The Woods Family Website

• @brettburkhart The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem… in reply to brettburkhart #

• @brettburkhart The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem… in reply to brettburkhart #

My week at work was pretty intense.  I was involved in the hiring process for a position at ALMACO. Normally, this isn’t a huge deal, but the interviews were quite lengthy and required me to keep my schedule clear for most of the day. As a result, things were pretty slow in between interviews making the days arduous. I think they went well overall, and I’m glad I had an opportunity to contribute to the decision. This is just one of the many reasons I enjoy working where I do; I love wearing different hats.

Tuesday we did BW3s and haircuts after work. The kids and I were overdue. We’ve been going to SportClips and while they aren’t the best in the world it’s quick and not too expensive. We still are having trouble finding someone to cut Isaac’s hair well. This lady does better than anyone has to date, but there’s still room for improvement.

On Wednesday, we surprised Aaron with a new bike. He’s needed one for awhile now, and we’ve been holding off. With his most recent growth spurt it was unavoidable. Aaron now has a new Schwinn that he’s absolutely in love with. Convenient for us, because we recently told him he would have to curb his video game playing. Not because he’s been playing too much, but because he’s been asking to play too much. Anyway, immediately following our trip to Toys-R-Us, we met Jeff and Melissa at Chuck E. Cheese. Both of the boys played until well past their bed time and were still awake by the time we got home. It made for an interesting evening, but once they calmed down the

Thursday we put together the bike and played outside. We took pictures with Candice’s new camera to share with everyone.

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I decided a few months ago to start my own LAN party.  If you’re not sure what those are, you should visit Wikipedia or just do a Google search.  They are basically an event where gamers bring their computers, set them up on a local network, and play computer games against each other.  The idea is to have a fun social gathering for gamers to come and interact with each other.  In addition, there are usually tournaments and contests to win prizes provided by sponsors.

While I’m not a network guru or a fantastic web developer, I do fundamentally understand what makes LAN parties fun.  I think Central Iowa is really missing out on having these big events.  Cities like Omaha, NE and Springfield, IL have shown that it doesn’t take the population of Chicago to have a well attended event.  It’s my goal to start a big LAN in the area, and this is my first step.  Along with a group of friends, we found a venue, built a website (www.iowalanhunt.com), and started looking for sponsors.  The event is going to be this weekend and I am anxious to see how it goes.  This is our first crack at this, and we’ve got a lot to learn before we can go big.

With the selling of our home in Fort Dodge, we’re now on the hunt for a home in Ankeny, Iowa.  We selected Ankeny for a couple of reasons, mainly being the school system is much better than others in the greater Des Moines area.  Link  As far as the actual home goes, we want to find a house that allows us to stay in it for awhile.  The initial investment might be a stretch for us, but we don’t want to have to move in a few years when the kids get to be teenagers and want their own space.

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Well I know I haven’t updated in quite some time, and I certainly haven’t put any pictures of Isaac’s birthday up…   Here’s an attempt to update everyone on what has been going on.

The summer went really fast.  Living in Des Moines has been a great experience, but a huge burden in it’s own right.  There is so much to do here, and so many people to spend time with that juggling our nights and weekends has been a challenge.  This summer we really tried to see everyone and do all of those things that you HAVE to do each summer.  We really enjoyed hanging out with everyone and having our friends (Jeff and Melissa) move back has been awesome.

From a housing perspective, we lived with my parents all summer long.  A couple of weeks ago, I talked to our Realtor and discussed the likelihood of our house selling.  The situation in Fort Dodge looked grim so I did some research and learned we could rent our house even though we got an FHA loan.  So, with the plan to rent in mind, and the understanding that we’d need a few months to get the house ready to rent, I leased an apartment for 6 months.

We have moved.  We’re living in an apartment on Park Ave, west of Fluer drive.  We’ve got everything but the back room and garage cleared out from our house in FD.  Once we get those things and the storage unit emptied, we’re ready to go.  The last piece of the puzzle is to get things situated in the new apartment, and start living with the space we’ve got.

On that note, last night we got an offer for the house.  Great timing right?  Well, it’s not all peaches and cream… what they offered would leave us with a short sale (meaning we’d lose money).  Gotta love the economy.  We buy a nice house in a great neighborhood in FD, live there for 5 years, pay our mortgage every month, and end up having to pay someone to take it…  The upside is we’ll be able to get out of the monthly payments and can eventually buy the house.  The downside is the short sale will require we use the little money we’ve saved up for a down payment.

Considering all of that, I’m very thankful we’re doing as well as we are.  Not everyone is fairing as well as we are in this current crisis.  I know we’re in God’s hands with this one, and I trust he’ll lead us in the right direction when the time is right.

I made ribs for the family last weekend.  It was quite the experience.  I started off with applying a rub on Saturday and letting them sit over night.  I started smoking the ribs on Sunday just after noon.  This was by far the most difficult part of the whole process.  I couldn’t seem to get the right mixture of heat and wood to keep it smoking the whole time.  After 4 hours or so, I turned up the heat and started basting and cooking.  Most of my time at Hickory Park in college was spent working on the grill so I was right at home.  By the time it was all done, I had ribs that were probably a 3 or 4 on a 10 point scale.  I have a lot of work to do to get where I want to be with these.  My goal is to be able to make ribs for tailgate parties, but I think I need a bit more practice first.

So I started my job this week.  Candice had a “Go Live” this week which means she is out of town the entire week. Had I been thinking ahead, I would have taken this week off.  Taking care of the kids while I’m adjusting is more stress than I’d planned for.  We’re really getting a taste of what the other person went through the past 4 months.  She’s away from the family, and I’m without her help.  Wow… I really appreciate what all she’s been through now that I’ve had to do it.

As far as work goes, well it’s still too early to tell.  So far I love my new job.  The atmosphere is great, people are excited to be here and actually strive for excellence.  What a huge change from my last employer.  My boss is a great guy and the other people I work with seem like we’re all aiming at the same goals.  I’ve already started taking on some tasks and have plans for bigger work down the road.  I think this is going to be a fantastic experience for me.  At the very least, it gets me close to my family and support network.

I will post again in a few more weeks and let you all know how things are going.

I had my exit interview scheduled with FDAH at 2:30 PM on Thursday.  At the absolute last minute (they asked me to stay until 3:15 PM so they could write it up) they made me a counter-offer.  I was extremely flattered.  It turns out they had been working on it all week and the request went all the way up the ladder (the president of the company had to give it a “thumbs up”).  Unfortunately, the offer they presented was not enough for me to stay.  Basically, I had to quit… again…  When it was all over, I met some people at Sports Page after work and got to say my farewells.  I feel so much better now that I’m done. J

I accepted an offer with Almaco on Tuesday.  I will give my notice at Fort Dodge in few days.  I will leave FDAH on May 15^th and start on May 19^th.  That doesn’t leave much time for me, but it’s wise financially.  We’ve talked to the realtor and will have a sign in our yard next Monday.  Now it’s time to start shopping for houses in Des Moines!