Todd's Blog

Since this was potentially our last Thanksgiving in Hawaii, we decided to go down to the beach for a quick family picture. Unfortunately, the "best" time to get everybody together was right in the middle of the day, so the lighting wasn't very good ... but Ana still liked the way it turned out. Keep havin FuN! Todd p.s. hopefully this summer after we're back in the mainland, I'll be able to get a picture with everybody in it ... including Haley and Jordan who currently live with their mom in NC.

One of the best things about being assigned to an Army Support unit is that we get to do PT (Physical Training) pretty much every day of the week. I thought it might be interesting to post an outline of the Exercise Program that we do 2-3 days a week up at Wheeler. We call this the Knipe workout (named after SMSgt Knipe who was the superintendent of the 25 ASOS when I first got there). It's also affectionately known the ab killer . You'll definitely feel it the next day. For each of the exercises, I'll try to find a good link or two that gives directions on how to do it. We pretty much always start the morning with a 3-6 mile run (or 45 minutes, which ever comes first). Once we meet back up and get a little water , we have 10 minutes or so of stretching , either individually, or as a group. After we're done stretching, it's on to the fun stuff; 20-30 minutes of strength exercises ... The first exercise on the PT field is always the Push-Up ... we do 10 by

I'm way behind on my promise to my family to put plenty of new pictures of Jaiden up here where they can see them. Of course, I was stuck out at Ft. Irwin sleeping in a tent with 50 other people for the past 3 1/2 weeks ... but that's no excuse. So, without further ado, here are the latest pictures of Jaiden Taylor: mmmmm ... this hand tastes good. Even babies can have important thoughts. Oh yea, I like to smile. I like it when mommy holds me ... who's the princess? That's all for now ... more to come in the near future. Keep havin FuN! Todd

Today is "link love day" here on Todd's tips If you're anything like me, you probably have literally hundreds of blog posts in your feed reader still waiting to be scanned through. When I find a blog I like, it's usually not a hard decision to subscribe via RSS. But just because I've subscribed, doesn't necessarily make me a "regular reader" . That being said, every morning when I get up, I check google reader before I go to work. There are a couple of blogs, that I definitely go read right away if I see they have new posts. Following is a small sample of from my list of Must Read Blogs Tellin It Like It Is - Lin Burress has been one of my better blogging friends for several months now. Hers is always one of the first blogs I read, and one of the few I try to comment on regularly. She writes about Relationships , Marriage and Parenting . And as you can probably guess from the title of her blog, she definitely "tells it like it is&q

Ever seen that book with the panda on the cover? Well, I had one of those moments the other day ... My step-son Johnathan brought one of his friends in the house, and for some reason their first stop is always over at the crib to look at his new little sister Jaiden. As they walked away from the crib, they asked " how come whenever we come in the house, she's never awake ?" Well, me wanting to be the knowledgeable and informative dad, proceed to tell them ... "She's only a couple of days old, pretty much all she does is eat poop and sleep ." Now, I'm pretty sure Jeff wasn't serious, but his timing sure was pretty good. He immediately scrunched up his face, looked straight at me, and in a dead serious tone of voice said ... "Ewwww ... she eats poop????" lol, ugh, kids. So that was my lesson in punctuation. From now on, I know that when describing a typical day for my 5 day old daughter, I will be sure to clearly states that she Eats (com

Did you know that it's virtually impossible to hold a negative thought while you're smiling ? Go ahead, try it ... Put a big ole smile on your face (even it's one of those fake ones); then try to think about something that really upsets or worries you. It wasn't easy, was it ? " Ok, Todd, that's interesting, but why is this something I should know ?", you may be asking yourself. Because, if in our little experiment, you had a hard time holding a negative thought while smiling; do you think it's possible that smiling might help to change your thoughts at times when that negativity is already there? ... letting you get back to using your brain for more productive activities . Give it a go next time you're upset, angry or worried. Force yourself to put a big grin on your face, and don't stop until you're thinking about something happy . (or at least not unhappy). Have fun with it :-D Todd p.s. what are some other good ways that you'

A few months back I wrote a new post called Do You Have a Dream Board ? It turned out to be one of the most popular articles on the entire blog. Quite a few people have used that post as inspiration for building their own online dream board . However, since I wrote that blog post, I've learned a bit more about wordpress, and about dream boards. My thinking on the best way to do this has evolved slightly . I also wanted to make it easier for people who are part of my candle business to have a dream board of their own . So, I bought the domain name OnlineDreamBoard.net (front page still under developement) and set up a new site from scratch. For anybody who is a member of my team, I will set up, and host a dream board for you on that domain. For everybody else, here are ... Step by step instructions for setting up your own online Dream Board First, I'm going to make a few basic assumptions: You have your own web hosting account. You have the ability to install WordPre

Manana Hiking Trail It’s Statehood day here in Hawaii, which meant there was no flying up at Wheeler. It wouldn’t have been right to totally take the day off, so instead we organized a group PT session hiking up the Manana trail . Eight weather people showed up bright and early at 0830 with water, bug spray, granola bars and cameras. Well, six of them showed up at 0830, two of us don’t read directions very well, and initially went to a different trail a couple of mile up the road. But after a quick phone call, we made it to the right place. Of course I brought my camera, so I have a few pictures to share, along with a bit of narration. Obligatory signs at the bottom of the trail: Obviously some people a bit younger than us come here from time to time. After a couple hundred yards of paved trail, we came around a corner, and started our climb. I’m an “old” guy with a bad knee at the moment. But even for me, this wasn’t a bad hike. Some parts of the climb were a little bit steep, and I

"Don't put all your eggs in one basket" For as many years as I've been doing network marketing, the quote above has been used by people as justification for joining and promoting more than one mlm program at a time. I know this may be point of contention with some, but for as I've been following the debate the consensus among those who are actually "successful" in network marking is that trying to build more than one mlm downline at a time is counter productive . I think there's a Better Way to develop Multiple Streams of Income Obviously, as a proud network marketer I wholeheartedly believe that finding a High Quality Network Marketing program to promote and build, can and should be a solid foundation for anybody who's interested in Earning Extra Income to supplement and enhance their lifestyle. Without making any explicit income claims, I can tell you that my own experience indicates to me that there's no other way that ONE relationship

I messed up my sleep schedule badly last night. I fell asleep shortly after work at about 5:30pm, and woke up at midnight. I couldn't go back to bed, so I decided to make the best of it and head down to the beach to take care of something I've been meaning to do for a while now ... Get some pictures of Honolulu, Waikiki, Diamond Head, etc, as the sun comes up. Here are a few that I liked. I hope you enjoy. Aloha til next time, Todd

It's been awhile since we did the flower thing here on this blog. So, today's Hawaii Picture of the Day is a nice Pink Hibiscus. I'm embarrassed to say that I forgot some of my elementary school lessons (I went to Hawaii schools from 2nd-7th grades), because I didn't realize until after I'd decided to do this post that the Pink Hibiscus is actually the Hawaii state flower . Pretty cool ... I've got the Hawaii state flower just out my back door. Aloha til next time. Todd

So I'm watching CNN very early this morning, and they were interviewing a couple who run a very unique business ... It's a dog poop clean up service. I almost laughed, until they started talking about where their business is at now. They currently have franchises in over 40 territories, and revenue of about $60 Million What I really loved was how the guy came up with the idea for the business ... He was stuck in traffic, and was trying to come up with an idea for a business that he and his wife could start. He remembered how much he didn't like cleaning up after his dogs when he was younger, and figured many people might feel the same way. He said several time during the interview that if you can find something that people don't like doing, but that needs to be done , there might be a good business opportunity. Makes sense to me. Tod

As promised, here are a few of the fireworks shows at Hickam AFB and Magic Island. We're lucky living here in Iroquois Point. It's about a 10 minute walk to the beach, where we can see 2 different fireworks shows ... Magic Island is a bit off in the distance, but the Hickam show is basically right in front of us. Just after those two shows ended, we got another show from Pearl Harbor that we watched on the way home. I took quite a few pictures, and ended up with a couple that I liked. All shots were from a tripod using my Canon 20D with a Tamron 28-75mm lens. Most were 4 second exposures at F9.0. I hope you enjoy. Aloha til next time .. Todd

With no kids in the house (mine are in North Carolina, and Ana's are with their dad) we decided that sitting home and watching lifetime movies just wasn't going to be a very good way to spend the 4th of July, so we took a quick jaunt up to Schofield to check out the holiday festivities. Luckily we were there early, so it wasn't overly crowded. They had some good food booths (we had Puerto Rican BBQ), games for the kids, and several rows of booths selling things. In addition they had a big stage (which you can see in the picture) where Billy Ray Cirrus will be playing later this evening. lol, you wouldn't believe how many 10 year old girls are already there wondering if Miley came too. We left early to beat the traffic. But fortunately we have a great view of 3 fireworks shows from the beach here at Iroquois Point. I'll post some fireworks pictures tomorrow. I hope you all had and/or continue to have a fun day. Aloha til later .. Todd

Well, I've been gone for almost 3 weeks now ... after spending many days in the terminals of Hickam, March, Dover and Travis Air Force bases, I can't tell you how good it feels to be back in my home, in my own bed right here in Paradise. And of course, I had to head down to the beach here at Iroquois Point to get a new Hawaii Picture of the Day ... as promised. So, what has everyone else been up to these last couple of weeks? Are you all enjoying your summer so far? Aloha til tomorrow ... Todd

Aloha, Just wanted to drop a quick note to let you know that I probably won't be posting much (if at all) for the next couple of weeks. In a couple of hours, we're off to Hickam AFB to try to catch a Space-A hop back to the mainland. I may pop in with a few thoughts from time to time while I'm gone, but for the most part, I'll be hanging out with my kids. If you're a regular reader, please stick around ... I should be back with more Hawaii Pictures of the Day in the beginning of July. Catch up with you again soon, Todd

On Wednesday the kids and I will be signing up for a Space-A flight back to the mainland. Justin will be returning next year, but Jordan will be staying in North Carolina with her mom. She's been back with me for 2 years now, and seems like the time has just flown by. I've gotten a few picture while she's been here, but for some reason I almost always have to be sneaky to ever get one of her smiling. While not a full out smile, this picture was somewhat willing on her part. And since it may possibly be one of her last pictures here in Hawaii, it is the alohateam picture of the day. Aloha til next time, Todd

Ok, it may not look pretty, (I've never been to cooking school) but boy does it taste good. Today, I thought I'd try something different and share a quick and easy recipe. I do a lot of the cooking for our family, and one of my favorite meals is "breakfast for dinner" ... and one of my favorite "dinner breakfasts" is my (Better than Dennys) Potato and Egg Skillet . Here's what you'll need to make it: A large frying pan or electric skillet Oil ... I used macadamia nut oil tonight 6-9 eggs 4 small potatoes 1 small onion Ham or Bacon 2 tomatoes Shredded cheddar cheese I start out with the pan on low heat, and add a couple of tablespoons of oil. Wash and cut the potatoes into cubes and chop the onion. Add both to the pan, and turn up the heat. Use a spatula to stir/turn over occasionally. Season to your taste with salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and even a little bit of garlic if you like. If you cover the pan, it will cook a little

Sorry, no picture today ... and I apologize in advance for the following RANT. Can somebody please tell me why people today are in such a hurry that they'll risk not only their own lives, but those of others to save a shave a couple of lousy minutes off their drive time? It's been about 30 minutes, and my heart is still beating faster than normal. At this point, I don't know whether I'm more scared or mad. I was coming home from work about about 11:15pm, driving down Kunia Road from Schofield towards Ewa Beach. It was already bad enough that many people are too inconsiderate to turn off their brights, so every time there were cars coming the other direction I was almost blinded anyway. But then, about halfway down the road, as I was being blinded again, at the last minute I was lucky enough to notice that there were two sets of headlights... and one of them was in my lane! I had to slam on my breaks and veer to the right, almost off the road. And would you believe t

Today's Hawaii Picture of the day is my daughter Jordan riding a wave on her boogie board. This is kind of a family tradition. When I lived here in Hawaii as a kid, we used to go to Bellows every weekend ... and I pretty much spent all day out on the waves. We don't go to the beach now nearly as often as I did when I was a kid, but when we do go, Jordan and Justin especially like to get out on the waves. The younger kids are happy to stay closer to shore ... but have fun in the little waves too. When the day comes that I have to leave Hawaii again, the ocean and waves are definitely something I'm going to miss. Aloha til next time, Todd

Today's Hawaii Picture of the Day is more Birds. This little finch is originally from Australia, but I can tell you at least in my neighborhood, we've got plenty of them here in Hawaii. Aloha til tomorrow, Todd

Continuing on with one of my mini-themes here on this this blog ... military aircraft Today's Hawaii Picture of the Day is an OH-58D flying over Wheeler Army Airfield . This is also the main aircraft that I supported last year when I was in Iraq. Aloha til tomorrow, Todd

... or as my wife likes to call it, " my favorite store ". Seriously, this little NEX mini-mart is definitely one of the conveniences of living here in Iroquois Point. I probably do average at least one visit a day to the mini-mart ... the days I don't go are made up for on the days when I "forget" something the 1st or even 3rd time I walk over and have to make a return trip later. With gas prices now pretty much $4 a gallon all over the Island, even the couple of cents a gallon I save by filling up at a military pump is worthwhile. And the fact that I have a military gas station 2 minutes from driveway makes the task even that little bit easier. In addition to gas, I'm probably their biggest Diet Mt. Dew and chocolate chip Cliff bar customer. We also get pretty much all of our milk and bread there. Sad as it is to say, the quote from my wife above probably isn't far off the mark ... I really do like our little store. Aloha til tomorrow, Todd