Memorial Day Cookout.

We went to Scott and Sandra's house Saturday. They live in Morristown, about an hour or so from here. We had a wonderful time. Check out some of the pictures.

Jill and Sandra

Sean and Levi

Asher and Sean

Levi

Tucker

Tilley

Riley doing the jack-knife

Asher and Kk.

Printer fixed.

I ended up calling Konica/Minolta for help with this part and a subsequent error on the printer. It was pretty cool that I could point them to this website where they could see the picture. The printer works just fine without the part.

When I called the customer to tell him the printer was fixed, he said we should not charge sales tax on our labor. We've been charging sales tax on labor to repair printers for probably 15 or 16 years. Every year or two, someone complains about the tax so we usually check with our CPA. This time, I also checked the TN Dept of Revenue web site. Here's what I found under FAQ:

"Is labor (on real property or tangible property) taxable?
All labor inherent to the creation, installation, or repair of tangible personal property, as well as the parts or materials are subject to the tax. Labor to install or repair real property is not subject to the sales tax."

A laser printer is "tangible personal property". So we DON'T need to fire our CPA.

Parts ID help

Can anybody tell me the part number/name of this part?



It's out of a QMS Minolta (aka Konica/Minolta) Magicolor 2300w. The part was located near the cartridge carousel and was jamming the carousel brake mechanism. Once I pulled this part out, the carousel brake operated normally.

The part I'm holding has a material on one side that appears to aide in braking, like a brake pad.
Help me, please.

Send emails to abrasfield@southeasternlaser.com

God Bless,
Dadofmykids

PS. I like to tell my kids that God helps those who help themselves. Even though I don't know of any scripture that supports that.

Easy Money???

I get these emails all the time. They say they want to buy a zillion ink cartridges. They want them overnighted. And they'll pay with a credit card. Great!!

It's a scam. You charge the order (probably hundreds if not a couple thousand dollars) to the credit card number they'll email to you. Then, like they asked, you ship the product overnight. Here's what'll happen.

The credit card number is stolen, but it goes through because the card-holder and the credit card company don't know it's stolen yet. The next morning, when the bandits receive the goods at their "mailbox" store under a fake name, they'll run it across the border, or throw it on their boat. By the time the credit card company finds out what's going on, the goods and the thief are nowhere to be found.

Here's what gets to me about these scammers:
If they'd put that much effort into a legitimate business, they'd make plenty of money. So why don't they go into business? Maybe they don't reside inside the US. Maybe they hiked across the border in TX or AZ.

That's what we need: more illegal immigrants.

On a happier note:
After I woke Asher this am, he said, "You dot my wattles in the toassa, Daddy?"

God Bless,
Dadofmykids

Mark 9.37

Clay Herman...

Here he is, Jill.

Pee-Wee Aiken.

Maybe Clay won't mind if we have a little fun with his new do. I'd say, by now, he's used to it.

Baseball is supposed to be fun.

We had three baseball games last night. Asher plays on a team called the Tee-Wees. He really has a good time playing ball.

Some kids, as you should expect of five-year-olds, find it hard to get back out in the field after batting. I saw at least two parents trying to convince their kids to get out there and play last night. One dad pulled his little boy over to the side and got right in his little face and said "why don't you want to play?"

I'm not saying that man was abusive or anything like that. It's just that little kids are going to get nervous, bored or otherwise disinterested from time to time. When that happens, don't over-react!!

Here's what you do when your tee-baller doesn't want to stand in the playing field and chase baseballs: don't force him. Tell him he can go set on the bench until he's ready to play again. If he does indeed take to the bench, let him skip batting, too. He needs to know that batting is only for those who stand in the field. If he sits there for the rest of the game, maybe he has a belly ache or something. But PLEASE, don't tell him he HAS to play ball. You'll take all the fun out of it.

If you employ this idea, do not allow the child any other choices. Do not act like he is in time-out or like you are mad. Just tell him he can choose between playing ball or sitting on the bench. You both will enjoy the game more this way.

God Bless,
Dadofmykids

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." Matthew 5:6 (New International Version)

I'm no Ben Franklin

Benjamin Franklin wrote that if there was one thing he could pass along to his descendants, it would be the practice of studying Thirteen Virtues.

Mr. Franklin wanted to improve himself, so he made a list of traits in which he would seek to be better. He decided he wouldn't get very far studying all of them at the same time. So he studied one each week. With a list of thirteen, he could study the whole set four time per year. He continued this, of and on, for the rest of his life.

Frank Bettger, author of one of my all-time favorite books, How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling wrote that he also tried Franklin's Thirteen week program with great success. He adapted the list to his personal needs and recommended to his reader that we should do the same.

So I did.

Here's my list:
1. Love God
2. Enthusiasm
3. Others
4. Organization
5. Money
6. Knowledge
7. Kids
8. Prospecting
9. Wife
10. Joy
11. Soul-winning
12. 80/20 Rule (Change to "Pray")
13. Slow to Speak

This week marks the beginning of the cycle again. I am back to week #1, "Love God". So far, I have been through the cycle about two or three times. Each week, my Yahoo! Calendar sends me reminders and scriptures on the topic.

Please note, my topics are arranged in an alternating order of Biblical and not-so-Biblical. I don't really know how "wife" ended up at # 9. The list is not in order of priority or importance, since it rotates.

I encourage you to read The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin and Frank Bettger's book. Then make your own list of thirteen and get started.


Check out this picture of Tilley.

She bought herself a bicycle and this helmet.

God Bless,
Dadofmykids

Mark 9.37

You can call me Jeff if you want to.

Jeff is my brother's name. He lives in California. I live in Tennessee. Somehow, the couple next door to me got the idea that Jeff was MY name.

For 8 years, they've called me Jeff. "Hey, Jeff. How 'ya doin'?" "Jeff, your yard looks good this year."

My kids always say, "Dad, why don't you tell them your name isn't Jeff?"

I usually say something like, "it doesn't matter what they call me. I know who I am." Or, "what difference does it make ?"

Well, yesterday, I guy called me at work to see about having his color laser printer fixed. He told me his company name, which I recognized as my neighbor's business. He then made reference to his boss. So I asked him if it was the man. It was.

So, I told the caller that I was his boss's neighbor, but if he planned to tell his boss that I was going to fix the printer, he should refer to me as Jeff. When he told the boss, the boss called his wife and said, "Honey, what's our neighbor's name?"

She said, "Jeff".

So now the cat's out of the bag. "Jeff" jokes have been flying around all day.

The boss said "tell him it's Jeff" when he came to pick up his printer.

The caller signed his emails "regards, Jeff."

I replied, "Dear Jeff," and signed, "yours truly, Jeff".

Washing, washing.

Check out this vid of Kaymie cleaning and singing. See if you can recognize the tune she is singing.



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God Bless,

Dadofmykids

a. k. a. "Jeff"

Pool Problem, Fixed.

I took the whole valve assembly off the filter and then opened it up. What I found was that I had not lubricated the gasket inside the valve head. In addition there was some junk inside there from where I has vacuumed the pool. The junk, mostly leaf fragments, got up under the gasket and caused the leaking. With proper lube, that shouldn't happen again.

From now on...
I will open up the valve head every spring when I open the pool. I will lube the valve gasket and make sure it is clean. This should prevent problems in that area. It really isn't hard to do.

Levi played in my truck while I worked on the valve assembly. I pulled the truck down to the pool so I could use the tailgate as a workbench. Check out the short video I took on my cell phone.

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God Bless,

Dadofmykids

Pool Problem, can you help?

Our pool is losing water out of the waste port on the filter valve. I replaced the valve head but that didn't help any. I shot some videos to show you what it looks like. Let's see if I can get them on here:

The first shows you the problem.

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Here's the second one showing what happens on recirculate.
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The last one shows you the loose handle.
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If you can help me fix this, please post a comment here. Thanks.

God Bless,
Dadofmykids

Red eye

I was adding some chlorine shock to the pool late yesterday. As I cut open a bag with my pocketknife, a grain of the stuff flicked into my eye. Whew!! What a pain. I started splashing water from the pool into my eye to flush it out when it occurred to me that I had just added chlorine to the water. Inside the house for some tap water. I flushed with water and Visine.

It feels better this morning, but I constantly feel the need to wipe "sleep" from my eye, like when you wake up with an eye-booger.

The silver lining was when Jill was hovering over me asking if there was anything she could do. It was like going to the hospital and having a gorgeous nurse.

Jill is gone to Morristown today for a meeting. I was going to go get some free firewood and daylilies from a friend but we couldn't synch our schedules. So, we'll probably tune up the lawn mowers and then mow. But, most of all, we'll probably finish the Mother's Day Project.

I'm going to try to add a couple pictures here for the first time. One is two-year-old, L, eating breakfast. He likes to pick the marshmallows out of his Lucky Charms. The other is my attempt to show you the red eye.

God Bless,
Dadofmykids

True American

It is time to change from REDNECK humor to TRUE AMERICAN Humor! Only I don't see it as Humor, but the correct way to LIVE YOUR LIFE !

You might be a TRUE AMERICAN if: It never occurred to you to be offended by the phrase, "One nation, under God."

You might be a TRUE AMERICAN if: You've never protested about seeing the 10 Commandments posted in public places.

You might be a TRUE AMERICAN if: You still say "Christmas" instead of "Winter Festival."

You might be a TRUE AMERICAN if: You bow your head when someone prays.

You might be a TRUE AMERICAN if: You stand and place your hand over your heart when they play the National Anthem.

You might be a TRUE AMERICAN if: You treat Viet Nam vets with great respect, and always have.

You might be a TRUE AMERICAN if: You've never burned an American flag.

You might be a TRUE AMERICAN if: You know what you believe and you aren't afraid to say so, no matter who is listening.

You might be a TRUE AMERICAN if: You respect your elders and expect your kids to do the same.

You might be a TRUE AMERICAN if: You'd give your last dollar to a friend.

God Bless,
Dadofmykids

My wife's a computer nerd.

My wife has a blog. It's http://you-got-how-many-kids.blogspot.com/. Pretty cool, too. She's a much better writer than I am. She even puts pictures on hers. Jill, I love you bunches and bunches.

God Bless,
Dadofmykids

Speed demon comes to quick stop.

Daniel, our 17 year old son, likes to skateboard. He's pretty good at it, too. However, yesterday he was riding very fast when his board hit a rock or something and threw him forward. He was not wearing ANY protective gear. He tore up his hands and skinned up most of his body. The ER nurse spent an hour and a half cleaning and dressing Daniel's wounds. He didn't break any bones.

We're thankful he wasn't hurt worse. He could have landed on his face or head. Could have broken his arm, neck, back or skull. Thank GOD it wasn't any worse. But it was bad enough.

So, from now on: No Helmet, No Skate.

God Bless,
Dadofmykids

How to be the World's Greatest Dad

You've seen the t-shirts, haven't you? They're always in the stores before Father's Day. They usually say something like, "World's Greatest Dad". They don't sell just one shirt to just one Dad, though. That's because to each family, their Dad should the greatest in their little world.

You don't become a great dad by donating your sperm. Lots of guys do that without ever acting much like a real Dad. Being a really great Dad takes three things - none of which require your genes:

1. Love God above all else.
2. Love the Mother of your Children.
3. Love your children like you want to be loved.

Simple. Straight forward. But, for some reason, a lot of guys won't do all three of these.

Let's discuss each one of these simple steps in the days to come, LORD willing.

God Bless,

Dadofmykids

It's Mexican Boycott Day.

All over the news, they're talking about the illegal immigrants. I wonder is my brother, Scott, will have any workers today. I should call him. Other than that, I don't see that the immigrant issue has much impact on my life right now. I could be wrong.

I got somewhat started on the Mother's Day Project. Picked up most of the materials needed. The next step will be to get the kids involved and see how far we can get with it. Jill will be staying with her mom for a few days this week because her mom is having surgery and won't be able to take care of herself. That may give us a chance to knock this thing out without her being home to spoil the surprise. I don't want Jill to figure out what the kids are giving her beforehand.

I want to leave you with something to think about. What does it take to be the best dad you can be? I'll answer that tomorrow.

God Bless,
Dadofmykids