Legends on the history of nearly every holiday are obscured by what they have become -- that is, modern day adaptations of legends. However, all we can really act on is the here and now of those traditions and as such I choose a modern interpretation.

So about my valentine...

I've been married for 16 years now to the most wonderful woman in the world. There is no point in bringing up every wonderful thing about her because I would inevitably leave out some very important fact, but I do need to point out a few basic things that make her so special to me.

Judy...
...loves me, I mean she really loves me and I have never had to doubt it.
...has ALWAYS supported me no matter what the circumstance or risk.
...has been an excellent mother.
...is a hottie.
...is the best friend anyone could ever have.
...will be here until the day I die.

I can not express how lucky that I am to have her in my life.

So busy

I've been working hard and it is paying off. I am losing about a pound a week and have finally broken the dreaded 220 barrier.

Though I haven't lost as much weight as I would like, my body fat percentage has gone way down from almost 26 to 21.4. So now instead of being obese I am only unhealthy.

Where as 6 months ago Judy was trying to buy me size 40 pants, my 36ers are now big enough for a belt.

By the way.....



HAPPY BIRTHDAY JUDY!!!!

Not in Iraq, but in Montana!

It looks like the investor is going to come on to the Jerkysoft team. So what does that mean? That means that Brandon went from crazy busy to completely insane busy. This is what I have coming up:

* A major software release this quarter
* A major software release next quarter
* Men's retreat for church (of which I am an organizer) in two weeks
* I start teaching my class for U of Phoenix in two weeks
* I start teaching for SKC College two weeks after that
* That same week Mission Valley Archers (of which I am on the board) has a huge shoot in Polson
* A week after that I have a sales conference (which I am partially organizing)
* A month after that we head to California (maybe) for business and pleasure
* Then the MVA has an even bigger shoot in July
* I'm also working on getting 501c3 status for the MVA
* I'm heading up a ministry at church that involves going into the community and doing building projects that desperately needs to be overhauled.
I'll sleep in June. When it rains it pours.

I act all stressed, but these are really the times that are the most fun.

It'll be just my luck that next week we'll get that Navy contract that we did a proposal for last month.

The Patriots used to be my third favorite team, until the tuck. After that they were my least favorite. It was so beautiful to see them humiliated last night. I loved it!

Now on to the important part. We had a house full of people, the girls stamped upstairs and occasionally looked at the TV while the guys stayed downstairs. I had the game on the big screen at about a 7 foot diagonal and running stats on the other screen at about a 6 foot diagonal.

The surround sound was on (obviously) and had two TVs in the bar wired into the game as well. It was pretty awesome.

Next year for football I'm going to have to go with an HDTV projector and the HD Sat package. At that point we're looking at a 12-13 foot diagonal.

Woot!

Logan rules!

I was looking forward to having a boy, but I didn't know that he was going to be this much fun. He plays ball with me all of the time and runs to see me when I come home.

His favorite thing to watch on TV is football. I know, so unlike me. the other night he sat an watched the end of the superbowl replay from a few years ago. It was bizarre, he just sat and watched and then every once in a while he would point at the screen and yell FOOTBALL!


I don't think that I have the heart to tell him that he's too small to play. Maybe he can be the next Rudy.

He also like to climb up into a chair next to the video game and play with the controllers. He's actually not half bad at some of the old school video games -- at least for 1 years old.

Man I am all kinds of crazy about that kid.

Let's start with the important stuff first. Family.

Judy is doing great. She entered into an agreement with her friend Amy and now Judy owns all of Beyond Expectations. We are working on building that business and she already has one new daily client. She spends a lot of time with the kids helping with school work, cooking, etc. Recently she has taken on the challenge of making burial gowns for babies in a hospital in Chicago (I think that's how it works). She also runs Anya around to dance and art class and prepares crafts for the Rainbows kids at church for Wednesday nights. She's a busy girl.

Anya is going to her grandma's school one day a week and working at home the rest of the week. She's studying Assyrians and Babylonians, reading the Chronicles of Narnia and taking Latin -- which I have started working on her with every week. She takes ballet and hip hop every week and goes to Awana.

Bella, is well ... Bella is Bella. She spends her time playing with her sister and her cousins and doing rhythmic gymnastics. She is the most generous kid in the world and would give the last piece of candy in the box to someone that she doesn't even know. It's almost Bella's turn to get involved in some more structured activities and it looks like the first one might be martial arts. We'll see. Don't forget her birthday on February 17th!

Logan has just moved into a big boy bed. He's having a tough transition, but it gets easier every time. He likes his bed because it's a big race car. His favorite things to do are to play ball and eat -- the kid never stops! When I am downstairs he will come sit on my lap, point at the screen and yell, "Football!" I try to explain to him that there is no football on, but he doesn't stop until I put the NFL network on or something.

Anyway, that's a pretty good family update. As soon as the snow thaws around here we can get on to some real living, but fortunately the house is big enough that the kids can all run around and make noise like they would outside.

Wow, I really dropped the ball. Now that life is getting back to normal, I can start posting again. So what's happening with Brandon? I'll elaborate later, but for the moment here's a quick rundown.

Family:
Judy still rules, and is the best wife ever. For those of you who do not know, Logan broke his clavicle reaching for a cookie on Christmas Eve. He's a tough little guy though and is all healed up. Anya is dancing and working hard on school work. Bella is a beautiful drama queen.

Weather:
Snow sucks, I want sun.

Work:
Weeelllll, I am now working for a friend of mine (more about that later). I have dropped almost everything except for Brastero and I will either be pulling back JerkySoft or selling my share to the new company that the incoming investor will form.

Teaching:
I will start teaching for U of Phoenix online teaching a Marketing and Innovation course in February. I will also begin teaching at Salish Kootenai College (the local indian college) in MArch (waiting on one last approval). At SKC I will be teaching Business Ethics, muwaahahaha!

MISC:
Got elected to the MVA board for a second year.
This month I am celebrating my third anniversary in the 'table' society.
Got a new screen for the theater.
Spending too much time playing Guild Wars.
Living a blessed life.


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If you're having trouble figuring out that whole economy thing read this...
Economy Commentary

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

In case you missed it this morning here it is...listen carefully.

NFL Pregame

Crap.

Well I guess it is Montana.