very excited for the Merry-Go-Round but decided later that her favorite was the Haunted Mansion.
Melia found a duck much more interesting than Donald.
They decked out the castle in celebration of our visit. Yay!
More pictures later…its time for bed now. I’m tired.
Lisa and I took the kids to California this week to visit Mickey and friends. Even better…Grandma and Grandpa Damron are here to deal with the kids while Lisa and I live it up!!! It is fun and there will be more blogging than normal as I brag about our adventures. More info and pictures to come.
Today is my first day at a new job. I begin working today as a real estate appraiser for the Davis County, Ut, Assessor’s Office. I’m quite excited about this opportunity and very excited to learn about a completely different area of the appraisal business. Appraising for tax purposes is very different than appraising property as collateral for a mortgage loan. It is always exciting to have an opportunity to grow in your chosen profession and I’m especially pleased that I get to do this in what appears to be a very well run and professional county assessor’s office.
I do have to admit at being somewhat sad at the idea of going back to a regular 9-5 type job. I’ve been working for Advantage Home Appraisal for the past 2 years which means I have been a much bigger part of my family’s every day life than when I last had a regular away from home job. I’m really going to miss being with Lisa and the girls all day long. Lisa is one tough woman. She is now alone in dealing with the stresses that come with raising 2 kids during the day and running a small business. I sure love her and am grateful that she is willing to do all of this so I can begin a new career. She is very cool.
Wow…its been a big day. Melia is walking and Corryn’s self portaits now have bodies instead of just heads with arms and legs attached.
To me the interesting thing is we have not been helping her with this. We just keep telling her that we think her pictures are pretty…not what she could do to make them better. She’s driving herself to improve and innovating on her own. Here are the before and after drawings:
This picture was drawn less than 6 months ago.
This picture was drawn today.
I think the improvement is quite impressive.
We’re in California now and I sure like it here. I spent the morning up in the mountains working on power lines (Forrest, my grandfather in law builds and maintains power lines for the local oil companies). I didn’t actually get to climb up and play with any live wires…but it is fun to say I spent some time working for an electric company!
It is a lot prettier here than I thought it would be. We saw a couple deer and lots of animal life. I would love to live here…too bad it is just too expensive. We forgot to bring the stuff to move our digital pictures to the computer so I’ll post some pictures when I’m back in Virginia. Don’t know when I’ll be by the internet again either so this may be the only post I put up in California.
OK…I’m sure no one ever checks this site anymore but here are some cool pictures of my kids at the park. Hopefully there will be more posting here in the near future.
