When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

For some reason tonight I decided to look at the Mansfield News Journal.  I don't do it that often, but tonight I did.  While scrolling down looking at the high school sports stories was the obit of a good friend, mentor and role-model – James Cunningham.

Mr. C. and Mickey (Mrs. C) lived down the street on Arthur Ave., back in my hometown of Mansfield, Ohio.  I lived at 120 … he lived eight houses down from me at 150.  I'm sure over the years we would say hi to each other as I was playing outside with the other kids on the street or riding my bike.  Mr. C. was retired from the Ohio State Reformatory. 

Most people know it today as Shawshank Prison.  I find it quite ironic he ran the laundry that Andy Dufresne spent so much time in.)

At some point though, I'm guessing when I was 5th or 6th grade, Mr. C decided to (maybe at the time unknowingly) take me under his wing.  One day while out with his black Labrador "Lady" he asked me and another kid on the street to help put up flags for one of the Patriotic holidays.

The local detachment of the Marine Corps League would put up dozens (if not hundreds) of American flags in front of local business downtown.  We needed to be ready at 6 a.m. sharp.  We were of course late and he left with out us.  So we just walked the 8 or 9 blocks downtown and caught up with the group.  That started a tradition that lasted several years. After we were done, he'd take us to breakfast at Mr. T's or Coney Island on the Square.

Mr. C. was a HAM radio operator and I remember the first day he showed me his radio and how he could talk to the world.  At that age, that was some pretty cool stuff.  Mr. C. also helped me get my first CB radio set up and running.  Every morning, I'd check-in on the local CB net with my temperature and what if any new news I had.  (Looking back now it was it's own form of social media.)  I'm sure working the attic window loose, crawling on the roof and running wires out my bedroom window didn't sit well with mom and dad.  I know the whole roof thing had them ticked off at one point.  But I was staying out of trouble, and in a neighborhood that was quickly deteriorating – that wasn't a bad thing.

Another adventure Mr. C. took me on growing up was on the week's leading up to Halloween.  His CB net worked with the State Police on patrols at highway overpasses watching for kids trying to throw pumpkins off the bridge and onto the interstate.  We were only supposed to "call it in" when something happened, but that wasn't enough for an old Marine like Mr. C.  He somehow managed to follow or trap those kids at the bridge till the police arrived.  Strong he was.  I remember the muscles, the arms especially.  He always said he could whup most anyone's ass and I believed him.

According to today's obit, it said Jim moved to Shelby in 1990.  That would have put me seventh grade.  I remember helping Jim take dozens of loads in the back of his pickup truck to the new house on the west side of Shelby.  One of the first things he did at that new house was to put a tower up with an antenna for his radios and a new addition – a weather station.  Fortunately, my mother had a good friend in Shelby, so while she when to visit her friend, she'd drop me off at Jim's house for several hours. 

I don't remember all of the conversation topics, but I remember the themes. The one that stands out the most is: Respect for the Country and the men and women who died for it.  One of the tasks of the Marine Corps League is the attend the funerals of fellow Marines.  Even back then, I remember him saying he attended a lot of them.  Lots of guys from the war were dying he would say.  All those early mornings and late evenings of placing flags downtown helped me learn respect for the flag and it's proper display.   Every house I've lived in since has displayed an American flag.

He talked a lot about the Marines and how they were better than the other services combined.  I learned a lot about what it meant to be a Marine, but I never heard Jim's war story, other than he was injured at Iwo Jima.

He also told me to mind my parents or he'd whup my ass.  Again, I believed he would too.  Unknowingly those talks probably help keep me on the straight path growing up, through the tumultuous years I'd remember as Jr. High.  See there was another kid on the street that Jim did his best to take under his wing as well.  He well, probably got me into trouble more times that I'd like to admit.  But I bet, without the close eye of Mr. C., I may have ventured down the wrong paths.

There were many other 'life lessons' he taught me.  Change your oil every 3,000 miles, the right way to wax a car, the right way to mow a lawn, grow a garden, etc., etc.

As I began high school, I got more involved in other activities at the school which meant less time to see Mr. C.  We still talked often, but didn't see each other as often.  Once I got a car, I was able to make trips over on my own to see him, but still we saw each other less and less.

As time went on, we sent our annual Christmas cards, I try calling once or twice a year, but after college it got to be more difficult to stop in.  There were a few times I would stop by, but as the years went by, Jim and Mickey's health got worse.  There were times that Mickey was just too ill for us to visit.  Jim did get a computer and on the email, but all he ever did was send forwards and tell me he was going to whup my ass if I didn't send him email back.

Fortunately, the last time I got to see Jim & Mickey was right after Sandy and I moved back to Indiana from Texas.  We were in Ohio for a weekend visit and they were both feeling well enough to visit.  It was the first time they got to meet Sandy.  We had a great visit. We stayed a couple of hours – still wasn't long enough in my book, but we were on our way somewhere and had to get going.

I was a bit surprised when I didn't get a Christmas card from him this past year.  I probably should have called, but didn't.  I know he had to have seen our card which was of Sandy, David and myself.  I hope he had a smile on his face when he saw I was finally a father.

I'll be heading back to Mansfield later this week to pay my respects to one of the many men who risked their lives to keep this country free.  Definitely one of the Greatest Generation.

Rest in peace old friend.

There's a, um tradition in tournament play- not talk about the next step until you've climbed the one in front of you. I'm sure going to the state finals is beyond your wildest dreams, so let's just keep it right there.
-Coach Norman Dale, Hoosiers

It was setting up to be the perfect Final Four® weekend.  My goal was to see the Buckeyes make the trip over from Columbus to play in the NCAA® Final Four®.  I work 10 minutes from Lucas Oil Stadium.  We air the games.  I'd be involved in the Buckeye pre-game pep-rallies.  It was to be a lot of fun.   Too bad Tennessee had something to say about that.  It's a real bummer that Ohio State isn't making the trip to Indianapolis, but another team I've watched closely this season is making the trip.

Ohio State and Butler have a lot of connections.  The biggest one is Thad Matta, who is a Butler alum and a former Butler coach.  The last several years, OSU and BU have played during the non-conference schedule.

Two years ago, just a couple of months after we moved to Indianapolis, I got the chance to attend my first game at Hinkle Fieldhouse.  Ohio State came to town to play Butler.  The Buckeyes lost that game, but it was a lot of fun watching the game in Hinkle.  We were up close to the rafters, not the top, but darn close.  No fancy chairs, we sat on bleachers.  Many of you know I love history, and Hinkle Fieldhouse has a ton of history.  I could spend hours just looking around the building.  No luxury boxes, no ribbon scoreboards, just a lot tradition.  It's why Hoosiers was filmed there, because it hasn't changed all that much.  It's a great place to watch a basketball game.

This season, I didn't get to Hinkle to see the Buckeyes lose to the Bulldogs again. (full disclosure:  OSU was without Evan Turner for that game.  If he were playing the outcome would have been different.)  David was only a week old and couldn't wiggle my way out of my new parental duties to go to the game. I had to sit and watch the game on ESPN2.  I saw a lot of Butler basketball this season on TV.  Our secondary station MyINDY-TV carried 13 games, I think I watched 10 of them.  Butler won every one of them.  They kept winning and winning.  It was fun to watch.

I made sure to get my picture with Butler's mascot when he came to the station to shoot show promos.  Just another mascot photo to add to my collection.

Butler has been my second team to cheer for, except when they play Ohio State.

Even still, I only had them reaching the Sweet 16 in all my brackets.  I didn't think they could keep up with the likes of Syracuse.  Of course, these guys proved everyone wrong.  This team never looked ahead, and kept their cool in every game.  Now these guys get to do something very few basketball players ever have done – play at home.  (I've always said there's something about being able to sleep in their own beds.)  It's going to be the Butler Bulldog on the corners of that basketball court.

So the next week should be a lot of fun.  Work will get more intense since we now have more to cover,  but it will be worth it.   Tomorrow, I'm going to go shopping for a Butler polo or T-Shirt.  All of Indiana will be Butler fans next week.

David turns three months old this week.  He's sleeping through the night almost every night now.  Like his dad, he likes his sleep … although his father is blogging right now instead of sleeping.  His mother on the other hand just walked into David's room to make sure he was still breaking.  He must be since she came back into the room and wasn't panicking.  She just reported that, "he's moves around that crib more than I do in bed."  — Trust me and the dog, we get pushed to the corners of our king size bed.  So that trait must come from his mother's side of the family.

I'm just amazed on how cute that kid really is.  My worst fear is that David would be an ugly baby and he'd have my DNA to blame for it.  Fortunately, that didn't turn out to be the case.  I've been amazed on how much he's grown in three months and how much he is absorbing the world around him.  The lights still amaze him, especially the bright colorful one in the living room that he shouldn't be looking at … at his age.  It's sucks that it's winter and there's not much outside we can do. (An aside…to the dog at my feet  is going to end up on the floor if he doesn't stop annoying me.)

Today was a lot of fun, and I was deathly worried that it was going to be a disaster.  Sandy spent the afternoon across town at a baby shower, and dad was left with baby duty.  Now the last few times dad had baby duty, it was more listening to the kid scream for an hour before frantically texting mom asking when she'd be back home. 

I was able to get David down to sleep, which he comfortably did for two hours!  Dad even got a game in on the XBox while he was sleeping and watched the coverage from Hawai'i on the tsunami.  Afterwards, we got our diaper change in, fed him a bottle, burped and another diaper chance — all before mom got home.  Once she returned, David got fussy.  But for me, my job was a smashing success.

Having David has been a great addition to my life, even when I want to trade him in for a three-year-old.  It finally has given me a reason to try to put down work once and awhile and just spend time with him.  Of course, I say that and then spent my entire Saturday evening pushing updates to my Wordpress blogs, photo gallery and all the associated plugins.  That does sound fun doesn't it.  Probably explains why Sandy dozed off so early.

I'm finally getting a bit sleepy and Sandy is already sawing logs, so it's time to check my Facebook and Twitter before I turn in myself.

If you want to see more of my really cute kid, just check out our photo-gallery over on the main site or our videos we're uploading all the time now to YouTube.

I spent the better part oruf this week in Austin at our company meetings. After a long week and a flying home I was a bit pooped.

One thing I learned is I can update my blog via the iTouch. Giving it a spin now.

My choice in fashion showed as well. I went to work Friday sporting the pride of Parma … White socks and dress shoes. Guess I was just a bit sleepy this morning.

No harm, no foul right?

Hey, at least I’m not getting screwed over by Jay Leno!

Eyes getting heavy …

After a long journey, our bundle of joy has finally arrived.  David Nicholas Crundwell arrived early in the morning on December 5, 2009.  A small turkey, he weighed in at 8 lbs. 6 oz. and a power forward in the making at 21 inches.  We spent two days at the hospital, he was healthy and was able to come home on Monday.

Sandy and I were so happy to have him home and to start the next chapter in our life.  It’s amazing what little things you notice.  Right away, I saw that David’s lower lip quivers when he cries.  How small the fingers and toes are.  The sharp finger nails, and how he has nearly as much hair on his head as his father.   It’s been interesting to see the dog’s reaction and how he’s still not so sure about David.  He doesn’t like it when Dave is in daddy’s lap.  Casey thinks that belongs to him.

The only issue was eating.  It took a long time to get him to feed.  Sandy’s milk wasn’t yet in so that was the challenge.  Our first night was a very long one, not knowing he was hungry was the issue.  He wouldn’t breastfeed so we initially thought he wasn’t hungry. He was up all night crying and two parents who took turns consoling him. 

As a new father, I have to say it was one of the toughest nights emotionally I’ve ever had.  I can see how new parents who aren’t mature enough can do things to their little ones to hurt them.  You definitely feel helpless not being able to get a crying baby to stop.  David likes it when I sang to him…all that church choir training came in handy.   Singing to him didn’t even console him.  It was tough.  Since he wouldn’t breastfeed, off to Marsh I went for a bottle of formula.  That helped a bit, but he still wasn’t happy.

So after a very long night and a visit to the pedetrician first thing in the morning we got the answers we were looking for.  She got us through our concerns and sent us on our way.  So after feeding him a second time, we finally got him to sleep.  (Then we got some as well.)  The other good news is Sandy is now producing milk so, if we have to bottle feed him breast milk, that’s still better than formula.

Best part, he sleeps in his car seat.  So if that works then great.  Even changing diapers hasn’t been that bad.

I think the Lord tested us last night, but we passed.  I’m sure we’ll have many more sleepless nights, but like last night we’ll pass the test.   In the end, it will all be worth it.

Something dawned on me today when the intern sitting outside my office was putting together promotional packages for our community affairs department.  Ten years ago this summer, I happened to be doing the exact same thing as ironically … a community affairs intern for WKYC-TV in Cleveland.  My first though as I was telling the intern about this I thought…holy crap!  It’s been 10 years since my Internship, really?  She took the time to say…well that means you must be like 30 or something.  It didn’t help my confidence, but neither does my thinning hair.  That means there’s probably a Class of ‘99 reunion this year at Mansfield University that Sandy and I should have attended.  I’ve gone and taken a look back at the last decade and all the accomplishments that I’ve made.

After the initial shock that it has almost been 10 years since I graduated college, (we were in the December commencement), I realized just how blessed I’ve been able to accomplish so much in just 10 short years.  It all started the week of graduation, when I had to take all my final exams in two days so I could drive back to Ohio for a job interview.  I damn near wiped out along I-86 on an icy highway, but still made it to the interview.  After the interview, I drove back to Pennsylvania and learned the night before that I had got the job at NBC 24 in Toledo.

I started out where many production lackies start … camera.  I was hired also to operate the Chyron and over the course of the next 1 1/2 years, I learned to do just about every production function: camera, floor director, teleprompter, Chyron, audio, technical director and director.  My favorite production was to produce the Mass for Shut-Ins every two weeks.  I also spent some time in engineering where I worked master control, tape ops, and eventually ENG in a 20+ year old live truck.  Actually I think it was as old as I was.  A true rust bucket.

Then I got an opportunity to cross-town and move into promotion at WTOL Toledo.  My main role was to produce promos and topical spots, but I also learned a lot about our website.  It’s where I published my first story online and posted my first video clip to the web site.  I remember when we first launched video, our sales team sold pre-roll, even though we didn’t have the capability to insert pre-roll automatically. (Sales promising something that’s not technically possible … that’s not changed!)  So another $10,000 later and a bunch of hoops we had pre-roll….way before most other TV stations.  My time in Toledo came to an end after the decided my writing style was not what they wanted.  I did move to engineering for a short time, but I had decided this Inter-webs thing was going to catch on.

I loved my time in Toledo, but at that time, there wasn’t a web job to be found.  So I started a nationwide search for web jobs.  That’s what landed us in Corpus Christi.  I went online full time for KRIS in Corpus Christi which is so far south, it was once part of Mexico.  (Before the Spanish-America war).  I did a lot of great things in Corpus, we had an great Internet Sales Director who understood how to sell the web and yours truly who had figured out how to drive traffic to the Internet.  (Here’s my secret:  It’s the content.)  The site was so successful, it won 2 Texas Associated Press Awards, and a Regional Edward R. Murrow award.  Internet sales rivaled markets double our size. 

Almost two years ago in August, a new window opened…that was the call that WISH-TV in Indianapolis was looking for an Internet Director.  The perfect position.  Not based solely in news or sales, but oversaw the entire online operation.  My guardian angel was watching over us and helped clear the hurdles for me to come to the Circle City.  At least once I week a moment comes where I stop and remember where I am and how lucky I am to be there.  32-years-old, a department head in a major market television station overseeing three websites and several social media pages.  Not bad for a kid who grew up in a lower middle class family who just scraped by.

God am I blessed or what?!?

There is a lesson to be learned here.  It wasn’t all luck and connections that got me where I am today.  It took a lot of hard work, blood, sweat and more tears than I care to admit.  But everything boils down to a few keys.

1. Hard Work – I know my work ethic has a lot to do with my success.  A lot of long days and nights being committed to the product and since going online – my readers and users.  If I’m not providing them what they want to read or watch, the competition is just one bookmark or Google search away.
2. Sticking to Principals – I’m not one to not stay quiet when I don’t believe or agree with one position, philosophy or way of doing things. I have learned I’m not always right, but I’ll go with my gut feeling on something 7 out of 10 times.
3. Backstabbing - I’m really surprised there’s not a big giant hole in my back.  From the days at Giant 89 on campus, I’ve had more knives thrown at my back than I care to count.  What I’ve learned is that your work will always win out.
4. Be a Good Guy - I don’t go into jobs thinking I need everyone to like me to be successful.  Frankly over the years I’ve had learned that I could care less if i made any friends, but as long as I was a nice guy it was easier to do my job.  I’m sure people say a lot of things behind my back, but it doesn’t bother me.  Again look back at #1 supported by #2 and you’ll be ok.
5. Life isn’t fair – Even after all the hard work … you still may get screwed in the end.  Take that as an opportunity to stand up and find something better.

I’ve still made some mistakes over the years, I think about why I didn’t go to Ohio State or BGSU every time I see the student loan debits get taken out of my checking account. (Only $40,000 or so to go)  We’re still working on reducing our debt that we racked up when we were younger and not so wiser.  (Too bad the government couldn’t take that stance.)  I’ve said some things that I probably shouldn’t have said, and I done a few things that I’m not so proud of.  None of us are perfect, but if we learn from our mistakes we’re better for it.

Who knows what the next ten years will bring?  My son will be nine-years-old, that I think puts him in the 3rd or 4th grade.  I really hope I’m still in Indianapolis … I like it here and really want to stay.

There’s a lot of people who I should thank who’ve I’ve met along the way, and some great stories that I should put down in print. (Names changed to protect the innocent.)  But it’s 1:07 a.m. and I really need to go to bed.  I have to get up early Sunday morning for NASCAR coverage at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway,  —  Again I’m lucky to have a job where I can go "work" at the track…

Our parish had an organizational meeting this morning, and I was the only Knight from my council who could attend on my behalf.  One of the discussion was trying to get folks in my generation more involved in the church.  My reaction was with everything going on in our lives these days, finding room to squeeze something more into one’s life is tough.  

I think I’m busy now, so I can’t wait to see what life is like this time next year, chasing after a six month old.  (This is the part where all my friends with kids just smile with anticipation.)  So it got me thinking.  (Yes, ignore the burning smell.) 

Do the Amish have it right?  They’re unconnected simple lifestyle still keeps the family at the center.  They’re not running off to soccer practice, updating their Facebook status or Twittering with their friends.  They go to school, come home and work on the farm or at the family business.  At the very least, they develop a good work ethic, something that my generation and the ones younger than me really lack.  I’d bet we’d be hard pressed to find a "lazy" Amish man or woman.

I bet the Amish could develop a cottage tourism industry for the brave English. (that’s how they refer to the rest of us.)  Pay a few hundred bucks a day to spend the week with an Amish family and unplug from the modern day trappings for a week.  Of course this would be no vacation, you’d be working your but off bailing hay or milking a cow.   Then head home for dinner, no TV, just a good night’s rest.

Someday, I’ll find the time to stop everything and unplug from the rest of society for a few days.  It would make for a good holiday.  Just shut everything down and relax. Maybe even bake a pie.

That’s it…I just have a taste for some good Amish pie.  This whole post wasn’t about time and the lack of it, just the need for a big piece of Butterscotch pie, or silk cream…Better yet fresh strawberry pie.

I’m going to go look for some pie.

It’s with great joy to announce that Sandy and I are expecting our first child.   We are 11 weeks along and mom-to-be and baby are doing just fine.  Call us a bit old fashioned, but we didn’t want to announce until we had made it most of the way through our first trimester.

We had our second visit with the doctor today, and we were able to hear a good strong heart beat.  The due date is 12/2/2009, so we’re expecting the snow storm of the decade to fall on Central Indiana that week.   Now that’s my dad’s birthday, so we know what day he’ll be picking in the baby pool. 

At this point, not much else to tell, our house hunt continues and we hope to find something this summer.