Here is my family having a little redneck quality time. We dug some chairs and car seats out of the dump and relaxed while we shot at stuff in the dump and made fun of each other. Brad (background holding gun) came for the first time and shot better than all of us, of course he stood while he shot, that may make the difference. Jeff (next to brad) is our family arms dealer and is generous enough to supply the ammo. Someday my boys will be out there joining us and it will be a proud moment. Zeke is still talking about wanting to play paintball, all of his toys he is turning into paintball guns and shooting them... so proud. We had a great thanksgivin
g with both families. I got to go bike riding from 11:00 p.m. till about 1:30 a.m. one night. I met up with some Wichita people that also had lights and we went a few laps on the local trail. it was a good time, good to see everyone. More and more people are going toward the single speed mountain bike concept without the gears. I just don't understand this backward move in technology? They are like omish mountain bike riders! what is the next step? no peddles, push with your legs the Brandon Mills way?
We made it back Sunday night, I had labs to grade before Tuesday. right now I am gearing up to learn some calculus of variations mathematics. Some topics require me to wear a game face and pump myself up for. This is a needed process, especially for topics such as this. There might be some howling involved. it is kind of like slapping yourself in the face when you are trying to stay awake while driving. I checked out several books but no one incorporates the simple to read pictures that I enjoy and what is up with all this math jargon?, bunch of elitists!
I am filling out an application for a society of military engineers scholarship for 1,500$. No it doesn't mean that I have to go into the military, those scholarships are much more lucrative. I have to get two reference letters one from my advisor and the other I am getting from the dean of engineering. That little TA position I am doing for him is paying off! We will see, don't know what my chances are of getting it. Don't worry Gail I am having my wife check the spelling.
Well better get to my mathematics, whooooooooo slap slap come on get it on!!!
Ballad of the broken Jeep
Once upon a Sunday morn
We finished our church nursery duty chore
9 little baptists someday will get dunked
some started early by wetting their trunks
jumped in the Jeep counted the offspring
was in for a shock when I turned the key
blah blah blah putt putt thrwart
blasted thing it won't start!
Tried to get a jump from a guy named Jim
he drove a station wagon how embarassin
Jump wouldn't take, the reasons unknown
had to get someone else to take us home.
Eat a quick lunch, be sure to take my phone
jump on the bike and peddle to autozone.
quite a ways 1.97 miles to the place
thought I was in shape, a little flushed in the face
who would have thought autozone was so popular
I leave 30 minutes later with some parts and a starter
I told the guy "this cable end doesn't look the same you jerk!" I didn't actually say that
"oh yeah" he said "the computer says it will work"
One other problem the starter won't fit in my backpack
"can I have a plastic bag" I will have to hold it in a sack
it was main when I hit a drain
plastic ripped and the starter box on the sidewalk it lain
turned around picked it up keep going on my trip
even harder to peddle with only one hand on the grip
set out once again peddling another 2.47 miles I fought
end up laying on the asphalt in the church parking lot
tried this, cleaned that
still no luck car just sat
thought "I bet its the starter"
tried to take it off, got no farther
you see my socket set goes to 14 millimeter
15 where the size of the bolts on the starter
some words are appropriate if you don't get caught
not sure about cussing in a church parking lot
get on my bike, wondering if the thing will ever start
peddle another couple miles to wal mart
I did cut across a mental health facilitie's property
said to myself "you could be committed very easily"
at the store paid 20$ for a cheap socket set
off like bat, another 2 miles tools clanging in my pocket.
laid on the ashpalt bolts where so tight!
who in the heck put these on, good night!
worked and worked and used a lug wrench
got them loose with a certain amount of stench
put the new one on with a torque I trusted
then I noticed my freeze plug was rusted! ( means they are corroded and will leak soon)
another problem for another day
I packed up my bike and tools and drove away
came home the boys were still asleep
kissed my wife and said "lets get a new jeep"
Here is the Flippo clan during the second halloween party, this is after Zeke got tired of winning contests and took off his robot costume. Judah is still wearing his pumpkin outfit though. We are no longer going to that church anymore, although we will go this weekend to fullfill a nursery obligation and to say goodbye to everyone. Our new church has started and meets on Sunday nights. It is mostly college students but there are a few families. I will be running the web site until they find someone better to do so, so I might take that oppertunity to post Kstate emblems s
uch as the one below. I never listen or watch football but I got to listen to the K state game and it was fabulous! We beat the number 3 ranked team in the nation. I have printed out this emblem (sent to me from my preacher, who is also from KSU) and posted it around my office and building. On one page I wrote "your welcome". No one here likes Texas so they take it pretty well.
Went riding last Saturday out at the lake, good time. Went with Smokey ( retired OU linebacker) who just got a new bike about 2 months ago and has learned to ride rather well in a short time. So after about 10 minutes on the trail, smokey realizes that his peddle is loose and on closer examination he sees that the threads in his crank are stripped and that he can just pull his peddle out by hand. What is funny is that we were just talking about young Brandon's crank falling off. Well he walked back to the truck while I did a loop. We got back early. I told Smokey that he was just peddling too hard, I like to think this cause I did the same thing to a crank of mine many years ago. I am getting more bold with biking and taking more jumps and not slowing down as much for the big downhills. I must say that I am really enjoying this and would go more if I had the time. I look forward to the boys riding someday.
The kids are getting better, Zeke is now still coughing alot but had a better night last night. He was up for a little "Lego missle" game this morning. Lego Missle is where we use a rubber band tied between a chair's leg to shoot a lego made missle at a lego wall or tower. Sometimes we even will stick little lego bob the builder behind the wall to see if he gets blasted or protected, just to make it more personal.
We had another Chinese lesson last night, Zeke did better and recalls a lot more words than last week. He and Mrs Wang read a book together about farm animals, and then pretended to chop trees and shoot each other with some toys. Mrs Wang has skills.
Zeke "I want a paintball gun for christmas"
Here are the Flippo Boys haning out, Judah is sick now with some sort of respitory thing. He has been to the doc and is on some meds that make him hyper. Zeke is feeling better but still coughs some.
We had our first lesson with mrs Wang. Her and her daughter came over the other night. Angie teaches the daughter english and mrs wang trys to teach Zeke. I looked up the Chinese word for patience and it is nai-xin. This lady is nai-xin! Zeke was not the star pupil, I think he likes to try to teach her words that really aren't words. She repeated words in Chinese until Zeke would say them. She repeated the word for hat "maozi" until even Zeke's stuffed animals could say it. At one point Zeke says to mommy "I am done with this" "I don't want to play with Mrs Wang anymore" it is kind of fun for me, in a sadistic way, to see someone push Zeke to the edge like he does us. So I guess this is not so much a language lesson as it is therapy for me. Well I think the Chinese will set in eventually with him, if nothing else it is a good way to start a relationship with this Chinese family. Ai yi , our favorite Chinese grandma, is coming back next month. Angie is looking forward to seeing her. Ai yi really pushes Angie as well to learn Chinese, that is not so much therapy for me but entertainment.
Here is a few pics of Zeke's Halloween costume. If you can't tell he is a robot. The red light on the back flashes so that we can see him in the dark. he also had some moving parts but they didn't last long. We went to the apartment party first and won first place, Zeke won a flashing toy. We then ditched that party, cause we had played all the games. We went to the church party and won a huge chocolate bar for most creative costume. The chocolate bar, I took care of (for all the work I put in on the costume). Judah was a pumkin, hopefully we will have a picture of him soon as well.
Here is a pic of the trails out at the lake that I ride, I will try to get some better pics. I purchased a light for my bike so that I can go after dark. The punks are starting to weeny out on me, so I have to go by myself. I admit that I can't always go when they do due to my family coming first. I am thinking about setting up a trip to horizon to meet up with the Wichita people for a little night ride.
Bad to the bone
Here is Zeke on his new hog. He got this for his birthday from two of his uncles. Thank you all for the gifts and parties, we all enjoyed them very much. Zeke is riding in the Loyd Nobel parking lot next to where we live. He has a hard time getting the peddels going when they are straight up and down. I think the bike is a little heavy for him, I may have to modify it a little. Myabe I can machine a new frame on the CNC machine after hours. Halloween went very well, I don't have pictures of the boys so I will wait for all the halloween stories to be told when I get them. We have a new church starting on Sunday nights now. We are so very excited to have that going. I think that we will be in the minority as far as kids go but I think that will change over the next few years. We had the Wangs over for dinner that other night and Zeke started his Chinese lessons. Mrs Wang is really good with him and very patient. She doesn't speak English that well so she will learn from Zeke also, as long as he doesn't make up words. Zeke did real well at dinner at making people feel at home, he asked several questions (we have been working on that) and went to get some paper and crayons for the little Chinese girl to draw with, which was a big hit. They will come over on Monday night while I watch Judah and have a new lesson. We wills see how that goes. It is cold here now and I have been riding to work without a seat again to get a little more exercise, people say "hey you don't have a seat" like I didn't know and if they didn't say something I would sit down on the frame, which would hurt. I have been going riding most every weekend and have learned some new moves. I am currently working on the Brent Coppock manuever, where if I am in a turn that I can't finish (either going to fast or I am oriented wrong on the bike) then I bunny hop up and twist in the air so that when I land I am going the right direction, but I also have to tilt into the turn so that I won't flop over when I land like a spatula hitting a meat patty. it is all an intuitive and not something I have time to think about. I saw Brent do it once and thought someday I will be like Brent.
here are two quotes that Zeke said during dinner with the wangs
"you should go" (said to the Wangs) "after dinner you will go"
"mommy is this (apple pie) good for my poopies?"
Here is my family having a little redneck quality time. We dug some chairs and car seats out of the dump and relaxed while we shot at stuff in the dump and made fun of each other. Brad (background holding gun) came for the first time and shot better than all of us, of course he stood while he shot, that may make the difference. Jeff (next to brad) is our family arms dealer and is generous enough to supply the ammo. Someday my boys will be out there joining us and it will be a proud moment. Zeke is still talking about wanting to play paintball, all of his toys he is turning into paintball guns and shooting them... so proud. We had a great thanksgivin
