Pride and Prejudice

Last night Missy and I watched the A&E mini-series Pride and Prejudice that we have on DVD. As I was watching it I realized that I really liked the way Mrs. Bennet called her husband, “Mr. Bennet”. In fact, I just love listening to the formal way that they all speak to each other. I asked Missy if she could start addressing me as “Mr. McAnally” and please speak in an all-together more formal manner. I, of course, would continue to speak in my usual overly polite manner. She refused, but then I began to think about how different this blog would be if we were more like Mr. and Mrs. Bennet:

Imagine what my post “DON’T READ THIS!!!” would have been like:

On the Food Network the commercial starts

Adam: “Hey, look it’s Giada!!! Man she’s HOT!!!”

Missy: “Oh Mr. McAnally, must you express your opinion in such a decided manner?”

Adam realizes he has hit a nerve and decides to pick at it.

From the TV Giada says, “we’ll make your night sizzle!!!”

Adam: “Oh Giada, you can make my night sizzle!!”

Missy: “Oh Mr. McAnally!!!”

Adam: “Look now she’s wearing a bikini!!!”

Missy: “Oh Mr. McAnally, I fear that you are in deed teasing me and I must insist that you cease immediately.”

Adam: “Hey, if that show comes on and I am not home can you please throw a tape in for me?”

Missy: “Oh Mr. McAnally, how you vex me so!!!”

Harry Potter Book 7

I am sorry that I have not posted in a while, but every free moment this week was devoted to reading the seventh and final Harry Potter book which arrived in my mail box last Saturday. I finished the book last night and it was wonderful (do not worry. I will not post any spoilers). I had very mixed feelings about reading the last book. The book was great and I really wanted to know what was going to happen next but I was sad that the series was ending. I really hope that J. K. Rowling writes more books about the world of Harry Potter.

The New Girl

After a long day at work I had to go to my second job as the maintenance man at Casa-de-McAnally. I checked in with the boss and got my new work assignment. The latch on the safety gate at the top of the stairs was broke and my job was to fix it. It was going to be a long night but to top it all off, the boss assigned me to work with the new girl.

At first, it was not bad. She picked up her tools and got right to work.

But it was down hill from there.

Before I knew it, she was already on a break eating a donut.

Good help is so hard to find these days.

I knew this girl would be nothing but trouble.

CALL THE D.M.V. !!!

Today I reached a milestone in my weight loss. I now officially weigh LESS THAN what my driver's license states. I stepped on the scale this morning and it said 229.5 lbs. I was so happy that I had to wake up Missy so that she could share in my joy:

Adam: "Hey Missy, I need to stop by the DMV and get a new driver's license."

Missy: "Hmmm"

Adam: "The weight on my driver's license is not correct and I need to get a new one."

Missy: "You know that will cost $20? How much is it off?"

Adam: "It doesn't matter how much it is off by and if $20 is the cost of being a good citizen then that is what we must pay!!!"

Missy: "How come you were not so concerned about 'being a good citizen' when you were more than 50 lbs heavier than you driver's license weight?!!!"

Adam: "Everyone knows that it is okay to lie about your driver's license weight when you are fat. It's the American way. Read your Bible!!!"

Missy: "So what are you going to get a new driver's license for every pound that you lose?!!"

Adam: "YES, THAT IS MY PLAN."

Missy: "Well I am invoking my Mother & Wife Veto Power to squash that plan."

Adam: "Well we will just see about that!!!"

So right now as we speak I have Emily and Jillian studying the McAnally Family Constitution to see if I can override her veto. But for now if I am pulled over by a cop and he reads my driver's license then I may have to do some fast talking as to why this 229.5 lb man has a driver's license that says 230 lbs.

Wish me luck!!!

Two Days at Headquarters

Last week I spent two days over at our company’s headquarters for a couple days to participate in a “workout”. The plan is to outsource our invoicing to a company located overseas in India. And the workout was to determine the best way for the shop to communicate with India to invoice customers after the completion of jobs. They did a similar thing with our payroll system about 6 years ago and our purchasing system about 3 years ago so no one was surprised that they were moving invoicing overseas as well.

Now keep in mind that they were not asking my opinion about whether or not outsourcing our invoicing overseas was a good idea or not (the folks from India were flying in this week to start their training), they were asking my opinion about the best way to implement a plan that was already in motion. Therefore, complaining and pointing out how horrible this plan really is would gain nothing. Pointing out how horrible moving our payroll over to India has worked out or complaining how moving our purchasing over to Mexico has been a disaster would have fallen on deaf ears. So I put on my best “happy-face” and was very enthusiastic in my participation during this workout. Can you guess which one is me in the picture below?

Although, if any of the other shops in the network found out how enthusiastic I was in going along with all of these changes (that are going to happen anyway with or without my support) then my name would be mud throughout the network. I just hope that my participation makes the transition to our overseas invoicing system a little bit easier than it otherwise would have been without my participation.

Fort Apache

Yesterday, I watched my very first John Wayne movie. Yes, I am 34 year old (35 in August) American man and I just watched my first John Wayne movie yesterday. The movie was called Fort Apache and I really enjoyed it. In addition to John Wayne, there was also Henry Fonda and Shirley Temple. Here is the Wikipedia description of the plot:

After the end of the American Civil War, the veteran, well-respected Captain Kirby York (John Wayne) is expected by the regimental personnel of Fort Apache, an isolated U.S. cavalry post, to replace the outgoing commander. York had commanded his own regiment during the Civil War and was well-qualified to assume permanent command. To their surprise and disappointment, the command of the regiment was given to Lieutenant Colonel Owen Thursday (Henry Fonda). Thursday, a West Pointer was a General during the Civil War. Despite his Civil War combat record, Lieutenant Colonel Thursday lacks experience to deal with the Indians he is expected to watch, and is a very arrogant officer and martinet.

Accompanying widower Thursday is his daughter, Philadelphia (Shirley Temple). She becomes attracted to Second Lieutenant Michael Shannon O'Rourke (John Agar), the son of Sergeant Major Michael O'Rourke (Ward Bond). The elder O'Rourke had won the Medal of Honor, entitling his son to enter West Point and become an officer. However, the class conscious Thursday forbids his daughter to see someone he does not consider a gentleman.

When there is unrest among the Indians, led by Cochise (Miguel Inclan), Thursday ignores York's advice to treat the natives with honor and that the problems are caused by corrupt Indian agents. His behavior drives the Indians to rise up. Eager for glory and recognition, Thursday orders his regiment into battle on Cochise's terms, despite York's urgent warnings. He and his command are wiped out. Cochise spares York's detachment because he knows York to be an honorable man.

As I watched this movie, I wondered what people that have not served in the military thought of the treatment of the enlisted men (or in this case, the treatment of an officer who was also the son of an enlisted man) compared to the treatment of officers? Do they think that this doesn't occur anymore? Do they think that this kind of class system was a 19th century throw back? Do they know about the hovels that today's enlisted men are forced to live while the officers are living in mansions? Do they know about the thousands of enlisted men that serve honorably in our armed forces and walk away with nothing while officers wine and dine each other for a few years and walk away with a chest full of metals and six-figure job waiting for them?

While I was stationed at Pearl Harbor, the barracks that I lived in were in an area called the ghetto. The other area for the enlisted barracks were known as the projects. It was only after the Secretary of Defense and his wife toured the enlisted barracks and the secretary's wife broke down in tears and reportedly said, "I can't believe that America's heroes are forced to live like this!!!" due to the conditions, that steps were finally taken to renovate the enlisted people's barracks.

Don't get me wrong, I am glad that I served and I owe a lot of who I am to this day to the US Navy. I am even a strong believer in the need for a chain of command. I would even still to this day encourage some people to join the military for a few years and get some great training. But I think that people that have not served just do not know what goes on in the military as far as the class system is concerned. A lot of people ask me why I got out after 8 years? They are thinking that if I had only stayed in another 12 years, I could have walked away with a pension. When I get that question, I just smile because those questions usually come from people that have no idea what it was like to be an enlisted person in the military. The answer is simple: I was not willing to continue to be a second-class-citizen any longer.

Weight Loss Update (Day 80)

Click here to remember Day 1

Click here to remember Day 50

Let me give you guys some stats:

4/19/2007: 283.5 lbs.
4/19/2007: Pant’s waist size: A very tight 40”

4/19/2007: Old Navy Cotton Boxer Size: XL

7/7/2007: 235 lbs

7/7/2007: Pant's waist size: 38" (36" relaxed fit jeans)

7/7/2007: Old Navy Cotton Boxer Size: Large

Weight listed on Adam’s Drivers License: 230 lbs

# of days until we go to the beach: 26

Here is my weight loss chart:

We Belong at the Zoo-Part 2

For the Forth of July holiday, Missy and I took the kids to one of my favorite places in all of Atlanta, the zoo. Zoo Atlanta is the perfect size zoo. Not too big so that you can see everything in just a few hours. And not too small so that you can make a day out of it if you really want to relax and take your time. The enclosures are big enough so that the animals have plenty of room but not so big that you can only see animals from about a mile away, if you can ever see an animal at all (I am specifically thinking about the San Diego Zoo and the Bronx Zoo).

Now that Missy and I have the family membership, we can go to the zoo anytime and just stroll right in. As usual there were plenty of zoo keepers waiting to tell us all about the animals. Unfortunately, Jillian and Emily have the attention span of fleas so we never get to take advantage of that aspect of Zoo Atlanta. Jillian just likes to run around the zoo as fast as she can. And Emily's favorite parts are the reptile house (I think it's the air conditioning) and the petting zoo. The rest of the exhibits only hold her attention for a few micro-seconds. Unless of course the animal in the exhibit is pooping, then they get a few more seconds of her attention.

Highlights at the zoo during this trip included the new meerkat and warthog exhibits and the mother and baby panda were out for public viewing.

Unfortunately, we forgot to bring a camera this time so I recreated out trip using Emily's Fisher-Price Lil' People toys:

Above: Family picture (left to right: Adam, Missy, Emily & Jillian)

Above: At the petting zoo

Above: Okay we actually stopped Jillian before she got into the lion exhibit

Above: McAnally family riding the dinosaurs at the new Jurassic exhibit.

(Hey, I told you Zoo Atlanta was awesome)

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Remember my random thoughts on June 25th. I am in big trouble for using Mrs. Claus to play Missy but somehow that makes this even funnier. I am a sick sick man.

Feuding with Puntabulous? NO WAY!!!

Okay, over the last few days my brother Craig put a post on his blog about my blog and I turned around a returned the favor and mentioned him on my blog. Unfortunately, some people have interpreted this as family feuding blogs. Like my best friend Kim for example wrote this on her blog:

“My best friend Adam and his brother are fighting over whose blog is best. This will probably carry over into who their mother loved best and who got the better bike and who always got to lick the beaters after their mom made a cake and so on and so on. I love a good cat fight, especially between men.”

Let me solve part of this mystery for everyone. We all know that Mom loves Craig best. At least we all should know this. Even though many of you do not know the sorted history of the favoritism that runs rampant in my family, you can just use what you know about this blog and Puntabulous and come to the correct conclusion.

For example, my mother used to comment to my blog daily. But the minute she found out that Craig had a blog the comments stopped. Hmmm… Why would the comments all of sudden stop? Could it be that she does not want to offend his royal Craigness?

So let me say once and for all, there is no feud. I know my place in the McAnally Family Hierarchy and I bow to his Royal Craigness. Although I think that I should mention that if our brother John (the true favorite son, A.K.A. "THE KING") was to ever start a blog of his own then Craig’s head might actually explode with jealousy. That would really be fun to watch!!!