Ok…been slacking on the website lately, but I did manage to upload a couple videos to my flckr account. One video is from my recent business trip to Florida for a test project…gives you a little insight into what I do for a living. The other is a recent video of Scout playing with a Monkey-in-a-Box that her Pappy & Granny gave to her on a recent visit. Good stuff. You can find them by using the link to the top right “Recent Photos” or following the “Joe’s Pictures” link per usual. Until next time…Peace Out!
Sep 29
So, I’ve been needing to do a good deal of “stuff” around the house this year. However, instead of doing said “stuff” I’ve been going to the beach, watching football, doing yard work, etc. Well, in a “typical me” fashion I’ve gotten the bug to get all this stuff done. Although this time it’s a little bit different…I’m having others perform the tasks 
The “already done” list includes:
* Replace broken and loose tiles in the bathrooms and kitchen.
* Replace a rotten board on the chimney and then paint the chimney.
* Replace the wax seals on the toilets in the bathrooms and adjust…no more rocking toilets
The “in-process” list includes:
* Paint the outside of the house plus pergola (about halfway done as I write this…painter will probably finish by Wednesday)
* Remove wallpaper in bathrooms so they can be painted – Now might be a good time for me to state that I think the Devil invented wallpaper. Why anybody uses or likes wallpaper is beyond me? Hideous stuff PERIOD
The “up next” list includes:
* Paint the bathrooms
* Clean/pressure-wash the driveway and sidewalks
* Pressure-wash the deck
This concludes the original list and how everything stands today. However, I did have one minor hiccup. My house took a lightening strike a couple weekends ago and it took out my sprinkler system. My landscaper guy took the control box off the wall to reveal black marks on the box and wall where the lightening took it out. Anyway, he replaced the old control box with a upgraded deal that looks a lot nicer and is easier to program. He also had his crew adjust and replace a few sprinkler heads and/or nozzles. So, I’m good to go for the remainder of this year on the sprinkler/grass situation. So, hopefully by the end of next week all this “stuff” will be done and I can get back to focusing on more important things… like Fantasy Football 
Sep 11
“Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do…It will make or break a company, a church, a home.” - Lisa Fenn Gordenstein
Check this blog post by SarahWayDownSouth to learn more about Lisa Fenn Gordenstein:
http://sarahwaydownsouth.blogspot.com/2009/09/lisa-fenn-gordenstein.html
Aug 18
I hadn’t posted anything in awhile and thought I’d drop by with some random crap.
1) I’ve been slogging around for what seems like 2-months at this point. Not sure what’s going on, but I can’t get motivated lately to exercise, do some yard projects, or other personal endeavors. My work ethic is still strong but I’ve just got downright boring lately in my own life. Pathetic.
2) Scout is still doing great. She eats like a horse and is a blast to be around. She has her moments as I guess all kids do, but I get the feeling from others that her moments are few and far between when compared to others her age. She’s smart and stays on top of things…someday I hope this will serve her well. Also, we’ve noticed that she seems a bit small for her age at this point…maybe she’ll spring up soon…well, not too soon right?
3) Jenn’s niece came to visit with her boyfriend a couple weeks back. It was good to see her and meet her new beau. Hilarious to hear the youngsters talk about things on any level. I guess we thought we knew everything at that age as well. Oh to be young again…just kidding.
4) Enjoying the hell out of my new car – BMW 335i 2-dr coupe with all the frills. Not missing the truck at all at this point. It’s just a smooth, comfortable ride for my commute and I’m eating it up at this point.
5) Trying to make it to the beach again sometime soon but something always interrupts Jenn and I on that front. We all went through some sort of illness for like a month and then the last few weeks were interrupted by weather. Hopefully we will make it down there a couple more times before the end of September.
6) As I eluded to, we all had varying degrees of cold, flu-like, fever, and in Jenn’s case, pink-eye. Jenn had pink-eye going in both eyes for like a solid 2 weeks. It was awful looking. Scout had a fever and wasn’t eating well (always a SOLID sign of something is definitely wrong with my kid). I had a sore throat and cough for a couple weeks. This crap went on for a solid month. Ridiculous. Anyway, we seem semi-healthy at this point so maybe we are all free and clear.
7) Ready for Football……that is all
Jul 27
For the short of it: I now have the web domain name www.joewinters.com as well as the original www.joewinters.org .
Now for the long of it: It’s been roughly 2 yrs ago when I first got my website rolling under the “.org” guise. I wanted “.com” of course, but it was taken (as was ”.net” by the way). However, everyone knows that “.com” is the most popular and if you know me, then you know I wasn’t about to just let this issue go. So, after getting my website going under the .org name, I set my sites on finding out who owned the .com and finding a way to get it. Back then, if you went to the .com site you would find two pictures, no links, nothing else whatsoever…just two pictures: a smiley face and a mortar&pestle. Weird right? Anyway, this alone fueled me in my pursuit, because I figured nobody with any intention of having a website would only show these two pictures over a 6-month period? Right? Well, I contacted a service that determines the owner, contacts the owner, and negotiates a purchase if the owner is interested. At the time, I instructed the service that I would pay up to $150 for the rights to the .com name. Seemed fair to me since whoever had it only had two stupid ass pictures taking up space. Anyway, the service made contact and somewhere during the negotiations that started around $50 the owner quit returning calls and dropped off the planet. A few months went by and I found out in April 2008 that in December 2008 the owner of the .com site’s renewal was up. So, if the idiot didn’t renew the domain name, it would go back on the market for sale. This got me forming a gameplan. Well, first I backordered the name. This way if and when it expired I would be first in line to purchase it. Next, I waited and waited for December to roll around and then around October I panicked. What if that dumbass decides to renew at the last minute? What if he tries to auction it? Bottomline was that I wanted the damn name and I didn’t want this quest dragging out any longer. So, I went back to the buying service to attempt one last try at a buyout. I instructed the service to make one and only one offer…no negotiating, no back and forth, just one offer…$500. I wanted the name and that was that. Contact was made and then just as before…nothing. I couldn’t believe this dude was just ignoring $500 for a site that had two stupid damn pictures on it. It was mind boggling! Well, I just waited to see what this idiot was going to do come December and guess what? He did what every idiot does…be an IDIOT! He let the damn thing expire and I picked it up for a whopping $10 (really $110 as my two attempts at buyouts were $50 a pop, but whatever). What a dumbass right?…I was talking about me! I should have known after the first debacle that I was dealing with an idiot and that eventually this would happen right? Anyway, now you can find me using both domains…
Seems fitting that I should have the .com name. Now a dumbass owns it instead of an idiot…that’s an upgrade right? Just part of my pursuit to dominate the web with my given name! Deal with it people… “.net” are you listening???
