Schoon's Place

And you thought I was gone...

So I keep asking myself, does anyone even update their personal web pages these days? What with Facebook, Myspace and all these other social sites, does anyone even come here. Am I writing for my own personal satisfaction or is anyone reading this? Oh well, I will continue to write and even continue to rant but today I just wanted to announce that I did get a few new pictures up from our Memorial Day Camping trip. There are a TON more pictures to upload but as I said before I am having issues with the javascript loader so I can only do one picture at a time. Boo Hoo, once I figure out what the problem is there will be a flood of photos. Enjoy your week.

2010 Summer Vacation was AWESOME!

We are back from our 2010 epic journey! We did 2500 miles over 17 days. Including stops in Chicago, Saugatuck, Niagara Falls, Schroon Lake, Schnectady, Clintondale and Washington DC! Whew, what a whirl wind tour. We saw many family members and spent lots of time just hanging out. The car did well and we didn't have any trouble at all out of it which was nice. I will be posting pictures soon of the journey but have about 400 to go through so bear with me on that one. As always, look me up on facebook to find out more about what's up with me and my family.

Still Around...

Wow, Is facebook trying to take over the world? Does anyone spend any time on regular web sites these days? I am trying to keep the Schoon's Place dream alive but find that most of my status updates end up going to facebook. I like having my own place on the web so I will continue to post here and also post my photos here. Some of the things that facebook doesn't have is the ability to post whatever I want, no matter the length. I can also post the FULL size jpg pictures here and not the dumped down versions. Facebook is great for keeping in touch but there is still a reason to maintain this space. What do you all think, or is there anyone even reading this?

2010 Schipador Ale is Fermenting

On Saturday my friend Brian came over and helped me to brew my first official batch of beer. I've done this twice before at his house but this time I became the Brewmaster! We brewed up a batch of Rogue Bitter Brutal and are naming it Schipador ale. This is because we had two dogs in the house that day, my Dog Lady, a Labrador and Kathy's dog Angel, a Schipperke. I just put the two names together to make one, I think it sounds cool. So, we put the beer in the primary fermenter and sometime on sunday we achieved fermentation. I have the fermenter in my office so I get to hear the bubbles all day, I find it soothing. I will post more updates as they happen. We should be moving to second stage fermenter in 7-10 days then bottle in around 21 days. I look forward to describing the rest of the experience here.

Almost the end of February already?

We've had quite the winter here in Charlotte. Rarely do we get three really big (to us anyway) snowfall and accumulation days. The last one we had was easily the prettiest and we had 4-6 inches that time. The first night the snow was perfect for packing. Jake has had quite the time in it. We've made snow angels, had snowball fights and he even took the snow disk down the street all by himself! We of course are still experiencing quite cold temperatures with usual nightly lows in the 20's so all of us are looking forward to warmer weather. The good news is that this weekend we will see highs in the 50's so it will be warm enough to do some yard work which I desperately need to do. I still can't believe that we are almost through the month of February , the time just seems to go by so fast. Jake is going to be 5 this year, Kaylee will be 20 and Will is going to be 18, just incredible. Me, I think I'm just going to stay 40 for the rest of my life, haha.

Today I gave my 5th Toastmaster's Speech

Today I gave the 5th speech in the Competent Communicator's Manual for the Wachovia CIC Toastmaster Club #7358. I joined the club back in October and as some of you know this is my second stint with Toastmasters. Back in my early years I joined the club to learn leadership and speaking skills for purposes of student government. After attending and getting a certificate from that club I was voted in as student body president of Margaret Meade Junior High in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. Unfortunately we moved so I was unable to fulfill my role as president but the memory of my accomplishments lived on. I give the Toastmasters club a lot of credit for helping me learn the skills needed for leadership. When I found there was a club here at CIC (my place of employment) I attended and ultimately joined. I am now 5 speeches into my Competent Communicator Track and will complete it hopefully by the middle of this year. Today's speech was entitled "Oh the Places I've been!". I am going to start recording these as I give them, I need to buy a digital recorder.

A New House for 2010?

So, are we getting a new house for 2010? Well, kind of. You see, a month or so ago we had our Sewer line back up into the house and it flooded us with about 75 gallons of dirty water. We had to have the cleanup crews come in and remove carpeting, tile, drywall, cabinets and other materials. The insurance company is picking up quite a bit of the tab but we've also decided to do some upgrades. This week the bulk of that work has begun and the house is in utter chaos. Tile is currently going down in the kitchen so we are without a kitchen and also can't go in there as the tile cures. It is tough keeping the dog out of there too! Carpeting is going down today and then the bathroom and cabinets will be put together. I anticipate another week or two of craziness and will be so happy when it is all over with. I know Suzi is excited to be getting a new kitchen too! I will post updates and pictures soon, have a great week!

Welcome to 2010!

Welcome to another year at Schoon's Place! 2010, a new decade, wow! I wanted to start off with some grandiose statement about my world but frankly, I'm just glad to be on this earth for another year. Well, another day for that matter as we should all take them one day at a time. I'm not going into 2010 with all these massive statements of change or with dozens of resolutions that will most likely be broken. Instead I'm going to focus on little goals that are actually obtainable. Things like trying to let things not bother me so much sometimes. Things like picking up the phone to talk to friends instead of just facebooking or texting. Things like not eating out so much to save a few bucks here and there. Goals that will ultimately get me somewhere but aren't some pie in the sky dream that I'll never get to. So, why not write down a few of you goals for 2010 as well and make one of them a point to stop by Schoon's place once a month or so to see what's new. Maybe even drop me a line to say hello. Have a great year!

Christmas is almost is here!

It's hard to believe that 2009 is coming to a close and the Christmas season is right upon us yet again. The years seem to click by rather quickly now and I'm not really sure why that is. Some people say that routines just allow the days to pass by so quickly other people say that as we get older our ability to remember details lessens and therefore makes the days go by faster. I suspect it has something to do with both but also more. To me, the days are what you make of them. We all make time for whatever it is we want to do so the next time you say you simply don't have time to do something, think about if you really don't have time or if you just simply don't want to do it. You might surprise yourself. I hope that each of you that are reading this have a wonderful and merry Christmas. I know I am truly blessed in so many ways and I will have more to write over the holidays. My two week vacation starts this weekend and I am certainly looking forward to the time off. Have a great Wednesday!

Diet Update

Well, November was pretty much a nothing month for me as far as working out or watching what I was eating. Before today, my last workout was November 3rd. It's amazing how quickly it can get away from you if you don't focus on getting in the gym the requisite 3 or 4 times a week. Today wasn't too bad though, my weigh in was 223 which is only 1 pound heavier from the last update here and I am pretty happy with that. My plan is to gradually get myself back into it by just doing cardio this week and then working the weights back into the mix starting next week. As long as I can focus on just getting in there I think that things will get back on track pretty quickly. We are looking at going on a vacation with friends in March of next year and I'd like to be able to hit the magic 200 number by then. That puts me at needing to lose around 2 pounds per week until then. Aggressive numbers for sure but I think I can do it. The Next goal will be 215 by January 1st. Off we go!