First Post

Good morning all. Happy New Year!

Wow, 2008 was quite the year for us here at the "Oda" household. Oda Mae learned how to spell her name this year. Oda Momma and I celebrated our 10th anniversary. I decided to change careers. Looking back, is always interesting. The other day I saw a montage of celebrities who passed away during 2008. You see these things and you always go, "I forgot about so-and-so, was that this year?" or "I didn't know he died this year." The real fun though, for me, is looking forward to the new year in anticipation of what is to come...

I am looking forward to spending more time with Oda Momma this year. Gran and Sis gave us monthly "Oda Free Weekends" for Christmas.

Tomorrow we start a New Testament reading program with the church we are joining. We've attended a local church for the last 3-4 months and have really enjoyed going. It's a large church with plenty of opportunities to plug in. It is Christ centered and they really seem to have their act together in all the right areas.

Oda Mae will turn 4 this year. She loves to dress up and dance more than anything else, so I think we'll enroll her in some kind of dance class after her birthday.

I should finish my pre-requisites for nursing school this summer and hopefully I'll get accepted for next spring. A year ago, I was stressing about an audition I took in March. This year, I'm actually excited about taking Chemistry.

Last night Oda Momma and I went out for dinner at Texas de Brazil. If you've never been, start saving your pennies and plan an evening for the future. A massive salad bar with imported cheeses, meets, vegetables etc. and if you're man enough go for the complete dinner which includes MEAT. Servers come by your table with all sorts of meat on large skewers and they sliced it off for you right on to your plate. Oda Momma and I both started with the salad bar. Then I proceeded to turn over my card to the green side that said "Yes, please."

This means that the servers bombard you with different cuts of meat until you have so much on your plate that you have to have time to catch up. At which point you promptly turn your card over to the red side which says "No, thank you." which in my case means "Give me time!"

Oda Momma opted for the salad bar only. At one point our waiter came by and asked her if she was done. Oda Momma gave him the look of death and he promptly replied with "Would you like a new plate." :) This is why I love HER. The problem for me at TDB, is that you never really know how much you are eating. They come by with just a little piece of meat and you eat it. Then they come by with another little piece of meat, you eat it as well. Then at some point you realize that you should have stopped eating little pieces of meat about 5 servers ago. Despite getting overly full, Oda Momma and I had a good time. We came home and watched a movie and slept into the new year.

Now we're headed over to Gran's house for a New Years lunch and to pick up our child. I have no doubts that Oda Mae had as good a time as we did.

Dominus Vobiscum,

Oda Daddy

CPI

Man, talk about inflation. 8.1% increase for the Christmas Price Index...


Speaking of the Christmas Price Index, I am fondly reminded of my favorite holiday joke...Once again, a letter from Agnes...





Dearest John:
I went to the door today and the postman delivered a partridge in a pear tree. What a delightful gift. I couldn't have been more surprised.
With dearest love and affection, Agnes

***
December 15th
Dearest John:
Today the postman brought your very sweet gift. Just imagine, two turtle doves.... I'm just delighted at your very thoughtful gift. They are just adorable.
All my love, Agnes

***
December 16th
Dear John:
Oh, aren't you the extravagant one! Now I must protest. I don't deserve such generosity. Three french hens. They are just darling but I must insist.... you're just too kind.
Love Agnes

***
December 17th
Today the postman delivered four calling birds. Now really! They are beautiful, but don't you think enough is enough? You're being too romantic.
Affectionately, Agnes

***
December 18th
Dearest John:
What a surprise! Today the postman delivered five golden rings. One for each finger. You're just impossible, but I love it. Frankly, John, all those squawking birds were beginning to get on my nerves.
All my love, Agnes

***
December 19th
Dear John:
When I opened the door there were actually six geese-a-laying on my front steps. So you're back to the birds again, huh? Those geese are huge. Where will I ever keep them? The neighbors are complaining and I can't sleep through the racket. PLEASE STOP!
Cordially, Agnes

***
December 20th
John:
What's with you and those birds???? Seven swans-a-swimming. What kind of joke is this? There's bird do-do all over the house and they never stop the racket. I'm a nervous wreck and I can't sleep all night. IT'S NOT FUNNY.......So stop with those birds.
Sincerely, Agnes

***
December 21st
OK Buster:
I think I prefer the birds. What am I going to do with eight maids-a-milking? It's not enough with all those birds and eight maids-a-milking, but they had to bring their own cows. There is poop all over the lawn and I can't move into my own house. Just lay off me. .
Ag

***
December 22nd
Hey:
What are you? Some kind of sadist? Now there's nine pipers playing. And do they play! They never stopped chasing those maids since they got here yesterday morning. The cows are upset and are stepping all over those screeching birds. No wonder they screech. What am I going to do? The neighbors have started a petition to evict me. You'll get yours.
From Ag

***
December 23rd
You Creep!
Now there's ten ladies dancing - I don't know why I call them ladies. Now the cows can't sleep and they've got diarrhea. My living room is a river of poop. The commissioner of buildings has subpoenaed me to give cause why the building shouldn't be condemned. I'm sicking the police on you.
One who means it, Ag

***
December 24th
Listen Idiot:
What's with the eleven lords a-leaping? All 234 of the birds are dead. I hope you're satisfied, you rotten swine.
Your sworn enemy, Miss Agnes McCallister

***
December 25th (From the law offices Taeker, Spedar, and Baegar)
Dear Sir:
This is to acknowledge your latest gift of twelve fiddlers fiddling, which you have seen fit to inflict on our client, Miss Agnes McCallister. The destruction, of course, was total. All correspondence should come to our attention. If you should attempt to reach Miss McCallister at Happy Dale Sanitarium, the attendants have instructions to shoot you on sight. With this letter, please find attached a warrant for your arrest.
-Merry Christmas

"Little" House on the Prairie

Oda Mae and I had some time on our hands today and decided to make another Little People television intro...



Here's the old one we did with Green Acres. Geegee asked for an easy link...

Baby, it's cold outside...

so we decided to make a sugar cube igloo. Want to see?

Cookies and the Space Shuttle

Well, the title pretty much says it all.

Oda Mae and I started out our day by making some gingerbread cookies. We got the dough made this morning and put it in the fridge to chill while we went to the store to grab a couple of things. On our way to the store we happened to see a couple of helicopters; then we noticed another one just hovering over us. When we came out of the store we noticed two more. That's 5 helicopters just kind of floating about for several minutes. I just figured they were looking for somebody who got away from somebody else. We started driving to Jo-Ann's for some cookie making equipment and noticed that there were several people out of their places of business looking up in the sky. Once again I just figured they were wondering what all the helicopters were for. As we get closer to Jo-Ann's there are people parked in parking lots, along side the road and all over just looking around. That's when I noticed some of them had cameras and binoculars. I called Oda Momma and told her our story and she looked on the internet to see what was going on.....

It turns out that the Space Shuttle Endeavor was taking off (piggy back) today from the Joint Reserve Base. It just so happens that we live less than 5 minutes from the Joint Reserve Base here in Ft. Worth which is literally across the street from Jo-Ann's. Oda Mae and I thought we needed to join the crowds and start looking, so we did. We got to see it fly off to the southeast. It was COOL!

Then we came home and finished our cookies.

See...




Yeah, we had a pretty good day.

Dominus Vobiscum,

Oda Daddy

Lighted the house...

Yep, folks. I've got the lights on the house now. I'll make a video soon like I usually do so you can all see the work that I've done. I'm sure you'll be impressed. I got out day before yesterday and put them up. I've actually got a few more to get up, but it's like 30 degrees outside or something like that, so I'll do it tomorrow.

The grades are in. My first step towards getting a bachelor's degree in nursing was taking Human Anatomy and Physiology I this semester. I finished this semester with an average grade of 98%. Woot! Next semester I'll take on A&P II, Chemistry and PE. I'm actually a little worried about the PE. For whatever reason they wont consider the three years of marching band I had back 13 years ago as enough physical education for one person. Guess I'll be hitting the gym this spring. Just don't make me line up for dodge ball picks, okay?

Abby and Fergus are happy that I cleaned the backyard yesterday. I am too. It looks much better.

DV,

-OD

Oda Mae's Christmas List

It's that time of year again. We made it through Thanksgiving which actually wasn't too bad thanks to my SIL and her significant other, Eric. (BTW, thanks for hosting the family event this year. We all had a good time!)

We're planning on decorating the house (inside and out) sometime this week. I'll post pics as needed.

Tonight after dinner, Oda Mae made out her Christmas list. She wrote it all by herself. I did tell her how to spell everything, so you can pin spelling mistakes on me. Take a look...



Just in case you can't read it, here's what it says...

Sleeping Bag
Dollies
Pony
Please

Just so you know, she's too smart for the "My Little Pony" trick. She specifically asked for a "real pony that can stay outside".

Next week we'll make a trip to see Santa and give him the low down.

-OD

Open Letter to My Neighbors

Dear Neighbors,

In spite of your efforts to "beat" me in the dawning of your Christmas lights this year, it is highly inappropriate to actually turn them on before Thanksgiving Day. I know that some of you have been watching the house lately to see what is going on. No, we have not moved. Yes our yard still has leaves all over it and there is not even one Christmas light stapled to the roof. Yes, Thanksgiving is the day after tomorrow. Due to my current academic schedule (two exams, a final and a paper due within the next week) my usual festive decor will be slightly delayed this year. Please note, I am the master; you cannot compete. I will trim my dwelling, post Thanksgiving, this year.

Cordially yours,

"The Light Guy"
-OD

The Big Crash

We've been busy the past couple of weeks. Allow me to fill you in on some changes.

1. Two weeks ago, today, Oda Momma was in a car accident. Not her fault and she's okay. She was behind a few cars at a red light on the way home two Fridays ago. As she looks into her rear view mirror, she sees a grey mid-sized SUV coming up on her that isn't going to stop. He rear-ends her and knocks her into the car in front of her. The JERK proceeded to back up, go around the cars and drove off! That's right ladies and gentlemen, hit and run.

Like I said everyone was okay. The lady in front was able to drive away after the police report. Our Maxima was towed away never to be seen again.





After a week of dealing with OUR insurance we were able to pick up our settlement check and start looking for other transportation options. We decided that in order to get reliable transportation at the same payments we were making on the Armada that we would trade it in and use most of our settlement check as a down payment on two smaller cars. This week Oda Mae and I shopped at Nissan, Toyota and Honda. Ultimately, Nissan gave us the best deal and we drove home two 2008 Sentras.

I have to admit that I usually don't look for new cars, but I think we came out with an average deal that gets the family into good cars, hopefully for about the next 10 years.



More to come...
DV,
-OD

The Chair, The Museum

Tomorrow night, I'll be relaxing in style...


Thank you Oda Mae and Oda Momma!!!!!!

Today we were able to attend the Modern Art Museum as well as the Kimbal Art Museum. We got in for free and and had a pretty good time. They were fairly crowded, but that was to be expected. Afterwords we went out to the Log Cabin Village where Oda Mae had a blast. We watched as pioneers cooked, sewed and told stories about life in the 1800's.





Tomorrow is lunch with Mom. MMmmmmmm, lunch.

DV,

-OD

One Last Hurrah

Ah, the end of summer, the beginning of fall. The leaves begin to change colors and fall activities seem to be never ending. Yesterday Oda Mae and I decided to have one more go at playing in the water as there is a cold front supposed to come in by the end of next week. I think the high on Thursday is only supposed to be 84. :)

Tomorrow is the "Day in the District", sponsored by the Fort Worth Arts District. All of the museums are FREE! from 10 - 5. We'll see how many we can make. Also, at 2 is the Family Fun Saturday at the central library. They're supposed to have some kind of dancers there. I'm sure Oda Mae will love that.

Oda Mae and Oda Momma are getting me a "chair" for my birthday (which was yesterday, BTW). I get to pick it out myself. We went tonight to look for the perfect recliner. Didn't find it yet. I may have to force Oda Mae to come with me tomorrow afternoon to keep looking. Any suggestions for "the best" recliner out there? Wish me luck!

DV,

-OD

The Sky is Falling!

At least it may be that way in a couple of months. THIS article gave me a little chuckle this morning.

A couple of weeks ago scientists from all over the world were waiting to see the results of the initial tests from the largest particle collider in the world. You may have heard about the 17 mile long Large Hadron Collider in CERN. They are trying to smash super small particles of atoms together to "create a miniature Big Bang". Apparently, they want to know what happened split seconds after the universe was created. They have been able to send particles around the tube in both directions, but have yet to try and smash them together.

Today I read this article stating that they have had a slight glitch. It'll take a couple of months to get it up and going again.

Here's the funny part...and I quote, "The project has had to work hard to dismiss suggestions by some critics that the experiment could create tiny black holes of intense gravity that could suck in the whole planet."

They had a small leak that will pose "no risk to people from the malfunction."

All I can say is, Oops!

What's going to happen in 2-3 months when they get this thing going again? If you see the earth imploding on itself around Thanksgiving, give me a call wont you? I want to watch....



DV,

-OD

New Goals

Okay, I guess it's time to come out with it. What have I been doing the last month or so? Well, after some serious consideration, I've decided to go back to school (again) to obtain another degree. (Trust me when I tell you I had to really think about this one. I have two degrees already)

A while back I had a pretty rough audition for a position that I really wanted. Worked my butt off. Didn't get it. Was left with a pretty bad taste in my mouth (so-to-speak) because of the whole music business. I decided to get out and look for other opportunities. I tried photography, something I really enjoy. Thought about genealogy, something I'm very interested in. After a lot of practice and thought about careers I came up with this scenario... "Same song, different verse." It's still in the arts. Still freelance. Still self-employed. Still subjective to what other people think.

I decided to go a different route....

Back in the days when I was deciding what to do with my life I really enjoyed two things: Music and Science

I chose to go with what I knew I enjoyed and truly loved doing and what I knew I was already good at. I don't regret this decision one single bit! But, it's time now to try something else. Life it too short to limit yourself. I would like to see what life is like on the non-subjective side of things; "Right vs. Wrong" as opposed to "Well that's one way you can do it, but here's what I like...."

I loved Biology back in high school and was in the honors program. My HS counselor told me that I couldn't continue in the honors program after that due to my math grades (B's). I was pretty unsure of my "smartness" after that. FRACKING LOSER!

To make a long story not so long....I've decided to try getting into nursing school. I have just a few prerequisites (mostly science classes) before I can apply. In a couple of years I can get a job anywhere in the country at a starting salary that I have only dreamed about in the music business.

That being said...time to go study "The Tissue Level of Organization"

DV,
OD

My Grade

Hello All,

I know it's been a while, but I just wanted everyone to know that I just received a 96/100 on my first exam in Anatomy and Physiology I.

I know that I should be pretty happy with this score, but I'll just put it out there..... I WAS ROBBED! If this exam had been essay or fill in the blank, I would have gotten all of my points. The the multiple choice, guess the right answer questions were worded poorly. I think I'm going to demand a recount. There was probably some kind of "chad" loose in the grading machine. I'll let you know how things turn out.

Dominus Vobiscum,

-Oda Daddy

Strangly Entertaining

I find myself oddly entertained by this guy.

The President Song Updated...

Today Oda Mae wanted to wish everyone a happy 4th of July! Here is the latest version of "The President Song".

Happy Independence Day!

This morning I played an interesting gig. It was a small orchestra for an outdoor Citizenship Ceremony. 131 people from all over the world became American citizens today in the small town of Keene. After what I am sure has been years of trials for each of these individuals, all they had to do today was to take an oath of citizenship which included renouncing all ties to their home countries.

It makes you think a little. We worry about the high gas prices, the cost of goods on the rise, health care, what crazy politician is going to be leading our country in the next few months and all of the other things that we consider important. However, we must remember that there are people all over the world that want to live here. Why? Because we have it better than most. We don't have to worry about getting from our house to the grocery store and getting shot at. We don't have to worry about the military coming in and taking over our homes. We don't have to worry about what other people think when we walk into any particular place of worship. These are the things that we should be thankful for.

So many others want what we have. As a country, we certainly need to learn how to humble ourselves in the face of the rest of the world and be thankful for all that we have.

BTW: Happy July 4th Nonchalant Savant! I'll set off some fireworks in your honor tonight.

DV

-OD

We've been busy...

It started out a pretty normal week, but it kind of snowballed on us.

Thursday morning was the Ladybug Lady at the library. Oda Mae and I had to go check her out. Did you know that ladybugs come in fun different colors like red, yellow, green, orange, purple and blue? Neither did I. They can also get very large; we're talking as big as your head large. Imagine having something like that fly onto your arm while your walking around in the garden! At the end of the presentation we all got to go outside and get a handful of ladybugs to "set free". There are 3 things that are sure to happen when you have about 1000 ladybugs and 50 little kids.
1. The ladybugs will tickle.
2. The ladybugs will go up your nose.
3. The ladybugs will get squashed when all the kids go back into the library.

Thursday night was our first monthly "Family Movie Night". Last summer the local movie theatre had a free kids movie once a week. I had been looking around for the same thing this summer with no luck. Guess they weren't making enough on popcorn and snack sales last year. Anyway, Oda Mae is getting older and can sit through something more involved than a 20 minute cartoon so we were all a little disappointed that there would be no free movies at the theatre this summer. That's when I decided to have a family movie night. We made a pretty big deal of it. First we picked our movie a couple of days in advance and decided on a fun menu for dinner. We ended up watching The Little Mermaid and having "make-your-own pizza". We all had a good time sitting down and watching the movie together.

Earlier that same day, Oda Mae and I made a blueberry pie! Oda Momma had bought two pints of fresh blueberries from a coworker earlier this week so on Thursday morning, Oda Mae and I went to the store to get one more pint and some stuff for dinner. We came home and taste tested the blueberries and through them into a pie shell with some flour, sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice. It turned out YUM!

Yesterday morning, Oda Mae and I went out to the water park for a little morning swim. First we had to make our way to two different stores to get her a new swimming suit. (She left her other one at GeeGee's house.) Here's the kicker though...Maybe I'm just old and not very in with the times, but the first store we went to didn't have any one piece suits in her size. The only swim suits I could find were bikini style. It's possible that they were sold out, but for some reason I doubt it. MY DAUGHTER IS ONLY 3! Why would I want her to wear something like that?

RANT:
Why does a toddler girl (or any girl for that matter under the age of 16) need to wear anything other than a single piece bathing suit? I figure I'll try my best to teach Oda Mae to be modest when it comes to her clothing. When she is old enough to make educated and informed decisions about society (at least age 29) then she can dress however she wants. Until then, all of her flighty friends can just keep their mouths shut about how UNcool her dad is.
END RANT

We went to another store and Oda Mae found a nice little "stripy" one piece (with a whole in the back) that she got to pick out herself. Then we went to the water park and played sea monster for about an hour and a half. That was fun.

Yesterday evening we went out to the Concerts in the Garden to see the "Super Awesome Laser Spectacular". The laser show was really good this year. The fireworks were great and we had a great time listening to themes from Superman, Spider Man, Star Wars and others. The snacks were also very good and provided by my sister, nephew and his friend.

This morning we are headed over to Gran's house for haircuts. The whole family is getting trimmed today. Then we're off to drop off Oda Mae at Sis' house for a fun evening of movies and junk food while Oda Momma and I go to a friends wedding tonight.

So that's all we're up to. Just hanging out.

DV

-OD

Free Book!

Oda Mae and I went to the library today for story time. We decided to get there early today 'cause we were tired and wanted to go home for lunch and quiet time ASAP.

Today was Bug day and we read stories about Bugs! As we left, the librarians had a special treat for everyone. We got a free copy of "A Bug's Live: Flik the Inventor".

We love books around here. Oda Mae is doing very well in our "One Year Toward's Reading" program. She knows about 80% of her letter sounds and is starting to sound out words. She'll be reading "War and Peace" before you know it. The beginning reader books we check out from the library are helping quite a lot. They have simple words that repeat a lot. We work on the word at first by sounding it out then I make her read it every time it comes up in the book. We also have flash cards that we do every week. Each week we work on a new letter; this week is G. She has 6 or seven cards with words that start with the letter of the week and a picture on the back. Some of the words are pretty complex and some are easy, but she knows how they start.

We've started working on the next next 6 presidents in the President Song. She'll know them as soon as I actually finish the song!

DV

-OD

Raising Her Right

I've been meaning to blog about this for a while......

Several days ago I was "assisting" Oda Mae in the bathroom. I think mainly, I was just waiting for her to finish so that I could go. That's the problem with a 1 bathroom house. Especially when you're the only guy with two females. [We're moving before she becomes a teenager!]

Let me preface by saying that Oda Mae is somewhat fascinated by the fact that sometimes Daddy stands up to go potty and sometimes he sits down. Just this morning, she was sitting at the table eating her breakfast when I told her that I would be right back, that I had to go potty. She quickly responded with, "Are you going to stand up or sit down?" When I didn't answer her she proceeded to yell her question while I was taking care of business getting louder every time I did not answer her.

Anyway, after she had finished going to the potty I told her that I had to go. She of course asked me if I was going to stand up or sit down. I told her that I was going to stand up. She promptly said that she would get the potty ready for me and proceeded to raise the lid. :)

I think this should be one of my rewards for staying at home to raise my child. The lid of the potty should be raised by every female after they finish. Stay-At-Home-Dads.....UNITE!

DV,

OD