Office Software by Google

Google docs and spreadsheets is kinda cool if you need a browser-based word processor or spreadsheet. I can't think why I would buy Office for my kids when these are free...go figure.

Ame 2

Rain. That is what I said. I tell you, we wait for it to rain here in the AZ with grand anticipation. The problem is the while 6" per year thing. So, I have the roofer scheduled for Oct 16. That's 9 days to you and me. Nine. We can't wait for our little storm for a measly 9 days? No, we have to get a gully-washer today and soak the indoors of the new Crandall home. And let me tell you, that really soaks. The back side filled with water (sounds like the start of an enema story) but it would not drain out, so it drained into the basement...a little at a time. Just enough to drip in 4-5 places and cause extreme constraination. I tried with all my might to suck out the fluid with a rather large machine I purchased at Home Depot but the damage was already done. Debi used the ever popular 'closing the barn door after the cows are already out' speech on me. That one never gets old. The kicker is that the forecast including the extended forecast shows no more rain until the roof is on. Famous last words.

You see, the issue is that the roofing had to be pealed back in order to tie the framing into the existing house. That said, I thought the

So, basement living isn't all it's cracked up to be. More butt jokes. Sorry. I think our biggest problem is no kitchen.

We put the *fun* in funeral

I went to a funeral today. Dick Campbell, the guy I spoke of a few days ago. It was nice. I wish everyone knew him. He was one great guy. Parkinsons disease robbed us of a great man. Two things that were funny and I must record them:

Teri, Dick's daughter, had a *friend* over and Dick came wandering out into the kitchen in his underware. Teri, embarassed, told her dad to get something on to meet her friend. He returned a moment later, still in his underware but wearing a cowboy hat. He asked, "Is this better?"

Steve, his brother, got up and said, "Dick's favorite color was brown. I didn't have a brown suit to wear, so I went out and got this blue tie that has a little brown in it. It cost me $50 bucks. I guess I can return it when we're done..." He went on to say that maybe it would become his favorite tie. I really enjoyed the funeral. Too bad but great for him...

I burned down the fence and other lies

OK, busted. I lied to my parents when I was young. I did it to make sure I didn't get in trouble. It worked. I, however, had to come clean and appologize to them later. That was bad. I should not have done it and I think it is being done to me to some degree. I can tell when the lies come out, and I think my folks could too.

The first lie I remember was when I was playing with matches with Lisa, my next door neighbor in Phoenix. When we were done playing with the matches, we simply took all the cardboard and match covers and papers we burned and threw them into the alley. The alley ran behind the Beck's house. For those who don't know what an alley is for, the garbage cans were kept back there and the truck would come through the alley once a week and collect it. This thoroughfare was not paved and was full of weeds. You can see it coming down 5th Avenue, can't you? To top things off and complete the picture, the city would periodically drive through the alleys spraying the weeds to try to control them along the fences of the neighbors -- the wooden fences, that is. I think I have set the stage completely now. Allegedly, when the half-burnt materials were gently discarded into the alley, they must have set alite the weeds which in turn torched the fence. I didn't know this until the firetruck arrived. I didn't even make the connection until Lisa asked me later if it could have been our materials and carelessness that caused this scene. I assured her that I had no clue and began to feel the guilt.

By the time my mom asked me if I had done this, I said, 'No.' I guess I could have left it at that, but being the helpful/lying soul that I am/was I hinted that maybe Danny Blaine may have done it. That was safe, you see, because he was a little older than I was, he was known for his mischevious ways, and my family never spoke to their family. I don't even know if my parents knew where the Blaine family lived. Still, a fitting scapegote was he. I gave no inference that I had witnessed the arson but rather planted the idea seed deeply enough in my folks' heads that they began to reason that Danny fit the crime. I think I fessed up to this one when I was about 30 years old. Accidentally.

The second lie involved a movie I shouldn't have seen in a place I shouldn't have been seeing a girl I didn't want to see while there doing something she shouldn't have been doing. Sorry, this one may need a diagram. Cheerleader movie, South Twin Drive-In, Amy L., Coors. When I went home I told my mom I ran into Amy at the movie...and she was drinking. Mom and Dad were both surprised because there aren't many theaters they could think of that would allow drinking. Oops. I thought of the only one I could think of -- The Valley Art. Sometime I could go just on the Valley Art. But, the Valley Art in Tempe was quite a ways north of where I actually was -- the South Twin. Drinking IS allowed in any drive-in thearer. The problem was if I told my folks which theater I went to they would have been able to figure out the kind of movie I attended. To be fair, I think the Cheerleader movies then would be rated PG-13 now. Oh well. This one my mom will have to read in my blog before I come clean on it...watch for comments.

Two blogs and a packet of gravel

OK, The Devils are worse than I thought. I really don't know what else to say. No amount of explaining can excuse this performance...I hope I am reading this in a year and we have a new coach.