Koreys Jeromes Blog

Softball and baseball starts.

noreply@blogger.com (Korey Jerome) — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 21:13:00 +0000

Remember when you were a kid and played in sports? My kids, Austin and Kortne, are playing ball this year again and it's very exciting. We dusted the ball bags off about a month ago and started throwing it around. Thats when I noticed the difference a year makes in a child's maturity and strength. Austin was much more mature in his approach to everything and Kortne was throwing rockets. This will be a fun year.

Fast forward to today, I'm the assistant coach for Kortne's team and having a blast teaching these 10 year old girls. Most of them have never been on a team before and are really eager to learn and get better. Its fun watching them grow from a group of individuals to a collective team working together to beat the other team. They are gaining the understanding of what their role is on the team, knowing what it feels like to get a hit and contribute, and how good it feels to have people clap for you and cheer you on.

We had our last practice before the first game Friday. Uniforms have been handed out and come this Saturday we will officially "Play Ball!". I'm looking forward to our team and our year and watching the girls grow as a team like they did last year. Austin has a really good set of coaches on his team as well and I expect him to have a really fun year as well.

Both kids are really excited and happy to be playing.

Its been a year!

noreply@blogger.com (Korey Jerome) — Wed, 06 May 2009 04:02:00 +0000

So this last weekend janet and I celebrated our one year anniversary at Lincoln City Oregon. Looking back the year went by very quickly. We have done many fun things together and have many more planned. We have so much fun when we are together its hard to be apart. So now our next big milestone is our wedding on September 19th. Between now and then we have a whole summer of fun things planned out.

We're a mac family now!

noreply@blogger.com (Korey Jerome) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 04:25:00 +0000

So my friends and family know now that I'm a mac fan. I switch to Mac in June of 2008 and seem to brag about how they are fun to use and reliable. Well months of using it next to Janet and her building frustration with using her PC finally came to an end. I had done everything I could to help her computer run better and less frustrating. I put Windows 7 on it, stripped off the junk and installed a light weight virus protection ESET Nod 32. Things were a little better in the beginning but the PC frustrations came back as soon as bit rot started to set in. So she twittered about it being frustrated and I replied with time to get a mac. We met up at the apple store and got one. Actually I upgraded to the 17" and she got the 15" which worked out well for both of us.

So far she is able to do everything she use to do. The learning curve for her isn't as big as it was for her because most of her time is spent online and in itunes. There isn't much difference in the user experience in those programs. She is really enjoying the instant wake ability of it in the morning. Open the lid and 5-8 seconds later it's ready to use. She is really appreciating the quality of the computer and the polished user interface. That makes us both happy.

Kortne playing softball

noreply@blogger.com (Korey Jerome) — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 20:15:00 +0000

This is Kortne running to second. She is playing hard.

One more converted to mac, Everyone else still to go!

noreply@blogger.com (Korey Jerome) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 16:56:00 +0000

Matt, my long time co worker, has a wife that uses her computer for her business. She had an old emachine that was really a turd. With the conficker virus going to do an update on April 1st she was trying to get it updated so it was protected. This computer has been a frustration for her from day one with constant fights with viruses, slow downs, issues that were unexplainable. So Matt showed up at work with the computer and asked if I could help make sure they were secure. I agreed to help because i'm the computer guy, right? I get the big ugly box and plug it in. It fires up and it sounds like a jet engine and off it goes. After it boots up I try to work with it but it is trying to load America Online and other stuff and it was pretty unresponsive for at least 5 minutes. It was very frustrating to deal with that old thing. They had 512 megs of ram and it was very under powered for Windows XP even. With all the frustration they have faced over the years with this machine and it was her business machine she used for her ebay auction site I strongly suggested it was time for a new computer. They know i'm a mac fan and after some discussion they were willing to upgrade. Obviously they didn't want to spend the money but they did anyway. Off to the Mac store for a mac mini we go.

So we get the mac employee from this commercial (Spoof)

Yes, I think the salesguy was high. So we looked at the computers and he decided on the cheapest one. I do think the base mac mini has too little ram so I wish they would have got an extra gig of ram but he didn't want to spend the money and they can alway add the memory afterwards. So we got it back and I had Matt do the hookup so that he knew how to do it when they got it home. He operated the computer for all the setup and we were up and running. You cant tell by the picture but look at the CD slot size and the whole computer isn't much bigger. He was impressed on how small this thing was. I went through some things for about an hour with him and as a non computer person he was blown away at how nice and easy it was.

So his wife came in at the end of the day after work for a quick training session to get her up and running. Mac's are a bit different and it takes some getting use to. I spent about an hour going through the same stuff as I did with Mac and she was also blown away. I researched a replacement ebay auction program for her because the one she was using isn't compatible with mac. Her old program was free but she paid .10 per listing to use it. The one I found for the Mac was $35 to purchase but there were no ongoing fees so in a couple months she'll have paid for he application "garagesale" from the savings. Before she got here I played with the app to get familiar with it and so I could show her how to get up and running. She couldn't believe how beautiful the interface and themes that it came with were. Her auctions will be so much nicer than they were. Also I went through her workflow with her and showed her some other things such as when she finds a picture on Ebay she wants to use she can just drag it off onto her desktop. With windows you have to right click and save and or screen shot. Usually the images have extra stuff around them so you end up screen capturing it. Then with windows you have lots of extra work to crop it. With mac it's three keys and you drag some cross hairs around the image and it puts a picture on your desktop in the form of a file. I also helped her get setup on iChat so that if she had problems she could ping me and I could quickly answer it. Another cool built in function of iChat is that it has remote desktop control. We set it up (checked a box for sharing) and tried it out. Very easy. It worked like a charm.

That night they got it setup at home and after a bit of using it I got an iChat message telling me thanks and that she loved the computer. The next day I think between Matt and his wife they thanked me 4-5 times. They started trumpeting what I have been saying for the last year is that people that dont have macs dont know what they are missing. I've never heard of a switcher regretting it. They are pleased and the more she uses it the more comfortable she is with it.

Baseball and Softball

noreply@blogger.com (Korey Jerome) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 03:31:00 +0000

Austin and Kortne are both playing organized baseball / softball this year. Austin had tryouts and started practice a couple weeks ago. Kortne was picked for a team and starts practice this Thursday. Its fun to watch them out there playing, catching, throwing and hitting. I've been able to watch Austin with all the kids and they get in the lines and groups and he mixes it up and jokes with the other kids. They let their imagination go and explore different things.

So this Thursday things get really busy with both kids practicing on the same day. Should be fun.

Special delivery

noreply@blogger.com (Korey Jerome) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 20:43:00 +0000

I just thought this picture was cool. Janet got us a big bag to put all our helmets, gloves, goggles, riding gear, boots, and other stuff in to keep it together and organized. When we were done with a quad riding trip it was like 20 trips back and forth to unload, now it will be one. And when they are on the shelf it will be clean and organized. We are just trying to figure out how to apply our label to the bag and have it stick? Anyway, it's a hockey bag in the spirit of Janets favorite sport and its big enough that she could crawl in and zip up.

Looking at videos of the kids growing up

noreply@blogger.com (Korey Jerome) — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 21:27:00 +0000

I have always been a fan of taking pictures and filming the kids and the family growing up. I've done a pretty decent job taking pictures but I stopped filming a couple years ago. I got tired of dealing with the long process in pulling the video from the camera in real time speed, the files took up a lot of space, and editing a video was very very time consuming. When you were done you had to render and burn the DVD which took overnight. Also it was discouraging to see the video on a big TV and it didn't fit right. With the passing of Aunt Donna and all the gifts she left us behind in the form of memories and pictures it reminded me how important it was to record our lives. If it's not for ourselves then it's for our kids and grand kids. I gathered up all the video I had from the years and put it all on the computer. I have an external 1TB drive to hold it all and now I have it all at my fingertips. I plan on going through all the years and making DVD's for the kids and put in there memory containers for when they are older. With all the footage that I don't use the program will trash it to keep the storage to a minimum.

I thought I would share a cute clip of Kortne at 3 years old. We were watching it last night and we all really enjoyed watching this old footage. Pictures are great, but video does a much better job in truly bringing you back to that moment in time. Its so very important to preserver some memories from the younger years.

So I found a screaming deal on an HD 1080i cam corder for only $369. A canon Vixia HF 100 camera that can be purchased in the local stores for $650 or higher. It uses SD memory cards so there is no moving parts. The video will be recorded in digital form and will not deteriorate over time like tapes do. I ordered it and I plan on getting back into recording our lives. I'm very excited to finally have a camera that records high definition and the shape fits my TV now. Here is the link to the camera

Greed continued.....

noreply@blogger.com (Korey Jerome) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 15:24:00 +0000

Here is an example where Microsoft sent a letter to their people telling them in these hard economic times that they need to cut 5000 people. They only made 16.9 Billion dollars in the last quarter and now with the economy they have to tighten their belts. I understand that Steve Ballmer is are hired by the board of directors to make as much money as he can for the share holders but in there is no concern for the people that work there, only the bottom line. I use to be all about the bottom line but I think this is a tough time in our countries history where we need to pull together and maybe make a few billion less for a couple years to keep people working. In a couple years if it doesn't come together then start laying people off. Read Article Here.

Greed ruined the United States of America

noreply@blogger.com (Korey Jerome) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 22:58:00 +0000

If one looks at America from 1900 through 1990 we were the most powerful nation on earth. We had an economic structure that was filled with financial incentives for hard work and entrepreneurship. The harder one worked, the greater their rewards. There is one flaw in our system, and that is the fact that what makes people work also ruined the USA, Greed. Back in the early 1900's it was the greed of the manufacturing shops and businesses that pushed workers very hard for little pay. They fought back with Unions which was beneficial at the time, however the Unions became greedy and over time priced their personnel out of the market. Their demands and blackmails for more money and benefits pushed the workers pay beyond what it's true value was.

Time passed and the workers were making a great wage however technology and infrastructure made it possible for the world to become one big economy and now our over paid workers were forced to compete against more than their neighboring towns for the work. It was greed of the CEO's from large companies that wanted to maximize profits for themselves and their shareholders by using cheap global labor. American workers were forced to compete against the 3rd world economies work force which was pleased to work for a couple dollars per day just to have a job. This process of exporting our jobs from america to other countries has taken quite a while and is still happening. No longer is America a manufacturing country, but we are a services country. We no longer build things, we purchase, consume and repair things.

While this was going on, our government continued to help its people by creating more and more social programs. Over time we have created a society where its not a shameful thing to live on the government when you are an able bodied person. The stigma to be a teenage pregnant girl is not a big deal any longer. Its rare to find a person in this era that takes pride in completing a days hard work. We have become accustomed to letting other people pull the load for us as much as possible. We have more people riding on the raft than rowing the boat at this point.
Our government is not immune to greed either. We hand them trillions of dollars to which they reply "that isn't enough". They tell us that we are hurting our children because they can't afford good books and decent mold free buildings because we aren't paying enough in taxes. Their "Revenue" stream isn't large enough. Simple math, at $12,000 per child in Portland using the all funds budget a classroom collects 300K for 25 children. Pay the teacher an average of 80K which includes benefits for the year and that leaves 220K left to pay for books, energy, maintenance, support staff and building. The math doesn't add up. Fiscal responsibility is lacking in our country and we are all paying the price.

People have become accustomed to spending more than they make in a year. They use credit to accumulate things then use house equity to absorb their high interest credit card debt. Then they repeat the cycle. Greed from the CEO's in these lending institutions lent money to these people with the expectations that all house values would increase. Now that we have hit a recession and house values are declining, people are losing their jobs and defaulting on their loans. The banks that made loans to people they shouldn't have are on the verge of collapsing or being rescued by the government. The government steps in and spends a trillion dollars that it didn't have to keep several key companies from crashing and taking the whole economy with it.

Greed is at the core of all the decision that put us where we are today. I understand it, but dont like it. Who doesn't want to improve their position in life? Short term benefit lead to long term detriment.

Where now? We have a socialist president in office now that his basic principles is take from the rich and give to the poor. To take care of the people that choose not to take care of themselves. To provide medical coverage for every person in the US as a basic right. Oregon's unemployment just hit 9% and is climbing. Regan showed in the 80's that trickle down economics works. One stimulates the economy by allowing people to keep more of what they earn. Obama believes that the government needs more money and that people should pay more taxes. We'll economies survive on currency, currency flows and stimulates. If you remove the money at the source, strip it from the people that earn it before they can spend it then the economy slows. Less money is spread around for other people to earn and pay taxes on.

Greed is good for an economy if it is monitored and regulated. When the incentive to be greedy is stripped away by socialism then america becomes just another european union. I hope that doesn't happen, but I fear it will.

My little helper

noreply@blogger.com (Korey Jerome) — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 05:22:00 +0000

I haven't posted in a while so I thought I would write a little post. I recently bought a used toyota tundra truck and a few things needed to be repaired on it. The tailgate stopped opening during the snow storm so I had to get a special star bit to fix it. Austin was there to help me.

I got both Kortne and Austin iPod touches for christmas and they both love them for different reasons. They both love watching movies on them. Austin loves playing games on his. He downloads games all the time, free and a couple paid ones that he is using his christmas money for. Its a great tool for them to expand their minds. Austin plays games that require thought and understanding physics to complete the game. This one game called touch physics uses crayon drawings with friction, gravity and levers to accomplish goals. He is as far as I am on the thing. Kortne loves email. She searches you tube for videos and emails them to her family. She writes short emails quite often which I love. I try to write her often to get her reading more. Over all things are going very well at the Jerome household. We are done with the school break and holidays and now its time to get back in the routine.

Will you marry me Janet?

noreply@blogger.com (Korey Jerome) — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 21:51:00 +0000

YES!!!!!. We both had one foot firmly entrenched in the single life vowing that we would never marry again due to our poor experiences with the first marriages. I'm happy with my life and my kids come first. We'll be able to see each other a couple times per week or so is what we said. We'll we didn't know that we had met our perfect matches and had no clue what level of happiness we were about to achieve. Within the first couple weeks of getting to know each other we burned up the phone lines and rang up a few thousand text messages. Calling each other in the middle of the night to hear the other persons voice, to hang up then call back again because you didn't hear enough. Within two weeks we both knew that we would get married at some point. From there we have slowly brought our kids and families into the mix. My kids love Janet and are always asking when they will be seeing her next. Janet's kids have mentioned that they notice that she is happiest when she is around me. Even after seven months people notice that we are very very happy. At our christmas dinner we kept looking at each other and smiling all night long. That was the first time we had dressed up and gone out and we were both enjoying looking at each other. Someone commented in fun "Get a room you guys". I guess our happiness is pretty visible.

So the family, Janet and I were going to Mexico for vacation. Without question I wanted to propose to her at some point however I couldn't make up my mind on when. How much time before it's appropriate? How long should the engagement be? I wanted the proposal to be special and memorable and thought what a better time or location than on the beach in 90 degree weather in December in Mexico with my family there to celebrate with us. I worked with a local jeweler to get the ring I wanted and since it didn't exist they worked with me to make it. They poured a wax mold and I hand picked the diamonds. They were even nice enough to take our old wedding rings in trade. I was quite pleased with how it all turned out. So armed with a ring and a plan it was hard to wait until the perfect moment.

The Proposal: I was hoping that we would arrive at the hotel before the sun went down so that I could ask her right away. I didn't want to wait all the way through the next day until the sun went down. The timing was perfect. We arrived in time for us to all get our shorts on and get down on the beach. I told Janet before we got there that I wanted to go for a walk and watch the sunset. When it was close to the right time for our walk I made an excuse to go up to the room to get the ring and when I returned we went for the walk. We walked quite a while and when the sun was at a good point I said lets grab some sand and watch it go down. We started talking about how happy we are and how perfect things are in our lives. I snuck the ring box out of my pocket and proposed to her. I definitely caught her by surprise and after some tears and collecting herself she said YES!!!!

We sat and watched the sunset the rest of the way then walked back to celebrate with the family. They were all very happy and welcomed Janet to the family. They are all very happy for me and Janet and are excited that we have both found each other and so much happiness together.

It was a great week and I cant wait to see what the future brings.

I love you Janet ~~Smith~~ Jerome

Computing with my dad...

noreply@blogger.com (Korey Jerome) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:09:00 +0000

So recently I suggested my dad get an iPod that he could plug into his car for his commutes. He works 30-45 minutes from where he lives. I gave up on broadcast music and entertainment in the car years ago when I bought an XM radio. I couldn't stand the constant breaks for commercials. When I got home I felt like I just listened to a big long commercial. I heard that 1/3 of the hour is commercials however that doesn't take into consideration all of the DJ's talking time and such. When I got my iPhone I started listening to music from my iPhone in the car as well as podcasts. 5 months later I have so many podcasts that I listen to that I rarely get through them and to the music. So back to my dad, I guess my suggestion got him thinking and after a bit of a bit of research he decided to probably get one. I was thinking he would get the nano with the wheel and small screen then we got to talking and he was willing to spend a bit more if it was worth it. So we went over what the ipod touch had to offer with the bigger screen and applications and so forth. He ended up getting the touch and seems to really like it. Now he is learning about it and the iTunes software and loading it up with music and movies. So far he seems to really like listening to the podcasts and music on his commute. NO MORE COMMERCIALS.

We have been emailing back and forth about how to do certain things with the iPod and about music and podcasts and such. That brings me to the point of this blog and a stroll down memory lane. I remember when I was in high school and computers were just becoming almost affordable for some people. I remember when we got our first 386 computer from some place that is now out of business. (not counting the TI-99). It had dual floppy drives and probably had like 4 megs of memory (not gigs, megs) and probably a 40 meg hard drive or something. We used the heck out of that thing and when it was time to upgrade I bought it from my dad and he went out and got a 486 computer. That was smoking fast back then with probably 6 megs of memory and a 60 gig hard drive. We played and hacked on those things teaching each other things along the way. Then we started signing into BBS sites way before there was the internet. Basically people started building these computers that hosted a dos application (character based) where you can press different numbers to navigate around and look at information and sometimes download free software. Over a 2800 baud modem it was very slow but cool. Then came the 56K modems which was a major upgrade. Of course this is before cell phones so to be on the BBS you tied up the home line for hours. We would type code in for hours to have a little stick guy dance around on the screen too.

Then we wanted to connect our computers together. Even though there wasn't a lot we could do once they were connected we did it anyway. We had the in the same room from what I recall and worked on it for a long time. We had to install these cards and you had to connect right from one to the other, no hub. In those days you went from one computer to the next. It took a while to figure it out and get all the right equipment but we did it. Then I put my computer in my room and we stretched the cable through the hall and it still worked. In a whole different room. Very cool stuff back then.

Now today when we get together we have a family room full of laptops. Everyone has one even the kids. all wireless surfing the web consuming information and searching out answers. Need to know a sports score? Old days watch the game or read the answer in the newspaper, today espn.com baby. Old days, need to purchase something from a store look at newspaper ads and call around asking for price or if they had it, now google and surf your way to see who has the best deal and if the stores have one in stock. Buy it and have it sent or they'll set it aside and you can pick it up. Now we are all connected, emailing, blogging, and sharing pictures, movies and life.

I appreciate that my family is connected through technology. My parents are edging closer to retirement and my parents buy wii's, ipods, HDtv's, LCD tv's, laptops, high speed internet, portable phones, etc... They may not be able to squeeze every ounce of ability out of all the devices but they are in the game. They are far more advanced in this area than any other baby boomer I know.

Sitch to Mac...

noreply@blogger.com (Korey Jerome) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:51:00 +0000

Most of you are familiar with my switch to Mac from PC. It has been about 5 months and I couldn't be happier with the switch. The commercials are even funnier when I've experienced both sides because they are so true and still so simple. I'm still learning but what I have learned is that the user interface is so much nicer and attractive to work in. Things just work as the ads say and the people who develop applications for the mac do a fantastic job with them. Its built on the unix core so its very stable and solid. Beautiful interface and rock solid kernel.

All that said there is still a long way to go for the applications. Some applications that I used on the PC are not available on the mac. I had to install fusion which lets me run windows from my mac OS. I literally click on an icon and i'm running windows inside my mac. It works very well and I get the best of both worlds. If I need to run a game I just boot right into windows on my mac and it runs it faster than most windows machines.

Next time you are in the market for a new computer you should definitely look at the macs and research and learn about them. They are increasing sales 30+ percent per year and are charging fast. Half of all new mac sales are to PC users and every one that I talked to so far have been very pleased. With all those people switching more applications are bound to be created for the mac. Plus in this day and age many of the new office type apps are being built for the web like google docs and microsofts new office app that they are building for the web which any computer can run.

So watch the commercials and enjoy. I think they are funny.

Google Reader - Try it!!

noreply@blogger.com (Korey Jerome) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:20:00 +0000

I'm not sure how many people know about RSS feeds and how to use them so I thought I would write a blog about them. Most people I know have a daily routine of web sites they go to and consume their information. For me it ranges from sports to technology and then onto politics. Rather than navigating to every page to get the information you can have it fed to your google reader. Every morning I pop into my google reader and all the web sites and blogs that I follow are right there waiting for me to look at them. I can preview them, open them up and see the whole thing right in reader, or click on the header and it will take me to the page. I have all the family blogs and picassa pages in my reader so if someone updates either I know about it right away.

To add a feed to your reader just navigate to the feed you want to send to it and click on the RSS button. From there it's pretty self explanatory.

New apartment

noreply@blogger.com (Korey Jerome) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 02:08:00 +0000

So I'm in the new apartment now. Its actually a nice apartment for an apartment. I've been moving in there for a couple weeks now and its been going well. Janet has been a big help moving the whole kitchen all by herself. The apartment has much less room so this is quite a challenge to find space for everything. Saturday Kenny came over to help me move the heavy stuff and while we did that Janet worked her ass off. She packed and cleaned like a woman on a mission. So overall I'm mostly moved in except the yard equipment which Janet is letting me store at her house and the stuff I'm going to donate to charity. By the end of the week the old house should be clean and empty.
The nightly elephant races above me are annoying. The girl that moved in above me is a little less than invisible. She moved in Saturday so I'll give her a break since she is probably just getting settled. I think she is a night owl and i'm a morning person. So I've been saying that everything is OK except for the nightly elephant races upstairs. Actually i'm exaggerating to be funny, its not that bad. It is different hearing people walking around upstairs though.

There are kids in the apartment that range from trash to good kids. It doesn't take long to figure out which ones are trash. They are usually pretty transparent. It will be a challenge making sure my kids dont get mixed up with the wrong kids, but there are a few good kids in the community that are nice. Hopefully they are drawn to the good kids and not the trashy kids. i'll make sure to have input on that.

Spread the wealth?

noreply@blogger.com (Korey Jerome) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:25:00 +0000

We'll socialism is coming to Washington. Those of you planning on voting for Obama please be aware that you are voting for someone that holds many socialist views. The first definition of socialism is the following.

1. a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole.

Obama wants to take more money from one class and distribute it to another. "Spread the Wealth" as he puts it. This should scare you.

Everything I have heard this man say has to do with more government control or more government spending. He believes that government can do it better and that the American people need the government to take control of parts of their lives. He plans on forcing employers to pay for health care for their employees. This sounds good, who wouldn't want free health care, but it does cost money to provide it to the employees. If they are not providing it now then its not because they are greedy capitalists. There may be exceptions but for the most part if employers aren't providing insurance it's because they cant afford it. Adding another cost onto these employers will force them to find the money elsewhere to pay for it (raise prices) or reduce costs by eliminating people. These employers aren't going to just pick up the extra costs to provide coverage. They are in business to make a profit. If the government takes the profit away they will do what they can to remain profitable or get out of business.

Do people not hear him proposing billions and billions in dollars of new spending? Tax cuts for 95% of the people? Since roughly 30% of the people don't pay any taxes at all does that mean that they are going to get a check in the mail? Its a math equation. If he reduces taxes on 95% of the people, increases spending by 700+ billion the net result is more of a defecate? The math doesn't add up.

Look at the overall history of Obama and how he has voted. He has been tagged by two independent organizations as the most liberal democrat in the senate. Just to the left of a liberal democrat is socialist. He has socialist views on many issues however because he is such a good public speaker he isn't showing you his hand. That video says it all. Spread the wealth.

Unfortunately the horrible fiscal irresponsibility of President Bush is going to hurt John McCain. Bush had to deal with the bursting of the tech bubble which killed the economy as well as 9/11 which finished it off. The economy was building back up quite nicely until the most recent banking issues. Unfortunately greed is in our society and it does require oversight. We let some companies who were cornerstones in our economy get out of control and greed led them to the cliff. Without government intervention they would have fell off the cliff and taken the economy with it. The bailout was very costly and will be very costly to all of us for many years. We need proper oversight and a free market economy not socialism.

This leads me to my final thoughts today. America has a spending problem. We spend more than we make every year as a whole. Credit cards are part of our society and carrying debt on credit cards is the norm. I heard that the average debt on credit cards is around 10K. People grow up and when they leave their parents home they desperately try to obtain the standard of living they have been accustom to with their parents. They want the nice car, house, toys and such. Who wouldn't right? Ever heard of the frog in boiling water story? We are all use to using our credit cards to buy things and plan on paying them off over time, however things pop up like school clothes, Christmas, birthdays, tires, maintenance, house repairs, etc.. People accumulate debt over time and eventually the behavior creates a pile of credit card debt. So when the houses were increasing in value at 10% or more per year for years people thought I can get some relief by rolling my credit card debt into my home loan and get a lower interest. There is plenty of equity in the house so this wont create a problem. Then with good intentions they weren't going to use the credit cards unless there was an emergency. We'll years of being desensitized the emotional high of having new toys over rides the pain and fear of carrying debt so the behavior continues. I'm just as guilty as anyone else. We have a problem of spending in our society and I don't see it stopping anytime soon. We need to hold people accountable for their actions. If they dig a hole and are buried in debt and cant make their house payment, I feel sorry for them, but they need to work an extra job an make the payment. Or they need to sell their house and live within their means. I don't like either candidates plans to renegotiate the mortgages at their current value. This shaves off thousands of dollars worth of debt but life is an equation. That money that was shaved off the debt hurts someone, either tax payers or the companies.

Be responsible people and be accountable. Pay your debts, say no to socialism, say yes to capitalism with oversight and let America prosper.

Kristal's 40th Redneck Ho-down

noreply@blogger.com (Korey Jerome) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:40:00 +0000

The weekend was a blast for sure. It was a bit cold at night so I'm glad the kids were able to stay in the terd with g'ma. The first night we froze and shivered half the night and were a bit tired the next day. The second night we ran into town and got a couple more sleeping bags to keep us warm and that did the trick. I cant wait to go back and explore more trails and when its muddy not dry.

Thank you mom for taking care of us all again with great food and for caring for the kids when we went on the adult rides. It was fun having the creek right there for them to go play in and goof around in.

Kort and Austin had a blast. Austin put hundreds of miles on that quad this weekend just riding around camp. He would spend 15 minutes cruising around then took a little break for a few minutes. Then off to put the helmet back on and go some more. I'm glad that he was able to ride it that much. G'ma is going to hook him up with some riding gear for better protection for his birthday so that will be a good thing. Kortne was a little scared to ride by herself on the little one but she wanted to ride an adult around on the big one all weekend. At first she was really tentative but before I knew it she was going everywhere with the gang. Even down hills which was big scary for her. I'm proud of her.

I guess it's true that Janet isn't afraid of dirt. The one of these pictures clearly shows plenty of it all over her face.

It was a blast and I cant wait for our next redneck ho-down.

Microblogging for geeks....

noreply@blogger.com (Korey Jerome) — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 02:55:00 +0000

So I'm not into social networking, like Myspace and facebook but i'm kind of having fun with twitter. I've heard Twitter described as a micro blog for geeks. Actually it started out for geeks but people like Obama and others are using it now. Basically how it works is once you have an account you go find people that are interesting and follow them. It adds you to their follow list and adds them to your your following list. From my phone or the desktop computer I can pop in and take a peek at what the people are doing. Throughout the day people post little notes about what they are doing or tidbits of information that others may find interesting. You're limited to a couple sentences. For instance Kevin Rose, founder of Digg, is someone I follow and he twittered about the new startup company Good Guide where they analyze home products and rates them. They look at many factors all relating to health and environment. Its rather interesting and I encourage you to take a look.

If you get an account and want to add me my tag is kjchipmunk of course. There are a couple people following me and I couldn't tell you who they are. No clue. Probably some 42 year old unbathed immature pimple face geeks still living with their mothers. You can also see who I'm following. Yes, they are all technology related people.

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We have an answer, 2nd grade it is.....

noreply@blogger.com (Korey Jerome) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 04:09:00 +0000

We'll this whole summer we have not known which grade Austin was going to be placed in. Going back to Last November we started talking to his school about putting him directly into 1st grade when we moved and they couldn't because they didn't have enough information that supported the move. They were suppose to be monitoring him to re-evaluate him for skipping 1st grade and going right to 2nd grade, and it turns out they weren't. At the end of the year his teacher agreed with us recommended he skip a grade which apparently caught the Principal by surprise. She normally tests and monitors for a couple months to gather the backup data to support the move so we were in a pickle. Long story short we ended up scheduling a meeting with her today at 3:30 to discuss it and meet with the TAG (talented and gifted) teacher. We'll the TAG teacher met us and the principal was in a district meeting so she wasn't available. We went to a conference room and talked for a while and she explained how they look at many factors other than academics, which we were aware of. Then she flipped over a three page test to see how strong he was in mathematics. The test had questions that ranged from 1st grade through the end of 2nd grade level. He systematically picked off the questions and out of all three pages he wasn't able to answer just a few. An example of a question was 80-43 and he got it right. Another was a crap load of little blocks stacked, and he had to count the vertical and horizontal quantities and multiply. He got it right, it was 213. Very cool. Remember that he just finished kindergarten. He was doing the problems in his head and the TAG teacher was very impressed with that. Before we left she said she supports Austin skipping a grade and going right to 2nd grade. She talked it over with the principal and the school called us around dinner time to tell us that the Principal approved him going right to 2nd grade.

I'm very proud of my little dude and am looking forward to this year of school.

Go Austin.....

Kortne's Restaurant

noreply@blogger.com (Korey Jerome) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 16:32:00 +0000

Kortne loves to spend time in her room lately. I realize that as kids get older they spend more time in their room. Her room is very comfortable for her and she loves to do little crafts and activities in there. It makes me feel good that she is comfortable and happy playing in her room. In weeks past she has setup forts using the PVC pipe kit that I put together for the kids and blankets. I cant tell you how many times she put up different things in there that I had to put the clips on the blankets. This weekend she had a special project going on in there that she wanted to be a surprise. She worked hard on it for a couple hours. She grabbed a bunch of plates, bowls and silverware and dragged them into her room so I kind of had a clue as to what she was doing. She moved her bed around and setup a restaurant, emptied her bookshelf into the corner to put her restaurant stuff up and cleared out the closet to make it the kitchen. She thought out every detail from table, chairs, napkins, glasses, silverware, plates and menus. She hand wrote out two sets of menus for Austin and I and had at least 10 items on each for the appetizer, main course, drinks, and deserts. So when she was ready she asked us to be her customers. Austin and I knocked on the door and told her we had a dinner reservations. She smiled and showed us to our table. Austin was great and played along well. He put lots of thought into each menu choice which was kind of funny since it was pretend.

So we placed our drink order and she disappeared into the closet, er a kitchen. I heard dishes clanking and water squirting and I suffocated my normal "don't make a mess" instinct and let her just do her thing. She used a sports bottle full of water to fill up our glasses. I ordered diet Pepsi and Austin ordered lemonade, however the lemonade machine was broke so he had to pick a different drink. Its funny how she thinks of all these different scenarios and pulls them out for her pretend kitchen. So she brought out our drinks and took the drink menu and delivered the appetizer menu. We ordered each course and she delivered it full of beads representing food. When we were done she cleared our plates and took them back to the kitchen and prepared it for Austins turn.

Its fun to watch my kids grow up and use their imaginations. Another both kids did is made mailboxes that are taped to our doors. They are boxes made from paper and we can transfer notes back and forth in them. Austin even made one for my door and stuck it up. Its so darn big that I keep crushing it when I go in my room though.

This was the last full week of the summer the kids spent with me and its back to the school schedule. We had lots of fun this summer and were very active with our family. I'm glad that they get to experience many different things and hopefully they'll remember them.

Flashlight show on steroids!

noreply@blogger.com (Korey Jerome) — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 18:32:00 +0000

My KortSport is growing up very quickly.

noreply@blogger.com (Korey Jerome) — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 16:56:00 +0000

A few weeks ago i noticed that Kortne kept wearing clothes that were too small and realized she had just went through a growth spurt. Her shirts were so short that they were showing a sliver of skin around her waist and her shorts and pants were very snug. So off to the store to buy her bigger clothes. She is at that size right between kids and juniors so its a bit hard to find clothes that fit her and that she likes. Apparently my taste in young lady clothes are a bit on the boring side and during our shopping trip we ended up agreeing on one pair of shorts. Janet was nice enough to take her shopping and get some stylish clothes that fit and Kortne was happy with. I have to admit I really don't like the options out there for little girls. It seems like they making smaller versions of women's clothes for young ladies. I wish the clothes out there were a little looser, but apparently the in style is to have shirts a bit on the snug side.

We went to KahNeeTa for a few days with Grandma to play in the sun with the kids. I setup a horse back riding session for Kortne and I (Auzy ended up wanting to go too) and when we were getting ready her fairly new shoes she got a few months ago were too tight. She is just growing so fast its hard to keep up. She has been such a wonderful girl this week helping every chance she got and didn't complain once. When we needed help preparing dinner or cleaning up she was right there helping out. She really responds to grandma and responds to praise. She will do things just to feel the praise of a compliment from a parent or grandparent. That makes her feel very good about herself and makes her want to be even better and do more things.

This morning she got up before me and went into the kitchen and made a full spread breakfast for all of us. On the menu was a wonderful bowl of oatmeal with peaches mixed in, a can of mandarin oranges in a bowl, warmed up left over ham, and salad. She set the table with plates, bowls, silverware and was so proud. I have to admit the mix of food didn't look too good however she was so proud I had to sit and give it a go. The oatmeal and oranges were very good. I couldn't eat the salad, but complimented her on her effort to put it all together.

I see the signs of her growing up every day. She is enjoying her time in her room more and more making crafts, watching DVD's, making forts and coming up with dance routines. She is very happy and content most of the time and it makes me proud as a parent to know that she is happy, content and absolutely enjoying life right now. Watch the Video to see her latest dance routine.

Drivein

noreply@blogger.com (Korey Jerome) — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 03:59:00 +0000

Janet, the kids, and I are at the drive in now waiting for wall-e to start. We saw cops pull over a Honda prelude with 4 kids in it and had them open the trunk and 2 more kids came rolling out of the trunk. It was pretty funny.

We have drinks, snacks, and sleeping bags and are ready to go.

So, quick update. Austin made it all the way through the movie just fine and Kortne fell asleep. They both did really well when it was time to pack up and head home around 11:30pm.

New Library in town!

noreply@blogger.com (Korey Jerome) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 15:35:00 +0000

The new library they have been building in town for a while is finally finished. It is 3 times the size of the old one and all state of the art. They even have rooms for the different age groups. The teenagers room has a big screen with a nintendo Wii. So last night I grabbed the kids and we went down there to check it out and get some new books. We have been trying to read at home so they are ready for school on day one. So we get there and when we walked in the kids got pretty excited. Kort cruised around looking for poetry books. Austin wanted to read up on gerbals since he has one at his moms. So we asked for help and they showed us where they were. He grabbed two books and was content with that. He sat and read for a while so I could help Kort. The people there helped her find Poetry and she picked out a book. She also found a lot of other books that she is interested in.

Check it out here

Every Tuesday night they have a gathering with some talent performing. Tonight we are going to go to the commons and see a magician perform. The kids are really excited about that. Should be fun.