Okay, here's a SQL SELECT that I lovingly handcrafted in the command window. It runs like greased lightning. A huge improvement over the one I started with.

What's just totally disgustipating is when I try to save it as a VIEW (which I REALLY need), VFP coughs and moans something about it being too complex! Silly.

SELECT syProjects.iSyPj_PK, syProjects.cDesc AS ProjectName, syProjects.crefno AS ReferenceNum, ;
IIF(Syprojects.iactive=0,"N","Y") AS active, syProgram.cName AS ProgramName, ;
 (SELECT NVL(SUM(ROUND(((tmTimeSheets.iEndTime - tmTimeSheets.iStartTime)/60)*tmTimeSheets.nhrwage,2)),0.00) ;
  FROM tmTimeSheets ;
  WHERE syProjects.iSyPj_PK = tmTimeSheets.iSyPj_FK) AS TimeCost, ;
 (SELECT NVL(SUM(ROUND((tmMileage.nEndMiles - tmMileage.nStartMiles) * tmMileage.nMileRate,2)),0.00) ;
  FROM tmMileage ;
  WHERE syProjects.iSyPj_PK = tmMileage.iSyPj_FK) AS MileCost, ;
 (SELECT NVL(SUM(crCashDist.nAmt),0.00) ;
  FROM crCashDist ;
  WHERE syProjects.iSyPj_PK = crCashDist.iSyPj_FK) AS CashReceipts ;
FROM syProjects ;
    LEFT OUTER JOIN syProgram ON Syprojects.isypg_fk = Syprogram.isypg_pk ;
ORDER BY ProjectName

Considering that I haven't received any clear direction from my huge fan base in regards to the profile pic, I will leave it as it is.

One reader accused me of being "cute". I doubt I've had that monicker slapped on me for over 35 years. Wow. Cute. I'm bald, fat, lazy, tired, and overworked.

Cute. <shakes head>

I'm sitting here at the kitchen table, watching the sky outside turn yellow.... aaaggghhhhh... If it wasn't for these horrible storms, I could live in Kansas. Oh, wait....

I thought this letter from the bottom of a pond was just a gas.

Here's a snapshot of what I found outside my shop door when I got back from a network job. Courtesy of the hailstorm that rolled through several minutes before. Some folks reported golf ball size hail. I put the bottle in the pic to help give size context. Most of the stuff in the corner was marble size or smaller.

Enjoying some family time in the back yard.

Helping one of my employee remove some dangerous trees from his property. A 40' boom is really useful. Gets kinda spooky though, when you're 40' up in a Kansas wind.

Same tree... My saw has a 20" bar, and would just reach the middle when cutting from both sides. The log was so heavy that I had to cut it in 8' lengths so the skidloader could pick it up. When I dumped them off at home, the one log got jammed in the dump truck and almost flipped the dump truck on its side. I don't need that kind of excitement.

We went to Arkansas for my sister Mary's graduation. We spent the afternoon at the Harrison City park.

The road back to Paul & Anne Yoder's house. I hadn't seen them for 13-15 years. We sat down at the lunch table together and realized that between the two of us couples there were 12 children at the table who have all been born since we last saw each other. Had a WONDERFUL time. Now I've got a hankerin' to go to Red Lake to see Kevin & Linda. Can't believe I haven't seen him for 13 years...

Next we went to Heavener, OK, to Dad's place for the weekend. Monday evening Dad, Eric, Kyle, and I went on a drive. We saw this catfish head on a post beside the road. Kyle kept looking at it rather nervously, and I couldn't figure out what was wrong. He just wouldn't look at the camera! When we got back in the truck, he looked at me and said, "WAS IT ALIVE???"

For those of you who have not noticed: I have a new profile pic.

So what's the big deal? It's this: this is the first time I've had a professional photo setting since I was about 3 years old. I actually remember the last time, and have the picture hanging on my wall. And yes, I had more hair. A lot more.

That was 33 years ago. My photographer was astonished.

Now here's a funny thought: how about I post the three best shots, and let everybody vote? Currently I'm using #3.

#1

#2

#3

Heidi did this to Jeremy several times recently:

So we decided it was time for his first haircut. Before:

After.

Another recent project: hauling firewood home. Used Joe's old dump truck to haul the logs home. Only one problem - now I have to cut and split the whole pile. I used the forks on my skidloader to load them. Sure made the work easy.

Cleaning up tree branches at the home of one of my employees. The ice storm was terrible. We jammed a 40-yard rolloff FULL. Place sure looked better when we were done. I don't have pictures of one of the events (naturally). I was cutting down a tree and almost dropped it on the neighbor's house. Not cool. I had cut off a branch first, and later realized that I had inadvertently unbalanced the tree. Fortunately I had placed the skidloader where it could be quickly utilized, and it was! The tree went right where it was supposed to, but I can do without the moment of panic when you're cutting a tree, watching the top, and see it begin to move in the wrong direction!

The new grapple is working really well.

And a new workbench for my shop. The second one is in the making. Sorry about the lighting - that's been fixed now too.

Jeremy has a penchant for putting his feet on the table right now. Jolene alerted me to this pose.

 This morning I was installing step bars on the truck, and bemoaning my lack of a tool tray. This afternoon I headed for my wood shop thinking I would make a tray with castors. On the way through the warehouse, I noticed this item waiting to be auctioned off:

Bingo! The top 1/3 of a creeper! I wonder what happened with the other 2/3?

I promptly bought it for three bucks - i figured the wheels were worth that - and I also figured it would make my project so much easier. What kind of luck!

Here's the finished project:

And a few tools to show how it works. What fun! This will be really handy when I'm working under a vehicle. I'm always losing wrenches when I do that - usually because I'm laying on top of the wrench and its digging into my back.

I can only imagine how much fun I could have chasing coyotes and jackrabbits with one of these!

http://boortz.com/more/video/redneck_dual_track.html

Cough. Yes, that's what I said.

Read this: http://www.northstarwriters.com/dc163.htm