Sluffing off.

Yup.  You guessed it.  Miranda has been missing off of the blog for awhile again.  So I'm riding in to save the day (or more accurately, waste your day).  I don't post pictures (because I don't know where the camera is) but I can give all the latest Bill, Miranda, Patrick, and Nellie updates.

Life has been fairly hectic lately.  Nellie has been pretty sick lately and of course Patrick got it next.  So off to the doctor we went.  Nellie had an enjoyable time but Patrick wanted me to take his place.  He kept saying over and over, "It's daddy's turn".  Not a big fan of going to the doctor and he has a hard time taking medicine also.  Nellie doesn't mind the taste of medicine.  

Miranda and I are on Weight Watchers (copyright, TM, all the rest of the legalese gobbledy-gook).  I am supposed to be about 150-155 due to a fatty liver.  So I basically have a human foie gras, although I doubt that it tastes well enough to put on the menu.  Anyway...  when we started, I weighed 172 (Miranda's weight is none of your concern).  Last weigh in I was at 159.8.  So a big "hip hip hurray" and only 4.8 pounds left.  I'm shooting for the high end because I think 150 would be pretty skinny for me.   

This weekend we are going to go see my parents in Vinita, OK.  Mom is a tax accountant and VERY busy this time of year.  Dad called the other day to see if we were still alive.  We don't hear from them much from January to mid-April and we try not to bug them.

Last weekend was very busy again.  Derek and Tyra Smith invited us over and we had a great time.  They are a very nice family.  I would try to name off the kids but I'd probably miss one and feel bad.  The next night, we went with Tony and Brenda Smith (and kids) (that is Derek's brother for those not "in the know" and another nice family) to a Tulsa Oilers hockey game.  Brett (Tony's son) had never been to a hockey game and wanted to see one.  So we went to Tulsa and ate at Hideaway Pizza which is probably some of the best pizza I have ever had.  After that we went to the game.  Tulsa is bad and apparently didn't really care or want to be on the ice.  They came out flat and didn't get any better.  They lost 5-1.  We sat on the end where the opponents shoot at  in the first and third period (they alternate sides after periods in hockey and there are 3 periods), so we got to see a lot of action.  The goalie got pulled and it was a bad game for them.  But it was still fun.  Except for the kids (Brett was the exception).  Patrick fell asleep, Nellie was bored out of her mind. 

On the down side, Tom Brumley (steel guitar player for Buck Owens and Rick Nelson) died earlier in the month.  I had the pleasure of listening to him quite a few times at the Steel Guitar Convention in St. Louis.  Here is an example (I actually was there to see that one).

I will probably post from time to time when Miranda has been away on extended leave and will try to post pictures of the kids.  Maybe next time.

Until then, toodle-oo

Bill

After visiting with people this weekend I think Bill is a more popular blogger than I. I'm think he should keep it up. :) I tried to encourage him to start a blog. What do you think? He really is a great person to live with. He always had something witty to say. I will second the motion he is a big language freak!!! He is in the process of making a side by side French/English bible. I wish there were classes close by that he could take.

The nuclearcowboy rides off into the sunset

As you can tell from the flurry of activity at this blog, Miranda is back with a vengeance.  New computer and more pictures.  She griped at me (you will notice that this is a recurring theme) that I was too negative and might turn people off.  I do come off as somewhat of a crank and will be taking a permanent leave of absence.  I do however have one last update from this very busy weekend.

Thursday night we went to the visitation of Patsy Darden.  It was as nice as a bad situation gets.  On Friday the school was closed for the funeral which Miranda went to, unfortunately I was unable to go.  Saturday was insane.  We got up early and went to Joplin to do some shopping.  A laptop bag for Miranda, a wedding card (for later in the day that I haven't got to yet), and other misc. stuff.  After Joplin, we had to go clean up the Diamond house as it was starting to become a mess inside.  We finished the cleaning and made a flying trip to Granby for the wedding of Colin Knight and Faith Heyer.  Very nice wedding and I was blown away by the singer.  The first tune sounded like a jazz tune and he was very good.  We saw Katrina Randolph and I told her to put some Ukrainian language stuff on her blog (I am a language freak).  However upon reflection, it may be difficult to write in Cyrillic on blogspot.  Anyway...  after the wedding, another flying trip was made to Independence for the IBS Valentine's Day Banquet at the Booth Hotel.  It was very beautiful inside and the food was a real treat. however my diet was shot in the head and left for dead like a double-crossed mobster.  Sunday was church and a trip to Scammon to visit my father-in-law.  We were planning to go back to church Sunday night but the oddest thing happened to me.  Basically I became unable to see and focus on stuff.  It looked like whatever I was looking at was a puzzle and all the pieces were mixed up and I started to get a headache.  Anyway, we went home and today my head is still a bit sore.  It was a pretty typical Allen weekend, in the car going places but nice.  The kids were decent except at the wedding.  Nellie was doing somersaults off of the pew and I ended up having to take her out for the last 15 minutes or so. 

That was all the weekend.  And now for the sad farewell.  Wipe the tears from your eyes and put away the hanker chief (or your sleeve - whatever your preference).  As I make my final speech please pretend that I am in a Shakespeare play wearing funny clothes and speaking very loudly and anciently.  Got that?  Good.  Now my final speech.

As I bid you adieu and a "Laissez les bons temps rouler", my wish for you and I (more specifically I, and you IF you are a Republican, Independent, Consitutionalist, or Libertarian.  If you are a Democrat, well....  good luck with that) is that the grass is always green below your feet and the wind at your back (however if you are a sailor beware of accidental jibes).

I would like to leave you with this.

Thanks for your time.

Bill "nuclearcowboy" Allen

Love of my Life

Bill never ceases to amaze me. :) He bought me these beautiful roses. I am so glad he chose me to be his wife. He takes such good care of the me and the kids. He does a great job supporting us in everything we do. We love you Bill.

Valentines Party

Nellie was trying to help. It looks like she had a pretty rough day. :)


This was Patrick's first valentine party and he was so excited. Since he is able to write most of his letters now I let him fill out his own valetines for the party. He is growing up so fast. We have been working on teaching him is birthday. This morning when he left for school he got in his head that it was his birthday. :) I guess he asked his teacher where his birthday cake was!! I guess he figures if it is a party it must be his birthday. Here is a picture filling out his valentines.

Late Birthday Present

For my birthday this year Bill bought me this beautiful laptop. Since he is working from home I rarely have a chance to get on the computer so he bought me my own. I love it. Thanks honey!! We were even able to find a pink one. I'm not sure if you will able to tell by the picture.

Weekend

We had a wonderful weekend this last weekend.  We went up to see Lindsay and Aaron on Friday night in Wichita.  They watched the children for us while Miranda and I went to our Valentine's Day dinner.  We went to the Scotch & Sirloin and the food was wonderful.  For our appetizer we had the Oysters on the Half Shell.  Then Miranda had the Ribeye and I had the Special Filet Mignon.  Aaron, Lindsay, Patrick, and Nellie had pizza.  A good time was had by all.

I finally received my package from France.  I had ordered a book and didn't pay attention as to where it was coming from.  The book cost $6.95 and shipping was about $14.  I thought it seemed a bit high but didn't really pay attention.  Anyway over a month later it finally arrived.  

Miranda has ordered for her birthday a pink Sony Vaio laptop of which she is anxiously awaiting the arrival.  I am not allowed to touch this computer unless it breaks.  

Also...  Miranda griped at me for my last update...  My reference to not wanting to see the browsing habits of people that I work on their computer was not directed at anyone in particular but a general observation.

Anyway...  Another computer tip...

There are a couple of very nice pieces of software to run virtual machines:

1. Virtual PC
2. VMWare Player

You only need one of these and a bootable CD of your operating system (XP, Vista, etc).  Of course you are asking "why do I care about virtualization?".  Virtualization is running a complete separate computer on 1 computer.  You can create as many computers on 1 computer as you like.  Here's what I do:  If I am going to a website or run a program that I think may be infected with a virus, trojan, or malware, then I run it in the virtual PC.  If the virtual PC is infected then I can simply remove it and restore it from the backup.  It's a simple as a copy and replace operation.  Takes 30 seconds instead of a complete reinstall of the operating system (2 hours install and multiple days to get it setup correctly).

Anyway..  I'd better get back to the grind...

Thanks for your time.

Bill "nuclearcowboy" Allen

Taking over (temporarily)

It's been awhile since Miranda has updated the blog and I (Bill) sit at the computer all day so here's my attempt at the updates.

We had the church Christmas program that was really nice.  Nellie had fun scolding King Herod. Both Patrick and Nellie did well.  

No real updates on our house.  We found a couple that was really interested but no offers yet.  

Other than that, life is pretty much the same.  Eat, sleep, work, watch Gilligan's Island and 'Allo 'Allo.   A lot of people are trying to get us to watch Fireproof but I won't on the grounds that it is not funny or stupid (or preferably both).  I am firm in my belief that I don't need to sit and watch someone have issues with their life for 2 hours because I'm living it!!  

Anyway...  That's it for now.  Back to work.  Cranking out code for this machine.  Which if you look closely you will notice that it looks nothing like this machine.  So all you people, when asking computer questions and notice that I get a blank look when you ask computer questions, it's because I know precious little more than you do about PC's.  

I do have one computer tip:

When you call to have me look and your computer.  Please do the following first:

If you use Internet Explorer:

1. Click on the Tools Pull down menu at the top of the screen
2. Click on Internet Options
3. You will see a section called Browsing History:  Click the Delete Button.
4. That brings up a new screen and basically delete everything except passwords

If you use Mozilla Firefox:

1. Click on the Tools Pull down menu at the top of the screen
2. Now click on the Clear Private Data
3. Clear everything except saved passwords

The reason is this:  I do not want to know what you, your kids, or any of your friends have been searching for on the Internet.  

Thanks for your time.

Bill "nuclearcowboy" Allen