Random thoughts about random things

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...

Big Love

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

3 Months without Blogging!!!

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.

Negotiation 101

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.

New and inventive internet entertainment

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.

Halloween

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.

Live from New York

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 :)

Uploaded by www.cellspin.net

24 is Back!!... Sort of

That's right. The long awaited return of Jack Bauer is nearly here. The catch? it's only for a 2 hour special that will tease us until the real season gets rolling in January. For everyone who has not seen every episode (Heather :) ) you now have time to catch up fully before Jack comes back to save the world and kill some terrorists. Monday evenings will finally be restored to their natural order.

Return to Blog-o-Sphere - A month in review

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. :)

McKee Family Blog

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.

What Happens in Vegas...

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

First day of school

So its official I have a Kindergartner. When was it exactly that I became old enough to have a kindergartner? I was reminded via a conversation with my mother about my first day of school in 1984. Yes it was a momentous year. BYU won the national championship and I started Kindergarten. I raced out the door before my mother had an opportunity to give me the requisite kiss goodbye or even shed a tear. Apparently my daughter had similar designs as she was ready to go long before dad and mom were ready to let her go. I did manage to snap a couple of pictures with my school ready little girl.

Camping

This past weekend Heather and I took our kids camping to Moose Horn Lake in the Uinta mountains. We had lots of fun. I have a new found appreciation for how tough it is to camp with small kids. Very little sleep was the order for the weekdend. The first night was next to zero sleep courtesy of little Shelbie and Makayla. And while Makayla slept well the 2nd night Shelbie continued to give us fits. Ahh the joys of parenting. Here are some pics of the weekend. At her request Heather is not shown in the photos as, even though she is encredibly gorgeous at all hours of the day, she felt that the whole camping experience was a detriment to her photogeneity. I politely agreed to disagree with her :)

Daddy fishing "for" Makayla

Parker Fishing

Shelbie gettting close to nature (and dirty!)

Parker's catch

Makayla and Parker with the impressive morning backdrop.

Looking back...

I was reminded recently about a blog post that I had put up here. One of my first actually. I was lamenting my re-entrance into the dating pool. It is funny to look back and see that in March I was asking for Princess Charming to show up. It took her a while but Heather showed up just in time. :) I am so thankful for her and I cannot wait for our Cancun Wedding on Nov 10th. Finally I get to begin the rest of my "Happily Ever After".

He Went to Jared!

So as many of you may have read I have found my own Princess Charming. Her name is Heather and on Friday I asked her to marry me. The best part is SHE SAID YES!!! Here are a few pictures of her ring that I did indeed find at Jared The Galleria of Jewelry. Heather sends her condolences to any eligible bachelorette who missed out, but she is Happy to claim me as hers. :) And frankly I couldn't be happier. More pics to follow but this should do for the interim.

New Pics

There are new pictures on the Daddy and Kayla picture archive. here is an example.

My Princess Charming

Blog-o-sphere this is Heather. Heather the Blog-o-sphere. We are very happy together and find great delight in playing with our children (She has 2, me 1) Parker, Makayla, and Shelbie, as well as spending alone time together. So refreshing to be with someone who so accurately completes me. (Yes it was Cheesy but also true)

A Tale of Two Spaces

So a few days ago I set aside time to clean my apartment up a bit. I am living alone for the time being so I can't possibly blame the mess on anyone else, except perhaps my daughter, but it is my job as daddy to clean up after her at this age. So I set out to clean the front room. you can see the results here.


So as you can see to the general public my apartment is a pretty clean place. Granted as always the dishes need to be done (but that is an on going problem not likely to be solved during bachelorhood) So I realized recently as I was brushing my teeth that my bedroom could use a similar level of love.


So perhaps over the next day or two I can get the dishes done and my bedroom cleaned. Being that over the last couple days I have cut my commute down from mattress to Office chair to just rolling over to pull the laptop into bed with me, perhaps I should expend a bit of the time from my saved commute in cleaning the "Office". But, Please! One thing at a time!

iPhone blogging

So I am trying to blog from my iPhone. I will have to see how this is works. It would be really great to be able to update while on the go.

Allergies Stink

So I have never really had any allergies in my life. I have dealt occasionally with a rather runny nose when the pollen count was very high, but never have I had something that I would attribute to an allergy. That all changed here a couple weeks ago when I had to forgo what was to be an exceptional climbing outing because my face looked like this. Not at all what I would consider a cool experience and very low on my "Boy I wanna do that again" list. Yes I look like Hitch from the movie when he found he had a food allergy, but the benefit he had (Eva Mendez to look after him) was what some might consider a positive externality. I on the other hand got to take Benadryl and rest up, while making jokes about "you should see the other guy". In the end I still don't know what caused it but I can hope Eva Mendez shows up on my doorstep to care for me. :)