Scho Long

Healty Visions Event

2009-10-06T15:12:00.000-07:00

nope

2009-03-19T06:31:00.001-07:00

Vince left, no TP. Unfortunately, that is not definitive though. He could have just been #1.

Perfect Storm

2009-03-19T06:27:00.000-07:00

Just left the restroom from my normal morning pee break. Completely empty restroom and no TP. As I was leaving Vince walked by on his way in. He could be the culprit. I haven't seen him walk back by yet so it is very likely #2.

stay tuned.

I'm getting closer

2009-02-26T05:19:00.000-08:00

I know it's been a year plus since I posted so I expect no one will read this so this is really just for me. For weeks, I have been puzzled by a strange occurrence in the restroom at work. In the prime stall (next to the wall, and furthest from the urinals) most mornings I find that there are 12-18 squares of toilet paper in the corner of the stall behind the toilet. I am having a hard time understanding why this happens, and probably more importantly who does it. Who is this freak that throws toilet paper on the floor and doesn't just flush it... weird.

I've been keeping a mental tally trying to use process of elimination to pinpoint the culprit but I need to start recording it here so I don't lose track. I've been paying attention to when I see the papers and then noting who is on vacation or out of the office which means they are certainly not the perpetrators. So far it's not:

John
Jay
Me
Fuad

Unfortunately, this restroom services a large area including many folks I do not know so my investigation is going to have to get a little more invasive soon. My real hope is that I'll catch the person in the act which seems to happen sometime before 9:30am most days. As you can imagine, considering proper restroom/urinal etiquette that must be followed, this will be difficult. Regardless, I must perservere and solve this mystery.

Not a month yet

2007-12-10T05:53:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to post something so I don't go a whole month. We just got our new camera functional so hopefully there will be some pics soon. Nothing exciting right now. Work is busy, the house is acceptable.

On Saturday went to this pretty cool event.

http://www.downtowncincinnati.com/downtowndazzle

You haven't lived until you've seen Rudolf rappel off a 20 story building.

Twins

2007-11-13T07:45:00.001-08:00

I think Jenn wants to post this so I'm going to beat her to it. Last night we were at Target getting a shower curtain for the newly completed bathroom and she saw a dude in the checkout line that used to teach at SUA, or so she thought. She said "Hi" and it turned out it was the dude's twin brother.

She pretty much freaked out and couldn't stop talking about it. Had to call her sister to tell her she just had her first twin moment.

Quite frankly, I can't believe that was the first one. I know of at least two other twin moments in my life beyond Amy and Jenn.

How many twin moments have you experienced?

Good Day and Constipation

2007-11-04T16:38:00.000-08:00

So it's been a little while since I blogged. Slightly busy but also slightly scared that I would let something slip, or comments would slip, about Jenn and Amy's surprise birthday party so I was hesitant to post.

Anyway, lots to update, kitchen and bathroom particularly, but I'm going to take this time to talk about possibly the greatest thing I have done all year.

Saturday night after Jenn's party we went downtown to Garfield Suites to hang out with her family for a few hours. There is a German foreign exchange student, Lea (like the princess), that is staying with Jenn's brother. We hung out with her over Labor day weekend also and she is way fun.

Anyway, I told the classic joke that my nephew taught me. "Did you hear about the new movie, "Constipation." ... "No? It hasn't come out yet." BUBUBUBBUUFFFFFFFF.

Lea didn't quite understand the word "constipation" and some folks started to sensitively explain it when I blurted out "Verstopfung" and got the affirmative nod from Lea. Yup, with all the German I have learned it appears that the 2 things I have not forgotten are how to say "good day" and "constipation."

Because I know Jenn can't wait

2007-09-28T07:18:00.001-07:00

In process pictures of the counter install. Will give final ones later.

Work Session

2007-09-19T08:47:00.000-07:00

Okay, I haven't written much about the kitchen remodel lately, and quite honestly, I haven't asked for much help recently either. So, now that the tank is full, I want to request some hands to get some work pounded out this weekend.

I have been lollygagging around on most of the tasks recently and need a surge to get some stuff done.

Can anyone help out on Saturday morning for a few hours? I'm looking for 4-5 people but can take more or less. Here's the relatively unexciting list:

1) Move all the misc. stuff in the dining room down to the basement/garage.
-Refrigerator
-Cabinets
2) Clean out the garage.
-Lots of dirt from ceiling removal and wood storage
-organize the scrap metal pile (depending on who shows, this could include a trip to the scrap yard)
3) Refinish 2 interior doors
-Strip
-Sand
-Stain or paint
4) Install toekick veneer
5) Paint vent cover
6) Install Under Counter lights by the range
7) Tile the bathroom floor
-This one is advantageous with the rest of the list, but if someone wants to learn how to tile, I will make this a priority. It probably won't take very long, and I could even plan for this one on Sunday.
8) Trim out the new window (interior and exterior)

Post here or email if you can help. I'm flexible on times. We have a party on Saturday afternoon and that is it. Do plan on hitting Oktoberfest thought too.

For the first time, a P&G product did me wrong:

2007-09-18T05:21:00.000-07:00

Other than a couple of instances where I was testing product… namely, the deodorant panel I did a couple years ago that made my pits burn, for the first time, a P&G product did me wrong. I was brushing my teeth yesterday with Crest Pro-Health… good stuff, they need to make it in neat squeeze though. A large glob had run down my bottom lip… not the white froth, but the actual paste. I know, I know, how did it get there??? The Power Ranger tooth brush has been a little precarious as I bit my lip extremely bad on Saturday and have pretty good wound from it that has forced me to maneuver the brush strangely.

So, to get the glob I suck in real hard only for it to shoot to the back of my throat which then caused a whole slew of repercussions ranging from severe sneezing to watery eyes. There was some coughing in there too all while Frank is freaking out and the Power Ranger is still on. The symptoms continued most of the morning… sorta felt like allergies.

Crest needs to add a warning to their label for this.

Justice served

2007-08-31T05:59:00.000-07:00

I intentionally did not put punction on the title because it couldn't decide if it would be a statement or a question.

Read this:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20514969/

This case for some reason has really hit me hard. Violent acts happen all the time, even in our city, but I guess since many CCU students attend our church and I've had many friends go there, I could really relate to this situation. A young, Christian couple, enjoying a date where they walked across the river. The fact that this girl was a virgin (I would still consider her a virgin and I hope she does as well) makes it hit home for me even more. The powerlessness of the boyfriend to not be able to do anything I think tugs at every male wondering how they would be able to handle the situation. We, as men, always think that we would be able to overcome challenges and protect our loved ones in situations like this, although it is morbidly obvious that that is not the case.

I struggle with forgiveness in these situations. Since justice in the sentencing appears to be served by him getting the max, and it appears he will not be able to do harm to others not I get myself to a place where I could forgive (with repentance) but I can't squelch the hatred I still have. Does that mean I don't forgive?

I like to think that I have hatred for the act, not the person. I truly do feel bad for the person as he is obviously mentally ill and I'm assuming his upbringing has skewed his view of right and wrong. It does make me challenge our current penal system and I do think there are better ways to reform our society.

So two thoughts for everyone reading this:

1) We must drive change and I firmly believe that education is a driver in getting people the knowledge and ability to make choices that are good for them and society. There are numerous organizations in our city/country that educate and I don't mean just in schools but on life skills. This is one of the reasons I am active with Healthy Visions. (www.healthyvisions.org). Once a cycle begins, poor parenting, lack of focus on good choices, etc. it is extremely difficult to break out of that cycle because you will lack role models, etc.

2) There must be a better way to operate our prison system. I heard a statistic once that over half of inmates are mentally ill. I think it stems from point 1, but there must be a way to treat people of the illness instead of just putting them in prison. For those who know me, you know that I definitely feel that people should pay the consequences for their actions but at the same time we must, as a society, work to help people instead of just treating the symptoms by just punishing them for their actions.

To me, this is where the church needs to step in. We're obviously missing the boat and it is most definitely not the government's place to fix our morality. We, as a church, must quit being the degraded idiots and step up and make a change.

ATTENTION PLEASE, THERE IS AN EMERGENCY....

2007-08-21T07:21:00.000-07:00

HOLYFREAKINGMERPH, THE FIRE ALARM IS GOING OFF RIGHT NOW IN MY BUILDING AND I LEARNED THAT THERE IS AN ACTUAL RED BOX ABOUT 4 FEET FROM MY HEAD IN MY OFFICE. IT'S AMAZINGLY LOUD.

Supposedly it is just a malfunction so I'm just supposed to sit out.

I just logged onto youtube to get something to drown out the noise... this was the first thing I found

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov3aqRyQ28k&mode=related&search=

I love this song but I have no idea what it has to do with Peter Pan...

F I F T Y, C E NT and S N Double O P

uh-oh the song is about to end.

ATTENTION PLEASE THERE IS AN EMERGENCY ON OR NEAR YOUR FLOOR, PLEASE EVACUATE THE BUILDING BY WALKING TO THE NEAREST EMERGENCY EXIT AND ASSEMBLE AT YOUR DESIGNATED ASSEMBLY AREA OUTSIDE YOUR BUILDING. DO NOT USE THE ELEVATORS.......

ATTENTION PLEASE THERE IS AN EMERGENCY ON OR NEAR YOUR FLOOR, PLEASE EVACUATE THE BUILDING BY WALKING TO THE NEAREST EMERGENCY EXIT AND ASSEMBLE AT YOUR DESIGNATED ASSEMBLY AREA OUTSIDE YOUR BUILDING. DO NOT USE THE ELEVATORS.......

ATTENTION PLEASE THERE IS AN EMERGENCY ON OR NEAR YOUR FLOOR, PLEASE EVACUATE THE BUILDING BY WALKING TO THE NEAREST EMERGENCY EXIT AND ASSEMBLE AT YOUR DESIGNATED ASSEMBLY AREA OUTSIDE YOUR BUILDING. DO NOT USE THE ELEVATORS.......

ATTENTION PLEASE THERE IS AN EMERGENCY ON OR NEAR YOUR FLOOR, PLEASE EVACUATE THE BUILDING BY WALKING TO THE NEAREST EMERGENCY EXIT AND ASSEMBLE AT YOUR DESIGNATED ASSEMBLY AREA OUTSIDE YOUR BUILDING. DO NOT USE THE ELEVATORS.......

aahhhhhh!!!!!!! I'm going nuts

You really get on my last Ulnar Nerve

2007-08-13T06:06:00.000-07:00

Well, we did it… and I do mean “WE”. We have all the floor tile laid which is/was an amazing physical feat and would not have been accomplished without a lot of help. Amy and Paul came over on Friday night and helped me finish laying the concrete board and start the first coat of paint. Thanks Owenizzles.

Saturday morning my old neighbor, Mark, came over and ended up staying all day, which included skipping a shopping trip for new furniture with his family, and helped out tremendously. We wrapped up ~4pm to head to the Weiner Dog Nationals and we had about ½ of the floor down… but getting started is always the hardest part so we felt about 2/3 complete.

Mark then emerged from the back gate of our yard on Sunday morning also, unplanned, and we laid the last tile at ~3pm. In plenty of time to make it to church. This is such a HUGE blessing. Mark was/is a huge help and although I know he loves doing this stuff, he does have a family and better things to do than spend the weekend with us. No more stress about having room to store the cabinets…. And the most important part, it looks amazing!!! The large tile (20”) was definitely the way to go, despite being a little harder to install. Plus, the tile we chose just looks awesome which is surprising since it was the cheapest one we came across. So now, this week we’ll just finish up the painting, at least the ceiling, and grout the tile in plenty of time for the cabinet delivery. Wahoo.

In other related things, it appears I have developed Guyon’s Canal Syndrome. I felt the tingling in my little finger and ring finger on my left hand before but today I finally looked it up… I have been worried I had some sort of mini heart attack or something but the symptoms are pretty clear…. Its no big whoop, what I think is cool though is that I figured this out on the internet. I tried WebMD first which isn’t bad and it mentioned this and 20 other things, but then I just Googled “Numbness in pinky and ring finger” and found the website above instantly. Looks like it will go away once I quit doing all this work but tiling on my palms all day I’m sure aggravated it. The internet is amazing.

Slightly intense

2007-08-10T05:52:00.000-07:00

Well, the drywall dude finished yesterday and all the talk about dust from everyone we knew seemed to be a bit false. Granted we sealed off everything pretty well and not to mention, we pretty much have been living in dust for months know so a new layer isn't really that noticeable but it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought.... probably the worst thing about the drywall was the dude scratched up the floor in the dining room pretty bad. Hopefully it's just the poly and I can sand and recoat pretty easily. I have to admit that although the drywall guy was a little weird, he did a stellar job. Not only does the drywall look amazing but he retextured the ceilings and walls at the transition points and they look perfect.

So, Wednesday night we picked up some supplies, including the new tile saw... thanks to a gift card from my bro and his wife, to get going on the tile. Last night I started laying the cement board that acts as a base for the tile. Sorta fun as I basically trowel a layer of thinset (mortar) and then lay these sheets of 1/2" concrete down. Then screw the crap out of them. BUUFFFF. I'm not quite done but got most of it in. Should finish tonight and then be ready to start tiling in the morning.

Unfortunately, with the delay in the drywall, we're not able to paint before flooring but that is what tarps are for. Hopefully, I finish the tiling (minus grout) by the end of the weekend and then we can paint in the evenings next week.

Cabinets arrive on Thursday/Friday, yikes. Floor must be done and preferrably walls and ceiling painted also.

Plan

2007-08-02T05:05:00.000-07:00

Some folks on Jenn's blog were getting confused on what they were looking at... here's a plan that hopefully helps. Dining room is on the right, the backyard would be on the bottom. FYI, the bathroom layout is slightly different... the toilet would be on the opposite wall. Feel free to stop by and look at our mess, and bring food. We don't even have a microwave right now because it's covered in plastic and a pain to uncover.

See the change, be the change

2007-07-25T03:26:00.000-07:00

So, I found a drywall dude. Not sure how good he'll be but the price was perfect and I don't have to do it. Huge blessing, and now I am just trying to get things ready for him. I can't believe how much the space will transform in the next month. Cabinets will be delivered on the 17th and if all goes well I'll have the flooring down before they arrive. That means in ~3weeks we'll have walls and floor. Although I know that it is going to seemingly shrink the space that has been massively open for the last several months, I'm glad I can finally see the progress.

So now I'm just finishing up the prep for the drywall which basically consists of putting in insulation, running the gas line for the range, and trimming out the sills for windows and hopefully installing the new window if it gets here in time.

One thing I need some help with.... I need to move the piano which has bunged up wheels. For those who have helped before, you know that I just have it sitting on moving dollies right now and unfortunately they aren't really effective. I would like to tip the piano over and lay it down so I can install new wheels on it and then of course get it back up and hopefully be able to roll it around. So, 2 questions:

1) Does anyone know if tipping the piano over will damage it?
2) Who can help us this weekend for about an hour while I do this? I'm thinking it will take 4 dudes, preferrably 5, including myself to get this thing tipped over and back up. It's very heavy. Feel free to post here if you are available. I'm open all weekend except for Sunday evening.

PS - if you have better suggestions, just let me know. Worst case scenario, I don't do the wheel installation and just move it over on a different wall.

Sweating the small stuff

2007-07-12T05:44:00.000-07:00

I’ve hit the point in the remodel where I need to tie up a lot of loose ends. Basically need to prep for drywall which means everything inside the walls needs to be located, nailed in, smoothed out, tightly secured, etc. I’ve got a list of about 20 small things to complete which would typically annoy me. However, the other night I pounded through a bunch of them:

1) Fixed the leaking shower drain pipe.
2) Blocked in the shower plumbing
3) Installed the shower fixture and trim kit
4) Blocked in for drywall in two corners
5) Blocked in for the shower rod
6) Blocked in for the medicine cabinet
7) Installed the 1x2s to thicken the wet wall

The nice thing about the small stuff is that is goes pretty quick.

The electrician is supposed to be by tonight to polish off his work… hopefully that happens and while he is working I can pound out another 7 items.

One item I need to complete is patching the holes in the subfloor. An incident the other night not only demonstrated this need but emphasized my agility.

I was trimming a warped board in my ceiling structure. Jared knows what I’m talking about and it’s a little hard to explain but basically before we can hang drywall everything has to be pretty straight, unfortunately, 10 foot 2x4s are almost impossible to get unwarped and I had some significant warpage that I didn’t realize was an issue until it was installed. No big whoop, but required a little effort to trim it down to get it even with the rest of the ceiling. Jenn was out somewhere and I was working on trimming this wood. Good thing she was gone because I was making a massive amount of sawdust. Anyway, I was on the ladder using the circular saw one handed making this somewhat delicate cut…. I’m literally trimming about ½- ¼ of an inch off a 2 x 4. Keep in mind also, I have my typical after work attire for home improvement on… a white t-shirt, mesh shorts, black socks and sandals. I did have my safety glasses on, until I took them off because I couldn’t see. So anyway, just as I neared the end of my cut as I hit full extension with my arm and body I felt a strange movement below as the ladder began to tip over. What the buff!!!! Sure nuff, the ladder had wiggled its way to a hole in the floor (for those who know, it’s the one that is near the dining room that I formed when I was ripping out the very first cabinet) Not a big hole but it has been annoying because every time I dropped something, a screw, a pipe fitting, a pencil, it fell through that hole to the garage… never bounced and then fell, always feel straight through like I was Reggie Miller behind the arc,. Anyway, the ladder leg started to go through and as it tipped I reacted quickly with spinning saw blade in the right hand I grabbed the joist with my left arm to hold myself up. The ladder teeter tottered a bit and then settled back in place as I dangled from the ceiling with saw in hand. Not even a scratch.

I’m not out of the woods yet but I’d like to point out that I have finished the majority of the dangerous portions of this remodel with not even one trip to the hospital. I thought for sure when I started this I would be posting weekly things that destroyed the project and a related injury that required medical attention.

Yay for me.

Light On!

2007-07-05T06:16:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged much lately due to busyness and Jenn usually picks up most of the happenings of my life so you're covered. Plus, I figured you get pretty bored with... "This is what I did on the kitchen this week...." posts. That answer has pretty much been "plumbing". I'm glad I did the plumbing because we save a bundle but man, it really hurt the schedule. And as I wrapped it up this past weekend I was a little bummed when an old pipe that I didn't even work on started leaking so I have to go back and cut some stuff out and fix it. The beauty is, I'm pretty good now so it shouldn't be difficult, just a pain and/or disappointing that it is not completely done. Thing I learned.... always, always, put in a drain valve at any low point in a plumbing system. For those that understand, you cannot have water in a pipe that you need to sweat. Most systems you can drain (utility sink in the basement, etc.) but I have 2 5' sections that are low. The day I was buying valves they were out of the ones I wanted so I took a risk. Has caused me all sorts of extra work.

The really great thing is though, I got a great situation with an electrician, Dan. Side job for him and he needed some work this week so he started pretty quick. He's basically letting me help him and he is just charging me hourly. Any hour I save him is just money in my pocket. On Tuesday, I took the day off and Jenn and I hung can lights while he wired them up, at the end of the day the kitchen lights were on!!! Yahoo!!!! Very huge as I could barely work in there when the sun wasn't up. Now, it is almost blinding. Will probably go with lower wattage bulbs once these burn out. Dan should finish up tomorrow and then I will just be doing some misc. stuff to prep for drywall.

Anyone have any recos for drywallers? I think I might sucker Jared and his buddy into it but this is something I would love to hire out... if the price is right. :-) (Man, I love Bob Barker)

What the buff????

2007-05-16T07:57:00.000-07:00

All right, I started utilizing the web service, Linked In. At first I thought it was kind of spammy so I avoided it. You get invites from people that want to add you to their network. My first few were from people that left P&G and I figured they just wanted to stay connected to leverage as business opportunities in their new jobs. Well, I started getting them from more ligit folks, Fuji included, so I signed up. I realized a ton of friends actually use it so I started adding people as a means to stay in touch. I recommend it to anyone on here too. It really makes you start considering how far you are from Kevin Bacon... man, I should get Curt Gummer on here so we can prove the connection... He's Meryl Streep's nephew that I know that puts me 3 from Kevin, and therefore all of you only 4, and anyone you meet, 5... so everyone is 6 degrees from Kevin Bacon. I digress.

But what the buff, I was looking at Fuji's connections and saw the screenshot below.

Yup, that is my name in the middle... but, that is my wife's name and then my mom's name on his connections. Freaking A!!! Neither of them are on my connections!!! Jenn, I can sorta understand, they at least talk on occasion. But come on Mom!!! I'm your freaking son. At least send me an invite?

We had a plumb good time

2007-05-14T05:51:00.000-07:00

Weekend, top 25% - I need to keep track to make sure there are actually some that fall in the bottom 50% to make sure the statistics work. I bet, we all think most weekends are good.

Friday, had our official marathon celebratory dinner at Andy's which is in my top ten list of favorite restaurants. They have a great casual/cool atmosphere and awesome food. Plus, despite the new smoking laws, you can still have a hookah. We ran near Andy's about 8 times during training and I kept saying we're going there after the marathon and I'm going to smoke. That we did. The Bertlin, Chrissy (Bada$$) and Jason, and Ryan (Bada$$) joined us. Random group but we had a great time together.

Saturday, I began the plumbing for the kitchen and bath. Honestly, the hardest part of all this is the design. It seems pretty easy to get the stuff to flow down, and it is, but venting the pipes is difficult, especially with codes governing how far certain pipes can go horizontal. I worked on the design on Thursday quite a bit while reading a pretty good handbook I grabbed off Amazon. Then Saturday morning I reviewed it, tweeked it for a couple hours and did a take-off to figure out all the pieces I would need at the plumbing supply store. I went to the supply house and filled up a box with fittings and grabbed about 100 feet (no exagerration) of various PVC pipe diameters. I'm only doing the sanitary lines right now, the supply lines (copper) are cake to work with so I need to get the plastic stuff in place first.

My old neighbor, Mark, who basically built his house, came over to help in the afternoon. We modified the design a bit and then started tearing into it. We first realized we needed to get the tub in place which went pretty well. My measure 9 times, cut once philosophy seemed to work and it fit snuggly into the new bathroom. It sure opened the space it had been sitting in (where the old bathroom was) since the notorious Jenn sitting in the tub in the back of Walt event of a couple months ago. Once in place, it definitely made the whole project seem like it is starting to take shape. Also made me realize just how small the bathroom will be, YIKES! No surprise, but when you have been walking amongst walls with no drywall or fixtures, it really makes things seem big. The same thing is going to happen with the kitchen once we start installing cabinets. Both are going to be extremely functional though for the space we are using. Plus, I'm glad the bath is small, less wall tile to install. :-)

Anyway, after the tub was in place we started into the new bathroom drain connections. We didn't seem to get much done but we really did. Basically joined 4 connections and then realized we needed to rework one connection, which I did on Sunday morning, and then realized the old way was the better way. Unfortunately, the problem with plastic, there isn't much turning back. So, I had to go rebuy the same fittings and do it over again. No big whoop. More pissed that they were the most expensive fittings in the whole system. Wasted about $50. I might save them for the modern sculptures I plan to create after this project.

The rest of the day Sunday I got a most of the downstairs bath done with the exception of a few connections that should be easy. Then it will be onward and upward, which means I am just getting closer to actually tapping into the existing lines. Yikes. At least copper is on the horizon which means I get to have fun with a blow torch.

Official Bada$$

2007-05-07T06:46:00.000-07:00

A few months ago when we were in SLC I sent an email to dooce to try to arrange for a quick meet up because it would be Jenn's dream to meet her, or at least to meet chuck. As I wrote this stranger an email and mentioned that we were in SLC for a ski trip and that we would likely run by her house during one of our training runs I told her "Even though we seem like bada$$es because we ski and run marathons, we really aren't." Well, I guess now, I take that back. We just ran a marathon at a respectable pace for a first timer so at least in the near term I am classifying Jenn and I as official Bada$$es.

I'll admit, that holding hands across the finish takes some points away (see Fuji's comment on Jenn's blog) but it's pretty hard to say "no" to the request to do that as you pass mile 26 with 4 other people you toiled with through long gruelling training runs for the past 6 months. Especially when you shared such intimate stories with them about their colitis and their time in Nam.

The picture here is particularly funny though and I think sums up our experience. We had a ton of fun during the race. I mean a ton!!!! The crowd, the bands, the signs were inspiring and enjoyable. All that just made it a blast. But this picture cracks me up. The girl in the distance, Shannon, trained with us as well, although she was/is already a registered Bada$$ for completing a marathon before. But look at how intense she is compared to Jenn and I. Buff, no wonder she moved on ahead of us shortly after this picture and we didn't see her again. She finished about 7 minutes in front of us. She also might have just been annoyed by "Eye of the Tiger" radiating from my Ipod's external speakers.

Top 50%

2007-04-30T04:25:00.000-07:00

I figure since 50% of the weekends out there are below average, it's worth mentioning that I had an above average weekend. Nothing overly great, but not too shabby either. Friday night was sorta sucky, had to run a bunch of errands and didn't make it to a party to see an out of town friend. I was shutting down fast too.... it was a long week last week and even on good weeks I am ready for bed around 9pm on Fridays. Jenn had other plans so I managed to get home and squeeze in a movie that I know she didn't want to watch, "Casino Royale." It too was above average.

Saturday, had our last long training run before the Pig, www.flyingpigmarathon.com, but it wasn't really that long. 8 miles. Can't believe I can say that now.... "oh, we're just running 8 miles." That is nuts!!! Anyway, after the run, several of us drove the entire course so we would know what to expect. Very helpful as there were parts that I didn't run during the training. I am very happy that we concentrated our training on the hardest parts, the Gilbert Ave Hill, and hilly Hyde Park. Not intimidating at all now. I'm extremely stoked and can't wait for Sunday now. Never thought I would be saying that either. I figured I would be dreading it at this point. Now, I've actually had thoughts of "Which marathon am I going to run next?" We'll see how I feel after Sunday. :-).

Saturday afternoon ended up waiting outside a cabinet supplier's showroom to firm up our cabinet quote for about an hour which sucked because they never showed. Still not sure what is up with that. However, did make it to our second supplier and talked through some of our updates. Plus, I think we changed our preference on style slightly during the course of sititng in the parking lot waiting so that was progress. Now if only the quote will come down 20% magically.

Then, Saturday night hit one of the funner things in Cincinnati. The Wainscott Crawfish Boil. Jenn works with Chrissy and it's become a yearly event. If you haven't been to one before here's the short version... They have 150 pounds of live crawfish shipped from Louisiana, they throw a bunch of cajun spice, potatoes, sausage, mushrooms, citrus fruit, in a HUGE boiling kettle and then dump the crawfish in. When they're cooked, they dump them on a table and everyone digs in. You basically break off the tail and then pick the meat out. Sounds gross, but pretty yummy and very fun.

Sunday, more kitchen stuff.... framing is officially done and plumbing has started. I'm just trying to lay it out now and will hopefully have a pro come over and check my design. Also got rid of our old range which is awesome. It was taking up so much space and it was impossible to walk through the kitchen/dining room. Unfortunately, we'll probably be getting the new appliances within a month and they will be sitting all over the house. Once I get the plumbing done though I think I'll start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Everything after that is something I have done or at least have some experience with... flooring, sink installation. Plus, it gets more fun once you get the "guts" done. Routing a stack vent blows compared to installing cool wall tile or a pendant light.

I guess we all sell out eventually.

2007-04-16T07:15:00.000-07:00

Had one of the best weekends I have had in awhile which is surprsing considering the atrocious weather. Went to LaRosa's on Friday night to carb load on some spaghetti. Ran in a somewhat official 20 mile training run on Saturday morning in the cold and rain. Most of the organized teams got together to sponsor the run. Went pretty well despite the weather and thankfully that is as far as we go until the marathon in 3 weeks. Then, my fam - minus Evan, came to town. After a short visit at our house we headed to the Newport Aquarium. I haven't been there in awhile and although it was really crowded, it was great. They've crammed quite a good display there and the shark rays are pretty cool.

Then, the highlight of the weekend was going to Maggiano's in Kenwood. Most people know that I tend to avoid chain restaurants. Not because I hate them but more because there are plenty of great non-chain options in this town. However, I love the family style at Maggiano's and with the babies I thought they would be a little more accomodating than a smaller non-chain place.

They exceeded my expectations. It might have possibly been because all I ate on Saturday was a banana, a half bagel, and a couple of taquitos, (don't forget, 20 mile run) but WOW!!! they have just amazing food and with the family style they just keep it coming.... $25/person for a 5 course meal of varied selections. My mom actually said "I think it might have been the best meal I have ever had." I tend to agree with her but I think the enjoyment of a meal is more related to the friends/family you have around you than the food itself.

This will be a boring one

2007-04-10T06:06:00.000-07:00

I don't feel like working yet today so I'm just going to blog first and then get my day rolling. As you guessed, even though it was Easter weekend, my weekend consisted of running, and working on the kitchen/bath. Many minor frustrations rippled through the work which was mainly putting up the wall framing. The most frustating part was a couple of supply lines I had to cap off in order to fit one of the walls in place. I was denying the need to do it as I will be completely replacing those lines in a couple weeks but unfortunately we couldn't move forward until they were below floor level.... Although a seemingly easy task (I have soldered copper pipe many times) it required significant ceiling demo in the garage (needed regardless for future work) and for whatever reason one line would just not quit dripping. I actually thought I was done, came back the next morning, it was still dripping, After about 14 tries, no exageration, I just quit and put a bucket under it. BTW, Jenn if you are reading this, go down to the garage and empty the white trash can that is sitting on the ladder. It is probably about half full by now.

Another somewhat significant frustration came to me last night when I decided to mark the floor drain for the bathtub, yup, right in the middle of the steel joist. In fact, it's not quite in the middle, it is just off of center but the wrong way so I'll have to move the even more wall. I knew this was a possibility but it basically landed in the exact worst location. The good news, the bathroom will be a little bigger, the bad news, I have to move the wall out and the dining room will be a little smaller.

Luckily these minor frustrations do not affect the overall timeline but the next couple months are riddled with known delays, marathon, family visits, vacation. Plus, one significant issue is my plumbing buddy may not be available to help me the weekend I want to start which would not only set me back one week, but the following weekend is the marathon so I can't really start then, so I just lost two weeks. suck.

Sorry to whine. I'll be better next time. Time to work.

Don't even think about it.

2007-03-30T05:15:00.000-07:00

There is a holiday coming up on Sunday. Just an FYI to you folks that may be thinking about something for me... go right ahead but remember, I repay and repay 10 fold. That's not a warning, it's just information for you to consider. I will not instigate anything, I only repay so you are safe.

No Bones About It

2007-03-20T06:04:00.000-07:00

Ahh, this weekend was relatively more exciting than the one's of late.... Friday night watched Purdue win their first round game and my Bro-in-law and Sis-in-law from E-ville came to visit. Couldn't stay out late since we had a 16 mile run on Saturday morning which went pretty well. I went pretty slow but felt ok all things considering. Afterward, met up with the relatives and did my normal St. P day celebration. Molly Mallone's (Dubliner) with Jared and Wilcoxon. They were there at 7am which I could not partake due to the running but my heart was with them. Unfortunately, for the second straight year my good drinking buddy Charlie and I didn't link up. Very sad. There's always Octoberfest.

After that we went to Cactus Pear which I have not been to in awhile. Oddly enough, I think it might have been the first restaurant I came to in Cincinnati the night before my interview with P&G. Anyway, I forgot or never realized how amazing it is. For those SLC trippers, it is just as good as Red Iguana, not quite as extensive of a menu but the moles, prounounce mole lays, (That's what she said) are sehr gut.

Sunday was the official completion of the kitchen remodel, oh yeah, and my Birthday. Didn't really do much for my birthday but did get a freaking sweet rechargable worklight from my mother in law.... thanks Yovie. It's 32 LEDs and is crazy bright. For the demo had to basically polish off some loose ends, a few misc boards still attached to the floor and some walls. Unfortunately, realized I needed to tear out a significant portion of drywall which made a HUGE mess and had to clear away a small portion of the dining room ceiling which caused plaster to fall in areas I didn't want it to. However, Jenn started helping at the end of the day so we got prett much all the debris cleared out and in the dumpster which was rolled away on Monday at a very full state. I can't believe we filled 20 yards. Unfortunately, I'm not technically done because I have portions of the ceiling to clear in the basement which will cause a HUGE mess down there and take some time to assure I don't hit electric and plumbing lines. Plus I'll have to move the worsher and dryer. Balz... not looking forward to it.

However, we can officially clean up which I began last night. It is very slow though. No matter how hard you try, you just can't keep the dust contained. Fortunately, our couches are going away next week so I don't really care that they are pretty well trashed. It's just a matter of getting all the dust out of every nook and cranny on the bottom floor. Luckily, our dining room can be arrange now into somewhat of a kitchen.

Did have one somewhat interesting thing happen, at least Jenn thinks it's interesting. Found a nice little mouse skeleton, actually, as far as mice go, this bad boy was pretty big. Take a look.... and yes Jared, your hand was about 2 cm from this thing.

I'm actually impressed I haven't found more infestations in the house so just one carcass didn't seem too bad.

Good Day

2007-03-16T10:13:00.000-07:00

Man, things are going decent today. After our section meeting I was rounding up folks to go out for lunch and my 2-up boss asked if we could take a really late lunch, like 2:30ish. That way he could watch the Notre Dame game. It didn't take much to convince us all that we could enable that so I'm taking off in a few to watch some games with my boss. YES.

Then I stopped at the license branch to renew my license. As you can imagine, the line was pretty long but as I walked up to get my number a dude decided to leave and put his number back on the rack, which was way earlier than the next one. Plus, I didn't know I needed to get cash so I ran to the bank and made it back just 2 people prior to my number being called so I basically had no time wasted!!!

I need to go get a lottery ticket.

Electric Sludge

2007-03-09T05:58:00.000-08:00

If you haven't realized it, this blog is going to be dominated by kitchen stuff for awhile. That is pretty much my life. I'll try to make it as interesting as possible though.

Last evening I progressed nicely with the demo. Small group got canceled which gave me a couple of extra hours to rip down ceiling and a few boards. Jonathan is coming over on Saturday to help with the floor and I'm hoping that I just spend Sunday tying up some loose ends and cleaning the place up a bit. I did however want to take the opportunity of no friends in the house to try to tackle what I'm pretty sure is asbestos insulated pipe.... remnant radiator lines in the ceiling and walls. I needed a little help from Jenn to hold the pipes up while I cut them with my massive reciprocating saw so I gave her the toxic dust mask and held my breath. As I was cutting these two particular pipes I was reminded of the story my HVAC dude told me of the black sludge that builds up at the bottom of radiators. Nothing bad, just a little gross, I guess from the minerals in the pipes and water over the course of 50+ years of use. I was reminded because these two pipes still had the residual sludge that began spraying and oozing all over me as I cut. Nonetheless, I cut away to finish the job as I quickly was blackened all over my arms and face.

On pipe two I got about halfway through and my hand started getting a tingling cramp. Reminded me of the numbness I would get after long motorcycle rides.... ahhhh the memories. No surprise, my hands have been about the only thing that have shown significant soreage through this process. I kept going and felt the cramping and then realized that I was close to the old over the sink light junction box and although the wires are capped off I was actually getting shocked.... bufff. I hadn't turned the breakers off. I went down quickly and shut the power off and went to town again. BUFFFF, shocked again, pretty bad this time. Holy Merph, the pipe is electrified. What's going on? Well, as smart people might have guessed, when the "make the lights flicker" electric saw gets watery sludge all over it it must allow current to flow through the user. BUFFFUFUFUFFFF. I quit for the evening after that.

I do not deny that I completely do not understand electricity. That's why I was a Civil Engineer, not an Electrical. My Freshman year at Purdue I actually scored in the bottom 5% of my class in the Physics class on electricity after the first exam. I managed to escape with a "C" and ran. Lovingly pursuing my tangible steel, concrete and wood structures. I worked for an Electrical Engineering company in college and did testing, calibration, and assembly. Quite fun because I got to solder, but shocked myself almost weekly because I would always touch the red resistor. Never touch the red resistor!!! That was 220 volt too. And for some reason, 220 volt is worse the 120, although everyone always says it's the amps that matter.... what the buff does that mean? I also shocked myself not once, not twice, but three times, when I was fixing my air conditioner just because I didn't shut off the breaker. You think I would learn after 2 times to shut the darn thing off.

So, questions:

1) What is the theory behind my shocking sawing last night? Does that mean the outlet isn't grounded? Shouldn't it have tripped the breaker when current started running through my body?

2) Shouldn't the saw have fried like the box fan I tried to dry out by turning it on in nine-seven after I hosed it off in the shower? Why did it keep working?

I love Bunn!!!

2007-03-05T07:37:00.000-08:00

Although I do love my coffee maker, those things that hamburgers come on, and I don't really consider myself a "boob-man" despite Jenn's really nice knockers, I am talking about the man, Jared Bunn. This dude has helped me, and saved me, on numerous home improvement projects. Mainly hardwood refinishing but this past weekend he came over both days and helped with the demo on the kitchen (see Jenn's blog). Although demolishing something sounds fun, it loses it luster after about 20 minutes. Jared was a trooper and helped a ton. Thanks man!!!

Kudos to Bert and Burgdorf for their help as well. Bert helped for most of the day on Saturday and Burgdorf last hour help on Sunday was all that was keeping me going. You guys rock.

There's just a little more to do which I think I can finish off on my own but if anyone wants to have some fun, let me know. The Flooring is the main part and I do still have some small walls to remove.

Things I learned:

-Always err on the side of bigger when it comes to dumpsters. Definitely have plenty of room left but if I went one size smaller it would be tight.

-Well built houses are a pain in the butt to tear apart.

-When hitting a toilet with a sledgehammer it makes really cool sparks. Anyone know why?

Injuries:

(Luckily, I think all the injuries happened to myself and not my friends)

-Knock in the forehead with a small 2x4. Didn't hurt too bad but left a little scrap and a bit of a bump. I'm not complaining, for only about a 8" board it had no less than eight 4" nails sticking out of it. The corner that actually made contact was the only corner without a nail. Blessings

-Bloody nose from a chunk of ceiling plaster

-Minor scrapes on the arms.

I fully expect a trip to the hospital as part of this remodel so I'm pretty sure this was the most dangerous part so to emerge with no trip yet, I'm doing pretty well.

Smashing

2007-02-26T05:41:00.000-08:00

As you can see from Jenn's blog, I moved forward with our demo on our kitchen over the weekend. Didn't do anything substantial but definitely created quite a bit of debris. At one point I didn't need a ladder anymore because I could stand on the pile. As I continue to be frustrated with plumbing quotes, or just getting them to call me back, I do cheer up when I get to acquire a new tool. I just made my Home Depot list and a crowbar is on the list for this week. I have a small flat bar that I have used extensively to rip out trim, nails, etc. with my hardwood refinishing and it was served well thus far on some of the kitchen demo but I definitely need some more torque and I'm going to get a longer, more heavy duty one like the one pictured to really go nuts this weekend.

FYI, I am most likely doing extensive demo this weekend. Getting a dumpster and everything. I would like a little help. Although there are parts that are relatively delicate, like watching not to cut through wiring, there will be a fair amount of smashing, saw-zawing (sp?) so it will be a little fun. I'm looking for 2-3 people for Saturday afternoon. Let me know if you have interest. There will be plenty of beer.

Princess Chicken

2007-02-21T05:12:00.000-08:00

Had some pretty interesting stuff go down for us over the past week or so. We met with a really cool family, (Steve, Kathy, and their daughter Olivia) to officially start the adoption process. They adopted Olivia a couple years ago from China and are in process on their second daughter. Our plan is to pretty much copy what they have done. We talked with them for a couple of hours last Monday night before the storm hit and got numbers, and websites, etc.

Found out the wait period is a little longer than we thought. Close to two years from the very beginning. Unfortunately, after calling to get things rolling, found out that China has a lower age limit of 30 which means we can't even submit our paperwork until November when Jenn turns 30. Slight bummer but I think we are patient. Hopefully, the wait time after that point improves also so that instead of 2.5 years from right now it's more like 1.5-2. We'll see. Just gives us more time to get the kitchen finished. We may actually try to get twins. Who knows how all that will pan out.

They will almost definitely be girls but how cool would it be if we could get a boy too. I would totally name him General with the middle name Tso. That's just a cool sounding name. General.... "AND STARTING AT QUARTERBACK.... GENERAL WIIIILLLLLKKKKEEEEYYYY." Man, I really want a boy too now. That name is even better than Rodrigo. Ooooo, maybe we could do, Rodrigo General Wilkey. I think those may be my grandfather's initials too.

Finally

2007-02-08T05:13:00.000-08:00

(Wow, I figured out how to add a picture.)

Sorry for the delay in posting after such a significant victory but I've been busy celebrating. As you saw on Jenn's blog we watched the game at my brother's and then drove home. Got back about 1am which is no big whoop as I planned on taking the morning off to run errands, etc. However, when I was at the oil change place just before I was going to work in the afternoon I saw the ticker mention the parade and the rally at the RCA dome on Monday afternoon that I was contemplating attending... that ticker pushed me over the edge. I got to work about 12:30, emailed Jenn, she was in, and I immediately left. Amy came along also and we got to the RCA dome ~4:30 and waited for the team to arrive. They were supposed to start the parade at 4pm but flight delays pushed it back a couple hours. Luckily, we were high and dry in the packed RCA dome.

It was pretty cool seeing the rally. Good, short speeches, and just the fans welcoming the team home. Very electric.

Tony Dungy has moved into the top spot (obviously still second to the wife) as my favorite person on earth. Sorry Bob Dole and Jim Cramer. His speech after the game, which I'm having trouble finding online, represented him and Christians so well. He didn't try to act like God gave them the superbowl win, yadda yadda, but rather he spoke of how God brought them together as a family which helped them win. God doesn't give a crap about the Colts winning the Superbowl, he does care how we live our lives and Dungy has tried to follow God's will in his job and instill those values in his team. Quality!!!

I can't say that I'm glad the Colts didn't get the win sooner but I will say that it sure makes it feel real good now. Had they won back when everyone just assumed they would win and it wouldn't feel as big a deal.

Now, if someone could just tell Larry Byrd and Rick Carlisle to do the same thing I would appreciate it. Those guys are such thugs. I miss my boys of ten years ago.

Dreams

2007-01-29T16:51:00.000-08:00

No, I'm not talking about the Van Halen song, although it is one of their best and one of the first songs I bought on Itunes. I'm talking about the things that happen in your sleep. I seldom remember any of my dreams... not sure I actually have them much. About once a quarter I remember one though and I had a doosie the other night. Obviously details are vague, and the linkages are subject to random dreamdom but here's the short of it.

I was on a trip in some form, might have been my trip to Utah and we were returning home. On the way home we stopped off to spend the night at Tony Dungy's place. Evidently he lives on a large lake and before we went to the house we were hanging out by the lake with a bunch of other lake residents. There was something going on down there, they were sorta having an HOA meeting or something but for whatever reason I started walking up the road to go back to the house which was a mile or more away. On the way a shuttle started coming up behind me, like the ones at the Kings' Island parking lot. I think Burgdorf was on it and as it came closer I realized Tony Dungy was driving it, and it wasn't exactly a shuttle, but a fighter jet. How sweet!!! Dungy is not only a great coach but he has a fighter jet that he taxis around his lake giving people rides. As I boarded on the back of the plane I noticed other fighter jets flying around, at abnormally slow speeds. Evidently it was some sort of fighter jet lake community.

Once we got to Dungy's house we checked it out but then he showed us that he has kept all of his clothes in the Mayflower moving truck out on the street because he figures at any minute he might lose his job and have to move. I think I am still suffering from the loss of Marchibroda back in the 90s.

Quality

2007-01-22T05:24:00.000-08:00

I pulled up my blog to see if there are any previous posts about my loyalty to the Colts. Unfortunately, I'm not as loyal to blogging as I am the Colts so of course there isn't any mention but anyone who knows me well knows the turmoil I have seen. This is a message to all you fair weather Bengal spankers. I AM A COLTS FAN and have been since eight-four when they moved to Indy. I didn't jump on the bandwagon in the last 5 years*. I remember Hogeboom, Eric Dickerson, and our fan favorite, Jeff George**.

For those of you that think the Colts just recently got decent, you are terribly wrong. Nine-Five/Six was still one of the most exciting seasons and they were one catch from the superbowl. Although I was extremely pissed when they let Marchibroda go, still my favorite coach.

http://www2.indystar.com/library/factfiles/sports/football-pro/indpls_colts/history/colts.html

Enough history... I had the bittersweet pleasure of flying into Indy yesterday from Utah. I landed about 10am and I can't tell you how exciting it was to see a city support their team. There were a few Colts jerseys on the plane but I noticed a HUGE "Go Colts" banner hanging from the steelwork on the new Indy Airport Terminal. http://www.newindianapolisairport.com/
Plus signs on the floor was you walk off the plane and then EVERYONE had Colts Jerseys on!!! The workers, the travellers, everyone!!! I was ashamed I had not worn mine on the plane. I was saving it for later in the day, at least that was my excuse. It was a sea of blue.

I can't tell you how excited, relieved, happy, that the Colts finally made it. Year after year, you see these quality guys almost get there but then struggle in the playoffs. I'm the first to admit that Peyton has never won a big game, including in college, but again, this is why Indy fans are quality. When they go down in the playoffs, we don't start cursing and hating the team like other fans, we feel some sadness, a little empathy for the players, and then we start looking to next year. Fortunately, "next year" is now!!!! and Superbowl title is hopefully finally coming to the circle city!!!! My only disappointment is my favorite player, Stokely, is not going to see the field. http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2697890 He is pictured above.

*For DU guys, like Don Housley who conveniently was a Bulls and Packers fan in the early nineties. I wonder how well that passion is maintaining???

**My favorite memory of Jeff George is from the Bob and Tom Show, prior to national syndication, when they sent Chick down to Atlanta to cover the Pacers/Hawks in the playoffs. BTW, I am also a Pacers fan although that is becoming more difficult as they pull in more and more thugs. Anyway, Chick came back with audio from a bar in Atlanta where he got the room chanting. "Jeff George Sucks! Jeff George Sucks!" JG was the QB in Atlanta at the time, I think that is when he went missing for awhile. That was the only audio Chick had.... nothing about the Pacers, no interviews with local fans.... just "Jeff George Sucks! Jeff George Sucks!" Incidently, he did suck. That guy is such a spanker, he even hosed Purdue. I'd love it if somewhere in Miami a bar starts chanting that.

Bro

2006-11-14T07:55:00.000-08:00

I've been getting some heat for not posting but one of the reasons was because no one seemed to be responding to some of my more intellectual posts. So, it's sorta in your hands. You still want to see stuff from me?... then I want some action. You've probably missed my opinions at their best as we just passed the election and I'm sure I'll post soon about my annoyance and the illegality of a smoking ban but for now I wanted to share this.... I was on a business trip in Cape Girardeau, MO. On my way to the airport in St. Louis to come home I saw a billboard for a bra shop. Unfortunately I couldn't get my camera phone out quick enough to snap a shot, not that I know how to download them but I did find a link to the store.

No big deal on the shop itself but notice the location. http://www.brashop.com/html/instore.htm

BUBBUBUUFFFFFFF

TV Fast

2006-08-01T03:53:00.000-07:00

I made the mistake last week to forward a post from Jenn's blog to some people on my volleyball team. The post about "words we hate", it came up in conversation after the game. Unwittingly, I did not think they would then link to my blog and others, oh yeah, and these people are co-workers. I have nothing to hide... even tweety bird slippers, so I'm not changing anything. We'll see if they are interested enough to check back in and have the nads to post a comment.

I decided this week to eliminate TV. Multiple small reasons but nothing significant. I was getting pretty tired of watching the Reds games right when the pivotal play happened that lost the game for them. I'm just going to give it a shot because there are magazines that I haven't read, house stuff I should probably get done, and some other volunteer stuff I need to work on. I'll let you know how it goes. I'll be honest, TV is my escape and comfort. I love having it on in the background. I like watching informative shows. I love watching old sitcoms (really old and not so old) to wind down after work and before bed. TV is a great mindless activity.

Merph on,
J

What makes the news?

2006-07-23T05:20:00.000-07:00

We're finally moved in, work is getting under control, house projects are manageble and The Frank is back to health (pretty much) so that spells some time to blog. Oh yeah Jenn is out of town for pretty much 2 full weeks.... that will probably mean less time to blog since she takes pretty good care of me.

She and I had a pretty interesting conversation last night over our celebratory dinner of her AP Latin kids scoring extremely well on the AP exam... indication that she is the best Latin teacher this side of Latin America.

The conversation was around the news.... we complain often at how annoying it is that the news only gives us two things.... The weather, and all the bad things that are happening.

I'm so tired of hearing about murder this, and bombing that, bank robbery over there, etc. etc. Don't get me wrong, I think some of those things are news worthy but doesn't it make sense that people would actually want to hear some good news once in awhile.

So the question I have is... is it us, as a broad population, that will only watch the news if there is some conflict or bad thing? Or is it the news shows that only dig up the bad news. Perhaps because it is easy to find (police band, and public record)?

Ahhh, the sweet sound of blogging

2006-06-27T09:01:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to make a bunch of excuses of why I haven't blogged in awhile. Read Jenn's blog, that gives you enough info.

Sitting on a conference call right now... probably don't need to be on since a couple times someone called my name, I couldn't figure out the mute button to turn it off, and then the question was answered by someone else. Why are they paying me?

I'm not sure you guys caught this in my comments of Jenn's blog so I definitely wanted to reiterate the most memorable part of my European vacation.

www.worldnakedbikeride.com

House Cooling Party

2006-05-10T13:58:00.000-07:00

The last bash on Pandora. Can't trash it but we can certainly enjoy it. Be sure to be at my house on Saturday night, 5:30. We will be grilling out. Let us know if you are coming so we can plan food accordingly. Bring a lawn chair if you have one handy.

HVD

2006-05-05T06:06:00.000-07:00

I know my posts are slightly boring, I'll try to get back to my funnier self at some point. Here's the latest question around the HVAC system. I have found a little data on a newer technology that uses High Velocity Duct. Anyone know anyone that may have used this stuff and/or a contractor that installs it.

I have 4 contractors coming over on Monday but I think they are going to just be the normal forced air systems. This high velocity stuff is small ducting (2") and therefore smaller vents and things as well. Makes it easier to run the duct through an older home like ours.

Excitement is definitely starting to set in though. As soon as the home inspection is complete on our house I'll feel a ton better. Slightly worried something might come up that could break the deal.

House Question #1 -Floor vs. Ceiling

2006-05-03T04:27:00.000-07:00

I'm going to field a bunch of questions here probably because I need some input. Our first HUGE house project is replacing the radiant heat with a new forced air furnace and A/C. Obviously running ductwork is going to be interesting. One thing I'm wondering since I have the choice. Should we install the vents in the floor or the ceiling. In the upstairs there is no question we'll be putting it through the ceiling. However, in the downstairs it wouldn't be much of a pain to do it either way.

I think all new houses do the floor.... is that right? I assume it's an efficiency thing but if there is an argument for ceiling vents I think I might lean that way to avoid cutting holes in the floor and the limitations on furniture placement, etc.

Party's On!!!

2006-05-02T18:21:00.000-07:00

After a brief interlude where we thought we might have a bidding war on our place today which forced a quick trip home to clean up and take the Frank out to get the house ready to show, we landed on a deal. Slightly less than we wanted but definitely satisfactory. I guess the buyer is probably saying "slightly more than we wanted but definitely satisfactory."

So, that means a few very key things. First, we are moving before June 5th. Second, I'm going to try to have a new HVAC system installed in my new house within the next 3 weeks. YIKES.

Thirdly, and most importantly. My graduation party is back on!!! It won't be much, probably a keg and some burgers, and of course some fire. If you can make it, please RSVP by phone or this blog so we can plan food accordingly. Please let others know that might be interested.

(sigh) Realtors

2006-05-02T04:55:00.000-07:00

Although I have some really good friends that our realtors and at times thought it would be awesome to be a real estate agent, I really am annoyed with the profession in general. The removal of cincymls.com is evidence of how the realty business operates as a cartel like OPEC.

I'm only slightly annoyed right now but it at least warrants a blog. We got our offer yesterday morning.... pretty good overall but we definitely need to meet a middle ground. Of course they gave us until 5pm last night to get the counter offer back. Completely understandable as we could go shopping for bids if we take too much time. However, we countered around noon, and then last night I hear that the realtor is working the polls and won't get back to us until Wednesday.

This is where I get annoyed and why I was actually excited that the house I just bought was an owner agent. The realtors with my sell put in 2 extra people in the process to deal with and not only provides inefficiency into the bidding process but can actually screw up the deal. For instance, I proposed a change in the close date. Not sure if their request is a hard date, as in they have to be out of a lease, etc. However, we would like a different date but it's not a big deal either way, but the buffering of the realtors doesn't necessarily allow that communication to occur.

I think we are starting to see it but I think there will be a large shift in how real estate is bought and sold. I think realtors fit into the picture but their role should be drastically different.

Anticipation

2006-05-01T05:21:00.000-07:00

I'll default to Jenn's post for my Friday night fun.... which was VERY FUN. Thanks to Wilcoxon, Jared, Burgie and or course Mark for the festivities and for not trashing our house which had a showing the following morning.

Saturday I went down the Red River Gorge to scout paths for a backpacking trip I'm taking some church kids on. I took the Frank so I could assess the pace of an 8 year old. He loves to hike despite his three legged walking. Found a pretty good loop too that I think the kids will like.

Sunday, spent the afternoon at the Fuji's in Louisville during our open house. Always great to see Kendall.

Then got home and got a call from the Realtor that we have an offer. He didn't know what it looked like yet and was going to forward it along as soon as he got to the office today. This could be a HUGE blessing if it's reasonable which I expect it will be. Freaking can't wait to see it though!!!!

Stress?

2006-04-27T08:54:00.000-07:00

Haven't posted in awhile so I figured I'd better get something out there. You can pretty well keep up with my life through Jenn's posts anyway. The last couple of weeks have been spent with house buying and selling stuff. Unbelievable how much it takes to sell a house. Our house is in pretty good shape but we still had many hours of minor things to clean up and fix. It looks awesome though, and Jenn deserves the bulk of the credit. It's really weird for me to live in a state of pristineness though. Stark contrast to the days of mounds of clothes in college.

Other than that, not much new. I do have to admit that this is about as stressed as I have ever been. We close on our new house on the 12th and so at that point I will own 2 1/3 houses (the rental, the current and the future) within a quarter mile of each other.

Had an offer on the rental that didn't go through. Would have been nice to have been done with that process but the person wasn't quite giving enough. Unfortunately, showings have slowed down there, and they are non-existent on our house. That's what has me freaked a little. It's a constant second-guessing myself... "Have we priced our houses right?" "Should I have made the purchase contingent on the sell of my house?" "What if we sit on these houses for 6 months or even a year?"

I think the real thing that freaks me out is that we can handle the money but there is no hiding the fact that the reason we bought the new place was to pave the road for kids and the money that will go to the holding costs is just borrowing from the kid adoption fund. I know God will get it all worked out, just have to be faithful.

Strange for me to be stressed though. Particularly on something like this. It's my guideline to never be stressed about something I can't control and this stuff is definitely out of my control. I guess I'm just worried I made the wrong decisions and my wife and family are going to pay the price for it.

What are we doing?!?!?

2006-04-12T03:54:00.000-07:00

I didn't really want to communicate news like this over a blog but life is a little ridiculous right now so I don't have a better way to dissiminate.... sorry mom.

Jenn and I are under contract on a house. It's only about 2 blocks from our current house. Although it seems a little sudden, we (or at least I) have been looking into our next options for awhile.... adding on, moving to the burbs, etc. Wasn't really serious until I knew that an overseas assignment was out of the picture for me. Which it is out for the time-being.

Anyway, after some pretty heavy haggling with the owner/agent we got what I think is a pretty good deal. It needs a lot of work. Mainly a replacement of the asbestos roof, a new HVAC system, and a complete kitchen remodel. Any recos for contractors would be appreciated.

Here's the link if you want to see more pics.

http://www.sibcycline.com/viewlisting.asp?mls=980021&b=CIN&p=RESI&s=SFRD&m=1

Word

2006-04-03T13:10:00.000-07:00

Not much interesting going on with me.... haven't blogged much lately since my mom got me a computer game for my birthday, Civilization III, so I have been playing that. Plus, the rental house that I partially own we are selling so we have been cleaning/painting in order to get it ready to sell. If you know anyone that is interested in a good house in P Ridge... send them our way.

I'm stuck in a meeting right now but thankfully we learned at the beginning of the meeting that my services are actually not required for this project because one of the companies we outsource to handles this work. Who says that outsourcing is bad??? Just saved me a ton of heartache.

Hopefully I can get out of here soon so I can get to the gym and/or a Sierra Club meeting that I am thinking about attending.

By the way, I am graduating from Xavier in about a month, which by the way was just rated 24th for part time programs, First time it's hit the US News Rankings. It's a non-ticketed event so anyone is welcome to come to the Cintas Center at 2pm on May 13. We will be having a grill-out at my house afterward. Probably will be some beer and fire. Let us know if you think you will come so we can plan food accordingly.

Sorry for the delay

2006-03-23T17:54:00.000-08:00

Haven't posted in awhile.... been pretty busy at work which is where I would usually take 5 and write my post.

Had St Pattie's day and my B-day last weekend. If you didn't already read Wilcoxon's blog or Jared's it will be news to you that Nick Lachey made an appearance at my favorite, newly reopened, neighborhood bar on Friday. I have to admit it sorta bugged me because that definitely does not fit the style of that bar where they main clientele are in their 40s. However, it did make for a relatively interesting afternoon and hopefully it wil boost the bar's popularity a bit while it gets off it's feet.

B-day was pretty sweet, got a couple of cool new t shirts, and some other stuff off my gift registry. Jenn made me a sweet Wiedemann cake. Yup fellas, she's a keeper.

Nightmare last night

2006-03-08T14:27:00.000-08:00

I don't often remember my dreams but last night I sure did. I had a dream that I was at the newly opened Dubliner (bar near my house) with Jenn and the rennovations consisted of turning it into a bar themed around boating. Decor was stupid and almost what you would see in a crappy fraternity... or cabin in a speed boat. For those of you familar with Dubliner, I was sitting in the side room just off the short part of the bar. When I realized the crappy decor in my dream I got up and saw that the bar didn't even have bar stools and no overhang to allow bar stools and it was all done in bamboo or something. I then saw the new name of the bar... Boaterboyz. Unfreaking believable. I sat back down at my table and started to cry... not sure if that physically happened or not but it definitely happened in the dream. Everything was pretty hazy after that but I do know I went home and put my house up for sale. My neighborhood was dead to me.

I should probably be the one that knows this but does anyone know when it's going to reopen? My St Patties Day plans hinge around that place being open. There is no indication on the outside yet of when the grand opening will be.

BTW, on St Patties Day I think Jenn is going to put some snacks together in the evening so folks can come over and watch me stumble back from the Dubliner and eat off the stupor. All are welcome in my opinion. That will usher in my B-day which is the next day.

Duhn…. Duhn duhn duhn, duhn duhn duuuuuhhnnnnnnnn

2006-03-02T06:22:00.000-08:00

Got off the bus this morning and had just finished listening to the latest “Onion” podcasts.

(BTW, if you have an Ipod and don’t get these, you are crazy. Quick, 1 minute spoof newscasts that makes me laugh out loud almost everytime.)

As I started walking toward my building I switched over to the Rocky Soundtrack and kicked in some “Eye of the Tiger.” As I walked toward the towering Purple and Teal, Luvs and Pampers banners with the beat matching every step I felt my intensity and productivity increasing. I gave Kandoo (The Frog) and high five, (actually a low five, his arms aren’t above his head, and yes we have a 5 foot tall statue of Kandoo in my lobby) and I just knew that today was going to be a good day.

I thought the “Eye” would only work in sports situations but I am kicking butt today!!! When I’m done with this project, you guys are going to see the greatest training pant that ever was created. Huggies Suck!!!

This kid is going places.

2006-02-23T17:11:00.000-08:00

For my close friends, you know why this picture practically brings tears to my eyes. I'm so glad that there are youth out there that renew my faith in future generations.

Cell Phone Plans

2006-02-20T08:58:00.000-08:00

Need some insight... After 2 gruelling years Jenn and I's cell phone contract is finally up. Although Sprint has been fine we are ready to change plans to reduce cost slightly and we both need new phones. I have been shopping around a bit and Cingular has been a front runner as far as cost but I really don't want to get into a 2 year contract again. Just came across a President's day sale with T-Mobile that is only 12 months, the price we are looking for, and 2 free Moto Razors.

With that said... anyone have any feedback on T mobile? I have heard so-so reviews on their service in the past but for the price it might be worth it for us. Plus we just got a home IP phone again so our cell phones will really be more functional convenience rather than necessity.

Any input would be helpful. According to the website (wirefly) I have to purchase by the end of the day.

Garbage Disposal

2006-02-13T07:44:00.000-08:00

Spent the weekend installing a garbage disposal, not replacing, installing. Here are the stats:

Time Spent - ~12 hours
Cost - ~$175
Tools Used
-Hammer (2)
-Drill
-Pipe Wrenches (2)
-MORriS (Mother Of all Reciprocating Saws)_
-Coat Hanger (2)
-Ski Pole
-25 pound dumbbell
-Wire cutters
-Pliers (Needle nose and regular)
Contorted Positions - 23
Trips to Home Depot - 2
Electric Shocks - 0

Overall, although it took awhile and was not without frustrations, my reduction in trips to HD, and the zero electric shock factor, made this home improvement item all around okay. The wiring was definitely the challenging part, especially since I suck at electricity stuff. My first "C" came in my "Electricity and Electromagnetism" class in college... I'm not bragging, there were plenty more. But, I got out of that class and thanked God that I was going to be a civil engineer.

I thought I'd take the challenge of this one considering a guy I work with said that wiring to the breaker is pretty easy and I had bought the GD over a year ago and never had it installed because it was going to cost over $300 to have someone do it, not including materials. I hate electric work because the electric shock risk but since I would be wiring to the breaker my risk of electric shock was lower since I wouldn't hook it up until the end.

Then I remembered, it wasn't the safety that bugged me about wiring, I hate wiring because it's a pain in the butt. Especially if you have an old house like mine that doesn't have a wall cavity to feed the wire.

Luckily it's done and I don't think anything will catch of fire or leak. Would I do it again? Not a chance.

In a meeting

2006-02-06T10:38:00.000-08:00

Life at P&G from the outside sounds really boring... and I suppose there is some truth to that although I do admit I like my job. It's funny though because 95% of my job is meetings and email. With a big chunk of that the meeting portion. I'm actually in a conference call right now.

I have to admit I sorta slacked off last week, especially on a small project I am just "helping" on. We're reviewing a follow-up list right now and I completely forgot to do some of my follow-ups... or at least I think I forgot. Of the roughly 10 items I had, 4 I actually did complete. However, 5 others, just as I was about to apologize for slacking, someone else chimed in and gave my update as complete.... it was very eerie. Unfortunately, one time someone on the call sneezed loudly and I couldn't hear anything except... "Justin has (asdfasdfopioijioadfasdfasdfk;lkjasdf)... So we're good." Didn't think I did anything on it so I have to figure that out.

Ah Mikado

2006-01-27T06:31:00.000-08:00

I was about to ask who knew who General Tso is... but I found out and thought you would all enjoy the namesake of my favorite dish's story. See this link.

General Tso Story

And to make it a little more fun. I'll treat the first person that can find my favorite phrase in this news article to some General Tso's Chicken.

I'm tagged

2006-01-26T09:25:00.000-08:00

I got tagged by Jared to write this stuff so I'll be cool.

Four jobs I’ve had in my life
Lawn Mower
Emu Pen Cleaner (If you think they are cute, you are very wrong... very scary and dangerous)
McDonald's Crew Member
Engineering Draftsman

Four movies I can watch over and over
Princess Bride
Three Amigos
Usual Suspects
Christmas Vacation

Four places I have lived
Plainfield, IN
Hanover, IN (Home of Woody Boyd)
Colorado Springs, CO
Cincinnati, OH

Four TV shows I love to watch
Lost
Scrubs
Seinfeld
American Choppers

Four places I have been on vacation
New York, NY
Cancun, Mexico
Western Europe
Colorado

Four of my favourite dishes
My mom's lasagna
General Tso's Chicken
Skyline Chili
Black Rasberry Chip Ice Cream from Graeters (is that a dish?)

Four websites I visit daily
my.pg.com
mynetscape.com
itunes music store
cnn.com (from mynetscape)

Four places I would rather be right now
At the gym
Watching Drum Corps
In a cabin in the woods with my wife and dog.
Trying to find tickets to the Colts/Seahawks in the Superbowl.

Four bloggers I am tagging
Fuji
Miriam
Heidi
Sandra

SLC final post

2006-01-23T08:43:00.000-08:00

The last day of the trip was comprised of some great skiing but then other events that were depressing. Snow was coming down hard on the mountain in the morning.... literally couldn't see 50 feet in front of you. As Jeff said, "That keeps the posers off the mountain" and makes for great skiing conditions. I had to remind him that I am probably in the poser category. I guess since I was there with a bunch of townies I can get lumped into none poser zone.

The skiing was awesome though. We found a great run that consisted of a short hike that no one was using, then we would come back and the wind and snow had covered our tracks. Very cool.

Unfortunately, that night I had two plans. Watch the Colts game and meet up with my buddy John Erdmann and his wife who live in SLC. He's a college buddy that sorta looks like Keenu Reeves. Unfortunately, John just bought a house and was really busy with that stuff, and we all know how the Colts game went.

Trip over - flew home the next day in a somewhat eventless flight.

SLC #4

2006-01-21T04:51:00.000-08:00

As I was acting like I enjoy dancing last night at Tropicana I longingly looked into the liquor cabinet during a Cyndi Lauper song and noticed a bottle of Knob Creek Bourbon. That reminded me of the pleasant evenings the last several nights in SLC. Crushed ice and some Knob goes down really well... let the double entrendres begin.

Saturday of Skiing consisted of some limit pushing for me. Since we were skiing with Jeff and several of his friends who ski at this mountain a couple times a week they would take us to the spots where no one else goes... including getting off the lift, taking off our skis and hiking up higher. The morning on Saturday consisted of a pretty long and difficult hike up to a bowl. Although nervous, I wasn't really worried because I had enough peeps to rescue me if there was a problem. At one point we put our skis back on to traverse along the backside of the bowl... signs indicating the boundary of the ski area were just a few feet away, and vertical, rocky, cliffs were just below. Obviously care was taken to not lose a ski or a person. Fortunately/unfortunately the wind was blowing so hard across the top of the mountain that it actually pushed us against and up the mountain. I can't really estimate wind speeds very well but I'm guessint the gusts were 40+MPH.

Once we hit the bowl of course I clipped out almost immediately but once I got going again my skills from my lesson kicked in and I at least handled the black run. I don't feel bad for doing poorly at first because Jeff somersaulted down the first part of the run.

Merph on

SLC Post #3

2006-01-19T17:52:00.000-08:00

Wow, got some decent responses from the last post. I definitely had not forgotten about the infamous Paoli incident of twogeeOone, and especially the infamous goat incident of eight nine (not nine two). Don't really have enough time to expound further but let's just say that snowboarding is difficult, and aPaoli Peaks is a dangerous place to learn to ski or snowboard.

Friday of the SLC trip consisted of us looking for a place to ski a half day and then deciding just to play Catan the whole day. Tony and Jared showed up in the afternoon and Cheryl showed up later that night. The gang was all together at that point and the fun really began.

I have to talk about Cheryl a bit because her life is cool. She works for a record company and his buds with Bon Jovi (one of the two things good to come out of New Jersey) and Kanye West to name a few... literally, she pictures of her and Bahn Yavi on her camera. Probably the coolest thing about Cheryl beyond that, is that she is the first person I have met that is actually a degree closer to Kevin Bacon that I am... she's 2, I am 3. I know Meryl Streep's Nephew, and she was in "The River Wild" which makes me 3 degrees away... and by the way, makes all of you 4 degrees which makes the 6 degree thing true for you and anyone you ever meet.

Buff on,

SLC Post #2 (Day 2)

2006-01-18T15:05:00.000-08:00

I started my first day in SLC somewhat intensely. "Powder Rules" were in effect which meant there was greater than 4 inches of new snow at the mountain and the truck left at 8am to make the first lift... if you weren't ready, you were left. We arrived at Snowbasin and I got my lift ticket. My plan was to take a group lesson as my skiing skills have plataeued for the last several years so I wanted to get better. As I began walking over to the ski school I was beckoned by my buddy to "GET ON THE LIFT!!! REGISTER AFTER THE FIRST RUN." I'm pretty easily persuaded so I hopped on the gondola, slightly worried that I had never clicked into my skis but nonetheless happy to be skiing soon.

http://www.snowbasin.com/winter/trail_maps.html

We arrived at the top (Needles Lift on the map) and started down the mountain. Doing most of my skiing in Indiana, I am not too familiar with powder skiing but that didn't stop Jeff from forcing down runs that were way over my head. I actually did pretty well though. I can't even remember if I fell.... at leat not until I got near the bottom on the nice easy run, caught an edge and hit face first on a nicely groomed green slope. It was sorta stunning, first from the initial pain, then the realization that my goggles were cracked pretty good, then from the blood dripping onto the fresh snow.

I got myself back together and finished the run since there was no one around to help me out. At the bottom we were able to assess that I didn't need stitches so I went to the marble clad bathrooms of this Olympic Resort and washed the blood off my face.

It really wasn't that bad, just the fact that the goggles broke and cut me up between my eyes. My head hurt pretty good but I wear a helmet, for very obvious reasons, so that absorbed most of it. I then proceeded to register for my lesson.

Awesomely enough, I paid for a group lesson, but no one else showed so I got and individual lesson for the price of a group. Rock on!!!

Basically, I'm a self taught skier and as I expected, I taught myself wrong. I really frustrated the dude that was instructing me because he had to pretty much unteach me and reteach the correct ways. It proved to be worth the money though and my skills improved dramatically the rest of the day.

That night, more Catan.

SLC Trip Post #1

2006-01-17T13:55:00.000-08:00

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. I was on vacation to Salt Lake City to ski and hang out with some friends. I figure I'll recap the trip here over the next few days so check back in.

I left Wednesday the 11th after working a half day. My friend Scott and I were on the same flight out of Indy so we left just after lunchtime to make our 4pm flight. We were running a little late after I dropped a 12 pack of Wiedemann that I planned to take out with me to SLC, which leaked all over the floor. I almost teared up when I saw the precious nectar being wasted but at least it isn't very expensive.

Scott drove fast so we made it in plenty of time. Arrived in SLC early in the evening and the fun began. I was staying with a friend, Jeff, who moved out there a few years ago. There were several of us coming out at various times. Burgdorf showed earlier in the week but when Scott and I arrived the real fun began. We played a new game Jeff had bought, " Settlers of Catan." It's sorta like Risk meets Lewis and Clark and Warren Buffett.

It took us about 3 hours but it was very fun.

The next morning.... well, I'll leave that post until tomorrow.

PS - How the merph to you post a picture in the middle of your text?

Pet Peeve

2006-01-08T15:19:00.000-08:00

I have many peeves but I'll just mention one for now since it's appropriate for a blog. You folks that have more than yourself in your picture on your profile picture need to just have yourself, or have a big circle or something around your picture. What's weird is that I would have thought people like Jared or Wilcoxon who would need to prove to others that they actually have friends and hot wives would have multiple people in their picture, but it seems the cooler, more attractive people do it. If you have figured out how to post your picture for your profile, you certainly know how to crop out your Aunt Lodi.

Why is the sky blue?

2006-01-06T15:34:00.000-08:00

(From Left to right, Cerby (formerly our dog, now my mo-in-law's) Jenn, and Frank.)

Since no one seemed to be able to handle even a slightly deep thought I figured I'd throw something out there that is easier. "Why is the sky blue?" This isn't a deep question, I actually did a science fair project on it back in eight-five but I can't remember... I did really bad on it. Should have done a volcano or something.

I was also just about to send my blog link out to a few people (Phantom Regiment buddies) so I wanted to post something else so I could add a slightly better picture than the one from the last post....

Deep thoughts... at least for me.

2006-01-03T14:00:00.000-08:00

For those of you that know me... you know that I am pretty transparent. What you see is typically what you get. I'm reminded of a time in Drum Corps, I was laying on the floor of a gym in Illinois on my air mattress gazing up at the ceiling. Someone came up to me and said "Pennie for your thoughts"... I assume expecting some monumental comment from a young adult grasping with the meaning of life. Instead I told her my thoughts which were "I was wondering how they tied those ceiling joists into the columns during construction." Yeah, I'm pretty surface.... If I'm looking off into the distance and say I'm not thinking about anything.... I really am not thinking about anything. Seriously, I can completely not think about anything. I think it's a talent.

So, some slightly deep thoughts or realizations I've had lately. I just finished my MBA which really wasn't all that much of an accomplishment other than putting some time in. However, I realized that my MBA, and school in general has always been a means for an excuse to procrastinate on things you want to accomplish. For instance, "I'm going to start that business when I get out of school".... "I'll volunteer with church when I get out of school"... my personal favorite, "I'll help around the house more when I get out of school."

It was a little bit of an eerie feeling as I realized that when you are a student or in school you are actively trying to improve yourself and there is no question that you are doing something to make yourself better. Now that I'm not a student anymore, nor do I have any aspirations to be an official student again I'm stuck with the realization that I actually have to make myself better instead of relying on professors or classmates to propel me along.

I guess I'm all grown up now.

(Hey look, I learned how to add a picture!!)

Ah Christmas

2005-12-29T12:54:00.000-08:00

I guess it takes some time to get this blogging thing going. I haven't posted because everytime I attempt in the 4 minutes I have free I can't figure out how to do it. Luckily for you all, today I am smarter... although I just dropped $80 to have the OS on my home computer reinstalled after spending 10+ hours trying to do it myself only to end up with about 4 inches of my 15 inches monitor utilized... no internet capability, but a very nice wallpaper of a rolling meadow.

I think spending that $80 might prove that I am smarter though.

Christmas was a'ight this year. It seemed to go on forever which is a good thing. Jenn and I exchanged gifts on Wednesday evening the 21st since we were leaving for my parents on the 22nd. On the 23rd, we let my nephew open his gifts from us, on the 24th we had Christmas with my family, then on the 25th we had Christmas with Jenn's family. That's 5 different opening opportunities.

Jenn and I's presents have a little twist, we're starting this tradition of picking one store, one budget, and then going nuts. This year the store of choice was Bass Pro Shops. We thought it was a little more of a sporting goods store instead of a hunting store. It still produced a decent result, although as I proved once again, I am a better shopper than my wife. I guess I'm proud of that. I got her some workout shirts, a pretty nice fleece jacket and a cool shirt that can be a workout shirt or whatever. She got me some pretty cool stuff but circumstances forced it all to be returned or exchanged. I got a fleece vest... too big, so it was exchanged. A headlamp that she intended for me to exchange because they didn't have the one she wanted to get me. A vacuum sealed thermos that ended up being returned because it was HUGE, and a Carhart hat that I exchanged for some behind the head ear warmers. I feel bad that everything went back but I got some great stuff and the ideas she had were outstanding. I think I like my headlamp best but I haven't had much opportunity to play with it yet.

My favorite gift overall is probably my new Ipod Nano which was a combined graduation gift and Christmas followed closely by my restaurant style Belgian Waffle Maker http://www.waringproducts.com/cgi-bin/waring/ret/waringRet.pl5 (I love Belgia) and my "I'd rather be playing with my weiner" shirt (Pictures to follow if I can learn how to do that.)

I guess posts are supposed to be short so I better shut up.

I can't believe I'm doing this.

2005-12-20T05:25:00.000-08:00

Well, since my buddy Jared and Jason have taken the plunge into blogging I figure at the very least I won't get made fun of for this. My wife is a blogging maniac right now and she finds it very therapeutic so I guess I'll give it a try.

I don't need therapy though, but of course the first stage of denial, is denying something.

Profile Pic

2005-11-03T09:16:00.000-08:00