Oops. Time For A New Blog

I started my blog with the sole emphasis of digging into the mind of a dad who had 2 kids and a wife. Although that was the start, I found myself writing about all kinds of random things. From getting a new gun, to talking about working out. I'm sure both things are something new dads can relate too. One day I woke up and realized I am 34 and needed more of a purpose. The next thing I knew, I was embarked on a journey to becoming and adventure athlete. What I am starting to notice is that my dad blog is veering away from being a dad, and more about fitness and my quest.(There are also quite a few rants thrown in there) With that being said, I decided to start a new blog for that part of my journey. I will continue to post here and write about everyday life and the lessons I am learning watching 2 girls grow up. But there will be a new one to allow my followers to see what I am doing in the fitness world. If I can somehow inspire a new or old dad to step outside and start getting in better shape, then mission accomplished. Check out the new blog at the address below

theRESURRECTEDone.blogspot.com

The World of Business

Now before I start, I gotta write a disclosure. I do not have a BA in business, so my experiences of what I am about to talk about are based off of the world of business I have been in the past 16 years. With that in mind, let me dive into the topic of the day.

Shady Business Practices.

Yep, that's right!!! I recently viewed even more acts of shadiness that I refuse to be a part of. In my company, we sell oilfield products. Now somewhere, one of the owners learned that the more reps you have out there the better it is. Not to mention the fact that they step on each others toes. These same reps come in with all these thoughts of selling millions of dollars a year, but usually fizzle out quickly. Now, as of today, we have 4 reps that actually stock our items on consignment. The reason for this, is to cut down on the overall shipping costs to those areas. We have reps in Colorado, West Virginia, Central Texas, and Louisiana. Being an Operations Manager, I am in charge of keeping up with the inventory levels of these locations. A difficult task as it is, its even worse when you have certain ones who don't keep good records, and don't like to respond to emails or requests for transfers. I have 2 great reps that are on top of everything and very thorough. One in Colorado, and the other in LA. Now I find out that the owner is going to head to LA today to meet with some potential customers. WTF!!! How can you go around your rep and cut him out like that. The LA area is his area, why would you go poach from him. All you are doing is setting him up for failure. And of all the reps, this one is one of the best. It makes me sick to my stomach, and I just can't stand it. These people see dollar signs and will step on whomever to see more of them. You can't have it both ways. One day he is going to get exposed for what he is, and have no business left.

I'm at a point where I am ready to leave all this behind. I wanna go somewhere else that will actually take good care of the people who make them money. People will get what is coming to them. You lean on everyone for what they can do to you and when you screw them over, you will be left standing alone. Broke!!

This is Chris with Complaining News. That is all

Tough Mudder 2013

So, here we are. Deep into another week. My weekend turned out very interesting. I've been chatting back and forth with a great friend of mine. Gary, has become and endurance athlete, and is doing the Tough Mudder World Championships. I am very supportive of his goal to compete in this, and it made me think about my journey. I found out there is one coming up next year in October. I decided there and now that I wanted to attempt one. He even said he would come down and do it with me. So, over the next year, I have to train and eat right, and get ready for a very tough competition.

Saturday came around, and I found myself looking at houses to purchase. Sarah and I are very excited to make our first new home purchase, but want to wait until the right moment. After that, we spent a little time shopping for the girls on tax free weekend. My next step was to replace the starter in my truck with the help of Jeff, my best friend. We drank some beer and tore into the truck. To those who don't know, a Nissan Titan has the starter located under the intake. Well, we couldn't get the last plug off the injector, so I ended up pulling the wires out on accident. Although upset, we trekked thru and finished the repair. I soon discovered that my makeshift repair didn't fix the injector, so my truck has been running extremely rough. Nissan requires you to buy the entire harness, which I wasn't about to pay $500 for, so I ordered a pigtail online. After getting it here, I discovered that it didn't fit. I decided to try my hardest, to take apart the old plug, and I ended up rewiring it. It's working great so far, now I just have to get the check engine light off.

That was pretty much our weekend. We had some good times with friends, and drank a few brews. We have my brother in law coming in today, and once he leaves, it's time to reset the training calendar and start getting thru Rushfit on my way to being a Tough Mudder. I am about 15 lbs down so far, so let's keep on rocking!!

C

What the hell!!!

So, another day, another 50 cents. But on this particular day, you are only going to get my 2 cents. I was finding hard to enjoy having Molly back due to the fact that we aren't allowed pets in our house. So we had to keep her hidden from the homeowner(I would call him landlord, but that is a little bit too respectful for that assclown) Of course, it didn't take a week for him to see some dog poop and he starts texting me about paying a $500 deposit. Funny how anyone else who rents from him only paid $300, but this ass is trying to scalp me for an extra $200. We covered our tracks by saying she was only there for a day, and we ended up taking her to my mother-in-law's house. I guess she will just stay there until we move.

I spent my birthday off driving around everywhere and not accomplishing much. I spent time at the Dr, which ended up being pointless. Got a new driver's license, and picked up some sausage for dinner. I also met with a guy who has a dang good job, and his company is hiring. Can you say double my pay, cause I can. If this works out, my pay will double, and I will be able to provide so much more for my wife and kids. It would be a dream come true. It's causing a lot of excitement in my house for sure. I sent him my resume, so now I just have to cross my fingers and wait for an interview.

Our house hunting took a little hit. We started feeling like our home builder wasn't putting in the work that we expected, so we are looking into another approach. We are meeting with a new home builder on Saturday. They say that they can start our house a lot faster, so we could be in our new home in 90 days. Great things are coming our way, we just have to be ready to reach out and grab all we can. Other than that, we are just living life and trying to make a dent in this world.

Until next time

C

Molly is Back!!

I realized that I hadn't kept up with my writing on here for quite sometime. Maybe the newness of writing kinda wore off, or the fact that I don't have many followers or people reading these. Either way, I just put it on the back burner. With so many things going on these days, it felt like the right time to start writing again.

My friend Gary, who served with me in the Marines, started his blog yesterday. I had to go read it cause he was one of the most interesting guys I know. There is not one thing that he won't accomplish if he puts his mind to it. I thought it was funny that I actually know someone who go thru P90x, and I saw some awesome results. It drives me to finish my own program as well. Anyways, I started reading his first post, and I saw that his brother was wounded while serving in Afghanistan. It immediately saddened me to find this out. I sometimes forget how many of my brothers are still over there fighting to try and defeat all these terrorists. I've never met Gary's brother, but if he is anything like Gary, he will come back stronger than ever.

We also had a family member returned to us yesterday. Molly, our first family pet was given back to us. Just to fill you in, She weighed 42 lbs when I gave her to a coworker of mine. Over the course of 7 months, she dropped all the way down to 27lbs. For the life of me, I cannot understand how someone could let that happen. But Molly being who she is, fought thru it and is going to be just fine. I was so happy to go get her yesterday, but also saddened at the sight of her. She has lost so much muscle and weight. Her spirit and fight are second to none, and she is already acting like her old self. Now we just have to be smart and slowly put the weight back on.

Now that I spent the last 2 posts filling everyone in on what is happening, I'm going to start putting more of a spin on what I am writing, and hopefully add some comedy to it as well. Why not, life is too short to not smile.

C

Gun Talk

Now being lucky enough to be born and bred in Texas, we have some liberties that I love. Being able to obtain a concealed handgun license is a great plus in my opinion. I first got my license when I turned 21, and my pistol of choice was a Glock, which my dad bought me. I kept it for awhile, but it was so big, I couldn't really conceal it. The only thing I did was keep it in my truck. I got out of the Marines and decided to take the course again. This is where things get funny.

I have had probably 7 different models of pistols since I first started messing around with them. I have had revolvers and everything else in many different calibers. When I got out of the Marines, I decided to get a new one. Now, I have been to the Glock armorer's course, and several Glock schools on shooting and it's capabilities. I guess I was just over all the Glock hype. I decided to get a Springfield Armory XD 9mm, with a 4" barrel. For some reason, the design of the pistol resembles the Glock, but it just felt so much better in my hand. The only thing I didn't care for was the trigger. It seemed like it was a little long and the follow-up shot was long too. I went online and ordered a trigger kit, and some other parts. I went into my inner-gunsmith zone and machined the trigger bar with a dremel tool, and outfitted my new trigger.

My work was a success. The pistol shot better, and quickly became my favorite range pistol. I was probably shooting around 1500 rounds a week and was deadly accurate. I signed up for my concealed handgun course, and had this lazy overweight instructor teach my course. He asked me what I was carrying, and I told him. He quickly said, "I'm sorry, my glock would shoot circles around that thing." My response was a little rude, but necessary. I told him, "Unfortunately for you, the pistol won't shoot itself, so you may think your Glock is great, but I promise you I would pump an entire mag in your chest before you can unholster that thing." I probably could have taken the higher road, but I get sick of these guys that think their brand pistol is better than all the others. If that was the case, all the other gun company's would be out of business.

Several months later, I bought and sold a couple of other pistols, and actually quit carrying one for a year or so. Other financial things came first, but with the growing violence in this world, it was time to carry one again. I couldn't think of anything greater than ordering another Springfield XD. I got pretty much the same pistol, except a two tone version. I was going to get the new XDm, but decided to go with my old version simply because I don't want the extra expense right now. I'm sure over the next few months, I will redo the trigger and make it more of my own. As of right now though, I can't wait to get out on the range and pump some rounds down range. And for any criminal that wants to try and attack me or my family, you better keep an eye out, cause I will be lurking in the shadows ready to turn your day upside down. Semper Fi!!!!!

C

Rushfit: Week #2

Well, I bet you all wondered what happened to me. Was the workout so hard that I lost the use of my typing fingers? Well I won't say it was that hard, but it has been trying. I am doing the beginner course right now, and even though the workouts are the same, its spread out a little more to reduce the fatigue.

My first week had the strength and conditioning workout, 3 days of cardio, abs and core strength, stretching for flexibility, balance and agility, and the mother of all workouts; Fight Conditioning.

I wish I could sit here and tell you I went thru every workout without stopping, but that was not the case. Day one, I got thru the firs 2 rounds, and was very slow in round 3. I was able to pick up the pace in 4 and 5, but there were a couple of things I just couldn't do. I was able to get thru the first week with little setback. I have to say that I did cheat a little, and missed a day of cardio, and didn't do my balance and agility workout. I have noticed a change already. I have lost 4 lbs so far, and I am eating a lot better. I try and drink a protein shake after my workout, and doing it in the evening seems to fight the tired bug I was having in the mornings.

I started my second week last night with the strength and conditioning workout. I am happy to report that I did better than the fist day. I can only expect to increase on these as time goes on. Right now I am scheduled to be completed with the 8 week program right before the baby is due. I sure don't want my new daughter to come out and see an out of shape daddy looking at her.

My overall goal is to become a better father and husband for my wife and kids. I want to be able to play and run around outside without getting so winded. I sometimes look at pictures from my Marine days, and wonder how I let myself go. I am bound and determined to get back into the shape I was when I was carrying my pack and gear on long patrols. I want to be able to wake up and not feel so tired and lazy. Also, I have a lot of clothes in the closet that no longer fit. I'd love to be able to fit into all of them. I think being in shape and regaining my confidence will also help me in my career. My wife and I want to take a honeymoon next year sometime. Hopefully after the baby, she will want to do some of this workout with me. I am hoping I can get thru all 3 phases before that happens.

I will update you all soon. Tonight is abs and core strength. RUSHFIT HERE I COME!!!!


C

Operation Rushfit Has Started

Well, I just started Week#1 of Rushfit. I forgot how hard it actually was. I was breathing hard just doing the warm up, and then got thru round 1 great before round 2 started. I took it a little easy thru #2, but tried my hardest to get thru the final three rounds. I actually had a visitor during the cool down. Emily came in to say goodnight, and decided to do some post work out stretching. She thought it was easy, but she wasn't there during the actual work out.

I find myself going into day 3, knowing I have abs and core conditioning tonight. I am pretty sore, and I know the working out is hitting everything, cause my whole body feels it. Last night was a cardio day, so I did some kickboxing, and running around with weights in my hands. I'm just trying to build more functional strength. I think that is my biggest goal right now. I want to be in much better shape, but not so I can stare in the mirror at myself and look at my muscles. I want to build an overall strong foundation that will keep my healthy for years to come. I know I will never be a "skinny guy", but being healthy and being able to play with my kids is a huge motivation for me. I tried to plan it so that I can be done with the first program before Keaghan is born. I figured a couple of weeks off, and I will start the next session. Hopefully Sarah and I can do some of them together. We have plans to take a honeymoon trip so we want to get in good enough shape to go.

It's funny, working out changes my mentality so much. When I am trying to get into shape, I eat so much better. I drink a lot more water and less soda. When I am being lazy, I catch myself eating all kinds of bad stuff. Like I said before, I hope that writing these posts will keep me pushing myself to get thru this. I'll let you guys know how things are going after I finish my first week. Until then, Stay Classy Planet Earth!!

C

Being Healthy

So this is the family. We are a good looking family if I do say so myself!! Somewhere along the way, I've let myself go some.(Sorry, I don't want to put of pics of how big I look) I don't know why, but I've gotten lazy. I'd like to think I am just gaining weight to keep up with Sarah and the pregnancy. Unfortunately, I can't tell people I am pregnant, and that's why my stomach is growing.

I spent 6 years in the Marines, which was basically getting paid to train and stay in shape. I think I did a pretty good job of it. For some reason, once I got out, I kinda gave up on it. Maybe I did too much while I was in there, and decided to take a long break. Either way, I really don't like it. What was my plan to stop this??

Well a summer of working outside and drinking a lot of water caused me to drop alomost 30 lbs, but the winter time caused the weight to come back on. We talked about going to Quick Weight Loss, but they want way too much money to do that program. Sarah suggested an alternative. Get a workout program. I did a little research, and came up with GSP Rushfit. Now, I like this for several reasons. I am an active mixed martial arts fan, and my time in the Corps led me to a brown belt instructor in Marine Corps Martial Arts Program. I finally got it in, and started my first week. By the way, having the measure yourself and take pictures shirtless was demoralizing and pretty scary!!!!!

I got thru the first week before a shoulder injury cause me to stop for a little while. I must say that by the end of the first week, I was sore but felt great about what I accomplished. Now, here I sit thinking of excuses every week as to why I haven't started again. My thought is that if I write a weekly blog about my progress, I will stick to it so everyone can read how it's going. Maybe that will push me to finish. The other thought, is that we have 9 weeks until our new baby Keaghan is due, and I can think of anything better than being a smaller dad when we first meet each other. I'd like to know that I was in some better shape, in order to keep up with Emily and Keaghan. Wish me luck, and I will keep you all posted


C

Turbulance

So, First off, I need to clear the air. I am not a perfect man by any stretch of the imagination. My wife calls me too sensitive, and I let things bother me a little more than they should. I do get a little snappy at my wife when I am disciplining our daughter and she enters with a comment. These things I cannot hide, and I know first hand how the truth hurts.

That being said, I try to excel in the other things that I can control a little bit. I am an avid laundry doer, and almost every night I do the dishes and empty the dishwasher since my wife does almost all of the cooking. (I do get to grill on the weekends) Although I don't work hard every day, I do get up and go to work and earn my paycheck. I feel like I am a great father to Emily as well. I strive to be the best husband and daddy that I can be. Everything is a learning process, and although my life has had ups and downs, I try to learn and grow from every event that happened.

Now that I have torn myself down and built myself back up, I got a little turbulance from one of my other posts. I spent about 45 minutes venting over one of my wife's friends. Well, my wife decided to post a link to my blogs on her facebook page, not knowing I had written all of that. Well you can see where this is going. My wife's friend went on and read all my posts. Aparently she wasn't a very big fan of the one I wrote about her husband. I never intended for her to read it, but the truth is, I really like her and I was hoping she would. She is a very sweet and down to earth girl. She deserves to have a great life, and unfortunately, I don't think she will get it where she is at now. Although I may have bad feelings towards someone, I always hope that they can prove me wrong. I think as people, we are more driven by people telling us what we CAN'T do then by what we can. Proving people wrong, is what makes us all great. How do you think these athletes reach the goals they do, or the singers and actors. Somewhere someone probably told them they would never become a professional in their area.

I know I am just a little guy in this big old world, but if I said something that got under your skin, or it somehow lights a fire to prove me wrong, then maybe one day you can come thank me for giving you that drive. That's all anyone can hope for. It's just being able to make a change in someones life, in order to make it that much sweeter. For me, I am about to be a daddy again and I can't wait. I hope the little lessons I used in life will help me in the trying times of raising our children. That's all I can ever hope for. Well, I am off to do some work. The weekend is almost here, and it's time to get things over with. Have a great end of the week everyone.


C

A Tribute To Friends

After a year of living away from my friends, we have moved a lot closer. I couldn't think of a better Saturday then to have them come over. I don't like to use names, but Jeff and Karla are friends that anyone would love to have. I didn't realize how much I missed seeing and hanging out with them, until we had a few beers and ate some great brats and burgers(Thanks Jeff). It was an evening that we have been missing.

It's a unique thing when you have friends that no matter how far or how long you are gone, it doesn't take more than a second to feel right at home. We realized that Jeff and I have been friends for almost 20 years, and although my life choices have taken me all over the world, we always pick up right were we left off. The greatest thing, is that Sarah has become close to them too. We are all able to hang out in many different atmosphere's, without having any hitch at all.

I am truly thankful or having the family that I have, and having two great friends who I consider part of our family as well. Here's to many more fun times together.

Gotta Vent a Little Bit.

You know, something happened a couple of weeks ago that really grinds my gears(Thanks Family Guy!!) I was once told that no matter how old you are, you can never call yourself a man until you have a job and support your family. I've done a lot of things in my life, and I have never felt more accomplished in this regard, until I was married with kids. I have worked hard to put food on the table, and support my daughters ever growing barbie habit. At the end of the day, that's what it's all about. The reason I bring this up is to tell you about some other guy I know.

My wife has this friend who has been married probably a year longer than we have. Her husband, pretty much quit his job the day after they got married.  Now, she is a nurse and makes decent money. From what my wife told me, he hadn't worked in a year since they got married. His excuse is that he has diabetes, and he can't work very long. I'm sure having that takes a toll on you but, not that much. He has all the witty comments about how marriage is a business partnership and each person has to bring something positive to the relationship. He even laughs when he says his wife made a bad decision marrying him cause he brings nothing to the table. That is about the only thing I can agree with him about.

Anyways, this guy just rubs me the wrong way. His wife does all the working, and he can't even help her around the house. He leaves dog shit on the floor for her to clean up. He use to work for EMS, but decided he wants to be a cop. Now, having prior work in that field, I knew quite a bit about it. I tried to warn her that with 3 repossessions, crappy and unstable work history, and not paying child support for his kid, it was going to be almost impossible to get hired anywhere. So, he talks his wife into paying for the Police Academy, which he takes and passes. But he still hasn't found a job, and has to wait for his wife to fill out applications for him. Not to mention he has ran or stayed in any kind of shape since he graduated. It's been 6 months, and I don't think he's turned in one application. Now, he has given up and moving on to other jobs. I just can't help but think this guy is a total piece of crap. I can't respect a damn word that comes out of his mouth. He talks a big game, but I see right thru it.

Not to keep rambling, but I am a bit of a gun nut. I have been to Glock armorer school, and many shooting schools. I few years ago, I was shooting over 1000 rounds a week with my pistols. I was an expert shooter in the Marines as well. I know my guns, and I know them well. I got stuck going to a gun shop with him one day, and he pretty much was embarassing himself by all the shit he was talking.

So, I guess I will get to the point. We ran into him and his wife not too long ago, and of course, he walked up, and I held my hand out to give him a handshake(I kinda wanted to squeeze his hand hard enough to break it!!) and the guy actually stuck out his fingers and shook my hand worse than a girl would. I couldn't freaking believe it. All the talk, and not one drop of action from this guy. I really want to tell his wife that she needs to get away from that dumpster of death she is married to, but it's just not my style. You gotta learn the lessons the hard way sometimes. Let's just say this, since we moved to this new house, I have been urging my wife to not disclose our address to them. I really not want him infecting the harmony of our life.

Maybe I am being too hard on this guy, but I really don't think I am.

What do you think??

The New House

Phew, what a weekend!!!  We loaded both cars up and went to the new house Friday to set up what we could. Sarah and I went home in my truck, and got a decent nights sleep. We got up early Saturday morning and did all the last minute packing and took the rest of the furniture apart. The guy I asked to help no showed on us, so we were left with two of my wife's coworkers. Thank god they were there. The loading took about an hour, and we made the drive to the new house. Just a side note, because my help didn't show up, we had loaded my truck completely down with stuff, so my poor wife had to rde on the center console for about an hour.

Anyhoo, we got to the new house, unloaded everything and spent the rest of the weekend putting everything up. The move went pretty smooth. We just have to hang pictures and we are all done. Who would have thought that coming to work would be an escape from all the hard work we put in this weekend. I feel like I was hit by a truck!! The only other bad thing was that all the moving caused me to miss most of the Championship games this weekend. I guess reading the highlights will have to suffice until Super Bowl.

Baby on Board

I've been watching that past few weeks as our baby grows in Sarah's tummy. I can't help but get even more excited. I watch her moving around, and I catch myself imagining her being in a pool. Remember when we were kids. You hold on to the side of the pool and use your legs to push yourself across the water really fast. That's what I think our baby is doing. I know there isn't that much room in there, but it's still funny to me.

Last night I put my hand on her tummy, and felt little Keaghan scooting up to my hand to get all the warmth. It's really an amazing feeling, and I can't wait to finally meet her. I missed a lot of our other daughter, Emily', life while I was serving overseas, so a lot of this is going to be new to me. I am really look forward to watching her come out and see her for the first time. It's going to be very special to have our family be complete. If anything else, it will give me a chance to go practice shooting my pistol, cause now I am going to have 2 daughters to protect;-)

I will keep you all posted on our status as the time goes on. We are 12 weeks and counting for the baby to come out. Look out world!!!

It's Go Week!!!!

Here we are, a few work days away from moving into the new house. We've gotten a lot done so far, but there is still things to do. I ended up getting a fridge and new dishwasher for free from some coworkers, and I got over to the house. I was sitting there waiting for my wife to show up when I realized that I forgot the dolly, and the dishwasher was broken. I was a little upset about that. I got my wife's car unloaded, and went to Lowes to exchange the dishwaher. I found a scratch and dent that would work great. Problem Solved!!

Now, on to the fridge. My father in law showed up and we had to muscle that thing all the way up the stairs. It was a tough carry, but we got it done. Finally, I went to hook it up only to find that the water line is too short. Nothing really went right that day, but spending a few minutes on our new porch made it all better. Not to mention a great lunch made by my mother in law.

Now, I am pumped to get everything else moved. My wife, Sarah, and I are doing little things all week to get ourselves ready. We've got some friends coming to help, and that's all we need. It's funny when you are packing, you never realize how much stuff you actually have. For some reason, I have so much clothing that I have collected over the years, that it takes over the closet. I guess it's as good a time as any for some donating. Maybe someone else can get more use out of them than I can.

Anyways, wish us luck on our move this weekend. Hopefully it's quick and painless

What's A Guy To Do With Daughters??

So here I sit, with a 6 year old daughter and another daughter on the way. I can't help but be a little freaked out. I guess being a guy, I know what we are capable of and I am sure over-protective of my girl. It's pretty bad, when I scoff at the notion of anything Justin Bieber!!! She got a braclet with his picture on it, and was so excited, and all I was trying to do is figure out a way for it to fall in the trash can. It doesn't help that my wife would just go out and replace it. (I love you Honey) I had to throw that in just in case she reads this.

I think I am going to end up being the dad who cleans guns on the kitchen table when she starts dating. Either that or tell the guy that if he thinks about doing something with her that I have no problem going back to prison!! (You gotta think the movie industry for giving us lines like that)  Either way, it's pretty scary watching her grow up knowing we get to do it with another one in a few months. It's gonna happen so, I gotta strap myself in for a wild ride. Hopefully I can bring all of you with me

Welcome To My Blog World

It's funny that I spent so much time making fun of my wife for reading blogs all the time. I catch her laughing out loud most of the time we are sitting on the couch in the evening. Most of the time I think she is laughing at my humor, but then I see the phone in her face and realize it's not me. I never really got the whole blog thing, but as time has gone on, I realized that I like writing these funny stories for people.

I was searching around yahoo one day, and signed up for their contributor network. I've already had 3 articles published for various things. Being a young dad, and trying to take care of my family, I noticed that several of my articles pertained to my wife and daughter. Hopefull the advise that I give will be well needed for someone else.

A little about me, I am 33 years old and live in the Houston area. I have had a very interesting life, ranging from the cattle business to serving in the Marines. My life lessons use to help a lot of young Marines when we were on deployments. I became the Yoda of my unit because I was a little older than most of them.

As I go on, I will try my hardest to bring my readers all the aspects of my life, and if I can help just one of them, I will be happy. Plus, as my wife will tell you all, my stories can go on and on.....