Year / 2007

by Greg

Four Years Of Huge Debt

Our Awesome Yellow House

OK, that’s not really what we’re celebrating today. But it was a funnier title. 🙂 Today is the day we moved into our yellow house- our first house – four years ago. Can’t really believe that. Can’t really believe the size of the figure on the “balance owed” ledger on the bills from our mortgage company. Or the taxes for that matter…

BUT…

This house is one of the coolest things God has given us, besides each other of course. We have made memories here that will last forever. We have shared life with friends, shared our stuff with friends, had friends live with us for a time, and shared many many meals with friends and family over these four years.

Today we’re celebrating this fun gift that God has given us by having some friends over this morning – any minute now, actually – and then probably some more tonight 🙂 What else is a house for? 🙂

So thanks God for four years in this place. And somehow we have paid every monthly payment, and all the taxes… thanks for that too. (Do you know how much these things cost???) 🙂

But most of all, we love the memories… made with these four kiddos below.

We the Campbells love Our Yellow House. 🙂

Our Awesome Yellow House

by Greg

I Sleep Because I Have To

After watching the Ducks beat the Canucks (hey… that rhymed!) last night in the second game of the double-header on Versus, I decided to watch the NFL Lives I had TiVo-ed. It’s draft time, ya know! But when I started those, I remembered that I needed to clear space on the Mac Mini so that I could transfer about 30GB of video across our wireless network overnight, so we can watch those movies right from the Mini, and save some space upstairs. Well, that took about an hour, diggin through and finding what was expendable. So now it’s 2am.

And now I start NFL Live. 🙂 And there were two of them. 🙂

So, it’s just about 3am when I go upstairs to bed. I remember I needed something upstairs in my office. So I go to get it. Then I remember that we had been having e-mail issues today with one of my hosting providers. So I check email. It’s back up! So, I check my email. Read a couple blog posts, and then it’s 3:20.

I go to bed at 3:21. (Cool time.) And just lay there, thinking about 50 things I could be doing at that moment. Not really tired, I toy with the idea of getting up to do them… but it’s 3:30am!!!!

And that’s when I finally realized, I sleep because I have to. Not because I’m tired. Rarely, at least. There are some times when I go to sleep because I’m tired. There are also times I fall asleep on our super-comfy couch. But mostly, there are so many things that I can or want to do… I really only go to bed because I know I do NEED to sleep.

Why do I have so much to do?? 🙂 What in the world. (Thanks a lot, Dad!) 😉

So… I will continue to make myself go to sleep. The NHL playoffs won’t always have these cool late-night double-headers. That will help. But I guess that’s just who I am. Mr. Energy, with 1000 to-dos on his list.

At least I do get a lot done… 🙂

by Greg

Sabres Win Game One

Sabres vs Rangers in Round 2
Unfortunately we did not get to watch game one of round two last night as we were previously scheduled at a Pampered Chef party at a friend’s house… (I had tried to TiVo the game, but later found out that somehow I had scheduled it to record TONIGHT’s game!!! NOT the SABRES!!!!) So, we got home just in time to see them signing off, with lots of cheering Sabres.

We watched the postgame show on MSG (who carry the Sabres, but whose real team is the Rangers) and it was interesting. I guess the Rangers hung in there (scorless past the midway point of the game) until Vanek scored a beautiful re-direct goal. And then it all came apart. The Sabres scored 3 goals in 4:05 and that about did it. Well, technically… it did. They won 5-2.

🙂

So, the Sabres lead their series 1-0, which doesn’t really mean a lot, except.. only 3 more to go. They are now 5-1 in the post-season, and I’m hoping they continue in that pattern of greatness.

Game 2 is tomorrow night at 7pm on Versus. We’ll be TiVo-ing that one as well as Friday night is the boys’ first night of BASEBALL! Alex is playing his first year of tee ball, and Ian is moving up to coach pitch… with the big boys! 🙂 Should be fun. But… I hope the TiVo works this time!!!! 🙂

FURTHER READING (game review articles from…)
NHL.com || Sabres.com || The Buffalo News (many articles here)

by Greg

ENFP

Remember I posted that personality test the other day? Where I was a “Journalist”? Well, I found further explanation of the strange letters…

ENFP

outgoing, social, disorganized, easily talked into doing silly things, spontaneous, wild and crazy, acts without thinking, good at getting people to have fun, pleasure seeking, irresponsible, physically affectionate, risk taker, thrill seeker, likely to have or want a tattoo, adventurous, unprepared, attention seeking, hyperactive, irrational, loves crowds, rule breaker, prone to losing things, seductive, easily distracted, open, revealing, comfortable in unfamiliar situations, attracted to strange things, non punctual, likes to stand out, likes to try new things, fun seeker, unconventional, energetic, impulsive, empathetic, dangerous, loving, attachment prone, prone to fantasy

favored careers:
performer, actor, entertainer, songwriter, musician, filmmaker, comedian, radio broadcaster/dj, some job related to theater/drama, poet, music journalist, work in fashion industry, singer, movie producer, playwright, bartender, comic book author, work in television, dancer, artist, record store owner, model, freelance artist, teacher (art, drama, music), writer, painter, massage therapist, costume designer, choreographer, make up artist

disfavored careers:
data analyst, scientist, researcher, financial advisor, business analyst, govt employee, office manager, mathematician, investment banker, office worker, computer tech, it professional, network engineer, strategist

Funny… I haven’t ever wanted a tattoo… 🙂

by Greg

Damage Control

I have been refraining from any comment on the events that transpired at Virginia Tech last week. I did post the one e-mail we received from our friend at VT. I thought it was a good “different” perspective on what happened. There was no need to rehash the events “news-style” here. It just felt over-done in every media “outlet” anyway.

But I have heard some interesting things in regards to the reactions to it. From applauding the professor in his 70s (who was a holocaust survivor) for barracading the door – giving his own life – in an attempt to save the students in the room… to decrying the networks decision to air the videos the killer submitted to NBC. (I think it was NBC.) All sorts of emotions, all sorts of thoughts.

One thing I heard while listening to the latest God Journey podcast struck a chord with me, and perhaps it does with you, too.

I had read several comments on the news sites I was browsing that read something like this, “Hundreds of innocent Iraqis die every day and we don’t see news coverage like this!” There was some frustration over the “overreaction” by US media regarding this killing of “lesser” significance (number-wise), and the diminishing of the lives lost in Iraq. That angered me a bit, as I do understand the sentiment, but can we please drop our political agendas for just one moment???

But the God Journey guys were talking about it and they commented on how the rest of the world deals with tragedies like this very differently. Here in the US we are scrambling to find a “reason”, or a “motive”, or even someone (or some system, or someones) to blame for it. We can’t accept such a thing. Our lives are so in our “control” (or so it would appear) that clearly an event like this reveals an error, or a mistake, or some form of blame be placed somewhere. Certainly on the killer… but there has to be more. He can’t be solely responsible for his actions.

Maybe it’s gun control. If we would just tighten that up. Or maybe it’s his parents. If they would have loved him more. Maybe it’s that the University should have shut down the entire campus, because they surely must have known he was going to go on a killing spree. Surely. Maybe if the other students – who had noticed he was different – had stepped in earlier, instead of allowing political correctness to govern their actions. Maybe it could have been prevented if US immigration laws were more strict, not just allowing visas to anyone who wants them.

Maybe… maybe not.

See, bad stuff happens. People die. People do bad things. What happened last week was bad. It was ugly. It was horrible. Just like the stuff that happens in Iraq and Darfur and everywhere else around the world every day. The human condition is marred by sin. People can make bad choices that hurt other people. And really, there is no amount of laws or training or educating or any preventative methods that can curtail that.

We are not in control. We may think we are. We may think we can be. But, we are not.

So, best you can do (in my estimation) is live your life to the fullest. Live everyday enjoying where you are, and who you’re with. Love as you have been loved. You never know when you’ll breathe your last breath here. And if you know Jesus, you can trust him that it won’t be your last. You can’t control what other people do, but you definitely have a say in what you do. (Sin kinda messes that up on occasion, but at least we have some say) 🙂

Love God, and love people today. Don’t worry about what might come tomorrow, or what has happened yesterday. Any control we think we have is mostly an illusion. Trust the one who holds all things together, and follow him where he leads.

Maybe that’s the best damage control.

by Greg

Another Personality Test?

Following a link my parents sent in an email to a site I had heard of before, but did not previously sign up for… I created an account at StumbleUpon.com and took their personality test. Gotta love those personality tests…

ENFP – “Journalist”. Uncanny sense of the motivations of others. Life is an exciting drama. 8.1% of total population.

Free Jung Personality Test (similar to Myers-Briggs/MBTI)

Well, I just thought it was interesting that they chose “journalist” to describe my personality, as that is what I thought I wanted to be these many years ago. And in some sense, is what I am doing a bit today.

Anyway… besides the test, StumbleUpon is neat as it sends you to websites you might not have otherwise found based on preferences/interests you put in. Pretty neat so far. I heard about it on a tech podcast and thought it was a cool idea. Been playing with it a bit here today… I’ve like most of the results so far.

Thanks for the link, Dad. 🙂

by Greg

Campbells of the Woods

Well, not really the woods so much, but we sure did spend a LOT of time outdoors this weekend!!!

I had really two goals this weekend. I wanted to clean out our van, which was just disgusting after a whole winter of not being cleaned. Then, I hoped we could get all the sticks and other random junk out of our yard. We have about a quarter acre, so it’s not a huge task, but it did take some effort.

Add to those tasks the goal of having burgers on the grill for Saturday and Sunday’s evening meal (hopefully with friends!) and we had a full weekend!

  • The Van
    Saturday morning began relatively early for a Saturday. I was outside around 9am getting to work on the van. I had to take out all the seats and worked for about 30 minutes just pulling out all the stuff so that I could get in there with the ShopVac. It was really nasty. I think I finished around 12:30pm with all the cleaning… so a good three and a half hours to clean just the inside of our van. Whew!
  • The Back Yard
    Meanwhile, Jen and the kids picked up sticks and raked up the rest of the junk in our back yard. Jen really does not like any sort of yard work, so it was a struggle for her, but she helped a LOT. We stopped for lunch around 1pm or so (a nice Sub from Breen’s, with carrots and potato chips… very summer-y) and took a break till around 3pm when Grandma arrived and the boys and I ended up back outside to finish the back yard job. I must say, they did a great job sticking to it, and we finished in pretty good time! The yard looked great, and my boys helped make it that!
  • Cookout #1
    I mentioned Grandma came over… she took the kids to the park for a while and then we all shared a fun summer meal from the grill. We had some fantastic burgers, including a Greek Burger (tomatoes, onions, greek dressing and feta cheese) among others. We even had a few stragglers join us… 🙂 Our neighbor and his dad were hanging out outside as I was coming in and out from the grill, and so I offered them a burger 🙂 (One of my favorite things to do is provide food for people…)
  • The Front & Side Yard
    Sunday morning we got a bit of a later start (had waffles for breakfast!) but that was OK, cause the front and side yards are a lot smaller job. We all went out and picked up the piles like the day before, and Mom & Ian worked under the porch, clearing out a bunch of junk that has collected under there over the past four years. We finished up pretty quickly and then headed inside to get lunch ready…
  • Picnic In The Park
    As we were working outside, I thought it was such a nice day that we should go up to the park and have a picnic in the park! Everyone agreed, so we started packing up our sandwiches for the trip. When I got all the sandwiches made, and the other food collected I said, “Where’s our picnic basket??” I forgot we didn’t have one anymore… So a few seconds later, Kirstie comes around the corner holding a little basket she had emptied of its contents saying, “Here’s a basket, Dad!” 🙂 Very cute!

    So we rounded up everything and walked just around the corner to our Village Park. It was just us! They hadn’t set up the picnic tables yet (!!) so we ate on the steps of the pavillion at the center of the park. The kids were kinda distracted by eating outside, but I thought it was fun still anyway 🙂 We stayed and played in the park for at least an hour afterwards. Swings, slides, that spinny thing. Ian fell off of that once. Not good. But Ian also made some fantastic catches of football passes from Dad! It was definitely a highlight of my day! 🙂

  • Relaxing Afternoon
    When we got back, the girls took their nap, and the boys and Dad watched the rest of Around The World In 80 Days that we had started a week or two ago. It’s THREE HOURS! But we did finish, and we liked it. After that we watched the third period of the NJ Devils vs Tampa Bay Lightning series. Well, I napped for a good bit of that… but I was in the room. 🙂 The Devils won, so the Sabres will now play the Rangers in round two. That’s cool…
  • Cookout #2
    To finish off the weekend, our friends the Stupins came to join us for cookout #2. This was a bit more adventurous for some reason. When I put the burgers on the grill, on low flame… the fire just erupted! The flames were shooting out of everywhere on the grill at least 2 feet in the air!!! Somehow, the burgers were still edible, but man that was crazy!!!

    We had fun just playing in our yard (they have three young girls, our kids’ age) after dinner for a while. We were also joined bu our neighbors. It was a nice way to spend the evening.

  • Ice Cream!!!
    But we weren’t done! Everyone else had to go home around 8pm (bedtime??? crazy!) but we decided to head up to Chill & Grill to top off the weekend with some ice cream!!!! Well, as we were just leaving our house, we saw our babysitter heading home on her bike, and invited her to join us for some ice cream! She agreed, and we had a nice walk up there. (She rode slowly on her bike…) BUT THEN… as we got closer, we noticed there was no line out the door at Chill & Grill… and the OPEN sign was not lit!!!! It wasn’t closing time yet… so what’s the deal????

    We went up to the door and the sign said they were “out of inventory”!!!! NO!!!!!!! We just walked about a mile for their ice cream and they were all out!!!!!! 🙁

    So, Kristin went home (the babysitter) and we ended up getting some ice cream bars from Breen’s (which is just across the street) and eating them at the employee’s picnic table behind their store. 🙂 Not quite the same, but still kinda fun.

  • Late Night Hockey
    We were pretty exhausted when we got home, but we watched the end of the first period of the Detroit / Calgary game and then put most of the kids in bed. Ian got a special treat of some late night hockey watching with Mom & Dad. But at the end of the second period, Mom couldn’t even make it anymore so… just Dad remained.

    I had to take care of the financial things (paying bills, balancing check books etc) so I did that as I watched… and watched. 🙂 The game went into a second overtime period before they could decide it. Unfortunately, Detroit won and ended the series. I was at least hoping for a game seven. Calgary pretty much gave all they could though. Detroit is just better. Will be interesting if Buffalo faces them in the final.

And that was our crazy weekend. We definitely enjoyed every last moment of it. I have the tiredness and the SUNBURN to prove it!

I think I’ll have some more iced tea now. 🙂