Big Screen Blows-up

Deeds-So I was watching the BYU Football game and they were playing so horrible that it broke my TV. At first I thought the satellite was going out because the picture at the top was starting to twitch. But then within an hour the whole picture became scrambled. I tried the other inputs and found it wasn't the satellite but my big screen tv had broken. I was not a happy camper at the thought of repairing it sounded expensive and replacing it was out of the question with our current budget. However I have a friend at church, B.J. Mitchell, who is supposedly good with electronics. I mentioned my problem to Jarom Olson at church he said that B.J. was good and had fixed his robotic lawnmower. Encouraged I talked to B.J. and told him of the problem. He said to email him the TV models/specs and he would research it. So I emailed him the details along with a description of the TV problems. He came over a few nights later with a box of electric parts, soldering iron, and a stack of papers which he said was the service manual that he had downloaded. I must say I was skeptical that someone who tinkered with electronics would be able to fix a complex HD TV. But I had only expensive options so I was willing to let him take a crack at it. He basically took the whole back end of the tv apart looking for the power circuit board. He found it and said looks like we found the problem you have two blown capacitors. I did not know what a capacitor was except that a flux capacitor made time travel possible. But he showed me a picture of the circuit board he had downloaded with a common problem logged for my tv and it showed two battery like things on the circuit board with goook oozing out of them. He showed me my circuit board and I had the same thing. To my amazement he not only had capacitors in his box of electronic parts but he had two that matched the electrical specs. So he set to work on his soldering iron and took out the two bad capacitors on the circuit board and replaced them with the two new ones. He then started putting the tv's back together. We fired it up and to my astonishment the TV now works perfectly! I thanked him profusely and asked him what I good do for him, He said he would take payment in food. So we will be having his family over for dinner in the near future. While he was here he played the pinball machine and he now wants to take a crack at fixing some of the lingering issues it has...YIPPPEEE!!!

Thoughts-I really like doing things with Julie. A couple of weekends ago we were doing our annual garage deep clean so that we can fit both cars in during times of bad winter weather. The kids love doing this because we pull everything out and organize it back in. Which means they play with everything that has accumulated in a big pile in the garage while we organize it. So we spent a couple of hours doing this while kids rode bikes in and out. Julie and I screwed in some hooks to hang chairs and strollers. We just enjoy doing things like this together and it always makes a big job like fun. After we were done I said I needed to go get gas for the van so we could go to church on sunday and Julie said "Can I come with you?" I said "Sure" so we went on a quick date to the gas station. I pumped that gas while Julie got me a Slushy. I like slurpee dates with JULIE!

Words-I have finished another audio book, called Ship of Ghosts about the survivors of the USS Houston that was sunk in WWII and their enslavement on the death railroad in Bhurma during the war. I have been doing all WWII books up to this point.

Sir Dream-a-Lot

Thoughts- Yes I Dream alot. From the moment I start to fall asleep I start to dream. Most mornings I can remember the bizarre dreams that I have. I can still remember dreams I had when I was a child. I have deja-vu moments where I will during the day remember a dream that I had days, months or years ago. I usually don't remember full dreams just certain images or parts of dreams. Its funny that most of them don't make sense (at least not if I try to explain them) but within the dream they always seem to be real and make sense. On rare occasions I will be conscious that I am dreaming but I still do not have any control over my dream. I rarely have nightmares. In fact I can remember most of them and they have only occurred a couple times in my life. I have in my adult life had the exact opposite of a nightmare. I call it a "laughmare" because I will literally wake up laughing. Something happens in my dream that is so ridiculous or funny that I will start laughing uncontrollably until I wake up. This has on more than one occasion freaked Julie out in the middle of the night as I start laughing out loud and she has no idea what is going on. I only wish that I could remember what was sooo funny. I do remember trying to explain to Julie what was so funny in my dream but not really being able to articulate it. Lately in the past month or so I have been having a running theme in my dreams. At least once a week I have had a dream about my grandparents Vorhauers back yard. Their backyard in Manassas was rather large with several gardens and a hill that led into a small wooded area. As children this was a magical place and I still feel like I remember everything about it from the rocks, to the trees, to the garden, sandbox, Several Sheds. I almost feel like I know the yard so well I could dig under it and still know the different layers of dirt and rocks. I could spend several hours describing memories of summers spent with my siblings in that back yard. I love that backyard and the memories there. Not sure why I have been dreaming about it lately but it has been nice to think back on that magical place.

Words- Yesterday we went to my Moms house to celebrate her and Sarah's Birthday. On the way home for fun I put on the Sound of Music Soundtrack because Hannah and Julie like it(okay I admit I like those songs to...don't tell anyone). Well we heard a few grumbles from the "boys" but we kept playing it. Finally Joseph gave us the Quote of the day. My 7-year old says "THIS IS TORTURE!". Okay we can take a hint...

Deeds- Well since I have not written in a month its hard to write down all that we have done. I guess the biggest highlight was Seth learning to ride a two wheeler at only 4 years old. I then video taped the whole family riding bikes at the park. I took the 15 minutes of raw video footage and put together a 5 minute video montage put to music. I really love taking video footage and putting it to music. I put the end result on youtube to share with family and friends especially Tami and Dad in Europe who don't have opportunities to see the kids often. Another fun event was game night at Asifs a week ago with Asif, Barry and Troy. We played this crazy "board" game called Space Alert that took a total of 2 hours to explain and go through a tutorial. It of course is always fun when we get together. Its like being in High School again (at least we act about as mature as a high schooler or maybe Junior High Schooler...

Successful Naps

Deeds--I know I don't write that much but a lot has happened in "Animal Crossing" so I thought I would give everyone an update. Last week was the "Bug Off" where the Town Creature that collects the rarest bug wins a trophy from the cameleon. I am the two time defending champ so I wanted to defend my trophy. But of course I cheated. I keep a stash of rare bugs in my basement then just when the contest was about to end I dropped off a rare butterfly that beat the next best animal by two points. Later in the mail my trophy arrived and I placed it next to the other two gold trophy's. Julie was very proud of me. This week I also hit a huge milestone of depositing 1 million bells in my bank account. I was sent the gold credit card from the bank in recognition of this feat. I decided with so many bells I would go into the city and see if they are selling any new high end furniture at Gracie Grace. However they were still selling the ugly candy furniture still so I guess I will keep saving my money. I did buy a green shirt and motorcycle helmet for Joseph since he likes me to send him anything green. He also wants me to sell him the dingaloids but I just end up selling them. I had not been in town for awhile so I also got my shoes shined and a new haircut. I am down to just two fish to catch to have caught one of each. Once I catch these two elusive fish then I will be awarded the Gold fishing pole. OH also I was shopping at NOOK's and they had the silver bug net for sale. That is very rare and it is the first time I have seen it. I tried it out but I don't see how it works any better than a regular net... BTW I thought I would like Drake the new duck in town but then he started talking smack about Pinky the panda so He is off my mailing list!!!

Thoughts--I think my Brother Ben is a "NUTBAR"

Words--From Jim Gaffigan talking about naps, "There are those people who don't take naps...what are they called?...successfull..."

Twitter Mind Control

Thoughts: I woke up in the middle of the night and somehow (Don't Try and wonder why) I thought wouldn't it be nice if I could give Twitter updates by mind telepathy. That way if I woke up from some weird dream in the middle of the night, I could Tweet it to everyone without having to get up (FYI I do not have a Twitter account but I would consider if they had a telepathic option).

Words: Barry left me a message yesterday saying we should all call ourselves by our middle names. AND not only that but that we should use a more endearing form of the name per the following;

Troy Vincent =Vinny

Barry James = Jimmy

Stephen Thomas= Tommy

Asif...well we haven't figured out Asif yet.

..

Deeds: Friday night Sarah came over for a sleepover to play with the kids. We got the legos out and I build lego people of Vinny, Jimmy, Tommy and ? The next morning for the first time in years we had a yardsale, participating in the community yard sale. All of the organizing from the past weeks paid off as we had a lot of good stuff to sell. I learned a lot about yard sales since I grew up doing it with my Dad every summer. We sold a lot of stuff really cheap but still made $82. The rest we gave to goodwill. Julie is going to use the money to buy closet shelves for the kids rooms.

I am a closet organizer...

Deeds--I took off work on Friday and Julie and I did something we have needed to do (Not sure we really wanted to do) for a long time. We went through every kids closet and the basement closets. Pulled everything out. Organized it. We found their were five categories of stuff.

1. Trash (You don't want to see a picture)
2. Yard Sale/Donation items --->
3. Items we are Keeping-to actively be used --->
4. Items we are keeping-for sentimental value that need to be put in storage
5. Unknown (usually ended up in category 1)

We also cleared off any shelf or bin that had toys in it. With four kids and over a decades worth of stuff this was a monumental task. We started in the morning and did not wind down until almost 7:00pm. Afterwards we all watched the "LDS" movie "Church Ball" and ate ice cream until bedtime. It was exhausting but extremely satisfying to have it done. Of course the best part was spending the whole day with Julie!

Thoughts--A couple of observation about the whole process.

• We found that we actually have a lot more closet space than we thought
• We are already talking about keeping some child toys for our "Grandkids". These are toys the kids no longer play with but are such favorites we want to save them for possible later use.
• Why is it so hard to throw away that random piece of plastic, game or puzzle piece that looks like it goes to something. Yet after going through every game and toy none of these "pieces" seem to go to anything. So in the trash they go. Still I have that nagging feeling that I am going to find the item they go to and kick myself for not saving them. Still if they have been at the bottom of that bin or closet for the past 4 years unused, I think we can live without them.
• Its funny what you can have a sentimental attachment to. Its almost always because it reminds you of someone (especially our kids) or a place in time. Baby things are really hard to part with because almost all of our kids used the same things and it reminds me of when they were babies (Tear rolling down my cheek...). Julie and I allowed ourselves to keep one bin of these "items" for "Grandkids" usage.

Words--After this project we made sure it was clear to the kids (Joseph and Seth) not to dump out all of the organized bins or trash the organized closets. We will see if that actually happens as it never has in the past, HENCE the need for this full day project.

No I am not a Secret Agent

Deeds--So I go through the Target check out line yesterday and the cashier points at my security badge for work and says hey you have the same name as my nephew. I go "Steve?" she says "nooooooo" so I look at my badge to make sure I know my name (Does she have a nephew named Vorhauer?). I see that on my badge it says "Stephen" so I ask is it Stephen? She says "YES!". Then she asks why I have that badge and says "Are you a secret agent?". Now I have worked around this area for over 10 years and for the last 10 years I have always worked at a location that requires a security badge. Their are TONS of office buildings all around this Target and I would guess that almost every location requires a security badge. But apparently this is the first time she has seen a customer wearing one so she keeps asking about it (and she is serious...). "Do you work for the government?" "No". "Are you in a top secret location?", "No". I simply said, its just a security badge and that most office buildings require you to have one.

Thoughts--I was able to replace the harddrive in our computer (since it crashed last week); install Windows XP; get the wireless internet back up and running; reinstall all of our programs; YET for some reason I can't get the sound to turn on...Windows troubleshooting just asks me in 10 different ways if it is plugged in...Computers just annoy me.

Words--Sam Gunderson emailed me a two page letter yesterday that contained a very Humble testimony he had written. In reading in the Book of Mormon I came across this scripture which seems to fit his testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ perfectly; Alma 34:31 "Yea, I would that ye would come forth and harden not your hearts any longer; for behold now is the time and the day of your salvation; and therefore, if ye will repend and harden not your hearts, immediately shall the great plan of redemtion be brought about unto you."

WWII...Coraline and the German Gift

Deeds--On Saturday MLE and Mom came over and we celebrated Julie's Birthday. We gave her the "Secret" gift of a ticket to Germany to visit Tami over Christmas. I think she will have a great time with her sisters. We sure will miss her over Christmas. Hannah cried when she found out. But we will still celebrate Christmas, we will just do it early. I have been excited to give her this gift as we have been keeping it a secret between just Tami, Jer, MLE and I. I sure like Julie!


This week for work I had to do the Quarterly Business Review presentation. My skills at this have come a long way in a year since I was showed how to do it this time last year.

Outside our yard has been doing well this summer. Our Grass really came in this Spring. Our Butterfly bushes are like 12 feet high. We see all kinds of butterflys around them as well as hummingbirds. I took some clippings of another butterfly bush that has different color blooms and I have been growing them in a pot along with some forsythia clippings. I also dug up some of the Rose of Sharon that had seeded from last year and put them in a planter. I am going to see how they do in the planter over the winter.


Thoughts--Listening to the Audiobook about WWII. The carnage in that war was just unbelievable. As they say War is Hell. I wish I had talked more to my Grandfather about the war. I understand he did not talk about it much like many men who fought in it. He did tell me a few stories towards the end of his life. I wish I knew as much about WWII then as I do now. I would love to ask specific questions about where he was and what campaigns he was in. He did tell me the story of having the compass go out on the bomber he was on and having to fly low to the water so he could crawl out on the wing and fix it. He said they made it back to the carrier but ran out of fuel and crashed landed on the boat. I guess he mostly in the pacific theater. I will have to ask Grandma more about what he did.


Words--We watched the animated movie Coraline. It was a good movie I thought. It did get kinda creepy near the end. The soundtrack was really good so I downloaded it and I have been listening to it all week. Not sure why I just really like it and the little songs get stuck in my head.

Fishing with Captain Kirk

Thoughts--I had a dream this week that I went fishing with Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock as they looked in the 1960's TV show. They were wearing their yellow and blue outfits...

Deeds-- It was Julies birthday this week. I went to the Verizon store Wednesday night and got her a new cell phone. Hers was at least 5 years old and would not hold a charge. So I figured it was time for a new one. I got her a Samsung Trance (Red). Its cool because it has an MP3 player with 1GB of hard drive memory. I also got her a 4GB microSD card. So now her phone has more memory than her IPOD. It took me awhile in the store because the clerk had only worked there for 2 weeks and was not very knowledgeable on the phones...or the "Deals"...or where anything was... Julie really seemed to enjoy her gift. I wonder what she will think of the secret "Combined Gift" on Saturday...

I have not played tennis at all this week. My "Tennis elbow" is still bugging me. Kind of annoying.

Words--I finished the audio book the Souvenir. I am now getting started on "Citizen Soldiers"...a continuation of my WWII theme. This one is 18 discs so it might take me a couple of weeks of driving to work.

What do you think of my use of pictures in this post...

Antique Cars and Speaking Engagements

Thoughts--Last night I had a dream that one of my old mission companions Robert Porter came driving up to me in an antique German sportscar. I was really excited to see him especially since in real life I heard that he had died and that I had not seen or heard from him in 15 years. We were companions in the MTC then ended our Missions together in the same district in La Vega. The weird part of the dream was that he was giving me the antique car as a present. I guess he was pretty well off. I just remeber feeling guilty because I was excited to own the car only so I could sell it. What does that say about me...it was just a dream...or was it...


Deeds-- I spoke in church today. The Branch and the Ward are both still meeting together at the Stake Center since the expansion is not quite done on our building. The topic was "Laws and Ordinances" from the Preach My Gospel manual. I spoke about the time I got pulled over and ticketed doing 29 mph (in a 15 mph zone in Provo) and went to traffic school to get it expunged. The police officer at traffic school said all of you know the traffic laws and you know how to drive but sometimes after years of driving we tend to become complacent and lazy about checking mirrors and using turn signals which could prevent accidents and save your life. I compared this to our lives in how sometimes the things that are important we become complacent about.


Words--Book of Mormon Mosiah 18: 8-10 (LOOK IT UP!!!)

Check your SHOES!

Thoughts--Today is the 64th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. I realized it when I was listening to my WWII Audio book and the author was talking about the bombing and mentioned it happened on Aug. 6th...kinda strange listening to that part of the book and realizing it was the anniversary...

Deeds--I went to the gym before work (in the building where I work). I packed my gym bag with my "work clothes" including my dress shoes, belt, etc. I changed into my work clothes and realized to my dismay that I had packed TWO RIGHT FOOTED DRESS SHOES. I recently bought new dress shoes and my two pairs of shoes were next to each other in the closet. Considering home is an hour away I had quite the dilemna...I can wear my gym shoes with my dress clothes (Dofus)...wear one dress shoe and one gym shoe(Hi I'm a Loser) OR I can wear two right footed dress shoes and hope no one notices and that it doesn't hurt too much. Here is the option I choose (The Dofus + Loser look=Lame!). Weird but no one seem to notice... read quote below.

Words--Movie Quotes (Shoe related)

Shawshank Redemption --"Andy did like he was told, buffed those shoes to a high mirror shine. The guard simply didn't notice. Neither did I... I mean, seriously, how often do you really look at a mans shoes?"

Fletch--"I would have been here sooner, but a manure-spreader jackknifed on the Santa Ana. ***dawful mess. You should see my shoes..."

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY HANNAH DEAR

Thoughts--This month is such a special one its Birthday time for Joseph, HANNAH, Tami, Julie, Jeremiah...

Words-- HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUPER HANNAH MICHELLE VORHAUER!!!!

Deeds-- Time to Eat birthday Dinner, and Cake (That Hannah helped make) and open presents! Today is your birthday SHOUT HOORAY!

Wolfprey

Thoughts-- I had a dream Monday night about the military helicopter/jet plane called the Osprey. It is an actual military vehicle that takes off and lands like a helicopter but flies like an prop-jet airplane. HOWEVER in my dream I witnessed the next generation called the "Wolfprey". Don't know if this exists but in my dream it essentially functioned the same way as an Osprey except it had radar stealth technology and it was silent when hovering like a helicopter. It was shaped almost like a Snowspeeder from "Empire" but had kinda that Stealth Bomber look to it. The stealth design allowed it to move into combat areas undetected. The silent Helicopter function allowed soldiers to be dropped onto buildings from repelling ropes to create surprise attacks especially in hostage situations. NOW why I had this dream I have no idea...I ate ice cream and watched Sportscenter before falling asleep which is a standard for me (But then bizarre dreams like this are also a standard). I had to look up what an Osprey looked like to see if it matched my dream. My big fear is that somehow my mind wandered into the Military mainframe computers while I was sleeping and accessed Top Secret Military aeronautical test information on this new "Wolfprey" that I "Dreamed" up.

Deeds-- Tuesday night I had dinner with John Raeder the CEO of IQNavigator. He was in DC on business and invited 6 members of our team that support the Northrop Grumman account to dinner as a celebration for the long term contract that was just signed between our companies. He had just met with Calvin Freeman who is the Procurement Director that I report to at Northrop Grumman. This was the first time John and I have met and it was amazing because he starts giving me all of this great feedback that Calvin had passed on to him about the great work I was doing, how dedicated I am to the account and what meant the most was Calvin told him that I am a strong of "Family Man". That meant alot because above all that is how I hope people think and remember me. John told me that these are all attributes that are dear to him and commended me on my success. I of course was feeling pretty good about things when we then sat down to dinner. The first thing John does is share with the entire team about his meeting with Calvin and then proceeds to tell the whole team everthing he had just told me. I think my head was floating off my shoulders at this point. Our team ended up staying at the Restaurant with John for nearly 4 hours eating, and talking business and life. The other thing that stood out was how everyone knows I do not Drink and they went out of their way to support me in this. The group that came up from Newport News had gotten gifts including wine for other members of the team. They brought me a nice bottle of Trader Joes Sparkling Lemonade as a gift. And when they ordered Champaiyne to toast our success they made sure that the waiter, without me knowing, only brought glasses for everyone else and they had me toast with my Ginger Ale (I take this as a compliment). I am very blessed to be in the job position and company I am with right now.

Words-- Monty Python Quote of the day--"Did he say Splunge?... What does Splunge mean?!?!"

"It means it could be a great idea but possibly not...I'm not being indecisive...!"

Day Too

Words--Song Quote of the Day: "Those who are dead, are not dead, they're just livin in my head".

Thoughts--My commute to work is about an hour each way. I got a library card from the Reston Library near work. I have been checking out audio books that I listen to on my commute. Lately I have been doing a WWII theme. I have listened to "Night" about a holocaust survivor, "The Diary of Anne Frank" about a holocaust victim, and now I listening to "Souvenir". It is about a women who after her Fathers death, finds hundreds of letters that her Father wrote to her Mother during WWII. He never spoke of the war so she is learning about who he was before he experienced combat to how he changed during and after combat. The souvenir is a small silk Japanese flag that he sent home that she tries to find out where it came from and why. I always read and listen to non-fiction and this Libary has a huge selection of non-fiction audio books. For whatever reason I want to read stuff that is about real life especially history. I think because I have enough fantasy nonsense going on in my head I don't need to really add more "Fiction" to it.

Deeds--Julie and I played tennis today after work. I won again 6-2. She did win the first game on a long volley in which she got me running all over the place and finally placed it perfectly in the corner to win. I love playing tennis with her. We have done it a lot this summer and we both look forward to playing. It sure is nice having a court in front of our house.

...And so it begins...

My main reason for starting a blog was just so I could be like everyone else...

Wait...no thats not it...

I wanted to start a Blog to share the latest happenings in the life of the Vorhauers...

Uhm...Ohhhhh SNAP!!! Thats been done before...Julie keeps an amazing blog of all of the cool events in our life.

Hmm so my main reason for creating a blog is...never mind lets just get started.

Sunday Thoughts---(Its the Sabbath so I will post something Churchy)

Today I taught Elders Quorum. I shared my favorite Joseph Smith quote that I have found so far from his Journal. Random people were always showing up on his doorstep. January 21, 1836 a Minister from Conneticut show up and began asking Joseph Smith about the Church...

"He then asked me werein we differ from other Christian Denomination..."

I personally have been asked this question many many times. My responses typically begin with our belief in the Book of Mormon, Latter day revelation and Prophets etc. HOWEVER I love JS response...

"...I replied that we believe the Bible, and they do not..."

This is quite a bold response but it speaks to the Knowledge that Joseph Smith as a Prophet has of the Gospel. He was a chosen servant the same as other Prophets from the Bible and from his own revelations from God he understood and believed the Bible more than anyone.