Book

I finished "One for the Money", it was a good read. Not hard to get into at all. There was someone that told me the author was HILARIOUS, well she was funny but not HILARIOUS. The Next in the series is "2 for the show"

I also just finished a book I heard about on NPR called Sunshine by Robin McKinley. It was a vampire story but it was a little bit weird. I liked it but it was set in some weird future setting where it was a world of people that fought against demons vampires and were people. it sounds really weird like that but it was pretty good. The main character was a baker and also a vampire slayer and magic handler. If I had known it was going to be that weird I don't know that I would have started it, it was good but I wouldn't read a sequel.
It did however inspire me to make Muffins for breakfast this morning. I got the recipe off of allrecipes.com, that is my favorite site for looking up fun things to make. The Muffins had over 2ooo reviews, and the average rating was 4.5/5. They were very good! The picture isn't mine but they looked about like that.

Wild Rabbits

Well I don't know if "wild" is the right word. The neighbor behind us has an acre or two and his land covers the length of the complex we live in and the fence isn't that high. He has a couple of bird feeders and a bird bath and the birds and the squirrels all love it. Well, I have been noticing more and more a little brown rabbit hopping around and usually going toward or away from the vegetable garden. I haven't ever seen a hutch so I assume he is wild, but really how wild could he be. It is kinda cute and it looks well fed.

I really don't have anything all that exciting to post, as you can tell. I have been working and coming home and do a little bit of other stuff in between. I recently have been going out and doing "massage days" at local business', I go and do a ten minute chair massage to the employees. I also give out a little gift bag with a bunch of stuff with the company name, you get the idea. I am also supposed to try and bring them in as new patients if they seem like they would benefit from treatment. Well really, who wouldn't? So I do my thing, and I have got a few people to sign up and come in for an exam and blah blah and per the coupon there is no cost. When someone that I sign up comes in, I get a $25 dollar bonus, plus when they come back and actually become a patient, that $25 turns into $75. So I have been kinda pumped about that since I don't really make much. Well the first 4 people I signed up flaked. one called but the other 3 just never showed up! I was pissed! That could have been an extra $300, that would have been nice. Well on Friday, one finally showed up. and he will more than likely turn into the $75. On the schedule there will more than likely be one more come in, she seemed solid when I scheduled her. So keep your fingers crossed for me that they all come in!
Oh yeah, I also started reading a new book. It is called One for the Money. A brook woman becomes a bounty hunter, that is the premise for the story. it is pretty good, a little bit rough around the edges but fun.
and one more book I would recommend is called "The Arrival" by Shaun Tan, it is all pictures, but a compelling story none the less, it has been done very well!
oh yeah one last thing, Happy Birthday to my favorite Brother in-law in Mountain View with blonde hair and 3 children. Way to go Paul for making it 3 decades!

Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blog

There really isn't much to report on for me. Life is pretty much on cruise right now. I go to work, I come home, kids go to bed, we clean up, talk to the Mrs., go to bed. At least that is what is kinda feels like.
The main picture above is of a gadget on igoogle (if you don't know what that is I'll explain in a sec.) that I think funny but feel a little guilty about. The girl falls through space and crashes into the bubbles. it is a very simple idea, but I get great amusement from it.
igoogle gadgets are little features you can add to your google homepage. ig you go to google you can see a little link to igoogle. then you make it your own by adding stuff, that is the link "add stuff" type is boneless girl. and add the gadget. you too will enjoy countless minutes of watching injuries. hint: if she gets stuck, just click and drag her. that can be fun too.
oh yeah when you do the search don't look at too many other gadgets, some (most if not all) are kinda bad.

Bringing Home the Bucks

I got a job. I have had the occasional summer job or job on campus, but this is the first real job that I have been excited about in a long time. There are things that don't excite me. like the pay, but that will be changing soon. SO for any you who don't know, or those of you reading this for the first time. I have been in chiropractic school for the last 3.5 years. I graduated officially on the 13th of June, The ceremony was on the 30th of may and we stayed in California until the 10th. I had been looking for a job around here for the last two months. I was mostly looking for a job in a chiropractic office since I knew for sure I wouldn't be able to practice until the fall because of the National Board exams that I take in November. I hadn't seen anything posted on craigslist.org and I couldn't find anything close by and that looked interesting either. well the day after I got back there were three postings for positions in chiropractic offices. I emailed my resume to 2, One was too far away. I got a call back the next day, I had an interview the next, had a follow up two days after that and started working the next day. I am now employed by Health Source Chiropractic and Rehabilitation. I work for a doc named Dr. Wheeler. I am an assistant there but I am getting some additional training as well. He had a strong business background before he became a chiro, and I am learning so much about running an office already. He also uses a bunch of techniques that I haven't been taught so I am learning that side of things too. I feel like it really has been a great blessing to have to wait to take that last section of tests so that I can grow and learn on his dime and be more ready when the time come for me to branch out on my own. so if any of you know someone that needs some help and they live near Westport in louisville send them my way, cause I get a bonus when I do that.

Big Brad Bounces Back Home

We went to California for 13 days. We went primarily for my graduation and then stayed for visiting with family. We were also hoping that my sister in-law would have their 1st baby while we were there, but she is probably about to have it I right this. We had a blast but were ready to come home! It was strange that after living in the Bay Area my whole life, (minus a mission for church) that when I got off the plane in San Jose and drove around, it didn't feel like home. It felt more like I was visiting the place where I grew up. I knew that the little town of La Grange Kentucky is now my home.

The flight there and back were with Frontier Airlines. I don't know if it was because it was with this airline or if it was because we were going in and out of Denver, but we had more turbulence than I have ever had before. It was AWESOME! I don't know why but I always enjoy it. It feels like a roller coaster but you never see the bumps coming! Sharon however, feels differently. I'll let her tell that story though.
The next big thing was graduation itself. It was a pretty normal graduation. A valedictorian, a couple of old guys talking and people walking around in weird costumes. the cool part was that I won almost every award. I did not win Valedictorian... I know what you're thinking... duh. But I did win the Philosophy, Clinical Excellence, and Student Fellowship awards, I was also recognized for my services in a few of the clubs and organizations I was involved with. Kinda cool. but whatever. I also got a book given to me by our commencement speaker. Also cool. I just wish that stuff would all translate into a job right now, or money coming in.

Also I feel it is important to also share my accomplishment with my wife who has supported me in every step of this long long journey. She married me two weeks after I got laid off from a job and haven't been back to work at a real job since. What a woman. Plus she has been pregnant twice during all this and also stayed at home with the kids teaching them and loving them in a way I never could. On top of all that we lived with Fred for a year and a half of schooling and that alone is worthy of recognition.

We had other good times in California too. we got to see some very good friends, and their two kids and they even brought there little tiny blue chihuahua puppy. It was really cute. We were very tempted to bring back to Kentucky with us. They have been such good friends for a long time, they give us hand me downs and drive all the way from Gault, (right near the middle of no where). Can you tell which one is Holly and which two are Mitchell? We love Holly's fro but she has lately been wanting "BIG HAIR" so maybe we ought to compliment her more when her hair is less "BIG".

Holly and Oscar also had fun with the Hartung tradition of taking a bath in Grandma's kitchen sink. I think this was their first time together too. I am sure it won't be their last. We also got to spend lots of time with cousins at parks, museums, t-ball games, the pool, and had a lot of fun just hanging around with all the other family members and friends. We went out to eat too often and I think Sharon and I both put on about 5 pounds. ugg. The best food we ate was an appetizer at a place called By-th'-Bucket. It was a baked Brie thing with incredible sauce and it was SO GOOD! We then flew home and screwed up the kids sleeping habits and they are still trying to figure out when the right time to go to bed is.

thanks for checking in on me.

Title pictures

April asked where I got the pictures that go behind the title. I get almost all of them from Google images. Usually the pictures have something to do with the most recent post. this one not included. That is the answer. Google images.

Bye Bye Blues

OK, so the blues are over. I still hate job searching but I decided that I could choose to either be bummed or not.

Anyway. I am excited about going back to California and that is what is most prevalent in my mind right now.

I also had something funny happen to me. I was over at my in-laws house and I was playing with Holly in the sand box. I saw a little blueish ball over on the ground by some trees and went to go check it out. It looked like it was a little easter egg. It was the most beautiful blue color. I am pretty sure it was a robin egg. I saw some little white scratches on it and then I saw a little dent with a few cracks in it. I thought that is weird that a plastic egg would have those little cracks in it, mostly plastic eggs just dent, not dent and crack. It was so light it didn't weigh anything. I didn't think it could have been real. So I pushed around the dent a little and my finger went "squish" into what looked like an unfertilized egg. Thankfully there wasn't a bunch of bones and flesh, that would have been nasty! So I chucked the egg over the fence like every good neighbor does. I did look around for a little bit for a nest or other eggs but never saw anything. It was really random. How on earth does an unfertilized robin egg get on the ground near a sandbox.

The other funny thing that has been happening almost daily has been Holly. We are still teaching Holly to go potty, She is pretty good only has accidents once in a while. She almost never has a poop accident. She will go sit on the toilet and then makes a lot of noise. I have never heard such things before especially from my beautiful little girl. So after she is done she says "I'm all done" which is the cue for either Sharon or I to come and do the rest of the clean up. Then we flush and wash our hands. The funny part comes right before we wash our hands. Holly likes to flush the toilet, and when she sees the magic of the toilet happening she says to it "Bye Bye Poo Poo, We'll see you tomorrow" it is very cute.

thought this would be a good place to publish that.