We took the whole family in for an ultrasound to find out what variety of little on we have coming our way. It didn't take long for an immodest little boy to grace the ultrasound screen. We are all very excited about "Baby brother" and we look forward to his arrival in December. My wife is pretty much the hottest pregnant lady on Earth, I am a lucky guy to have her. We will get pictures scanned and posted here as well as my facebook page.
So currently our Congress is considering the Cap & Trade regulations. Before I start to vent, PLEASE CALL YOUR CONGRESSMEN Tell them to vote NO! now that that's out of the way... What is Cap and Trade you ask? The bed wetting liberal environmentalists think that by charging companies when they have to high of emissions (by some mythical standard) and allowing them to trade their quotas between companies. Here are the problems that I see. I am all for saving mother earth and not choking out the air that we breathe. Heaven knows I HATE seeing that ugly layer of smog during the weeks of inversion that we suffer here in Salt Lake City. As a Missionary I lived in the worlds worst pollution in Santiago. Here is the problem this at its core is a NEW TAX! Cap & Trade is going to cause our monthly outlay of cash to GO UP! Our Utility bills are going to go up. Electric plants cause emissions which is exactly what is being regulated. so guess who is going to pay for it?? You got it.. US! This is at its core the largest single tax increase EVER!. but don't even get me started on socialized medicine. today we have to STOP CAP & TRADE!
So in my job right now the end of the month can be a VERY stressful time. I am constantly running to make sure that every "i" is dotted and every "t" is crossed on each loan that I do. Sometimes this is an easy task. Sometimes it is quite daunting. This month I have 4 loans that I am trying to get pushed through underwriting so that I can get them closed by Thursday. Probably the Most aggravating thing is when people simply will not get back in touch with me. its tough to be accountable to others when you cannot get the info that you need. But things could be worse. Just before last Christmas I was unemployed. Each day is a blessing and with it a challenge.
So yesterday was Fathers Day. This is a day that I get to celebrate as the father of 1 (soon to be 2) of my own kids as well as Dad to 2 more that live with me. One of my favorite quotes is "Anyone can be a Father, but it takes someone special to be a Daddy". I Have a Daddy. He is a great man and the more that I look at him the more I realize that I am becoming him, and I couldn't be happier. If I am in as good a shape as my old man when I am his age I will be proud. He spent the past Friday climbing Mt. Rainier. For those of you who don't know Mt. Rainier is the tallest peak in the lower 48 states. This from a guy who sits at a computer nearly 80 hours a week and it nearing 55 years of age. His physical prowess is not to be outdone by his greatness as a Dad, Provider, and Friend. He is my ski buddy. He treats my mother, my sisters, and ,perhaps most touching, my wife as though they are the most precious commodity on earth. And I have to say that they are. I have learned a great deal form my Dad and I am PROUD to share his name (yes as many of you know JR is just another way of saying Junior, as in George Jr.) My Dad couldn't be a better example to me of how to treat loved ones and people in general. I, as a father, have been blessed to have such a great example of how to do the job right. I love you Pop. Happy Fathers Day, and thank you!
Tomorrow Marks the first day of Summer. And every kid (and dad for that matter) knows what that means. MOVIES!!! Why it is that all the great movies seem to come out during the summer I am not sure... Well ok its probably because people are home form school and thus have more time. This doesn't change the fact that there are some AWESOME movies coming out this summer. The New Transformers comes out next Wednesday, G.I. Joe later this summer. Not to mention Star Trek and Angels and Demons that are already showing. I am looking forward to seeing many of these and you can expect reviews. Tomorrow I will likely be seeing "The Proposal" with my Super Hot wife. I love the summer time!
Lately I have been listening to a fair bit more talk radio than I have in the past. Granted I ALWAYS listen to sports radio in an effort to get my fix of Cougar Football and Mariner Baseball, but lately I have been listening to more Glenn Beck and Dave Ramsey with a smidgen (and I mean a smidgen) of Sean Hannity. It has opened my eyes and ears to a fair bit of alarming ideas that are being perpetuated by our now left leaning government. Now first a disclaimer. I am a generally optimistic person. I don't find any gratification in gloom and doom. I don't see the point in focusing on the bad it just makes me depressed and in a generally bad mood. And I don't like being in a foul mood. This disclaimer aside, our nations president is doing some things that REALLY BUG ME. He is gallivanting over the world APOLOGIZING for AMERICANS BEING AMERICAN. And now he seems intent on making USA stand for United SOCIALISTS of America. The pendulum has swung VERY hard to the left and we can only hope that it returns to the right as soon as possible or the prophesy that "The Constitution of the United States will hang by a thread"
So last night as I was driving home I decided that I needed to get more creative. I though to myself "SELF how can we be more creative and vent the thoughts that plague us?" and immediately I thought that I should start blogging with more frequency. Thus My plan to blog every day for the next 100. The biggest pitfalls will be on the weekends (obviously) but I will endeavor to make it happen. More of my whit and sarcasm mixed with some deep thought. As I look for things worth writing about I hope to open my eyes to all sorts of new ideas and thoughts. Wish me luck!
So in my meanderings around the internet I have come across many funny things. This picture is pretty high on the list. I am conservative in most regards. I would vote for Mitt Romney given a chance. I am currently reading "An Inconvenient Book" by Glenn Beck and find it hilarious and true. That's why I find this funny. Coming up?? More good blogs from me and (after much clamoring) pictures of our new house.
Looking at the weather for the next few Days I can't help but smile. temps climbing into the high 70's and low 80's. Sunshine all around. My golf clubs are screaming to be let out of their bag in the garage and should take their rightful place in the trunk of my car VERY soon. Even better news than the weather is that the Mariners are looking better than expected, and with a declining Angels team in the American League west may actually be relevant late even into the season. My BYU football season tickets are ordered and life has a great feel to it. I may even get around to blogging with more regularity again. :)
So as I sit here at work on what should be a nice Monday i find myself being a bit on the pensive side. its times just like this when I feel that I should blog. let the creative juices flow if you will. For Example work. Here in the mortgage Industry some days can be very stressful. what do we use to combat the stress?? a Healthy dose of Mountain Dew, Honey BBQ Fritos flavor twists, and a healthy amount of wishing that we were Golfing or Skiing (dependent on the season). This weeks diversion may in fact be bracket watching. It is NCAA tourney time. once again BYU got hosed with their seed. and once again they play Texas A&M. The good news I guess is that A&M is not as good as last year, but then again neither are we.
Moving back to mortgages has been a blessing I think. I am able to make more money and I have a good time doing it. I think it will allow me to still reach my goal of being debt free (besides the house) by the time I turn 32. With The volume that I am seeing I am able to get quite a few loans each month, which in turn helps me to get nice things AND pay off debt. I would really like it if I can do well enough to let Heather be a true stay at home mom.
Ski season this year was a lot of fun. We took Parker and Makayla skiing for the first time and they had a lot of fun. I have such fond memories of skiing with my family, that I want this to be a bonding time for me and my kids.
Speaking of Bonding... Parker recently started playing America's past time. BASEBALL!!! His team is the Rockies and this league that he is paying is seriously hard core. 3 2 hr practices each week. but he is having fun so Heather and I are happy about it.
Ok I have run out of random thoughts...
Many of you I'm sure have heard about the upcoming episode of "Big Love" on HBO where sacred temple ordinances are to be displayed. I am outraged. I used this link to write a letter to HBO. Here is the text. I encourage all members of the church, and any church who believe that the things of God are sacred and not to be displayed to the world to also write.
Gentlemen,
The Airing of a sacred religious ordinance in a fictional show is disrespectful to MILLIONS of Americans. I understand the first amendment gives you the ability to do this, however you also have the right to remain silent. Many of us think you are simply unwilling to do something honorable. from your own admission, you had someone on set to vet the process and to determine its validity. Did it enter into your thinking that such a person had committed and promised to hold such things as sacred and to not divulge them. Thus by showing them to you they had demonstrated themselves a liar. I have not seen your episode. I do not plan to. taking what is sacred and portraying it with out the correct spirit (a Spirit which can only truly be felt in the holiest of places) is blasphemy. I do not consider myself a religious zealot, however I must speak up when the rights of those who are innocent are about to be trampled by those with the end game of earning a buck. I implore you to pull the episode. undergo a rewrite and move on with your series. Anything less is despicable.
Regards,
JR McKee
This is a shameful offense. I just realized that I have not posted a new blog in 3 MONTHS!!! Much has happened. I now work selling Mortgages not software, and my lovely wife and our kids moved into a new home. Life is rolling along quite well. I vow to spend more time on this blog as well as our family blog in teh coming week so that the world is up to date on the McKee family.
Dwight the master of negotiation. This is how my Boss Matt would prefer that we engage in negotiation.
Negotiation 101 from Matt Asay on Vimeo.
So recently a friend of mine turned me on to Hulu.com. This site is great. Tons of TV shows available on demand and the best part... IT'S FREE!!!!! I have found some time to catch up on the Office thanks to Hulu. Now instead of buying DVD'd with entire seasons I can log on and watch my favorite shows at my leisure. For example here is this seasons Office premier.
Now you too can spend countless hours entertaining yourself.
So Heather and I have Cute kids. As further proof of this we got pictures taken with them in their Halloween costumes. Lots of fun.
The 2 girls are both Tinkerbell and Parker is Prince Caspian. Credit to Grandma McKee for Making Makayla's Tinkerbell outfit, and Parker's Prince Caspian outfit. Grandma Karen (Heather's Mom) bought Shelbie her Tinkerbell outfit before she was born. Can't wait to meet such a special lady on the other side of the veil.
This picture was taken not 10 minutes ago on time square in New York. This new job definately has some travel benefits. Tomorrow I plan to close a $1M (yes million) with the NYPD. I planto have the boys in blue help pay off my student loans :)
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So since getting married I have been busy with more pressing matters, than could be blogged about. Things important to national security (I am at times a nation unto myself :)) and to the general well being of my life and Marriage. So on this Saturday I am taking time to blog a bit again. I do not know how often it will happen, but I do enjoy the outlet that writing can be for me. I always disliked English classes is in school, but I find that my creative juices flow a bit more freely as I blog. It helps me to clear my mind and come up with new and entertaining ways to make those around me smile. So here is a recap over the past month of Marital bliss:
Seattle:
Spent the day as tourists in Seattle. Went to pike place market. Saw wonderful things. Went up the Space Needle to get a great view of the City.
Mariners 4 Yankees 1. Glad I could see one of a few wins this season. Brandon Morrow is throwing a no hitter through 7 2/3 innings. great game to watch with great seats. First big league game that my sweatheart had ever been to.
BYU 28 UW 27. We win and yet lose 3 places in the polls. Voters never make much sense. It was a Good game but I much prefer a Blowout win.
Victoria BC:
We spent the day in BC seeing Buchart Gardens and the downtown Victoria area. It was realy wonderful and tiring. so Tiring that on the way home at about 10:30 pm that night I managed to total my Dad's MR2 (:( I loved that car) The lone good news I guess was that the insurance paid him only a few hundred dollars less than what he was trying to sell it for... See Dad I am willing to go to great lengths and risk life and limb to make a sale! :)
More BYU Football:
BYU is awesome this year. They have had both impressive and unimpressive wins. but they are undefeated and at the current time ranked as high as 7th in the coaches poll. With the right combination of events, it is not incnceivable for them to end up in the National Title game. Forget JUST the BCS. We want the TITLE!!!
Garage Sale:
Wow putting on a garage sale is tiring and hard work. but it netted us about $900 bucks! so I will complain strait to the bank. :)
I think that about catches us up on a Rainy Saturday afternoon. I will do my best to keep up. :)
I have created the McKee Family Blog (jrandheathermckee.blogspot.com) so that we can share our life together with everyone. I have posted a couple pics of our family to get us started. Here is a sample. Head over there to see the rest.
The Age old adage is "What happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas". Well this is Not entirely true. On Sunday Heather and I decided to elope to Las Vegas. After being asked by multiple people why we were waiting until November to get married we took thier advice and got married at a wonderfully high class little chapel on the strip shown here(please note tongue firmly planted in cheek)
Drive through services are available however we decided to go with the classier chapel service. We tied the knot at 2 AM 0n Monday Morning and are now enjoying our happily ever after. The only thing that stayed in Vegas was our lives as single folk! :) And we couldn't be happier.
The Happy Couple
The view from our room at the Bellagio
In front of the Bellagio
