Well, last night was my final night at Zaxby’s of TigerTown. I’m not sad about leaving because the circumstances surrounding my departure are less than ideal. Was I fired? Nope. I left on my own terms.

I had been there for 15 months, and I enjoyed the ride for the most part. I went to work there to help out a friend, and it was my intention to only stay for six months as an assistant manager.

Read the rest of this entry »

Alas, poor Skippy. He was our latest betta fish, and he died today. We enjoyed having him around as he was always peaceful to watch.

He fought death all day. We don’t know what happened. He’s been fine. I even went out to Petco tonight and bought him a new tank, medicine and everything else. However, he just didn’t make it. It was his time to go.

I normally don’t mourn animals. Sure, I’m sad to see them go if they’re close to our family, but I don’t grieve. However, I’m a little more sad this time around because of the photo below. My daughter had her own betta named Angelina last year, but she died, too. See the photo of the pink fish? My daughter took that (when she was just turning five-years-old), and she decided she wanted Skippy to have a good memory today as he struggled.

She told him, “Make sure you say hi to Angelina when you get to Heaven.”

I love my little girl.

Nixie pointed me in the direction of this video:

I cannot grasp the concept of this lifestyle. I think some pageants are OK if they keep their kids grounded in reality and humility. This mother has obviously not kept herself nor her child in that realm.

I can’t help but feel sad for the little girl. She’s going to grow up believing that she’ll need her looks and public attention to survive in life. I’m so happy my daughter hasn’t shown an interest in these. Granted, that’s partly because we don’t push them on her.

Our daughter is beautiful, and we don’t need pageants to tell her she is. What my wife and I foster more than anything is to love God, treat others with love and respect and work hard in school. Those will take her farther in life than anything else.

2010 and 2011 were two years I’d like to forget for the most part. I’m praying 2012 is a lot better.

I’ve never been one to make New Year resolutions. I’ve always been afraid that I’d never live up to them. That may still be the case, but I really need to jot down some of the things I intend on accomplishing. Here we go…

Read the rest of this entry »

Wow.  That one word is the best one I have to describe this year’s Dragon*Con for me.  I think out of all three years I’ve been, this was the best.  Well, except Ron Daniels wasn’t there.  That would’ve made it complete.

Let’s begin, shall we?  Thumbnails open to the larger photos. Read the rest of this entry »