Our Daily Lives

This page gives a weekly account of our lives and the different things we do together and separately.  So hey if you thought your life is boring you should see ours.

Here we reveal a little of what we do each week.  The two of us have fun together, are very happy together, good sense of humor, like to travel, love to dance  and we seem to have an energy about us. 
Being together for 14+ years, things keep getting better and better, or so we like to think. Of course some things seemed to have faded away while unfortunately one of them is not Joanne.(lol)

January 6, 2012 to February 11, 2012

Another month gone by. Michael and Joanne still going to the gym spending about 15 to 20 hours a week there, sometimes taking a couple of days off to allow the body to catch up. Michael works out with the weights and now doing cardio exercises mostly riding the bicycle. Made some videos on the computer to put on my mp3 player and watch them when riding the bicycle moving my hands and arms to the beat of the music. I was sweating the other day and I get a good workout that way. I did read the rules for the gym and they didn't say anything about mp3 players or what we can have on them. Videos I make are not exactly for public viewing while the player has a small screen and I try to keep it so others can't see what I'm watching. Been maintaining a good diet of protein and fiber as it cleans those things out of your system that you don't want others to know about and drinking up to a gallon and a half of water daily. I drink a lot of water in the stream room and sauna. There is all kinds of stuff on the internet how to get your system clean and Michael decided that good exercise, a healthy diet and water does a good job. A fast metabolism helps a lot, which Michael does have and exercise burns the fat which is what you need to clean out.

Michael is still out looking for a job, had a couple of interviews with no job offers yet, so he's on the computer a lot. Found out last week that anyone can watch porn on the library computers. You wouldn't catch me doing that at the library. Myself I don't should be allowed unless they put the monitors in a place designed for private viewing or a screen filter.

Michael got a little drunk last nite at the Eagles and was playing pool. Was winning most of the games while the competition was fairly good but not that good. With Michael, if you're going to run 7 balls off the table, they better make the 8 ball too. Won many games because of that. I hate shooting around the opponents balls.

Michael is one of the few players that shoots left handed while I am getting better at shooting with my right hand also and sometimes with one hand. Joanne and I haven't done the Hold Your Baby shot lately. That's where she stands beside me and our arms around each others waist as I shoot the shot with one hand. You gotta be good but I still need to be able to rest the stick on the table.

Michael can lose 10 games to someone and I'll still play another one. Competition makes you better. Others will give up, not me. I play Phillip sometimes at the Eagles and he's good while he admits he's still learning. I'm starting to win some of the games as I am better at controlling the cue ball and getting the shape for the next shot. Most of the time I'm looking ahead at the next 3,4, or 5 shots. Not always consistent while I can be good. I'll probably be out at the Eagles again tonite playing pool and maybe I'll catch Phillip tomorrow at the Eagles where pool is free on Sunday. At the Kent Eagles pool is always free.

I love it that the Big Banks have to pay back millions to customers for ripping them off.
They deserve it.

Looks like we need to give Obama out although the Republicans aren't much better.
Could be there will be a third candidate on the ballot for the 2012 election. I hope there is.

Been spicing up the web site a little to make it look better and still have more work to do, and I'll hopefully get there. I love having a web site as I have the freedom to put what I want on it.

 

 

 

December 8th, 2011 to January 6, 2012

Happy New Year to everyone. Finally getting back here to update, while it will be the weekend before I get this done. We're still around. Ok, finally made it back. Lot of things going on and today was a Good Day for both of us although I won't go into detail. It's a new beginning into an unknown world for the both of us while I'm sure we will survive on this day of February 8, 2012.

For Christmas we chose not to buy each other presents this year as we have each other, while we did spring for a Christmas tree and Joanne decorated most of it.
For New Years we did go out to a local bar to see a band we know from the Eagles club. We danced the night away and Michael got in a few games of pool. Michael usually only plays pool anymore at a Eagles club as he got tired of the bar scene and doesn't play as much, while he still enjoys a good game. If you run the table on Michael, you better make that 8 ball too, as there is a good chance he will run the table or leave you really hard on the 8 ball.

Michael is still working with the Unemployment office. Most people called it being unemployed. We are spending between 15 - 20 hours a week at the gym and belong to one of the friendliest and best gyms around. Check out several over the years and Michael belong to La fitness for a few months last year also. Highline Athletic  club is still the best although 3 times as expensive at LA fitness. It's very close to us so we save that much in time and gas. HAC is the only one that has a stream room and sauna. Stream rooms aren't really around anymore as we have never seen one anywhere else.

Staff is always friendly with fresh coffee in the morning and lot of TV's and some exercise machines have TV's built right in with them. Nobody else has that.

Looks like Washington state and Colorado are going to be voting on the legalization of marijuana in the 2012 ballot and many other states are rushing to get that on their ballot in 2012. It doesn't matter to me. After all, kids can easily get it now as drug dealers don't check ID, yet they can't get alcohol as easily. Why would the state want to legalize it ?
Big Business doesn't want the competition.
Myself, I still like my Canadian Club Whiskey.

Joanne is still going to the Eagles club at least 6 times a month, sometimes more for meetings and fixing dinners.
Michael is still tracking lottery numbers off and on. Sometimes he lets the program pick the numbers and the program even prints out the lottery bet slips. The easy way to winning a lottery jackpot.

Not going out as much as we use to and don't want to spend any more money than we have to. That way the state gets less tax money.

Michael has had a few interviews, but no job yet. One will come along someday and who knows, maybe I'll get to live onsite again by myself. That could be good, although Joanne won't like it.

Still watching a lot of the older programs on Netflix. Currently watching Married with Children and Hawaii five O. It's nice seeing these older programs, the old cars and there not as violent as some shows on TV today. I guess Red box and Verizon are now going to join together to compete with Netflix. Might be good as Netflix is all right for the price, while the selection is so so.

 

 

 

 

September 17 to December 8,2011

All right, we are back, finally. Lot of things going on and little time to rest. Will update this later today as got work to do, places to go, things to do, people to see.
It's a Beautiful Day. Did a little cleanup and then Joanne and I went out to get ourselves a Christmas tree.  Lately Michael's been on the computer a lot and Joanne is still hanging out at the Eagles club a lot doing dinners, meetings and all that. Michael loves it as it gives me time alone. Michael is on the computer a lot while only on the internet about 10 to  15% of the time mostly doing a lot of photography work and some audio/video editing. Really enjoy doing that and would love to do that for a living. If you enjoy something, that's what you should be doing. No trips lately or anything exciting except going out to listen to a band and get a little dancing in on occasion.

Michael is working with the unemployment office once again. Most people call it being unemployed. It's kind of fun applying for all these jobs, meeting prospective employers and learning new things. Actually thinking about going out and getting a real job soon in this economy, which sucks while life goes on.

Still watching shows on Netflix, mostly the older ones, like Hawaii Five O, and Dennis the Menace is so good to watch as it's so funny. These older programs didn't have all the violence, like the new ones do.

Michael doesn't get out to play pool very often anymore. Lot of it is I just got tired of the bar scene and usually go to the Eagles club or Elks to play where the drinks are cheap and pool is only a quarter a game or free. Trudy's bar closed down a few months ago and that was where some of the good pool players were and the place was cool. We were even allowed to smoke inside the bar at night time. I'll miss it. Got to find a new bar to go to, preferably close where there is good competiton on the pool table.

No longer belong to the gym and miss going there. Plan to sign up again soon back at Highline Athletic Club where it costs about $125 a month for both of us while it is the best gym we've ever joined. Staff is always friendly, very clean and the only one in town that has a stream room, and also have a sauna which most gyms have.

It costs about $1500 a year for both of us but can you really put a price on good health ?
Look forward to going back soon. Michael belonged to LA fitness when I was living in Des Moines, WA. while is was  nice, it just wasn't as good as Highline. LA Fitness puts the sauna in the men's rooms and the women's room, while Highline has the steam room and sauna in the pool area so men and women can use them together.

Michael is hoping to spend more time on this web site and get it looking good and exercise his freedom of speech and I plan too. Our government spends or shall I say waste so much money on a lot of stupid things.

About decided we need to throw Governor Gregoire out of office. I'll vote for a Republican before I vote the Grandma Gregoire again. She even looks old.

What about the guy who got mad because the flight attendant asked him to turn off his cell phone. What a baby. If my flight got delayed because of that, I would be tempted to sue. Just think, they could get a class action lawsuit going against him. You're on a plane, you moron and you need to follow their rules, not yours. I don't care who you are. Holds up everyone on the plane so the Baby could play word games. Get a life.

We decided not to go out this New Years. Really don't have the money and don't want to deal with all the drunk drivers and everything else along with supporting this screwed economy where Big Corporations make millions in profit and cry when they have to pay more tax, while the working class pays a higher percentage tax on the money we make.

Anyway, said enough for now and got to apply for a job, so wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Better, Happier New Year.

 

August 23 to September 16, 2011

Another month gone by. The company Michael was working for let me go on August 24, 2011. Apparently they weren't happy with my work, but then I was no longer happy with the job. Unemployed again, but then been there before. Let me say this. THIS ECONOMY SUCKS.  Unemployment office told Michael, there are more people looking for jobs than there are jobs. Always good to hear good news like that.

Was reading the other night that if the government were to default on there loans, thousands of other people would most likely file bankruptcy and then would be able to take those vacations they wanted to and buy those things they wanted to. That would create jobs.  Let the government default. I do believe the U.S. government  needs only support people born here, cut out this section 8 housing and welfare. When I grew up there was none of that and we survived.

Now social security is going broke and there is no guarantee we will get social security  when we need it. This is a really big scam. As the TV news says it's a Ponzi scene and it is. Government is taking money out of our checks for social security, yet it won't be there when we need it. It's a legal Ponzi scheme.

If I don't get my social security when I retire I wonder if I can sue social security and get back the money I put in it.  I think we need to throw out all the bostards in office and get new ones, but then they would all probably be crooks too.

Living with Joanne again and she's happy about that.  Having to live 4 months without me, she realized how much she missed me. Of course Michael misses taking out all the other girlfriends.

Michael is still tracking lottery programs using 3 different programs. Haven't been buying a whole lot of tickets lately while that may change. Of course I hate supporting Washington state with my money. If I'm going to be poor and unemployed might as well take Washington state down with me.Washington state is only going to be 1.4 Billion dollars short. What else is new. The state spends too much money on everything they shouldn't be.

Michael is going to see a bankruptcy lawyer next week to find out what my options are. Then I can call up the credit card company and tell them either you lower my interest rate or I file bankruptcy. I'm sure they won't like that.

Still waiting to get my deposit back from the apartment I was living in on the job. It's already a week late.
I'm beginning to think they don't want to give it back to me.  I get 3 times the amount if it's late.

 

 

 

July 24 to August 23, 2011

Joanne and I see each other at least a couple times a week. Maybe next week when I'm not on call, I might hang out in Burien. She stops by on the way home from the Kent Eagles to see me, when she is there. She misses me and I miss her a little.

How about our government. We help all these other countries fight wars and give them money while they ship their goods over here. Look at the power we have now. We can bankrupt the whole world. The U.S. is steadily going more in debt everyday as these other countries are building up their economy's.

I see groups are still pushing to legalize marijuana and they should. It's ridiculous how much we spend to arrest and jail people for smoking a joint. You could end up in jail longer for that than driving drunk and killing someone. Only in America Folks.

Joanne came by tonite and she still misses me at night. I miss her too, at times, while I enjoy my freedom even though I'm on the computer most of the time.
Gotta be on call Labor Day Weekend and Christmas Day, which sucks. It;s terrible not to be able to enjoy a whiskey and water on the holiday or any day for that matter.

I picked the 5 numbers for the Hit 5 lottery tonite while Joanne was here.

The following is what I think.

3 odd 2 even,   the numbers are:   even, odd, odd, odd, even,  in comparison to the numbers drawn last draw, I predict the first number will be Higher, 2nd #, Higher, Higher, Higher, and the last one, Lower.

Also predict there will be 2 numbers drawn consecutive.

The winning numbers will be 8,13,19,27,28.

 

 

 

 

 

July 24,2011

    Finally made it back to update this site.  Michael has been busy probably doing everything he shouldn't be doing. He's been having fun out dancing, playing pool, and of course drinking some good whiskey with water. Use to mix the whiskey with coke and decided I didn't need all that sugar with my whiskey.

Joanne misses me not living with her while Michael is loving living by his self.
Michael got wrote up because I told someone It's just another job and if they let me go, they let me go. Apparently it got back to the Upper management. I'm quite sure I know how it got there. Whatever happened to Free Speech ? I didn't say anything bad.
Anyway, this is our web site and I will put anything I feel like putting up  here.

Michael does have a domain name he wants to sell and currently working on that. Would like to sell the domain for $25,000 and that's a good price and also considering parking it.

Considering selling off this domain also and would need at least $100,000 for all four domains. Would not sell them separately although I would consider selling 2 of them.
Would keep  2dancers.com and twodancers.com Money to be made in selling domain names.

Michael is going broke working here. Got to find something else to supplement my income or consider filing bankruptcy. Seems to be the American way. Look at our government. It's a joke.

Trying to cut down on my electric bill while it's not easy. Watching some of my favorite videos on tv is running up my electric bill. Lets just say I have a hard drive with about 250 GB of favorite videos. Speaking of hard drives, I was at Fry's yesterday and they now have hard drives that will hold 3 Tera bytes. It's amazing what technology can do.
Seen a small USB drive smaller than my thumb that can hold 4 GB.

Got Boots for the weekend. Left the cat outside Thursday and she took off somewhere and was gone until I heard a meow at my door Friday night at 12:30 a.m. Good thing I was still up otherwise the cat would have  spent another night outside.

Joanne is still going to some to the Eagles conventions and what not, but not as much lately as she can't afford it.

Guess Joanne is off to Moses Lake for another Eagles Class.


Boots doesn't like going outside here. Could be because there is no grass for her to eat and possibly the freeway noise. She sleeps on top of a suitcase most of the time. She has no desire to go outside while at the Village where Joanne lives, she gets out  and takes off every chance she can.

What's the deal with our government ready to default on their loans ? Actually it sounds kind of good. Imagine how we could screw up the whole world financially. I love it. No bombs or anything required. Just default on your loans. We need to throw out all these bostards in office and get some new ones. Obahma promised us change, he gave Big Business billions while the rest of us got Focked.
With the little money I get paid, I am supporting this economy as little as possible.

Lets put the Republicans back in office and let them screw the country over. Right now they are against any new taxes. Just wait till they get in office.

Of course when Bush was President he screwed us over as the economy went bad just after he left office. Myself, I would have told all these companies that wanted a Bail Out, that's too bad you can't run your business and we can't help. These company's just needed a Bail Out so they could go to Vegas. What a Focking Scam.


If our government goes default and my interest rates go way up, maybe I'll file bankruptcy also. If the government can do it, I can too.
 

 We're getting Focked. Washington State is looking for another Cash Cow, but then aren't we all. I love it. They're even  talking about legalizing marijuana and the Feds shut down a lot of the medical marijuana  businesses, while Washington State said you can grow it here, just be sure to send in your tax money. Probably a lot of state workers showing up to work everyday high on cocaine, but that's just my opinion.

The government lost this war on drugs long ago. It's all about money. One joint and your good for a while. It takes at least 3 to 6 drinks to feel good. The government would rather you get drunk, drive your car home, possibly hit someone on the way, or get arrested for DUI. There's more money in drinking.

This goes back all the way to the 1930's. Legalization of marijuana back then would have cost the paper company millions, so the government spread rumors to make marijuana illegal.

Do a search on google, Why is marijuana illegal ?

Man goes to the bar, gets drunk, drives home and maybe will injure or kill someone on the way home.  Same man sits home and takes a few tokes, buys something to munch on and is totally relaxed being stoned. If he drives the car, it's unlikely he will hurt anyone although it does happen while we seldom hear about it.

Would you rather deal with a man who is drunk or a man who is high on pot ?
The government is never going to win this drug war.
If you work for the government, there is a good chance you will die of old age before you get fired or laid off. Look at the postman who took a crap in someone's yard and they just moved him to a new area.

Alcohol destroys lives, and smoking causes many problems also, yet the government wouldn't take them away. There is too much money involved.

 

 

 

Still having fun and here it is already May 22, 2011.

Michael's still enjoying living by his self and loving it. Joanne, she misses  me a little, sometimes a lot. We still see each other and Boots is still getting visitation rights. Boots knows Michael has it going on and I let her outside. I think Boots misses me more.

Last nite Joanne and I went to the Everett Eagles to see the coming home party of the President. The drinks were free from 4 to 6 p.m. and they were strong drink. Joanne  played designated driver. That was  a good decision.

Beginning to look like I might be attending more Eagles events in the future.... maybe.
The Kent Eagles should be opening in their new building very soon. Closest to me.

Monday morning, a new week and has to be  better than last week.

Have a good one.

 

 

March 30, 2011

It's Party Time !!!  

Michael is getting his own place this Friday and starts working April 4th as a great apartment community.
I told Joanne I would have 5 new girlfriends in a month. She told me I'd be Lucky to even meet one.
Could be better off though.  It's going  to be great living by myself again. Had to drop my gym membership as I'll find one out in the Des Moines area or South.

Getting a nice 2 bed room apartment. Was going to move the cleaning lady in the one bedroom, and decided that probably wasn't a good ideal. Of course if she happen to be a good cook on the side, I might
think about it. It's been too long, while I am sure I can handle it. 

Interesting thing about women is they want someone who is honest while when we tell them the truth, they
get all excited to put it lightly.  If something was going to get you a little excited would you rather a guy tell
you, avoid it, hope he don't get caught or just flat out lie to you ?  With me, I would want the person to tell
me. I'd probably tell them That's cool.

Now Dr. Oz on TV right now is saying the cell phone is bad for your brain and showing us pictures. My brain is already gone doc, it don't matter.(lol)

He says you should switch ears using the phone. Great Ideal. Why just destroy one side of the brain.
I believe in  equal opportunity cell phones.(lol)

That might have happened to Joanne as she was only on the phone something like 2600 minutes last month. Blue Tooth is great isn't it. She has been a little more friendly lately, probably because I'm not around.

Now Dr. Oz says you should keep your cell phone at least 5 feet away from you when sleeping to avoid radiation. Isn't technology great and were starting kids out on cell phones at an early age. Good Job.

 I think turning on the TV and watching  Dr. Oz  and The Doctors too much will feed our minds with all the
 stuff that could happen to us and all the stuff we shouldn't be doing.  It's interesting though at times.

 

I know, trying to be funny. Some of us are so easily amused. We're the Lucky Ones.

I'll let everyone know how the big move goes. Get to do the walk through first and I'm experienced at walk throughs. I should be able to catch everything while I might see if Joanne can come along. You think I'm good, wait till you see Joanne do a walk through after I've turned an apartment.

It keeps me on my toes and made me better at my job. Might even get a hug out of this while I'm not holding my breath.

Awesome!!!
She gave me a Fantastic Hug.
I think she still likes me.

Enuf said for now. I do believe my brain is in need of nutrition. Can't you tell.(lol)
 

February 2011 to March 2011

Another month in vacation land or something like that. Had a couple of job interviews in February. They only had 82 applications for maintenance  person. Many of them had PHD's, didn't know maintenance while they said they used a saw once or whatever. Thinking I could apply for a job that requires a  PHD.

Been watching a lot of the old shows on Netflix. Shows like Swat, Charlie's Angels, Petticoat Junction, Banacek  and more. It's good to see them again.
Joanne and I went to CC's again where the Elks had a  get together. Michael was dancing with this older woman who was a  professional dancer in her days and still was. It was fun and made her day and mine too.
Our gas is only going up here in Seattle. Good thing I got a small car. Everything is going up except the number of people getting a job. Going to be interesting.

I'll get back with this later.

January 2011 to February 2011

Another month gone by in the New Decade. Michael is still looking for a job. Had 4 interviews so far, but no job. Not doing a lot these days except trying to survive.
Joanne and I did go dancing last Saturday nite to see a band that broke up, while 2 of the members joined up with another band. It was good to see them and music was Fantastic. However Michael was playing pool and drinking so Joanne didn't get to dance with me much.

This girl I was playing pool with was in the mood to dance, so I danced a few dancers with her. She was good and a lot of fun. Michael kept the pool table for about 6 games or so, and was dancing at the same time.  Michael had a little too much to drink again, but that's why I taught Joanne to drive, so she drove home. Next time we go out dancing I'll stay off the pool table when the music starts.

Still going to the gym Monday thru Friday at 6 a.m. Michael is running a mile on the thread mill  and that gets me sweating. Feel the need to burn some fat cells. Keeps the system clean. As it is, Michael has a high metabolism so that helps.

Started using Microsoft Expression Web to do the web site instead of Front Page 2003. They say its' User Friendly. That means that you will spend hours reading the how to section to learn to  use the program.
Having a problem getting the pictures on the photo page, so I gotta read up on how to do that again, as it worked before.

Michael goes out browsing thru the Thrift Stores on occasion. Gets me out of the place and it's free to browse. Maybe I'll start going out to other stores looking around or hang out at Greenlake when the weather gets nice. As you can see we're having a lot of fun, or something like that. Joanne is still  attending a lot of meetings at the Eagles as she is in Tacoma tonite with one of her friends.Works for me, as I get the place to myself.

Been watching some of the old programs thru Netflix. These go back some 30 years or more. Watching Petticoat Junction tonite. It's good to see these old programs. Netflix is cheap entertainment.

Enough for now. If Joanne has anything to add, I'll do that later. Gotta read to figure out how this User Friendly program works. I'll figure it out, just takes a little time.
Have fun out there.

 

December 2010 to January 2011

Made it back again. Miracles do happen. Windows wouldn't let me access website because I used a capital letter in the username. Sure is picky. Out with the old decade and in with the New. It's going to be better if we ever get out of this so called recession.

I forget everything we did but I remember the highlights. On New Years Eve we went to the Burien Elks for music and dancing and made the mistake of taking the neighbor with us as she drinks too much for me.
She was getting champagne from the people at the table next to us and then found an unopened bottle, grabbed it and was ready to open it and drink it. Luckily a guy took it from her.
Lets just say she screwed up big time. I don't care for alcoholics and that was it.
She's going  to have to go drink with her Borefriend next time.

Joanne and I went to Trends again while this time the company did not pay for it. Trends is for property managers, owners, maintenance people and of course all the suppliers setting up booths. They have classes during the day on different topics. It was interesting.

The first year we didn't get a Christmas Tree. Didn't want to spend the money as Michael is still unemployed.
Michael is doing some work at the New Eagles Club getting it ready for the move in. The Kent Eagles has to be out by the end of February and the new place is around the corner. It's all volunteer work while it gives Michael something to do.

Joanne and I went to CC's about 6 blocks from us to see the band WolfTunes, long time friends of ours for about 15 years. It was good to see them again as we hadn't seen them for about 6 years. They have since added 2 new members and we had dinner, Michael drank a little too much and we danced the nite away while it was fun.

Joanne and I have been going to the gym at 6 a.m. Monday thru Friday and spend a couple of hours there.
Keeping the body in shape and looking good.

Joanne is still going to the Eagles meetings, making Thursday night dinners every week and Tuesday night dinners twice a month and going to the Ballard Eagles meeting once a month.

Joanne bought me a new Sony camera for $250.00 that takes Panaramic shots and processes them right in the camera. Pretty cool. Use to have to put the individual pictures together on the computer which was a problem.

Gas here in Seattle, Washington is up to $3.15 a gallon at Costco. Someday they'll be all electric cars and we can say screw the oil companies.

The romance and affection left long ago. Michael only gets a  hug from Joanne in the morning when he hugs her. Michael has decided that getting married or living together is the beginning of the end of a relationship.

A lot of places where Michael applies for maintenance jobs wants him to live on site. Beginning to sound like a good ideal. Michael could go back to living by his self again, new girlfriends, affection and romance and more. Sounds good.

Michael applies for a job and now they want to do a drug check, check what you have on Facebook and Twitter, check credit history, criminal history and whatever else.
They don't check for alcohol abuse, so I guess it's all right if you're an alcoholic. I know a guy who dated a school teacher and she was a alcoholic. Teach kids during the day and get drunk at night.  Apparently that's all right. Our tax dollars at work.

Speaking of tax dollars, our governor lied to us to get elected and then raised our taxes. However we the people got to vote on that and took them back.  Like screw you, governor. Washington state is going broke because they can't do anything under budget. A simple freeway off ramp for $35 million and it ends up costing $90 million. I'm sorry, but what kind of idiots do we have in government ?

If our government actually started building something under budget, they would actually have money.
Post Office only lost 8 billion dollars and they're still in business. Show me any private company that can do that.

Enough said for now. Be good, have fun and drink to your hearts content. That's still legal. Even the government officials are getting busted, so it must be all right.

 

 

October 2010 - November 2010

Another month gone by and Michael is still working with the unemployment office and enjoying a little vacation. Michael did finally get a large piece of green felt to use for Green Screen effects. It's really cool.
Basically I can take a photo or video of myself with a green background and then drop that into any photo or video and the green disappears, leaving just my picture and looks like I was really a part of the photo or video. 

Joanne is still playing manager and doing a good job, although I do go out and take a  picture of the light meter when someone moves in or out and later put the readings on paper. I use to stand out in the rain and read meters, now I take a picture and fill out the form once Joanne prints it.

Michael went to the gym today for a swim, jacuzzi and the stream rooms, which he loves the most.
Not making it to the gym  as much as I want to though.
As far as Michael's pool game goes, I'm getting very good. Was out playing last week at a bar with good competition usually, and was actually getting bored winning all the time. The games were close with only 1 or 2 balls left on the table. Probably go out and practice today as a lot of people want to play for $5.00 a game. Can't afford to miss in a $5.00 game.  My English and shape are getting very good. I am usually shooting 3,4 or 5 balls ahead and the bank shots are coming together.

Weather sucks here in Washington or at least where we live. Rain, Rain, and more Rain.
Want to get some video clips up here of some of the things I dol. Becoming quite creative and got some good programs to use.  I do respect others proprietary rights, but if it's on my computer screen or coming over my speakers I can copy it. Haven't found anything I can't copy.

Boots (our cat) is not happy as she wants to roam outside and not allowed outside, but I do let her out on the deck when the weather is nice. She doesn't like the rain at all and we are having a lot of rain.

Off to practice a little pool and hopefully I'll get the photos and video clips up soon.

January 2009 - October 2010

Welcome to another day in paradise  and that it is. As you can see we have not been here for long time and we're still around.

Michael go laid off September 22, 2010 and is now working with the Unemployment Office. I  apply for 3 or more jobs a week, call them on Sunday and they send me a check. What we did last year, not a clue, but it was fun or at least my mind remembers it that way. Joanne is still faithfully hanging out at the Eagles Club for meetings, dinners, visitation, and all that. Michael loves it when she like goes to eastern Washington for the weekend. That's a 3 day vacation for Michael.

    Michael's been spending $6 to $10 a week on lottery tickets, chasing a Dream. With me, it's not so much the money although that is a part of it. It's the ideal, the Fantasy, the Belief that I can be that 1 in 14  million people or whatever the odds are to Win A Lottery Jackpot.

We didn't really get a vacation last year so to speak. Working too much.

Michael got a HD camcorder that records the video on an Sd Card. Technology is Awesome. We recently bought Otto(Joanne's Brother) a beginners high tech  HD  camcorder. It was on sale for $279.00 and works good. Of course it don't all the bells an whistle's but it does have a few.

Otto seems to get most of the hand me downs, when we get a new one. This is about the 3rd camcorder he's gotten not to mention the other things. Otto has been video taping his son's (Harley) football games and gives his coach a copy. He's catches team mistakes when he watches them back.

Michael is more into video and editing. Wants to get into what is known as a Green Screen Effect. Can do some Awesome stuff with that and the other programs I have.  I use ProShow Producer for producing the video. Really good program with lot of effects. The program is only limited by your imagination.

I'll make about a 5 minute video to put up on the web site for everyone to see a sample of what I am doing.

December 14, 2008 to January 26, 2009

Made it to another year and I know it's going to be a better year. Thank God, Obama got elected. He's the Man.

We didn't do a lot for Christmas. The first year we didn't buy a tree or much else for that matter. Of course Joanne was laid up from having her right knee replace. That was a lot of fun and of course she couldn't drive that way. Her knee is almost back to normal except she can't be on her knees anymore.

For New Year's Eve we also stayed home. Not doing a lot these days as far as spending money and tightening the vice grips on our money. Next to impossible to get my money out of my hand.

Also quit using our credit cards. The credit card companies are doing a good job of screwing themselves, the way their raising the rates on us. Government has got involved now and slap some laws on those boys. Some people have also stopped using their credit cards also as a result.

These big companies think they can screw their good customers over and think nothing about it. They're finding out the good customers are either paying the card off, stop using it, or both. I got a Edward Jones credit card and they doubled my interest rate. I quit using it and it's going to get paid off. Screw em. They lost my business.

 

December 21, 2007 to December 13, 2008

How time flies. Here we are again for what looks like our yearly update.  Still got the same job and everything else. Not going out dancing like we use to, mostly because Joanne can't handle it and bands are no longer around like they use to be.

Joanne is still involved with the Eagles and quite active. She lost her driver's license a few months ago, but will hopefully will get it back soon, but not sure she will be allowed to drive at night. We will work on that one when the time comes. Seems DMV changed their laws.

Finally dumped Sprint about 2 months ago. I figured out what the PCS stands for in Sprint. Sprint's Piece of Crap Service and that's about it. Consumer magazine came out and reported Verizon was the leader for the last year. Verizon had better customer service. Sprint's customer service is a joke as far as I am concerned.

Michael's father is still around. He's 84 I believe. He is on oxygen part of the time and needs a walker to get around, but he is doing all right at 84. Getting hard to understand him though.

Joanne had her right knee replaced about a month ago and still walking around with a the help of a walker.
When we go to Costco or Sam's Club she gets to ride around in the electric chairs they have for their customers.
She plans to get the left knee done next. What fun this has been. Michael is not getting a lot of work done as he has to take care of Joanne and run her around to the doctors.

Upgraded the tv to a HD 46 inch LCD to replace the 32 inch LCD tv we had. Michael put the 32 inch in his office. Not HD, but looking good. Also got a TIVO HD box and let me tell ya, Tivo does things the cable company only dreams of doing. We got a cable box a few months ago and had all the channels except the pay channels.
Went thru 2 of them in one month. Took it back and told them to keep it. Our Tivo series 2 worked 3 years and still works.

I read and heard that TIVO is going to make a box for the cable company.  TIVO HD is Awesome.
We get all the channels except the pay channels with TIVO HD. Didn't want the pay channels but could have gotten them, if we wanted.

Michael has been going to church down the street the past couple years. Joanne even goes with me on occasion. Michael is now going on 11 months of breathing fresh clean air. (Not Smoking)  Feeling lot better, not to mention the money I save.

Quit the easy way.  Did a great job of training the mind and ask God for a little help. No withdrawal symptoms, urges or anything. Gone overnight. Seems most people want to quit, but don't want to do what it takes to quit. I wanted the easy way to quit after trying many times, and I figured it out.

 

November 5th, 2007 to December 21, 2007

Here it is the first day of winter and the two of us are keeping busy. Joanne has been cracking the whip and keeping Michael busy, while she goes off to the Eagles clubs and shopping. Must be nice.
Had several major water leaks lately that takes Michael a long day to replace the plumbing, sheetrock, paint the closet and install new hot water tank. The last leak got us up at 4 a.m. so we only got like 4 hours sleep, but went back to bed after 3 hours, long enough to stop the leak temporarily and clean up the water.

Joanne dropped me off at the local watering hole one nite so I could have several good drinks without having to worry about driving home. Ran into one of our tenants at the bar, so she gave me a ride home.
On the 4th game of pool, I made the 8 ball in the corner when shooting the 10 ball in the side. After losing that game, didn't do a lot of good that nite. First time though. Probably won't be out shooting stick again till the New Year.

Got ourselves a year and half old kitten. Joanne's brother has the mother cat and turns out the neighbors left the kitten behind when they moved so the poor kitten was having to stay outside. Her brother let her come inside and fed her so she wouldn't starve.

She got the name Bootsy or Boots cause she has 4 white paws. Only problem is she farts too much. Never had a kitten that farted like her. Got Boots an electric liter maid box. The first 10 times the rake dumped her load in the disposal tray, she looked at it and didn't know what to think of it.
It's nice. Remove the plastic tray when it's full and throw it away and put a new one in and helps keep the smell down. It waits about 3 minutes after she uses it, before it makes the sweep.

Still feeding the squirrels on the deck and Boots is entertained watching them. She seen a big raccoon one nite and that got her attention.

We've been making the rounds to the different malls during the holidays. Alderwood Mall and Southcenter mall were packed and traffic was a mess. Going to Northgate mall tomorrow and that will be the last one.

Not sure what we're doing for New Year's eve yet. One of the Eagles clubs is having a dinner with music afterwards and we're going to check out the band next week to see if we want to go.

Got a HD cable box and more tv channels from the cable company. HD was all right, but wasn't that great. Had 2 boxes go bad within a month, so took the box back and told them to keep it. Back to using our reliable Tivo box.  Cable company charges us to bring the box out and install it, but when it breaks down a week later, we had to take it back to them for another unit and install it ourselves. Kind of makes you wonder why we had to pay them to come out in the first place.

Michael is still attending church and JoJo even goes with me sometimes if she isn't going to the Eagles.

Update December 30, 2007

Another year gone by and JoJo and Michael are going on their 11 year together and still putting up with each other.
Went by to visit the parents today and had lunch with them and stopped off to see a friend on Capitol Hill and fixed his computer.

Looks like we are going to a Eagles club for New Years for dinner and dancing and another friend is going to join us.

Next Year is going to be a Better Year and looking forward to it.
Wishing everyone A Happy Year and Drive Safely.

 

January 26,2007 to November 4th, 2007

Hey, we finally made it back to this page. We are still around and JoJo hasn't thrown Michael out yet. (Darn!!!). Just a quick update for now.

Joanne is still attending all the events at the Eagles club now that she can drive herself all over the state. Michael is keeping busy working and sometimes busier than he wants to be. Haven't really been doing a lot lately as far as going places. Caught a Mariners game and a concert or two at EMQ.

Michael's daughter stiffed him on her half of her car payment since the car died a year ago. Not about to help her get another one.

Our web site was down for a while as we changed servers.  Much better server so far and less expensive.

Upgraded our 4 year old laptop with a new Asus laptop. Got wireless internet now which is nice.
Going to upgrade to HD cable next week. Keeping our Tivo 2 box though as Michael can network it to the computer. Comcast has the hardware on their box, but won't flip the switch, but I guess on Tivo3 boxes they won't allow you to network either.

Michael is attending Highline Christian Church and attending Bible study although he dosen't make it every Sunday.

Michael did learn to sweat copper pipes and now does all the plumbing around here. There is enough work around here to keep me  busy for a while.
Not making it to the gym like I want to. So busy at work, I'm lucky if I get in 2 hours at the gym.
After going out to play pool last nite and playing about 10 games without losing, I now have a stronger desire to take time out for the gym.

The exercise and weight lifting has improved my game  of pool. Only get out about once a month to play pool and the local bar is less than  a mile away and no main streets to drive on, but I'm generally pretty sober by the time I leave.

Michael is quite busy at work at the time and trying to get in 6 hours a week at the gym at the same time, and slowly working on our site.

We're going to get this site updated along with more pictures and add in some of our favorite links. 

Looking forward to it.

 

July 16, 2006 to January 25, 2007

What do ya know ? We finally made it back to this page some 6 months later.

Haven't done a whole lot other than working. Of course Michael broke his right collar bone on December 8, 2006 at work. Put a damper on our trip to Las Vegas December 13, 2006 as we couldn't ride the roller coasters. We did enjoy Las Vegas though and each of us came back with half our money we went with. That is definitely a first. That was after all the food we bought and about $150 in souvenirs  and $30 to see the tour of Hoover Dam.
Hover Dam was an interesting tour and there is a lot of history there.

Michael's been off work for about 6 weeks now and suppose to go see the doctor February 13, 2007.  Sit around during the day, surf the internet some, watch a little tv, sleep or whatever.

Still living with JoJo, but seems can't get any action going. Michael is of course thinking about getting a woman for a fill in.  Only been with her about 10 years, so maybe it's time to start  thinking about moving on.   I can't even get JoJo to give me a good spanking.
 What's a guy to do ?
These women think they are the Prize and I wouldn't know where they got that ideal.

Michael's New Years resolutions are to pay off one of my credit cards and  work out at the gym at least 4 hours a week.
Of course, in about 18 months I should be debt free if I do everything right.

Michael's daughter hasn't paid him her half of the car payment for the last two months.  No problem. I'm sure she will be needing something someday. Her credit with me is no good and her credit score is something like 575.

Michael hasn't been very good about going to church, but last week I did go to the church a few blocks from us and will hopefully continue.
I  read my bible every day prayed a lot and that the Lord would heal my collar bone and it's looks like it's healed. Praise The Lord !!!

I did make it to church the last 2 Sundays attending Highline Christian Church. It's a Good Church and that's where I'll be attending church.

Michael did go to the pool shoot and out of 15 players, he came in 2nd place. Not only did he come in second place, but he got to play the guy that put him on the loser's side a second time for 1st place. The game was close and both of us were getting tired as we both missed a few shots we shouldn't have.  Michael will practice some of the shots he missed.

 

June 9, 2006 to July 16, 2006

It's Sunday again and hopefully a day of rest for Michael. Joanne has the office open for a few hours and Michael had to go to the other complex to clean the pool and one of the apartments had a leak in the bathroom ceiling from the apartment above.
Told them I would fix their shower Monday as it will take several hours unless I get lucky.

It's Sunday and I believe it to be a day of rest.
Joanne and I went to the church in back of us today. It was all right but not like the Village Chapel in Renton where I went before. They had a 2 hour service, a rockin' band and sang songs, clapped, and praised the Lord. Definitely miss Village Chapel. Problem was it was about 10 miles away and Michael wanted a church closer to home.

There must be about 10 to 15 churches in this little city of Burien, Washington. Only been to 3 of them so far. I might go visit the Village Chapel in Renton next Sunday.

Joanne and I are keeping busy. Michael has more work than he can keep up with, but that's good. Some days I'm working 10 to 12 hours a day, but then some days I might only work 6, so it kind of  balances out, but still working overtime.

I could work 12 hours a day, 6 days a week and thinking about it.

On the other side, Joanne decided her Honda CRV was too small, so she moved up to a Honda Pilot. Nice vehicle, but doesn't get the  gas mileage of 17 city, 21 hwy. like the sticker says. These new cars never do. It's getting about 15 mpg so far around town, but she has had the air conditioner on a lot as it's been hot. Great, powerful, air conditioner, an alarm system that arms every time you lock the door and will go off if the window if the door is unlocked with a key or the remote.

All kinds of air bags and if the vehicle thinks it's about to roll over, the side air bags deploy. Tells you if the tire pressure is low, however you have to take the tire to Honda to get a flat fixed, which sucks.

Bought the car from Renton and they didn't take the time to show her the controls on the car or even bother to set the clock on the radio.

I'm sure Honda will be sending me out a survey someday to fill out.
That should be interesting.
Got pictures of it on the photo page.

JoJo and I went out dancing this last Friday nite and then went to the Indian casino and did a little gambling on the slot machines. JoJo got lucky as usual and won 1,250 nickels on the monopoly game.
We joined the Highline Athletic club down the street, and get there when we can. Nice place. They have a swimming pool, a Jacuzzi , a stream room and give classes for Yoga, swimming exercises and what ever else. Very nice gym but not cheap, but worth the price. Just need to find the time to go and it looks like early in the morning is the only time we have.

We do have a nice apartment to live in. Surrounded by trees, quite setting and very clean. 

JoJo got a new SUV so Michael went out and bought what he always wanted.
I got a 3 CCD camcorder that writes the video straight to a 8" DVD. The video is really good, even at night time.

For those that don't know what a 3CCD camcorder is: a 1 CCD camcorder has 1 lens and captures all colors. A 3 CCD camcorder has 3 lenses, one for red, one for green, and one for blue. The colors come out more vivid and video taken at nite time don't have noise (snowy picture) in them.
I paid cash for the camcorder at least. Always wanted a 3 CCD camcorder. Gave JoJo's brother, Otto the old one which was about 3 years old.

Michael joined Toastmasters 7 months ago and I'll be the secretary this year. When the year is up, I plan to start going to Wednesday nite bible study at the church down the street and drop Toastmasters or at least the group I'm in now that meets on Wednesday.

Enuf said for now. We're keeping busy, making money and spending money, and paying taxes. Just need a little time for other fun things in life. I know we're off to Las Vegas in December for couple days.
Stay Happy and have fun whatever you do.

 

New Years 2006 to June 9, 2006

Halleluiah , Praise the Lord and all that good stuff.  We finally made it back for the update. The last year and a half was hectic. Only moved 4 times. Michael told JoJo that if we moved again, she was moving on her own.

We escaped Sunset Vista finally. Michael got a job with ConAm Management working at a apt. building in Federal Way. His supervisor quit 2 weeks later after being there only 6 months. The company just pushed way too hard. Getting the units remodeled and cleaned up was more important than fixing the tenants problems.
One tenant has a leaking kitchen faucet and a new one costs $12.95 and about a  half hour to put in. They asked me if I could fix it instead. My supervisor and another tech looked at it and spent another half hour on it, and came up with the same conclusion.
Get a  new one. It's only $12.95.  They would fix a 25 year old washer before they would replace it.  They were cheap.
If you rent an apartment managed by ConAm management, Good Luck.
Anyway the female manager got on me one day and Michael decided they don't pay me enough to listen to her. Called in sick the next day and delivered my 2 week notice when I returned.
The new supervisor I had walked out on my last day. Good benefits if you want to put up with all the BS.
Michael lasted about 8 weeks on that job.

In the meantime JoJo got a job in Burien at an apartment complex. Real nice people to work for and a good neighborhood. So we moved from Renton to Burien. About a month later they let the manager go at the complex 2 miles down the road and we moved to that complex. Much  better place. We have a nice 2 bedroom apt. with full size W/D in the unit.

The office is attached to the apartment thru a door in the bedroom. JoJo has her own office, we set up her computer and Goldie our cat loves it. Goldie can walk from the bedroom into the office and right out side. He goes out everyday but doesn't go far, which is good.

At the time JoJo is managing both buildings and Michael is doing the maintenance on both buildings, one of which has a swimming pool, so Michael is learning about pools now and keeping busy.

Michael started attending church again and found Jesus once again, not that he was hard to find. JoJo actually goes with him sometimes.  Michael quit smoking with God's help, although he slipped a couple of times, he's doing good as long as  he stays focused on God.
He's also attending Toastmasters and is going to be secretary this year, but quite sure I won't be an officer next year.

There is more to tell , but that's enuf for now. We finally got settled in a place we like and are both employed again.

Burien is an interesting place but that's another week. Have a good one.

Happy New Year 2006

We made it another year somehow, someway.

Went to Kennewick, Washington New Years Eve to video tape Otto's wedding. It was nice to get out of town. Joanne thought I was kind of hard on her in the last update and she got down on her knees and asked me to forgive her. I told her to get up and then she put me over her knee and spanked me for being a bad boy. (just kidding)
Michael agreed to keep her another week, but told her he's going to get a couple of girlfriends and Joanne said she would help. Isn't she sweet ?

The wedding was short but nice and it was good to get out of town for the weekend.
It was about a 6 hour drive for us each way.

Otto and Shelly rip us off in the poker game afterwards. What a scam they got going.
They both start out playing, then Shelly leaves to go run a hot bath. Otto starts playing BlackJack and takes everyone's money, then Shelly comes and seduces him to join her for a hot bath before we get a chance to get our money back.

Next time we are going to turn the tables and take Otto and Shelly's money, then decide it's time to quit. Michael got lucky the first hand playing Texas Hold'em. He got 2 kings for the first two cards and the first card up was a king and then 2 six's came up, so he had a full boat. He won a good pot on that one.

We both got a little action on the way home and that was enjoyable.

We're home again and starting off the year unemployed. I would say things are looking good, but I'm sure we will hear from management next week.
It's going to be interesting and we will let everyone know what's going down.

July 18, 2005 to December 29, 2005

Hey, made it back before the year ended. Things are changing rather quickly. The Sunset Vista isn't that
good a place after all. Bob got too old to run the place, so he turned it over to his kids. Interesting family to say the least, but I won't go there yet, except to say John doesn't like women in power and treats them like crap. Joan is the one who goes over and cuts her parents grass, because John apparently thinks he's too good to actually do work like that.

John goes to Las Vegas with his so called girlfriend, and when they arrive he tells her he forgot his money
and makes her pay for everything.
There is a lot more to tell , but that's enuf for now.

Anyway, Bob gave Joan full control of managing the apartment building, so she let Joanne go as manager so she could hire her girlfriend who knows nothing about being a manager. Joan also let Michael go as the maintenance man because I live with Joanne and we have to eventually move.
They did this on the 3rd of December with no notice at all. It's there way of saying:
MERRY  CHRISTMAS.

Had a sign on our door saying we no longer work here as management wanted to hire her girlfriends.
Joan told me it was bad taste so I took it down, even though it was the truth.
This is our personal web site and what we know as freedom of speech.

 Anyway life goes on.
We're out looking for jobs but haven't got one yet.

Didn't have a Christmas tree this year as The Krussel family stole our Christmas. For New Years we are going over to eastern Washington to video tape the wedding of Joanne's brother to a girl he's only been dating for about 3 or 4 months. I guess he wants to get married before the end of the year, so he can use her as a tax write off or whatever.  Another marriage made in heaven folks. How long do you think it will be before hell shows up.

Michael is going to quit smoking Jan. 1st, and figure Joanne will tell me to have a cigarette around Jan. 5th at the latest. Of course Michael has been working out at the gym almost every nite.
Joanne has been working out with him sometimes.
See you all next year and Have a Happy New Year.

January 30, 2005 to July 17, 2005

Hey, we finally made it back to this page. Lot of changes have happen since we were last here.

As you know we moved from Capitol Hill to a Hotel in Tukwilla for a few months as a temporary place
where we were like living out of boxes as we didn't unpack very much.
Finally moved to Renton where we manage a 125 unit apartment building and Michael helps with the
maintanance.
Michael was unemployed for about 3 months and was actually getting bored but now keeping busy.
Didn't go out a whole lot, but we do get a little dancing in usually at least once a month. Michael has been to a few pool shoots and winning a little money, but the closest he got was 4th place.

Joanne is still going to the meeting at now the Ballard Eagles and Kent. She's driving all over the place and even drove to Yakima with some friends for the convention.

Finally got our apartment organized and starting to enjoy it. We're on the top floor (3rd floor) and have a nice view of the city and a 12 foot balcony to for when we want to sit outside.

Lot of work to do here but that keeps us busy.
Michael built 2 more computers for us this time. One for JoJo to use in the office and one for Michael to put in our 2nd bedroom (his office)  and he uses it mostly for audio/video work. Been recording some tv shows on to the computer, edit out the commercials and  and burn to DVD.

We bought our head maintenance man a computer case and a hard drive as he wanted to replace his 7 year old computer with a new one. He finally bought rest of the parts last night, so Michael is going to show him how to assemble it today and let him do the work so he will learn something.
 

Mostly doing Walker Texas Ranger and The Dukes of Hazard and some episodes of Matlock and Columbo. We got a Tivo box and networked it to the computer, so it's now easy to upload the recorded programs to the computer and Michael can edit out the commercials in about 10 minutes or less on a one hour program. He's getting quite good at it, but there was definitely a learning curve and our DVD collection is growing.

Going to Yelm, Wash. this coming weekend to visit some long time friends of ours who use to play together in a band and the three of them are getting together for a reunion.

Life was hectic for awhile and at times we wondered where we were going to end up at, but now things are starting to get back to normal and everything turned out for the better.

We are still putting up with each other and exploring new adventures as we go thru life, but we won't get into that. I know I need to update this web site with some better pictures and other things. If you do a search  for  "the two dancers" on Google or Yahoo we are listed in the search. Awesome !!!

Enuf for now and may good things happen to all our friends out there.
 

December 6, 2004 to Saturday January 29, 2005

Here we are finally. We finally moved away from Capitol Hill to an undisclosed location, where JoJo is no longer manager, till we find another apartment building to manage which looks like might be in March.

It's nice here where we live. We actually have lot of parking and don't have to watch for the meter maid, no tenants calling on the phone, getting up in the middle of the night to let tenants in and all that.

Much nicer place we live in now and the electrical outlets are grounded so Michael can now connect the TV and stereo to the computer without blowing something up.

Haven't been going out a lot but we did go to the Eagles last Saturday nite to meet with some friends and seen a number of people there we never expected to see there. Had a great time dancing and Michael played a few games of pool.

For New Year's we went to visit JoJo's brother who lives in a small town. Went to the bar there, where they had a band and danced and played pool. Of course Michael had quite a lot to drink and JoJo drove us home. All the New Year's eve's Michael had to take her home, it was now his turn.

JoJo is driving all over town and getting good at knowing her way around.

Been checking out the private mailboxes in the area we are moving to. Michael likes his privacy and this time will only give out the home address to those that really need it.

Michael is still unemployed and looking for a job, but somehow we survive.

Michael got a dart board for Christmas, so now we can practice darts and we bought a steering wheel for our play station, so we could do the race car games.

Still in a transition kind of while we're waiting for a permanent place to live, then things should be better, but for now, we're not complaining as we are getting a break.

Enuf said for now and see you later.

 

November 22,2004 to Sunday December 5, 2004

Here we are again and made it home from Las Vegas. Vegas was fun. Didn't gamble as much as we usually do as it seems the machines were tight. There were a lot of empty machines while the card tables were full.

Left Seattle about 6 a.m. Tuesday, down I-5 to Calif. and then across Hwy. 89 and 44 to Susanville. What a road. We were driving down it at night, no street lights, had to watch out for deer and cow crossing for about 75 miles.

Finally made it to Reno about 10 p.m. and stayed at Day's Inn for the night. Reno was like dead but I guess it was busy the night before. Stopped in a few casino's there and gambled a little with no success.

Left for Vegas next morning and made it there about 4 p.m. just in time for rush hour. Stayed at the Day's Inn downtown Vegas and that was a mistake. No heat the first night and the carpet was stained really bad and with the traffic on the strip it took a long time to go from downtown to the strip in bumper to bumper traffic.

Went dancing at the Imperial Casino a little Wednesday night and Thursday night and gambled some during the break. A lot of people in Vegas on Thursday and Friday.

We stopped at Treasure Island before we went dancing and each got a drink at Kahunaville lounge. Drinks were $18.75 each and they let you keep the glass. It was a large glass. Walked down Las Vegas Blvd. with our drinks to the Imperial Casino about 3 blocks down, in to the lounge where the band was, sat down with our drinks and no one said anything.

Friday night went to the Kahunaville Lounge again where they had 2 piano players and they entertained the lounge for the evening. People were paying them money to stop playing a song and Michael contributed too. The bartenders there did a juggling act every time you ordered a drink. They used whiskey bottles and the glasses. The juggling acts were a show in itself. Bartender actually jumped on the bar, walked down it with a bottle of tequila and gave everyone shots as they opened their mouth. It was a lot of fun and Joanne and I had 4 more drinks so we brought home 6 glasses. The piano bar at Kahunaville was the most fun we had there. They had everybody singing.

Coming home was another story. Left Saturday morning about 11 a.m. and decided to stay with the major hwy. so we went down I-15 thru Arkansas, Utah, Idaho and Oregon where we stayed for the night and visited Joanne's sister.

Stopped off at the last town in Nevada for breakfast at a casino, and after breakfast got playing a Wheel of Fortune machine. Michael put in $10 and it kept hitting. He would get up to 200 to 300 quarters and it kept going up and down for about an hour.

It was also a progressive slot machine so we figured we are going for either 1000 quarters or the $500,000 progressive win. The machine finally took his $10 but we got to play for about an hour on $10.00.

Trip was going good, speed limit 75 mph until we hit a rain storm followed by a hail storm and then the snow storm in Utah and it was a blizzard. Speed suddenly went down to 30 mph as we were following a semi truck. Stopped at a rest area where they also had a gas station and a store and there were about 30 people in the store, stuck like us. The snow was coming down and it was cold.

After couple of hours we finally got the chains on the front tires and went on down the road as the sand trucks had been by. Took them off about 5 miles down the road but still had to stay around 40 mph.  All thru Utah and halfway thru Idaho it was snow and ice on the road and we drove all night long and finally stopped in Idaho at a rest stop to get couple hours sleep.

Joanne got to see what it was like to drive in the snow. Finally made it to her sister's house in Oregon about 3 p.m. next day. It was a long drive.

Left Oregon and just missed the snow in North Bend Washington and the mountains. It was still a fun trip but next time will fly. Have no regrets about driving, but once is enough.

Back home things still the same. Have no ideal when we're moving, where or anything else. Most of our things are in storage including the Christmas stuff, so who knows.

Going to be interesting what happens around here in the next few months but can't really discuss yet what is happening.

Went to Bob and Arlene's Christmas Party last night at the Elks and Joanne and Michael stayed around and danced for a while afterwards.

That was our Thanksgiving in Vegas and it was fun.

Until next time...

 

October 25, 2004 to  Sunday November 21, 2004

Another month gone by. Been dealing with the building being sold. The sale is now final.
We've been going to the Pool Shoot at the Burien Eagles the past few weeks, but not getting too far.
Went to Big Daddy's one nite where Michael was drinking Coffee Nudges since I had the designated driver with me. Danced a little and played some pool.

Been up to see JoJo's brother a few times. It's about a 100 mile round trip for us so we don't make it there very often.

Honda of Seattle sent me a copy of the check they sent to the finance company last week so I can't complain. That was nice of them but it should have been taken care of 5 months ago.

JoJo laid Michael off last week and JoJo doesn't have a lot of work to do during Thanksgiving Week so it's Time For A Road Trip.
We're leaving Tuesday Morning in the SUV for Las Vegas driving thru Reno on the way. It's about a 13 hour drive to Reno and Las Vegas is about 8 hours out of Reno. Plan to leave early and drive straight thru and take turns driving.

Michael is not sure he will go to sleep while JoJo is driving although she is doing good driving and he did fall asleep one nite when she was driving down I-5. Michael taught her to drive good. After all he has to ride with her.

 Plan to stay till Saturday morning, drive back to Reno, stay a nite and return home Sunday nite, however plans are always subect to change.
We deserve a vacation since we didn't get one last summer and Thanksgiving in Las Vegas sounds good.

The price of the hotels goes way up on Thanksgiving and the weekend as usual but we got a good price.
Of course JoJo will be looking for any roller coaster rides that are open. We also might make it thru the Elvis Rama Mueseum.  Lot of buffets down there so we'll be doing some good eating.

Things are going day by day now and not sure of where were going, but sure things will work out.

Looking forward to a lot of fun in Las Vegas and sure we will win a lot of money and would like to bring more of the money home with us this time.

We'll see ya when we get back from Las Vegas.

 

August 29, 2004 to Sunday October 24, 2004

Hey, here we are again and I know it's been a while. The word is out that the building Joanne manages has been sold and will be official Nov. 11, 2004. The new owner has been doing a lot of work around here, painting, redone a couple of apts and other things.
Already raised most everybody's rent and some people are going to move out. He is also going to make the building a non smoking building so more may move yet.

JoJo backed her Honda Suv into a pole one nite trying to park and even though going less than 5 miles an hour, it did $1700 damage which she got fixed. So much for Honda's 5 mph crash test.
 It hasn't used any more oil yet, but then Joanne has only put a 1,000 miles on it since then.

Honda of Seattle still after 5 months has not refunded us our 500.00 on the Gap insurance we cancelled. I wrote them one letter a few weeks ago, but got no answer, so I will ask them next week and if not there in a week, I will send letters off to Costco, DMV and the BBB.
There not looking very reputable.

We went dancing a few times and to a pool shoot but didn't win anything. Michael's game just wasn't there.

Joanne is driving all over the place and even picked up a couple of Eagles members and gave them a ride to the convention which was about 90 mile round trip. She is doing good.

Joanne lost her driver's license one nite and had to go down to DMV to get a replacement. What a hassle.
The lady at DMV requested she take an eye test first. Joanne did and told her she couldn't see anything.
I can imagine what this lady thought. You can't see anything and you're driving.
 Joanne told her she had all the necessary papers needed for her to get a license and got her replacement license a week later. Joanne isn't going to lose her license again.

Went to the Puallyaup fair again this year, but instead of seeing the concert at the fair this year, we left about 6 p.m. and went to the Casino to see Gallagher. He was good and put on about a 3 hour show.
Kept everybody laughing.
Bought a nice massager at the fair at a cost of $200 but it works good on the back. Spent more money than we should have, but it was fun. Didn't ride any of the rides this year though.

Michael got laid off at Towne and Country hotel and is now working at the Chester where we live, until the sale date of Nov. 11, 2004. Either he goes back to Towne and Country or the unemployment office.
Bob has not found another apartment building to buy yet, so we are not sure where we are moving to.
He did put bids in on two buildings last week though.

The summer has come and gone and we didn't do a whole lot this summer because of the building being sold. We did go look at a lot of apartments though and took pictures.

Michael is been spending a lot of time tracking lottery numbers, but no big winners yet. He has two programs he uses and also makes charts in Microsoft Excel. One of these days.

Installed Windows service patch SP2 and when we did our Start button went back to saying Start.
On the main drive the Start button now says  "Dreams Come True" and shows a picture of Michael and Joanne instead of the windows logo. When you hold the mouse on the Start button, a box comes up that says "click here to begin". On our main drive it now says Believe in Yourself.

On Michael's drive the Start button say's " Lotto Mania" and holding the mouse on the Start button it says, "You Will Win".

We installed a program on our pc that changes wallpaper on the Boot Screen, Logon screen and the desktop wallpaper everytime we start the system up. Michael changes everything he can in Windows.

The city towed away Joanne's SUV last nite. We parked it around the corner and a construction sign said No Parking Mon thru Friday as they are building new Condo's across the street. We parked it there at 11 p.m. and sometime around 7 a.m. Sunday morning,  the light company came with their big trucks to install new poles, changed the time on the signs, removed the Mon thru Friday tag and had about 20 cars towed.

This is not right to change the sign and tow you away without giving you 24 hour notice. We put signs up on the pole with a picture of the sign that said Mon thru Friday and told people that if you got towed to call us. We are entitled to our towing expense back.  Several people called already and agree with us. We plan to fight the ticket and get our money back.

Joanne got into an argument with the office across the street today selling their condo's because she was parked in front of their business , and even though it's in front of the bus zone, it is a legal parking place. Seems they called the police and she had to move her SUV.

They put their signs in front of the real estate office where Joanne cleans the grounds for them a few times a week. Joanne threw their sign out in the street and told them something. Seems the A holes called the police after Michael put a big sign in his car saying "Condo's Suck". Just voicing his opinion. They accused Joanne of threatening  them. Poor little girlies. !!!

We were told we were not allowed on their property.

Tomorrow morning Joanne is going to tell the real estate office either the signs go or she no longer cleans the grounds for them as she will not touch the signs.

Going to be interesting. They do need someone to clean their grounds.

That's about it for our fun other than moving is going to be a lot of fun, wherever we move to. Looks like we have to be out by December 11, 2004. We look forward to moving out of this area.

 

May 30,2004 to Saturday August 28, 2004

Welcome back to our daily update. We are a little behind. Been busy doing everything else. Haven't done a lot this summer as other things have been happening in the background that we can't talk about yet, but will be able to in about 2 or 3 months.

Most of the family members already know what's happening in the background though.
We went to the Casino to see the group America. They are in their 50's and put on a good show. Not as old as some of the groups we have seen. Kind of gotten away from dancing so much and into other things like seeing concerts.

Met a few couples along the way and one other woman on AFF. It was fun.  Drove down to Bay Center to see Melody again. Bay Center is 14 miles from South Bend Washington and is a very small town. Not a lot to do there except hang out at Melody's restaurant/bar.

Michael is still working at the a Towne and Country Hotel. Last week he was doing plumbing. Pedro and Michael opened a can of worms when we went to replace some pipes in a room that were full of rust, only to find out the room we opened the ceiling in had no hot water and now it looks like we might have to tear out the wall to replace more pipes.

Because the hot water tank hadn't been drained for a long time, the rust collected in the pipes and hardened. Also got a small leak at a joint because we disturbed the pipes when we took the bad ones out. What started out as a fairly simple job is turning into a major one and we got 2 rooms shut down. Lot of fun.

Expect things to change real soon as far as working at Towne and Country also.

The Ballard Eagles closed last week and is soon to be torn down. What a scam that is. The Ballard Eagles owned the building and handed the title over to another company that promised to build a new club with store fronts and apartments.

That was before the guy borrowed $700,000 against the title and spent about $180,000 of it for his personal use. Not sure who owns the building now. If you want to know more there was an article in the Seattle Times  about the scam. Just do a search on www.google.com for Ballard Eagles 172 and you will find it.

Of course we think some other people in the club made a lot of money  off that too, but we won't mention any names. What's interesting is the club manager who by the way made a little over $35,000 a year, will be resigning as soon as the new club opens.

Many club managers for these Eagles Clubs get paid very little if anything and here is the club manager at Ballard making a little over $35,000 a year. Makes you wonder.

Joanne and Michael bought new cell phones. Got a Sprint 8200. Pretty cool. They have Mobi Tv which costs $10.00  a month and has about 12 channels so far. Michael is trying it out. He likes the comedy channel. The phones have a built in speaker so everyone in the room and listen and talk.

It also serves as a walkie talkie. Right now Joanne's sister in Pennsylvania has her new phone and we can talk to  her on the walkie talkie. We just push a button on our phone and speak and the sound comes over the speaker. She's 2500 miles away, but the walkie talkie sounds good and clear. Of course this feature costs $20 a month for each phone.

We're using the 2 month free trial now and will probably drop the service, although it is nice. Joanne's sister is getting her old phone and Michael's sister in Missouri is getting his old phone. We have the family plan and a total of 2000 minutes a month so figure each person gets 500 minutes a month.

We supplied our family with computers and now cell phones. Keeps the family in touch.

Michael's daughter finally graduated from college where she was studying to be a nurse. We went to her graduation in eastern Washington. As usual she needs money. Seems the only time she calls Michael is when she needs money. Her car tabs expire the first of September and Michael is not buying them this year. Already paying for the car she was supposed to pay half for. She sends me the money eventually, but next time she needs a car she is going to have to find someone else as her credit is not good.

Word is Muriel the State Madam President last year for the Eagles is upset that we won't give her the pictures we took last year at several of her visitations. Muriel gave out some throw away cameras for people to take pictures but they came out pretty dark from what we hear. Our pictures came out good. We also have about 3 minutes of video of Muriel.

As many of you know Muriel is the one who more or less forced Joanne to step down from her chair as Jr. Past Madam President because she voiced her opinion of the club manager at Ballard after he yelled at her. Now Muriel wants the pictures. I don't think so. What goes around, comes around.

Joanne got into a scuffle with a pole in a parking garage and her Suv. Few minor scratches on the Suv, but they came off and painted a little spot to cover the rest.
Only scuffle she's  had though.

Last nite Michael, JoJo and Dora went out to a bar and listened to Karaoke and played some pool. The waitress working there and her first day at that, will remember Michael. He was playing pool for $5.00 a game and gave the waitress the money and told her the people playing pool needed to learn to play a little better.

Michael is known to play pool for money at times and gives the winnings to the  waitress and tells her it's a tip from the pool players.

Michael had fun and JoJo drove home as Michael had quite a few drinks.

Michael's sister in Missouri has a five year old computer with Windows 98 and it got a virus and she had a friend fix it for her. She was without it for about 3 weeks and at first didn't miss it, but it didn't take long for her to start missing it.

Michael tells her she needs to upgrade to a new computer and Windows Xp and says he is going to buy her one or make one for her. Sister keeps saying No, No, No.  She doesn't have a lot of choice. Should Michael decide to upgrade her to a new computer, he will do so.

Guess I said enuf for this. Every summer has been different for us, but always fun and exciting. With all the other things going on this year we didn't travel as much although we did do some car trips.

Enjoying our SUV very much for weekend trips and Joanne is loving her Independence. Don't remember the last time she rode a bus. This is what she gets for asking Michael to sit down at her table 7 years ago. A life of fun and adventure beyond her wildest dreams and things just keep getting better.

Be Happy, Have fun, Enjoy Life and allow yourself to dream, because Dreams Do Come True.

May 10, 2004 to Sunday May 30, 2004

Seems some of the family and friends are waiting for the weekly update. What can I say ?
Joanne even put down the order for me this time. Now if I could only get her to do this for sex. (lol)

As a few people already know Joanne got her first vehicle ever and she is loving it. We drove it down to to Ocean Shores Friday. She got a 2004 Honda CRV and is a pretty blue.

The weather was cloudy and it rained a little but it was nice to get out of town for the weekend and we didn't have a cat to wake us up so we slept in till a little past 8.

Joanne got to ride the mopeds Friday night for about 45 minutes as she couldn't last time because she didn't have a drivers license.

Listened to a band Saturday night but the place didn't have a dance floor so we played Checkers at the table and Michael won.

Ended up buying a Checker board made of cloth and played a game in the hotel room and JoJo won that one, so we are even.

Michael got a couple of games of pool in too and of course a several good drinks.

Went to the Casino at the Ocean and gambled more money than we should have and had dinner and drinks as we watched the music videos on the tv. We decided we like Las Vegas better.

Got some pictures of us on the beach together and they are on the photo page.

We left the Ocean  Sunday and drove over to see our friends Melody and Gary at Bay Center, Wa. where they own a restaurant and bar, which is 14 miles from South Bend, Wa. only to find out they went to the Raymond Eagles to play Bingo which we passed on the way down.

Anyway we did catch up with them and visited for a while as they played Bingo. Melody was asking when we were going to make her a computer and told her we would see what we could do. Sounds like we might end up getting free drinks and food when we visit in exchange for a computer and Melody did say she could throw in some cash, so we will see.  Michael thinks the pool should be free too.
 

Went to the installation of officers at the Kent Eagles last Sunday and Michael was asked at the last minute to step in as Chairman and Joanne was asked to be the installing madam president.

At least Michael had a short part to read that only took a few minutes at the beginning.
Joanne and Michael presented Marty the incoming President  at the Kent Eagles with a new computer and it was a total surprise to him. He was overcome with emotion when we presented it to him.

Marty does the web site and newsletter for the Kent Eagles and for District 5 so he needed a new computer to replace their old one.

Other than working everyday and Joanne watching TV while Michael  surfs the internet or whatever, that's all the fun we had. Of course we did look a few SUV's before we bought the Honda.

This next Saturday we are going to Ballard Eagles for their closing party and then installation of officers on Sunday.  Got to find out what's going on.
It looks like the Ballard will not be tearing down the club now till August.

Joanne is planning on driving her SUV over to Wenatchee  with a couple of friends in a couple of weeks for the State  Eagles Convention.

She is doing very good driving and has driven about 5,000 miles the last year. She kept wanting Michael to leave the car at home as she needed it, so we got another one.

That's it for our excitement and hope you had a little fun too.  Summer is coming again and although we have no real plans yet, it's always fun and different every year.

Ta Ta till next time.

 

April 12, 2004 to Sunday May 9, 2004

Once again it's time for our monthly update however exciting it may be.
Went to the District Meeting at White Center Eagles and that was the last one for the year. Going to the installation of new officers this Sunday at Vashon Eagles and after that no more. We are taking back our Sundays for ourselves.

Joanne had to go have her eyes checked and eye doctor recommended she only have her eyes checked once every two years and take a night time driving test every two years. Joanne is happy she gets to drive two more years as she is getting much better at driving and more comfortable. Drives all over town now by herself and loving her new independence. It's been a year this May 21 that she got her permit.

Joanne and I along with Ann who works at the hotel went out to PJ Pockets Casino for an evening of playing pool and dancing and a little gambling. Joanne and Ann got asked to dance by a number of guys. Next time Joanne and Ann can go out by themselves and have a girls night out.

We went to Muriel's homecoming at Ballard Eagles last night which was nothing great. As many of you know Muriel was one of the people who asked Joanne to step down as Jr. Past Madam President because Joanne voiced her opinion.

We did make a few of Muriel's visitations during the year and took a lot of pictures and a few minutes of video. Muriel at one the meetings demanded from Joanne that I give her copies of the pictures I took, as she is not woman enough to ask me nicely for  a copy. That got her nowhere.

In the meeting before her home coming Muriel stood up and said I would not be allowed to take pictures at her homecoming since I wouldn't give her a copy of the pictures.

I did make a disk of all the pictures we took including the videos, encrypted them and password protected them and we had planned on giving them to her.

I didn't take pictures, but Joanne did until Kathy  told Joanne she was not allowed to take pictures even though other people were taking pictures. Sounds like discrimination to me.

Muriel and Kathy totally blew it. We had the disk with us and were going to give it to Muriel until that. If someone demands I give them something chances are they are not going to get it.

 

 

Went to BrookStone shopping today and bought a Eye Pillow for wearing over your eyes at night at a cost of $35.00 and it  works  great for a blind fold for sex games.

Also bought a massager and when used with the blindfold the feelings are even better.

We also got a totally hands free speaker-microphone setup that mounts on the headrest in the car and plugs into the cell phone. Now Joanne and I can talk on the phone while driving down the road, totally hands free. It answers the phone and disconnects when the call ends. Looked for one for sometime and finally found one today.

That was our past month and nothing really great, but keeping busy. Our year at the Eagles is coming to an end and we are taking a year off from it this next year as they are tearing down Ballard Eagles in August anyway.

See ya next month.

March 29, 2004 to Sunday April 11, 2004

Hey everyone. Time for the update once again. We haven't done a whole lot of exciting things the last 2 weeks. Joanne's sister made it back to Pennsylvania and misses Washington already.

We took Dora out lat Friday for her 61st birthday. Went to PJ Pockets Casino in Federal Way where they had a band and pool tables although we didn't play pool . Did a lot of dancing and Michael was drinking Coffee Nudges again and feeling good.

Michael and Dora played some BlackJack at $5.00 a hand, each of us starting out with $30.00. Dora walked away winning $35.00  while Michael lost $12.00. Played about a half hour.

We had a Great Time and Joanne drove home after we all had breakfast.

We got the District meeting for the Eagles coming up this Sunday and this will be the last one.
Not sure if we are going to Wenatchee, Wash. or Reno, Nevada for the Eagle conventions as we may not be able to get the time off work because of other things coming up.

Michael is getting better at doing carpentry work and learning new things. Definitely a change from fixing tv's.
We did put another computer together for someone,  but haven't delivered it yet.
Summer is coming and we are always doing something different every year and not sure what we will be doing this summer as of yet.

Joanne has to go see her eye doctor in a couple of weeks for a eye exam so she can keep on driving. Driving is starting to become 2nd nature to her and I can relax now when she is driving, but I did teach her good.

Enuf said for now and Be Happy, Smile and Be Thankful for another day of living.
 

 

February 23, 2004 to Sunday , March 28, 2004

Here we are again. Been doing the same thing for the most part but having fun.  Michael's still downloading porn off the internet and looking at x rated pictures as usual. Actually watch a video every now and then.  A lot of people doing it including government workers using the government's laptop to download porn. Can't they wait till they get home, but then maybe the wife won't let them.  Joanne doesn't mind if Michael looks at porn.  You heard about the kid who broke into his neighbors house and was downloading porn off their computer only to be caught by a web cam the people had set up.

Went out dancing a few times but don't dance as much as we use to.

  Went around and looked at more SUV's but didn't test drive any. Still thinking about the Honda CRV, although the Chevrolet Tracker is kind of nice but would want one with a 4 cylinder engine.

Joanne helped Dora move to a smaller apt. in the same complex while Michael was working.
Michael has been letting Joanne be the designated driver so he can drink as he wants.

Had another district meeting for the Eagles. Got one more and then we both agreed we are not going to be officers next year. Joanne has been asked a few times and Michael was asked twice so far. Need to take a rest from it for at least a year. Plan to go to the Eagles convention in Wenatchee, Wash. (about 6 hour drive) in June and might go to the one in Reno this year. Not sure if we want to drive or fly, but will probably fly and then we can rent a SUV again.

Joanne is driving all around the place and even drove her sister to Summer, Washington to visit her Uncle. Jeannie never dreamed Joanne would be driving her around some day. Joanne is just loving her independence.

Joanne's sister flew in from Pennsylvania for a few days and is leaving tomorrow (Monday). Took her out to China Clipper over the weekend where we saw the Fugitive band again and danced. We had a couple rounds of Buttery Nipples and Michael bought Jeannie a Blow Job. Jeannie didn't care for the Blow Job.  A Buttery Nipple is Baileys Irish cream and butter scotch. Jeannie said she needed 4 drinks before she would get up to dance but that didn't take long. Jeannie stayed with Otto Saturday night.

Michael played pool most of the night Saturday night and got a few dances in between with Joanne and Dora. He only lost about 3 or 4 games the whole night and wasn't being totally serious although the guy he was playing was  pretty good. Just a friendly game. At 75 cents a game I didn't want to lose too much.

 It was fun and the bar bill came out to be $117 which included dinner. That didn't include the tips.

Got our ad back up on AFF again and talking to another couple although we haven't met them yet.

Managed to make a big dent in both of our credit cards and plan to keep the balance down this time.

Michael is working at the hotel learning to put up siding and other things. Getting to be pretty good at carpentry.

I know I need to pay a little more attention to this web site and hopefully will get everything straightened out soon.

That's about it. Just going here and there, having fun and enjoying life.  Until next time...

Jan 25,2004 to Sunday, February 22, 2004

Back to the monthly update once again. We have been out looking at a SUV for Joanne and she test drove the Honda CRV. It's nice, but also looking at others. Some of these SUV's are as high as $60,000 or more.

We went to a fund raiser at the Kent eagles where the Aerie Officers were dressed up as women. They were looking pretty good. Got a lot of pictures. They also had an auction there and it was fun to watch.

Went out to see Power Light Band a couple of times and seen The Fugitive Band twice. Met Joanne's brother at BC's and The Fugitive Band just happened to be there after we seen them at The Clipper. Michael got quite drunk on coffee nudges so we made Joanne the designated driver.

Michael's daughter and Calista (Jr.)  came into town for the weekend. Of course Michael was just thrilled to see them. Calista ended up getting $65.00 from Michael. Told them to stop by again next year.

Went shopping here and there. Also looking into getting a satellite dish as were upset with this cable company. Seems they want to start charging us for the cable after 4 years free service. They had about 4 or 5 guys out here to look at our cable and they all passed the buck to the next department.
Finally after a month, they sent the right guy out to fix it, as most of the system had gone bad by that time.  Also dumped our cable internet and went to DSL. It's cheaper and it works, which is why we don't have cable anymore.

Bought a security camera so Michael can learn how to set up a security system for a hotel. Getting the camera to work on the network is easy with the Ethernet cable. Haven't got the wireless part to work yet and want to be able to view the camera on any computer, anywhere, with a password of course. That could cost me another $100 a year to do that  unless Michael can find a port to send it on and I know I just lost you.

On the home front, Michael still sits at the computer most of the night and Joanne watches something on tv. Some nights we sit down and watch a movie together.

Joanne is out driving around as I write this. She is doing a Great Job driving having had a license for only 6 months. Makes me happy.

Next month we plan on going down to Bay Center, Wa. for a night to see Cook and Martyn and see how their new place is coming along.

Enuf said for now and hope everyone out there in computer land is doing good. Till next time. !!!

January 12, 2004 to Sunday, January 25, 2004

Here we are again. As you can see we changed the way our web site looks, but haven't got all the pages done yet. The last two weeks we didn't do a whole lot. Michael and Joanne went to the district meeting for the Eagles club at West Seattle Eagles. Michael got a little drunk on a few coffee nudges, so Joanne ended up driving over there and home.
Michael is happy to have a designated driver. Joanne is doing good at driving. She's driving all over the place by herself with no problem. She's driving the car more than Michael is.

Went to the Burien Eagles for their 9th anniversary. Michael put  a quarter on the pool table and played about 10 games before he lost. He hasn't done that for a long time. Was doing good that nite.

Went over to visit Jackie and Calvin of the PowerLight Band last Sunday. Helped them with their web site a little and Calvin showed us some of the stuff he does. Calvin is quite talented at the things he does and I know he had to spend a lot of time learning all the things he knows.

Other than that just the same old stuff.

Everything is still the same on the home front and Joanne and Michael are going to keep each other for another week.

Hope everyone out there is having fun and enjoying life. Until next time.

January 4, 2004 to Sunday January 11, 2004

First time in a long time we have updated this in a week. Last week was good. We got our snow for a day but it wouldn't pack so no snowball fight and no snowman for Joanne.

Friday night we went to the Emerald Queen Casino and seen The Commodores. It was a great concert. They played for two hours and people were standing at times, dancing and everyone was shaking hands with people around them. We're getting to see some of the groups we didn't see when we were younger and having fun. The concert let out about 10 p.m.

After that we went to Cole's in Tacoma to see the PowerLight Band. They are good but not as good as the Commodores. Jackie put us on the guest list and said we were the photographers so we skip out on the $5.00 cover charge. Then she bought us each a drink. Calvin and Jackie are Good People.

Gave them Front Page 2000 and a book with pictures on how to use the program, so hopefully Jackie can manage their own web site. She's doing good at it so far. We updated to Front Page 2003 so no longer needed the old copy.

The pictures we took could have come out better. Michael is still learning how to get good pictures in a dark setting like a cocktail lounge and sometimes bright lights on stage. China Clipper is a little difficult for pictures as they have a mirror in back of  the band causing the flash to show up in the picture if you get to close to the band.

Michael is getting better and is going to try it next time using a faster shutter speed and open the aperture almost full open.  Before I was using a slow shutter speed and you really need a tripod for that or the picture comes out blurry. Of course when you're drinking it doesn't help. The next time we see PowerLight might be at China Clipper where I got a mirror and lot of colored lights to deal with. Beginning to think I need a color filter for the camera.

Anyway were off to another week and hope it's a good one for everyone.

November 16,2003 to Sunday January 4, 2004

Happy New Year !!!   I agree we are a little behind on our updates, but we will try to remember what we did, although not in order.

Joanne and Michael became dual members of the Kent Eagles since it appears the conciliation board no longer wants Joanne around at the Ballard Eagles.  Seems we were out at the Kent Eagles so much, so we became dual members and Michael will probably become a full member at Kent in August 2004.

Joanne is doing good with her driving and has driven about 400 miles by herself if not more. She is enjoying her independence and Michael no longer has to take her places.

Built another computer for Joanne's sister in Pennsylvania at a cost of about $1100. Call it her Christmas Present. She enjoys it. Lost count of how many computers we have made. Somewhere around 7.

Went to the turkey shoot at the Redmond Eagles, but came home with no turkey. Michael played 2 games, Joanne played 3.
They were playing partners and picked your partner at random.

Stayed home for Thanksgiving and Christmas even though we had invitations to go spend the holidays with other people.

Took Dora's Christmas present out to her and went to the Tacoma Mall for a few hours, just looking around.

Seen PowerLight Band at China Clipper a week before Christmas and drove to Coeur D' Alene, Idaho to see them for New Years Eve. We took Dora with us and our bar bill was running around $60.00 or more every night. Did a lot of drinking and since no one had to drive home, Michael got feeling a little too good. Snowed the second day we were there so Joanne got to drive in the snow.

Jackie was glad to see us and Calvin sang Strokin on New Years Eve and the next night. Joanne, Dora and Michael were up on stage during one song dancing along side Jackie and Joanne picked Michael up like we do, and we didn't have a lot of room.  Later in the song, Jackie told us to do that one more time, so we did. It was fun. 

Michael was feeling pretty good from drinking when we did that, but we didn't hit anything and Joanne didn't drop him.

The place was packed with a lot of people standing and when someone got off the dance floor someone else got on. Of course the three of us had a table for 5 right in front of the band and dance floor. We saved the other two chairs for members of the band to sit down and take a break as there was no place else to sit.

Had a new drink called Deep Six which is served in a gigantic glass and has 6 liquors in it. Tastes like fruit punch and you get to keep the glass. The drink costs $16.50 and it came with long straws so everyone could share the drink. We had two of them and it was a heavy drink to carry.

We were drinking a lot so the pictures didn't always come out good. Missed the snow driving over there and coming back, which was good. It was in the mountains but the roads were clear.

We got a new sex toy and it's a dildo that fits into a power drill. Talk about getting drilled. Jackie couldn't believe it when we showed her. If you want to see some sex toys, just go to www.kenstwistedmind.com    Didn't take our wireless remote controlled vibrators to Idaho, although I think we should have. Next time we see PowerLight we will probably take them. We have two of them so we each wear one. Makes for good foreplay on the dance floor.

Michael and Joanne are going into the seven year itch, but we plan to make it through that if she puts up with me.

Glad to see the holidays are over and now it's time to get back to work. There are some things in the works, but I can't discuss them till they come through, which should be in the next 3 months as long as everything goes good.

Last year was a good year and this one has to be better. Seems every year, Michael and Joanne are always doing something different. We've never had two summers be the same and have no ideal where we're going this year, but it will be fun.

Enuf for now and hope everyone has a Happy New Year. Until next time.