I am alive.

Still here, just getting ready for inventory. i hope everyone has a good holiday. hope i see everyone that comes into town. thats about all i have to say today. later

Ann Pedler

Last Friday, we lost a family member. Elizabeth's step mother, Ann died Friday night. she had had a long fight with heart problems since childhood. Wednesday night she decided that she was tired and doctors made her aware that drugs were the only thing keeping her alive. she decided that she was ready to be taken off the meds. that was a hard step for everyone. the doctors also said that they couldn't tell us how long it was take before she would be gone. it was a whirlwind of emotions. for so long you are doing everything that you can to cure her, months before she was at Mayo clinic thinking that she will get a heart and kidney transplant and then the next thing you know the doctors decide not to. now at the end the family and Ann decided to shut off her pace maker to help her go away. it had been a long fight. in the hospitol for a couple weeks at a time and then out for a month or 2. this summer we had a lot of great things happen. we added 2 new grand kids on the same day and her son got married, so she got through the stuff that really mattered. this time we all thought that it might end a little different, but then again, everytime she seemed to pull off another miracle. my parents have been awsome and helped out so much with the girls and never say they can't do something. mom drove all the way back from Kendra's just so she could help out. well Friday night came and we were trying to stay home for one night to get the girls back on a schedule of living at home but E's dad called and said that we should probably come up. So about 8 ish we steped off the elevator and we passed E's dad. he was clearly upset and said that she had just taken a dose of meds and she was getting pretty calm so it would be a good time to get down there quick. Elizabeth and i got in there and she sounded horrible. every breathe was a gurgle filled gasp for air. that was hard for me. this was clearly the end coming soon. we both got on either side of her and i know i said a handful of prayers while holding her hand. the lights were dim and it was a very relaxing time for such a stressful occasion. minutes later Jeff and his wife came into the room, followed by Elizabeth's sister and husband a bit later. Ann's breathing was getting very slow and we were not sure if when Elizabeth's dad passed us he wanted to be there or not. we decided he might want to be there so i scurried down the hall and told him that i felt we were getting close to the end. He said that he wanted to go down there so we walked together. i had my arm around him the whole way. it felt like "the Green Mile" in my head. that was a hard thing to say and walk with. we got into the room and he sat right at her side and she took one last breathe. i was so glad that i was there. for being death, it was a very wonderful moment. we said some prayers. a couple other friends that were there came down and said good byes. it really was a wonderful time for such an awful loss. you always think that you want to go in your sleep, but i think that Ann came up with a better idea. Resting peacfully, with your family at your side, not watching you suffer and going on to a better place. i will be out of the office Thursday and Friday for the funeral and to be with family. Thanks for all the prayers.

Layla's Thanksgiving function

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Layla and her BFF Hannah at Layla's school function. I didn't catch the official title. i will call it a Thanksgiving Ceebration. just her class. they sang us 2 songs (well, Layla kept her hands in front of her face and would giggle at E and I every now and then). all in all, it's always great to see them doing stuff like this. i have a great family. that is what i am thankful for. Ignore the dots. it was to make it fit. not thanksful for annoying internet features.

Good Day. i post again

Top O' the day to ya. just reporting my fine Saturday. On Saturday, my good buddy Joe (Jo Jo) and i drove over to Notre Dame to take in a football game. it was 1-9 Duke against the sad sad 1-9 Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. I had the luxury of driving over to the university in Jo Jo's wonderful new 2007 silver (yes this pic is Black) Chevrolet Trailblazer SS AWD. this is a Corvette with a bench seat. it was really nice. so we fine dined at our normal hang, Macri's deli. it was a bit disapointing. my normaal sandwich, the Turkey Bacon club, had been removed from the menu. now they do most of there sandwiches on a build-your-own basis. so be it, we aren't dealing with any tricky ingredients. TURKEY. BACON. okay, build a way. i had water (with lemon) to drink. my bill came. a sandwich that was $5.75 was $8.95. i did add the fries for $0.99 but i was a little upset about that. note to self, watch very carefully as to what you order. i never looked at the menu, i just ordered. when i told him what i wanted, he just said that it was now a build your own. okay, thats fine. only to find out, no it's not. so a little lighter in the potch potch, we head over to the university. we park at the general parking and again, we loose money. $20 to park. Ouch, that hurts. So we walk with the intent of finding 2 different talegates. One we never found so we had to resort to my definate second choice. Older guy that i don't really care for his company. we will call him the "Duckman". so the "duckman" finds me and waves me over (like i can go anywhere). He offers myself and my fellow man a drink. we accept. he opens his whole table up to our feasting flavor. we start with a simple cookie. Chocolate chip. lovely. we move on to a trickier item, the brownie. nice. good texture. even an outside edge and it is still soft and chewy. we move on to a item in a still working hot plate. appears to be a mini burrito chicken type thing. ICE COLD. we stuck to beer and cookies. so we grabbed a traveler and headed to the game. we arrive about 5 minutes before kick off. beign Senior Day, it was held up a bit. Balmy 43 degrees with a breeze at 6 mph. slight crap falling from the sky. nothing major. i would love to say that the heaven's opened, it turned 72 with a non sun burn sun but it just kept crapping on us. the game was fairly uneventful. i did purchase the $5.00 hot cocoa with traveler mug and a nacho's and cheese (it's a must). so about 2 minutes to go in the 2nd quarter Jo Jo and i headed out. at that point ND was winning 7-0. as we were walking out we heard a large cheer and the game went to 14-0. we ended up meeting my family at Hacienda after a quick run through at Best Buy (no purchases) all in all, it was a fun Saturday.

did i mention that Georgia won? Go Dawgs!!!!

Back in Black

GO DAWGS! WE BEAT AUBURN 20-45. TEAM MARCHED OUT ONTO THE FEILD TO AC/DC'S BACK IN BLACK. GOOD TIMES. GOOD WIN. WE MOVE TO 9TH IN THE BCS

After a lovely weekend, i am back at work

Hello all. it has been a while. long enough that i havn't blogged about my weekends for a couple weekends. over the weekend of November 3/4 the family took Friday off and we made our first trip with Marley to my sisters/aunts house. this "/" does not mean that we are hill billies and that is the same person, that "/" means that it is 2 people. THERE ARE NO CIRCLES IN OUR FAMILY TREE. anyways, it was my nephews birthday and so we went to celebrate that. Layla went down with my parents and stayed at Aunt Kendra's. she thought that was the greatest thing under the sun. E. and i took Marley down. she, like Layla was, is no fan of the car. she did a great job. Slept from South Bend to Kokomo and when she woke up, she was a very happy baby. the weekend went great and it was ice to be out of the house and Elkhart. it had been before Marley was born since we had gone on a trip. Marley didn't do as well on the way home but oh well, whatcha gonna do. it's over now.

This weekend, Rob came into town. the goal was to work on the stave drum project. Stave drums are no different from regular drums but the shell is a bunch of vertical chunks of wood instead of plies going around each other. this is something that we have been talking about for a while. Rob has done a lot of research on the jig assembly and i am working on the woods and pricing. it is a small venture but something that i think we could have fun with and maybe sell them on eBay for some okay money. once you buy the tools to make the shells, your only money going into these is for the wood, which can be very cheap and the selling price is normally about $140 a shell. you should always make $100 on a shell. if it doesn't work you really arn't out very much. Friday night i picked up Rob at Stacy's and we went over to get the wood that Doug had bought for Rob to get it to my house. Well, first thing i see is a beautiful Sonor kit. i love Sonor's. i didn't love the finish, but the kit was SO nice. it was one of very few that i thought i would be willing to trade my beloved Round Badge Gretsch for. to find out, Doug traded HIS Gretsch for it. i thik that will come back to bite him later. So we went out to load the wood, only to find out that there is NO WAY this is all fitting in the Vue. So we left empty handed. Rob and Craig would come back the next day to get it. Rob came over in the morning and we did some research together and then Rob spilled my coffee only to find out that Layla ratted us out to my wife later. She's going to be a problem, i can see it now. so at 2 we met at Craig's to start the jig building. we didn't get very far into it but i think that it was a good start and that this will make us want to work on it more.

After working on that for a couple hours we all went our ways and then regrouped at "the Vine" in Elkhart. It was very good. we split a bottle of wine, we split an appentizer, everyone had their own food and then we got 4 different deserts and just kept passing them around the table. It was a lot of fun. it seems like it has been a while since we had doen that with the 2 other couples. It was kind of surprising how good the food was. we had been to thte Vine in South Bend and i don't remember thinking that the food there was taht great. it was also neat sitting with Craig becasue his firm did the designing of this building so we talked architecure a lot. after stuffing ourselves, we went back to the McD's and played guy's vs. girls Trivial Pursuit Pop Culture. BURT REYNOLDS!!!!

Tonight we have Layla's first parent / teacher confrence. Yes, she's 3.

The definition of "Class"

And then there's Bili"cheat". He should take a lesson from a winner, reguardless of the score

Georgia on my mind.

This is Georgia after scoring it's first touchdown. the WHOLE team stormed onto the field. it was very bizzare but it got them into the game and gave them the "W"

yes we got 2 penalties for it and ended up kicking off from the 15 yard line but it was worth it

Go Dawgs!

The Milky White Disaster Part II: The Return of Wood

Well, this has been a horrible project. as many will recall from the Milky White Disaster story we had a bunch of expensive panels come in quite frankly looking like crap. absolutly terrible. so they picked up the panels to respray them. great. problem solved. oh, i wish. so they arrive at 2 on Friday......LOOKING WORSE THAN THEY STARTED! of course i really don't have time to wait so i tell them to send 6 sheets to the cabinet shop and everyone just get to work on this stuff. as they start i sprint (picture Tom Kattau in a stiff legged jog, after all, i do have a beard right now) to the door room to get a sample and meet everyone in the cabvinet shop. just as i suspected, the panels were worse than they were to begin with. just then i see Curt "Captain Happy" Yoder walking in the plant. i have kept him out of this the whole time and figure now is the time to get him involved. he comes to see the panels and explodes. i think it went something like "#$*&@# %@# @%#$@ @%#$@#%$@#% the world $ @ ## @#your @%$@&*@#&@#. And by the way !@(#$*&@#(#@#(@ @$ Tabasco @ #*(&# $(*# $!@# Larry Bird!" that is MAD! so i call my guy and tell him that he needs to be out and we need a fix STAT.

Jon came out Friday and they pick the panels up then. i got a call from Jon at 8:30 friday night saying that he just left the plant. things were being sprayed and colors looks great. MY PROBLEMS ARE OVER!!!!

we had a very good weekend. had a halloween party for a bunch of kids over at E.'s sister. that went very very well. Georgia beat Florida. Red Sox win the World Series. what could go wrong. then, i went to work

Monday i skip into work waiting for hugs and butt pats. ooooorrrrrrrr i could find out that no panels have arrived. at all. anywhere. at all. zero. (none) i call Jon. call a second number. 3, 4, and 5 more numbers to various people, plants nothing. i wait 3.4658765821 seconds and call the plant again. i get a guy telling me that he will look into it a call me back.

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nobody is calling. i call again to hear a girl tell me that they are waiting on paint. huh? well heres the skinny.

Jon said that they decided Friday night that they would just go get all new bad board panels rather than adding more and more paint to these that were really quite crappy to begin with. well no that they had already sprayed these panels so many times and now a new plant was spraying them in a totally different machine that they never expected to use on these panels that takes a tottally different kind of paint from what you just go get at Lowe's. well it also takes 3 coats and what Jon had seen was coat 1 and they compared color. so they finished 4 panels that i have here. they look great. i am supposed to see the remanding 31 by 2:00. we'll see.

not much to report

Hey there. well the good news on the paint is that i was right. they picked up material today, i will get it back tomorrow.

Game 1 of the World Series was great. a 13-1 schallaking of Colorado. Go BoSox. Georgia plays this weekend against Florida. should be a tricky game. this game is always at a neutral site in Jacksonville, FL. it is known as the "Worlds Largest Cocktail Pary". this was one of the games that Trevor and i wanted to go to this year. Maybe next year we will get a road trip in. i know Elizabeth is reading this now shaking her head no. Daddy loves you.

No real news to report after that. these pics are a couple that i found on the ever dangerous Ebay. it really is best if i never look on there. to many things to find. i found this snare. i like the paint job. not a big fan of Pearl snares. have yet to find one that i thought made a great sound. Also found this old kit. 1968 Rogers. i love Champagne Sparkle kits. they just look so nice for a jazz band.

The Milky White Disaster

The big RV show is coming so I have been very involved in that, more so than any other year. our engineer is not what i would consider the top engineer in the indudstry, let alone the best engineer we have every had, not that i was either but i think that i can hold my own. i did it for 3 years here, 3 years and Hi Tech and have been involved with CAD work since my frosh. year of high school. overall, thats 16 years total. it's hard to think of anything that i have done that long when you are only 30. heck, i've only been drumming for 15 years. so this year i designed both of the units we are taking, i obviously purchased everything for them. i have also been the one dealing with the owners (and the wife / secratary) that makes the final desicion as to what she want (which can (and does) change (often)). i have had few problems but the one that i am fighting right now is HUGE. the main unit that we are taking is being refered to as a "Cottage" decor. First i don't like that title but thats just me. the main thing with this unit is that it has a tall wainscoat running through it using a white bead board. it looks very nice (or at least WILL). the other thing is we are adding a new cabinet package that is a plain square edge but still has the bead board in the middle for the panel. it will be very nice. the problem that i am having is that everything keeps coming in in a shade of white that we didn't agree on. I have the "master door" yet the 35 $70 panels are one color and the $2300 in doors are another. this is what i get for taking on the color "White". it has defeated us here before. we used to carry a very plain white but i always complained that it was ugly having 1 color white doors, 1 color white cabinets, 1 color white putty, 1 color white wood railings, and so on. we dropped it shortly after i started. that was a good day. well now it is coming back but we out sourced all the white to match, and now i am going through this. the good thing is that this is a company that is owned by i guy that i consider a friend so i now that i am being heard about my complaints. i think that the biggest problem is that all these things are being done at different plants and i have / had the master door that they now have but didn't originally. i hope this ends soon. i really am excited about my 2 new units. they should be very nice. All new windows, glass blocks, decors, and getting to use my brain for something that i haven't had to do in a long time. after these are all done and Louisville is over, then i will ask for a raise. i am well overdue.

i post again

hello all. it's been a while (Staind song reference). it has been a busy week taking off Tuesday for the feild trip for Layla. well that was a bust due to rain. the field trip was to a corn maize. they did give us rain checks so the plan is to get back out there this weekend.

last night we had a pretty good storm. Elkhart didn't really get much of anything but good wind and rain but Nappannee got a tornado that did some flattening. that has been all the news today. last night while it was happening every channel was covering it so i was getting annoyed because CSI was on and i was missing the ball game. For some unknown reason i have been obsessed with this Cleveland and Boston series. i dispise the Yankee's. i do like one or two of there players but that started while they were with other teams. i was happy that Cleveland bumped them out. i also dislike Cleveland so i am pulling for the BoSox. Growing up i was big into the A's and the White Sox for the American League and a Houston guy for the National League. i do like the see the Cubs do well but i am not a die hard guy by any means. White Sox always had troubles with the Indians so that never made me like them any better. this is NOT flowing very well. i am sorry you are having to read this.

other news...i got a call on my way home last night from Brian, my old bass player. he was just kind of calling to find out what i was up to. i think that he was feeling out band options. seeing Shawn and now talking to Brian i have a feeling that they are going to try again. i would be fine with that, i just want everyone to be serious about it. i don't want to be a professional practicing band, i just want to play. i don't want to play every weekend. every third would be nice, in smoke free bars, that get done playing at 11, and pay $1200 per member. i don't think that is to much to ask.

Here's some random thoughts of intrest going on

Latest music that i can't stop listening to: Big Head Todd and the Monsters

Latest website that i can't stop going to: http://www.wikipedia.com/

Latest food craving: Chinesse

Events coming up: going south in 2 weeks to see my sister and nephews and aunt; Vegas in January with Jeff

thing that i can't get over: that Marley will be 5 months on Monday

Weekend review

Welcome back. hope the weekend was good to all. it was a mixed weekend at the Kattau household. Friday after the girls were asleep, i ventured over to Middlebury to Bella Luna. Cute little bar across from the Northridge. i went to see Trevor who has been harrassing me to join him out there but i went to do a little Dateline investigative reporting, well, watching..err listening, nay..... snooping. soo i arrive out there at about 10:30. only kind of know where i am going i drive around the building twice to ensure i don't walk around 6 times looking for a door or anything. other than Trev, the main reason that i went, the Jason Sapen Band was playing there. as many of you can recall, i have band "issue's". it was Jason, very nice. got recongnition instantly from him, Scotty who i have played with many time whilst sitting in with other bands, and Shawn, my long lost guita player from (gulp) Foreplay (man did i hate that name!) i got there as a sit had ended. chatted for a minute with Shawn and Jami, the plant manager from work came up to me. i think that he was only staying to see if i showed up or not. he left fairly soon after that. i retrieved a Guiness and grabbeda seat with Trevor. College Football was on the tube. i love College Football. Go Dawgs!

so i chatted with Shawn, showed pics of the kids. it was his birthday and yet he seemed to be sober. i was thrilled. i told him that i havn't talked to anybody in quite a while. he said that Brian the old bass player and he had talked yesterday about starting things up again. i will try to not get to excited because thier track record SUCKS! still bummed that Jeff and my jazz thing never got to far, but i am not giving up on that either. i can't say this time that we havn't tried to find a bass player. it just has come up empty.

so JSB played one more set and then packed up. really great for a bar band. 3 guys, all acoustic, no stinkin' drummer (hey wait!!!) so after the show, i wait to pounce till the 3 guys are all together. like a S.E.A.L. wiggle my way over to them (i was not waering a wet suit) i told them they sounded great, because they did. i mentioned to Jason that i had e-mailed him a couple times about being thier weekend drummer, but it never went anywhere. but at least he gave me a good solid answer and told me that if he changed his mind he would let me know first. honestly, they didn't NEED a drummer, i just wanted to be the drummer. either way it was good to be out. i was home in bed by 12:30 knowing the E. had to work the next day and i would have the girls.

SATURDAY started with lots of fussing and crying, the baby was going to be a challenge today. i could feel it. so could E. so she said she would call the Nana's to see if they were going to be around. Marley has been fighting with teeth so you can't blame her but it is so draining. you can't put her down. the best break from it all is Layla. Marley can be crying her eyes out and Layla will get started baby talking to her and she just grins like nothing is wrong. i got a call from my mom saying that she was going to be int eh area and so needed to kill some time so she brought McDonals breakfast. oh. you talk abotu delightful. yes oh yes. thank you sir may i have another. nice work mom! so mom goes and i rally the troops. i dump Marley off at Nana's and head over to the library with Bean (Layla) we do the normal head up top the video's and i wasn't going to help her find Peter Pan becasue i really didn't want to see it again, but it didn't matter. i swear she can read. she walks right over, picks it up and said she was ready. CRAP! oh well, i guess if she's happy, i'm happy. i grabbed a couple CD's for listening enjoyment including a Hootie and the Blowfish CD (and i don't feel bad about it) when i think of Hootie, it reminds me of when E. and i first started dating. we went to a concert together and just random reminders of young love (awwww). so E got home after work by way of picking up Marley. Dad stopped by Wendy's and picked up dinner and then after we got the girls down, E and I went to meet the McDowell's. it has been quite the while since we all got together, let alone with out kids. we got home about 12:30. Marley was up soon after.

SUNDAY was going to be along day. Marley was up way to much and it was just kind of a bummer day. the highlight was getting the whole family out side for about an hour. Marly does love to be out. the was the best she had been for an hour straight in a long time. E and Bean swung, Marley and i raked. well, the exersaucered and i raked. then we had a great chicken from off the grill. E can cook. i can eat. it work's. so after the girls were down E felt that we both deserved bowls of ice cream after that day was over. she was right. then she knew just what to do. Peanut butter in the microwave. oh, this i a good time. 45 seconds on 50% power. this is worth blogging about.

TODAY E took Marley to the doctor to see what they had to say. it's all teeth so there not much more you can do that we are. i don't know HOW you can stay home all day at times like these (song reference, Foo Fighters) how stay at home mom's don't make 6 figures is beyond me. she works a lot more than i do in a day. i get a vacation 5 days a week compared to what she goes through.

Here's to stay at home mom's and mom's in general

Funny thing Jeff just sent to me. listen to it here

Come on Gran Turismo 5!!!

Sure when this game finally comes out it will require a Play Station 3 but it all seems like a good idea. this game won't be out for quite a while, but it's cheaper than buying real cars and the storage is a lot better. never have to wash them. cheap insurance. i can buy another car and not have to ask my wife. don't need to worry about if i have a baby seat in the Audi R8. Don't have to be concerned with the Aston Martin DBS being in the shop. Click this photo to see how clean the image is going to be. Oh this is exciting!

my latest internet obssesion

A couple weeks ago i went running. it was a good outing. i got down to Strong Avenue. there are some fairly nice houses on that stretch. as i was running past one house a man was arriving home. he politely waited for me to get past his drive and he pulled in. he was driving a 1970's Porsche 911. there was something about this car. something that was cool because it wasn't new, but not in the muscle car attitude. i love my muscle cars. i would love to have a Jay Leno style garage with a crew on hand at all times. i also understand that i don't get paid millions to be the second best late night guy out there (Yea Dave!) so as i slowed to a jog watching, listening this cool cat rollin' in his Porsche (yes, you must end with an "a" sound at the end. Porschaaaaa) i think, these can't be an overly expensive car. i don't need the top of the line model and we are talking from 1974-1977's that i really like. don't need a turbo. don't want a automatic (if you can even get them) well i was kind of right. as with all things, it's how much you WANT to spend. you can also find Ferrari's in this price range. i have always liked the 400i and the Magnum-mobile, the 328-GTS. Acura NSX would probably fall into this group also, but there is something about a Porsche. so anyways, i have now seen 3 or 4 of these older 911's and to top it off, this weekend the bass player at church just got a new 2008 911 convertible. this is not something that i see happening by the end of the week or year or 5 years even, but it my be a goal, to one day get a play car. i think that something like this would be cheaper than a muscle car because your first thought isn't "i'll drive to Craig's and we'll gank the motor and tranny and drop in a 502 and powerglide and go racing!" i think that most people keep these fairly stock. so, with that said, if anyone is looking to donate, say, $15,000 and get to see me happy and receive absolutly not one penny back, dial me up. i accept any funds. Let's make dreams happen.

Playin' for the kiddies. Eating waffles.

Well this weekend, Jeff and i played at GCC inthe Heir Force room. this is the 4th and 5th graders and they bring down another room that is all 2nd and 3rd graders. this is always a long weekend because you only play 2 songs and it is about 10 minutes into each service but for 5 services. normally you practice the weekend before but we had a good crew and so we met at 3 on Saturday. practice went well. Jeff had an "on the spot surprise" that he had to learn a new guitar part right then and there. as always he pulled it off quite well. now he just need to buy a mandolin and all problems will be solved. we always do 2 songs. sometimes it is stuff that they play upstairs in big people church, maybe just a different arrangment, but 9 times out of 10, it is a pretty good song selection. we were doing 1 song that we have done a million times that is actually a pretty good little ditty. the new one was a song that most people would have at least heard, a song by Bethany Dillion called "All I Need". it's one of those songs that sounds nice to listen to, but to play, it's a little pokey and dull.

first service (Sat, 5:30) went very well. good crowd. kids get into the music and there is a group of youth, the Outloud Team (which i all to frequently refer to as the "Dancing Girls") adds to the kids involvment. they have all sorts of fancy dance moves that the kids already typically know. after we get done playing you have some options, you could leave, or there is a room that you can go hang out in. kind of a cool place to be. the hub of hip. other musicians that play on the main stage or other musicians that might be off that week but there offices are right in this area. nice kitchette. plenty of dated Rolling Stones to pass the time. the 5:30 service is the one that i have always attended so i headed up stairs for some enlighting. Dr. Bob is one of those cool guys that you enjoy listening to because he gets so excited about Christ. Very good service.

second service (Sat, 7:30) we switched the order of the songs to finish on a more energetic song, not the new one. i did botch the ending of the new one by finishing a measure early but as always, we give each other a couple of odd stares and it ends. most people don't know a thing happend. it was better to finish with the faster song. leave the kids on a high not lingering cause you just simmered them down with a dull song. 7:30 can be a little tough. not as many kids and it's getting late so they are a little sleepier after dinner is settling in.

Sunday we start practice at 8 (8:15 for Rosy the singer who can knock your socks off vocally but can't seem to get to practice any where NEAR on time) then service starts at 8:30. this is always a tough one because all these kids and musicians are still waking up. this service is always tough and it the smallest crowd also of all five.

todays surprise was after the 8:30, Jeff and i worked our way into the Artist Lounge and while we were sitting, reading or what ever, this lady that is performing on the main stage starts whipping up waffles. WAFFLES MAN!!!!! now these were not a so so frozen waffle. this was thng that required INGREDIENTS!!! ohh. and delightful. mmm. good. fluffy. cinamminy. mmm.

so then the 10:30 service kicked off badly. i don't start the song but i do give the count off. somewhere along the line "1" was not good. there was about a 6 beat period that NO ONE knew where "1" was. LeRoy, the band leader, had to stop us. this one was obvious but as always, you get back on the horse and things went fine after that. this is the service that you get real excited about. there has to be well over 100 kids in this service and they have had their coffee and Cap'n Crunch so everyone is feeling alive.

after the 10:30 service Jeff and i went into Dan's office to watch a DVD of Branford Marsalis doing John Coltrane's A Love Supreme. it's a lot more swingin' than the original and really takes a minute to get used to, but over all, on a 14" laptop moniter, quite good.

the last service, 12:00, is always tough because you know it's coming to and end and you have to stay focused. it was probably our best service overall. so after it was all said and done, we served a couple hundred kids for a good reason.

i then left church and headed over to pick up my new tires. the old Conti's on the G6 had met there match. the road. the original drive tires were balding like Rob's head and needed to be replaced badly. Elizabeth's cousin's husband works at Tirerack so i was able to swing out and pick up my new tires. NOT THE ONE'S SHOWN. it's sad how cool tire tread patterns can look. it makes you want to buy tires. really. it does. so i think that is about all i have to say about the weekend. yep.

Global Greatness

i really need to stop wondering / commenting / complaining about my "Global Greatness" but i look at Stacy's Lastinger's site and i see her Earth starring at me. It brag's about how she is viewed by the whole WORLD. i just wonder why i am viewed by myself more than any one. am i to involved with myself. it's very odd. if Pete had a globe i think that he would have a CRAZY following. it's not that i don't like my audience, it's just very odd. i need to get over this. i am sorry for my post. i hope everyone has a good weekend. i am playing at church this weekend (5 services) for the kid's. Jeff and i have been doing this for a while. it really is a lot of fun and since i am not in any other bands, it's nice to have a reason to play. it is on a Roland electronic kit which is really NOT enjoyable, however it serves its purpose and i can't complain about that (except for what i just did).

work has been quite nice since one of the bosses has been away. nice guy, but hard to work for. he comes back next week so that shall be a treat. we get to make up for lost time yelling.

on the 13th (a Tuesday) i am taking a day off to go to a corn maize (maze) with Layla and Elizabeth. it is a "field trip" for Layla's preschool.

early November the Kattau's as a whole are making there first road trip with Marley (and Layla of course) to my sisters and Aunt's in Noble(tucky)ville.

still trying to get a couple tickets to a horrid Notre Dame football game. i haven't really gone looking for any this year. i got 2 and gave them away to another guy here. Jeff offered to take me to a Colt's game this weekend but i felt i should stay home to help with the kids. when i play at Granger Community Church for the 5 services, it really takes the whole weekend. Practice Saturday starts at 3. services are at 5:30 and 7:30 and then we have to be back at the church sunday to start at 8 and the last service is at noon. again, it makes for a long weekend, but for a great reason. the kids seem to really enjoy it. anyways going to the Colts game would not get me back home until late Sunday night so i opted out but it has got me intrigued to get some ND tickets. in a Purchasing job, they arn't overly tricky to get. i would like to get about 8 tickets so i could take the Elizabeth and I, and a handful of friends so i can just have a little tailgate, but we'll see. again, i'll have to actually start looking and calling.

well again, have a good weekend. go Dawgs! we play Tennessee this weekend. good memories of trevor and my first road trip to Knoxville to see our first Georgia game. good win.

P.S. artwork Layla drew in my office yesterday. i see it as a million dollar piece.

while i was looking for that i stumbled across this picture. it is a 32" LCD TV that i was demoing and hooked up for a month to use as my moniter. that was sweet.

See ya.

My day in court

well, not really. i am tardy in my report of jury duty yet still wanted to share my uneventful day with the world. it started with a call on Monday night to see if i had to report for jury duty. indeed i did. So i had the liberty of sleeping in an extra dreamy 30 minutes (but the girls got up so i don't think that i really got much extra). i was able to take the girls to Grandma Peg's for her to watch them the rest of the day. the Jury Duty report said that you should bring magazines and snacks because NOTHING would be provided. ahh. tax dollars at work. so i arrive at the parking lot and walk completely around this building. the main doors, well they had arrows pointing to the next group of doors. get to those doors, more arrows. Now i'm not going to bore anyone with how many sets of arrows there were but to make a good story, i will say 37 (probably 4) BUT i ended up right next to my parking lot if i wouldn't have followed the pack and just gone the other way. no no, instead we looked like a herd of cattle. mind you i grabbed 2 magazines, my paperwork, i large Fuji water a granola bar and a bag of trail mix. you would think that i was going to be gone for a while. nope, just didn't want to go on a hunger strike (song reference to Temple of the Dog)

so as i am walking a fumbling all thses things, i start chatting with this guy. we finally get around to the metal detector/check in/disrobing area and i start putting all my things down. walk through.... i made it (mental "YES" goes off in my head) same time a BEEEEEEP goes off. i turn around and no one is there. what the!?!?!?! i look at the guy, he says, "huh, well you can try again" like if i didn't want to i could stroll on in, so i back up and go again. this time the BEEEEEEEP is very prompt. BLAST! so i back up, remove my fine Levi belt and mosey through unalarmingly. now as i am tring to get out of the way / collect my things / dress again and keep up with this guy (don't ask why, i just had already talked to him and i didn't have to go meet someone else. he seemed normal, just work with me) so i felt like i was kicking things into the elevator and when it opened, i had this image of me just chucking everything into the back of the elevator and doing this dramatic leap into the box while falling to the ground as is i could barely make it in the nick of time, while taking this hard fall and then waiting another 58 long drawn out seconds before the doors close. so now i have this little giggle in my head. pleased to anounce that i was able to control it and not burst out into laughter that no one would understand.

so all put together now i get upstairs, follow the herd into another room and begin standing in line. i redress. i situate. i am now comfy again, just holding to much crap. debate just doing a 37 second pig out to rid myself of all this extra clutter, but i restrain. so the guy that i am now stalking starts talking to one of the ladies that is checking people in she tells him just to go on in. well crap lady, you just took my lab partner. so i stand in line oh so lonley. sitting, waiting, wishing (again, song reference) finally she gets to me and asks me my mileage. 3 miles round trip, i concur. she tells me to go on in so i instantly hunt this strange man that i feel so comfortable with out. not a big task, but i must admit, i did it. you will be pleased to know that i did give us the "ONE CHAIR BUFFER" so we don't talk, i just sit there trying to figure out where i can stick all this crap. i hold it.

finally about 75 people are in this room. now this is the second time i have been on jury duty. the first was for federal court and i got to serve on the jury so i am liking my chances. yes, thats right, i kind of WANT to do this. soooo, as this lady tells us all about the crap that we are about to sit through she says "Every one on this side of the room is here for Court Room 2 and this side is for Court Room 1, right?" so i glance at my paper work. guess which dope is on the wrong side of the room. THIS GUY!!!! i am pleased to announce that i wasn't alone. sure it was only about 4 of us but this was not my fault. so i gather my 30 pounds of crap and get to the other side. now you realize that i am leaving my long lost companion at the other side of the room. He will be missed. i head over to the front row of the other side of the room and sit between a man and a woman that i get my ONE SEAT BUFFER on either side. whew!

turns out that this is the woman that fitted me for many a tux at Gentleman's Den. Her name was Kim. we talked about a couple of the weddings she did for us. she was very nice. i drank some water. so one of the ladies came in and took out the people that were heading into Court room 2.

so peopel there for Court Room 1 wait. and wait. and wait. i eat my granola. delightful. and we wait. finally this well dressed man come into the room holding his robe. he declares himself "the Judge" he tells us that we were going to be involved in a 6 man jury for a case against a man for a count of Strangulation. NOW THAT IS JUICY!!!!! well at the last minute the convict, i mean defendant, pled guilty and so the trial was off. BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!!! so they had a rape case that would have required a 12 man jury but the attorney's weren't ready so after 3 hours af waiting, we got to go home.

All in all it was a fairly uneventful morning. i went home, enjoyed a lunch of leisure and then like a good company man, still went to work. so thats for reading this. is was long and windy with no real great story, but that is how the day was. Have a good one of your own.

The girlie's

Here are some nice new pictures of the girls as promised. enjoy. you can click on the pictures to enlarge them. i see a vendor has arrived so i will have to get back to you all later.

welcome back to work.

Good October to ya! hope that everyone had a good weekend. the Kattau's did. Friday night my parents took the girls so Elizabeth and i went on a date and, get this, ate a meal at the SAME TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i know. we live it up. we went to Hollihans in Mishawaka. it was lovely even though Elizabeth was annoyed by me sitting next to her and not across from her. she worked through it. when we got done, we debated a movie, we called my buddy Bronson to see if he and his fiancee wanted to join us for anything, ice cream or a movie. but they are losers and didn't join us. so, we were feeling fat from Hollihan's so we went to Babies-R-Us (oh yeah WE'RE LIVIN' NOW!) and then to good old Target. Whilst (new word) at Target, i picked up the new Pearl Jam DVD Immagine in Cornice. Very good. it is a cool mix of documentary and concert footage. it is directed by Danny Clinch. he is a guy who's name has just started appearing everywhere. the Foo Fighters acoustic DVD. he even plays harmonica on one of the songs. Now i see him on the DVD for Pearl Jam. what could go wrong. the DVD has a nice mix of songs. some of my fav's are Evenflow, Alive, Come Back and the always popular Yellow Ledbetter. delightful. i need to get a REAL home theater to enjoy these morsals of goodness, but alas, another day, another pay check. well i will say that my mystery news is no longer. had a thing. fell through. no biggie. NEXT TOPIC. yesterday we dumped Marley off at my parents again and E. and i took Layla with E's sister and her family to the Apple Orchard / Pumpkin Patch to pick out pumpkins. everyone had fun. Layla picked out her own pumpkin. well, i think that concludes the weekend. tongith i have to call to see if i have Jury Duty tomorrow or not. if i do, this will be my second time. i did serve my first time, it was for Federal Court in South Bend. it was interesting to see how retarded our court system is. well i think thats it for now. Oh, by the way, Georgia won again. 4-1. ranked 12th. go Dawg's. Also, everyone has to feel bad for Marley today. she had shots. 3 of them. poor kid. i will get some new pics up soon.

Ahhh. new Foo. Refreshing

You need to make a purchase., You need Foo. Foo is a good thing. Slow internet connections are not. Today, i have said slow internet connection. But, i also have new Foo. That makes me happy. So, buy it. it will be the best decision you made today. That's about all i have to say about that.

Just a post to post with

Hey all. just wanted to say that Georgia won again in a thriller in overtime against Alabama. thanks for the prayers. they are ranked 15th now. i have some huge things working, but they remain hush right now. i will let you know something soon. probably. who knows. maybe i got nothing.

Okay, real post this time. Bands, what a pain!!!!!

First off, non band related, i do need to remind everyone that the Bulldogs have a big game coming up. the No. 22 Dawgs are playing the No. 16 Crimson Tide of 'Bama. lets all take a moment to pray for victory against these horrible people. Thank you.

Now, on to my real issue. why is it so stinking tricky to get a band together that works. i have realized that i have been in bands now for 11 years. now, to say that these were up and functioning, gigging bands, NO. however, i have been involved in very good professional PRACTICING bands for 11 years. My most successful band was the joint venture of myself and Jeff Kamp. we brought in our long lost friend Brad Olson, to on the spot learn bass. when it all started, i was the lead singer also. we later added another friend Ryan Hall. we played out one time at our friend (do you see a pattern here) Joe Wagoner's bus barn. this was (at the time) considered a huge thing by our standards. we might have had 20 people there. including 2 future members of the band. Ryan left us and we started rocking with a friend of a friend named Brandon.

By this time we had grown out of my parents basement and moved to Jeff's parents often flooded basement. Brandon moved on after sitting in at one gig even though he was already one foot out the door in Bristol. Brandond brought a freedom to the band. not quite so stiff like in our playing. things got a little looser. He left permanatly because of his parents family business needing him and we somehow met another guy (and i have no idea how) named Tom, who kind of altered the way we rocked again. Brad had left a while before that so we were lacking in the members category badly. we needed anyone. Tom made us a mutch more steady rocking band. by now we had started practicing at KampCo Steel Products (they are your supplier, not your competitor) so as we were starting to make headway with Tom, he up and split for another band. that one hurt. he left us fairly quickly but i thought that he was going to be big part of us. oh well. the only problem we had now was no bass player and no singer.

well Jeff and Rob worked it out and Rob joined us 30 days before we played our first house party. things went great and we rocked together for quite a while with Jesse at the helm singing for us. things worked and we played a good amount of gigs. Harrison Landing probably 8 times, Daisey Mea's 3 times, Gubi's, Big Daddy's, the Road Runner and multiple sit in's with the Groovy Goulies at Mr. G's, Sports Page and Hacienda. Our final outting was at Maple City bowl, which was probably the most fun i ever had at a gig.

After Layla was born i didn't do much and then through Doug Lim, i was introduced to the last round of bands. i think that i have been blogging enough that you all know how well that has gone. We did open for Blammo at Gubi's and then fired the singer and that ended up killing the whole band.

NOW, here is where i am at. Why is it that you can't just get a couple guy's together, say "hey man" (you have to say things like this to be cool) "lets just be serious about this and play in a band. i'm not expecting to move to LA or anything, i just want t play in a band that every now and then can make a little coin. i can do whatever. Jazz, Blues, Rock, Country (please don't be country) but lets just cut the crap and play.

At this point, i am still looking for that. applicants please apply below.

Pleased to announce....

July 30, 2007 Gretsch Welcomes Taylor Hawkins Gretsch is proud to welcome Taylor Hawkins to the roster! For more information on Taylor and the Foo Fighters, please go to http://www.foofighters.com/.

i know this is life changing. man i am happy. and you would think, hey who gives a rip. some doppy drummer plays some stinkin drums. big whoop. well, this is the dumbest thing that has ever brightened my day. my favorite drummer, my favorite drums. hand in hand. dreamy. i realize that i am risking losing subscribers because of this crappy blog entry, but it is a risk i am willing to take. i need to go take a cold shower. BRB

By the way, this is a high school picture of him. i don't know why i posted it, it just was the first pic i found when i googled his name and so reap the benifits of my Googling. i will have a better entry later. sorry again. i am a stalker.

Running and Rocking

i have good news. LED ZEPPELIN IS GETTING BACK TOGETHER!!!!! (for one show). i find this to be just delightful news. i do wish that they wouldn't have chosen Jason Bonham to do the drumming. Instead i wish they woyuld have gone with Zac Starkey. both guys have famous dads.Jason is the son of Drum God John "Bonzo" Bonham. Jason made a name for himself by using, well, his name. He understands, like all drummers, that his dad was the king of Rock and Roll drumming. not to say that hJason can't do just fine for himself, i just think more of Zac Starkey because he didn't advertise it. Zac is the son of Richard Starkey Jr., aka Ringo Starr. now i enjoy the Beatles. i worship Led Zeppelin. Love John, don't really care for Jason. Dispise Ringo, really impressed by Zac. see what i did there? went the opposite way you would think i would go. Zac has been playing with the Who, taking over Keith Moon's chair after he died and a handful of others didn't make the cut. he seems to understand how to play the song that the original member played, but make it his own more modern interpretation, yet keep the form. i know it sounds dumb, but you'll just have to trust me. Jason just seems to bash through everything. well i think that is about all i have to say about that.

Now, running. last night i went out again. i think that just buying shoes that i don't have in my hands yet has sparked me to get out again. i went 2.3 miles last night doing a 3 minute walk and a 4 minute run back and forth. one thing that i have noticed and wanted to do at the same time is pick up my pace. i was really jogging when i had been out my previous months before Marley. i had been hoping not to be quite so slow and the last 2 nights that i had been out, i have been happy with my pace. after 2.3 miles, 26.2 seems like, well, a lot. and yet, i look forward to it. i also look forward to my shoes arriving. finally Dick's Sporting Goods has posted that they are shipped out. i hope to have them for the weekend. we'll see how it goes. Now these are the not the shoes that i ordered, but i must say that i have a fasination with hideous looking shoes. should i have been so lucky to locate these monsters. maybe next time.

September 11.

this is my generations JFK or Pearl Harbor. so i am curious...where were you? what were you doing? I had just been handed my 3 day suspension from Hi-Tech Housing. to this day, i don't think that i ever told my parents about that. Eventually it made me decide to leave there and end up here at Kropf. i had writtten something on a print. nothing naughty just a joke and the Print Checker and my Engineering Manager told me to leave it because it was funny so i did. we assumed that the salesman would see it. well.....he never looked at the print and it got to the dealer and luckly he caught it. i was the only one that got in any trouble and there was a lot of drama about it. Either way, i got to sit home for 3 days and watch the news. i will always remember it happening.

I ran tonight

holy crap, i feel like Britney Spears looked. i think that i made it to the mailbox and i almost passed out. i celebrated with a mug of ice cream. yeah for me!!!!! good night.

Happy Monday!

good day. hope everyone had a pleasant weekend. let's get started. the Bulldog's of Georgia were defeated by the Cock's of South Carolina. Tragic. the game was a little flat looking. a couple big plays but other than a great 50 yard run by the freshmen wonder, nada! so, that was sad. last night was the MTV VMA's. now i havn't watched these in the last couple years. i can't say that even as a seasoned rocker, i even watch MTV anymore because no, i don't want to watch the Hills, or Real World 734 Middlebury, IN or Pimp by Bike or Making the Band 47. i knew the the Foo's were going to be on and if Elizabeth wouldn't have had it on, i never would have thought of it. however, there it was. a couple note. Kudo's to Justin Timberlake to "challenge MTV to play more video's". enough said. Kanye West, don't cry because you didn't win anything again this year (i guess he was shutout last year also) in a world with thousands of crappy bands, there are thosands that are really good. you may be great, but there is apparently someone greater. i bet your mother plays all your records. isn't family more important than your work. Rihanna, i like your little "umbrella" song. sure i feel weird saying it outloud, but so be it. daddy like. next, Britney, wow, sorry. that was bad. it appeared to be a sweatin' to the oldie's work out video. not pretty. at all. seriously. add a caption to that picture i put up and have her screaming "AHHHH! MY KNEE!!!" it makes it a lot funnier. but anyways, it was bad. wow, sorry. wow. witch is a direct link to next being Sarah Silverman, you are terrible. in a wow, you are as bad as Britney was but all you had to do was talk. this is MTV, not Disney, but have some class. there are plenty of kids that watch this. to crude for regular old cable. ohward...Tommy Lee and Kid Rock, your funny. Kid Rock you actually have talent, do something with it. Tommy Lee, well, umm... next! all the little sub parties, that is very odd. so you pay money to go to the VMA's, and you don't see a live band (sure there was a DJ and 2 or 3 live songs, but come on) the Foo's didn't play at the big show, they had a little sub party. the one good thing of said "subparty" is that today, you could watch the whole show they did. fairly cool. next topic, September 25. clear your calendars. NEW PEARL JAM DVD AND NEW FOO FIGHTERS CD. can you ask for anything more (do not say Toyota) next, i purchased new running shoe's today. grand total, 79.98, and i had a gift card from last X-mas from work with 80.29 still on it. yaaaa whoooo! it NEVER work's out that well. big day for me. New Asics Nimbus VIII. now, i need to start running again. after Marley was born, i didn't do anything and now it has been what seems like forever. Next September Roger and Rick (2 guy's i work with) are wanting the 3 of us to do a marathon together. i think that it would be so cool to do and to know others going is probably the only way i could do it. so, in conclusion, Georgia losing, bad. MTV, terrible, Pearl Jam and Foo, great, running, soon. oh and by the way, i really should talk more about them, the family is great. Marley is growing like it is going out of style. i think that the thing that i like the most is how much Layla loves her little sister and how Marley just watches her. she is smiles all the time and really a very good baby. Elizabeth is good too, she is back to work which is really like she never left, just a couple new faces.

incase i forgot to mention....

The Bulldogs of the University of Georgia were victorious against the Cowboys of OK State. 35-14. it was good to see the team looking fairly together. 1-0 and we moved up 2 spots on the ranking to #11. Next week, on the road against South Carolina. should be a tougher game. GO DAWGS!!!!!

Did i mention this was a defensive play that we are tackling the white team. HE PUT SOME STANK ON THAT ONE!!!!!

After a nice long weekend, hello

Hello all. hope everyone had a great long vacation / weekend. once again want to state how jealous i am of Stacy's worldly following. if you havn't click on my sitemeter and see where my people are coming from. thwn click on hers. INSANE. oh to have such the fan base. we know it's not all family cause they are all amish. she even has an electric cripple and she is globally great. you keep going with your bad self. i need more global topics. speaking of, this is a picture of Taylor Hawkins of the Foo Fighters. Globally, great band. this is actually an old pic from when he and Dave Grohl were on the Craig Kilborn Show. Craig Kilborn, globally great. it is a shame that he left. i don't like his replacement. i really don't like Conan O'Brian. Letterman is globally great. other news, i feel that the tendonitis is slowly creeping back into my wrist. last time the tedonitis hampered me it was resolved by a wicked good dose of Cortizone. that was in mid June (thank you to blogger for being my diary so i can tell the global public when my wrist was ouchy) i know that the next option is probably another shot unless he feels this is long term problem again and i might as well get the surgery but i will ice this and do the brace again on my own and that might help slow it down. that was a big help last time. on the drums front, i reheaded my Gretsch (thats not dirty if your wondering) i have been looking at my snare collection noticing that i wish i had a great metal snare. i have a couple snares that i would love to trade in on one good snare, but as with most things (and what my dad does and it drives me crazy, i have to look around for 6 years and then do something) so i will probably end up doing nothing soon. it would be easier to do somethin if i was playing out. hopefully the Jazz thing will get together soon. it would be small commitment and low in the line of gigs but at least i would be doing something. i think that the gig's would be more weekdays than ends. more global topics, i am getting excited about my Vegas trip with Jeff again in January. this will be his 10th trip and my second. i have no real gambling fetishes, but the town is so neat to see. they live in a totally different style. nothing can be compared to our living style. here at 4 am, it feels like........4 am. in Vegas, at 4 am you are wondering when lunch is. i look forward to taking Elizabeth some time. for some reason i would like to say that i hope that Owen Wilson gets healthy. not just due to his global greatness and fine acting skills. Yes Wedding Crashers is a wonderful movie. i can not dispute this. he just seems like one of those cool guys that would be fun to hang out with. i'm sure he will be calling anytime now. that was nice of me to say. i think that globally, people will see how nice i am. well, off for now to get the girlies. bye all.

I can only think of one thing to make next year's party better.

Just an idea. thanks to the Lastinger's for a fine party. well hosted. good food. fine times.

GO DAWGS!!!

GEORGIA FOOTBALL!!!! COMING SOON!!! PRESEASON RANKING...#13!!!!

pics i found and never posted about.

here it is. many a pic that i never got to comment on. first, the finger drums. if i had these, nothing would get done at work. well, more of nothing. To the right, Mike McCready of Pearl Jam. maybe i posted this. Still a great shot of a great guitar player.

Okay. Yes, the Spice Girls are back. How much happier could i be. I just don't know. Below this is the bell of a Pedler and Sons trumpet. Pedler is Elizabeth's maiden name. I have always found this interesting. this must be her Great, great great grandfather. eventually they sold out to Conn.

Next is a drummer Brian Blade. Love what this guy does on as little as he uses. Check the size of the kick drum. 15" dia. by 12" deep. that is TINY. Far right is the same cymbal that i have out from Doug's on trial. after playing on it, it is great for Jazz. it has 2 rivets. MOVING ON!

Next are 3 great shots. One is the racing version of an Aston Martin. this is what i will buy when Rob wins the lottery and Jeff is a Floor Boss at the Bellagio in Vegas. Thanks again guy's. the Far pic is a painting i found on Flickr of John Bonham, the drummer for Led Zeppelin. The next is the crazy odd creation of Paris Hilton and her dog. I don't get it but hey, this was a big attraction, so it must be "art".

Well i think that is all that i have to show for now. Other updates, E and I were invited by another couple to join at the grand opening at Ruth's Chris Steak House that opening in Mishawaka. It was great. Let me say this one thing. 4 people, $358 with tip. thank you Dexter Corp. Not a penny out of my pocket. That is living. We had a great time and i think that it would have been just as fun if we went to Taco Bell. Man i love Taco Bell.

Peace, I'm outta here!!!!!