Giving thanks with a grateful heart

I'm giving thanks with a grateful heart A to Z this thanksgiving season - this is a repost (slightly updated) from the last three years, so I'm glad things are stable. 2008 has been full of extreme challenges, but on the upside, I am celebrating one year anniversaries with my son Gary getting married to Nora and giving away my daughter Megan to Chris.

The kids are gone, but I have my health and my precious bride of 29 years, Becky. Pretty amazing that over half of my life has been with the same woman. I hear that the second twenty nine years are awesome!

I have the best job ever in the corporate world, with amazing people and the ability to make a difference in people's lives leveraging the power of the internet. Ralph, James and my peers - thanks for making 8 to 5 a great place to be. I also write for GearDiary.com to satisfy my desire for all things wired and unwired. Amazing that I work online with people that I have never met in person... (we are meeting up in May 2009) but that are generous beyond belief. Thanks Judie Lipsett; you are one special person.

A - Ally my lab dog and faithful companion for over 11 years - she has a vocabulary of 20 sign language words and just sweet as she can be!

B - For my wife Becky of 29 years - I love her so much for her friendship, insight and faithfulness to truth and for loving me always. I cannot imagine being married to anyone else.

C - Christmas, when Jesus Christ was born in a manger.

D - Diggy, my grand dog... smart and loves to play.

E - Ears to hear and eyes to see.

F - Frank, my next door neighbor who been like a father to me for 23 years. Frank taught me to garden, fix cars and generally is always there as a good neighbor. I am always happy to reprogram his CVR and TV remote!

G - Gary - my son - I am so proud of him and seeing him grow up and embrace his destiny into Christlikeness. He's serving in the Air Force, seeing the world, defending our freedom and married to Nora!

H - Home. Home is where the heart is. A place to come home to, entertain guests, provide a place of refuge... all things that I am grateful for.

I - Insight and inventive thoughts.

J - Jesus Christ, my rock and salvation who models excellence and agape love.

K - Kerry, grateful that I have a name and was not aborted.

L - Love covers a multitude of sins. Love is always patient; love is always kind; love is never envious or arrogant with pride. Love never fails.

M - Megan, my precious daughter. She is sweet with a big heart. Married to Chris Corley, I'm confident that she will be honored and cherished for life.

N - Nashville. I love this city so much - the people, community and wealth of treasures around every corner. I've been here for thirty years and as I travel throughout the US, there is no place like Nashville.

O - Opportunity in the land of the free and the home of the brave. It takes persistence, but opportunities are out there; just don't give up or give in to second best.

P - My parents who sacrifice greatly to raise a big family, always making sure we had food and education.

Q - Quiet moments alone with God and away from the rush of the world. I can't get enough time lately and it shows.

R - Relationships... we were not meant to be alone. I come to realize that covenant relationships are precious; I need friends that are not impressed with me.

S - Stability; worth pursuing, nice to have. Striving to be debt free provides a strong foundation for stability.

T - Time to do all the things I want to do. One day, I'll have a Honda Element and photograph every sunset in the 48 states. When I'm home, I'll be in the workshop building stuff out of wood.

U - Understanding; how sad to hear and not understand.

V - Volunteering; what a joy it is to serve others.

W - The extended Woo family; 3 brothers and 3 sisters scattered around the country. Trivia: I'm Kerry; there's Jerry, Terry and Harry (my son is Gary) and sisters Emily, Lily and Sally (daughter is Megan - it's a Thornsbird thing.) Thanks to Gary, we now have a Geni family tree set up online to view.

X - X marks the spot; to be in center of God's will for my life.

Y - Today's youth, who are passionate for life.

Z - Zest and Z's. I need both in equal portions.

Rock Band (almost addicted)

While in Atlanta for sales training on cool internet stuff, my peers ended up at Ralphie-B-Goode Cafe for some fun (really good fun) over ribs, chicken and Rock Band.



I always resisted any gaming devices because of the sheer addiction possibilities... but Rock Band hands down is the modern day party favorite! Above are my peers: Armando from Miami, Ashley from Raleigh and me, the WonderDawg. I forget the song pictured above, but I am definately out of touch on a generation's worth of music!

I just may have to start a band, or at least renovate my garage for band practice if Mrs. WonderDawg is willing to be the seamstress for the band. WOOMATIC sounds like a good name for a five piece band.

Weird that I never heard stuff like Coldplay, War Pig, some Ramones... I concluded that I am seriously too mellow or stuck in the 60 - 70 - 80's for my musical tastes.



Thanks BossMon for a great time!

Packing my gear for a road trip

Whenever I travel, I struggle with carrying far too many clothes. I have yet to crack the code for carry on luggage. I remember on one trip my roommate packed one jacket, a pair of pants and two shirts to last five days. There’s no way I could go for that – I need to have a change of outfits at a 1.5 ratio per day! Now look at this picture; granted I am on the road for an extended work trip, but I have to get a better grip on the amount of gear I carry. Do I need help or do all road worthy gadget lovers carry this much stuff?



I always book a room with two beds... Evidenced by the photo below, it's my oversized credenza. The hotel staff never touch what's on that bed, so it's all cool.



I have to get better carrying the essentials, but on the last road trip I left both of the iPod / iPhone chargers at home and the office. Grrrrr. I had to go to Staples and buy an overpriced charger at $30! Outrageous!

Songs for the long road trip ahead

When I was younger - much younger - it would not be a physical stretch to drive 16 hours straight.

Of course all of the necessary checklist items were in place…. gas money, a AAA TripTik map, a place to stay and money to eat with were the “I wouldn’t think of leaving home without them” items. Once the checklist items were in place, off I went!

These days, packing toiletries, changing the oil, safety check on the car, paying all bills, checking credit card balances, camera, tons of electronics, gps and music to go on the iPod is a must. Of course, I tell my wife where I'm going and have some bonding time with my two dawgs.

Anyway, it seems that 3 hours is within my zone of sitting on my arse without a bladder break. Now I have my iPod loaded up with 30gb of music, but only a couple of dozen songs really propel me down the road. What I mean by that is that some songs seem to send my Honda Odyssey on a cruise control time warp effect that makes the trip go much faster.

Now I’m not a music scientist, but perhaps there’s a certain rhythm, a back beat that makes time in car fly by. Songs that work for me include horns, sing along choruses, hand drumming on the steering wheel, fake keyboards, a little head / neck motion, whistling, yelling, something that I can sing loudly (in the privacy of my car)… ‘num saying?

With that said, here are some of the road tested songs that really work for me…

Get Back – The Beatles
Dweller On The Threshold – Van Morrison
Won’t Get Fooled Again – The Who
Compared to What – Brian Auger's Oblivion Express
Willin’ – Little Feat
Goodnight Moon - Shivaree
Jamming & Buffalo Soldier - Bob Marley & The Wailers
Young Folks - Peter Bjorn and John
Kid Charlemagne - Steely Dan
Running On Empty - Jackson Browne
Pick Up the Pieces - Average White Band
Love Shack - B-52's
Going Up The Country (Woodstock) – Canned Heat
The Golden Path (Original mix) - The Chemical Brothers
Indescribable – Chris Tomlin
Ain't Got No Home - Clarence "Frogman" Henry
Deep Forest - Deep Forest

As for albums, Deep Forest by Deep Forest and Love by the Beatles work every time without fail.

I wanna know what works for you so that I can build a playlist that will send me hurling down I 24 to Atlanta, GA!

My Halloween Costume

Here is My Halloween Costume. Actually it was my day off, so I wanted to play tourist.



Hat Tip to Lindsey for the incriminating photo.

TN Women for McCain & Palin

A campaign worker stopped by and had a gift for the little lady next door...



A little oversized, but the thought was nice.