For All My Geek Homies Out There

Sad State Of Affairs - Black Friday Death

What kind of a world is it that a Wal-Mart employee can be trampled to death because people are in such a rush to get their "stuff"? Probably stuff they can't afford anyway. The "temporary" Wal-Mart employee was killed when shoppers rushed in for the Black Friday sales. Then, there were upset people because they were closing the store. Wow. The Wal-Mart in Valley Stream, N.Y. is pictured in the AP photo on the right.

I'm probably reading more into this than I should, but here is someone trying to earn much needed income by working as a temp on Black Friday at 5 a.m. Someone that was probably just trying to catch a break and was blessed for the opportunity to gain that additional cash flow. Now, they are dead, and likely family and friends are suffering.

Don't get me wrong, every time I have gone to a "door buster" sale, I've seen issues. I've done the get up at 2:30 a.m. thing only to be 200 back in line at Best Buy. I've done the go to Circuit City at 9 p.m. to wait overnight to get a steal price on a computer. In both situations, people who must think they are better than everyone else showed up right before opening, and tried to cut in line. I'm sure had it been allowed, there would have been violence. At least some of the bigger stores are being smart, and handing out vouchers to those in line for big ticket items to avoid a stampede. Wal-Mart should learn from places like Best Buy and Circuit City when it comes to this, if they aren't already doing this kind of thing.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming Wal-Mart, although I'm sure some attorneys will. Human kind has to step up and be...well...human.

Knight Rider GPS

I love my Garmin Nuvi, but this K.I.T.T. GPS is the bees knees...

MTV Has Redeemed Itself

I officially forgive MTV for being a piece of cow dung for so many years. See, for all you young folk out there, MTV used to actually stand for Music Television. They played music videos all day long. Yes, really. Now, you can go watch tons and tons of great videos ANY TIME. You can even embed them...here, I'll embed the best video ever made. Made in 1985, this video still kicks any other video that comes it's way...

a-ha |MTV Music

McCain Speech Remix

Calrissian or Palpatine? You decide.

Quite possibly one of the funniest things I have seen this year!

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Election Day! Are you kidding me?

So, it's election day. I'm off with the kids, and was up at 5:30 this morning to let the dogs out, so I said to myself, "self, look up poll times...maybe you can beat the rush!". So, I found the polls open at 6 a.m. I had a plan...since I am five minutes away, I'll lay down, and if I'm not asleep by 5:45, off to the polls I'll go. Hey, maybe I'll even be the first person in Nixa to vote! That would be cool.

So I pulled into Espy Elementary at 6 a.m. I was about 100 people back in line. The picture I posted here was taken at about 6:10 a.m. Are you kidding me? How many crazy people are there in one precinct!

Brett Favre Goes To The New York Jets

I am so confused this morning. I've been a Packers fan for many years. I did not grow up as a football fan, but my in-laws turned me on to Green Bay and Brett Favre. It's because of Favre that I like football at all.

So what do I do now? Continue on with Green Bay, or follow #4 to the New York Jets? Now, admittedly, I'm also a fan of the St. Louis Rams, which believe it or not, can be tough in Southwest Missouri. The Chiefs fans around here are fanatics. However, the most enjoyment I get is watching Favre.

I'm not going to be able to make a decision on this one just yet. But, if I have a choice between watching the Rams, Packers or Jets...it's going to be a tough call.

Woman Who Murdered Husband Regains Custody Of Children

What kind of world do we live in that a woman who shoots her husband in the back with a shotgun only serves 12 days in jail AND gets custody of her kids back? Now, even if he was abusive as she claims, shooting him in the back with a shotgun while sleeping isn't a very logical escape. At the very least it deserves more than 12 days in jail as a punishment. If her logic drove her down that path, why on earth would the courts risk putting her children back with her? What if they push her to her limits?

Weird Al Rocked The House!

Well, we went to see Weird Al Yankovic tonight at the Ozark Empire Fair. He was very awesome. I'm so bummed I didn't take a better camera or video recorder. All I had was my phone, and it didn't pass the test at all. At least I got to sit in the front row with my daughter and friend Ray. My wife, son and brother had 9th row center isle, and they probably had even better seats that us because they got to see the movie screen backdrop...

I'm not like alot of the other wimpy bloggers, I stayed up after I got home to go through my stuff, put together a small vid, put it on YouTube, and get it to you! Look at the crowd! Star Wars: The Saga Begins was a huge hit with Darth Vader and the Storm Troopers on stage!



Weird Al worked his butt off, and put on a great show for the crowd. He did about a 2 1/2 hour show and still didn't get to all of his hits. I particularly missed hearing Like A Surgeon and I Lost On Jeopardy, but maybe next time!

EDIT: Well, apparently while I was home feeling like the news breaking blogger, Larry was off partying with the "Weird" one... Lucky *******.

Destined To Be A Hobo?

Lori bought a new chase lounge for the deck last night, it came assembled, so the box was pretty big. I got up this morning and noticed Garrett wasn't in bed. I found him in the living room.

I'm really hoping that Garrett doesn't find sleeping in a box a great experience, as it could really put a damper on his future goal setting.

July 4th Weekend

Wow, I have been horrible about posting to this blog. But better late than never I guess. We spent July 4th weekend camping in our recently acquired pop-up camper. We love to go to Pomme de Terre lake, but gas prices have pushed us into checking things out closer to home. We stayed at Compton Ridge campground down in the Branson area over the 4th, and had a blast!

On Friday night, we went to Kimberling City to watch Hotswitch perform in the parking lot of Summer Fresh by the bridge. Jeff Kastner, lead singer and guitar, is a friend of mine, and has yet to disappoint. We had an absolute blast. Not only does Hotswitch play great classic rock and top 40 pop tunes, but they are very personal with the crowd. They even let people come up and perform with them, which makes for interesting dynamics. Caleb Rust is on drums and percussion. Jeff Shryer is on bass, vocals and harmonica.

The fireworks show started around 9:30, and the view from Summer Fresh was great! What I found most amazing was the number of boats on Table Rock lake, and all of them lit up at dark. Absolutely beautiful. Hotswitch closed out the night after the fireworks, and we finally left around 11:30pm.

We spent Saturday and Sunday just camping and swimming. The kids tend to get bored quick while not swimming, but it's a good time. I could have done without the snake visiting nearby though.

The Dark Knight - Aurora Drive-In

We went to see The Dark Knight at the Sunset Drive-In located in Aurora, MO. We had been to a weather weenie get together prior to that, and went straight to the drive-in to make sure we got a great location. The gate opens at 7pm, with the movie not starting until around 9pm. So we figured getting in line at 6:30pm would be a good thing. This is what it looked like in front of us and behind us. The picture behind us doesn't do it justice, there were tons of cars you can't see in the pic. Click the images for the full effect...




The movie was great. I'm looking forward to seeing it in a theater with quality sound. But it was a beautiful night to enjoy it outdoors at the drive-in with the family!

Misc Kid Stuff

Garrett as Theodore Roosevelt

Garrett had an Honor Choir event at school on May 1st. He had to dress up as Theodore Roosevelt. We got creative, and sure enough, Teddy he is.


Brooke's Bowling Tournament

Brooke qualified for the State Pepsi Bowling Tournament. We took a trip to St. Joseph, MO on April 4th and 5th. Here's a picture of Brooke and two friends from the Springfield area who also went up for the tourney!


Garrett, Can I Have Your Autograph?

Back in April or so, the kids had a fun day where they dressed up like a Hollywood star. Is it just me? Garrett looks like Tom Cruise!

Brooke Sings at Dixie Stampede!

Brooke was a school finalist for the Inman Idol competition and sang today at the Dixie Stampede pre-show. The place was filled with hundreds of students, parents and teachers. She did AWESOME!

Enjoy!

Bon Jovi / Daughtry 4/22/08

Wow, what a show. I'll have some AWESOME pics soon from my brother. We were in the 12th row, center. We were very close, and very happy with our seats.

Here's a vid from someone on YouTube who was there... Bon Jovi and Daughtry together singing Blaze of Glory!

The Bloggers Equivalent To A Chain Letter

Ok, so I got hit with this Literary Meme by Larry Litle at Simple Thoughts of a Complex Mind. My personal opinion is that this meme crap is like spam, or a chain letter. But I am a team player most of the time, so I 'll oblige then pass it on like a good blogger.

First of all...what is a meme you ask? Well, according to QuixtarBlog, in a post called Blogging 101 - The Blog Meme:

The Blog Meme
A blog meme is a type of Internet meme that requires active participation by the blogger and rarely traces back to an originating source. It's often a series of questions that a blogger answers to share some personal perspective or experience on random topics.

So there you have it. Now for my boring literary spooge...

Here is what I am tasked with:

1. look up page 123 in the nearest book
2. look for the fifth sentence
3. then post the three sentences that follow that fifth sentence on page 123.

I'm currently attempting to read Double-Digit Growth by Michael Tracy. I turn to page 123, go down five sentences and find:

There are industries where the sport is relatively gentlemanly--consumer packaged goods, for instance. Market share wars in that industry usually amount to a lot of pushing and shoving at the line of scrimmage, with not a lot of field gain to show for it. In a good year, Pepsi might take a point of market share from Coke. (Double-Digit Growth page 123)

So there you have it. I feel so dirty, I feel like I need to shower. However, to keep things rolling along in true spam...err meme fashion, I am going to tag:

1. Chris over at The World According to Chris Brewer - Because he's a new friend, and I want to share the love.
2. Jeff over at The Skinny Guru - Because he's been lazy, and I think he needs to post more.
3. Emily over at TV People Are People Too - Because she was tapped by Larry, but I figure a good double tap may actually make her prove my theory wrong...that is she is way too busy to read anything with 123 pages.

The Blog Has Risen From The Dead!

Hello there, the Spy On Jeff blog has been dead for quite some time. I originally created this site for family to keep up with the kiddies. It became painfully clear that it wasn't being used unless prompted by me. So, it really just wasn't worth the effort I was putting into it.

Last week, I went to the Springfield Area Bloggers Association Blogaroni Awards and my Ozark Storms site was the recipient of the Blogaroni 2008 - Best Resource Blog award. It's exciting to get recognition from peers for doing something I truly enjoy. Thank you to those who felt I was worthy. By the way, what a diverse group of people. I enjoyed the company. I particularly had a good time chatting it up with Emily from TV People are People Too, and Chris from The World According to Chris Brewer. Crazy conversations, I must say.

While visiting with other local bloggers, I became a little jealous that most of them had sites that allowed them to post about whatever they wanted. I have two public blogs going, one is Ozark Storms, and the other is a humor site that isn't really appropriate for kids, so I'll leave it unlinked.

This jealousy has inspired me to transform my Spy On Jeff site into a personal blog that I can post whatever I want. So look out world, I'm popping the top and going for broke.