Kung Fu Banshees

One of my new favorite shows ... is Kung Fu Panda.

There are some amazing one liners in there that just blow my mind ...

Anyhow ... the girls had a short kung fu session with their Grandpa Miller while they were here.


The fighting was fierce ... and we thought someone might not survive.
We rate this PG - for some mature Kung Fu Scenes.


But ...

In the end, everything worked out well:

Legend tells of a legendary warrior whose kung fu skills were the stuff of legend.

It is said ... he was so deadly, in fact, that his enemies would go blind from overexposure to pure awesomeness!!

I see you like to chew. Maybe you should chew... ON MY FIST!!

They were no match for his bodacity!

There is no charge for awesomeness... or attractiveness!

I know ... I know ...

A lot of blood, guts, and gore.

But you gotta put it out there like you see it.


Al

A Top 10 Destination ...

I caught an interesting arrticle on Yahoo today.

10 places to see, in the U.S., before you die. Nice!


Anyhow ... one of the places just happened to be the 'Oregon Coast' - Highway 101. No surprise there, because there are stunning views all over the coast.

However ...

There was one little tidbit of info that I thought was very interesting:

"The entire coast is public land..."

Let me tell you - you WON'T see that in Florida! Sure there are plenty of public beaches - but even still - you gotta PAY to park and get to 'em.

I don't know this personally ... but apparently in the Florida Keys it's VERY difficult to find public beaches. Miles of water and beach - but only a few places open to the public. (Please correct me if I'm wrong about that?)


Anyhow ... I just thought I'd share that little bit of info with you.

Oh ... I almost forgot ...
Here's the article, in case you want to check it out:
10 Places to see in the U.S.

Also - Photo is the Heceta Head Lighthouse near Florence, Ore.
Source: Stuart Westmorland/Getty



Al

Money and Me

I'm no money mogul ... although Christy and I have had fairly good success at staying above the waterline over the years.


So ... I guess, in some ways, we consider ourselves ... experts! Ha Ha


Anyhow ...

I did read a cool book not all that long ago. And we've been implementing it for the last few months.

It's called ...

The Storehouse Principle
By Al Jande and Van Crouch



It's a pretty good book. It's a quick read, and definitely worth taking a look at ... in my honest opinion. You can pick it up at Amazon.com.


Basically - if you boil it down to it's essentials, it says this:


Much like ants live (as the Bible points out) ... storing up little bits of food and provisions throughout the good times ... so that they 'have' savings in the future when needed.

In the same way ... we need to set aside a small portion ... everytime, all the time ... of all that we make, so that we are also prepared for the future.


Mostly, I just wanted to let you know a little bit about what I've read recently. And put a tickle in your ear to check it out as well.

Al

What's there to write about?

I've always liked to write. And there have even been times, when people told me I write pretty well.

Now ... I'm no Grisham. There's only one.



But, I'm trying to develop my writing skills.

In fact, I've actually written stuff on the internet that's brought in thousands of dollars.

And yet ... I am still having a heck of a time honing my writing chops into solid, attention-grabbing content.


However ... like anything worth doing ... if you really WANT to do it, then it's worth doing right. Right?

So, I continue to methodically plod along, almost like pedaling my bike across town ... one stroke after another ... and eventually I plan to arrive at some higher level of creative expression.


Until I get there, though ... thanks for sticking with me.


Here's some of my favorite online writers and inspirations:

Matthew Furey
What's crazy ... is this guy lives about 20 minutes away from me. I'm planning on meeting him someday - when my writing gets good.

Joe Vitale
Hypnotic Writing ... I love it!

Associated Content
Some good general writing tips.

Adventurous Writer
More writing tips to spark your creativity.


Any other ideas?


Let me know!

Toll Road Park

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of this park. Although I'll try and get some next time we go.

Do you remember ... I told you we were out running around on Sunday afternoon. Well, the sun went down at about 5:30'ish. And the reason we had been driving all over St. Pete was because I had heard of an 'amazingly' tall bridge in town that was SO TALL that it would scare the snot out of you.

So ... part of our adventure was spent finding that bridge. It wasn't until the end of the day we finally found it.

It's simple (of course) - but I didn't know that until we actually found it.

Basically, you take I-275 through St. Pete (southbound). As you head down - you are forced to take a toll road across the bay. It is THIS toll road that IS the bridge.


Anyhow ...

It turns out that the bridge isn't the best part.

On either side of the bridge are little parks. And you can get off of the road and stop at the parks after you pay your toll, and as you're driving across this 5 mile long bridge.

So we stopped at the park on the north side of the bridge - and caught an amazing sunset. We also discovered that it was a GREAT place for the girls to explore while we relaxed. Maybe a good place for a picnic too. And it also appears to be a GREAT place to launch a canoe or kayak from.

We'll let you know sometime.

Anyhow - I just wanted to shoot out another quick update.

Talk soon.

Al

Photo a day #18

While this is another cheat ... I'm not sure I really care.


These animals were photographed at the park I mentioned yesterday. I wanted to include them, but I thought I'd spread it out over a couple of days - to buy myself some time, since we've been sick (and tired) since Sunday night.





I hope you like the pics anyhow. I thought they were kinda cool.

Catch ya soon!

Al

Photo a day #17

We dropped Chris' folks off on Sunday.

And since it was still early in the day, we decided to take a drive around the St. Pete area - to see what we could see.

We stumbled across this interesting area at Boca Ciega Bay(?). I'm not sure if that was the name of it. I'll check.

Anyhow ... we wandered around there for a couple of hours exploring their wooden boardwalk, and the wildlife.

Here's something you'll see A LOT of in Florida ... raised boardwalks. I assume it's so the dangers of poisonous and freaky animals are lessened. But I'm not sure about that yet.




Thought I'd share a couple shots of it.

Al

Busch Gardens - Tampa, Florida PLUS Photo a day #16

Well ... Chris' folks were leaving soon, so we saw them off with quite a bang.

We went to Busch Gardens, in Tampa, Florida with them. While there is a LOT to say about this park - there's really only one thing I want to say at this point ...

Sheikra!

This is a SWEET ride. Here ... take a look:



This is the first - AND the biggest drop. The ride is 200 feet high, and it's a 90 degree drop.

Let me tell you ... just when you think ... this can't go on much longer, well it seems to just keep going.

It was absolutely scary! And thrilling - all wrapped up into one emotional ride.

OUTSTANDING - is one of the few words that can describe it.

Better yet ... Kaitlyn did this ride with us. See below - for proof!






Plus - the ride isn't even over after that ... there's another sweet drop-off at the end and an awesome water spray zone.




The videos were pulled from our camera phone. I LOVE that feature ... by the way.


Al

Photo a day #15

And this oughta catch us up for a few days ... anyhow.

I know some of you have been waiting patiently for us to quit being so lazy.


Anyhow ...

Keeley's birthday - # 7 - was yesterday. The 20th.

We had a pretty big day, with some exciting gifts and other events. But I just wanted to put up one shot. I'm sure there'll be more coming along soon.


This one gives you the theme and the 'bodacity' of Keeley all wrapped up in one shot. I thought it was kinda cute anyhow.


Talk soon ...

Al

Photo a day #14

This is another shot from the cell phone.

I am so thrilled by this little tool that I had to throw in another shot.


This one's even more incredible considering the fact that it's a VERY SPECIAL car.
It's a Lambourghini. It may be hard to tell from the picture, but let me guarantee you that's what it was.

I have maybe seen one or two of these cars driving on the road my entire life.

It was pretty sweet!




This is about as close up as I can make the picture. Sorry!



Al

Photo a day #13

Here's where things REALLY start to get interesting.

Christy's Dad showed me how to send pics from our mobile to my email. This is something I've been wanting to do for months, but not known how.

Alas ... I finally learned that we have the technology.


Cost to do? I'm not sure yet - but I know if it's cheap I'll be doing this kind of thing a whole heckuva lot more.


How cool!


Anyhow, here is today's picture ... Kait sitting down reading.

Photo a day #12

Well we've been slacking quiet a bit here ... although if anyone says I haven't been doing my part to spend money, and trying to jump start the economy, then I'm going to straight up 'pimp slap' 'em.

'Cause we're leaking it like it's going out of style - and that's especially with the holidays coming.


However ... that's not why I'm writing.

I wanted to add a couple more pics, even though these may not be properly timed by days. I figure you'd rather look at something ... over NOTHING.

Am I right?

Anyhow, here's a shot from our trip to the beach last Sunday.




I thought these little 2 seat scooters were totally cool!

Al

Photo a day #11

As I mentioned in the last picture ... Chris' folks have entered the building.


We picked them up today, and headed over to Clearwater once again. Which means ... Chipotle here we come!

Anyhow ...

It was super windy today, and the sand was wet and hard down by the waterline. But as we were walking back up the beach, I liked the look and feel of the groomed sand. (Yes - they groom sand here, like they groom the snow up on Mt. Hood in Oregon.)

So we took a neat little family photo. Here's all 4 of us. Chris on the right, then me, Kait and Keeley as you move to the left.

Just kidding!

But it sures seems like the girls are getting big. Their feet are almost the same size as Christy's.



Even though it was windy and nippy on the beach - the water was still nice and warm. It was calling me to dive in.
Al

Photo a day #10

The short story about the knives also reminded me of another gift the Jones' brought with them from Africa.

This one was for me - and it's absolutely one of my favorites!




An Ostrich Egg ... makes the little chicken eggs I always promote look like little shrimps. This egg reminds me of holding a football.


Here ... go long.



P.S...

Here's how much I love chickens:
www.ChickenCoopPlan.com
www.ChickenNews.com
www.Chikins.com
www.HowToChickenCoop.com
www.TheChickenEgg.com

Cuttin' the Cheese

I was cutting the cheese tonight ... which is something I enjoy quite often. It just happens to be one of my favorite things to do when I need to pass some - uh - time.


Anyhow ...

As I was cutting some cheese, it dawned on me that I was using one of our new knives. A knife we'd received as a gift from our guests - the Jones Girls.


And I realized we had never properly thanked them for such a nice, highly utilized gift. I remember at the time, Christy's sister had given the knife set specifically to Christy when they were here.


And so - I wanted to honor them with a big thanks. We use these things almost every day - so thank you!

Oh ... Wait a minute ...

There's some kind of inscription on the side of the block. Hang on - let me read it.

It says ...

"Perfectly Balanced and precision crafted for the female knife throwing artisan."

HMMMM

Now, why would Carla get a gift like that for Christy?

Strange!

And why does Carla keep inviting Christy to come visit for AS LONG AS SHE WANTS?


Hey Carla ... what exactly were the knives for - 'cause I'm not sure you ever actually mentioned that to me?


And that makes me wonder why Christy is always in the kitchen sharpening them?





Okay ... Okay ... Just a bad joke! But I had fun telling it anyhow.



P.S. On another great note ... Christy's folks rolled into town last night. And what's the first gift they bring for me?

You guessed it ...


Tillamook Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese


YAAAAYYY! I love it!
Looks like it's time to cut the cheese.

Photo a day #9

This is an easy, low-cost school project the girls have had sitting around the house for a few weeks.


What a simple, but cool activity they enjoyed doing for a little bit of their day. Who says you can't build a pyramid in a day?


With some sugar cubes, and a little bit of elbow grease, anything's possible.

No camera = No Photo

I was going to snap a picture or two, to throw something strange and relatively uneventful up here tonight.

But alas ...

Christy has the camera with her at work. So I can't.



So, instead, you get to hear me ramble.


But actually I do have something I wanted to chat about:


Not too long ago, Christy and I were planning on (and actually started) a site about family traveling. We started out with a bang ... but it quickly blew out in a cloud of smoke, as just another time waster.

And I'm realizing that I have a tremendous amount of these minor, little time wasters that I can't keep up with.


And getting to my point ... and some advice ... if you care to listen? (Some of you may want to read on, I know, because a couple of you have actually asked for my thoughts on this - so my ramblings are not totally from out of nowhere)


Here's my point:
Cut out the extraneous stuff that doesn't get you where you want to go. This comment is particularly in regards to running online businesses.


Here's what tends to happen with websites ... you build one and get it running. And then you get an idea for another ... and so you get it running. Pretty soon, you have ten of them going, and you can't keep any of them updated or current. And then, you're not getting anywhere.

Not to say I haven't learned a lot, and that I haven't gotten ahead through all of this practice. BUT - my point is this - I think I could have been much farther along if I had focused on one or two things I was effective at. Instead of pursuing 15 separate topics.

To be honest, I'm still planning on keeping several of my best sites running. But over the next few months I will probably start phasing out the ones that are irrelevant, that don't bring in any money, and that I haven't touched in months. And then after that - I think it would be smart to look at how to sell the profitable ones and develop them into even more profits going forward.


Imagine ... that was free! That was pretty good - huh?


And, to think, I was the Best Man for a guy who suggested that no one should ever follow my financial advice.


Here's just a little warning - take everything I say with a smidge of patience.

Photo a day #8

Here's a cool creature we had hanging out around our front door last night.

To me, it looked like an albino / gray colored frog.

Here - it has a brownish tint.




I thought it looked pretty cool - and it must've thought we looked pretty cool too. It was staring straight at me ... with its E - D - B - D Eye.

Utah, Here we come!!

WARNING! ... Some pretty biased comments are posted below - please don't read if you are easily offended.



I was shocked to see these idiotic comments coming out, after California voted to add Marriage between a man and woman to their Consitution.

This uber-powerful blogger is stepping up to boycott the Mormons (and Utah) because they stood up for something he didn't agree with.

Aravosis is not calling for a boycott of California, though that state's voters actually approved the ban.

" ... We need to send a message to Utah that they need to stop trying to inflict their way of life on every other state."

UMMM ... Hello ... And what is it that you are trying to inflict on us?

Your unbiased belief in how absolutely right and correct and perfect you are in all of your thoughts, opinions, and ideas?

Oh ... thank goodness you came along to enlighten us, oh great one, otherwise how would we all get along? The 'New' messiah has arrived - just in time.



And how about this comment ...

"They just took marriage away from 20,000 couples and made their children bastards," he said. "You don't do that and get away with it."

Um - Although science CAN make a 'man' have a baby (as we almost witnessed in Oregon this last year - HA!), I don't think 2 'real' men (or women) are going to be naturally having babies anytime soon. Oh, I almost forgot ... that 'man', was actually a WOMAN ... BUT they try NOT to mention that in any of their 'news' stories.

WHY?

Good question?


Anyhow ...


We are NOT Mormon - just to clarify.

I think it's fine if they decide to boycott Utah. It's one of the most gorgeous states in America.

Utah has 5 of America's national parks, making it the reigning champion. The parks include: Zion National Park (my ABSOLUTE FAVE), Bryce Canyon, Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, and Capitol Reef National Park.

Here's a post we did when we came through Utah, with a few pictures of the parks thrown in for good measure. This way ... everyone who decides to boycott will know what they're missing. And here's a bit more info about Utah if you're interested in seeing how amazing it really is.


This way - maybe property values will drop through the floor there - and then anyone who disagrees with the P.C. movement can move there. Oh, but wait ... NO ONE disagrees with the P.C. movement and lives. I forgot ... sorry about that.


You can read more about the idiocy here:
Mormon boycott because they don't agree with you!




Al

Photo a day #7

This is a photo from Al taken at his softball game tonight.

Photo a day #6

These are the souvenirs that we got for the girls on the last of our Disney trips. We waited till the last trip to let them buy something and this is what they chose. They are now the favorite toys in the house.
The girls were not happy with the name that Disney gave them because they are boys. So they have renamed them Clitch and Pambi. And Al has changed those names into Stench and Pansie.

photo a day # 5

I know this is a day late but there is a very good reason. You see we spent all say at Disney Magic Kingdom yesterday. So there was no time to post a photo. So here is Yesterdays photo.

This is the girls very favorite rid out of all of them at the Disney parks. We have been on this ride so many time that I lost track.

photo a day #4

These are some little apothecary jars that I have on the bar in my kitchen. I love the fall colors!

photo a day #3

So we (Kait, Kee and Chris) were out today and I saw this. This bird was trying to get rid of a big Blue Heron that was also by the lake. I guess that he thought it was his lake. Any way he was very unhappy about it all.

Have a great day!

Who killed General Motors?

Watched an interesting show last night ... about electric cars. Normally, I don't think I'd be this interested in the concept - except it costs ALL of us hundreds and thousands of dollars to deal with the idiocy of our leaders. PLUS, riding my bike every day sucks, and to be honest can be scary, with all the cars on the road.


Because of this - I've become interested in the future of the car market.


Anyhow ...

Electric Cars have had 'potential' commercial viability since the 90's.

Ultimately, HOWEVER, GM (the leader of the technology at the time) moth-balled the entire concept because of lots and lots and lots financial rhetoric.


The interesting twist on it is this ...

General Motors Corp. is in danger of losing its 76-year title as the world's sales leader, as totals for 2007 released on Wednesday showed the automaker in a virtual tie with Toyota Motor Corp.

Toyota - who was the only large auto manufacturer who has been willing to keep the electric market alive - has slowly taken over for General Motors.



And Finally this ...

Toyota surpassed General Motors in worldwide vehicle sales during the first three months of this year, marking the end of one of the longest runs of dominance in all of global industry and another milestone in America's long decline from unchallenged industrial pre-eminence.

Photo from http://i.treehugger.com
Watch the show, Who Killed the Electric Car, and you'll see that GM deserves to be killed. They devastated, what could have been an excellent concept, for their own greed.

And I'm NOT talking about environmental protection. That doesn't even factor into my discussion AT ALL. I'm talking about cost savings on fuel and vehicle parts maintenance. And JOBS for all those laid of GM employees - because GM was too short-sighted, and greedy, to see what they had.


D.R.I.P. General Motors! (Don't Rest In Peace)

Photo a day #2

AWANA Wednesday!

Photo a day #1

So I have had this idea that I wanted to do for some time now. I know it is nothing new but I thought it would be fun to do it here. the problem has been that I constantly forget to start when I think it would be a good time to start. Say like on a Monday or the first day of the month. But I always think about it for a day or teo befor and then on that day I get up and go about my day. Then the next day will come and I think bummer I forgot again. So because I will never remember at any real logical time to start this I will start today. Because after all it is at least an interesting day to start be that it is election day and all.
So here you are the photo of the day!!

Speer Girl Talent Show - Out-takes

Here ... For your viewing delight and pleasure ...


The Speer Girl Talent Show BLOOPERS






Funny ... Sad ... Worry ... Dream ...

It's all in there somewhere.

Oh, maybe that's a different video. I'm not sure.
I thought is was this one.

Oh well ... hopefully you'll like watching anyhow.

Another Video - This time we're Canvas Painting

WOW! ... You've got to be kidding me.

Do you see what happens when I actually get free time to do stuff ... STUFF happens.


Here we go with another video. This one showcasing some more of the wondrous talents of the SpeerClan. This time ... we're painting canvases.


Still free of charge, although if you want to see more interesting, and lively stuff you need to go ahead and buy some of my products so I can take off more time from work, and spend time creating.

Sound good?

Hello? ...

Anyone there? ...


Anyhow - here's the video:


Here is a photo of the canvas that Chris did since it did not show well in the video.


Al and the Speer Girls

This is some Speerious Talent

Howdy ya'll!


I have a real treat for you today ... the Speer girls have decided to display some of their 'AMAZING' talents in video format.

We hope you like it.






Maybe even more exciting ... the bloopers section (part 2) will be coming along in a few days. When we get the chance to mix it all together. If you think this vid is good - just wait until you watch that.

You'll laugh ... You'll cry ... You'll hurtle ...


Al