Getting Fit - Plus

We got a Wii Fit Plus for Christmas from my Father. Well, he sent us money and we then purchased it.

So far since the 24th I have gained 2.5lbs! I'm only 5'7" but at 198 I'm considered Obese. So... I'm motivated. I have been working out on the fit almost every day and I have been walking and trying to exercise every other day. I'm still gaining weight, however, since it's Christmas and I'm eating too much!

I got myself a crappy pedometer which counts between 1 and 3 steps for every one I take. It's now sitting on the shelf.

I have never made a new year's resolution but here it is. I have to lose 20lbs. 30 would be better but 20 is what I gotta do. First I have to give up coke. oh man, that's going to be SUPER HARD! I'll do that when I'm done with the 12-pack that I have. Don't want to waste right?

Years ago I purchased ineedexercise.com which is now still owned by me but I have it on a domain selling site because I couldn't think of anything to do with it. If anyone has any ideas I'll revenue share with you. :-)

Amazing Christmas Gift

Tonight we had the boy's Christmas play. I may post some pictures later on facebook. Holly picked the kids up from school and went straight to OSU for an appointment Daniel had. Afterwards, we had to go right to the play, but we needed to eat first.

As we were walking into McDonald's, this man and his wife were in just after us. The man cried out, "Happy meals for everyone!" and I jokingly said, "heh, you're buying?"

We had a chuckle. Then his wife said, "Should we?" he responded, "Why not, it's Christmas."

I responded saying that's fine but it's not necessary, but he insisted. I was like, "ah, I've got 6 children." but he still said it was fine. I couldn't believe it!

The funny thing was we sat there for almost 15 minutes getting the order put together and the woman behind the register got it mixed up and had to add/subtract drinks, etc. finally the woman behind the register asked the couple what they were having. They responded, "Oh, we only need three large iced teas."

Wow! They only had come in there to buy iced tea and left paying almost $30 for another family's meal! Wow, what a blessing. God bless that wonderful couple.

I couldn't let them go away empty-handed. I pulled some free family passes to the Columbus Museum of Art from my jacket and gave them to them.

Lord, thank you for the blessings you give us. Friends have come to our aid this Christmas and strangers, and even anonymous people. We have truly been blessed this year. Thank you Lord, and thank you all for your friendship with us. We appreciate it more than you know.

~The Deliduka's

What does the Eucharist Mean to Me?

Several weeks ago I was inspired to write this post. It has taken until now to actually get it done. At Mass one Sunday Father was giving the homily and was speaking on the Eucharist. He posed the question: What does the Eucharist mean to you?

Of course I immediately thought of the theological aspect of it. "It's the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ." then Father said, "I know you could tell me what the Church teaches what the Eucharist is, but that is not what I want to know. What does the Eucharist really mean to you personally?"

So, here I go.

My most intimate time with Adoration and the Eucharist was in college. I was in Austria at the school's campus there. In Austria, I really dove into my Faith and immersed myself in the Mass and the Eucharist. I would go many nights to adoration in the chapel and I would kneel for 45 minutes to an hour just staring in adoration. The Lord really opened up my mind and my heart at that time. I never felt more close to God than I did that semester. To me, the Eucharist was my solace from the week's studies and travels. The Lord would comfort me there in that chapel. All my cares and concerns melted away while I gazed as His greatness. New things were revealed to me. I didn't see just the wafer in the monstrance, I saw into a world of brightness and beauty that I have never seen since. This is what adoration should be. This is what I felt I should feel every time I received Him in the Mass.

Fast forward 16 years and I'm a father of 6 boys. It's all I can do simply to get through mass being able to hear what is being said and try to focus on what is happening at the altar. I cannot lie, for several years, the Eucharist was an obligation that I knew if I didn't go to Mass and receive then I would have to go to confession. I had lost the intimacy, the love, the amazement that I once had. I never wanted communion to be routine, but there it was, all the same.

I was snapped back to reality that Sunday when Father spoke on the Bread of Life and asked that pointed question. I realized what I had been taking for granted; what I had neglected. The Eucharist is the heart of the Church! The Eucharist should be the focus of my daily life and prayer. I'm not there yet, but I am getting closer. There's been a rekindling of my faith in that homily and I appreciate more the beautiful gift the Lord has left us. No where in the universe exists the Eucharist. This is where the Lord comes down to earth to dwell within us. I have a new-found appreciation for it again. I look forward to mass, I look forward to receiving.

Thirteen Wonderful Years

Please Note: This note was intended for August 17, but due to a really busy day at work, it didn't get written.

Thirteen years ago, I was in Christ the King chapel at Franciscan University praying in the Eucharistic Chapel that the Lord grant me the grace to be a loving husband and father. I was nervous but excited. I was preparing to marry the love of my life. A wonderful woman named Holly Perkins who was from Columbus, Ohio.

My family was in attendance, hers was as well. Everyone was sitting and waiting for things to begin. The usher called me out and the music started. First my groomsmen, My brother Mark, Paul Portenlanger, Brian Loot, and then my best man Blaise Sims. They brought their partners down the aisle and then the doors closed at the back. The wedding march began and here she came, radiant and beautiful.

My thoughts strayed to when we were dating, how when we first met I simply wanted her to remember me so every chance I got I said, "Hi Holly". Then when we had breakfast and talked for the first time I knew I wanted to date this woman.

13 months of engagement living in Washington, DC while she finished up her last year of School was tough, but we got through it. Now the big day had come and it was time to become a man; grow up and take responsibility not only for my own life but the life of another.

We sat while Father read to us the Exhortation before Marriage written by one of the Popes I don't remember who. I was stirred by the words which said:

This union then is most serious, because it will bind you together for life in a relationship so close and so intimate that it will profoundly influence your whole future. That future, with its hopes and disappointments, its successes and its failures, its pleasures and its pains, its joys and its sorrows, is hidden from your eyes. You know that these elements are mingled in every life and are to be expected in your own. And so, not knowing what is before you, you take each other for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death.

Throughout these years, we have seen all of these, richer, poorer, sickness, health, better and worse. And we are so much stronger for all of it. The Lord has blessed me tremendously with the privilege of coming home to this woman. I am forever grateful for His blessings.

To my lovely, Holly Deliduka, on our anniversary. I want to tell you I love you more and more each day; you are my life and my world. I would be lost without you. I love the way you love me, our children, and your work. Thirteen years is only the start. I look forward to the day when we're celebrating our 50th, 60th and beyond.

One Pet Peeve

I have one pet peeve. I mean, I have others but there's one I'm going to write about now... The word "loose" used instead of "lose".

If something is "loose" then it is not tight. See the definition.

Now, if you "lose" something, then it is no where to be found. It is lost.

So, when I read that someone is going to "loose it" I wonder if they're actually going to loosen something or if they have truly lost it.

I am what I am

You made me into this. I was peaceful, I didn't act up. I may have shouted, I may have yelled, but I was peaceful and never used force.

I questioned my government; it's ability to manage such a major thing. I asked my congressman if they had read the bill they're pushing on us. I inquired whether they would agree to use the system they want us to use. No answers were given, no solutions were provided.

I woke in the morning and saw the news. I found I was part of a Mob. I was a GOP thug. I was even surprised to find that I was un-american and an astro-turfer.

Now I find if I stand up, if I speak out and speak my mind, I am labeled, I am stamped. I am made into what I am not. You did this to me. You made me into what I am, congress. Now all the world believes, and there is no cure for this.

Working Hard, Up Late

I can't seem to sleep nowadays. Just too much going on. I'm busting my butt at the Art Museum. It's really a great job; I LOVE working there. I've been working on the rebuilding of the computer network for when we move into Beaton Hall where our offices are going to go. The renovation is coming along nicely. Most of the equipment is being delivered but it's being sent up to Michigan to have our supplier set it all up for us. I'm no Cisco CCNA and don't pretend to be.

Meanwhile, we're expecting another child and that's very exciting at the same time. This would be 7 children, 7 boys. (We don't actually know the sex of the child but it's a boy until we're told otherwise.) So, my life is full of excitement and busy-ness. I should be tired, but here I am at 1:45am not sleeping. I suppose I should take a crack at it anyway.

One down, Two to go.

Some of you may know, if you are my friend on Facebook or on Twitter, that I went for a throat scope today. My condition is that I have a stricture in my esophagus (crimp, so to speak) that has been bad before, I had two scopes a few years back and has now gotten to the point where it is as small as one of those generic ibuprofen.

So, today I went in for a procedure to stretch it out. Having gone through this before I was extremely nervous because I remembered portions of it each time they did it. And after the second one the doc said he had given me triple the sedation dose to ensure I wouldn't remember, but I did anyway.

I was almost in tears as I was waiting for them to take me in. I told them of my anxiety and they told me they would ramp up the drugs quicker this time to ensure I wouldn't remember it. They rolled me in and put the drugs in my IV. I felt them working right away. What happened next was like a dream but since I know it wasn't, it hits home more.

They stuck three tubes down my throat, two small, then a larger one. I remember the whole thing with the nurse talking in my ear that I need to calm down, swallow, and breathe through my nose. I kept trying to tell her I can't breathe through my nose when there is a tube in my throat preventing my mouth from cutting off air. However, attempting to talk didn't work either and she told me to stop trying to anyway. I remember gagging the entire time, not just once or twice and then relaxing, when I woke up my voice was hoarse which only confirms it.

When the third tube went down, it was considerably bigger so I was guessing it was the camera. Shortly after that one went down I blacked out. I woke up immediately with my wife next to me and I said, "oh, it's done!" then, like in the Matrix or Chuck or something all these memories of what happened flooded my brain.

The interesting thing is that I wasn't traumatized like I was in the past. While what happened was traumatic, I don't feel as though it was unbearable. Perhaps when I have to go in for my second one I won't be so nervous. And that's what's going to happen. The doctor came in, he said it was very closed, he could only stretch it to about 11mm (although the paperwork says 9). He's going to have me back again mid June for my second scope. He probably will have to do it three times.

I'm doing pretty well right now considering I haven't eaten since 11:30pm last night. I would like to have something but I can't have solids until this evening (and I doubt I will then). I have some gatorade next to me to give me "electrolytes" but I'm not really drinking because it hurts too bad to swallow.

They didn't send me home with any medicine even after I asked them several times if they would. They said take liquid Advil if I'm in pain but just swallowing water or gatorade causes me so much pain, something that clings to my throat like liquid advil would hurt worse. So, I'm pushing through the pain. Perhaps this evening I can have some carnation instant breakfast or something. :-)

Thank you all for your prayers, I was very very scared to do this again. I am convinced that your prayers helped me get through it and even though there was trauma, I don't perceive it that way due to the Lord's miraculous help. I expect to be back to work tomorrow. Although probably still eating soft foods.

Learning Disabilities

Not sure what the answer is for this but I'll tell you my experience...

We live in one school district--Southwestern City Schools (SWCS)--and our children go to another school district--Whitehall. However, they go to a private school there. So, they're not specifically in Whitehall School district.

Through talking to the teachers at school and some others who are helping us at Children's Hospital, they are telling us that our two oldest boys need testing for learning disabilities. One even said they desperately need it.

We knew this all year and so we've been trying to get this done. Our first step was to go to SWCS and ask them to test the boys. We asked them first when they were at a Charter school in SWCS district. Well, they delayed and didn't do anything. We moved them to the new school and now they say, "We're sorry, they don't go to school in this district so we don't have to help you."

So, we went to the Whitehall district. Initially, they said our children go to a private school it's not their problem. When we pushed they found out from the teachers that the children can at least read and mostly spell so they don't need testing. And now they're stone-walling us.

We decided to look into other options. There is a school in the area that will do testing, it's $750 PER CHILD! We don't have $1,500 to test our children for learning disabilities! I could go further into credit card debt to do it but I think that would be a bad idea for our family in the end with all that entails.

We're currently looking to see if we can find a parent advocate. I'm not entirely sure what they can do for us other than force Whitehall to help us. I'm concerned, though, that their testing will be incomplete. Either way, pray for us. Our children are in need of help with their education and nobody in a position to help us is willing to do anything. I thought everything was supposed to be about the children!

It's been a while.

It's been a while since I posted, anyone notice?

Let's see what's happened in the last two weeks... Had a meeting with my son's school that went very well; we've been having some ADHD issues that are really settling down and the boys are doing much better.

We have a new roof now as of yesterday. After two wind storms the roof had had it and insurance paid for (most) of a new one. The men showed up yesterday to do the work. Most of them had broken english, I'm not entirely sure all of them were legal. :-(

I've been working hard at work. With being short one person due to budget cuts. We've been working overtime trying to keep up with the projects we need to do and the evening events we need to support. It's going to be a long year.

I guess that's it. Not much going on in my life right now. Not that any of you were sitting on the edge of your seat to find out what was going on! Well, thanks for listening anyway!

Saturday Work Day

Man, don't you hate Saturday work days? I mean, you want to wake up late and just relax all day, but no, you have to mop the floor, clean the living room, TV room, and all these other things.

I'm looking around the room, shoes are on the floor, toys are everywhere, but I'm sitting on my computer writing this blog because I would much rather be doing this than cleaning.

Well, Lord, give me the strength to work hard today and impress my wife who deserves to be able to come home from the library research to a clean house.

Live Fast, Die Hard - The Movie

My wife was invited to go to the Columbus premiere of a indie movie called "Live Fast Die Young" a dude she went to High School with was staring in the film and he was flying out to promote it.

So, last night we went. With a title like "Live Fast, Die Young" I was thinking it was going to be some rated R movie that has a lot of adult situations in it. I wasn't much looking forward to seeing. Boy was I wrong!

At the start before the credits rolled, the director and two of the actors, including Holly's old friend, got up and started to talk about the film. They were praising God and said that without Him this wouldn't have been possible. I was pleasantly surprised, but then I started thinking, Oh no, a Christian film with bad acting in it. (Have you guessed I'm a bit of a pessimist?)

Well, I was proven right for a portion of the film, but overall, I found the acting to be pretty good and the production value to be not so bad either. The message was good, an actor turned Christian was being ostracized by his fellow actors/directors, etc. They are all at a party and someone dies and they are all forced to speak with one another and hash out issues of life and death. It is a pretty good film for a non-catholic religious angle.

They're trying to get the movie in 22 cities. It's playing in Columbus at the Drexel on Main, otherwise, check out the site and find out how to get it in your area.

A teen before he's a teen

My 9-year-old this morning did the unthinkable in my eyes.

He has always been the one who would do the minimum when he did his chores, he would try to skate by, when asked to do more work, he would complain of a headache or being tired. He avoids prayer with the family and he fights with his brothers.

This morning, however, my wife asked him to get a new paper towel roll from the garage because he was the only one with shoes on. He responded with "Why do I have to do everything!" and she told him to just do it. So, he huffed, put his coat on (which was unnecessary) got the roll, and when he came back he threw it at her and said "Here is your stupid paper towels!"

If I had not had 4 hours of sleep and been in bed at the time, I would have probably held him to the wall three feet off the ground and read him the riot act. Instead, Holly disciplined him, but she admitted she didn't go far enough, she wanted to leave it up to me.

He was in his room all day after school, I got home and laid into him. I think I put enough fear of God and me into him that it will be a while before he tries this again. I felt horrible for having yelled at him but I felt I was defending my wife's honor.

But interestingly enough, later that night as I helped him with his homework we were reading the Baltimore Catechism he is learning from. The second was on life everlasting and it said that in order to have life everlasting we must "die to self" and the explanation was to do something you don't want to do to please God and others. i.e. A sacrifice.

I found that the Lord really put this teaching here for a reason I was so amazed. I shared with him ways I sacrifice and ways I fail to die to self. We tried to come up with examples in his own life as well.

At bed time he hugged me and told me good night. It was great.

YOU try to install Exchange!

Well, I'm sure many of you could have done this quicker and easier than I did. But I have to outline how my own lack of doing research cost me three days of work.

For those who don't know. Exchange is Microsoft Exchange Server or their mail server product. If you work in a corporate environment or even small business, most-likely they're running Exchange server.

We have an old server that is dying. It is still running but it has a bad fan in a power supply and it will go pretty soon. So, time is of the essence. Our journey to install a new server has been fraught with peril.

The day I learned we needed a new server I got permission from the higher-ups to purchase it. I couldn't do it immediately because my account rep was not back from medical leave. On the day he was back to work, we had a level 2 snow emergency in Columbus and I was at home. So, I ordered the next day. The server, surprisingly was on the Museum Dock the next morning. That was fast!

However, I didn't have an Operating System yet; Microsoft hadn't approved the order. That afternoon I had two frantic phone calls from my account rep saying that Microsoft would no longer give us Charity pricing! They would, however, give us Academic pricing so I had to fax over our 501(c)(3) paperwork and things would be on their way. Well, Finance was preparing for the audit so they couldn't give me the paperwork and it was a Friday. So, Monday they said they would try but it wasn't until Tuesday when I got the paperwork. I immediately faxed it off and that afternoon I had the server software. This is getting long and I haven't even gotten to the installation!

The Museum owns Exchange 2003. We want to upgrade to Exchange 2007 but we can't just yet. Exchange 2007 requires a 64-bit installation of the server operating system. So, we decided to go cutting edge and install Microsoft Windows Server 2008 64-bit. I got it all installed and went to install Exchange but server 2008 was missing a component required to install. I googled to find that Exchange 2003 won't install on Server 2008.

So, I reformatted and re-installed Windows Server 2003 64-bit. I got it all installed with all it's patches and went to install Exchange and it says it won't run! Checking the settings it says that Exchange 2003 will not run on a 64-bit Operating System! So, I had to reformat and reinstall a THIRD TIME to Windows 2003 32-bit. Two days of work just trying to install.

We had to make a decision about whether or not we attempt to upgrade to Exchange 2007 or wait. If we wait then we would have to format and re-install the operating system on the server in order to get Exchange 2007 installed on there since it will only run on a 64-bit OS. By the time we do that, we'll probably just have to purchase another new server. Spending $6,500 more next year to save $2,240 this year. But if you don't have the 2240 to spend this year, you can't do much about it.

Betrayal? I think not

I'm reading this article at EWTN entitled Obama's Abortion Reversal a "Betrayal," Says Catholic University President and I had to laugh. Really? Obama's Abortion "reversal" is a "betrayal?" First of all, Obama didn't reverse anything! He was the most liberal pro-abortion candidate ever to run for the Presidency! He has the furthest left stance you can get when it comes to abortion.

Why would Catholics ever think that he wanted to reduce the "number of abortions"? Oh, he said it once that he was personally opposed and incorrectly accused Bush of having not reduced them himself. But who can believe what he says when his record speaks for itself? He has supported 100% of all abortion promoting bills that have ever come before him. He said himself he would sign FOCA the first chance he got. Why would Catholics ever think he would be any different in the white house.

So now, The president of Catholic University is complaining that when Obama signed the executive order to allow overseas abortions its a reversal and a betrayal. Let's be clear here, this was no reversal and as for betrayal. I don't even see it like that either. He's always been pro-death and has made no bones about it. Anyone who believed otherwise has no common sense.

Catholics who voted for Obama got what they wanted. A pro-death president that has reversed himself on many other things already in office (Washington Insiders, Lobbyists , and more) but he has not reversed himself on abortion. You wanted him and we all got him.

Peanut Butter Scare

So, I've seen the reports and they say get rid of all your peanut butter. Well, our peanut butter jar we've been eating out of for weeks so I didn't bother throwing that away. Nobody's been getting sick here so I am not too worried.

Today I got a letter from Sam's Club. Their records indicated that I had purchased some peanut butter zone bars and that if there are any left I should return them for a full refund; they're being recalled.

Then I started thinking... I've been having these nasty gassy nights lately where I'm just bloated and feeling like garbage. Normally by the next morning I'm okay but once it lasted into the afternoon the next day. Well, after a while of not eating them, I've taken up eating my zone bars! I'm starting to put two and two together! Ack!

Sealy Customer Support is Awesome!

Six years ago I purchased two pillows. While I was in a JCPenny they had a pillow sale. Sealy Pillows, buy one get one for a $1. The pillows were these Encompass Pillows. They were expensive but they have a 10-year warranty. Who the heck uses a pillow for 10 years? I figured I had two choices, buy a $5.00 pillow every year or spend $31 on two and keep them for 10. Why not?

Well, 6 years from now the pillow is pretty flat and I'm kind waking up with a neck ache. So, I decided to get my receipt out and contact Sealy Customer Support. I e-mailed them. A day later they asked me to send the pillows and they'd give me new ones. I asked if I could have them send me pillows first. They agreed.

I got the new pillows and, honestly, they were defective! The inner core that helps keep it shape was all shoved to one side making the pillow quite uncomfortable. So... I wrote them again. The woman, Beth, was very helpful! She said I could keep those defective ones and she would send me another set of pillows that didn't have an inner core but should still be good for me. In addition. I can continue to keep the old pillows if I wanted. (My children aren't picky and they would welcome the old pillows.)

The response time and the helpfulness of their support was just great. I just love them and will continue to buy Sealy pillows for the rest of my life. Thanks Sealy!

Had a Good Time

On Thursday two weeks ago I was notified that I wouldn't be able to keep both of my IT staff members; the budget just couldn't sustain two people this year. This was a major blow to me and the staffer I had to let go because she was really great. I thoroughly enjoyed working with her and she was really a saving grace there in the department.

Now it's been a week later and bunch of us took her out for a night out. It wasn't necessarily a night for us to commiserate but more of a celebration of who Charla is and an optimistic look at her getting a new job.

So, we went down to Tip Top on Gay Street and we all sat, ate and drank. We had a great time talking about everything from fat cats on leashes to Jesus Christ saving the world. I sprinkled in there my tragic Guinness story and some others.

I had this blackened tilapia that was delicious but the rice that came with it was so spicy I think I lost some taste buds. I love spice and heat but man, that was overwhelming. It was good for the first 10 or so bites, after that I stopped eating it.

Before I left I needed to use the bathroom, of course, three beers will do that to you. I headed to the doors, entered the bathroom; the same one I entered earlier in the night. After coming out everyone was cheering and laughing at me! Not only at my table but others. I was wondering why. I couldn't understand it... then they told me to go back and look on the door...

Sure enough... I went into the women's bathroom.... twice. It never dawned on me that since there were no urinals in there I was in the wrong place. I also considered how there was someone using the stall next to me. whew. With that, I went home. I think I left on a high note.

Newspapers... Supply your carriers with cars!

My mother delivers newspapers for the Northwest Florida Daily News. She's 74 years old and has a great arm. She can toss a paper over the car and it can land on your doorstep.

So, this morning, she is delivering the papers as she has for the last 12+ years. She drives on the left side of the road to get to the newspaper box and deliver the paper. Now, she's normally delivering papers between 3am and 6am. So, there's nobody really on the road.

A police officer pulls her over and says she is not allowed to drive on the left side. She explained that this is the only way to do this efficiently but nonetheless he said, "You can't drive on the wrong side and this is a warning. If you do, I will give you a citation." So, she said okay and proceeded to go around him on what she always thought was a circle drive to get to this one box. He immediately turns on his lights and asks for her license, registration, the usual thing. She got a $133 ticket! She tried to tell him that she was trying to get back on the right side of the road but he would simply yell at her saying, "Tell it to the judge!"

So, this afternoon she calls the newspaper and they say there's nothing they can do for her. She got cited, too bad. She called the officer's boss and he said "You cannot drive on that side of the road." and even said that the US Postal Service drives on the correct side! DUH! They have cars with the driver on the right side. His response was that the Northwest Florida Daily News should supply cars to their paper carriers.

This is unbelievable. For 12 years she has been delivering papers and now she's going to have to take double the amount of time it normally takes her because every 10 feet she will have to stop and get out of her car to deliver papers across the street from her.

I told her the Daily News should do a story on this and put it into the public like a Op-Ed piece. It probably won't happen but I'm submitting this to them anyway. In my humble opinion, the paper should at least be supporting their carriers when they have ridiculous issues like this rather than telling them too bad.

Why have a personal website?

I have been exploring this for a while and I am not entirely sure what I think yet. I have had my own website for many years; since about 1999. I created a blog there before there was really even such a thing as a blog. I built the code and design myself (it's outdated, I need to update it).

The website was a way for me to keep family and friends updated with what was going on in our lives. Well, as you can see, it hasn't been updated since 2007 (as of this writing) and I don't forsee myself updating it anytime soon. At least not with more pictures.

Why? Why have it? With the coming of Web 2.0, now we've got facebook, flickr, youtube, twitter, friendfeed, you name it. There is no real reason to put your life up on one website anymore! That is, unless you simply want to make that one website combine the feeds from all your other websites and that would be a lot of work.

Right now, it's much harder for me to prepare pictures, crop them, resize them and upload them to my own site--the interface that I created to make it easier for myself--than to go into iPhoto and and choose "export to facebook".

Most of my family and friends are on facebook so it's easy to show them my pictures and activity. I can do regular updates of my status on twitter which propagates to facebook and flickr can be linked to facebook, etc.

So, I guess my question is, is there a reason anymore to have a personal website?

Bingo

Bingo is an interesting thing. I never really knew what went on in a bingo hall other than smoking before I had to work it for my kid's school. Every two weeks I head to the bingo hall and sell "instants". In fact, my name is "instant" on Friday nights.

So, here's the basics... People buy the sheets in order to play the main bingo games, there are 20 of them. However, they also buy these instant win games as well. There are many types of instant win games. Their names are all catchy like "Break the Bank" and "Win on Diamonds" or "Banana Rama" and my personal favorite "Rednecks". When you get win with Rednecks, they have a "You might be a redneck" joke with it.

Now, in any given box of these instants there are more than 5,000 tickets and only a handful of real winners. Then there are "holds" which are also called "numbers". People hold onto them and after the entire box is sold (and believe me, they always sell out) then they "call the game". There is a pull-apart tab that the head guy opens and reveals the grand prize winner which could be up to $1,000. Normally it's like $500 bucks though they split up the winners.

So, my job is to put these instants into a utensil tray, the type you would put in your kithen drawer and walk around with hundreds of dollars in cash and sell these instants. People buy them 20, 30 at a time for a dollar a piece. I have seen people shell out over $300 on instants in one shot. These are people who don't have a lot of money! As you sell them, they pop them open and if you're not quick enough to get away fast, they will throw at you the $1 and $5 winners for you to give them more instants in return.

Sometimes you can be stuck at one table for 10 minutes while three or four people around you are yelling "INSTANT!" trying to get you to come to them so they can buy. Others will get up and come to you because you're not moving. Granted, there are 3 - 5 of us on the floor but it doesn't matter, there are never enough sellers on the floor.

Near the end of the night, it gets slow, nobody has any money left to buy so you try to push them on people so you can sell off the box so they can call the jackpot winner. You start looking for people who opened $1, $3, $5 winners and ask them if you want to trade them in for instants. They normally do. When they're down to 50 or so, then one person walks around with them in their hand calling them out "Last of the 33's" just wishing someone would buy them off you.

There are many who are obviously addicted. There are others who pay big to win big. I saw a woman tonight who won the $500 jackpot, an instant pay out of $55, $75 and $100. She was raking in the money! And she never even one a normal bingo game! She walked away a big winner.

Selling instants is back and feet breaking work. But it goes to a good cause. I put up with the people who try to scam me or the irate people who complain I'm scamming them. I put up with the cop that rags on me everytime I take a 5 minute break (once a night) or when I get something to eat since I haven't eaten dinner. In the end, there is terrible beer and not-so-great pizza, but there is good conversation. And it's great to see people win the grand prize.

So, next time you're out in Columbus, come on down to Mater Dei Bingo at St. Mary's on Napoleon avenue near Whitehall. It's smoke free!

A scare at Mass today...

My two-year-old, Nicholas, today was running on the pew and when my 9-year-old grabbed him to stop him, he fell and banged his head full-on. I happened to be out of the pew at the time so I wasn't there to prevent it completely.

He was noticeably sluggish. I took him to the back and tried to see if his eyes were okay (looking for a concussion). He was very lethargic. I went back into the pew and I couldn't keep him awake. I saw my wife's OB/GYN so I grabbed him to look at my son. The doctor said he appeared okay but after I brought him back to the pew, he fell asleep completely; I couldn't keep him awake.

Well, I called my pediatrician and he said that after he wakes up just keep an eye on him and see how he's doing. After we got home, Nick was better and appears to be a normal two-year-old now! Thank the Lord!

A Computer in the Kids Room

I don't known about this. I got a computer from one of the priests at my parish and was going to give it to my Sons' school but I felt it wasn't powerful enough for them to use. It simply was too old. I did procure them another one though.

So, we had this computer, I was going to give it back to my priest to give to someone else but he said to keep it. So, here we are with a computer that perhaps the kids could use. Yeah? Well, my wife comes up with the idea that perhaps we could set it up in their room for them to do school work on and seriously restrict the Internet on it and such. I agreed. I thought it would be fine.

Today is the first day it's been completely operational in their room. I have restricted the Internet to lego.com and pbskids.org so far. This evening they spent more time in their room than they ever do. Could it be the veggietales movie they were watching? Yeah, that was part of it. And the fun they were having on Lego.com.

I dunno man. A computer in the room. This is big. I hope I don't regret it!