Then I knocked down one of your security guards and was shooed away. But, not before I got this picture.
Archive for June, 2009
Jacko, we were so close once.
Posted in Uncategorized with tags everland, korea, michael jackson on June 26, 2009 by Budd Black Atlanta
Posted in Uncategorized with tags atlanta, coasters, roller coasters, six flags over georgia on June 23, 2009 by Budd BlackThursday evening the family and I took off for Atlanta. My wife's cousin lives down there and we had Six Flags season passes that were burning a hole in our pockets. We actually stopped for the night in Chattanooga. My wife didn't want me to drive four hours right before I went to a theme park. We got to the park at around 11am and it was hot. We rode the log flume first and then did monster Mansion. At that point we decided on lunch. After lunch we did the kid's area and I rode the Wile E. Coyote Canyon Blaster with Ashli. I am the only person in my family that likes rollercoasters but would prefer to enjoy them with someone. My wife's cousin was going to be at the park later in the day and my wife said that she would ride some coasters with me.
When her cousin got there I immediatly started jumping on coasters. First I went on mind bender and then on Batman the ride. Batman was more fun. At this point I discovered that the cousin had never ridden a coaster before today. My youngest was bored and wanted to go back to the kids area by this time buy my oldest wanted to ride a spinning ride. So we split up. After we get through the line and get back out, my wife isn't in the kid's area. We look for her for a while and go back to the spinning ride area. She is there talking to her cousin, my youngest is asleep. The park is now about to close, so we head to thunder river. Every single one of us was completely drenched.
Saturday- we swam at the pool at the cousins place, then went to a nurebong (korean for singing room or karaoke). We sang some songs and had some fun there. Daluth GA has a huge korean community and it is strange to see a strip mall completely full of Korean businesses. We thought we were going to do dinner at medievil times, but we missed the show time and then found out the prices and wouldn't have been able to afford it anyways. We settled for 0'Charley's.
Sunday we headed back to Six Flags so the kids could ride the waterslides and I could actually ride some coasters. I had to go solo, but that works out as the carts are seldom full and I can jump in line. I didn't get to ride the Georgia Cyclone or the Georgia Scorcher. I was in line at the Scorcher and it broke down. I was suppposed to be linking back up with the family for the drive home at that point so I got out of line. Superman Ultimate Flight was my favorite. it was so much fun. I also really liked Batman the ride. It produced some crazy g-force. Both were very smooth. The Ninja jerks you around a lot but is really fast. Goliath was fun but I am not sure it was worth the 1:15 wait. It was very disconcerting to not have a cart around you on a ride. The great american scream Machine was okay. The mine car ride was my least favorite though.
got home at 6:30 local time and mowed the yard. Busy weekend.
day 6 and 7 of the love dare
Posted in Uncategorized with tags love dare on June 23, 2009 by Budd BlackWe went out of town this past weekend so no love dare for those days.
Day 6- You are supposed to examine your priorities. I think this one is aimed at workaholics that ignore their families. Not really aimed at me. My priorities are in line. We just work alternating shifts, so we only see each other a few hours of every day.
Day 7- Today I am supposed to make two lists. One is supposed to be things that I like about my wife and the other is supposed to be things i don't like. I am supposed to hide the lists because more will be done with them later. I am also supposed to compliment her on something from the good list. Yeah the bad list will be longer, but I don't feel bad, because the book pretty much says it will be.
Memphis
Posted in Uncategorized with tags memphis, work trip on June 18, 2009 by Budd BlackMemphis was interesting. I had to walk into a hornet's nest and stir them up. It worked out okay. I met one of the judges and he said that he thought my name was "that damn Budd" instead of just Budd. I think the crowd warmed up to me a bit during the presentation, and a few of them even came by and introduced themselves to me. They had tried to cancel but we were already on our way down to Memphis and it was too late to cancel our hotel reservations. Hopefully some things will change because of it, but the judges all bowed out of the actual presentation, and they are the ones that needed to see it.
We ate at BB Kings on Beale St. for lunch on Thursday and a place called The Butcher Shop for dinner. They were both overpriced in my opinion. Both of them were also chain type places, so I am not sure what I was expecting. The Wyndam was a nice hotel and I did some laps in their tiny pool and then went and sat in the "luke warm" tub for about 20 minutes. I weighed myself in the fitness room and I am down to 165 lbs. That is after eating out at both those places and having burger king for breakfast.
It was okay. I don't really care for Memphis (as a city) and this trip didn't change my mind. Give me Nashville any day of the week.
Love Dare Day 5
Posted in Uncategorized with tags love dare on June 18, 2009 by Budd BlackToday's dare was to ask your significant other what 3 things were that annoyed them about you. This is kind of hard to bring up randomly, so I think it is obvious that it is a dare, but oh well. I did it. I can work on some of the things or least the perception that she has. I guess the normal reaction is to be defensive but you are not supposed to argue or try and justify your actions, only listen. I am sure that tomorrow's dare will be something like don't do the things that annoy your spouse.
Who knew that clipping my toe nails at the table during dinner was annoying. J/K /would never do that
The Love Dare days 1-4
Posted in Uncategorized with tags fireproof, love dare on June 17, 2009 by Budd Black
So, I watched the fireproof movie a few months ago and liked it for the most part. This weekend I picked up a copy of the love dare and started reading it. It is a 40 day guide to strengthening your marriage. Every day has some advice backed up by bible verses. Then the book has a love dare, that you are to perform and write about in the journal space. My wife may end up reading the book and I don't really like to write in books so I will do mine here.
Day 1- say nothing negative. This wasn't too hard. It was an easy day I guess, we didn't disagree on anything and I didn't really have anything negative today. She probably can't tell the difference. This one seems to carry over everyday though so we will see.
Day 2- Do something nice (or something like that, I don't have it in front of me right now) I did some things without being asked and pitched in a bit more around the house. Don't know if it was noticed, but it doesn't matter.
Day 3- Buy something to let her know you are thinking about her. I cheated. I made brownies. We are currently saving money and I thought it would be about the same. I didn't eat any until she got home that night and had the first one (i did get to some of the batter though). Still don't know if she is noticing.
Day 4- Call her during the day just because. Just did this one. It kind of comes off as I don't have anything to do right now so I just called you though. We are married with children so the call quickly becomes about something. Unless she is reading what the dares are supposed to be for everyday, she still isn't going to notice anything. Maybe they have a cummulative effect.
I will update as I go.
Chronic Dry Eye Syndrome
Posted in Uncategorized on June 15, 2009 by Budd BlackSeems to me treatment would include watching more sad movies.
Memphis Bound
Posted in Uncategorized on June 10, 2009 by Budd BlackIn the morning, I leave for Memphis. I will doing a presentation for a group of people that, as I have been informed, are already hostile towards me. Most of the presentation will be on how to get them to do their job better so that I can do mine better. I have worded it so that it comes across as, "t will save you time and effort if you do things this way." I did this in a local office here in Nashville and it was well received (and hopefully implemented). The main problem is that the main decision makers are Judges, and they can sometimes have God complexes. Getting them to change anything will be like pulling teeth.
Overheard Conversation
Posted in Uncategorized with tags american idiots, green day, hmmwv, hummer, stereotypes on June 3, 2009 by Budd BlackGreen Day once proclaimed, "I want to be an American idiot!" Please Green Day, there are enough of those already.
As I was going into a building yesterday, a couple in front of me were talking. The man was livid. This is what I heard.
"The Chinese! Our main American defense vehicle is now going to be made by the Chinese. What kind of sense does that make?"
The Hummer, although similar, is not the HMMWV military vehicle. GM does not produce our military vehicles. The government requires more reliability than that. Apparently, the average idiot thinks that the bling Hummer they see rolling down the road is the same thing our soldier are fighting out of.
I will likely see this man again, but I don't think I will ever strike up a conversation with him. Because of this, I can never be his friend. Why must stereotypes be perpetuated around me?
It is a good thing
Posted in Uncategorized on June 1, 2009 by Budd BlackWe bailed out Chevy and Chrystler. It would have sucked had they gone bankrupt. Our gubment stepped in and saved the day though. Good work gubment.
I believe the government will get out of the car industry eventually, because the government has a long history of getting out of things that it gets into.
All of the sudden the Ford Focus looks like a much more attractive car. Get it now before it gets taxed to kingdom come so that the Chevy Aveo is the only affordable car in the U.S. Market.
My Alternate Reality 
