The Rodger Report - Me and My Two Sons

Welcome to the RodgerReport

2008-01-02T19:50:00.000-06:00

www.rodgerreport.com The Mansfield Family NEW - Check Out my new Online Store at http://www.cafepress.com/rjmans/ I also have two new blogs, http://www.dailydross.com and http://www.heronerozero.com that I plan to keep up to date in 2008! This site (now at http://www.rodgerreport.com) is where I'll post most new information. But I will also keep the Kathy Report, http://

Daily Dross Comes Online!

2008-01-01T20:12:00.001-06:00

After some false starts, my new website, Daily Dross is finally starting to emerge onto the blog scene. Check it! The site's motto is "The Daily Dross - where Life's dross floats to the top for all to see!" Daily Dross - http://www.dailydross.com

New Day, New Site - 6/10/07

2007-06-10T09:47:00.000-05:00

Hi all, As usual, things have been busy at the Mansfield's. School's out and we're as busy as ever. In my spare time, I have a new website. check it out at: http://www.heronerozero.com

Nov 4 - Flickr slideshow

2006-11-04T08:58:00.000-06:00

A slideshow from the flickr site, http://www.flickr.com/photos/rjmans/

2006-11-03T08:19:00.000-06:00

August 18 - Chad Vader, Day Shift Manager

2006-08-18T18:23:00.000-05:00

You may have heard about YouTube. mostly midless stuff, but the Chad Vader video is pretty funny:

AZ in July?

2006-07-30T22:18:00.000-05:00

Who goes to Arizona in the hottest month of the year? The Mansfields. That's who. Our travels took us to tucson, Phoenix, the Grand Canyon and Sedona. It was a great trip with a variety of climate and geography. A few days were hot, but usually was in the 80s. And we always found a pool to cool off. more photos available on the flickr site at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rjmans

July 8, 2006 - Two years. But Who's Counting?

2006-07-16T10:07:00.000-05:00

We marked the two year anniversary of Kathy's passing rather quietly this year. We continueed the tradition of going to the Missouri Botanical Garden for the day. This year was extra sepcial sunce the Chihuly exhibit was there.

Canoe - June 10th

2006-06-10T08:41:00.000-05:00

Last weekend Alex and I went canoeing with the Boy Scouts. After 5 hours on the river, we didn't stay up late at camp.

May 26 - Eye on the Prize

2006-05-26T10:42:00.000-05:00

May has been a very hectic month. And this week especially frantic. We started off the week with a rather challenging caving outing with the scouts. 5 hours underground in dark, muddy water. Monday night was a race to buy shoes and clothes, get haircuts and ensure all of the animals were fed. tuesday night was Boy Scout recognitions. Wednesday night was Alex's 5th grade graduation (3 hours

Monday, March 27 - Voices

2006-03-27T10:00:00.000-06:00

After Kathleen died, I wrote a short essay for a Scleroderma support group that appeared on their website. Unlike many of their other posts, it was written from a caretaker/spouse point of view. I recently received a copy of this book and my essay was included. It's available from Amazon and a worthy read for anyone who has scleroderma or knows or is caring for someone who does. The essay is

California Dreamin', March 12

2006-03-12T16:05:00.000-06:00

The last two weeks have been very hectic. I worked in Anaheim California for a week. But the boys joined me at the end. Thanks Barb and MaryKay! We were able to spend some time with family who joined us at Disney. Oh, and yes I beat Jon at Buzz Lightyear with a score of over 749,000. That's a level SIX Star Ranger!

February 4, 2006 - Jon's Confirmation

2006-02-05T16:58:00.000-06:00

This was a busy week around the house. Jon's confirmation was held Wednesday night and we had a party Saturday at our house. kathy's family came out in support of Jon. Kathy's sister Barb was his sponsor. Her brother Frank is his godfather as well.

Monday January 9 - What Type of Car Are You

2006-01-09T19:43:00.000-06:00

I had really been dreading having to switch cars. The day Kathy went into the hospital, I stopped driving mine and switched to her minivan because 1) it was newer, 2) the air conditioning worked. Well I parked mine in the garage. Surprising, after 9 months it refused to start. But as time pass along, I became ready to put those vans---and what they represent---behind us. but what to buy? So

Dec 23, Happy Holidays - Merry Christmas

2005-12-22T15:29:00.000-06:00

For My Liberal Friends: "Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, our best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the

Saturday, dec 10 - Why Men are Happier

2005-12-10T16:52:00.000-06:00

What do you expect from such simple creatures? Your last name stays put. The garage is all yours. Wedding plans take care of themselves. Chocolate is just another snack. You can never be pregnant. You can wear a white T-shirt to a water park. You can wear NO shirt to a water park. Car mechanics tell you the truth. The world is your urinal. You never have to drive to another gas station restroom

Friday, Dec 9 - Update

2005-12-09T03:29:00.000-06:00

As always, winter starts to get very busy around the Mansfield house. So here's a fast recap: Alex has switched to contacts. So far it is going very well. It's great that a 5th grade can master the daily hassle of contact lenes. But he is determined not to wear his glasses anymore. Jon had his band concert last week. A really good performance. Alex has his orchestra concert next week.

Thursday, Nov 24 - Turkey Trot

2005-11-24T12:22:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving! We're having a quiet Turkey Day at the Mansfields today. We'll have dinner late afternoon and dessert after that. We've been invited to a couple of places and we may yet still have some family drop by. But this will be our quiet, family year. To work off the 3,000 calories, I again entered the Chesterfield Turkey Trot 5k race this morning. I even talked another family into

Saturday, Nov 19 - Starving Artist

2005-11-19T09:05:00.000-06:00

Google has released a newtool called Google Base (http://base.google.com). It's their new tool to allow users to upload information that is not currently online and searchable. It will be many things to different people. For example, it will compete with classified ads. It will compete with Craig's List. And blogs. And perhaps most interesting, it will compete with Ebay. So, I decided to

Friday, November 11 - Beary Good

2005-11-12T10:21:00.000-06:00

Friday was a holiday for all of us. It was surprisingly still warm (high of 72 degrees) so we headed off to the St Louis Zoo. We're there so often that we often overlook some sights from time to time. So we ventured to a couple areas off the beaten path. We found this black bear resting. A few more zoo adventure photos are on the flickr site On our trek downtown, we ventured over to Union

Sunday, Nov 7 - My Friend Flicrk

2005-11-06T12:04:00.000-06:00

You may have already read that I post pictures on my flickr photo site. I uploaded a few more recent photos. They can be seen at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rjmans/

Saturday, Nov 5 - Snickerdoodle

2005-11-05T17:55:00.000-06:00

Alex's fifth grade class is putting together a class cookbook. Each student was asked to submit a favorite family recipe and to write why it's his favorite. Here is Alex's: I like Snickerdoodle cookies because they remind me of good times with my mom. I like them because they are fun to make. And they taste great and are still good after a few days. Alex Mansfield’s “My Mom’s Best

Thursday - Google Print Brings Up the Past

2005-11-03T06:44:00.000-06:00

Google unveiled today their ambitious effort to digitize printed books at www.print.google.com. You may have read about their effort to scan and create an index of books available in major college libraries. Well, the Publishing and Writer associations weren't too happy about this copyright issue and will most likely tie up the copyright issue for a while. But Google today made their index

Monday, Oct 31 - Halloween Dud

2005-10-31T17:52:00.000-06:00

The lights are on. The candy is ready. The costume bought. But not this year. This is the year that Halloween that wasn't. It's cold and rainy. I doubt we'll have even 1 trick or treater tonight. Alex and I did get out to the pumpkin farm this past weekend and bought two big pumpkins. I found a pattern for SpongeBob and Alex made a face pattern of his own design. Jon wanted nothing to

Friday, 10/21 - Portraits

2005-10-22T17:42:00.000-05:00

It's no longer "picture" day at school. No, it's "portraits". I can imagine that my sons are CEOs, generals or Presidents of the United States. They have their "portraits" taken at school. In case, it's an annual ritual. Hair cut. Check. New clothes. Check. Brushed teeth, hair and washed. Whether needed or desired. Check. Don't bring home a stupid grin photos. Priceless.