Yo Ho Ho...

We went to Michigan's Adventure / Whitewater Adventure this weekend. I love water parks and I enjoy a number of amusement park rides, so it was a good day. However, the highlight of the whole experience is an easy call.

Jeff, Matt, and I took my nephew Joe on the pirate ship ride. You know the one; the ship swings side to side so you're looking straight down and then you're straight up and then... Anyway, we've all done it and we all enjoy it and since Joe actually likes roller coasters, we thought he'd probably like the pirate ship.

We climbed on and started the ride but on the second or third ride Joe made a strange yelp at the moment when you start to quickly descend and it feels like you've left your stomach behind. Jeff and I looked at each other thinking that we thought we might have recognized the tone of his yelp and when we swung back up and then descended again, Joe cleared up any doubt for us.

At the moment when everyone else on the ride raised their arms and screamed, Joe grabbed ahold of his "junk" and screamed "The wind's pressing my Wee Wee!". We laughed and figured we might want to mention to him that this probably wasn't an appropriate thing for a 9-year-old to yell on a public ride, but we really didn't worry, because we knew that no-one outside our group had heard him.

All of us were chuckling as the ride came to an end, thinking of how we should check to make sure he wasn't in too much discomfort when he turned around in his seat to face Jeff and I and exclaimed "Let's go AGAIN!!!"

Yet another way that amusement parks rock.

Laterz

Boredom

After about 2 weeks of being absolutely up to my eyeballs in jobs to do at work, I've hit a momentary lull. Though I suppose I could spend this extra time wisely, possibly getting ahead on some projects, since I know that it'll be much more difficult to get to them in the future, I've really just been killing time for about the last hour. I've read all my regular web sites (freep.com, detnews.com, si.com) and checked in with all my regular blogs (S.A., Drew, Amy) and now I've got nothing to do.
Now, mind you, I did manage to offend someone with a comment I left at one blog, so I had to leave another comment clarifying the first comment and making sure no-one thought I was ripping on the blogger. (Good grief... I spend so much time back-peddling, I should play cornerback.) And Drew's not adding much to his blog today. Something about power outages due to some hurricane in Miami. S.A. and Amy seem to be focusing on their actual jobs, so they're not writing either.

All in all, I need more stuff to read. I used to read Dave Barry's column in the Miami Herald every so often, but he retired from regular writing, so it's just reprints now. I get tired of reading politics right now, since nothing's really happening because everyone in the federal government is on vacation right now. Ironic, isn't it. I wonder if the kids getting shot at overseas get a vacation.

Anyway, if anybody's got any good suggestions, pass 'em along. Know any blogs worth reading? (The quality and style of the writing is much more important to me than the actual content.) I'm all ears. Alright. Time to waste more time.

Laterz

More Jeeps and The Fine Art of Placenta Building

Morning, all.

1st item. Today is my Anniversary. S.A. and I have now been married for 5 years. (Nate says this is our Nickel Anniversary and I have to give her something worth a nickel.) If you're having difficulty deciding what to give us as an anniversary present, send cash. Or baby stuff. But for God's sake, DON'T GIVE US A JEEP!

We had a somewhat long and involved "discussion" this morning because I received email for a gentleman in Tennessee who was interested in taking our baby grand piano of our hands (which really need to happen soon, by the way,) in exchange for a running, but still needing work Postal Jeep. Needless to say, this idea excites me. I REEEAAAALLLLYYY want a jeep. S.A. is concerned that once I have one, the charm will wear off and it will sit in our storage space covered in useless crap until the end of time. This is probably a valid fear, as I do have a track record that points to a certain lack of attention span and follow-through as far as my hobbies are concerned.

However, I am absolutely convinced that there is absolutely no way I would lose interest in this one. No matter, though. I told her that I have already made it clear on all my Jeep web sites (I told you I was fixated.) that I will not be accepting any donations for the time being. This is true. However, if this guy contacts me again with a good plan... Well, I shudder to think about it.

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I stopped by "the boys" house last night on my way home from golf league. Johnny, Adrian, (Not a "boy", but she lives there anyway.) Trav, and Liam had a barbecue and I want to stop by even though I'd missed the actual food part. Anyway, it was really nice to see the boys, as well as some of their family members (Johhny's dad, Tim, was there as were Trav's mom and sister.). They were disappointed, however, that S.A. had not accompanied me, so I explained to them that she was already in bed.

That's what she does right now. She sleeps. She's explained to me that it takes a great deal of energy to build a placenta and I can't really argue much because I have never, personally, built one. Trav said I should try it. He figured I have a well equipped shop and a supply of jell-o. He figured the discussion would go something like this-

S.A.- "Get in here! It's time for dinner!"
Me- "I can't! Could you bring me some more jello? I'm trying to build a new placenta!"
S.A.- "You never let me have ANYTHING for myself!"

This is why I love those kids.

Laterz

You know, I really DO tend to step in it...

This weekend, S.A.'s brother Matt came up to help Tomas and myself to split up sections of a 100-year-old+ white pine that came down in a lightning storm a couple years ago in my folks yard. S.A.'s folks also came up, so my mom, Sylv, and S.A. went baby shopping and Danno helped us with the tree.

If any of you have never had the opportunity to use a hydraulic splitter, get on it. It's quite enjoyable. However, when working with a large pile of wood, especially wood that is extremely ant-infested, be careful of who might be living in said pile.

I picked up (okay, rolled) one of the logs, a good sized specimen, about 18 inches high and at least 30 inches in diameter, as I was pushing it towards the splitter I felt something move under my foot. I, as you might guess, picked my foot up and moved quickly forward, at which point Danno exclaimed, "Watch out!"

I turned around in time to see an obviously unhappy skunk sprinting off into the underbrush. I'm happy to report, to those of you who may have ready S.A.'s earlier report on skunk behavior, that this skunk made no attempt to do a hand-stand, no did it (evidently) try to spray me. It just took off.

I noted to the rest of the guys that, if anyone was going to step on a skunk, it was almost a given that it would be me. No one argued.

Laterz

But I'm Jonesin'...

Good morning to my reading in Newington Connecticut! Yet another person with whom, as far as I know, I am not personally acquainted, yet for some reason has checked in more than once to read this useless drivel. I hope the weather’s better there than it is where you are.

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S.A. was compared to a heroin addict this morning. We were at the pet store and Kev’s got a new kitten for sale. Needless to say, S.A. immediately started to play with it and looked as me as if to say, “Can we? PLEEEEEAZE?” Now, bear in mind that we already have 2 cats and will have a third as soon as my folks kittens are weaned.
I didn’t even respond. Kev, however, looked at her made the decision for me.
“I feel like a drug dealer who feels sorry for his customers. I’m cutting you off.”
And he kicked us out of the store.

Laterz

Baby Names

Hey! 2 posts in one day! God forbid anyone should think I actually have a real job...

S.A. and I went in this morning to have our first ultrasound. Well, Sarah had an ultrasound. I stood there, holding her hand and making what I hope were comforting faces. This early in the gestation, they don't do the ultrasounds like you see on TV withe the goop on the belly and the defibrilator paddles (or whatever those are). When you're only 6 weeks in, they do the old "trans-vaginal" ultrasound. In other words they stick this plastic wand WAAAYYYY up inside the pregnant woman so they can see what's happening inside. At first, her facial expressions alarmed me, but I relaxed when i realized that the only reason her eyes kept buggin halfway out of their sockets is because the OB/GYN was pushing them out with that little wand. I assume anything is okay, as long as a doctor is doing it.
Anyway, they found "Junior", as S.A. has taken to calling him. I asked if it was okay if, just for now, I called him "Spot". Yet another one of those moments when I wish I was blind so I didn't realize the looks of horror, display, and anger that are so often directed my way. So I am NOT calling the baby Spot. Not even in jest. I might call it Elton for now, on the suggestion of Andrew Andrew.
Anyway, it's official. We really do have a baby growing inside my wife. Hopefully we'll have better luck with him/her than we do with our houseplants, or else the poor thing will be born with brown leaves and mold around his/her feet.
Also, I feel that Spot was a perfectly logical, if somewhat insensitive, choice of name right now, as you can see in our first baby picture. He/She is the little white-ish smudge in the bottom right part of the black circle. (I think.)

Anyway, I just thought y'all would like to know. :)

Laterz

How I Spent My Weekend OR Why Someone Should Invent Edible Radiator Fluid

Last weekend I went down to the In-Laws to work on Danno's Jeep. Well, technically, it's not a Jeep. It's a '42 Ford GPW. It's an original Jeep design form before "Jeeps" actually existed. Very sweet vehicle. However, he has decided that he would like to restore it to its original condition. It's gonna be awesome when it's done, but it has a very long way between here and there. So anyway, I got his permission for Jeff and I to work on it with him.

Let me tell you, the 3 of us combined offer a great deal of interest, a very decent knowledge of Jeep history, and VERY LITTLE mechanical know-how. This is why "Machine Gun Sally" has sat buried under mounds of miscellaneous crap in the garage for the past couple years. Nobody really knew how to get started and everybody was a little afraid to try.

Enter Yours Truly; Big Chief Leap-Before-Looking. No project is too daunting for me to get involved in it. This is largely due to the fact that I refuse to think about how difficult it might be before I get started. I figure the level of difficulty will be readily obvious once I'm into it, but by that time I'll have momentum working for me and I'll be able to push on through. As Danno said to me late Sunday afternoon, the project would never have gotten off the ground without someone like me to push it along. Of course I probably wouldn't have spent as much time spitting stuff up or have had such a horrible headache had we not started it, but hey... More on that later.

On Saturday night, we determined that we needed a 16' by26' space in which to work on the Jeep. Being as the only reasonably workable space was the garage which also had to house the 2 family daily drivers plus all the assorted stuff that always seems to gather in a garage, we decided our first task was to completely clean and reorganize the garage. It only took 4 or 5 hours. Sylvia was SO pleased at how good it looked. I think my willingness to do these projects is the reason she still allows me to come visit.

So Sunday morning, we dug into "Machine Gun Sally". With Danno, Jeff, and I, you have an interesting selection of personalities. Danno is somewhat introverted and he tends to be very hesitant to give orders. Jeff is also pretty quiet, but a little more willing to take control when he sees the need. I, on the other hand, am not at all shy in these situations. I may not know what I'm doing, but if nobody's telling me what to do, I'm darn well gonna do something. Thankfully, seeing that that was the case, both of the other 2 decided it was probably a good idea to give me specific tasks. We accomplished the first few tasks outlined by "All-American Wonder, Vol. 1" and were just getting to emptying the radiator when we were called in for breakfast. Jeff, who has MUCH more automotive experience than I, (and fits a little more comfortably under the Jeep than Danno,) was handling that task and discovered that the butterfly bolt that would unplug the radiator was stripped. He was being very careful not to make a mess because radiator fluid is toxic and we all know stories of pets dying from drinking it. Cuddles may not be my favorite animal in the world, but I don't actually wish her harm, so I, too, felt we should try to be careful. When we were not immediately successful emptying it out, we opted to go have breakfast and approach things later on with a clear mind (and a full belly).

Though Jeff had, thus far, been leading the charge (in his always logical, controlled manner,) both Danno and I finished eating before him and were itching to get back to work. (This was not shocking. Jeff tends to be a bit.. deliberate. Rachel often refers to him as "Grandma" because of his tendency to approach life at a very leisurely pace. I feel this is a bit insensitive, but I must admit, I make a concerted effort to relax when I'm with him, because I know moving at my normal, somewhat frenetic pace will not mesh well with his much more unhurried tempo.) We headed back out to the garage, where I set about removing the plug from the radiator.

I quickly found the right tool for the job and, following Jeff's instructions, opened the plug just a little, hoping for just a small trickle of radiator fluid which I could catch in a coffee can. Unfortunately, I found that radiator fluid doesn't like to trickle. Since the plug was still partially in, it could not exit in a controlled stream, but instead reacted to the plug like water from a garden hose does when you put your thumb over the end- It just all sprays sideways. Resultantly, I was getting very little fluid in the coffee can, but quite a lot elsewhere. Primarily in my hair, on my glasses, in my mouth, up my nose, etc. I, being a scientific genius, realized that if I just removed the plug entirely, the resulting stream would be much easier to catch. Somewhat surprisingly, I was RIGHT. The torrent of radiator fluid spewing from the core streamed happily, if somewhat rapidly, into the waiting coffee can.

It was at this point that I recalled Jeff saying something about needing an extra can so that when one can filled with fluid, the other could be set in place while we carefully disposed of the first. Realizing that my coffee can was filling much faster than Jeff, with his "controlled drip" theory, had probably anticipated, I swiftly set about finding an empty receptacle to put in place when it was needed. As you might guess, I was unsuccessful in finding one. I hastily attempted to replace the plug in the radiator. This resulted in my ingesting quite a bit more radiator fluid, but not in actually replacing the plug. At this point I gave up and watched the can overflow and radiator fluid continue to spew onto the garage floor.

I jumped up and went to get Danno's Shop Vac. I returned just as Jeff was entering the garage with a very contented, post-breakfast, expression. His look turned to one of abject horror when he looked at the area surrounding the Jeep, which now looked like Lake Antifreeze.

"Didn't you hear me say to let it out SLOWLY???" he asked incredulously. "And where is your extra can?"

Without bothering to explain myself, (I learned a long time ago that explanations are often pointless. Especially when you don't have a particularly good one.) I took the top off the shop vac to remove the dust filter. Jeff asked what I was doing and Danno explained that to vacuum up liquid, to remove the filter so it doesn't get ruined. It shocked me that Jeff, who I know owns his own Shop Vac, was not aware of this bit a vacuum protocol, and I honestly felt quite a bit better for a moment. After all, I may not know much (okay, anything) about emptying a radiator, but at lest I know how to operate a shop vac. Of course I stopped feeling superior when I realized that someone like Jeff never spilled, and thus never had to occasion to learn what to do with the dust filter. And moreover, if he did spill, he'd probably take the time to read the manual to decide how best to approach the situation. Sometimes working with smart people can be very humbling.

Anyway, once I finished cleaning up the mess in the garage, I took a minute to go out in back and cough up as much of the radiator fluid as I could. It turns out that it has a somewhat tongue-numbing effect, but other that that, I didn't suffer too many ill-effects from it. It did, however, leave me with a hell of a headache. Also, my next morning "sit-down-job", as my Grandpa would have said, was a little bit glow-in-the-dark. Ah, war stories...

Anyway, we all continued to work, and, by the end of the day, had made significant progress. So I feel a good time was had by all. I can't wait for the next Jeep-work weekend. Maybe I can electrocute myself or run myself over or...

Laterz

Open mouth, Insert foot.

I'm starting to feel a little like Harriet the Spy. And it looks the the world has gotten ahold of my notebook.

Someone near and dear to me has pointed out that in my amusing little anecdotes, I seldom paint flattering pictures of any of the participants. Though I attempt not to use proper names, the characters generally know who I'm talking about when I write. That's intentional. I certainly don't want anyone to think I'm talking behind their back. Also, all the characterizations are meant to be humorous and in no way do they are they meant to give any sort of complete or even accurate description of a person. Unfortunately, I sometimes (okay, normally) forget that most people don't appreciate being referred to as a "roommate/squatter" regardless of how humorous the line might seem to me. For that reason, let me give you a little background on, and a slightly more complete picture of, the people who sometimes show up in my blog entries.

"Spike"- That's me. I'm a tech trainer in the great white north. I love my job. Especially because it took me 7 months of being home, unemployed, to find it. I found out last Christmas that it doesn't matter how good you are at your job, nor does it matter if you're right. When you have a serious throwdown with the owner's sister-in-law, you don't generally keep your job for long. I'm opinionated, a little arrogant, and sometimes kind of an ass. I'm also crazy loyal, which is important because I have to be able to survive the times when the people I love are pissed at me, and not let it effect the relationship after they cool off. Also, I have a nasty habit of speaking before I think, hence this blog entry.

"S.A."- My wife. The greatest thing ever to happen to me. Smart, Funny, Beautiful (even if she doesn't think so), and totally willing and able to put me in my place. She's a great writer. Sometimes, I think she serves as my conscience. OFTEN, I think she serves as my brain.

The Families-

My Folks- Sometimes referred to as "Tomas” and Cathy. They “raised me from a pup.” If I seem like an ass, blame them. My dad once mentioned that when I was a kid they really tried to teach be to be independent and not to overly concern myself with what other people thought. He now figures maybe they tried too hard.

“Frog” – My younger sister. We probably have the best relationship now that we’ve ever had. She lives 5 hours away. That probably doesn’t hurt. She’s a good kid. She teaches special ed and spends pretty much every waking moment helping people with disabilities.

The In-Laws- “Danno & Sylv” or “Grammy & Grampy” (That’s what our nephew calls them and what our kids will call them.) I have awesome in-laws. Danno is now letting me work on his highly collectible ’42 Ford GPW. I have ZERO mechanical expertise, but luckily there are a couple other people working with me to say “STOP!!!!” when necessary. Sylv continues to like me even though I make her life miserable by opening my mouth when I shouldn’t.

Rachel & Jeff- Sarah’s sister and her husband. Rach is S.A.’s best friend. Jeff is one of mine. He often serves as both my partner in crime and my voice of reason.

Matt & Joe- Sarah’s Brother and his son. Joe is my favorite nephew. Matt’s kind of a guy’s guy. Definitely the one to call when you’ve got stuff to move. (Unless you’re easily embarrassed by someone who works 3 times as hard as you do.)

Our friends-

The Barry Crew-

“Drew” (also known as “Andrew Andrew”)- Author of the “Blog at the End of the Universe”. My best friend from college, the best man at my wedding, and an all-around wonderful guy. Also a really big geek. This is demonstrated by the fact that he actually has a career and that he just got his MBS. Damn motivated people…

“Mr. Steve”- Also a collage buddy. Has taken a career path similar to my own. Largely consisting of “Gee, this job sucks. Next!” Repeat.

SJP, Michelle, Jen L. – All my best female friends from school. Not only my friends, but they all adopted S.A. when she was living in Florida and helped her through the whole home-sick thing. All have strangely morphed into adults since I left.

Friends from Home-

Liam- Previously referred to as “Uncle Liam”, “our squatter/roommate”, and “slightly balding”. The biggest reason I thought I should write this entry. Liam lived with us for a few months because he needed a place to stay and we had extra space. I referred to him as a squatter because he did not pay regular rent while he was with us. Of course, the reason he didn’t pay rent is because I told him not to. He was the best roommate I’ve ever had. Always conscientious, not too messy, and didn’t each much of my food. Also, he prefers “thinning” to “balding”, so there you go.

Kev- My golf partner. Probably my best friend up here. Confirmed bachelor. Business owner. Has a long track record of dating skeezy waitresses. (If you are a waitress and have dated or is dating him now, I’m sure YOU’re not one of the skeezy ones, so don’t worry.) Has made it very clear to me that, regardless of how big a geek he might seem, he never went to band camp. He was too busy going to computer camp. And to Star Trek conventions. And playing Dungeons & Dragons. Hard to believe he’s still single, huh?

My Blockbuster Kids and Assorted Associates- I was a store manager for 2 Blockbuster Video stores in Northern Michigan. That’s right, I got canned by Blockbuster. Now I’m very glad, but it was a hell of a kick to the ego at the time. The best part of the whole deal is that I got to keep all the kids who worked for me. John, Trav, and Lauren all walked out the day I got fired. Now that’s loyalty. Lauren finally got another crap job 8 months later. Trav was a little luckier and only took about 4 months. John started his own business, so he didn’t have to look for work for quite so long. Now they all live (officially or otherwise) with Liam, Adrian (Johnny’s girlfriend), Paul (a school chum), and Scott. Collectively to coolest group of young people I’ve ever met. When I compare myself as a teen to this group, it does not make me feel good about myself.

“Skippy”- He works for Kev at his store. He also plays in a band. Walking evidence how music makes you attractive. At least that’s all I can figure, because his girlfriends are always out of his league by any reasonable measure.

Tim- The last member of the poker group. Skippy’s uncle and a truly great guy. He’s been a vegetarian for 20 years, does yoga, and generally makes me feel like a kid. It’s truly a shame that he has no kids because he’s one of the world’s greatest role models.

I.L. Friends-
Nate- My best buddy. Only person I know who’s more loyal than I am. Fellow Tigers nut. Now a married massage-therapist in Chicago.

Adam- Also known as “Bud”. One of my best friends since we were 3 years old. One of very few people I’ve ever met who I knew was, without a shadow of a doubt, smarter than I was. But that’s okay because I’m taller. Now an electrical engineer in NY; he does some sort of sub-contracted communications work for the military that I fail to understand regardless of the fact that he explains it to me every time he sees me.

Jen R.- Now Jen G. since she’s married. My other best friend. Now a Special Ed teacher in Indiana. Sometimes calls me “Ramjet” and Adam “Tiger”. Not really sure why. Married a great guy who we love but who unfortunately lives in Indiana, so we don’t see them nearly often enough.

The Best of the Rest-

Amy- S.A.’s cousin and author of “Floyd’s Hardware”. Mother of 2 great kids, who I have attempted to kidnap on many occasions, but have yet to be completely successful. Now the soon-to-be step-mom to 3 more kids. All of whom also seem to be quite cool. I used to think she was a bigger klutz than even I am, but changed my mind when I watched her on a jet ski.

Laura & Ryan- Laura’s Amy’s younger sister and has always been one of S.A.’s best friends. They had a little falling out a while back, (Probably my fault. I find that most things are.) but now seem to be back to normal. A very good thing because most of all S.A. needs more female friends. Ryan’s her husband of a couple years. (Thanks for straightening me out, Amy.) Very decent guy. They have a 6-month-old daughter who’s the coolest.

Dave (A.K.A. “Fire Marshall Dave”) & Holly- Laura & Amy’s kid brother. Sort of the family cut-up and ring-leader. Has a degree in fire science. Worked as a Private Investigator until he quit, out of loyalty to a co-worker. He is now finding out that loyalty can seriously bite you in the ass. Holly’s his wife and is, amazingly enough, as goofy as he is. When I tell stories about doing less-than-advisable things with S.A.’s family, Jeff and Dave are usually involved, too.

Anyway, I think that’s just about everybody. Hopefully, a little background will help shed more light on folks. I am very obviously blessed with some amazing friends and it’s probably important that I say that every so often. Especially so I can continue to tell embarrassing stories about them.

Laterz

Spelunking and Asia (Not to be confused with Spelunking IN Asia...)

I noticed another interesting thing this morning. I have more readers in Central Asia than I do in the entire Mountain Time Zone. This concerns me. First, I'm pretty sure that people in places like Montana and Utah could stand to hear a little more from me becuase, as I recall, they all voted for the our beloved Moron-In-Chief. Also, I wonder a great deal what folks in Central Asia think about my blog. I don't know all that much about Asia, (mostly, just what I saw on Long Way Round,) but I'm guessing they think I have way too much spare time. Which is probably true. However, I don't know what they're thinking because nobody's left a comment yet. Yet another way in which I feel unloved... Anyway, I guess y'all probably don't care, but now you know anyway.

On a completely unrelated note, I went spelunking this weekend. It was U.P. spelunking, so it wasn't exactly dangerous or spectacular, but is was in the middle of the night and it followed a long evening of drinking, so it was very enjoyable just the same. Dave, Jeff, Rach, and I put on our head lamps and went down to get extremely cold and wet. It turns out that caves, with foot-deep water in them, and no possibility of passage without a significant amount of submersion in just-over-freezing water, have a very sobering effect. Also, you wake up quickly because you don't want to continue sticking your hands in 6-inch-deep piles of bat guano. Jeff noted that he'd never seen bats flying around anyone's knees before. It is also worth noting that when a drunken, out-of-work, private investigator tells you that there's a great underground waterfall, and it's worth the struggle to get there becuase of the grandeur of the scene, it's probably not. Underground waterfalls in the U.P. usually resemble a garden hose pouring off a rock. Kind of neat, but not especially grand. Anyway, it was great fun and I thought I should pass along the message to all you adventure seekers out there there are great opportunities for danger and excitement underground in the eastern U.P. As long as you don't mind bat poop.

Laterz

Big News

Alright. After spending the last 3 days calling people, I feel that I can now safely write this without risking too many important people finding out about it via my blog, which seems a bit impersonal.

S.A.'s pregnant.

Needless to say, we're more than a little bit excited. We found out on Friday afternoon, and the due date isn't until April, so we've got a long, scary, way to go, but this is great news. (Also, it looks like I'm the father. So that's a relief.) As it's so early in the process, we don't really know anything, but we do know that there were 2 eggs this month, which means that twins are a possibility. Oh joy. A month ago I'd have given... well, anything for twins. Now that I know we're pregnant, however, I'm a bit apprehensive about being responsible for more than 1 infant. C'est la vie, I guess.

It was a very exciting weekend. We both got to tell our folks exactly the way we'd hoped to, ever since we first discussed having kids. I gave my parents a sign that used to hang on my grandparents cottage saying "Welcome to Grandma & Grandpa's" and Sarah gave her mom a book called "My Granny's Purse". (If you're not familiar with it, check out Amazon.com. It's very cool.) S.A.'s dad teared up, which was VERY cool, because he's not generally the outwardly emotional type.

All in all, a very good weekend. Anyway, it sounds like I'll have something else to talk about now, but we'll see where it leads. Thanks to everyone for all your good thoughts and prayers and I promise I'll keep y'all informed.

Laterz

More meme-ing

Believe it or not, I've started looking at memes as a method to encourage thought. Case in point, S.A. is hesitant to do the last one I sent her way because she's afraid to put the "wrong" answer. I laugh, but it honestly makes me happy. Music is important, at least to me, so I say "consider carefully." On that note I have a couple updates to my last one and at least a couple more I'm gonna do today. First to the updates-

Under the "last album purchased" line I must now put London Calling by the Clash. I know, I can't believe I didn't already have it either. We went to pick up L.C. + Never Mind the Bollocks by the Sex Pistols for a friend's birthday last night and when I picked it up I realized I had to grab a second copy for myself. I've always recognized the greatness of the album, but never got around to buying it. Yet another wrong now righted.

Secondly, adding another song to the important song list- "Rainbow Connection" from The Muppet Movie. This is a complete double meaning song. First, it's a great song with a great message and second, it makes me think of college. Drew re-wrote the lyrics to it during a broadcast communications class and I still think of his lyrics every time I hear it. I invariably sing along with it, often alternating the real and re-written lyrics as I go. (There are a lot of Muppets songs that nearly make me tear up, when I think about it. I'm Going to Go Back There Some Day, Together Again, Happiness Hotel, It Feels Like Christmas, Love Led Us Here...

Anyway, on to another music meme.

1. Open up the music player on your computer.
   
2. Set it to play your entire music collection.
   
3. Hit the “shuffle” command.
   
4. Tell us the title of the next ten songs that show up (with their musicians), no matter how embarrassing. That’s right, no skipping that Carpenters tune that will totally destroy your hip credibility. It’s time for total musical honesty.
   
5. Write it up in your blog or journal and link back to at least a couple of the other sites where you saw this.
   
6. If you get the same artist twice, you may skip the second (or third, or etc.) occurances. You don’t have to, but since randomness could mean you end up with a list of ten song with five artists, you can if you’d like.

So here's my list-

1. "Time of Your Life" - Randy Newman

2. "Love Comes to Everyone" - George Harrison

3. "Reason to Live" - Kiss

4. "It's Don't Come Easy" - Ringo Starr

5. "Uneasy Street" - Pete Townshend

6. "Rock of Ages" - Def Leppard

7. "Can't You Hear Me Knockin' " - Rolling Stones

8. "Club at the End of the Street" - Elton John

9. "Fistfull of Rain" - Warren Zevon

10. "Proud Mary" - Creedence Clearwater Revival

Alright folks. Lets have some comments and links to your lists.

Music Meme

I wanted to write this morning and I'm starting to feel like my posts are getting a little bitchy. Solution? Blog meme! So here's my music meme. (Needless to say, I stole stole it from some random nobody out in the blogosphere.)

What is the total amount of music files on your computer?
About 18 gigs. I have almost my entire collection digitized, so I can carry it all on my ipod. When I think about getting on an airplane with 400 cds in 2 huge-ass disc wallets, I just shake my head.

The CD you last bought?
I bought the Spamalot soundtrack a couple weeks ago. As a general rule, I don't BUY cds, but I felt like it was worth having the whole thing rather than going through the trouble of trying to download each individual song via WinMX.

What was the last song you listened to before reading this message?
"You Can Call Me Al" by Paul Simon. I've got my ipod plugged into my computer speakers at work at the moment. Listening to my "Over Easy" list, in case you wondered.

Write down 5 songs you often listen to or that mean a lot to you.
Let's see... This could change a lot from day to day, but here goes.

1. "Find Your Grail" from the Spamalot soundtrack- I listen to it most mornings on my way to work. Nice mood to it and I love Sara Ramirez' voice.(She's kind of a hottie, too.)

2. "Studebaker" by Jordan Zevon - It's from Enjoy Every Sandwich, the tribute to Warren Zevon album. Warren wrote it but never had a chance to record it before he died. Very cool Zevon vibe and very nice piano part. Also uses a really original chord progression that I truly wish I was talented enough to write myself.

3. "Sad Songs Say So Much" by Elton John - The song that turned me on to Elton John when I was only 5 or 6 years old. Not necessarily his best, but I have a lot of good memories of riding in the car and singing it with my mom. "I Just Called to Say I Love You" by Steveie Wonder and "The Longest Time" by Billy Joel also fall into this category. (That would be the "Cheesy-Ass songs you're embarrassed to like but stuck with them due to childhood memories" category.)

4. "Beast of Burden" by the Rolling Stones - Again, not a great song, per se, but I have great memories of driving down the highway with B and Nate sticking their heads out the windows and singing to the whole world. The time of my life when I realized that the only thing I needed to have in common with my friends was our outlook on life.

5. "Forever" by Kiss - This was our first dance at our wedding reception. "Cheesy early-nineties' power ballad," you say? Hah! We got married in 2000! So by then it was a "classic". Its good stuff and I truly believe it. (I know it's cheesy. I'm cheesy. I've learned to live with it.)

Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons) and why?
Andrew Andrew, because he loves music almost as much as I do. S.A., because I think the "Forever" stuff might get me a few brownie points. And Amy, because she's the 3rd person I know with a blog. (I'm kind of pitiful, aren't I?)

More fun blog memes...

Another Blog Meme
I think these are a little fun, and I'm always looking for something that might elicit a few comments. So here goes...

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
5. Don’t search around and look for the “coolest” book you can find. Do what’s actually next to you.

The book nearest to me right now is "Good Omens" by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. Here's the sentence from p. 123:

Setting fire to her would probably cause no end of trouble, he reasoned.

In case you can't tell from 1 sentance, it's a great book.

Sleep Loss...

Let be begin by saying that I love my wife. She's the most important thing in my life and I cannot imagine living without her. That being said, when I got up this morning, she was not my favorite person in the world.
S.A. is one of those lucky people who decides, "Gee, I'm tired," and immediately falls asleep. I, on the other hand, am not so lucky. I, like generations of Villemures before me, am an insomniac. Specifically, I have a hard time falling asleep. Once I'm out, it'd take a bomb blast to wake me up, but putting me out is a whole different kettle of fish. My method for combatting this affliction is generally to read until I can't keep my eyes open. Then I fall right asleep. I only run into problems when I turn the light off too soon. Then I lie there and think. And think. And think. This process often takes upwards of 3 hours.
Thankfully, S.A. Understands this and normally doesn't give me too much hassle for keeping my light on when she rolls over to go to sleep. Last night, however, I was bothering her more than normal by reading. Today she tells me that it was because I was reading a magazine and turning the pages was much more noisy. She says she wouldn't have minded a book. She neglected to tell me that salient detail last night, however.
Since I was obviously bothering her, I chose to go out the the couch to read for a while. Unfortunately, even when I felt tired enough to go to bed, I'd be awake again by the time I got into the bed. This led to a night-long saga of reading on the couch for 45 minutes and then lying in bed staring at the ceiling for an hour, which was repeated over and over again. At about 3:45 I finally began to drift off. However, at about that point I was awakened by S.A. asking me why I wasn't asleep. Without responding, because I use that "Because YOU wouldn't let me read!" was unlikely to lead to my falling asleep any sooner, I rolled over and attempted to driftt back off. At about 4:30 as I was again drifting off, I was reawakned by "Why aren't you asleep?". This time I couldn't resist responding "Because you keep TALKING to me!" I finally fell asleep about 4:45. Seven o'clock seemed get there very quickly.
So today I'm a bit cranky. However, I still want to say congratulations to Andrew Andrew who just finished working on his M.B.A. (I, of course, am an MBS. M for Master, BS for, well, BS. To quote Alf- "Heh, I Kill me!") Alright thanks for letting me vent. I'll check in later with John Roberts news.