Shua and the Vikings!

It's been too long

2010-06-03T01:04:00.006-06:00

Well, I have realized it has been way too long since I have even logged into my blog. There are so many things that have happened in my life since I last posted, that I don't even know where to start. Let's see......

*We moved to California in September of 2009.

*I quit my job at CirclePix to work for my Father-in-law in San Diego and help one of my wife's dreams come true. Living in So-Cal. It is painfully sweet to be here. We have loved every minute of it, well except not seeing my family as much.

*We are renting out our Provo house, which has been more work than I was looking for. We are comming up on our next year for renting, and I just want to close my eyes.

*I am taking Real Estate classes to help me with my overall goal of buying, remodeling and flipping houses. At least I think that is what I want to do.

*We are trying to purchase a house in San Diego, which I am finding can be very difficult, even though there are hundreds of houses out here.

*I am also finding out that you can buy 4 times the house (square footage) in Utah than you can here, for the same price. That is seriously messed up. Especially in this economy.

*My Vikings signed Brett "the JET" Favre last season and came so close to going all the way. Now lets hope he comes back one more time. But here is an idea, let's get a quarterback that can train behind him. Neither one of our current back-ups are good enough to be second string, let alone start in a year.

I am sure there are many other things that have happened, I just can't think of them right now, since it is 12:15am on Thursday morning.

Well, for anyone that is still following me, I am going to try and write more on the blog, but if you really want to know what is going on, you need to follow my wife's blog. She really keeps us updated in the world.

Until 2012 :) Let's hope not, but who knows.

Preece-out!

Carry on the name!

2008-12-30T17:19:00.003-07:00

This past week as everyone was celebrating Christmas and the life of Christ, my family was also celebrating the life of my Grandfather, Charles Merlin Preece. He passed away on December 16th from complications of surgery.

Though we all knew this day would come, it felt like it just came too soon. There was always something else we wanted to do, something else we wanted to say. However, if you procrastinate long enough, you are bound to miss out on something.

Not my Grandfather though, nope. He would never let something go till the next day, he would get up at the crack of dawn and not sleep till it was all done. Then up and at it again the next day.

We always talked about spending more time out there with him, and visiting him during the summer months. But, there was always something that would come up and we would postpone the trip to see him.

Right before he passed away, I got to spend the night in the hospital with him. Of course he wasn't alert most of the time, but you could tell he was listening. As everyone gathered around him we all said a couple things we were grateful for and the life that he lived.

One thing my Grandmother mentioned was his desire to "get that elk". He always dreamed about shooting a trophy size elk and being able to brag it up to the town of Vernal. Well this past summer, he drew out a permit to hunt in the Book Cliffs, just outside of Vernal, Utah. Needless to say, he got his trophy elk and was able to brag up a storm to the entire town, and then some.

Here he is pictured carrying the antlers of this elk, which measured a 397 on the Boone and Crockett scale.
I will miss you Grandpa, I will miss the stories, chili, sourdough pancakes, early morning wake ups, your uncontrollable laughing where you shake so hard you about fall over, but most of all I will miss the chance to talk and bond with you and have you share in the lives of my family, wife and children.

Don't worry I will make sure they know who their dad was named after and the great man that their Great Grandfather was and the legend that he left.

I love you and will miss you.

Joshua Charles Preece

Playoffs!

2008-12-29T16:44:00.002-07:00

Well, since this whole thing with the blog started, I haven't had a chance to really talk about any success with my team.......yes the Vikings. Minnesota Vikings to be exact.

I have been a Viking fan for about 9 years now, and e very year they give me hope for the playoffs, and then they crush my hopes and dreams.

2 years ago, they started 6-0 and then finished the season 8-8 missing the playoffs. Last year, all they had to do is win one of their final 2 games......what happened? Well they lost both and watched the Redskins take the final "wild card" spot and then lose in the first round.

So this year, before the season even started they (the Vikings) went out and got more talent. They acquired Jared Allen from Kansas City as well as Bernard Berrian from Chicago, in hopes to make their season something to look forward to.

All the sports writers started to call it: Vikings win the NFC North Division and possibly a trip to the Super Bowl, with a possible record of 13-3. When they started 1-3, I started to see my season ending hopes not turn out the way they were supposed to. They benched the then "Franchise Quarterback" Tarvaris Jackson, and brought in Gus Frerotte the OLD TIMER, hoping that he would make a difference.

It all looked to be a pretty good move until he got hurt in week 15 against Arizona, at which time the team turned back to Jackson, and prayed that he could again win one of the next 2 games to take the team to the playoffs.

Sound familiar? It should, he was put in the same situation last year.

So you can understand if I don't get my hopes up when they are facing Atlanta, one of the hotest teams in the NFL with a rookie quarterback, and NY Giants, the defending Super Bowl champions. The only thing they had going for them, is both games are to be played in the Metrodome.

For those that don't follow the game, that is the home field of the Minnesota Vikings.

To my dismay, Jackson, somehow found a way to lose to the Falcons in week 16, which left the hopes of clinching the division simply floating away. As now they would need to face the Giants. A team that somehow always finds a way to win. Last year they had to win their last 7 road games to make the playoffs and then miraculously found a way to defeat the "unbeaten Patriots". And this year, with the retirement of Michael Strahan, and loss of Osi to injury and Burress to stupidity, they somehow found a way to clinch their division, one which has been ranked as one of the hardest divisions in the NFL.

This was not a situation that I was hoping to leave in the hands of Jackson.

Yet somehow, they found a way to drive down the field on one of the toughest defensive units and hit the game winning field goal, securing them a place in their first playoff appearance since 2001.

So in short.......MY VIKINGS ARE IN THE PLAYOFFS!

It is party time.

YouTube

2008-11-12T16:37:00.005-07:00

I just found out this afternoon that I have a YouTube Channel. How crazy is that? I signed up for a gmail account and got a YouTube channel with it. It almost sounds like one of those info-mercials. "By now and we will throw 'x' in for free"!

Anyway, I have been working these past couple of months in promoting YouTube Channels to our clients at work. It is a pretty sweet program, we build a channel, host all their videos and create new videos through their images on their company site.

With out divulging any "corporate info", it has been a pretty good hit with our clients. The tough part is in this market to get them to pay for more items and marketing than they already have/do. It is not an easy sell when it comes right down to it, but it is very effective and has great reward for the client.

Check out my YouTube channel here

And then enjoy! More updates are coming soon, so far all I have are YouTube videos I have watched and marked as favorites.

As soon as I learn to upload videos I will add more interesting ones. For now, you will have to do with the basics.

Vote/Register Video

2008-11-05T11:37:00.004-07:00

If anyone knows me, they know I am not a big fan of voting. I have issues in regards to whether my vote counts and how the system works. However I have been convinced by friends and family to ensure I vote this election.

I know it is over now, but I thought I would share this video with everyone, about voting and making your voice heard. It is pretty funny.

WARNING, VIDEO CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE, PROCEED WITH CAUTION!

And just so you all know, I did vote this election and upheld my duties. Though my vote counted in the state race, it wasn't merely enough to make a difference in the Presidential race. Oh well, Rome wasn't built in a day.....right?

MasterCard

2008-10-01T15:26:00.003-06:00

I love the MasterCard commercials, there are ones out there that are kind of stupid, but then there is this one that is out the park. Watch the whole thing, you will be laughing out of your seat.

Entrapment or Legal?

2008-09-25T14:30:00.012-06:00

I was eating lunch the other day and noticed a strange situation taking place on the street. There was a gentleman who was walking across the street, in a crosswalk, and a car did not stop to let him cross. All the sudden, a police car threw his car in drive, flipped on the sirens and took off after this car.I thought, "man he must have been speeding or something, going pretty fast and the cop nailed him". I went about my lunch and talking to my friend, then he noticed that the same guy was crossing the street again......guess what happened next? Yep, another police car flipped on the sirens and pulled the guy over.

As we sat there enjoying our lunch and the laughter of other people, as well as ourselves, we watched as over 25 cars were pulled over for "failure to yield the right away to a pedestrian in a crosswalk".It actually became quite fun to watch as anywhere from 4-6 cop cars lined up on each side of the street and waited in line to take down the next driver. All the while, the same guy made more than 15 passes at the same intersection, would wait until traffic would pick back up and take that first daring step into the crosswalk.I pose the question, "is that any sort of entrapment as the police try to meet quota and pull over their victims"? Please post your answers, thoughts or ticket numbers if you were caught. And beware of this same operation taking place in a neighborhood near you. It was brought to my attention today that this is not the first time a city has teamed up in an effort to meet quotas.

Been a while!

2008-09-19T17:04:00.004-06:00

Well it has been another 4 weeks or so. I need to get back in the swing of things, however I have found the life of FaceBook. And I am hooked. It is so nice to get back in touch with old friends and even connect with family, and co-workers. I love it.
I have built a couple of new things and added new photos. We went to Target last weekend and got pics of the girls. You will have to check them out on my facebook profile. If you are not on facebook, here is a short preview, but you should think of joining.

Dream Come True!

2008-08-25T17:10:00.006-06:00

Well I can officially say that one of my dreams has come true.

I now have my own Chest Freezer in my back yard. I have wanted to get one of these for the longest time. I love to buy things is big bulk and now I have the storage place to do it.
When I was growing up, my parents always bought beef from a slaughter house, a lot of the time this beef was from one of the cows that we had purchased in the spring. We would go to the cattle auction with my grandfather in Vernal, Utah (actually it was Maeser, Utah) and purchase a cow. My grandfather would then raise it through the summer, and then we would slaughter it for beef.
As a kid growing up, this was one way to make money. I would purchase the cow for about $0.97/lb and then sell it for about $1.50/lb. The extra money would go to pay my grandfather for feed and maintenance and the rest would go to the bank.

Not a whole lot of money, but about $250 per year. It was more fun than anything.

Anyway, this past weekend I bought a 7.0 cubic foot chest freezer and put it in my back yard. Now I can stock it full of excess food and beef. That just means more BBQ time for me, as the main reason I don't cook more is cause it is always at the spur of the moment.
BBQ here I come!

The car is sold!

2008-08-25T16:55:00.004-06:00

Well, after posting my car for sale on KSL.com 2 different times, it is finally sold. I actually got what I expected to get out of it. $3800, it was blue book at $4246, but there was 2 small things wrong with it and they were about $500 to fix. So all in all, I consider it a great sale.
The funny thing is; the guy that bought it was so excited to purchase it, I could barely get the keys in his hands before he gave me the money and drove off. He didn't even test drive it at all. And by that I mean, he started the car and said, "sweet, here you go" and gave me the money.

I guess he was stoked about it, and so was I.

I paid off my wife's new car, the 2002 Ford Explorer and now I drive her old car, 2000 Oldsmobile Intrigue. Not a bad car, but the first day I drove it, the driver's side window gears broke. That is like $500 to fix, so I went to Auto Zone and bought some glue and put the window back in place. Total repair = $3.99 and 2 hours. Definitely worth it.

Now I can't roll the window down, but I wasn't going to spend $500 to fix something that I don't really need to fix. I am planning to run the car into the ground, so no need to fix it....right?

It has been too long!

2008-08-13T14:29:00.016-06:00

So I have been told by a number of people that........I SUCK! I hope it is mainly because I have not blogged in almost 2 months. I have just had so many things going on that I have not been able to take the time to do so.

When I say so many things, I am talking about:

A) Fantasy Football Draft

B) Setting up another Fantasy Football League

C) Playing Softball with my co-workers, and

D) Trying to sell my car, and buy a new one.....to keep the wife happy. :)

As you can see these things are all of the up-most importance. Especially the Fantasy Football, I am in a record 6 leagues this year. 3 are with the same basic group of guys. However each team is of the up-most importance. However 2 of them are only a "PICK-EM" League, so it will only take a couple of minutes each week.

Other than that, I really don't have a very good excuse for sucking it up that bad. i hope you can all continue to view my blog, it is still my goal to keep everyone informed on my life as well as my families life. And by the way, we sent my daughter, Jayla, off to San Diego for a week and we can't wait to see her again on Friday. We have missed her a ton, though it has been really quiet while she has been gone.

Oh yeah and I also had a new baby....well my wife had the baby. Sadee Lilianna Preece was born on July 26th, at 2:52pm weighed 8 lbs and was 20 inches long.

And by the way, we sent my daughter, Jayla, off to San Diego for a week and we can't wait to see her again on Friday. We have missed her a ton, though it has been really quiet while she has been gone.

What's in a name?

2008-06-24T15:55:00.003-06:00

"A name is an artificial and meaningless convention", as Juliet (Capulet) so eloquently put it.

At this time I find myself struggling to find that perfect name for my unborn child. Of course I don't have to worry about the battles between the Montague's and Capulet's, but I do need to worry of how my daughter is going to go about her life. No disrespect intended, however my wife and I grew up with pretty common names, where there were other Josh's or Laura's in our classrooms growing up. We do not want that for our children.

"Joshua" in 1979 was used 31,106 times and was ranked #9 most popular. "Laura" in 1984 was used 14,801 times and was ranked #19 most popular. My name outranks hers by over 16,000; however we both feel that her name was still just as popular growing up.

I don't want my kids to have crazy names, but something a little less popular. Jayla's name was ranked #99 in 2006 and used a total of 15,209 times in the past 8 years, even though we made it up.

So now I am at a stand still, how do I compete or compare my next daughter to Jayla in regards to the name? How do I come up with a name that can compare to that of her sister's. We have come to the conclusion of the following names:

Sadee - (that spelling) Has not been in the top 1000 names in the past 18 years and is not even on the charts yet this year.
Lilianna - Has been used only 904 times in the past 3 years, and was not on the chart prior to 2005. And has not climbed above #815 of most popular.

So tell me what you think. They are both well below the averages.

*Name data are from Social Security card applications for births that occurred in the United States.

Oil Myth, 3,000 miles or not?

2008-06-17T09:34:00.004-06:00

I saw an interesting article on Yahoo about the amount of miles in which you should change the oil in your vehicle. It made me really think about why everyone changes the oil at 3,000 miles. I have done it just because that is "what I was told to do".

Not only are people changing their oil more than needed/required, we are also helping to pollute the environment. In fact this article states "Californians alone generate about 153.5 million gallons of waste oil annually". Question is, How much of this oil is due to changing your oil too frequently?

I know many people that would argue one way vs the other, such as Jalopnik, however in the state we are in with oil prices on the rise, we should at least consider the benefits of waiting a little longer than we are used to before changing the oil. Not so long that your engine ceases up, just enough to do our part for the economy.

Or at least take 2 minutes and read what "the experts" say. I was very intrigued by the knowledge and options that have now been presented.

The return of MY BOYS!

2008-06-06T16:21:00.010-06:00

My wife and I got hooked on a show last year called My Boys, this show is coming back for season 3 on June 12th, and we are stoked. This show is about Baseball and reading the signals, with analogies to real life.

I love it, for anyone that doesn't know what this show is all about, you need to watch this clip. It is hilarious, best of all, one of the characters, Bobby (featured below), reminds me of my boss. I think it is more looks than attitude, but I can still see a little bit of him in Bobby.

The show is on TBS on Thursday nights, 9:30/8:30 central. I am so stoked that it is back, every time I see it I can not stop laughing, it is so funny.

I hope you all enjoy it as well.

Softball Season

2008-05-29T16:30:00.010-06:00

I play in a Provo Men's Softball League with a group of guys from my work, we have had a very interesting season as we started out losing most.....ok all of our games, up until we reached 13. Yep, we started the 16 game season as 0-13. Which if any of you have been on these types os teams, you can image how it feels.

However, we did not give up and were able to finish the season 3-0, we are just going to forget the previous 13 games. But seriously, we turned it around at the end of the season and were able to finish with some wins.

It took some great catches

And even some great hits, including 14 home runs as a team. Including 1 Grand Slam!

So what if 3-13 is still last place, at least there are 3 teams out there that lost to us. And there is still the playoffs, and then next season, which I believe starts in July. So we are looking into any types of trades and offers, or even just a little off season training.

It has been fun and has allowed me to get back into the sport that I love. Ok, well softball isn't the same as baseball, but it is as close as I think I will ever get to actually playing baseball again.

Test Results are in!

2008-05-19T12:58:00.002-06:00

So I was supposed to post these results on May 17th, however my internet was not working at the time, so sorry for the delay. Here are the results along with the # of responses each answer got. 11 people took the test, here is how many voted for each.

Q1: What is your favorite tv show?
The Office (6) Friends (3) CSI (2)

Q2: Which sport would you rather watch?
Football (7) Basketball (3) Soccer (1)

Q3: What is your favorite make of automobile?
Honda (5) Chevrolet (3) Ford (3)

Q4: What is your favorite food?
Mexican (7) American ie:Burgers or Steak (3) Chinese (1)

Q5: Do you have a blog?
Yes (10) No (1)

Only 10 people completed the second page

Q6: Have you ever cheated on a test?
Yes (8) No (1) I'm not telling (1)

Q7: Have you ever lied to your boss?
Just little white lies (5) Yes (4) No(1)

Q8: When was the last time you read a book?
Last week (6) Last month (3) Within the last year (1)

Q9: Who would you vote for if you voted for President of the United States today?
McCain (5) Obama (2) None of the above (2) Myself (1)

Q10: What gender are you?
Male (5) Female (5)

I hope you all enjoyed this as much as I did. Thanks for reading and commenting (Ty Roberts).

Glass or Glass?

2008-05-12T11:30:00.008-06:00

So my wife and I had an interesting discussion over the past couple of days, which was regarding the definition of a glass. Yes, a glass, the thing that you use when you want a glass of milk.

You see, it actually started when we got married, whenever I get something to drink, I use a glass. However my wife calls it a cup. She says that anything that is not "glass" is a cup, I say it is a glass.

Of course I also call the other glasses, glass glasses. You know because they are made of glass. You have to be able to discern the difference between the plastic and the glass drinking devises. Therefore I call them "glass glasses".
So this dispute was issued out to our neighbors and friends over the past couple of days. I am trying to find out if there are any other people out there that understand and agree with my point of view.

Are plastic drinking devises called glasses or cups? And I am not talking about those flimsy plastic cups you buy at Sam's Club and get 400 for like $5.00
I am talking about the ones in your cupboard. The ones that everyone uses when they want a glass of milk, juice, or even some water.

Please help me resolve this dispute.

Fun little test

2008-05-02T10:12:00.002-06:00

So yesterday my company sent out a little test to all the employees. I went to the website to see if I could create a test. I wanted to see what it was and how hard it was. So here is the test that I created. It is only 10 questions, but I thought I would share it will you and then show the results.

Test

I will post the results on May 17th, 2008. Thanks for your participation.

The Bee Movie

2008-04-17T11:34:00.012-06:00

Over Thanksgiving Laura, Jayla and I traveled down to San Diego to see my wife's family. We spent the Saturday after Thanksgiving cleaning up the back yard, there was a lot of junk from their constant remodel of their house. When we were finishing up, after about 3 hours of working and cleaning, Nick, my brother-in-law, found this beehive that was over top of our heads the entire time.

We were shocked that we had not noticed it before, and even more shocked that while working there we had not disturbed them enough that they would sting us or anything like that. So we came up with a plan to cut down the branch it was stuck to. We grabbed a 30 gallon trashcan and filled it with water, moved the trashcan to where we thought the hive would fall once we cut it.
As I positioned the trashcan in place I looked around and saw that everyone but Nick and myself had taken cover in the house. I guess we were the last, so we were the chosen. We got everyone into place, walked through the steps of survival, wrote out our last will and testament; it's a good thing my father-in-law is an Estate Planning Lawyer, he had the documents drawn up by the time we were in place.

And.......well the rest you will see below: Enjoy!

Jayla's First Date

2008-04-11T11:28:00.003-06:00

I was wondering when this day would come. In fact I was a little worried about her first date with the neighbor Alex Howcroft. I wasn't sure how her other boyfriend Tyler Bulloch would take it, but for now he doesn't know, and we will keep it that way for as long as possible.

Though I came to realize that there was nothing to worry about and that Jayla took care of herself. In fact at a couple times on the date, Jayla would take a fry off Laura's plate and feed it to Alex.

It looks like my little girl can learn to take care of herself after all!

Incredible Birth

2008-04-09T16:46:00.005-06:00

I was just reading on MSN about this baby that was born in India with 2 faces. It is truly remarkable and interesting to see how the baby is doing. Here is a pic of little Lali. As a parent I think I worry about stuff like this happening to one of my kids, mainly because of the way they will be treated as they grow up.
The article actually states that both mouths can drink milk and she will be able to see out of all her eyes. The condition is called "craniofacial duplication" and apparently very rare and dangerous, however baby Lali is doing just fine.

Jayla Morphs into Jodi Sweetin

2008-03-28T16:57:00.003-06:00

MyHeritage: Celebrity Morph - Geneology - Dynasty

Easter Surprise!

2008-03-27T11:23:00.006-06:00

A neighbor of ours received some baby chicks for Easter from their parents. They were so dang cute, but Jayla freeked out when she went to hold one and it moved.
What a picture, she seemed to be astonished when what she thought was a toy, didn't hold still. All in all, it was a great day with a nice family picture in the front yard, of course with the chick, which we did give back to our neighbors.
Jayla, also participated in 3 different Easter Egg hunts, which the first 2 were just a tester to get her ready for the biggest hunt of them all.....at Grandma and Grandpa Preece's house in West Jordan. This is where all the skill pays off as Jayla has to compete against her cousins. Unfortunately her older cousins couldn't make it and so the only competition was her twin cousins who are 4 months old. Therefore the competition was really between myself and Nic, the two dads of the little children. As you can see Jayla ran around wondering where all the candy was going as I was throwing more and more candy in her bucket.
When all was said and done, Jayla had 27 pieces of candy, which she got to eat about 7 of them, the rest was put to rest in Laura and my stomachs. It was a good weekend, and Jayla looked great in her new Easter dress, that Aunt Julia bought her. Next year we will have to start training a little sooner for the hunt, as she will have more competition with the other cousins.

A new surprise!

2008-03-27T11:12:00.002-06:00

Well, we found out a couple of weeks ago that we are having another girl! Yep, that would be 2 for us now. It is really crazy, cuz as much as I am excited, I really thought we were going to have a boy. We had the name picked out and everything was planned.

Now, I guess all I have to do is pick out a name. I mean Jayla's clothes will still fit the new baby and the room won't change much. So I guess it is a good thing. Less work for me.....right? At least for now. Just wait until the two girls are 13 and 15, that will be interesting.

If anyone has any ideas for a name, please respond because we are trying really hard, and just can't come up with a name. It shouldn't be that tough, right? I mean it is only the name that she will be known as for the rest of her life. Ok, so it is kind-of a big thing.

Selling my YELLOW Beamer!

2008-03-04T14:15:00.005-07:00

Well, as many of you know, I drive a yellow 2003 Cavalier. This was the first car that I bought brand new. There was less than 1 mile on it when they courted it off the showroom floor. The best part is, only 3 years after picking it out, I paid it off. So it then became my first car that I bought and paid for completely.

I have grown to love this car, it is small, fast and light on the gas. In the past 5 years, I have put 60,000 miles on it, which isn't too bad when you look at it on an equation of 12,000 miles per year or 1,000 miles per month.

Anyway, my wife, Laura, and I were talking about the changes that are coming our way and with her being pregnant with our second child, and refusing to drive a stick shift. It left us with only one choice............yep I gotta sell my car.

We are looking at upgrading to a bigger car that would fit 2 car seats in the back along with some luggage room. Currently Laura drives an Oldsmobile Intrigue, which has been a descent car for us. We also paid it off last year. If anyone knows of an SUV type car for around $8,000 that is what we are looking for. NO MINI-VANS PLEASE!

Well I will keep you posted!

Tribute!

2008-02-14T16:03:00.003-07:00

Here is a tribute to the greatest 50 NBA Players of all time. Has the list changed? Maybe, then again maybe not. What sets these 50 apart from everyone else? They stood out among their peers as the elite.

Are there athletes today with the same talents as these 50?......Yeah there is, but these guys did it first.

I miss watching most of these guys play, of course there are a couple that I can't stand, not to mention any names but Bill Walton......I can't stand his voice, his commentating, or his son.
And then there are guys that I wish would still play the game.....John Stockton for one. He was one of the smartest players to ever play the game. Un-selfish and determined to succeed. He never won the championship, but he continues to live on in many fans eyes as one of the best point gaurds to ever play the game.

John this is to you.

Remodeling the house

2008-02-13T15:40:00.003-07:00

Well, Laura and I decided that it was time to remodel our house. I mean we have lived there for almost 3 years and we still have the ugly BLUE carpet that we tried to get the previous owners to remove before they left.

To no avail, however we have a neighbor that installs and his brother sells carpet so we decided to have a go at it. We bought new carpet for the Living Room, Stairs and Hallway upstairs. We also decided to put in new wood flooring in the kitchen and extend it out to the dining room. (which previously had the ugly blue carpet)

On top of that we decided to replace the base boards with new ones that were a little taller, and of course we had to paint them. Since we were painting them, we mine as well paint the rest of the room, only from the chair rail down.

So needless to say, my days this past month have been tied up in carpentry and other detailed work. I am happy with the outcome, which I will gather pictures once it is completed and post them.

For now you have to settle for Jayla trying to take over my saw. Which by the way is totally awesome.

I will look for newer pics of the remodel, and let you see the difference. Until then!

Preece-Out

Super Bowl......Enjoyed or Disappointed?

2008-02-05T12:10:00.000-07:00

WOW!

I am a little shocked at the outcome of the Super Bowl. However I can tell you that I was on the edge of my seat until the last play of the game. I saw it playing out a little different in my head. I am sure that Tom Brady and the Patriots did too.

I thought it was going to be a classic last drive down the field and cap it off with a fade route to the corner of the end zone................oh wait that is what happened, just to the other team than expected.

I won't lie, I was on the band-wagon for the Patriots to win and go undefeated. In fact I was predicting a blowout game by the end of the first half. I really wanted to see a perfect season. Maybe next year.

Though my feelings are not hurt that bad. I still got to witness one of the best Super Bowls in history. It was a great game fought all the way to the end. And now the Manning brothers are the first brothers in history to win back to back Super bowls and win the Super Bowl MVP as well. Not bad for wanting the other team to dominate the game.

As for the rest of you. How did you like the Super Bowl. Did you enjoy it or were you disappointed? Please take the survey, on the right in the purple box, and let me know.

Until next time.
Preece-Out

Working Out

2008-01-24T16:11:00.001-07:00

So I have decided that I am getting fat. I have been sitting at a desk for 7 months now, eating junk and drinking coke. So I have decided to not purchase any Coke or Pepsi to drink while at work or home. If I go out to eat......that is a different story.

On top of that, since I started my new job, I have gained 20 pounds. And for me that is a lot since I have only gained 45 pounds in the 3 1/2 years I have been married.

So my goal is to get down to 160 lbs. That is 13 lbs as of this morning.

Some of the ways I have decided to take on this adventure are:

Playing Basketball every Wednesday and Friday before work.
No soda pop unless I am eating out, which is once a month.
Eat breakfast before I go to work, so I don't snack at work.
Eat a healthy cereal like Frosted Mini-Wheats not Lucky Charms.
Drink 8 glasses of water while I am at work everyday. In place of other sugar filled drinks.
Bring a lunch to work like Ramen or left-overs so I don't eat junk/candy.

I can't think of any other ideas, but if anyone knows some other ways to "get started" let me know. I am not a big fruit and vegetable person, and salads are out the door as well.

I can't wait for Softball season to start again cuz then we can have some real fun. That seemed to keep me in pretty good shape for the most part.

You Tube

2008-01-18T09:59:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been looking on YouTube and saw something, or rather someone you know doing something unbelievably crazy. Well I have, below is a video I found on YouTube of my boss attempting a dare from the CEO of CirclePix, Rob Davis. I hope you all enjoy this video as I did.

Maybe I enjoyed it because I know Ty, but either way it is still pretty funny to watch.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=jV34U4LfFqI

If he would do that, what else might he do for $10? I think I could get in on some of these.

Recent Poll Results

2008-01-03T09:32:00.000-07:00

In a recent poll taken on this blog, viewers were asked if there was a monetary value in which they would serve the prison sentence that was recently handed down to Michael Vick of 23 months. He was sentenced for participating, sponsoring and supporting the abuse, torture and even killing of Pit Bull dogs during a dog fighting escapade. Here are the results of the viewers that participated:

How much money would it take to serve Michael Vick's sentence:
10% said $100,000/year for the rest of their life
10% said $1,000,000
10% said $3,000,000
30% said $5,000,000
40% said "You could not pay me enough money"

Very interesting results, I thought that it would be a little more unanimous than that. In fact I was surprised at a couple of the answers. Maybe I will take this information and pass it onto Michael Vick and his lawyers, so if one of you get a call......well you will know what to expect.

Magic, Magic, Magic....Is it real?

2007-12-31T11:00:00.000-07:00

I often questioned myself when I see magic being preformed in front of my very eyes. I don't believe it is real, do you? However I don't know how people do it. When I was younger my neighbor was a magician and as much as I tried to be friends with his kids, so I would get to participate even closer with his magic tricks, I just could not stand being around them.

I know now that I should have endured the pain and anguish, just to learn a couple of tricks. Especially the sawing in half piece. That always amazes me. Even more than the flying or any other illusion. Cutting someones body in half and exposing it to the audience, then putting them back together again......you can't tell me that doesn't enthrall you. It does doesn't it.

Well check out this video, it will knock your socks off.

Merry Christmas

2007-12-24T11:46:00.001-07:00

I wanted to take a moment and wish you all a Merry Christmas, I hope that all of your dreams come true this holiday season. I know mine have. At this time last year I was stuck in Retail and I was working so much that my wife and daughter left for 3 weeks and unfortunately I didn't have the chance to miss them. Boy am I glad I have the chance now to have fun during this holiday season and enjoy the time with my Family.I hope that all of us will remember the good old times when we were kids and have the chance to take a nap like Snoopy and even spend time decorating the tree a little bit. I know we may not always get our tree to look as good as this one.

One last thing, if anyone knows where I can get a Wii at this time and have it ready for Christmas morning I would really appreciate a phone call. "My wife really wants one" if you know what I mean. I am sure we will have to wait till after Christmas, but hey it's the thought that matters. Right?Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Family Photos

2007-12-19T11:59:00.001-07:00

I work for a Virtual Tour company, their product is to make 360 degree tours of homes. This past year as the market has changed a little bit we have come out with a new product that allows the agents to save a little money and shoot the property themselves. I wanted to see how simple it was, so I went in and created a tour myself, from pictures of my family. Here you go I hope you enjoy.

Family Pictures

Blogs in the office

2007-12-14T09:39:00.000-07:00

This past week in the office there has been a recent rush to publish and create your own blog. Due to this rush I have added a lot of content to my blog including links to other blogs. Please feel free to check out some of these other blogs. Some of the newest additions have been "The Stewside" by Brad Stewart, "Does it Really Matter" by Mike Dover, Doug Long, and Ty Roberts.

These new blogs have added a lot of color to my blog and for that I would like to say thank you. Now my key goal is to be able to compete with these constant bloggers. So I will work on posting more accurate information and something that may intrigue more of my readers. This post so far does not seem to be adding to my key goal.

So until later!

Vick is Sentenced

2007-12-10T17:11:00.000-07:00

As everyone is trying to get ready for the new outfits that may come our way with the holiday season, Michael Vick is trading his black/white pinstripe Armani suit that he wore into court today for an orange jumpsuit that he will be wearing for the next 23 months. Of course they gave him an option to get out 3 months early with good behavior. Which will put him out just in time for the 2009 season.

I say let him rot in jail for as long as possible. I am sick and tired of these professional athletes that have money and can get away with anything and everything. So I say make an example of him, and let him sit there for the entire sentence. But that is just my opinion.

Vikings are on a run!

2007-11-27T16:08:00.001-07:00

It seems as though my Vikings are even starting to amaze myself. It did not really occur to me to bet on my Vikings against the 7-3 Giants. In fact I was on my way to San Diego when I even thought about stopping in a t Vegas and betting $100 on the Giants. Boy would I have been wrong. I guess that is why you should not bet/gamble. Whatever........I still love to play the game. But it makes you think. My Vikings are now 5-6 and have won 3 of their last 4 games. If they continue this stretch they could end 9-7! What was that a winning record? That has not happened in the longest time. I can't even remember. All those that have ever had a losing streak come to an end, I am as excited as a little kid on Christmas Morning.

Sean Taylor's Death

2007-11-27T16:02:00.000-07:00

It pains me to see a young man such as Sean Taylor, who had a ton of potential, lose his life to such a ridiculous thing as a robbery. Sean was a great player and will be missed by all those who watched him play. Not only the Washington Redskin Fans but also those who watched him play against their teams. Sean did not get the chance this year to play against the Vikings this year, however I did watch his 2 interception game vs the Packers earlier this year. That is when I decided to bring him onto one of my Fantasy Football Teams. He was a great player and will be missed.

Vikings Season

2007-11-19T12:48:00.001-07:00

Well, my Vikings are doing better. They beat their old QB Culpepper and his new team the Raiders. But as for the season, well 4-6 is not bad, considering we don't have a QB that can stay healthy or a Wide Receiver that can catch the ball more than 5 times in a game. And the fact that we finally got a running back, Peterson, that can run the ball and then he gets hurt. But Chester Taylor finally put up a good game and we beat the Raiders.

Sadly I will dance at that victory and celebrate every chance I can until we decide to pick up some good talent. It makes me wonder what the Vikings would be like if they could have help onto Moss and Culpepper. However, as time has shown, both of those guys did not do anything after they left the Vikings. It was not until Culpepper went to Oakland that he started to perform like the old '99 Vikings I remember. And then there was Moss, who took 2 years off in Oakland and then decided to return the the NFL and catch an amazing 18 TD's so far in the season to one of the best QB's (my opinion) to ever play the game.

In the end, It is exciting to have my former players celebrating their successes as I sit back and watch my Vikings swindle in dismay down to the bottoms of the earth.

Sad thing is, they won't do bad enough to actually get a good 1st round pick. No they will succeed just enough to stay away from those top performing players that can make all the difference in a team that is in need of a star. I am going to guess they will end it with a 6-10 season beating only the 49ers and the Bears. Though it will be a close game with the Redskins, but somehow they will lose it in the 3rd and then never see the daylight again.

I will be back next year as they continue on in their seek for a playoff birth, something that has been eluding them for the past 7 years. I don't even care that much about the Superbowl, or even divisional title, I just want to make it to the palyoffs.

2007-10-15T15:02:00.001-06:00

As you can see, Jayla is already posing for the camera!

Getting Started

2007-10-08T12:13:00.000-06:00

As I am getting started on this "BLOG" thing, please be patient. I am moving things around and trying to make it fit my personality. Let me know what you think I may need to change.
Thanks for viewing my blog. :)

Blogging? What is it?

2007-10-04T14:10:00.000-06:00

Just wanted to try this out and see how things work. Maybe if it is cool, I will post more often.