Took Indy to the groomer today. They put the cutest little bow in her hair. It survived for about an hour before Henry helped her finally pull it out. She is just soooo pretty!

Happy New Year to everone!!

The New Year 2005 Countdown reveals the days, hours and minutes
left in 2004 worldwide. Choose the country, and a nifty countdown
tool clocks the big event.

Play it right, and your New Years Eve celebration could last 24 hours!

Have a safe Happy New Year!

September has email now and would like people to email her.
It is SEPTEMBERANN@peoplepc.com. She would love to hear from everyone. She is also
on dial up so please don't send long files.
Her home phone is 409 755-1703 and her cell is 409 550-5983.

"They like me...they really, really like me!!"-Sally Fields

People of the Year: Bloggers
Internet Phenomenon Provides Unique Insight Into People's Thoughts

Dec. 30, 2004 - A blog -- short for "web log" -- is an online personal journal that covers topics ranging from daily life to technology to culture to the arts. Blogs have made such an impact this year that Merriam-Webster named it the word of the year.

I have travelled in the following states.



create your own personalized map of the USA

check out Sandy's new photography kick

The band needs new Sub Woofers Donate Here

https://www.americares.org/donate/?id=South%20Asia%20Earthquake%20Relief

I keep thinking of the children ... of my children ...

Please, help however you can.

Here's a list of other organizations that are sending aide and accepting donations.
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/interactive.asp?id=/d/ip/tsunami_aid_04/data.js&navid=6758618

Blew the fuse on one of my LCD monitors. here is the temp fix. actually this was just for testing, now I need to find a surface mount fuse to replace it. Amazing how much I take for granted my extended desktop I'm down to 15" 1024 X 768 

Just had a thought that I thought would be fun!

Everyone post their top 5 predictions for year 2005 and next year we can go to the archives and see how we did.

1) In July there will be a major earthquake in the northwest
2) Ebay will Ebay itself on Ebay
3) I will be ofered a recording contract by a small unknown record label
4) In December circuit city will no longer be carrying VCRs
5) George's Frankenstien cache will be shut down by the FCC

I just found this website and it features "Tree Decorating 101" and the instructors are cats. You folks with cats will be glad you don't have these two cute cats as pets!!

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~marlerbonell/random_photos.htm

I guess there just isn't enough porn to go around!! Now, there is kittie porn...you must be 18 months or older to enter the site!Meeeeooowwww!

and Melvin why are you at the zoo?

phone numbers. I require current phone numbers dammit.

I've had far too much wine but I want to call you all and say MERRY cHRISTHMUS

Merry Christmas from the zoo!

Keep track of Santa tonight!

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~marlerbonell/MelissaMarlerPhotos.htm

Photos of little kid Missy are now available for viewing on the genealogy site!

Ray's favourite....just whistle along!

A classic Christmas song...this is too funny!

Not happy with your other "Type of Christmas Present" result...try this one!


Engagement Ring

You sure are loved, or are loving! Filled with
romantic giddiness, you radiate love,
affection, and caring. You know how to make
other people's day. Your only problem is that
you risk a chance of being rejected, which is
probably a large fear of yours.


What Type of Christmas Present are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

You can never have too many angels on your Christmas tree!

http://www.illwillpress.com/xmess.html

WARNING: Audio contains explicit profanity

The sentiment, however, hits the nail right on the head & ties it all up with a big, red bow.

I am Socks!

Cozy and warm... but easily lost. You make a good puppet.

What Crappy Gift Are You?

Santa Claus, like all pilots, gets regular visits from the Federal Aviation Administration, and it was shortly before Christmas when the FAA examiner arrived.

In preparation, Santa had the elves wash the sled and bathe all the reindeer. Santa got his logbook out and made sure all his paperwork was in order.

The examiner walked slowly around the sled. He checked the reindeer harnesses, the landing gear, and Rudolf's nose. He painstakingly reviewed Santa's weight and balance calculations for the sled's enormous payload.

Finally, they were ready for the checkride. Santa got in, fastened his seatbelt and shoulder harness, and checked the compass. Then the examiner hopped in carrying, to Santa's surprise, a shotgun. "What's that for?" asked Santa incredulously.

The examiner winked and said, "I'm not supposed to tell you this, but you're gonna lose an engine on takeoff."

My lazy cat, hamming it for the camera. 

Our tree 

even a ceramic tree circa 1989 made by granny Marler 

a better view 

Our first Christmas tree in the new Apartment

Kids say some pretty spectacular things! An old joke is brought to life in this clever short film about a mother and child spending a quiet evening at home. (Some naughty words)

According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, while both male and female reindeer grow antlers in the summer each year, male reindeer drop their antlers at the beginning of winter, usually late November to mid-December. Female reindeer retain their antlers till after they give birth in the spring. Therefore, according to EVERY historical rendition depicting Santa's reindeer, EVERY single one of them, from Rudolph to Blitzen, had to be a girl. We should've known... ONLY women would be able to drag a fat-ass man in a red velvet suit all around the world in one night and not get lost.

Lest we forget the men and women guarding our freedoms around the world...........

Twas' the night before Christmas...

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
my daughter beside me, angelic in rest.

Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree, I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.

My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep
in perfect contentment, or so it would seem.
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eye when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know,
Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.

My soul gave a tremble le, I struggled to hear,
and I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.

A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

"What are you doing?" I asked without fear
"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"

For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts,
to the window that danced with a warm fire's light
then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night"

"Its my duty to stand at the front of the line,
that separates you from the darkest of times.
No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.

My Gramps died at 'Pearl on a day in December,"
then he sighed, "that's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers,"
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.

I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red white and blue ... an American flag.

"I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home,
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat,
I can carry the weight of killing another
or lay down my life with my sisters and brothers
who stand at the front against any and all,
to insure for all time that this flag will not fall."

"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right,"
"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you've done,
For being away from your wife and your son."

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget
To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone.
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.

For when we come home, either standing or dead,
to know you remember we fought and we bled
is payment enough, and with that we will trust.
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~marlerbonell/index.html

Now debuting the NEW family genealogy site. Photos! Stories! Pedigree!

This is just the beginning. I still have chitloads of schtuff to put on it, but it's a start. And I did it all by myself! YAY ME! Check it out!

Important Message from Santa

Not much going on on here so I thought I would "Spam the Blog"

Dude, you can't be serious!
Linguist deconstructs the word, sees many meanings

PITTSBURGH - Dude, you’ve got to read this.
A linguist from the University of Pittsburgh has published a scholarly paper deconstructing and deciphering the word “dude,” contending it is much more than a catchall for lazy, inarticulate surfers, skaters, slackers and teenagers.

An admitted dude-user during his college years, Scott Kiesling said the four-letter word has many uses: in greetings (“What’s up, dude?”); as an exclamation (“Whoa, Dude!”); commiseration (“Dude, I’m so sorry.”); to one-up someone (“That’s so lame, dude.”); as well as agreement, surprise and disgust (“Dude.”).

Kiesling says in the fall edition of American Speech that the word derives its power from something he calls cool solidarity — an effortless kinship that’s not too intimate.

Cool solidarity is especially important to young men who are under social pressure to be close with other young men, but not enough to be suspected as gay.

In other words: Close, dude, but not that close.

“It’s like man or buddy, there is often this male-male addressed term that says, ’I’m your friend but not much more than your friend,”’ said Kiesling, whose research focuses on language and masculinity.

Decoding the lingo
To decode the word’s meaning, Kiesling listened to conversations with fraternity members he taped in 1993. He also had undergraduate students in sociolinguistics classes in 2001 and 2002 write down the first 20 times they heard “dude” and who said it during a three-day period.

He found the word taps into nonconformity and a new American image of leisurely success.

LIVE VOTE

Dude, whatcha think?
Anecdotally, men were the predominant users of the word, but women sometimes call each other dudes.

Less frequently, men will call women dudes and vice versa. But that comes with some rules, according to self-reporting from students in a 2002 language and gender class included in the paper.

“Men report that they use dude with women with whom they are close friends, but not with women with whom they are intimate,” according to the study.

‘Dudesman?’
His students also reported that they were least likely to use the word with parents, bosses and professors.

Historically, dude originally meant “old rags” — a “dudesman” was a scarecrow. In the late 1800s, a “dude” was akin to a “dandy,” a meticulously dressed man, especially out West. It became “cool” in the 1930s and 1940s, according to Kiesling. Dude began its rise in the teenage lexicon with the 1981 movie “Fast Times at Ridgemont High.”

“Dude” also shows no signs of disappearing as more and more of our culture becomes youth-centered, said Mary Bucholtz, an associate professor of linguistics at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

“I have seen middle-aged men using ’dude’ with each other,” she said.

Little Bunny Foo Foo shoulda kept hoppin' through the forest, scoopin' up field mice
and boppin' em on their heads. A computer room is no place for a bunny!

christmass tree Ver 2.0.04 

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/llama.php

Sing along!

Ok......finally I can do an update. We signed up for AOL ( I had a disk for 6 months free left over from when I bought the laptop) so we finally have an internet connection.....slow as all getout but it's net access. I started my new job with Micron today. Lots of paperwork and stuff. This week is training, paperwork and the like then on Sunday I start the nightshift. 7PM to 7AM sunday, monday, tuesday, and every other wednesday.
We got our phone hooked up today as well. New number is 208-323-1860.

we're getting somewhat settled in, still have lots of stuff to unpack but we're getting there.
more later.....gotta set up the AOL on cathy's computer to.
love ya all
Ray & Cathy

Front door 

Got the lights up without breaking my neck 

Anyone have Amber's address?

You got to check out this site! explodingdog 2004

Jimminy Christmas! You don't check this site for a day or two and it sure gets interesting. I just have one thing to say, Tami....... If you get a girlfriend before I get a boyfriend I'm gonna be really upset. tee hee
Seriously - You know we all still love you, silly girl!!

Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. - Dr. Seuss

When Tami first told me, It got me thinking what she must be going through. And so wrote a song to show her I understand and support her, I just didn't think I would be sharing it this soon. :)
right click me and save target as...

May I have your attention, please

I want to tell you all something which is likely to be fairly shocking. Two things actually. Some of you know that several months ago Richard expressed to me that he wanted a divorce. We agreed that it would wait while I got some counseling to address my intimacy issues, as this was his biggest complaint about life with me. In fact, this has been a common complaint in all of my failed marriages. I dislike sexual intimacy, which brings me to my second "announcement". I am a lesbian. It is difficult for me to share this with my family, but I need desperately to come out. I have known I am attracted to women since puberty although for many years I convinced myself that I was just a little curious, I accepted it enough to identify as at least bi-sexual in my mid-20s because of an affair I had with a close girlfriend while I was in the Army which made it impossible for me to continue to deny my sexuality. After leaving Kirk I had a briefer, less intimate, relationship and felt such horrible guilt that I confessed to my bishop and was advised that I should repent and that if I would live my life with faith then God would bless me with the strength to overcome my sinful desires. And so I tried very hard to be what I was supposed to be. And fell in love with my visiting teaching partner.

Richard was aware before we married that I was attracted to women and had had lesbian relationships in the past. I still clung to the idea that I was bisexual and could successfully lead a hetero life. I am not and cannot. Richard and I are divorcing as amicably as is possible and probably will not file until June so that Ed can graduate here. I will not be able to live on my income in a decent neighborhood here in New Jersey and will likely move to Salt Lake next summer. Sandy is aware that Richard and I are splitting and I believe the boys also have an idea. I have not told my kids that I am a lesbian, but I will. It is important that they hear it from me. I am not out publicly and am not dating anyone.

I hope with all my heart that you all will continue to love me and show your support for me like you have in the past. I am the same person I have always been, but now you know something about me that you didn't before. I love you all.