Married In Ohio

The new computer we got the kids is finally set up and configured. I stayed up most of the night on Saturday installing and configuring software. It was supposed to be a belated Christmas present but I didn’t expect it to be nearly as late as it was. Despite “guaranteed 3-day shipping” everything didn’t finally arrive until late on Friday. So I couldn’t really get started until Saturday. And, when you keep computers for as long as we do, there are a lot of software and documents to migrate. We’ve got all of the CDs; but, because of the new OS, I spent a lot of time on the Internet looking for updates.

The kids were very understanding, but I wish everything would have arrived when promised. It was very frustrating to receive a box every day; but not get the most important pieces until last. Plus, California Girl and I got them things that wouldn’t run on their old computer for Christmas in anticipation of the new one. We did get them other gifts; but their “big present” was MIA for three long days.

And yes, we know, everything could have been avoided if we had shopped early. But, it’s hard to hide a computer. And, we’re very cost conscious and the best deals did not happen until very close to Christmas. This is the first time that they’ve ever gotten a brand new system rather than a hand-me-down; so they were excited. Especially since, unlike their old computer, it can run all of the latest games and software.

Osbasso requested that everyone pick go back through their own archives and choose their favorite HNT of 2007. Like last year, our favorite photograph wasn’t featured in one of our HNT posts. It was taken over our Fourth of July Vacation and featured in Two For Tuesday - 95 posted the last week in July. Rather than bend break the rules like we usually do, we’re going to pick only from our HNT posts. We also liked the third picture from HNT - 120; but, aren’t going to post it again since it only appeared a few posts ago.

California Girl and I both really liked our “By the River HNT”collage from HNT - 91; partly because if the scenery in the background and partly because of the story behind the picture. If you were reading us then, you may recall that we almost got caught twice in the same day in two separate outside locations! So here is our favorite HNT photograph of 2007. We like the photo in the upper left the best. Click on an image to enlarge.

And, because we’re on vacation and we like having a photo session on no matter what, here is some fresh nekkidness.

To find out what Half Nekkid Thursday is all about, visit Osbasso.

We got my mom a digital photo frame for Christmas and loaded it up with photographs of the kids through the years. It took quite a while to pick out all of the photographs but she really liked the finished product and so did we. In fact, I saved all of the selections so that I can make a DVD later.

I thought that it might be cool to do the same thing here since there’s not going to be a Two for Tuesday this week. So, I made a Flash movie of the pictures we have used for TFT throughout the year. I usually create .WMVs; but SWF seemed to be a better format for a slide show. Please let me know what you think. This is my first attempt at a flash movie.

Get the Flash Player to see this video.

P.S. I’ll post our last HNT of the year sometime tomorrow.

Update: Since the movie is a .SWF, I embedded a Flash-based video player to make it easier or users to control. It saves band with too. Let me know what you think of it. I’m considering using the player on “regular” videos if it doesn’t have any glitches.

Midwestern City Boy & California Girl

P.S. I said we’d post again before Christmas Day but I was wrong. We’ve been too busy enjoying our Christmas vacation.

Osbasso requested that everyone pick three HNT/blogger participants, but only three. And then tell the world what you’d get them for Christmas, if you had the means to do so. Since we also did the same thing last year we’re going to pick three new people. Not because we didn’t like last years choices; but to spread the “imaginary” wealth. We’ll leave a comment or send an email to everyone tomorrow to make sure that they see their gifts.

Our three Christmas wishes go to:

Alfie: You and Emma seem to be really enjoying your retirement, except there seem to be too many sex free zones for one reason or another. So, I would give you a small placard that could turn anywhere you hang it into a sex required zone.

Chickie: I wouldn’t give you anything. Instead I’d give the COAEW a clue or two, so that your life would be a lot more peaceful. And, for good measure, I’d give her a remote off button that only you control so you wouldn’t have to interact with her unless you wanted to.

Private: I’m not going to mention your web addresses but you are not forgotten. Over the years, many of you have had to take your blogs private or even stop blogging completely. I understand the reason’s why; but you’ve given so much to the blogging community that I really wish it was not so. So I’d give you a public blog that automatically stops whoever you don’t want from visiting; but lets in everyone else. That way, you could have the best of both worlds.

And, like last year, here is some gratuitous half-nekkidness for those of you who read this far. Happy holidays from us to you.

Happy Holiday HNT. To find out what Half Nekkid Thursday is all about, visit Osbasso.

California Girl and I did not have our regularly scheduled Tuesday night photo session, so we’re posting some pictures from our Wednesday morning photo sesson instead. (I love being on vacation.) It’s been cold and snowy here; but the sun finally came out today. So,we got the opportunity to open the blinds and enjoy a pretty good morning. We don’t have very many sunny days this time of year. And even fewer occur when we don’t have much of anything to do and can really enjoy them. Anyway, here are a few photographs from this morning. We hope that there will be more days like this one.

For some help enjoying the sunshine on a beautiful December morning talk to your significant other.

I was going to post this yesterday but I was too busy having nothing to do that I didn’t get around to it. It wasn’t easy but we delivered our project on time and under cost. So, now I’m on Christmas vacation. The kids still have to go to school but that just gives me more time to spend with California Girl. After taking them to school, I came home and climbed back into bed. Except for sex, I didn’t do anything until almost two o’clock in the afternoon. After dog days and double dog days, it was nice to be free.

Some of you with Blogger blogs may have noticed that I started using my OpenID when I’ve left comments on your blog. I finally had the time to install some software updates that had been long undone and that was one of them. And, for that matter, I think I’m finally caught up on everyone’s blog. I’m even considering configuring and building a new computer his holiday season. It’s not the first thing on the list; but it’s still nice that the list is getting shorter rather than longer.

California Girl has to work so I try not to be too distracting. Usually, she’s the one who is on vacation when I am not, so it seems a bit strange that she still has work to do. She works at home, so I try to not get in the way too much, but that doesn’t stop us from getting re-acquainted with each other. Anyway, I’ll be back a little later on with some pictures for Two For Tuesday.

And did I say that the project that drained almost all the life out of me was very well received? I guess I did; but it’s still good to savor the success.

I was reading a post on another blog recently about the impact ads have on reader’s perceptions of the authors. Some blogs have no ads. Some blogs have a few text ads. And other blogs have full flash-based multimedia ads. Personally, I am not overly fond of sites with a lot of ads simply because it makes the pages load slower. So, while I think it’s the right of the author to have as many or as few ad as they want; I have a hard time browsing ad-rich blogs with the less than leading-edge computer that I normally use.

There is also the issue of authenticity. Does the author publish a post because it’s what’s on their mind? Or are they posting just to create “fresh” content so that their blog is always listed as “new” in the various RSS aggregators? I’ve always formed my opinion of a blog on the content and not so much on its look and feel; but, it seems there are many people out there who do the exact opposite.

There have never been and there will never be advertisements on Married in Ohio. We do this for fun and camaraderie, not for profit. Registering and hosting your own domain costs money. But, in the grand scheme of things, it’s not as expensive as other forms of communication and entertainment. We pay for phones, cable/satellite TV, etc. just so we can stay in touch and be entertained. Blogging is no different. California Girl and I would love to be able to blog for free. But we enjoy it enough to continue doing it even though its not.

Osbasso requested that this week’s HNT feature a Christmas tree. We trimmed the tree the first weekend in December; but California Girl and I haven’t had much time together without the kids around. So, we decided to feature a Christmas theme with photographs that we could take in private. As we have done in the previous years with our Christmas Vacation Sex and Christmas Vacation Sex 2 pages, we will make another installment while we are both on vacation for the holidays. We are half-nekkid (and more) under the Christmas tree in both of those photo posts. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy our substitution.

For some naughty fun talk as Santa’s helpers to your SO. To find out what HNT is all about visit Osbasso.

The date in the byline is not a misprint. Our Two for Tuesday post is up. And it’s still only Tuesday. For the second day in a row, I left work at a (semi) reasonable time. I feel almost alive again.

Half Nekkid Thursday for this week is supposed to be Christmas tree themed, so we didn’t have any “extra” photographs use for today’s post which didn’t reveal our theme. And, since we’re actually posting this on a Tuesday, we decided to use a couple of candid photographs of California Girl that I took this weekend rather than give a preview of HNT.

I know that we usually post photographs of both of us; but we really like the ones we have selected. We’ll post an extra photograph or me on Thursday. In the meantime, please enjoy a rare on-time edition of Two for Tuesday. We’ve already had our HNT photo session so it should be posted in a timely fashion this week too.