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Showing posts from 2008

I See What You're Saying. (the final attempt)

Wow, it's December 30th already. If you are reading this then I had a last minute break through and was able to load the video. I got it ready several days ago but when I went to load it last night, I had lots of problems. I had another post all ready to go which included the uncut version of my video but I really wasn't happy with the results. But then if you are reading this , I guess I was able to load it ok. I hope you like it. To see the rest of the vlogs, check out 2nd Cup of Coffee. Just kidding Linda. I had a lot of fun with this one and hopefully the next one (hint hint) will be even better. How does "Vlog, summer of 2009" sound? See you there. Have a great day, Greg

It's almost here.

Well tomorrow is the big day. Not only is it the last day that I have to work this year but it is the day for the world famous "I see what you're saying" Christmas edition video spectacular. If you haven't heard of this event I have to ask "Where have you been?" It is only the biggest event that ever came to blog world. This event is again being hosted by Linda over at 2nd cup of coffee , so get your behinds over there and check it out. Me, I have my video ready for posting and although it is only two minutes long, I can say that the Academy has already contacted me for a possible award nomination. I would like to thank everyone who made this award possible........ Ok it is only in my head. Anywhoo, mine will have a surprise ending that is sure to keep you guessing so make sure to come back tomorrow to see my masterpiece. There is little else to report on. I guess I could put down a few bullets: 1. The weather was great. Nothing like 80 degrees and sunny i

Merry Christmas

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Well it's the day after Christmas and I am back at work. That alone is a Blessing as many people are out of work due to layoffs. We had a wonderful Christmas at our house and it was filled with Peace and Joy. (Unlike the woman who got fired from Lowes for wearing a Christmas lapel pin. More on that in my next post) I had Christmas Eve off too and we celebrated in the traditional southern fashion. We went fishing. The weather was great and we were totally ready for Christmas so we decided to take the boat out to do a little fishing. Unfortunately, we had boat trouble because the motor didn't want to shift into gear but we were still at the boat landing so we simply reloaded the boat onto the trailer and headed back home to get our smaller boat. It ran a little rough but we did make it to our "Hot spot". We fished for about an hour and a half and managed to catch 5 fish. They were all "Sheephead" and the biggest one was right at 7 lbs. Looks like the family wi

What I need for Christmas.

I have been giving this a lot of thought but to tell the truth I really don't need anything for Christmas. There may be a few things that I want but nothing I need. Then I got this great idea from a first time visitor to my blog named Just a Girl and it made a lot of sense. Whenever there is something that I don't know (which is very seldom haha) I go on line and look it up. So I decided to follow the lead of Just a Girl and look it up to see what I need. So I went to Google and typed in "Greg needs" and then hit enter. These are the top 10 results. I eliminated repeat entries. Apparently this is what I need: Greg needs your stem cells or bone marrow. I didn’t even know I was ill but obviously I am and it is pretty serious. Greg needs a new Tyre. Perhaps they mean Tyre banks? I think that falls more into the want and not need category. My wife may have something to say about this. Greg needs you. Well at least Auntie Greg needs you and I don’t even want to clic

Call off the dogs

Good news everyone. I panicked for nothing. It looks like all that got blocked were web sites which involved streaming and those who frequently posted videos. From what we could figure out, we now can't listen to radio stations via the Internet and we can't go to sites like YouTube. So far the only way that it affects me is if you attach a YouTube video to your blog, I will have to wait until the evening to see it. I can live with that. The radio part is a little aggravating because the power plants are usually in remote locations and radio reception via normal methods is poor. In other news, my wife and I have decided to give up the Real Estate business. With the state of the economy, doing that part time just doesn't work. When things were booming, we got frequent client inquires but now we seldom get any. Unless you have the time to go out searching, chances are that you won't get any business. I have no regrets though. I worked for two really great Brokers who just

Who knows?

Who knows what tomorrow will bring. Who knows what today will bring, or for that matter the next minute or even second of my life. See I just changed what I was writing and a minute ago I didn't know I would do that. I sometimes wish I has a tiny peek into the future but then its that not knowing that makes life interesting. Today is sure to be an interesting one for me. Last Friday we all got an email notice at work stating that today, a major Internet blocker would be in place which would block us from going to many Internet sites. They stated the reasons for this action but it all boils down to increased efficiency. Time on the Internet=lost production. Well for most people, not me. I know how to work and blog at the same time and actually increase production. Since I get to work early just to get the morning report out, I often have some time left before my day officially begins where I can go on line and read the Bible or read personal emails. I am not sure if those sites wil

What's wrong with this picture?

Remember those old picture puzzles in “ Highlights ” magazine where you had to find things that were hidden in a picture. No, you say? Well click here to remind yourself. They always had them in my doctor’s office and I would concentrate on the picture puzzle to try and forget where I was. I hated going to the doctor. I was never a big fan of shots and once it took 4 nurses to hold me down to give me a shot but that’s a whole different post. Anyway, that’s how I felt last night at my son’s Christmas Band Concert. As I looked around the room, there were so many things that to me were just wrong. Don’t get ME wrong, the Concert was outstanding and I hope to put a short clip on my son’s blog later today but some things just seemed inappropriate. First off, we got there a half hour early just to get a good seat. (like that is possible in a gymnasium) After we were seated, two women showed up with numerous children and the entire group proceeded to cough and hack like they were one step aw

Thankful Thursday

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I started out this morning to write one of those ranting posts and to tell the truth I almost had it finished. However I took a break to read a few of your blogs and I settled down and decided to participate in Thankful Thursday. Thanks Kelly and Edie for reminding me to be thankful. Here are 5 things that I am thankful for. 1. I am thankful that I came to my senses and deleted that other post and instead went with this one. I hate when I sound negative because negativity is contagious. 2. I am thankful that my son Gregory passed his Black Belt test last night and now he has a Black Belt in Karate. I was impressed with his performance and I dare say that the guys that he was kicking were impressed as well even though they had on padding. 3. I am thankful that our Chicken, Lucy is still alive. She has lived through two hunting dog attacks (one recently) and one raccoon attack and is still with us. Last week she started laying eggs again after an 8 month dry spell. 4. I am thankful that

A Christmas Tag

I got this from Edie over at Rich Gifts. I got it from somewhere else too but my mind is in a fog right now and I can't remember who else tagged me. Thank you, whoever you are. 1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? – Coffee for me please. I am not big on either Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate. 2. Does Santa wrap the presents or just sit them under the tree? – It depends on how busy I, I mean he is. He tries to wrap them all but sometimes he runs out of time. 3. Lights on house / tree are colored or white? – There is a mixture this year. The tree is multicolored and outside it is half and half. Actually they are all white on the inside. 4. Do you have mistletoe? – Yes but it is still in the tree in the back yard. I need to get out the shotgun to get some down. 5. When do you put your decorations up? The Day after Thanksgiving. 6. Favorite Holiday Dish (Excluding dessert)? – Without a doubt, stuffing. My stuffing is the best. 7. Favorite Christmas memory as a child? – Grandma Green always made p

Oh you better watch out, you better not cry.......

He sees you when you’re sleeping. He knows when you’re awake. He knows If you’ve been bad or good, So be good for goodness sake. Saturday at the market, the young lady in the booth next to us began singing Christmas songs. I quickly joined in much to the dismay of my son who was totally humiliated. At first we tried to come up with the words to “The 12 days of Christmas”. Not the real version but the redneck version written by Jeff Foxworthy. We got most of the verses right but we did miss a few. It didn’t’ matter though because no one else around us knew the words so we got away with it. However I didn’t get away with something else I did. Remember last week I wrote about some strange people at the market? If you don’t remember, don’t bother going back to read the post. I erased it. Saturday, the person who runs the market, dropped by to see me. It seems that she has this Google notification thingy that emails her when certain words are combined into one sentence. Anyway, she got a

Good news, bad news

First the good news. I got the packages mailed off yesterday. I am so proud of myself for not waiting until the last possible moment. The lady at the post office said that they should all arrive before Christmas. Because I had so many to mail, I didn't insure anything so if they arrive broken please don't tell me. Remember, it's the thought that counts anyway. I just hope none of you are let down since they are just simple presents. Also don't give away what they are since I sent most of you the same things and some will arrive before others. Now that bad news. It was cold today at the market and my head feels like it is about to explode. I hope I am not coming down with something. I just took some fish oil tablets and a high dose vitamin C, hoping to ward off any sickness. As soon as I finish here I am going to bed and it is only 7 pm. I may not get to all of your blogs today but I will finish tomorrow if I feel better. Other than the headache and almost freezing to de

Wednesday Tidbits

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With Christmas just around the corner, I just like a lot of you am finding it hard to make time to Blog. Even though my world revolves around blogging, I am struggling to come up with a decent post so let me just give you a run down of what is going on in my life. 1. I found Luke. It was right where I remembered it, right after Mark. I find Luke much more readable than Matthiew or Mark for some reason. Even though the stories are approximately the same, they are told a little differently and it is easier to follow. Or maybe I am just a little dense and it took three times to sink in. :) 2. I am busy as a beaver trying to get ready for Christmas. I have most of the presents and I am trying very hard to get the gifts I promised ready to send. I always have trouble finding boxes to send presents in. Does anyone else have this problem? 3. Mr T is very sick. Most of you know that Mr T is our cat. The other day my wife found him almost dead at our door step. She rushed him to the hospital an

And the winner is...........

Drum roll please. Wait wait wait, hold the drum roll, this is a simple Chirstmas drawing and I don't want anyone expecting a new car or boat or anything like that. Let me remind you that the grand prize is "hand made." I may toss in a little something else but it will be a modest prize but a fun one neverless. Ok I didn't have a number generator or anything like that so I put the 10 names on pieces of paper and drew the winner out of a bag. Hey it worked. So without further ado, the winner of the grand prize super duper fun Christmas prize is....... Beverly over at Dancing with Daffodils . And now for the really good news. I have volenteered for "two" pay forward gift giving thingies so everyone who entered gets a prize. I simply love giving. This includes: Kelly, Beverly, Edie, Scarlet, Katherin, Patrice, Monogram Queen, Marla, Daphine, and last but certainly not least, Angie. The order that the names are listed are the order in which you commented on my bl

7 Christmases

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Last week, we went and saw the movie, 4 Christmases. It was pretty funny in certain parts but a few areas were less humorous. Well this isn’t about that movie. This is a meme that I invite you to join in if you like and tell us about 7 Christmases past. No tagging involved here. Just play along if the urge hits you. So here are 7 things about my past Christmases. 1. The stockings were hung. As far back as I can remember we had stockings but ours were really socks. We didn’t have a chimney though and hanging them by the kerosene stove in the hall just didn’t seem right so we would put them on the edge of the couch by the Christmas tree. We didn’t get toys in our stockings like kids do these days. We usually got the same thing every year. We got an apple, an orange, some nuts with the shells on them and some individually wrapped hard candy. Coincidently our father liked those kinds of nuts and my mother liked the hard candy. 2. Always a shepherd, never a wise man. Every year, the church

Guilty?

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Are you guilty? I know I am. A lot of people are feeling guilty this time of year. Obviously, a lot of people are feeling guilty about overeating on Thanksgiving because there was a larger than normal crowd at the gym yesterday morning. Usually there are only about 5 or 6 people working out with me at 5 am but yesterday there were about 25. It was nice to have the company but I bet the crowds will thin out in a few days. That is usually how long that guilty feeling stays with you; Just a few days. As I suspected, today there were only 5 of us working out. Wow that was fast. I wasn’t working out today because of guilt, it was my normal routine. But what I am guilty of is “guilt giving”. Ironically, that subject was touched on during this past Sunday’s sermon. When I see someone in need I feel guilty and I give so that I don’t feel guilty. If those Salvation Army people are standing out in a freezing rain, I feel guilty and give a little extra. This year as I usually do, I made a pledge

Tis the season

Yes it's the season for The Super Spectacular Christmas Edition of: "I See What You're Saying" Please watch the following non-paid, non-solicited, non political advertisement. For more information, please visit Linda's blog by clicking here . Even if you aren't participating in the video event, check out her blog, it is a hoot. And make sure and tell her you heard it here first. Just in case she hits the lottery and has some extra cash to give away, I want to be on her "nice" list this Christmas. Also I have been tagged by Edie so stand by for some exciting facts about ME. I know you can't wait. :) I will post the results in a day or two. Have a great Sunday, Greg

Someone pinch me.

Either I am asleep or I died and went to Heaven. This morning, my son and I headed out at 445 to do the last of our Christmas shopping. My wife and other son left shortly thereafter. Did anyone else go out? Very few people in our area did. We got to the mall at 530 and were able to get a great parking spot. Inside Belks there were very few people. We finished shopping there in about 45 minutes.Everything we bought there was at least 50% off. Then we went to Dicks sporting goods and shopped there in less than 30 minutes. Everything we got there was on sale too and we got some great deals. Then it was off to Home Depot and Lowes which is where we entered Heaven. Normally those two places are a ghost town when it comes to finding some help but not this morning. When I got out of my car at Home Depot, someone greeted me before I even got to the door. Just inside the door, two more sales associates greeted me. Then while I was shopping, no less than 10 sales associates asked me if I need

What happened to Luke?

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When you hear the name Luke, who do you think of? Some people immediately think of Luke Skywalker. Not me, I was not a big fan of those movies. Others think of Luke and Laura. Oh come on confess. I know there are a few General Hospital fans out there. Ok ok I will go first. Many years ago, in the time of Like and Laura, I was a General Hospital junkie. For about an entire year, I watched General Hospital without fail every day. Those days are behind me now though but I remember them well. Still others (myself included) when hearing the name Luke think of the Gospels; Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. But soon thereafter I think of Matthew, Mark and Mike. Which brings me to my subject for the day. "What happened to Luke?" My Aunt and Uncle had two boys. Their names were Matthew and Mark. When we heard that they were expecting another child, we just knew if it were a boy they would name him Luke. They did have a boy but they named him Mike instead. We all thought she was on a Bibli

Caught off guard.

We are having unusually cold weather for this time of year. It really caught me off guard. Usually we don' t get this cold until January or February. Normally we spend a lot of time in November and December gathering wood for our two wood stoves. We have one in our house and one in the greenhouse. We also supply a lot of wood for my mother in law who heats her house with a wood stove. The reason we wait until this time of year (other than me being a procrastinator) is that the cool weather gets rid of snakes and spiders and makes it easier to work. This year, the cold just kind of slipped in and was upon us before we knew it. One day it was warm and the next it was cold. It was cold at the market yesterday too but I was prepared for it. I wore my long underwear and brought along a heavy coat. I also didn't bring very much stuff because I knew the crowd would be sparse because of the cold. It was a good thing I packed light too because I was hit with another obstacle when I arri

The leader of the band

Thursday was exasperating for me. I traveled to Columbia with three co-workers for some company training. The training itself was good but several people in the class were very annoying. One particular person did nothing but complain and try to find fault with the system. He had a "this will never work" attitude and it was all I could do to keep my mouth shut. I think nothing sets me off faster than a bad attitude. I guess because it is totally unnecessary. Not only was he disrupting the class but he was doing it in a way so as to try to get others on his side. I really think he felt that he was speaking for the entire class when he was whining. He did manage to get two others complaining but the rest of the class and the instructors were just aggravated. I could feel myself getting close to saying something so I just began cutting up whenever he was talking. My co-workers and I would just go off on our own little tangent and totally ignore him when he spoke. The funny thing

15 Random things I'm not afraid to admit

Hey I stole this from My ADHD Me but don't tell her. Here are 15 random things about me that I am not afraid to admit. Actually if I were afraid to admit them then I just wouldn't list them. So you will never see a post that says 15 random things I am afraid to admit. If I did, it would just be a blank page. Enough already, let me get to them. 1. I took two years of German in high school but I can only say two or three things. I am however available to accompany you to Germany and when asked I can tell the waiter that you don't like bratwurst and that we aren't from here. I had to take a foreign language and the only other language open was Spanish. I didn't think it would be of any use to speak Spanish. Who knew. 2. My father was one of the first lifeguards on Daytona beach. When he was a lifeguard, on a good day he would have 15 or 20 people on the beach. Now they have 15 or 20 thousand. When I was young, we would go to the lifeguard parties on the beach. Talk ab

Road Trip

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Well I am back. I bet you didn't even miss me. Sunday morning my oldest son and I went on a road trip. We went to visit a college that his is interested in. Here is a hint as to which one it was. The weather was great for traveling. It was cool and clear and traffic was light. There was however a lot of traffic going the other way on Sunday. Saturday night was a big game for the Tigers and they beat Duke in Football. My son isn't interested in going there for the football but he does like the team. We stayed in a nice hotel in Anderson which was on Clemson Blvd. The same road goes by the college so it made it easy to get there this morning. Not much else happened. We did have a nice dinner last night at Applebees and then got a good night sleep. This morning, we had a great free continental breakfast at the hotel and then we had an interview at the college. My son is still a junior in high school and they were impressed at how motivated he is. The counselor said that she doesn&

Weekend Update

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Wow so much to report on so little time. It is 5:15 am and I have to get ready for the Market but I think have just enough time for a quick post. So here goes; I went with the hotdog sales idea for Good Neighbor Fund. Like anyone thought I would have selected one of the other options. And I am happy to say it was a huge success. The odds were stacked against me for several reason. The last person who was in charge of GNF used to schedule these fund raisers and then forget about them and the people finally gave up on them. I guess they had more faith in me though because lots of people participated. I had 3/4 of the plant workers buy hotdogs. Reason two for failure was that there was a class going on at the plant yesterday and they decided to go out to lunch instead of supporting my cause. No biggie I still did well. The third thing going against me was that I didn't start advertising until Wednesday afternoon. The reason was that we had another benefit lunch on Wednesday and I want

No IF's AND's or But's

Have you noticed how many people are praying these days? People who never used to pray or at least were never outspoken about prayer are now vocal about it. I guess it could just be that they kept it to themselves. I remember back at my last place of employment when I put on a luncheon for the people who worked for me. I invited the support group to joins us as well. Before the meal, I said the blessing. After I finished one of the ladies said; “Way to go Greg, I never knew you could pray like that.” I can't believe she said that. Anyway, people are praying these days much more than they used to. I guess it is a sign of the times. We start our little town meetings with a prayer. An elderly black gentleman usually does the honors. I like his prayers because they are so inspiring. He starts out with grand descriptions of God, then asks God for his blessing on the meeting, thanks him for the blessings he has given us and then gives a short ending. At the last meeting though, he was

Sign sign everywhere a sign

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I know some of your remember that song. It was by the Five Man Electrical Band. I wonder what ever became of them. But this post isn't about music. It's all about signs. One of the big no-no’s discussed at that town hall meeting the other night was the use of signs. For some reason the people of our great island are opposed to signs. They of course were directing this complaint toward one person who just happened to be the owner of the winery. It was just one of many complaints that the planning board heard from the good citizens of Wadmalaw. The person leading the discussion objected to the winery signs because they are “not part of the natural scenery of the island.” However there are lots of other signs on the same road which also are ‘not part of the natural scenery’ and no one complained about them. It was obvious to me that the real complaint isn’t about signs at all. However after giving it some thought, I agree that it would be great not to see any signs at all on our

You are what you eat.

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I don’t really know where that expression came from. I understand the concept and in part it is true. There is a guy that does the TV show Man vs Wild where he eats all kinds of dirty things and he "appears" to be healthy. So are bugs and dead animals really good for you? If you broke them down to proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals you would find out that the basic foods he is eating are the same as the ones normal people eat they are just in a different form. I will stick to my good old steak, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy. No worms are going in my mouth. At least not willingly or knowingly. This morning, I read that the opposite is also true. You are what you don’t eat. Now that’s a strange statement isn’t it? Said a different way that is; what comes out of your mouth and not what goes into it determine what you are made of. Who the heck said something so crazy and what does it mean? Well our bodies are basically fuel burning machines. No matter what we

Veterans Day

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Veterans Day means a lot to me. I really appreciate all that our service men and women do for us and want to say thank you to all of them. It makes me angry to hear people talk about what they do like it means nothing. In today's world, freedom comes with a price and there are those out there who really don't appreciate what they have. They cut down our nation and complain and gripe about how bad things but the truth is we have it pretty good. No we have it great. I have been to other countries and see real poverty and am thankful that God allowed me to be born in this country where we have so much. Our preacher touched on this subject this past Sunday and I realized that it was true. Those of us who were fortunate enough to be born in this great country need to get on our knees and thank God for allowing us to be here. Then we need to rise up and thank our service men and women for allowing us to remain here and enjoy the freedom that we have. So today I challenge you to go ou

So many options so little time.

Ok so I got these hotdogs and don’t know what to do with them. First off, they are frozen and have never been thawed so they are still good. Eventually my 11 year old would eat them or his kids would eat them once he grows up and has some so they won’t go to waste. I just hate taking up all that room in my freezer for hotdogs. So I have come up with a few ideas of what to do. Let me just toss them out and let you decide what to do. First off Thanksgiving is just around the corner and since we are cutting back just like everyone else is (or should be hint hint) I could always serve them for Thanksgiving dinner. At first I had this great idea of blending them up and trying to form them into something that resembled a turkey but after I got that image in my head I got sick to my stomach. Then I thought about serving them just like they are but the best part of the Thanksgiving dinner is in my opinion the stuffing and I don’t know how to stuff a hot dog. I could always get one of those tu

Big disappointment.

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Hot dogs anyone? We were expecting a big crowd at the winery for the Blessing of the vines but People just didn't show up. We had some people but only about half as many as the summer festival. So now we have lots and lots of hot dogs. The weather was just about perfect so that wasn't the reason for the sparse crowd. I guess the economy has everyone scared. This mountain of hot dogs has me scared. Not really, I do have a plan. I will tell you more if I am able to pull it off. The BBQ people next to us didn't do well either. They also brought bottled water but they were selling it for $2.00 a bottle and we just couldn't do that to people so we kept our price at $1.00. Once people found this out, they came to us for water. At the end of the day, we barely broke even so we didn't get rich like we planned. This morning I got up early and went out and got a cup of coffee. I felt I earned it by working all day Saturday. After I got the coffee I went down to the local boat