Every year, our company has a "spirit week" during the week of Halloween. If you're thinking that sounds a bit like high school, you'd be exactly right. The one day of the week that I really like is when you dress up like your favorite character (TV, movie, etc). Last year Rick dressed as Dr. Wilson and I went as Dr. House:This year, I decided to go as Dr. Horrible. I looked around and found a Mad Scientist outfit at the ...

I know nobody will get up that early to see me, but set your DVRs for the 5am broadcast on NBC and rebroadcast throughout the morning. They came into my office and did the interviews this morning and they will be playing it sometime during the morning news on Monday, 11/3/08.If you miss it there or from out of town, you should be able to catch in on http://www.nbcactionnews.com.

If you are in the Kansas City area, I will be on TV talking about Flexible Work Arrangements for NBC. They'll be filming the story Thursday morning, so it may be on the air that same day.

I don't know where she picked it up, but Aspen has learned a new phrase: "That is sooooo cool!" She said it several times today.

Enid and I have biked all summer in anticipation of an organized bike ride. Unfortunately our plans to ride the Octoginta fell through since that ride fell on the same weekend as our church's missions conference. Since we weren't going to be able to ride the Octoginta, our training had fallen off a bit until Enid found the Missouri Bike Federation's Fall Foliage Tour.The ride was just north of Jefferson City, MO, so we got up early and battled thick fog to make it there and the temperature started out at around 50° but warmed to 60°. About ...

During the beginning of the bailout talk in Washington D.C. I sent emails to all 3 of my senators and reps asking them to vote against the $700 billion bailout plan. I used their websites in which you have to submit a form to them and select a subject from a drop-down list of topics. Of course, they all 3 voted FOR it. My two senators sent me an email explaining to me how they hated to do it, but it was necessary to keep the country from horrible things.Then today this email arrived from my rep:Dear ...

My brother-in-law and I were talking about how we both need dirt to shore up some low spots around our houses yesterday; however, the expense of doing so was prohibitive. Today he called and asked if I could look on Craigslist and find any places giving away dirt. Sure enough: I found several places giving away free dirt. 2 hours later he was at my house with a large trailer filled with dirt!

We enjoyed the Mill Creek trail ride that we did with my uncle so much we decided we wanted to try it again, but this time, we'd attack it from the north. We began near the Kansas River and headed south. We passed Johnson Drive easily; this is where I had died on a trip earlier in the spring. Our goal was to go far enough south that we would reach the point that we had ended with my uncle; we didn't make it. One mile from our goal, the trail makes a sharp incline. I was not able to ...

Yesterday Ora 5 was having trouble spelling. Enid called me, frustrated, to ask if I had any suggestions. I asked what the words were and she gave me a few of them. "He should be able to spell those," I said. Today when I came, Enid said she had found spellingcity.com. It allows you to put in a list of words and then it will use those words to create games. Ora was able to spell every word and spent 45 minutes playing the games, Enid said.Later that evening, Ora wanted to show off what he ...

Aspen asked to read her Bible tonight for her bedtime story. She flipped through a few pages and then said that she wanted to see the picture where Jesus died. I turned over the pages until I found the 2 pages that showed a distant hill with three crosses on the top."Which one is Jesus?" she asked."The middle one. Do you know why Jesus died on the cross?""Yes." From there I asked her if she understood sin, if she was a sinner, asked her again why Jesus died and if he stayed dead. She ...