Scenes From A Retreat

One of the first things we did after tax season ended was to go on a retreat with the junior high kids. Thanks to Russ Walker for these pictures. That's me, my daughter, and her friend in the canoe. And the other is a view of the pond there. It was nice to be outside some after being stuck in the office so much during tax season.

I'm not sure why the pics have "2006" on them. Maybe Russ was in the Twilight Zone when he took them.

Some Irish Humor

Paddy was driving down the street in a sweat because he had an important meeting and couldn’t find a parking place. Looking up to heaven he said, "Lord take pity on me. If you find me a parking place I will go to Mass every Sunday for the rest of me life and give up me Irish Whiskey."

Miraculously, a parking place appeared.

Paddy looked up again and said, “Never mind, I found one!”

Successfully Changed First Flat Tire

Well, I got up this morning to ride and was all set to go out at 3:45 a.m. Just before putting on my riding clothes I checked my tires. My front tire was flat! I was about to blow off riding when I thought "Hey! I'll try and change the flat myself."

Now I've only changed one flat on my bike for a couple of reasons:

1. I have not had many flat tires. I think I have had only 4 flats, including the one today.
2. The only one I changed went flat the next morning so I obviously did something wrong. Since then, I have had the bike shop change my other flats.

Everything went pretty good. I got the tire off okay, I got the old tube out, put the new tube in, and got the tire and tube back on the rim. I struggled a little bit getting the last section of tire back on the rim but I think that's fairly normal as that is the hardest part of changing a flat anyway. I think I remember when I changed my other flat that I tried patching the tire instead of just putting in a new tube. That may have been where I messed up previously. It was much simpler and quicker to just replace the tube instead of messing with patching it.

To top it off I went ahead and compeleted my normal morning ride and ended up with a top 4 time and average speed for that ride. Guess I'll be changing my own flats more often!

Location Of My Next Bike Ride

Church Humor

Inside Out

Recently I heard a song on the radio called Inside Out by Eve 6.

The first part of the chorus stuck in my head:

I would swallow my pride, I would choke on the rhinds
But the lack thereof would leave me empty inside

Even though this is not a Christian song I couldn't help but think of the spiritual implications of these words. I had two thoughts.

1. We can be so full of pride that there is room for nothing else inside us.

2. If we can somehow "eat" away at our pride then we can make ourselves empty and that emptiness can be filled up with God.

It's so awesome how God can speak to you through different avenues.

Where Have All The Hard Workers Gone?

A guy was supposed to come to work for us today as a Staff Accountant. He never showed up and never called us-even after I left him a voice mail. And this was AFTER calling us last Monday to confirm that he would be here today!!

And all of this comes on the heels of us firing another guy who would never show up for work. He would call in sick constantly. At least 1-2 times per week(usually more) from July-Dec '06 he would not make it in to work. And the last two work weeks he was our employee he missed 6 out of the 10 possible work days.

I don't want to sound like a grumpy old man here but what is the DEAL with these people??!! Get up out of bed, and get here!! And it's not like this is physically demanding work. I can't imagine what these dudes would be doing if they actually had to exert some energy lifting something or some such work.

I certainly admire the older generations of Americans. They knew what hard work was. They gave a honest days work for an honest days pay. And they worked at the same place for 30+ years. It just seems like things have changed for the worse. No one wants to work hard anymore.

So, if you know anyone with tax experience who is WILLING to work, let me know. I sure haven't had any luck finding them.

They Walk Among Us

A guy bought a new fridge for his house. To get rid of his old fridge, he put it in his front yard and hung a sign on it saying: “Free to good home. You want it, you take it.” For three days the fridge sat there without even one person looking twice at it. He eventually decided that people were too untrusting of this deal. It looked too good to be true, so he changed the sign to read: “Fridge for sale $50.”

The next day someone stole it.

Mental Health

The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four persons is suffering from some sort of mental illness.

Think of your three best friends - if they're okay, then it's you.

Why, Why, Why

Why is it that no plastic bag will open from the end on your first try?

How do those dead bugs get into those enclosed light fixtures?

Why is it that whenever you attempt to catch something that's falling off the table you always manage to knock something else over?

Why do we never hear father-in-law jokes?

5 Things People Do Not Know About Me

Danny Sims tagged me with the challenge to list 5 Things You May Not Know About Me.

I'm usually not very good at playing tag, but here goes anyway:


1. I was a guest DJ on 97.1 KEGL, the Eagle, back when the Eagle was cool. (I have the tape if you ever want to listen to it.)

2. I do not know how to juggle.

3. Back in 1989, Jerry Jones compared me marrying Michele to him buying the Dallas Cowboys and he said I got the better deal. (I still agree with him.)

4. I once played Charlie Brown on the stage.

5. I once stopped up a sewer.


I know, pretty lame. If I can think of some better ones then I'll revise this list later.

And now, the ones I'm tagging are:

Michele Hollar
Jennifer Meachem
Smockity Frocks
FtwSkies
Michael Lea

Big Bill Says Bye Bye

Well, the waiting is over. Bill Parcells has made his decision and it's the one I was hoping for. He is NOT coming back as Head Coach of the Dallas Cowboys.

I say "Good Riddance!" This is a coach that was 2-3 at the end of each season in his 4 years as the Cowboys coach. This is a coach that was 0-2 in the playoffs as the Cowboys coach. This is a coach that could never win the big games here, especially this year when he let the Saints and the Eagles beat him and blew a golden opportunity to win the division. This is a coach that lost a plyoff game this year to the Seahawks because he was too stubborn to change his plodding offensive ways and throw it down the field against a weak Seattle secondary. This is a coach who messed up at the game's most important position, quarterback. And this is a coach who would never even mention T.O.'s name, calling him "the player" instead.

I thought when Parcells signed on with the Cowboys that we were getting a coach that was a winner, knew how to win, and knew how to build a champion. Instead we got mediocrity, bad draft picks, bad free agent signings, and a bad feeling in my stomach thinking about the waste of time these last 4 years have been.

Good bye, Bill. I'm glad you're gone.

Things To Do With Spare Bicycle Parts

For Cat Lovers Everywhere

Cycling Snowman

With today's snowfall it was time for that rare treat here in Texas - building a snowman.

Of course I had to give him The Bicycle Rack touch!

My Latest Bike Ride

The weather around here has not been very good for bike riding lately, but I did manage to get out of town and get in a quick ride before Michele and Meredith got back from their trip.

Stuck in Pampa

Looks like my ladies may be stuck in Pampa over the weekend due to bad weather. They had planned to come home tomorrow but I don’t think that’s going to happen.

It’s supposed to be freezing rain up there today and light wintry mix all weekend.

I miss them so much already. But I’m sure the Hughes family won’t mind that they’ll be staying for a few more days. MearBear has always wanted to be up there when it snowed so maybe this time she’ll get her wish.

I’ll be working tomorrow anyway so at least they’ll be having fun in Pampa instead of stuck at home while I’m at work.

M & M: Stay warm, have fun, be safe, and remember I love you bunches!

An Apple A Day . . . Someday Soon

Just read about the coolest phone in the world. This thing may finally make me go over to the dark side. For years I've resisted the iPod craze (even though I'm a big gadget freak) because you can only get songs for it from Apple's iTunes store.

But the iPhone sounds pretty slick. It's all touch-screen technology. No buttons, no stylus, etc. It's supposed to be able to play music like an iPod, surf the net, text message, e-mail, and make phone calls. Instead of having a teeny tiny little keyboard like the Blackberry or the Q the keyboard keys will be touch screen keys that appear when you need them and disappear whenever you don't. The advantage to that is that the screen can be much bigger allowing for more to be seen. And it's supposed to be able to flip the image when you turn it on it's side. So you would get a wider screen that way which would make Internet surfing nicer.

The stuff I read made it sound like Cingular will be the carrier-which is great for me since I have Cingular now and like their service.

Got to hand it to Apple. They do design cool stuff. If this thing really will do all that Steve Jobs says it will then it will be a big hit.

Oh and the best part? It's supposed to be out in June! Just in time for my birthday and Father's Day.

Heartbreaker

I just finished watching the wildest, weirdest Cowboys playoff game in my life.

Seeing Romo bobble the hold on the potential game winning field goal was UNBELIEVABLE. So many emotions went through my head then and are still swirling around even now. What's ironic is right before they snapped the ball for the field goal try I said to myself "Watch him miss it". (Talking about the kicker, of course.) It never even entered my mind that there would be a problem with the hold. I mean Romo has been holding on kicks for a long time and this may have been his first mess up. Talk about bad timing.

And to think that it was Romo who messed it up there at the end - the same Romo who played so well earlier in the year, who brought life back to this team, not to mention Romomania and Romomentum to the DFW area, and brought the team down the field to get in position to make a game winning kick. I felt so sick for him. You know that had to be killing him.

I've been a fan of his even before he became the starter. I wanted him to play more back when Vinny T was here. Back then I liked what I saw from him in the preseason and just had a feeling even then that he was going to be a good QB.

I still think he's got a great future as the Cowboys quarterback. He's young so he has a lot of upside. He's also going to have times when he plays bad and makes mistakes-like he did in December and tonight. But I think that his potential and talent far outweigh any negatives. He'll be back in the playoffs again. I'm sure of it.

It's just so weird for Romo's Cinderella season to end like that.

Help Me Help Others

OK. Here’s the interactive part of The Bicycle Rack. Here’s where you get a chance to become a part of the amazing experience. Not just a spectator, but an active participant in what happens here at the Best Little Blog on the Road.

I am planning to ride in the 20th Anniversary of the Sam’s Club MS 150 Frisco to Fort Worth bicycle ride. But this is not just another ride. This is a two day ride. This is a 150 mile ride!! This is the longest ride I will have ever done. But there’s more to this ride than just my sore bottom.

This ride benefits the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and their fight against the disease of MS. And, in order to do my part in the ride, I need to raise money. Every rider is required to raise at least $300. This is where you come in. You can help me in two ways:

1. Donate Money – On the right side of my blog is a section called “Tandem Ride” and in that section is a link where you can donate money to the National MS Society and it will be credited to me as the rider and fundraiser.

I’m calling this “Tandem Ride” because a tandem is a bicycle that is ridden with the help of another person-and that’s what’s happening here. I’m going to be riding this ride with the help of another person-YOU!

Also, please pass on this information to your family, friends, coworkers, exiled dictators, etc. Ask them to drop by The Bicycle Rack, invite them to check it out, and they can donate as well.

If you or yours are not comfortable with donating via the Internet then whenever you see me at church, riding along the street, doing yard work in my front yard, etc. then feel free to walk up to me and give me money. I will gladly accept cash, checks, gold bullion, and/or diamonds and precious emeralds.

And, as a CPA, I would be remiss if I did not remind you that all donations to the National MS Society are fully TAX DEDUCTIBLE to the extent allowed by law.

2. Encourage Me – Whenever you see me say things like “You can do it!”, “You’re not an idiot for trying to ride 150 miles in 2 days(back to back).”, “The numbness will go away after a couple of weeks, maybe.”, “You can do it”, and other encouraging things like that.

You can also send me encouraging cards in the mail, bake me “encouragement” cookies, buy me “encouragement” presents, etc. The point is for you to help me make it through the ride.

I’m not gonna lie. I’m a little nervous about trying to ride such a long distance over two days so any encouragement I can get will be a big blessing to me.


That’s it! That’s all you’ve got to do and you can be a part of a special event here at The Bicycle Rack. I appreciate your support, your donation, your interest, and your prayers. Please consider partnering with me to help this great organization in their fight against MS.