Stuff about our life... and yeah, it's on my blog.

Hi there.
Welcome back.

Life has been interesting, full, and very positive as of late. My dreams and aspirations have been coming to fruition as of late. Sarah becomes a better wife, mother and woman every passing day.

Kiah has been ridiculously insane lately... he never stops twisting, turning, making faces, head-butting furniture, kissing, crying, talking in jibberish, biting, eating, trying to pull cords out of the wall, and generally causing havoc. That Sarah hasn't eaten him yet, amazes me.

Work has been going incredibly well for me. I am now in the engineering department, where I have been able to be useful once again in several areas I did not think possible. (And by "again" I am referring to my stint in the accounting department.) I've done an audit of every key that we have in the engineering department. All of which "should" correspond with its lock somewhere in the hotel. The problem has been, that the last time someone did an audit and reorganized the keys was 1986. The Challenger blew up that year... the Bears were in the superbowl... I was 6. So yeah, it's been awhile. The hotel has changed hands at least 4 times since then, and many of the rooms, titles, and keys have been changed long since. And have never been updated.

Needless to say, I had my work cut out for me. At the same time, I've been revamping our preventative maintenance schedule and overseeing its execution by one of our engineers named Tracey. Yesterday I ran out of keychains, and decided to clean and paint the back room that I've been working out of. Because I can, because it's dark in there and the white walls and ceiling would really brighten it up, but most importantly, because I was bored. So I cleaned it yesterday and one of our guys who is a drywall genius mudded it for me. It looked great. Today I painted it, and when it dried, I retyped any memos that we needed, laminated them, and stuck them on the nice new wall. It's night and day from what it was just two days ago, and earned me some more brownie points with the engineering staff. They're so happy to have all the machines back there clean, and the room is so much brighter.

Sarah, Kiah and I are headed to Chicago and Ohio for the week starting tomorrow morning. It should be a great time to spend with our family and friends and we are very excited. After I get back, I am going to do a hotel wide fire drill evacuation. While I am planning to delegate a portion of it to our director of security, I will be overseeing and tracking the drill, which will be one of my major duties in engineering before I leave. My next departmental shift should take place in March. And will most likely be a split week between housekeeping and security. I am looking forward to both. Everything has been pie in comparrison to the front desk. I hate the front desk...

One last thing about work, I was able to overhear a discussion between our controller and our front office manager two weeks ago that was about me. In the midst of that conversation, they were discussing my performance in their departments, and Jo, the controller, said that corporate can't stop talking about me. They think I'm a "god" for bringing in the nearly 200k in aging accounts that I made my goal for my time in accounting. She said that they keep expecting them to live up to my performance every month, and that is "not possible." She was so proud, and annoyed... it really made me feel like what I'm doing is worthwhile, both for our hotel, and for Sarah, Kiah and my future... My name is known, and my old GM is now the senior VP of the company. He hired me to my current position, and has every right to brag about me as his hire. Currently, he's looking good, the hotel's looking good, and I'm looking good because of some amazing circumstances, timing, and initiative that some would attribute to blind luck and skill, but I know different.

A year ago, I was without a job, and had never even considered working in a hotel. You all saw it happen, and you've seen the steps of faith that we've taken this year. I can't help but say that this is 100% because of what God's been doing in my heart, my attitudes, and the attitudes of my superiors. At every job I've worked at, I've given it my all, only to be passed over by my managers. Ata-boy'd, but never given a raise... and at some jobs, it almost felt like the truly good people were punished by having to pick up the slack of the poor performers. (Jim V. knows exactly what place I mean...) But God has been blessing this job at every turn. I've given it no more than I've given any other job, but it's been noticed. I haven't changed my personality, but here it's appreciated. I've always tried to go above and beyond to boost moral and do my best, but here it's rewarded. In many ways, I feel like this job is direct result of trusting God to take care of us, being patient, and being open to doing something I'd never done before. And alot of prayer.

In addition to the work that God has done in us, for us and through us this year, I want to thank all of you for supporting us through the difficult times we've faced.

Jim... you and Paula were such a blessing to us in such a crazy time. We will never forget that. We love you.

Ryan, I have never been blessed with a shoulder like yours, and I don't plan on ever letting go of our friendship. You have been, and continue to be, my best friend.

Family Miller, you have been such a consistant source of love, support and acceptance for me. Knowing that you believe in me, gives me the strength to do the same.

Family Schmitt, your patience with what's been happening in our lives, your words of encouragement, and your support of Sarah when I'm at work have been invaluable to us.

Sarah, you've been the strongest, bravest, most amazing teammate I could ever ask for or imagine. I love you so much...

Google - Kiah...

How FRIGGEN awesome is this!!!!???

Comet McNaught

For any of you who are either into astronomy enough, geeky enough, or simply like the "astronomy picture of the day" website... you've been aware of comet McNaught. It's one of the brightest in ages, and has provided some beautiful pictures from around the world. One of the most stunning is the picture below. Taken in Perth, Australia during a fireworks show. The storm blowing in from the sea, and the fireworks on the left frame the comet travelling up the center of the photograph.

Back by popular demand...

"Mommy and the baby, sittin in a tree...""Mami and baby, standin near a tree..."

Mami, Kiah and I at Garden of the Gods...

"Out of my face! Papparazzi!"

Gonna eat the camera!!!

Photo Update.

Because it's needed. I sat down with some of the great pics

that we've taken recently, balanced them out, and combined a few... So for your viewing pleasure, I give you Jim, Sarah and Kiah!

This first pic was taken after I got home from work... I was changing, and Kiah was playing with my watch and necklace. He was having such a good time, I decided to snap some pics... I'm glad I did.

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These photos are less than an hour old! Hot off the presses.
Sarah and Kiah were getting ready for his evening bath,
and decided to make some smiles!

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Kiah has these little cereal puffs that he absolutely loves!
They're sweet potato or apple cinnamon flavored,
but better than the taste, he loves being able to feed himself.
He grabs them, and looks at them, and shoves em in his mouth...
He's so proud, and so are we!

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Lately, I've been experimenting with black and white photos,
and I've really been pleased with the results.
Sarah and I took a few pictures of ourselves on the couch the other night,
and I like the look so much I made two desktop pictures
in case any family or friends want a Sarah and Jim desktop.
They are 1024x768. Email me if you want them cropped different.
The first is really artsy, and the second is a clearer version.
They are, of course, different photos, and nothing was blurred intentionally.
My hand wasn't that steady at the time, but I like the effect. Enjoy.