For the record, I have 7 children. Biologically I have 2. Ironically the oldest is my first biological and the 7th is my last biological. The 5 in the middle adopted ME. And taught me what I needed to know to be a Dad. I can point you to a couple people who heard me SCREAM that I was not father material and never wanted to be a father. It can be verified that I said that. Several times. Since the last time I said that I have changed my mind.

Somewhere I became the Dad that MY Dad (Tyrone) became to me. I have no problem believing that my Dad loves me as his own because I am experiencing being a Dad like he was to me. My whole life.

Everything I am is a result of trying to make my Dad proud of me. He'll probably "like" this because at 69 years old he's on Facebook, and he knows me. He's been there my entire life as far as I can remember, and who I AM is a direct result of HIM.

I can fix anything, I can play any instrument you put in front of me. Because my Dad taught me the basic's.

The MOST important thing is my Dad taught ME how to be a Dad.

My Dad is the greatest Dad there ever was. 

Period.

My 47th Birthday on March 26th, 2013 was the single greatest day of my life EVER. 

Here's a little collection of my Facebook posts from the day before through the day after my birthday. It was an incredible day and some of these little Facebook posts will turn into stories in one chapter or another when I have time to write them, but for now, enjoy the nuggets from that great day!
 
Scott E is enjoying coffee, peace and quiet (obviously the three girls in the house are sleeping), the occasional visit from a fur covered family member, preparing for a consult with Dawn on my new tattoo for my 47th birthday present and pondering my last great act of my 46th year. 46 has been good to me. Sure there were a few moments I could have done without, but overall, have to give it a thumbs up. What to do to allow 46 to remember me as fondly as I will remember it? I've got all day.
I'll think of something. :)

On another note. As to my morning post I didn't need to do anything to make the last day of 46 memorable. It just happened on it's own. Spending the morning with Kris,
going up to the Rapids to talk to Dan and Dawn at Images In Ink about some tattoo work. Stopping in to see Len at his other job and saying I was there to complain about their crazy driver running me off the road. I got to meet Kris' friend Laura
from work. Teasing Ayana, accidently squirting Ashley in the eye with
jalapeno juice. And going for my weekly Monday Night Meeting of
the Minds with my best friend Timothy.

When I arrived it wasn't the regular meeting. Tina & Perry & Polly were there and we had a great time telling jokes & stories and generally picking on each other.

Couldn't have asked for a better day other than to have riding weather.

73 year old guy, Jim. Just lost his wife, rides a moped, looking for a little more excitement. Months short of 50 years. A Sportster for $5000 in commemoration of 50 sounds good to me. Looking up a voyager kit for him right now. You wish you had my
job.

10 years ago today I started the tradition of riding on or before my birthday. I rode from Grand Marsh to Reedsburg and gave two girls at work their first ride on a Harley.  I have ridden on my birthday every year except 2006 while I was still recovering from cutting off my thumb. It's hard to clutch without a thumb. Miraculously and thankfully it was reattached by some great Sports Medicine Surgeons. Before this day is over, the tradition will be continued. And today I literally walked a 73 year old awesome gentleman through his first ride on a Harley. Great 10th Anniversary of one of my favorite traditions.

Last week I said 46 is cool because of what 47 will bring. Stand back. It's about to get awesome in here!

Dreams? Stalk them!

"4+7=11" 47 is 11 is my OCD number. Cured! :)

She now has a full tank of gas and ready to go. Hands froze quick, but oh well. At the
gas station I'm blasting my new favorite riding song: A little tune called Sucker Punch by this cool little band you may have heard of called Gideon's Radio. Woman walks out of the gas station and starts dancing. I start laughing and say "That's my band you're dancing too!" She starts laughing and dances some more. Freaking awesome day! And work is done!

Follow up: Y'all ain't going to believe it but the very next day this happened: a woman walks into the store, I say hi she gets the biggest smile and says hi back. Have never seen her. Ever.

 A little while later I walk up to the counter to ask Robyn something and the woman is checking out. Robyn says "I understand you two have met". I look again. Holy crap! It was Dancing Girl! I shit you not! I was not wearing a sign that said where I worked, she just happened to come in. Fate. We meet again.

Welcome 47!!! So far I've had a friend link me up to a thing called you remember this that has old commercials! Then I get my first "I shit you not" story of my 47th year! Talking to my brother Randy get done and I say "I love you man!" just 
like always. Instead of his usual "Love you too bro" that I always get, he
says "you too". WTF? He got another brother in the house he can't say he
loves me out loud? I shit you not. I thought it. It's one of the many ways I
amuse myself some times. Plus it gives me a silly story to make you smile. Did
it work?

When life most seems like an unbelievably good dream, that's when we're most in touch with reality. Just sayin'.

Speaking of Ayana... Ayana on the Skype. And it freaked me out.

I'm heading down the hall to... um, Scotty's room and (wait, honest is my policy, so yeah, I was headed for the can). ANYWAYS, Ayana opens the bedroom door and she's talking. Ashley is in the livingroom.

I promptly say to young Ayana : "Who the hell are you talking too?"

She says "my friend".

"Your FRIEND?" I say.

I'm sorry. I've never seen any one talk to an I-Pad that was their friend before.

Now here's the funny part.

So I ACT like I'm going to Scott W's room because I can tell she was heading for the can and I didn't want to make her feel like she was inconveniencing ME even though I clearly had right of way and could have legally turned into the can.

So I act like I had no intention of using the can so she would feel comfortable
using the can after such a, well, weird experience.

She takes over the can, (I think she wanted to re-wrap her pretty cool looking, apparently comfortable head wrap) I back out of Scotty's room cause really, there was nothing I need in there.

And I proceed to go outside and have a smoke (sorry if I offended anyone who really knows me & is silly enough to expect me to believe you didn't know I smoke). As I hurry back in the house because I really need to hit the can now, it occurs to me: I  WAS  JUST  OUTSIDE!!!!

Thank you to all of you and all of my family, friends, co-workers and all the customers who made today great! Thank you for all the birthday wishes on here too! I tried but
could not keep up with them individually so I apologize, but they all meant a lot. I hope that you all get to experience a day like I had today. It was the single greatest day of my life this far, bar none. Kris, Ashley, Ayana, Tim, Tin,a Ron & Heather
thank you for making tonight the first great night of 47! I look forward to the ones we'll spend this summer riding! And making you come out to watch the band. Ashley & Ayana, this means you have to decide which one of you are getting a motorcycle license and coming to work to buy a bike from me : You'd look silly on mountain bikes and you could certainly never keep up with the rest of us!

Thanks every one!

Be happy!

I have a very close friend who was getting a simple, joint, agreed to divorce until her ex got stupid and decided to hire a lawyer. Having taken a Paralegal course many years ago I offered to help her out so she could avoid the expense of a lawyer because it should have still been simple enough.

Well the b*tch of an attorney really ticked me off one day so I wrote this letter for my friend.

The letter was never sent and I instead advised my friend to go ahead and get an attorney because I felt the b*tch attorney was going to go beyond the abilities of my dusty paralegal education.

I just ran across the letter and found it humorous enough for inclusion in the Random section. Redaction to protect the innocent and stupid added to the fun. The name Becky is a derivation of said b*tch attorneys actual name and I'm sure she would be mortified if called that name, (she's way abouve such redneck abbreviations of her name you know) so I didn't redact that. But the b*tch won't be suing me because the misuse of her name and redaction clear me of any potential libel, slander or whatever she'd like to sue me for. And I know she'd love to.

Enjoy.


Dear Becky;

I am in receipt of your correspondence dated January 28th, REDACTED, in regards to my correspondence to Mr. REDACTED dated January 23, REDACTED , which was certified, received on January 25th, REDACTED.

I have read your letter and find myself obligated to clarify a few points that you seem to have misunderstood. Far be it from me to educate an obviously stellar member of the legal community on matters a first year law student would find “simple”, but obviously as your letter demonstrates, there are a few issues that have caused some confusion despite your reputed legal prowess.

#1: A Motion for Protective Order under REDACTED Stat Section 804.01(3) is not a matter of personal contact or personal harassment. Rather, such a Motion refers to LEGAL harassment in the form of unnecessary pleadings designed to cause undue burden upon a party such as say, upwards of 300 Interrogatories to a party when your client has the same access to information and accounts as the other party.

What you refer to in your letter would fall more under the context of a Restraining Order which no one in this matter has requested, and such an Order has not been entered by the Court of Record.

That being the case there is nothing inappropriate in my mailing a Marital Settlement Agreement to Mr. REDACTED for consideration.

Likewise, since the Honorable  REDACTED , within his discretion as presiding Judge in this matter, denied my Motion for Protective Order and instructed that I answer the
interrogatories submitted by you on behalf of Mr. REDACTED (although His Honor was apparently not deemed worthy of you or Mr. REDACTED to receive a copy of said Interrogatories for review), it is fully within my rights as a JOINT Petitioner to submit the same interrogatories to the other JOINT Petitioner.

The fact that you accept your clients’ word as Gospel is neither here nor there when determining whether he in fact has the same access to information that I may be able to provide. He in fact does know full well the names and addresses of all accountants and financial advisors used during our, let’s say “union” for lack of a better term.

To state clearly and without room for doubt, the Motion For Protective Order had not as much to do with Mr. REDACTED 's personal phone calls and text messages as it did your rather cumbersome and, well, ridiculous interrogatories, which for the record will be answered as the Court ordered by the date prescribed in the order. 
 
My recently mailed package was an opportunity for Mr. REDACTED to reconsider
our original agreement and to bring the matter to a speedy conclusion. Obviously
your letter to me indicates that Mr. REDACTED has no desire to revert to our original agreement and conclude peacefully. My offer was a one time offer and therefore I can assure you that no further offers or correspondence will be made to Mr. REDACTED.
 
Any and all correspondence from me will cease upon your receipt of this letter. The Court will make all further decisions in this matter and I am comfortable with the Courts final authority in the matter.

Your statement that you “have made no efforts to delay or complicate this matter” is patently false. The sheer number of your interrogatories which consist of rehashed versions of the same questions are indicative of a desire to extend the time normally required for a jointly filed Divorce. This of course benefits you, as the longer the proceeding takes the more you get to charge your client. Since he cannot apparently contribute to the approximately $1200.00 per month in credit card debt that he acquired under both of our names, I’m not sure how he intends to pay for your services. But that’s your issue to work out. We don’t even need to discuss the other debts that my offer allowed him out of.

As for paragraph four (4) of your letter stating “in the meantime if you have specific interrogatories and/or request for production of documents that you wish to have Mr.  REDACTED complete, please forward to my office…”, the fact is if Mr. REDACTED provided you with the letter I wrote and the Marital Settlement Agreement I offered, he most certainly also turned over the Joint Petitioner-Wife’s First Set Of Interrogatories that accompanied those documents. Your request is mendacious Ms. REDACTED and THAT will be quite clear to the Court as the Court has already been provided with copies of everything I mailed to Mr. REDACTED. Unlike the interrogatories and letter you mailed to me which the Court has no record of.

Concerning the REDACTED , again I am not a Professor of Law but I offer the following instruction: I hold the title to this vehicle. There is no legally accepted or
ordered Temporary or Final Agreement allowing Mr. REDACTED use of a vehicle that I own free and clear, prior to our, let’s say, again, for lack of better terminology “union”. I may not be as smart as you obviously are Becky, but I do know that my DMV title and my keys will get me a Civil Standby from the REDACTED County Sheriff to reclaim the vehicle.

I have no intention of encumbering the vehicle in any way since that would be illegal as we have a pending Divorce action. However; I own the vehicle. YOU quite unequivocally informed me and the Honorable REDACTED that all previous agreements between Mr. REDACTED and I were NULL AND VOID upon your notice of retainer.

As owner of said vehicle I am also aware that Mr. REDACTED and his daughter,  REDACTED ,were cancelled by my insurance company due to an accident resulting in total loss in conjunction with citations for Inattentive Driving and Failure to Keep Vehicle Under Control.

Therefore I have a responsibility to reclaim the vehicle that is titled solely in my name which may be driven by an uninsurable motorist while not under my control.

You are correct in your assumption, although it is an assumption, that is unlikely the Court would award me two vehicles and Mr. REDACTED none. However there is no temporary or final order at this point to prove your point. Again, I’m not a Law Professor but an actual Order of the Court and Assumed Order of the Court are two different things, particularly when the Court has not been asked to issue an Order on a matter.

Your statement that “Assets acquired during a marriage are ‘marital assets’ “ is both inconsequential and irrelevant in terms of the REDACTED as I owned this vehicle free and clear before the “union” between Mr. REDACTED and myself. We were “married” in REDACTED. The last title date of the vehicle in question is clearly REDACTED if you care to do a little research. But we know facts don't mean much to you do they Becky?

Unfortunately this is another example of your client being less than forth coming with you (as I pointed out in my Memorandum in Support of Motion for Protective Order). What other surprises might lay ahead? It does not matter. You have a clear record of pursuing financial gain from the misfortune of others and therefore don’t really care if your clients provide you with facts or fallacy.

My claim to and supervised repossession of the REDACTED are above reproach.

Further, there is a REDACTED that is titled in both of our names that Mr. REDACTED may feel free to claim an ownership stake in and drive at will provided he takes over the loan payments, submits proof of insurance at the minimum limits required by REDACTED Law and makes it legal for use on REDACTED roads, which it is currently not, due to a faulty seatbelt that I cannot afford to fix given that I am currently paying all of Mr. REDACTED's credit card bills to save my credit ( and by default, his) from being destroyed by his irresponsibility and childish behavior.

To be clear, the REDACTED is MY Asset prior to marriage, verifiable and I will reclaim it with Police escort. By the time you receive this, that will probably already have occurred.

The REDACTED may be claimed and picked up by Mr. REDACTED between the hours of REDACTED when I return home from work and REDACTED when I go to bed, any day of the week Mr. REDACTED deems acceptable. Provided that there is a REDACTED County Sheriffs Deputy onsite to witness the transfer of vehicle and to validate proof of insurance on said vehicle covering Mr. REDACTED and exempting me from liability for any accidents that may occur while he or his designee is driving the vehicle.

If Mr. REDACTED cannot meet these conditions, he does have two legs that can walk him from his home in REDACTED to his place of employment and back.

Please be advised Becky that I am not intimidated by your law degree or Mr. REDACTED's apparent largess in hiring you for a jointly filed divorce. Do not waste your time attempting to intimidate me or try to convince me that I should submit to the whims of you and Mr. REDACTED. I am in no hurry. My faith in the REDACTED County Circuit Court is implicit. I guarantee the Court will decide this matter and I will accept its decision.

Not Mr. REDACTED's.

Not yours.



 

Just a silly Facebook post I made in response to a person finding a picture offensive and having it removed. The page it came from was designed to snarkily be offensive. I don't remember what the picture was but she didn't like it.

Dear Offended Person,

We are of the opinion that it is far more fun to humorously offend each
others’ personal views of current world chaos via sarcastic comments and
pictures, such as the one you have righteously claimed your objection to, than
to engage in being actually offensive and offended by non-humorous
offensiveness.

Admittedly, we are a minority in the Land of Facebook and we apologize
for obviously abusing our fragile First Amendment Right and therefore offending
you in a non-humorous fashion.

Being as we have arbitrarily offended such a noteworthy example of
human existence in a non-humorous way, we offer this advice AND our submission
 to our WELL deserved fate: Please find the button that says “Create Page” (it’s
 still in English the last time we looked). Click said button and complete the
 requested information. Be sure to name your page “So & So’s Page Must Be
 Banned”. (We say “So & So so that you may realize you can use this free
 information to create a page against any page that offends you in a
 non-humorous way).

Create your page, garner likes, post pictures making fun of us and
above all make sure all post’s and pictures deeply hurt our feelings. Cause we
like, SOOOOO deserve it.

Dear Mr. Ice Maker,

We here at home sincerely appreciate your work ethic.
 
Really, we do.

I mean, you make sure if we're thirsty or wanting a
cocktail, we can enjoy that as cold as we would like. Open the door and there you are.

We do however take SLIGHT exception to the fact that occasionally we HAVE to open the freezer door to get to your wonderful creations. It's so much better when the little button shaped like a cup that you push to drop your little lovelies directly into the glass, WORKS.

But I digress.

Your work ethic is astounding. Over the top as a matter of fact. Literally and figuratively.

We appreciate it with all sincerity, but PLEASE! You were designed to take a break when your partner Mrs. Ice Tub was fully satisfied. Really, you don't need to keep working so hard.

Have we offended you in any way? I mean, YOU KNOW and WE know you are out of Warranty. You can't expect us to remember to turn your power button off all the time.

We're only human I.M! We can't remember that.
 
Yet, you won't auto-shut-off like you used to.

I couldn't decide if you were so happy you could make so much ice for us, or if you were upset.I believe you are upset because you KNOW we're going to discover
the cup shaped button doesn't work and we are going to open the door.
 
And ice is going to go everywhere.

And we're going to feel like we're in an episode of "I Love Lucy!"

You know this and yet you do it anyway...

We would appreciate you getting yourself under control.
 
We are simply not going to pay for any out of Warranty repairs. We can buy a new fridge for what that would cost. Your younger siblings keep getting cheaper & cheaper. For what you cost, we can get a new machine with a built in computer screen.

Get your sh*t together I.M.

I know what you're thinking. "Would he refuse to fix me and replace me or would he call the refridgeration guy?"

Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this Capital One Platinum Card isn't doing anything and it's the most powerful Credit Card in the world, and would make you disappear to the back of the Habit For Humanity Store and finding a new home with the first person who could come up with $25 bucks, you've got to ask yourself one question: "Do I feel lucky?" Well, do ya,
punk?

A while back I got pissed off about every body bitching politics on Facebook. Complaining about the President this, the Republicans that, the Democrat's something else. All bitching but no one offering any better idea's. 

If you don't have a better solution, what's the point in bitching about what some one else is trying to do to fix the problem? I also took exception to the amount of disrespect for our elected leaders. 

So I issued a challenge for people to put themselves in a Beer Summit with President Obama. I asked four questions: 1.) What beer should be at the table, 2.) What would you respectfully discuss with the President. 3.) What one question would you ask and 4.) What one opinion would you offer.

Nobody excepted the challenge.

So I did. 

Of course I went overboard. Here ya go:

Ok,
Question #1: A New Glarus brew
should be in the fridge because if Scott E get's invited to a Beer Summit with
the President it's going to be news and if I can get a great little Wisconsin
Brewery some nationwide exposure, I'm on it. Since it's winter I choose
something dark and hoppy, so Mr. President fill 'er up with some New Glarus
Staghorn. We'll both be glad you did.

Question #2: The topic
I would like to offer my opinion on is Government itself. My opinion is that the
whole thing has gone nuts. Our elected officials, including the President
somehow forgot why they are there. The whole idea is that we are a free nation
and our country should operate as We the People would like it
to.

We cannot stick millions of people in a room to decide
what we should do, so our founding fathers came up with this really neat idea of
having a few people get all of the info and opinions of the rest of us and then
go into a room and say “well my constituency says...” and then do what it
appears the majority of us would like to see happen. They created the Presidency
in case of a tie, not to have a ruler, which is why we went at it with Britain
in the first place.

Somewhere along the line we lost that. The people we elect talk about how they are going to represent us when in fact they get there and aren’t representing anyone.

They’re just voicing or voting their own opinion or the opinion of some company or
industry who are willing to pay for their next re-election campaign.

In my opinion Mr. President, our politicians including you, are doing something completely contrary to what they are supposed to do; to the point that really they do nothing. They simply posture and create discord among the people they represent.

There’s lots of talk about the “issues” but quite frankly there is
never anything really being done.

In the four years that you have been President it is my opinion that nothing has actually been accomplished. Please do not take that statement as me having anything against YOU being President. Even our wars which have been declared “over” are still not really “over”. Government has been at a standstill because it’s more important to say disrespectful things about each other about the “issues” than to sit down and figure out what to do.

It’s not about solving problems and things we face, it’s about who can make who look worse and get the most radical individuals on their side. It is my opinion that people have come to hate each other, not over issues and solutions, but over posturing and celebrity politicians. This country was created to get away from the hatred of English
rule and create a land of life, liberty and happiness. Where hatred exists,
happiness cannot.

It’s my opinion our founding fathers would freak right the hell out if they knew what we have done with the license they granted us to interpret their intentions when they created this country, and their compatriots fought and died to make it possible.

In my opinion, the one single key to solving the issues that face us is to get our
politicians to quit being politicians and be the representatives our founding
fathers intended. If we cannot do that we will never get back on track short of
disbanding our government and starting over and that is ridiculous because the
guys who wrote and signed the Declaration of Independence were some of the most
intelligent individuals who ever walked this planet.

It is also a ridiculous idea to attempt to disband the government and start over because of the fact that despite the right wing maniacs who like to point out that our forefathers built that option into the countries fabric, the United States Military is too
big for us to over  take and our politicians would never agree and therefore would turn our own military upon us and all that would be lost is lives and nothing would be gained.

It is also my opinion Mr. President that your CHIEF duty as President is to make these nincompoops do their job. If they’re doing their job and hit a 50/50 split, you get to be the tie breaker. If they are not doing their job it is up to you to refocus them on their mission. As President you should not be involved in these petty squabbles.

Having held a few management jobs, it’s never been my place to solve the problems. I have guided fellow employees to refocusing on the problem instead of trying to one up each other.

Your job is mine on a larger scale. My fellow employees and the customers we serve do not hate me or try to make me look bad or make ME the issue. Yours do.

My opinion is that if you go back to your job and make our representatives do theirs, things will change.

It’s also my opinion that because the Constitution does allow you to have the final say via several complex processes, doesn’t mean that should ever occur.

I’m rather disappointed in any statements about Executive Orders because quite frankly, Executive Orders are the easy, lazy way out of a situation.

It is my opinion that that is unnecessary in any issue I have seen thus far in my life.

It is my opinion that you are a decent man and could be a great President if you do your job as the founding fathers intended. I bet they wish they would have included an actual job description as much as I do.

You have some good base ideas. National, affordable, acceptable healthcare is an awesome idea that’s been kicked around forever. You are trying to make it a reality, but the method isn’t working. On the one had I’m of the opinion that we’ve kicked it around and got nowhere, so here we have a plan that sucks, but lets go ahead and try it and work out the glitches. 

The problem is too many people are unwilling to deal with the glitches while it gets worked out. That being the case it shouldn’t be forced upon us. Take that thing back to the drawing board and find a plan we’re more willing to try out. The fact is if the majority of us Americans think the plan is too glitchy to try, our government must be of the opinion that it’s too glitchy to try.

Something also needs to be done about the whole gun thing.

Nobody likes psycho’s gunning down ton’s of innocent people but the control idea’s that are getting kicked around really don’t  jibe with the rights we’re afforded by the Constitution.

We’re in a place where something needs to be done, but again it needs to be agreed upon and show that it will be beneficial. Another very bad place for a knee jerk Executive Order. 

It’s my personal belief there’s no real reason anyone NEEDS a machine gun, but as a musician I do not need seven guitars in my house, 5 of which I rarely play. But every once in awhile I get them out individually and have a little fun. That’s me exercising my right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

I could crank them up and infringe on someone else’s right, but should every musician in the world have their instrument taken away because I did that? Probably
not.

Make no mistake, I was raised a hunting boy and I’m all for it, I know you don’t shoot deer with a machine gun, but you don’t need a Porsche to drive to work either. It’s fun. So what. The guy shooting his M-16 at the rifle range or his backyard isn’t hurting anyone and in fact he’s probably helping our crappy economy because I’m sure M-16’s and their ammunition aren’t cheap.

So there is my topic: Government itself. I slipped in more than one opinion but really, we’re drinking Staghorn and talking and how many Beer Summits with the President am I actually going to get to have?

I wish I actually had a Staghorn but that is actually only offered in the fall. A man can dream.

Question #3: What one question would I ask? Easy. Why do we not have National
Binding Referendums? The entire premise of our Government and Constitution is
based on We the People, but We the People don’t really get a say. We are at the
mercy of those who allegedly represent us deciding issues upon which industry is
going to provide them the most campaign funds. National Binding Referendums
would solve every problem we have.

I wasn’t even born yet and to this day I’m pissed off that politicians who wanted to be President got jealous of FDR and decided to make sure that We the People couldn’t re-elect a guy we thought was doing the job we wanted them to do. 

In case you haven’t noticed Mr. President, I am neither 100% Democrat, nor 100% Republican, and I’m certainly not a whack job “independent” (My apologies to Ron Paul and Ross Perot who had some great idea’s but maybe were a little bit more nutty than realistic). I am a 100% Harley riding, blues playing, job having American male over the age of 40 who values my fellow Americans and fellow man in general far more than Government. 

I firmly believe that Ronald Reagan would have at least matched FDR in terms, and people can hate me if they want but President Clinton would have gotten at least one term over the two he served. If it ain’t broke don’t say it needs to be fixed because X number of years have passed.

So, since right now everyone wants to be political instead of solving problems, as a relatively cool guy who has good taste in beer and the power of the leader of the worlds greatest nation Mr. President, why not issue an Executive Order that all important issues be put to National, binding referendum? You will do all future Presidents and politicians a huge favor. 

Hell, you might even be able to save us some money and kickstart the economy by
eliminating some jobs in the House & Senate. It really doesn’t take more than one person from my state to go in and say what I want. Especially since the current congress gets so many months “off”. They should be working five days a week covering their state, finding out what we want and not getting busted for taking luxury vacations when out of session on taxpayer cash. 

The rest of us are in session at least five days a week 52 weeks a year keeping this country living and moving.

Forget the other crap and issue that order so we can tell the Government what to do. Then we don’t have to worry about who is more of a celebrity than who.

That one Executive Order will secure your legacy as the greatest President ever. The one who cut out the bullshit and gave the country back to it’s people. That’s way cooler than being the first President with an African-American heritage.

Think about it. 

Question #4: My one opinion of your actions and proposals. I can keep this one short. You have very good undeveloped ideas that would be of benefit to the citizenry if properly developed. However, rather than making Congress develop them into workable solutions you have shown a tendency to be somewhat childish and remind me of the kid who had the baseball and bat when I was a kid and the rest of us just had gloves. 

The deciding to take your ball and bat home so no one could play is a bit beneath your office and the man I read about for years before he was elected President. You should never threaten Executive Order. You should only make the one I described above.

Last word before the Secret Service takes my drunk ass (man, those Staghorns go down easy don’t they” B”?) back to the hotel via Presidential Motorcade: For reasons
that are nobodies business but mine, you are the first person I ever cast a vote
for President for. At 46 years old. This past election. The MAIN reason is, I believe any man charged with running this country can only just get started in four years. Had I voted earlier in life I would have voted for President Ford, President Carter and President George H.W. Bush exactly as I voted for you and for the same reasons.

But with you, there was one more reason: You convinced the people of this country four years ago that you could bring hope and change. The very fact that we as a country with an extremely racist past could elect a person of African-American descent as President was hope and change in and of itself. I voted for you to have a chance to do that completely and finish the job I know no one could do in four years and I haven’t seen anything different since I learned how to use the electronic voting
machine. What I’ve seen is more and more discord among the people of this
country.

Only you Sir can rekindle my anger over FDR.

Make me wish I could vote for you
again.

Jacob, Joshua and Scotty.

These aren't the only children in my life, but these are the ones I'm talking about now.

Like a few other stories here, this was originally a Facebook Timeline Entry, so if anything doesn't make sense, chalk it up to that.

Ok, so they weren't born in 2003 [I placed this in 2003 on my Timeline], but when Lisa and I met, they became brothers.

Period.

That's the way my Dad taught me and that's the way me and all of my brothers &
sisters are whether we have another Mother or Father or not. Actually we all do
:)

It's hard to tell sometimes now that they're all teenagers but, they've always
been close and have for the most part been good to eachother and for
eachother.

As parents, Lisa and I sometimes found ourselves shocked when teachers and coaches and other people would tell us what great kids we have. We don't see much of that around here :) But, they really are and I look forward to continuing to watch them grow and become the fine young men I know they will be.

Well, if they ever get past the Three Stooges Stage. That's been going on for
almost ten years now, so I guess we'll have to wait & see :)

I'm very proud of all of them and who they are, and I like to think that Lisa and I
have been good parents and influences on them so far. I'm sure we could find a
regret or two along the road, but for the most part, I'm pretty proud of us too
when I look at them. When it comes to parenting, Lisa and I think are pretty
good teammates!

I could tell so many stories about these guys. However they're all on Facebook now and I think just this picture is going to get me ambushed, not to mention you probably don't want to read about them for the next ten years.

So rather than tell stories that'll tick them off, I'll just mention a couple of my favorites, without details, to make you wonder!
 
Jake got "shot" and has a big scar on his chest/belly area. Josh used to
talk to God and Angels and he "grew" a pumpkin. Scotty... well... Scotty once
saw Chucky. Oh and he also farted a hole in a camping chair. :)

Have fun figuring those out!

Since this is my website instead of Facebook, I will tell you those stories and more at some point.

Stay tuned.

Another Facebook Timeline Entry.

I put 1967 for the Timeline entry because I'm not allowed to pre-date my birthday here, but Todd & Toni were born first. Also because Facebook wants to put this before my parents, and well, that's silly.

This is a mess worthy of Geraldo or Springer so pay attention!

I have no half or step-siblings. I never have.
 
What I have is two brothers and four, count'em four sisters. None of us
share the same two parents, some of us don't even have one parent the same, and
one of us has dual relation.

In order as you see them: Todd, Toni, Randy, Angie, Crystal and Connie.

I shall explain. At least as far as the biology goes.

Todd, Toni and Angie all have the same Mom. Randy and I have the same Mom. 

Randy and Toni have the same Dad. Crystal and I have the same biological father. 

Connie does not share a biological parent with any of us (guess who has the dual
relationship?). You want me to explain that don't you? Ok I will cause Connie
& I have a little joke about it.

When I was young and Connie was a pip-squeak her Mom & Dad were
my great aunt and uncle. The way things go in the world, many years later after
her father and my mother had passed away, her Mom married my Dad, so then she
became my sister. Technically we're also still cousins. This makes her my
scousin. And I love her for seeing the humor in that!

Todd & Angie and Randy & I are all connected by Toni. When we were growing up we'd see eachother from time to time, but we all lived pretty far apart. For many years
we didn't see eachother until Toni's second wedding when we were all in the same
place at the same time again.

When we lost Toni, it had pretty much the same effect on all of us, and we have not
been seperated again since then and I doubt we ever will be. That girl, as sad as the whole thing was, has to smile knowing she brought all her brothers and sister together permanently.


Crystal is the Baby. And I mean BABY. My oldest child is the same age as her! And despite what SHE say's, I'm not that old!

Crystal and I so far have only met by webcam. And Crystal is technically responsible for me being on Facebook in the first place.

I had heard a rumor long ago that my biological father whom I've never known had
another child. Always wondered about that. Once in awhile I'd look and find nothing. Then I started seeing the Facebook stories about people finding long lost relatives. So I signed up and sure as heck I found her.

And I'm glad I did because she instantly knocked me out. She has almost as wide of a sense of humor as me!
 
Someday we'll meet in person and I look forward to that!

These are my brothers and sisters.

Everybody in my life means the world to me, but my brothers and sisters give me another thing that I will always need and always appreciate: a super connection to where I came from.

They all mean the world to me and I would do anything for them, any time,
anywhere.

Don't mess with 'em cause I'll open a can of Whup Ass quick. Ask Randy, he can tell ya some stories :)

Love you guys!

P.S.
The pictures: First, the one with me & Angie is the only one I know of
us together and as silly as I look, she would't probably
appreciate her image in the picture, so I replaced what was there with one of my favorite pictures of her. Crystal and I haven't met yet, so of course there's no picture
of us. I can't find a picture of Connie & I together for anything! So this is what
you get.

**UPDATE** Crystal and I met in Vegas October 8, 2012 and rather than feeling like strangers, we felt like we had always known eachother. I was tired as hell (I'll explain that story else where another time) but I had the greatest time with her. She even almost won a car like Clark Griswold in Vegas Vacation. Almost meaning she played the machine.

So here's a picture of her and I AND an undoctored picture of Angie & Todd & I!

Life is the thing we do while we're breathing. I once wrote a
thing for Facebook about my job as Pilot at Being Me. I actually did study and
learn to fly a plane, but where it came from was riding my Harley one day,
thinking about my life and all of that and all of the gear on my bike looking
like a cockpit. Enjoy.

Being Me hasn’t always been the easiest job in my life. It
has however easily been the best and I think I’m staying in for the long
haul. I have to, there's no retirement plan.

Sure, it started out simple enough. My only responsibilities really, were to make some crap in a diaper and then giggle ridiculously at the poor unfortunate soul who had to
clean it up; that and start screaming in the middle of the night to wake somebody up to come and try to figure out what I could possibly want. Simple enough for sure. I was employee of the day EVERY day back in those early years!

It started getting a little more difficult as I started to grasp the English language and could say what I wanted and learned the meaning of the word “no”.

I’ve had epoch failures, monumental losses, extreme emotional
and mental pain, some physical too, and a bunch of spiritual turmoil to boot.
There were sixteen virtually continuous, very dark years where the only light I
could see was literally about the size of a pinhead, way, way down the dark
corridor.

But I have also had incredible experiences, unbelievable successes, rapid recovery and adjustment from negatives and I have been blessed with so many people, places and things and experiences that in comparison, the bad times are really trivial.

I am the sum total of all of the people, places, things and experiences that I
have. If you are reading this, you know me one way or another, whether it be
family, work, however we met, if you are reading this, you are part of who I am, and I thank you for your contribution.

I’m far from a great person. I’m still under construction, similar to many highways around the great State of Wisconsin. I’m a new person every day. I feel for the most part, I am a better person each day. At least I try to be. Working on this Timeline business and going through the old photographs and things, I miss some of the old me’s.

I wonder if they are just right there where they were or if they
made other choices that lead down other paths. Some better than those I chose, perhaps some worse. That happens to be a spiritual concept that I learned from Richard Bach, and I won’t even begin to try to explain it. If you’re interested, find a book by Richard Bach. If you want to start short and sweet, get your hands on
Jonathon Livingston Seagull.

Regret’s? I’ve had a few. Apparently more than Ol’ Blue Eye’s, but I’ve learned to live with them and make peace with them as best as I am able. I can still get bent out of shape about them from time to time, but for the most part, I’m cool.

I’m known as a cranky person. 

Those who know me best know it’s an act most of the time. Why? I don’t know.
Twisted sense of humor I guess. My poor children have struggled for years to be
able to figure out if I was mad or pulling their leg. The downside of that is now I really have to put on some Oscar worthy chops to fool them because they know me to well. (**UPDATE** Since this was originally written I've become more
known as a happy person than a cranky person and my children have learned to
give it right back to me! Awesome little smartasses they're becoming!)


You don’t need to know every detail of my life and I don’t feel like telling you
anyway, but this job at Being Me has been an awesome experience when I weigh it
all out. It keeps getting better too from what I can tell.


I have the same up’s & downs as everyone else.

Stuff happens that crushes me, but I have developed, through everything
and with help from everybody, the ability to get up and get back to
work.

It probably wasn’t all that long ago that I didn’t feel as great
about Being Me as I do now. I’m not real happy about the getting older business, especially since it seems to happen faster every year, but it may have a lot to do with how I feel now.

How I feel now is grateful, blessed, loved, forgiven, understood,
lucky and most of all, pretty happy.

It’s taken 46 years, but I’m really starting to feel good about my career progress here at Being Me.

You may be looking at the picture attached to this particular job
and understandably wondering “WTF?”.

Well, it’s simple: Here at Being Me, I’m the pilot on this journey and that is my cockpit.

I’m writing this because the concept of it came to me when I was riding today. Looking in front of me it just struck me as being a cockpit with all the stuff you see
there.

Well, that bike means a hell of a lot to me and she’s also very responsible for who I am as well as the things I do.

When I ride, there is no greater sense of freedom.  And there is no better place to think.
 
And that’s what I do when I ride.

Idea’s happen in that cockpit. Solution’s to problems come to me there. Dream’s plant their seeds there, and they are also nurtured from that same cockpit.

Blessings are counted in my cockpit and as the miles and towns and beautiful sights pass by, as my nose is invaded by the smells of flowers, trees, rivers, and even
diesel and cow pie, the blessing count runs higher.

As I ride, I consider everything as it comes to mind. Some things I stay on for awhile, some pass fleetingly allowing the more consideration worthy to enter.

My life, my family, my friends, my job, my band, my abilities, my gizmo’s and tools
to get the job done, all the things that make me ME they pass back & forth
in my mind, my heart and my soul as I ride.

All these things AND I’m riding a Harley. Not just any Harley. MY Harley who did not exist as she does until I created her in the image I wanted.

We do indeed each have a little bit of God in us.

Working here at Being Me has given me something
I didn’t realize I had for a
long time.

When I page through the
memory album as I sit in my cockpit, to go from where I came from to where I am,
it is a stunning, awesome, incredible and indescribable feeling.

The
biggest realization from my cockpit?

I truly have a Rock Star
life.

Thanks for being a part of it!