Us Too!

MomMil always finds the most thought provoking images...

All I need to know I learned from blog stalking...

I have a tendency to read other people's blogs, even stranger's blogs and think "Wow, that's neat, why didn't I think of that? or "Wish I had found that link first." Then of course I never copy that person's idea for fear of the minute possibility that since I found that stranger's blog by following links from blogs of people that I actually know, maybe that stranger does the same thing and might actually read our blog and catch me in my thievery.

Anyway, per usual I was reading a stranger's blog and heard an audio clip that I felt was worth liberating for my own post, just in case any of my fellow blog stalkers don't happen across the same blogs I do. I will preface by saying that I have my political opinions, but I won't pretend to understand all of the issues completely. However, there are some I feel strongly about and educated enough to argue about. A couple of those are core family values like the Right to Life and the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman. I also believe that the Iraq War was unavoidable, and any president would have done the same thing as Bush in the wake of the terrorist attacks. I also generally believe that if we hadn't gone to war, most Americans would have been angry and said things like, "I can't believe Bush did nothing." Perhaps some decisions about the path of the Iraq War could have been different, but who can really say what the outcome of any choice would have been? Regardless, I don't envy anyone who had to be part of making those decisions. One thing I do know is that I have family who served in Iraq, were injured in Iraq, and would go back to Iraq, because they believe they did good things over there, and so do I, and I am grateful for their service. That being said, before you vote, make sure you know your candidate's policies and values because that should outrank their age, skin color or party affiliation.

Whew, I didn't realize I was going to get so political!

This clip is from Howard Stern, but don't worry, it contains nothing of what you might initially think of when you hear his name. This audio segment was done in Harlem, but I have heard similar things from people I work with here in Denver. Have a listen here.

Kill the Cook

You know the nightmare where you are at a hotel taking a shower have shampoo in your hair and are shaving your legs when the fire alarm goes off? Then you have to jump out of the shower wrap a towel around yourself and go outside in the cold in the middle of the night dripping with soap and shaving cream and wait for the firetruck to come? Yeah, that wasn't my nightmare, but my reality is that I have a wicked bad cold and had to get up at 5:30 am so I took cold medicine and went to bed early and Hoss was up til midnight studying and had just fallen asleep when the fire alarm went off at our extended stay hotel at 12:45am and we had to go out and wait in the hotel parking lot until 1:30am for the firemen to come and check every room all because someone was cooking a steak at 1 in the morning and set it on fire which resulted in smoke and set off the alarm!

Seriously, who cooks steak in the middle of the night? Who eats steak in the middle of the night? And who catches steak on fire when they are cooking on an electric stove?

We're expecting...

...to close on our new house in Denver before the 22nd of September!

After weeks of being residents of Wyorado, spending our weekdays in Denver hotels and weekends, yup you guessed it, at the Mil residence in Cheyenne (we just can't seem to get away from there...:), we are finally finally going to have a place to call our own.

Here is the newest addition to our family...

My favorite part is our luscious lawn! Well, at least the lawn part, I think maybe a little TLC will help with the luscious part. (Really my favorite part is the kitchen).

Why did we buy a house...

... when this is where Hoss spends most hours of his day and part of his night as a student going to class, studying, working in the lab making wax teeth, studying, assisting the 3rd & 4th year dental students, oh and studying...

University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine

....And this is where Rose spends most hours of her day as a speech pathologist working with elderly who have suffered a stroke or other neurological trauma... (In a perfect world I really want to work with little babies and toddlers, but my world isn't quite perfect yet, so hopefully that job is in my future.)

Briarwood Health Care Center

...Well, for my own sanity I can't stand living in a hotel anymore and mostly we needed somewhere to spend time together, so we figured what the heck, lets buy a house. We have plenty of room so this is an open invitation to come take advantage of having friends in Denver...but maybe not until October so we have a chance to move in first!

Local Olympian: Gold Medal Worthy?

My dad really loves the Olympics. I mean, really loves the Olympics. We're talking all Olympics, all the time. He loves them so much that he wanted to try his hand at an all new obscure Olympic sport, right up there with trampoline jumping (What?! When do you catch the dream of becoming the gold medalist in jumping on a trampoline?). We'll call this all new sport, ah, "How much weight will my ceiling support if I climb up in the attic and stand on it, between the studs!" or maybe "Man vs. Drywall". Kind of has a nice ring to it, don't ya think?

We missed the mount, and most of the routine, but here he is coming into the dismount. This takes incredible control and upper body strength.

Nice look at the judges, confidence or surprise at the "success" of the routine?
Not sure, but eye contact is always good.
Here he is demonstrating his
"I can dangle my entire body using only one arm for support"
move. Very difficult sequence.

After the dismount, gazing at a job well done.
Who won, the ceiling, or Dad?
At first glance, I would say definitely Dad.

At second glance, the great silver chest/back that is my Dad probably has more painful and longer lasting damage than the drywall.

In his post event interview Mr. Mil was quoted saying,
"I felt like Harry Potter traveling through the flue network. One second I was in the attic, and the next I was in the kitchen."


As the only competitor in this event, Dad was awarded the gold medal.
What a guy, an Olympian and a Grandpa too.

How do I know you?

Oh right, we used to take down drug lords together!

So Hoss & I were out shopping this afternoon and to say the least, we learned some interesting facts about meth. What did we learn you ask? Well, meth trafficking is ever increasing in Wyoming. We have larger quantites coming in less frequently around the state and smaller quantities coming into Cheytown, but more frequently. So who shared this information with us? Well, only Hoss's good friend, Bob Olive! Let me give you the play-by-play.

Man in his mid 40's stops Hoss in store aisle and says: Hey, hows it going?
Hoss: Good, how are you?
Man: Good, things are good.
Hoss: What are you doing these days?
Man: Oh, still prosecuting meth cases (glances at Rose).
Hoss: Oh yeah, is it getting to be more of a problem?
Man: (this is where we got our meth lesson).
Rose: Ah, I'm Rose by the way, Hoss's wife.
Man: Oh Hi, I'm Bob Olive.
Rose: Nice to meet you (shake hands), Hoss sometimes forgets to introduce me.
Man: Yeah, that's just a man thing (Why is that a man thing?).
Rose: (laugh laugh)
Man: (to Hoss) So what are you doing these days?
Hoss: Well, I actually started dental school this week down in Denver.
Man: Wow, no kidding.
Hoss: Yeah, we figured we would try it out and see how things go.
Man: Wow, from prosecuting meth cases to dental school. That is quite a career change.
Hoss: Uh-huh (What the heck is this guy talking about?)
Man: Well it was good to see you.
Hoss: You too.
Rose: Nice to meet you.
Man: Likewise.
Hoss: We'll talk to you later.
Man: Bye.
Hoss: Bye.

Hoss and Rose walk away.

Hoss: I didn't introduce you because I have no idea who that guy is.
Rose: (Can't stop laughing long enough to say anything)
Hoss: See, I can even fake being social!
Rose: (still laughing) You're sure you didn't used to be a lawyer?
Hoss: That is the worst case of mistaken identity I have ever had.

Can anyone picture Hoss in a courtroom, wearing a power suit, cross examining a drug dealer? I think I would rather him stick to putting in gold caps or diamonds studs on their front teeth. Lets leave the courtroom to Bob Olive.

Do you read your receipts?

Why do I shop at Wal-mart? Well because I am poor and Wal-mart is the best deal around.

Exhibit A: My receipt (my only exhibit)

This receipt is 16" long. I only bought 8 items, and believe it or not, this receipt is on the short side! Along with letting me know "We value your opinion" and giving me the opportunity to go online and complete a survey for the chance to win a $1000 shopping card, it also cautions that I must be 18 years or older to participate in the survey (totally unfair, if someone under 18 buys something at Wal-mart shouldn't they get the same opportunities as all of the customers 18 years or older?), as well as tells me that they carry "All you need for back to school, At our best-in-class prices". Oh, it also tells me in giant bold letters that I bought 8 items, in case I couldn't count. Only about 4 inches of this receipt contains information that I ever need to know again, and even then, most likely, probably never.

This waste of paper and marginally useless information has obviously bothered me for a while, so I did a little calculation. Wal-mart serves an average 138 million customers world wide per week. If every customer averages 8 items and a 16" receipt that is 2,208 million inches of paper. That translates into 34,848 miles of receipt paper per week. What does that mean? Well I am no math genius so my calculations are rough, but I figure that it is approximately 19,000 miles say from Denver, all the way around the world, and back to Denver. That means there is enough receipt paper put out by Wal-mart every week to wrap around the world almost twice! Nearly 100 times a year, and that doesn't account for the holidays. I confess I don't live as green as I could or should, but doesn't that translate into a lot of trees?

Wal-mart isn't the only offender, and call me crazy, but give us the option to not print a receipt, or at least cut out all of the useless information that my bet is no one every reads. And to the guy who does, he must be winning a lot of free shopping cards. Wish I were him.