Estabilshed 1999 AD
Jess’s dream job interview is on Tuesday not Wednesday as mentioned in the previous post. The post has been corrected at this time.
Please route any prayer traffic you were planning to send on Wednesday to Tuesday instead. I know the big guy upstairs has his own plans since the day we were born, but it does not hurt to ask for something now and again.
Greetings and Salutations Faithful Stapleton Blog Readers
It appears that I have let the blog go slightly stale again but not too much. Kind of like eating bread that is just 2 days out of date but still looks good. As opposed to eating bread a week out of date with mold on it.
Let’s see what has been going on since the last update. On June 8th we had the annual family reunion at Cedar Lakes. The attendance was pretty good it was a little hot however. Jess didn’t make it because of a migraine and that bummed her out she really wanted to go. But all in all a good time was had by all.
(See pictures of happy family below.)
My next week was spent on the road doing customer calls and conducting a user group meeting. The last 2 weeks of June were spent in the old home office doing software testing for a major release. If you have never performed software testing let me describe it to you this way. Imagine repeatingly poking your own eye out with a hot poker, realizing you have put on lawn aeration spike shoes in the wrong direction, while simultaneously receiving a prostate exam. Sure the job is needed and necessary but it is painful to endure.
There was a bright spot to my testing weeks. I helped Jess’s dad remodel a kitchen in one of his rental units. Just the kind of job I like. Lots of demolition, absolutely no straight walls, and we did not have to do the finish work. I ended up the month of June with starting a massive conversion at one of my banks on June 30th. The customer is happy but I am not satisfied at this point. I think that several more things need to fall consistently into place before I feel like I can walk away from this one. If you looked at my twitters at all this week you know what I talking about.
On the Mrs. Stapleton front we continue to progress with her recovery and the search for work. A lot of people ask me how she feels and all I can say is she has good days and bad days. Fortunately there are a lot more good days than bad days. So if I respond to you this way please do not think that I am blowing you off; there just is not a better way to describe it. She continues to be treated twice a week at Davis Chiropractic and sees her pain management doctor about every 4 weeks. The non-narcotic cocktail that he has her on is working pretty well so we are obviously very pleased.
(Psst let me tell you a little joke I made, I thought it was hilarious Jess found it not so much.)
We were coming home from the grocery store one night a couple of weeks ago in her car and I looked down at the odometer. She only has about 1300 miles on the car and that is for about 6 months. In contrast I have had my Camry about 45 days and have 3000. That immediately lead me to thinking about putting an ad in the paper.
For sale 2008 Toyota Camry great condition only 1500 miles. Garage kept only driven to the doctor, store, and church on Sunday.
I immediately started cracking up, again Jess not so much.
All joking aside she is doing better and is getting quite a few hits on her resumes. (Jess does not think so but she really is.) She is going to an interview on Tuesday for her dream job. So please keep her in your prayers she could use a good boost right now. All in all she is recovering nicely we knew with soft tissue damage it was going to be a long road to travel. However when you are the one who’s life has been put on hold time does not pass too quickly. Getting better day by day is only cool in the movies with a nice music montage behind it. (Preferably 80’s music of course) Or as I have told her on many occasions
“A Storm is only pretty from a distance when you are not the one in the middle of it.”
(I made that one full credit to me and copyright to JakeStapleton.com)
Well that’s about it from Stapleton HQ sorry for the short update but not really all that much going on right now that I did not mention in my intervening posts. Everyone take care, that’s the news and I am outta here.
Hard to believe that he’s been gone 19 years this November. Sad thing is I do not even remember the last Father’s Day that I had with him. I am sure that beyond a hastily chosen card I did nothing for him. But then I think remembering a passed father is not about every holiday that you spent with him. It is about all the times that you remember so vividly that you can describe in every detail.
For example I can remember riding home with him one night from a Boy Scout meeting. It was about 8:30 on a summer evening and Dad was listening to the 8-track player in his Black Chrysler New Yorker. “My Way” by Frank Sinatra was playing and we were passing the corner of 5th Ave & 11st St at what was then the “First National Bank of Huntington” building. We had the windows down and I was enjoying the cruise through town.
Why do I remember that so vividly? What was so special about that moment that it was seared in my memory? It was when Dad introduced me yet again to the music of Frank Sinatra but I actually paid attention that time. I remember thinking that this is not too bad, maybe all Dad’s music is not awful. Today when I listen to my Frank Sinatra music I think of Dad every time.
It is not always huge events, Holidays, or all the times that you think you should remember that end up being important to you when a parent passes. It is all the little times that you spent with them that mean nothing right then but yet live with you so vividly forever for one reason or another.
Happy Father’s Day Dad
Greetings and Salutations Faithful Stapleton Blog Readers
Well I have let the blog go a little stale again. I guess I don’t really feel like it since I twitter everyday. But I digress.
It has been a fairly uneventful couple of weeks here at Stapleton HQ. Petey is recovering well from his procedure; he is off all of his drugs and we believe his hearing is back to normal.
Jess continues to receive therapy and treatment from the wreck. June 2nd marks 20 weeks and her recovery is progressing. There are good days and bad days, that is just about the best way I can put it. She is making progress everyday. Her attitude remains good for the most part, but bringing your life to a screeching halt for 20 weeks is hard for anyone to take. She has been a trooper, but as you can expect there is frustration, irritation, & uncertainty that she deals with everyday. I think the next big step to her recovery is getting back into the job market. She sent out her first stack of resumes on Friday and she has already received several hits. Please continue to keep her in your prayers; we still have a long road to travel to get back to”normal”. (That’s a loaded term in this family)
I have spent the last couple of weeks catching up on customer visit’s and paperwork. I took a long Memorial Day weekend and did not touch a laptop, Blackberry, or a single piece of work. It fell good but I really could have used a longer break. (I am thinking sun, sand, waves, & my cell phone floating in the surf.) Jess and I went to go see the new Indiana Jones movie, which was the low point of my weekend; I was really disappointed with it. As a special treat for my long 4 day weekend I went out and got Poison Ivy. I am on the down hill slope but it was a bad case. Hopefully it will be cleared up by the end of the week.
After a lengthy search for the Poison Ivy that infected me; I located it under the ugly, rotten, red deck that I never have taken off the back of the house. It appears that I was infected while weed eating and I threw the Poison Ivy all over my shins at a high velocity for a really nice splatter effect. This was all the excuse I needed to exact my revenge on the Poison Ivy and the deck in one act of pure unmitigated vengeance. (That sounded particularly evil, go ahead and picture me stroking Phoebe with an evil laugh)
This culminated last Saturday with the use of multiple power tools, hand tools, trash trucks, and a trip to the dump! It does not get much better than that. My original plan was to take the deck off with a chain saw last Friday evening. So I borrowed one of my father in laws trucks (yes he has 3) and his chain saw. Resistance by the deck was intense. It appears that the wood was petrified. All the chain saw did was smoke when it hit the wood. So I called for backup and Rick came down and give me a hand. So we spent Saturday morning tearing the deck off the house and killing the Poison Ivy. It was a fun exercise; demolition is always better than construction.
The entire NuVentures fleet on maneuvers.
Ugly Deck I have you now!
Crap what do I do with the space now?
I am leaning towards a screened in patio with a concrete floor. If anyone has any better ideas for the space please feel free to submit them.
Just don’t dream too big we have to be careful how much money we spend on the house. Recently we had another appraisal on the house for the re-finance/completion of our home loan. (dropped the rate 120 basis points YES!) The house came in right where we wanted it that is both a good and bad thing. It’s good because when we re-finished the house before we moved in and completed the basement we got all that money back in the increased appraisal. The bad news it that the appraisal put us in the higher end for our block and comparables. So anything else we do big dollar to the house we most likely won’t recoup in resale. So as far as I am concerned the house is done for big dollar stuff. The house still has a lot of flexibility left in it so I am not too concerned.
Well that’s just about it from Stapleton HQ. I am looking forward to the family reunion this weekend. Hopefully Jess can handle the car ride to Ripley and we can enjoy sometime visiting with everyone.
Everyone take care that’s the news I am outta here!
