Where is Kelsey?

I don't know, have you seen her?
Between school, soccer, boyfriend and work the girl has gone missing.

I have to laugh, with the temperatures in the teens she is coming to understand COLD weather working at the car wash. She is worried now about next Monday when it is to get around 2 degrees - I can't wait.

Alex made honor roll and here is a picture from this week's basketball game against Center Grove North, will have video clip shortly. They beat us by 2 goals in overtime.

Soccer is picking up with more practices and of course, indoor every Saturday. If it looks like it will be over 40 degrees, I bet they will be outside practicing, thankfully for now, they are still inside.

I have had no luck in cards of late in the Wednesday's games, there is drama at our favorite place to play, our favorite bartender quit and they have replaced him with someone that isn't as nice and increased a coke to $2, which isn't bad, but with no refills or free if you have been partaking of the spirits all evening that's just a load of bull. Of course there is a slight issue with the 'after' games and monies being dispensed, many of us will be looking elsewhere to play, dang and it was so close to my house.

Have a good rest of the week - get better mom!

A Day of Rest.....

Alex came home this morning after spending Saturday spending overnight at a church lockdown. When she was delivered to my doorstep this morning I was informed she had only 2.5 hours of sleep.

School poster project due and an accident that caused more work, Alex informed me she was wide awake and ready to get it done. I was busy getting the computer setup for her to enter and print her poster text. I printed one of the sections, pulled it off the printer, turned around and here was Alex.

She slept for 5.5 hours, did the poster done and then went to bed again!

Midweek Cat Nap

On Monday my voice was gone, thinking it was hoarse from all my screaming on Sunday - (that was a thriller) I pretty much ignored it until the next morning when I proceeded to come down with a full blow head cold, I have managed to stave off the worse suffering only from a few days of high fever and sneezing attacks, today I am feeling much better, and yes, I did go to work everyday.

Alex on the other hand, has been suffering knee and joint pain, last night she put a heating pad over her knees while watching CSI, someone else decided they needed the heat as well.

It takes a picture like this for me to realize just how big a cat Scamp is......

GO COLTS!

- The town is going nuts, we are all enjoying the camaraderie that comes along with a unifying event such as the Super Bowl. The stores are frenzied with shoppers picking up the latest Super Bowl shirts and apparel which are streaming out of the stores ~ the shoppers chatting with each other like they have known each other for years. Wear the Blue and be ensured someone will strike up a conversation. The feeling is in the air and we are all prepping for a fantastic weekend on the 4th. Most people I know are off on the 5th, myself included!

Have a great weekend all!

COLTS AFC CHAMPIONS!!!

We started Sunday out with snow - and a fairly good amount in a very short time period. Kelsey was in a mood, she got up early and cleaned the downstairs, did dishes and started her laundry. I think this is great and a part of her responsibilities for living in the house. She on the other hand likes to remind us all the labors and stuff she has done - um, no.....doesn't work that way for me. Alex and Amanda had stayed up until 5am taking silly pictures and movies, again, will post one here shortly. They were still crashed at noon, but I finally woke them up and encouraged them to shovel my driveway while I went out.

Gearing up for today's game - I went shopping with a friend to find a cute Colts shirt to wear, Colts stuff is getting to be slim pickins since it is towards the end of season, but there are a few. Found a cute pink girls shirt (which is also hard to find - girls NFL stuff) and felt I was ready for the game. Came home to find the girls did indeed shovel the drive, and the sideway and of course were both soaking wet from building a snowman, sliding across the lawn on cardboard and dumping/throwing tons of snow on each other.

It was getting near game time - Kelsey was going to watch the game at her boyfriends house, I was dropping Alex off at Amanda's to stay there while I was out for the game. When I showed up around 4:30pm, a few of the pepple already had a mighty fine buzz on, a few had been there since noon. With the Bear's game going on and me rooting them to victory I discovered a lot of people in the bar wanted the Saints to win so at this time I was going against popular opinion, big deal, me and Brian the huge big bears fan bouncer at the bar were alright with it.

Then it was time - the Colts game, we were ready - buckets of beer, blue shots and the agreement to do a jager bomb on each touchdown was in place. The game begins, cheering ensues - New England gets thier first points, frustration on some of the plays, more beer goes down. A few more bad plays with only 3 on the board, a lot of jello shots and a few more beers down. We weren't loosing faith, but strengthing it! ;) And then, after 1/2 time, a gleam - you could see something more on the field the way the Colts were playing. With each down, cheers arose from the bar - we were willing that ball down inch by inch. A few Jagers were consumed and everyone in the bar turned thier shirts/jersey's around to assist in 'turning around' the game. Nails were bitten, angry protests at refs and calls were heard and most of all the quietness that come across a crowd when the last play is to happen and the fat lady sings!

And she SANG!!!! Baby - cheers, drinks, hugs, high-fives and jubliation spread across the bar. I called my mom/dad and said 'can you believe it - my 2 favorite teams are in the Super Bowl' and both are from the Midwest - how great is that! I am so excited. So after a long, tense game and the Colts coming out the victor!

SUPERBOWL -
COLTS VS BEARS
How can I lose?

Soccer and the Sh*t

Alex had indoor game today, it was a tough one and they lost by 1 point, I have some video to put up, really enjoying my new little digital camera, it's been fun to take all types of pics and videos. Since it is small enough, I can carry it around and have it with me for all those 'special moments' now.
Alex is the blue streak running down the field.


We stopped by to see some good friends we haven't seen in a bit, their 2nd oldest was turning 19 that day (wow) and bless his heart, could't celebrate much since he has sectional wrestling this next coming weekend. He wrestles the 145 weight class and had already 'indulged' that day, he was up to 162 - he knew he would be 'dieting' this week. But he did place second in the regional - go Toni!

( Alex and Amanda)

I took thier daughter Amanda along with me and dropped her and Alex off at the HS basketball game. Kelsey along with her soccer team was being recognized at 1/2 time for being the only CG Varsity team with a combined average GPA of 3.55 - pretty impressive for 18 girls! The two younger ones came back to the house and Amanda spent the night, Kelsey came in around 1am fussing that I did not let her stay out later - State curfew is 1am for 17 year olds, she just can't get it through her head that I am keeping her to that. For me, I worry that them coming home between the hours of 2:30 - 3:30am puts them right into the highest time for drunk drivers to be on the road, so to keep it safe all the way around, she is home by 1, she doesn't like it, but it is the law!

Here is what the two of them decided to do after I went to sleep......of course, I couldn't help but giggle - we put slow motion on it which made it even funnier, well at least to us.

Alex's rendition of a crackhead, videography by Amanda


It was a semi-quiet evening home with the 2 girls there and relaxing for me.

Thank you Indiana BMV....

Friday was fairly quiet until about 3:30pm, I received a call from Kelsey - mom, I have been in accident, then very quickly, I am not hurt, it was not my fault and the car isn't to bad - whew! A friend of her's rear-ended her. But wait, theres more, there is always more. The 2 girls and one adult whom stopped to assist them (a mother of a senior) exchanged information and were all set to leave.

A state trooper pulls up and states, since both girls are under 17, I must write an accident report and they will need parental release before they can go anywhere. Okay, this is where the problems began - as mr. trooper was writing the report he noticed Kelsey' license plate was expired, oh crap - I never received notice or anything - so, he proceeded to give her a ticket and impound her car. GREAT! I am off, flying down the highway I am meeting Kelsey at the BMV office to get her car tags renewed.

I meet her there and find out 2 things - 1, they should of never registered/titled the car in the manner which they did the first place - hence they couldn't find last year's registration and 2, I continued to be informed that renewal notices are 'conveience items' and we should be responsible to know when our plates expire - this last one I am going to take issue with later especially after their recent $$$ upgrades to the BMV system. Well, the nice lady at the BMV went ahead and registered her car with a firm - get that title update pronto. We tracked down where Kelsey's car was impounded (the officer failed to give her any information other than a name) and off we went to get her car. So essentially for almost $400 dollars, we paid for 2 years of registration and got her car out of the impound.

Dang it - What's next, I am tryin' to save a few $$ here......geeez!

The week was pretty routine, did fairly well last night and on Wed. at the Poker league, as always, enjoyed the evening with friends. Alex had her first opportunity to play some futsal with the High school soccer girls on Wed. without her sister being there, it was a good experience for her to be 'on her own' with this group and for them to get to know her independant of her sister, personality wise they are 2 way different people! It was interesting all the 8th grade parents that hung around this practice/play, these girls will be freshman next year, I am of the notion you drop them off and return when finished, but what do I know. (or I am not up to playing the 'political' game others tend to do.

Don't Forget GO COLTS - TAKE AFC!!!!

The Little Mermaid...

Alex's Introduction

As a fund raiser, the schools have a theater group come into town and put on a play. Auditions, rehersals and the play are all done in a week. Last Monday, they audition, 190 K-8 kids for 60 parts. Alex was selected as an assistant director to work off-stage getting everyone and props on-stage. The production of The Little Mermaids (the original).

They rehearsed all week 4-9pm. Show time was on Saturday 5pm - can you guess what that was smack in the middle of??? Yes, the Colts game. I had a few parties along with some cash games I could of attended, but would of missed the big production. So Jen and I (god love her) did the theater Saturday evening followed by a glass of wine, the final quarter of the Colts game and dinner. Though sad I missed the opportunity to pick up a few $$, I wouldn't of missed it for anything.
I could see Alex from my seat working with script in hand, moving little kids out on to stage and directing them to come back off - the seahorses were all K - 2nd graders and cute as all get out in their costumes. The story was good, the jokes bad but laughable and overall fun. I will admit I had people texting me the scores on my cell so I could keep up with the game.

Congrats Alex, A Job Well Done!

Computer Condom...Get Protected

Geek Stuff: MySpace Spyware, Ads & Popups Viruses

I have just spent over a 1 1/2 days workin on cleaning up malious stuff on Kelsey's laptop. It was running horribly slow, couldn't hardly use her internet browser or it would just shut down. Yes, I know being the internet geek I should of protected her system better, but hey, it was on my todo list.

These items snuck in through various downloaded fun stuff, features and instant messaging a lot of times you don't even know its there, some are coming through MySpace freebies.

We have 3 systems running, mine is protected by McAfee and regularly updated, Alex's has McAfee on it but the virus files had not been updated for awhile (didn't renew subscription), Kelsey was running unprotected.

Between the 3 systems,

Spybots Identified

• Mine 114
• Alex 171
• Kelsey 352

Malware (Vicious popups)

• Mine 0
• Alex 2
• Kelsey 35

There are two types of programs needed to identify these problems.

• Spyware Indetification & Remover
• Anti-Virus Software

For Spyware software, I would recommend starting out with SpyBot Search and Destroy (S&D), its free and works good. There is not a single program that will capture all and since Kelsey's was SOOOO bad, I choose to use PC Tools Spyware Dr as well, the cost is relatively cheap since I need to cover (3) systems. You can read reviews/ratings of Spyware/Anti-Virus here along with pricing.

Please Note - Before doing anything to your computer - BACKUP ALL FILES, PICTURES AND MUSIC - you should be doing this regularly anyways.

You can download Spyware Dr for free and run a scan but you need to pay to clean or immunize your system. I covered 3 systems for $40 and will use it along with SpyBot S&D.

Next was the Anti-Viral software, I choose to go ahead and purchase PC Tools AntiVirus since there was a good deal with purchase of the above.

I spent the day scanning, removing programs and cleaning both Kelsey and Alex's machine. At the end of the day, Alex was clean, running a bit faster and doing well.

Kelsey, ugh! She still had several malware ad programs running, what they do is take over your internet browser and redirect you to a new website or window based on your Search or address in the browser's toolbar.

They are baddddd and take a little more patience to remove for you see, they load when your computer boots (hence your computer slows down). Once Windows opens they are up and running ready to do thier job, to hijack your computer browser. Names or ads for WinAntiVirus, gamespyarcade, yahabag.com and more. This is where things get tricky, these programs have changed Windows Registry (the brain of windows) and saved various other files and folders around on your system. And this is where I started looking for help. There are a few associations that technical people offer assistance in removing these programs from you computer, it takes patience and manual manipulation of your computer but the techs are really good about laying out step by step.

The first thing you will need is a program called HiJackThis, do not tell it to clean but save the log file, this is what any of the techs will need to begin to diagnose your prolems. After you get your logfile created, you will need to then enlist your help by posting to a forum, they will analyze your logfile and walk you through cleaning for your specifc problems. Security Cadets website offers support forum and latest news regarding adware issues. I used Dell Community Forum since I own Dell's. I am almost there in getting this done and getting her system back and running. To combat this issues in the future & make for a happy running computer, I have done the following:

• Updated all Internet Browsers and plugins (Adobe Reader. Flash. QuickTime, Java
• Update/Purchase all Anti-Viral software
• Update/Purchase all Spyware software
• Download CCLeaner (Crap Cleaner) and run - it's free
• Remove all old programs (ccleaner will allow you to do this)
• Caution - if you don't know what it is, don't remove it - ask!
• Don't accept installs for toolbars from any site accessed via MySpace, or through visiting different website unless you specifically requested it These 'toolbars' are one of the primary carriers of malware. Learn more here about how they get into your computer. Not all are bad, Only Google, Yahoo or AOL toolbars should be installed, some installs are for online gaming via the browser and are needed to run the program.

So you have it, my exciting weekend on the computers, I hope this assist my friends whom have asked me to help previously and others not knowing why their system is running or slow or put up with annoying ads - let me know any questions and/or comments you have.

GO COLTS!!!!

On Top of Things

Busy , Busy, Busy ~ once again cleaning, sorting and storing ~ new christmas stuff and all. I am ahead of the game in getting all that 'end of year' stuff done and out the door. I have started on my taxes as well. Ahhh, time to sit a bit, for the world's biggest procrastinator (really) I am so happy to be ahead of the game and have time to just idle the hours away for a bit.

Work is quiet and I have continued to progress in my quest for a few new features and software that will greatly reduce my actual 'hands-on' time for file, image, page management. I am attempting to move them out in the public more suggesting use of youtube, myspace and facebook, we'll see, big jump for a conservative organization.

I have started to read Mark Twain's autobiography, always love his 'quotes' I find on the web and tend to gravitate to them, might as well learn a little more about him. My mom and brother have loaded me down as well with books so now I wait for the snow to give me the ultimate excuse to huddle at home!

Hope everyone's new year is going well! Any resolutions, I am workin' on a few but not ready to be 'revealed'.

~ cheers

Happy New Year!!!!!!

It was a good party and a great New Year Day for me. We all met up at one of our local favorites 'That Place' to hear a rockin band and celebrate the coming of the new year with friends - it was all good.

New Years Day was the Poker Bowl, my 4th year playing and the most successful yet. After a long sit at the first table I finally topped Uncle George to earn my place at the final table, he was not particulary happy since he was at one time chip leader. I even called an all-in on 7-3 suited against his Q-J, we were playing holdem this round not a very good starting hand. Flop comes down 7-2-3, opps 2 pair for me I win the chip lead. The final hand was 5card, having a pair of 3's I mucked 3 and pulled another 3 for 3 of kind, I put George allin, he only had a pair. That's poker. I ran around for a pee, food, drink and smoke break before sitting down at the final table. I managed to hang on for 4th place and 250 in my pocket - it's all good, watch out boys, I will be back next year!

I hope all my friends and family have fun, happiness and success in the new year!