McArtor.net

Archive for the ‘Just Jason’ Category

I’ve created a new blog for myself, where I can post “not always family related” items. There are a couple fairly useful items on there right now, like how to put an end to telemarketing phone calls and those Pre-Approved Credit Card forms that spill out of my mailbox on a daily basis. You can visit it now from the link in my Blogroll on the right, or click here to visit Jason McArtor’s Blog.

I went outside and looked up at the sky today and wondered if my Grandpa could see me. I know he knew I loved him, but I wish I could have told him how much he has meant to me and our family. I look at the people in our family, all of whom he has touched with his kindness and caring, and see some reflection of him in all of us. He was truly the root, from which we have all grown. I’m glad he had the chance to hold our daughter, Anya, and I hope my grandchildren feel the same about me some day.

I know I’ll be getting plenty of Turkey this weekend, as I make the rounds to a few different family get-togethers, so tomorrow, which is actual Thanksgiving Day, I’m going to do some hamballs for myself, Brandy and Anya (she’ll get hamball flavored milk, as we like to say). Thanks to Mom for the recipe.

Ham Balls
2 1/2# ham loaf
2 1/2# hamburger
3 c. graham cracker crumbs
3 eggs
2 c. milk

Mix and form in balls (can use ice cream scoop)

Sauce:
1 can Tomato soup
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. vinegar
2 tsp. dry mustard

Boil the sauce in microwave and pour over the top of ham balls. If you are going to freeze the ham balls–let the sauce cool before putting on ham balls.

Bake at 350 for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours. Cover them for the first half hour or so.

Maybe I’m just not paying attention anymore, but when did they update the look of the Iowa Driver’s License?

I do know one thing, they have made it look like one very important piece of plastic. The surprise today was that I was in and out in about 20 minutes, and the only downside was that they require cash or check, which I rarely carry much of. I can’t believe they don’t accept credit cards, luckily I sold a spare ticket to the Iowa football game this past weekend and still had the cash in my wallet.

Iowa sports fans can now subscribe (for free) to The Hawkeye Huddle weekly radio talk-show by visiting TheHawkeyeHuddle.com. iTunes users can click the link at the top of the page to subscribe, or you can simply copy and paste the URL of the podcast into your favorite client application. I have worked with Brett and Dave to create the logo and homepage for their show, and The Hawkeye Huddle has become my first experience with Podcast publishing.

Had my 6-month checkup at the dentist today and my dentist said that he occasionally has a patient who will come in and say “now, I have a meeting that I have to be at in about 25 minutes, so can you work a little quicker today?” I’m not sure that’s a good idea for something that normally takes about an hour…unless you only want half a mouthful of rotten teeth.

Yesterday was Jason’s 30th birthday….another decade older. We didn’t do anything too wild and crazy to celebrate. Mom, Jason, Jill, Zachary & Noah were in town, so we went out for breakfast yesterday and then I made him supper (yes, I can cook if I HAVE to) and I even baked him a cake!! Then we just spent some family time together last night, so it was a nice day.

Today was back to work. It sure felt like fall today with the cool weather..had to dig my fall coat out from the closet. It really wasn’t enough to keep me warm though, so might have to dig alittle further and find the winter coat. Summer sure went fast…

Our yard is full of leaves, so I suppose we have some raking in our future. Last year the day we decided to rake, there was a 90 mph wind (or atleast it felt that way), so most of our leaves just blew into the neighbors yard. Wouldn’t have been such a bad deal, except then we just got our other neighbors leaves in our yard to replace our original leaves!!

Have a few pictures of Anya and Jason on his birthday. More later….

SAN JOSE / Body found floating off Richmond IDd as missing designer / Coroner says Tharp apparently jumped off Golden Gate

Got bad news (and fairly old news) this morning of one of my favorite graphic designers, whom I was fortunate enough to meet 2 years ago when I asked him to come to Des Moines to speak to our Art Directors group. Rick’s “Tharp Did It” art was some of the first that I noticed when began college at DMACC and he was a humorous writer for the graphic design industry and was periodically published in HOW Magazine—I enjoyed all of his work immensely. He was very down to earth and when he came to visit Des Moines, he wanted to stay and extra day so he could tour parts of the town. It sounds like a medical condition was the beginning of the end for him and it’s too bad.

Welcome to Hawk Central
With the start of college football just a few days away, here is a very nice article about a Hawkeye that probably very few people have heard of yet. He got injured just after the article was written, but hopefully it won’t keep him out long.

Despite a full day of work (again), my twice-a-month lunchclub at noon, and my drop at UPS, I was able to swing over to the video game store for my annual trek to acquire the new EA Sports NCAA Football 06 game for Xbox. I nearly forgot about picking it up until tonight when I found out another member of my extended family also made his way to the store to get the game on its first day of release. The bad news is that my Xbox is in the shop again for the 3rd time in about a year—yes, the folks at Xbox got an earful from me over the phone, no more than I get to play it, it shouldn’t break down like it has and I think they may replace it with a new one (knock on wood). Oh…Iowa ranks #3 in the game—which I would assume is their highest ever since the game debuted in 1996.