Hale-Yeah!

HELP! I need somebody, Hel el el el elp.

My wife's RAZR broke recently and we got a couple months still until we can get a new one with a the "renew your contract" deal. I wanted to know if anyone out there has an older Cingular phone that we could slip her sim card in that they don't use anymore. I'd be happy to pay you back for the shipping and even give it back to you after July 4th.
Let me know if you can help. Thanks.

rough day, better night

If you can help it, try not to let anyone steal your identity. It really sucks. You have to do all the leg-work, deal with collection agencies that imply that you or someone you know is a thief, and it takes forever to fix.
Jacinda and I both dealt with the Valentine & Kebartas (the collection agency) people today. The lady we talked to was the most infuriating piece of &*%# person ever. That's right I said @#%^. From the first word out of her mouth, I wanted to punch her teeth in. Honestly, she must've taken classes to be that way. I tore apart my office and went through our legal files trying to find a copy of the police report we had sent in several weeks ago. Apparently they lost it, but say that we are "not cooperating" when we suggest that. I actually almost completely lost it. I can't remember a time that I've been that pissed off.
So, we took a walk tonight, got some fresh air, and J and I finally got to see Juno. Great movie! Very quirky, good music, and there were several moments where I belly-laughed. It always amazes me that there is so much creativity out there. I mean, the story itself is decent, but the characters, especially Juno herself, are one of a kinds. I give it 3 out of 4 orange tic-tacs.

in a couple weeks from today...

CAN'T WAIT!!!

flashback

Yesterday was kind of weird. My team at work met with a consultant to help make our business more effective. It was actually great. Very insightful and it got me re-focused on some areas that I need to work on. We got done at 3 after a full day, so I went home a bit early. Melania is still sick and Jacinda was hanging out with a friend that night, so I wasn't too excited about my plans for the night.
Kiara ended up going to Maama's for dinner and to work on her "mother's day card". So, since Melania was pretty much out of commission and we didn't really have anything to eat here, we hit the Taco Bell drive-thru. I think the fresh air helped her a bit, but she still barely ate anything. Anyway, I put her to bed and started watching Karate Kid, part 2 that I had recorded.
It's so funny how a movie that seemed so cool, which I had multiple dreams inserting myself in Ralph Maccio's place, can seem so lame now. But, what can I say, I love movies, so, I watched the whole thing. It was actually a nice, relaxing night and ended with me reading some of my Prince Caspian book.
Oh, here's the cartoon that Mari was referencing in one of the earlier posts:

hmm...

I saw this license plate yesterday. Any guesses as to what it says?

quick pic, thought is was funny

Location, location, location

Fresno is in the Central Valley of California, and therefore a great place to access a lot of different places in the state. We are within 3-4 hours of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Monterey and Santa Cruz. We are even closer to Yosemite and about 1.5 hours to snow in the winter. Plus, the real estate is much more affordable compared to other metro areas like LA. All that to say, it gets dang hot here in the summer (110+) and the mountains surrounding the valley make for some terrible air quality. It's pretty sad when you have to check the weather AND the air quality for the next day to plan your activities.
We've been inside almost all day tomorrow, but I the air is giving me a headache. It's always depressing when you can't see the mountains that are only a couple miles away.

T-ball

This is my older baby girl. We had t-ball this morning and I'm the coach. Although I have to keep my eye on all the kids, it is some of my favorite time with my Kiara. She just wants to grab my leg and hold my hand the whole time. It's hard because I want her to be independent, but I secretly love that she depends on me and doesn't want to leave my side.

Don't see the point

I just can't keep track of all these different sites. Maybe if I was out promoting an album or a book, or was just some dude locked up in a basement with too much time on my hands, but none of those are me. I have a blog, not a facebook, not a virb, not a myspace, not a twitter, not a whatever the next "it" thing will be. a blog. that's it.

I know, I'm a Heretic

I saw this over on Stephen Pihlaja's Blog and I know that it's terrible, but it's funny. Us Christians are just silly sometimes.

New Blogger...my brother (and sister)

well my brother and sister just recently got married in january. well, she wasn't our sister then, but she's my sister now. My brother wouldn't marry our sister...wait...we don't even have a sister. arr, you know what i mean.

So, go check out my younger brother's blog appropriately titled, "What the Hale Man!"

Also, if you are in the market for a big 'ol truck, then you can check out his post about him selling his truck.

New Book!

Jacinda and I had some great conversations Sunday and I've decided to take her through the book, "The Pleasures of God" by John Piper. I read the book a couple years ago and it was one of those, "never even thought about that before" kind of books for me. It caused me to ask more questions than I ever had before in reference to what I hear every week (the tradition that i am a part of) and what the Bible says about certain aspects of my faith(or, maybe a different tradition's point of view).
Before this book, I thought an Arminian was a guy who eats Baclava and Hummus! I read the first bit last night and it got me all excited again. It'll be fun to see what reactions she has to some of things Piper teaches.

Withdrawals

Saw this picture of our friends and it almost moved me to tears.

Miss you guys.

Family Night

Well, if you haven't already seen how I started my day today on Jacinda's Blog, then go check that out, but I ended it great with another of my wife's ingenious family nights.
It was movie night. What goes best with movie's? Homemade pizza!
I came home after picking up the movie at Blockbuster and some theater treats and the night started. We ate our pizza and then toy dollars were handed out to me and the kids. Jacinda took our money for our movie tickets and we even had a couple dollars to buy some candy, Dibs, or popcorn. oh, and White Chocolate popcorn on top of that!
The night was great and Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium ended up being a pretty cute kid/family movie. You never know these days, buy Dustin Hoffman was hilarious, kind of like a clean Robin Williams and Jason Bateman is just one of those funny, but not funny guys for me.

America is stupid

We just finished watching American Idol from last week and I am pissed! How dumb is the voting public?
Seriously, it's just like Simon always says, "it's a singing competition, not a popularity contest". Sure, little David is the nicest guy I've ever seen on TV and I'm sure all the teeny-boppers love him, but are you going to buy his CD? Okay, I might buy his, but the country girl, nope. Ayesha...nope. David Cook...nope. dreadlocks...maybe. tattoo girl...nope. blonde girl...nope. I can't even think if there is anyone else.

Michael Johns was the only one up there, in my opinion, who had "star quality". You felt his songs and he performed. I felt like he really connected well and he seemed the most comfortable on the stage.

Randy called it when he mentioned several times during this around how he didn't feel the connection. Kind of like the "Shout to the Lord" mishap. Great song, no connection.

Alright, that's my rant. He was my pick for the whole thing, so I don't even care anymore.