What Exactly IS a Mylhibug?

In honor of my 200th post, I figured why not tell you all a little about why I came up with the name, Mylhibug. Oh, and the correct pronunciation, as well.

Let's start with the correct pronunciation, shall we...

It is pronounced like this Mile-High Bug. Pretty easy, right? It is not "My LHI Bug," it is not "milly bug," it isn't even "myls hi bug," I mean there isn't even an 's' in it.

Nope it is very simply Mile-High Bug.

Why? Why not? I mean it is my name after all. :)

Well, I grew up in Denver, Colorado - the "Mile-High City" and I tend to "Bug" people, in my opinion and in others I am sure also.

Pretty simple and straight forward post there, with no flash and/or pizazz. So now what? Should I just go to bed? I actually read a story/poem in my 'Group Dynamics' class today that I wanted to share, but I left it in the car, and (this is where I fill up spaces with excuse after excuse...).

I will try to remember it here, and then post what it really says tomorrow morning (if I remember):

An older gentleman was walking along the beach one morning, getting ready for another beautiful sunrise. The sunrises made it easier to get up in the mornings, that and the fresh sea air, and all of the signs of life around him. As he was walking along, he noticed a young man ahead of him bending over and picking up star fish; then throwing the star fish back into the ocean.

The older gentleman finally caught up to the youngster and asked him why he was doing that, throwing star fish back into the ocean. The younger man replied, "because they would die in the morning sun, if they were exposed to it."

"Surely you cannot save every star fish, the beach goes on for miles. What difference does it make?"

The man picked up another star fish, looked at it, then told the older man, "It makes a difference to this one."

Now, we'll see how well I did tomorrow, I think I did okay though. Especially if you get the point of the story.

Good Night and God Bless!!

Something to Drive Around With

I know a lot about cars. I can look at a car's headlights and tell you exactly which way it's coming.
- Mitch Hedberg

Alane over at Confessions of a SAHM, has been playing along with the great NaBloPoMo "List-fest." And I am stealing one of her ideas for my next list (shh, don't tell.) Actually, I did mention it to her already and I think I will be safe from any lawsuits looking for my $1.33. (No, I don't know what I mean.)

Anyway, without further adieu, my list for today, March 4, is:

CARS I HAVE OWNED

1. 1969 Plymouth Satellite

Now as you can tell, it was a beast. Oh yeah, and mine was more of a pukey yellow color, not sure what it's "official" name is, but me and my friends always called it "pukey yellow" so that's what I will call it here. Now, imagine being sixteen years old and getting this as your "brand new" car, in 1983. All my friends had Mustangs and the like, me, I get a 1969 Plymouth Satellite. I also got the final laugh, because my car was the one that ran most of the time, and it could fit a lot of people in it. So there.

2. 1980 - ish (sue me, I can't remember the year) Subaru Hatchback.

My little 4WD beauty, a car that I truly did enjoy owning, and it was the first car that I bought on my own, although I'm pretty sure that my parents did most of the paying. In fact, if you asked them, they might even say that they did "all" of the paying. :) One quick (I know) funny story about me and my little blue Subaru. Well, as I said it was a 4WD, which means four-wheel drive, right? Okay, it doesn't mean off road 4WD, to this me and my friend Brian can attest. We were bored and were also driving by this "hill" that 4WD vehicles like to use, you know to show their power and all that stuff. The hill wasn't built for that, but what the heck right? After all no one stopped us. I wish someone would have stopped Brian and I though, because we took my little 4WD car, my 3-door hatchback, up that "hill." This "hill" was also in Colorado, where I was living at the time. Those familiar with the Chicago land area, think 'Villa Olivia' only steeper and higher. Got that image. Now imagine the two of us chugging up that "hill." Got that image? Now, imagine us halfway up the "hill" and the car doesn't want to go forward anymore. Now what? Well, I looked behind me, you know to check for any vehicles that might be behind me, for some reason. I think that was the most frightened I had ever been, to that point in my life. Think steep hill, in a 3-door hatchback that is over heating and you just know that the brakes are not going to stop you, if you decide to back down that "mother freaking' hill." Decision time... Well, Brian and I agreed that maybe we should just try to get to the top, it looked a lot easier and less painful. We coaxed the car up and over the apex, scraping the under carriage along the way. Pull the car to a nice flat spot, and jump out to kiss the ground. I kid you not. We then waited for about thirty minutes for the car to cool down, and found a much gentler, and less steep, way down. I had that car for the next few years, well my parents had it because I was stationed in England for two years. I have more "fun" stories with that car than any other. (Hmm another list idea, maybe)

3. 1989 Pontiac Le Mans

Only mine was Black, and I swear it looked much cooler, with me behind the wheel. :) This was my first "brand new from the dealer" car. Thus begins the credit woes, you will see come my next car, which I bought about nine months later a

4. 1990 Toyota Celica

Finally got a picture of one of my old cars, with the correct color. White and very basic. Why? Because I really, really wanted this car. How bad did I want it? I waited eight hours, yes eight hours to get this car, I also blew all of my savings bonds that I had saved up for the previous four years. Why did I do that? Well, I would like to say that I had always been a fan of the Celica, even the old boxy ones. I would also like to say that it was a much more practical car for me. I would also like to reiterate it wasn't because of a girl. However, you and I both know by now, that it was a foolish purchase that took me several years to get out from under. It is also a car that Jenni laughs about whenever she sees one or hears about it. All she has to say is "over eight hours." Another thing that I don't want to add, but Jenni would insist. I was living in Abilene Texas at the time, I bought it in Colorado... it had NO air conditioning! Yep, time to move on to the next car.

5. 1990 Chevrolet Corsica (at least that is the year, I think.)

My first "family" car. Way more practical than my Celica. So we traded in the Celica, before we were even married (see the sacrifices we all have to make!), and this became Jenni's car, mine was a

6. 1980-something AMC Eagle

Ugly freaking car, that I really, really, really didn't like. I think I cried tears of joy when it basically blew up on the highway to work one day. Too many years later (okay, actually I believe it died about a year or so after I took possession of it), which led me to a series of cars...

7. 1993 Geo Metro

at least I think it was a 1993. This car blew up on the same highway (I-88) that the Eagle died on, which led to an even older

8. Toyota Corolla

This car lasted all of four months...

In the mean time we also had traded in the Corsica for the ultimate in family vehicles, yes we're talking a

9. 19-something or other Dodge Minivan. Ours was blue, without the paneling, thank you very much.

We are talking one cool ride, that no longer was as enjoyable a ride after Jenni got hit crossing an intersection, by some uninsured pinhead. With the new born Benjy sleeping peacefully in his car seat, no less. That led to the mother load, a

10. Full-sized Chevrolet Conversion Van.

We went on some long road trips with this bad boy, and it fit all five of our children, somewhat nicely. By that I mean it took 100 miles before they started fighting, as opposed to the customary 25 with the mini van. We took this van to Disney World, where I locked the keys in it. I flagged down a cast member and borrowed his broom to reach across and unlock the door. That doesn't paint a good picture, but I'm afraid of giving anymore "short stories" (like for car #2). Let's just say it all worked out fine, and the kids were able to see Mickey, no problems. I should also mention that we didn't get this van until after FTB was born, or maybe it was Cuddlebug. Hence, the reason for no year designation. when we were pregnant with our sixth we decided to move up to a

11. 2004 Chevrolet Suburban.

Nice car. HUGE payment (especially when you consider that we had NO payment for the van). This vehicle would be taken away from us, due to the loss of my job with Avaya. Food was a bigger priority at the time.

12. 1997 Geo Metro

my get too and from work car - I was putting literally 150 miles a day on this bad boy, between my commute from Batavia to Skokie (there is NO easy way to get to Skokie) and my paper route. I wore this car down to nothing, literally. One of the front seats broke, so I took it out. Made it easier to load the newspapers anyway. :) This car was excellent means of transportation, and I hated it when the right front tire went straight, while I was turning left, for more reasons than I could mention. That car gave me 156,438 miles and it was very reliable. I think I might cry.

That leads us to my final two cars,

12. 2002 Ford E150 van. (pictured is a 1995, but it looks the same)

Very practical, for my family size and very inexpensive, relatively. Not my favorite vehicle, but it does the job and it has been to Disney World, Alabama, Minnesota, and a few places in between. Now that I finally tinted the windows (before last year's Disney trip), it even looks better.

13. 1989 Cadillac Fleetwood

Not necessarily practical when it comes to fuel consumption, but I do like it's ride. It is soon to be replaced by a 1993 Chrysler LeBaron, which will be replaced by a Chevy something or other minivan (I can't remember it's name), because my son Cubbie, wants the LeBaron. At least that is what Jenni is telling me. (Back to the compromises.)

Whew. That took longer than I thought. I probably got something wrong, or missed one (I didn't include the company cars I had, since I didn't "own" them), but Jenni will remind me, and I can always update the list, right? Oh, and another note, of interest. (maybe) These are not necessarily in chronological order, it gets confusing when you own two cars at the same time, to keep them straight.

Happy Driving!!

Here in my car
I feel safest of all
I can lock all my doors
It's the only way to live
In cars ~ Gary Numan 'Cars'

My Humorous, or Maybe Humor-Less List. Depends On Your Point of View, I Imagine.

I think that I am only going to have time for a list today, sorry. Anyway, here goes:


This list is a cheap and probably sexist example of a list that I receive in my email box every now and again, you can hate me for posting it, but remember after seven more posts, it will be gone from my front page... :)


9 WORDS WOMEN USE


(1) Fine: This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.

(2) Five Minutes: If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

(3) Nothing: This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine.

(4) Go Ahead: This is a dare, not permission. Don't Do It!

(5) Loud Sigh: This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to # 3 for the meaning of nothing.)

(6) That's Okay: This is one of the most dangerous statements a woman can make to a man. That's okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

(7) Thanks: A woman is thanking you, do not question, or Faint. Just say you're welcome. (I want to add in a clause here - This is true, unless she says 'Thanks a lot' - that is PURE sarcasm and she is not thanking you at all. DO NOT say 'you're welcome' . that will bring on a 'whatever').

(8) Whatever: Is a women's way of saying RAM IT!!!!!!

(9) Don't worry about it, I got it: Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking 'What's wrong?' For the woman's response refer to # 3.


Hope you enjoyed my sexist post, it should be the last. Maybe. I have a few more ideas for new lists, which will appear here in the near future. I'll just figure on posting from work instead of waiting for Benjy to get off of the computer.

Good Night and God Bless!

Closing in on the big 2-0-0!

So what can I do to celebrate, you ask?

I dunno.

Maybe I can move up to medium on Guitar Hero III, that would be cool, especially since I am now a "Rock Legend" on easy. Yep, you may all bow down to me, at any time. Granted people may stare at you and wonder if you were smoking some herbs, or something.

I can make a list! (Please, I'm in the process of making 31 lists for this NaBloPoMo - thingy) I know, I have no one to blame but myself, but it is for a good cause. Really, because I believe, (I really, really do) that one day, I will have at least one published book on the market, and... you know the rest, maybe.

Maybe I will just quietly usher it in, and no one will even notice. (you definitely won't notice, unless I tell you I imagine). It's in three posts.... shh.

Oh well.

Has anyone seen "Across The Universe"? I'll call it a love story, done to the music inspired by The Beatles. Pretty weird, but cool at the same time, think Pink Floyd's "The Wall." Only not as intense. If that makes sense. It is also, pretty much, five or six stories in one, which can get confusing but not so much that you lose the basis of the main story between Jude and Lucy. Oh, and all the character's names come from Beatles songs as well. Go check it out. Then swear at me later. :)

Oh, and it is rated PG-13 for drug use. language and some nudity. I actually thought it was rated R, but I guess I am just a prude. My 17 year old and 13 year old also watched it, but we skipped the really weird scene, it's a little after Bono sings "I am the Walrus" I believe.

Okay, I am hearing a little voice in my head (several in fact) that are telling me that I should go to bed, majority rules!!

Good Night and God Bless.

Owl You Need To Know About Owls (in a convenient list)

Actually, it should be titled:

12 Things YOU Can Do To Help Owls

1. Don't waste paper. Recycle paper when you are done with it, and buy recycled paper. When forests are cut to make paper, it hurts the birds that require older forest growth. Another way you can save paper is to stop getting junk mail. www.obviously.com/junkmail has information about simple things you can do to get less junk mail.

2. Keep your cat indoors. House cats occasionally kill or injure small owls, but the bigger problem is that they kill a lot of owl food(mice and voles.) This makes it harder for owls, especially smaller species, to survive where there are a lot of cats. Keep in mind that it's healthier for your cat to stay indoors for a number of reasons, but one of those is that Great Horned Owls are known to eat cats! For more information, visit www.abcbirds.org/abcprograms/cats

3. Don't let your dog chase birds. When an owl kills a large prey animal, it sometimes spends several minutes on the ground eating. During this time, it can easily be killed or badly injured by a dog. Young owls just learning to fly are especially vulnerable to dogs.

4. Support an owl rehabilitation/research/education center near you. Some of these facilities give you the option of "adopting" an owl. Your adoption fee goes to help an individual owl, and in return you get a certificate and the satisfaction of knowing you helped make a difference in the life of an owl.

5. Don't even think about having an owl for a pet. Owls are protected by law, so it's illegal to keep them in captivity in the U.S. without a license. But at least as important, owls are wild, natural beings requiring a wild, natural life.

6. Consider becoming an owl researcher. There is so much that isn't known about owls yet, especially owls in tropical regions. For some species, virtually nothing is known even about their basic biology. Science doesn't have all the answers, but we need interested and dedicated individuals to help find the answers.

7. Don't pick up young owls on the ground unless you know that they are sick, injured or BOTH parents have been killed. Fledgling owls normally spend a week or more on the ground before they can fly. At this stage they have fully developed wing feather and short tails, but the rest of their body id still fuzzy. Their parents are usually somewhere nearby taking care of them. If an owl does need help, contact a local wildlife rehabilitator immediately. Do NOT FEED IT!

8. Remove any unused barbed wire on your property. All too often owls get hung up in barbed wire. They either die a lingering death, are killed by another animal, or, if rescued, often need to be euthanized due to the extent of their injuries.

9. Avoid using poisons and pesticides. These in effect wind up poisoning your local owl food supply. Some owls eat mice, some eat rats, some eat insects... and dying animals will always be easier to catch than healthy prey. Even if you don't poison these species directly, pesticides are still likely to work their way into the food chain.

10. Leave dead trees standing when they aren't dangerous. Dead trees make wonderful nesting and roosting sites for many species of owls (as well as other critters.)

11. Put up owl nest boxes (or make artificial burrows) if you're in the right location. The type of nesting structure and location are very important choices to make. Visit http://owlpage.com/owlboxes.html to find out more about providing owl housing.

12. Habitat, habitat, habitat! If you own land, consider the needs of the owls who might be living there. Consider a permanent conservation easement to protect the land after you're gone. If you don't own land, support organizations that support habitat conservation.

I want to thank my beautiful wife, Jenni, for providing me with today's list. She brought it back from the International Owl Festival in Houston, Minnesota... I am sure that she will be posting some good stuff over there, if not I will. :)

Who knew Owl ran in the family...

Happy list, day 2!!

A List To Start the "Month of Lists"

That is correct folks, the Bug is going to start making a list here on these web pages every day for the next thirty days, thirty-one if you count this one. :)

So here goes:

Movies That Make Me Put Down The Remote, Even If It Is Half Over

1. The Shawshank Redemption -- Simply a marvelous film that is so well put together that I cannot help myself that I have to watch the triumphant ending and redemption of Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman's characters. Plus, I really like it. So there.

2. Silverado -- Something about Westerns that just make me want to watch them again and again. This one is a classic in my mind, with a great cast and better story.

3. Bull Durham -- Baseball, and all that goes on behind the scenes in this great movie that is more about what makes someone a man, more than a baseball player. Does that make sense?

4. Tombstone -- Wyatt Earp's story, and the best of the two that came out the same year. This one starred Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp, and Val Kilmer gives an OUTSTANDING performance of the tuberculosis-ridden Doc Holiday. Great stuff.

5. The Lord of the Rings (any and all of the trilogy) -- These movies are just so awesome that words will and do escape me. From the magnificent cinematography to the sound editing, there isn't really anything wrong with these movies - aside from leaving out chunks of the book and putting more in where they didn't need to, but I digress.

6. The Princess Bride -- Call me a romantic, or whatever, but I LOVE this movie. Mandy Pantikin gives a great performance, as does Andre the Giant. If you have never seen this movie, stop reading this paltry paragraph about it, and go see it. Go on. Trust me, you will LOVE it.

7. Any James Bond Movie, with the exception of To Live and Let Die (I hate that one, for some reason, don't know if it's the voodoo, or what. I just don't like it. So leave me alone.) -- This series of movies are great, and seem to have gotten a much needed boost by going more 'retro' with the latest "Casino Royale" with a new blond Bond (Gasp!). Lots of fun, and we can't forget the Bond Girls, right? :)

8. Harry Potter and the (fill-in the blank) -- I enjoy these movies very much, prefer the books, but I do enjoy the movies, which are getting better as the actors get older. Kind of makes sense, if you think about it.

9. Any Star Wars Movie, with the exception of the one they are calling number one. It's so NOT good that I can't even remember the title. That's sad, really. Jar Jar Binks... What the heck was THAT?

10. High School Musical 2 -- Don't laugh, unless you have seen this movie and couldn't help yourself from tapping your toes along with the beat, and watching the choreography, and then the love story of Troy and Gabriella.... I. MUST. STOP. NOW.

There are plenty more, but I also have a whole month of lists to prepare. :) I don't think that there was anything in the rules about repeating list themes....

So what can one discern from my list? Uh, maybe that I like Sci-Fi, Westerns, Baseball and teen aged musicals, with a touch of fantasy thrown in.

Or something like that

Back From A Mandatory Break

First off, I'm back!!

Nobody even missed me. I feel so unwanted.

Okay, feeling self-pity time is over.

I actually can't believe that I went the whole day without blogging, my family would be in shock, if they were here. Alas, they are in Minnesota at the International Owl Festival. Well, the girls are. I will let Jenni tell you more, over there, when she gets back.

I tease, because I care.:)

My next task will be to come up with a list. Yes a list, because the fine people over at http://www.nablopomo.org/ have decided to mess with my brain a little bit, and start a newer and much more fresh contest.... themed months. Hurry up and join the fun before the first day is over. You have three hours and fourteen minutes, locally, from this moment in time.

Or something like that.