Action!

I think Allie is going to be crawling before long. Here is photo of her trying move. Moments before this photo was snapped, she proped herself up with her arms and held her head up for a minute or so just looking around in wonder.


That little activity reaped rewards of her passing out on me while I watched the Ken Bearns PBS special on WWII.


Non related to Allie, Sunday night I take the trash out. Monday morning our trash is collected, so I also move the Cans, and recycling bin, closer to the alley. (ha...I guess this is related to Allie in way!!) On with the story... So I open the gate and what is standing at the edge of our garage/shed in the middle of city?!? A skunk. This one was mostly white with a narrow stripe of black running from it's head to it's tail. I quickly halted and Pepe' decided to back up and took off somewhere dodging any spray incident. Kelli and I were going to tear down the garden, but I think Kelli and I need to can those tomatoes for pratcial reasons. I have a bad feeling I may be blogging about this same skunk later.

Allie Dancing to 'Jive Talkin'

Yawning is interesting?

How can yawning be interesting? Have a new born and you'll find out. Pretty well everything they do is interesting.

Allie is 3 weeks old and has these monstrous yawns that end with her putting her lips together in a small "O" shape and sticking her chin as far away from her body as possible.

I know I'm a guy, and guys don't typically type this stuff about their kids, but darn it, she is too cute not to type about.

Here is one Yawning picture and one normal picture.

Lewis and Clark Half Marathon

I ran the Lewis and Clark Half Marathon today earning myself another medal and a bonus run around town medal. My time was 1:57:xx. With Allie being born I haven’t been able to train but was glad just to finish under the two hour time marker.


Later we celebrated Dee’s 22nd Birthday. Fun times, but now I am exhausted!

Annie's Frozen Custard

We took Allie on her first non-medical related outing. We went to Annie’s Frozen Custard, which is a few blocks away. It gave Kelli a chance to leave the house confines as well as get some fresh air.

I got in trouble almost immediately for popping a wheelie with Allie in the stroller. She didn’t seem to be upset because a block later she was asleep.

Umm, umm. Annie’s was good.

Birthday

It was my 29th birthday today and pretty well kicked ass actually.

We started off in the afternoon visiting the pediatrician for the first time. Allie, it turns out, is very healthy and has surpassed her birth weight by 2oz to 9lb 4oz. She wasn’t expected to do this for another week so we say she’s very healthy (chunky).

Then I came home and hooked up our telephone line and DSL. Side note, Kelli and I have not had a phone line or internet in our home for 5 years, and we still don’t have cable. Were so Stone Age, but hell we’re never home enough to watch it, or do we stay busy because we don’t have cable. Hmmmm, I’ll digress.

Then I went and purchased the DCR-SR42 Sony Handy Cam from Best Buy. It has a 30Gb HDD built in with a touchpad LCD. It’s sweet. A slight ordeal though at Best Buy. I purchased the Handy Cam w/extended warranty, a LAN Phone, and a tripod for the Handy Cam and Digital SLR. (I should post pictures Kelli takes with the SLR. They are amazing.) Any way, I had a 12% discount from Best Buy because it was my birthday so I used it. Only the clerk kept applying it to the smaller $70 items and not the $600 camera. I kept explaining the huge price difference which she never caught on until she got it right and a Manager came over expecting me to back down, before finally overriding the system. I win, it’s my Birthday.

Later my Family came over and my Sister gave me a wireless remote for my PS2. This is something that should have been purchased a long time ago. Dee, is brilliant.

This could have been the best electronic birthday ever. I went to bed somewhere around 1:30 in the morning because I kept messing with all the electronic stuff. I was like a kid with a sugar busy that kept going until I finally passed out.

Yeah, my 29th was pretty darn good. Oh speaking of old; a week earlier I got carded for a lottery ticket. Seriously, you have to be 18 to buy a lottery ticket. She thought I looked 18!

Happy Birthday-from the Rose's

To set this video up, the audio is a message left on my cell phone from Jackie and Ed wishing me a happy birthday. I can't tell you how much I enjoy there random phone calls so this is my attempt to let it live in infamy. I have no software to do audio editing (and even less time to investigate) so I grabbed some pics, used my new fancy HDD Sony Handycam, and shot this gem.

Mixed Household

Allie is going to be raised in a mixed house hold. Here is a picture to prove it.

It's going to be rough growing up around St. Louis Allie, but stay the course.

First Bath

So evidently Allie hates baths right now.

She gets so upset and she sticks her little chin up in the air as far as she can with a just as cute pouting face.

After the may lay was over, will held her only to hear whimpers as though she went through the most traumatic event ever. (It wasn’t the most traumatic event. I watched her being born, that had to be the most traumatic event.) Either way, she’s makes our once quite evenings a distant monotonous memory.

Attention!! We've got Jaundice!!!

All days now are spent with family and friends. In fact Allie meet her cousin Braydon today. It's funny people used to come over to visit Kelli and I. Not so much anymore. Now it's all about Allie.

It was around 7 pm my mother in law raised our concerns about Allie having Jaundice. Now we knew she looked a little yellow, and it was to be expected since Kelli is nursing. My wife, I know from past experiences, tends to not get excited about much but when she finally gets excited, it’s serious. Combine that with just enough medical knowledge to be dangerous and you’ll see she is dangerous. (She diagnosed a stomach ache I had as an emergency room trip to have an appendix removed. I still have my appendix.)

Now her mom is a nurse at a children’s hospital and I found also thinks in the extreme direction. So when her mom questioned the jaundice the both of them sent the conversation quickly into the direction of Allie having mental retardation.

This drives me nuts. After the mental retardation comment I was ready to drive to the Emergency room, ASAP. I really don’t want to become the worst parent ever who let the jaundice get so bad….well you know.

2.5 hours later they finally had stopped talking about it and now we’re ready to go the Emergency room. We hopped in the car, and the car won’t freakin’ start. Folks, this is the very second time Allie has gone on a car ride. One thing I do, that probably drives my wife crazy is blow up at the drop of a hat. This is the moment I usually lose it, but with the concern in Kelli’s face I keep it together. Do some finagling and start it after a few more tries.

Okay we’re on our way and I convince myself, and attempt to assure Kelli, this can’t be too bad. Her point is as long as his would have been planned, this would not be upsetting, but this is unplanned and she’s only 4 days old and we’re taking her back to the hospital. We get there 10pm’ish, sign in and head to the registration area. We get to the window and the lady asks, “May I help you.”
Kelli starts to answer “We..” stops and just starts crying while holding Allie.
The lady looks at me. “Umm yeah, we need to get a Jaundice test done.”

We go through the sign in rigmarole and finally go in for the test. They need to do a blood test. The lady takes Allie and lays her on the bed and tries to draw blood from her heel. They need two samples incase the first sample doesn’t get them the information they need. This is bad news for Allie. The lady couldn’t draw blood to save her life and after each blood droplet she collects shakes the jar. Clearly I can see she has a way to go, but she does it every time. She even laughs when Allie cry’s. This sends Kelli’s once upset mood into that of a defensive cat, hairs on the back of her neck sticking straight out and all. 20 minutes later we were both pissed and Allie’s heel is now purple instead of the vibrant pink. (For those that do not know me, I don’t exaggerate, I’m factual. It took her 20 minutes)

We just waited in the parking lot for the pediatrician to call. Our levels were at 15.4 so they were higher then the 8.7 when she left after the birth discharge. He said this wasn’t surprising, since 4 days is when they peak and to come back the next day.

We did and the level dropped to 15.2 so he said she probably already peaked, was at the plateau and is now coming down. He was right. . By the way when we got the test done the next day, it took a different lady only 2 minutes and when Allie cried she said. “Ohhh, Why don’t mom come over here to tell you it will be okay.” What a Huge Difference and that was the most perfect thing that lady said considering the blood nurse of the previous night!

So now Allie is free of Jaundice, and Kelli is fine, I’m relaxed, but most importantly we didn’t cause our daughter to become mentally retarded…yet.

Carpool #5

Baby Allie came home today. We left Memorial for the journey to Edwardsville which, for those that don’t know, is mostly Highway driving. Half way home, on Highway 255, an unusual event occurred that I would normally take great interest in this.

50 yards in front of us are two cars locked in game of “Road Rage”. They were swerving back and forth over 3 lanes with the lead vehicle keeping the pursing vehicle from passing. I looked at Kelli and said “Seriously, don’t they know we have a new baby on board?”

Naturally I slowed down to 25 mph to let them get really far ahead but what a crazy incident for Allies first car ride. I hope this isn’t a telling sign of our future car rides with her.

Just another day and life in the Carpool.

Baby Girl

We have a new family member. Allie Louise. She was born at 11:26 p.m on 29 August 2007. Weighing in at 9lbs 2oz, 20inches long.

The nurses let us know Mom had braggin' rights for the biggest baby that day. :-)

All I can say is what an unbelievably exciting and exhausting time.

Kelli was wonderful, never complaining the entire time and had smile on her face the second Allie was introduced into this world.

One last note: This kid is tough. She already raised her head off my shoulders on the first day!! Also hospital foldout chair beds are not comfortable.

Carpool-4

Kelli and I carpooled again today. We have our last and final Baby Class tonight, “Baby Care and Parenting” after work.

So on our way to my work, it occurred to me Kelli was supposed to pay our tax guy for our taxes from April. She hadn’t in 3 months so I did. However, since her farm stuff drug our taxes way down and we weren’t getting a return I told her this was her responsibility.

“Kelli, you owe me money”, I said.
“For what?”
“Taxes that I had to pay for you.”
“Oh.” she shrugged, “How much do I owe you?”
“$100”
She then digs into her purse, pulls out her wallet, she rummages through and finally hands me a $100 Bill. “There. Are we even?”

I looked at her quizzically as this is not a normal routine to have $100 bill just whipped on a whim for us. “What? You said a hundred, right?” she asked

“I guess,” with a confused and scared look as I stuff the $100 into my pocket to bring my total money count I have on me to $101.15.

It just goes to show, I never know what will happen carpooling with Kelli.

Touring Cyclist Biathlon

I completed the 4.5Mile Run and 23Mile Bike race today.

4.5M Run = 0:36:17 for a 8:27 Pace
23M Bike = 1:21:26 for a 16.9 MPH Pace
Total Time = 1:57:43

This did not get started on the right note. I showed up late and was putting up my bike as the lady was counting down “5, 4, 3, 2, 1!!” I started my watch put the rest of my gear by my bike did one attempt to touch my toes stretch and started running to the start line. I officially started in dead last.

I’ve never done this race before but found it was a very hill course and provided a formidable challenge that I will hopefully do next year. At a few points the hills got so steep I thought my legs were going to explode both on the run and bike. I ended up finishing 62 of 119.

Not great, not bad, but all in a days work.

Inaugural Clubhouse Triathlon

What a hoot!

I was race director and my wife took over the role as head coordinator because she said she didn’t like the way the race director was making decisions. (I’m so lucky).

My goal was to have a dozen (12) people participate. Our official count was 26 total triathletes with another 4 people who only did certain parts of the event. I better then I expected. I even had shirts made by Kelly Tracy who owns/operates Kelly Tracy Advertising and Design, for a total count of 47 shirts, volunteers wanted the shirts as well.



Credit should definitely go to my Kelli’s family who not only kept the excitement of the race going and filled over half the field, but also had the area/land to do this. There was already a buzz about next year once the event was finished and sitting in the shade eating burgers/brats and drinking beers.

Finish Time
# Name Type Start End Time to (Next) Time to Finisher (First) Finisher
16 Ed t 0:00:00 0:43:49 0:00:00 0:00:00
34 *Tim* t 0:00:00 0:45:30 + 0:01:41 + 0:01:41
19 Evan t 0:00:00 0:47:54 + 0:02:24 + 0:04:05
2 Mike G t 0:00:00 0:49:06 + 0:01:12 + 0:05:17
28 Laura t 0:00:00 0:49:40 + 0:00:34 + 0:05:51
12 Clare t 0:00:00 0:50:16 + 0:00:36 + 0:06:27
26 Kyle A t 0:00:00 0:50:38 + 0:00:22 + 0:06:49
18 Erica t 0:00:00 0:51:10 + 0:00:32 + 0:07:21
24 John L t 0:00:00 0:53:06 + 0:01:56 + 0:09:17
33 Scott t 0:00:00 0:53:08 + 0:00:02 + 0:09:19
23 Joe L t 0:00:00 0:53:21 + 0:00:13 + 0:09:32
20 Grant t 0:00:00 0:53:27 + 0:00:06 + 0:09:38
21 Jackie t 0:00:00 0:53:28 + 0:00:01 + 0:09:39
31 Melissa t 0:00:00 0:53:35 + 0:00:07 + 0:09:46
13 Collin t 0:00:00 0:56:08 + 0:02:33 + 0:12:19
9 Amanda t 0:00:00 0:56:11 + 0:00:03 + 0:12:22
27 Kyle S t 0:00:00 0:59:56 + 0:03:45 + 0:16:07
22 Jake t 0:00:00 1:01:53 + 0:01:57 + 0:18:04
30 Megan t 0:00:00 1:08:13 + 0:06:20 + 0:24:24
11 Christinet 0:00:00 1:12:05 + 0:03:52 + 0:28:16
36 Team D.A.M.r.t. 0:00:00 1:13:53 + 0:01:48 + 0:30:04
14 Andy t 0:00:00 1:13:58 + 0:00:05 + 0:30:09
8 Alyssa t 0:00:00 1:23:05 + 0:09:07 + 0:39:16
15 Deanna t 0:00:00 1:23:05 + 0:00:00 + 0:39:16
17 Emilie t 0:00:00 1:23:05 + 0:00:00 + 0:39:16
1 Larry t 0:00:00 1:23:30 + 0:00:25 + 0:39:41
3 Mikey Joeb 0:00:00 DNF
4 Oscar b 0:00:00 DNF
7 Lucas s 0:00:00 DNF
10 Brian t 0:00:00 DNF
25 Kevin t 0:00:00 DNF
29 Lisa t 0:00:00 DNF
32 Ryan t 0:00:00 DNF
6 Tom b 0:00:00 DNF
35 Jeff DNF


Many thanks to the Volunteers. Congrats to all that completed the event, and we’ll see you next year.
Tim

July 4th

Wednesdays 4th of July’s are strange. It just doesn’t feel like the 4th because rather then being in party (or rather fun energetic) mode it’s like a Sunday because you have to work the next day.

What happened strange,…oh yes, it stormed. Not just any storm though. Where I enjoyed the 4th of July day it stayed dry yet had a lot of clouds all around us. This also kept a nice breeze on us the entire day with hardly any humidity which is strange for the Midwest (St. Louis Area) until 7:30 when the weather finally broke, and then it was humid. So that was strange.

Ok second we were eating BBQ, and as mentioned before it was storming all around. Well this was my first time I’ve ever heard Horizontal Lightning. It went right over our head. It was pretty wicked and freaky all in the same breath. A few dogs got scared but the ones who go duck/goose hunting could have cared less, which was kind of funny. A few ladies ran inside, but to hear the lightning travel overhead was quite different.

The guys didn’t go in however. Nope, we were too tough, too macho, and too stupid.

Tim

Blinds

We got new neighbors. What an emotionally anxious time. Will be they be nice, fun, mean, annoying?

Well, I'll answer the big question; They’re annoying. They officially have not moved in for 2 weeks now and are taking their sweet time painting. What’s annoying is when they leave at night, they leave their back porch light on. This light bulb has to be a 100Watt if not a 200Watt. It's on all night all day and then when I get home around 6p.m. they are painting and the light is off. They leave at 9:30p.m. and the light is on again all night.

The real problem is that is shines right into our bedroom. I’m talking full illumination. Sleep for me is hard. I’m that type that could lie in bed for several hours before falling asleep. So this light is wreaking havoc on me. When I do fall asleep and wake up, I’ll look at the blinds and start waking up, because I think its daylight. My system is all screwed up.

The only small shred of hope is once they move in; they’ll turn it off, rather then leave it on.

P.S. This has not affected my wife, Kelli. She falls asleep with the lights on.

Clubhouse Triathlon

Practice Run:

Train, Train, Train. Three of us did a practice Triathlon I’m putting together at my in-laws clubhouse and all three completed the .25Mile Swim, 4.5Mile Bike, and 2.5Mile Run in under 1 hour, but it came at a toll. 51min and two 57min finishes.


It was a much needed test run.
We determined a flare of some sort needs to be used to signal the beginning of the event vs. the towel that was waved. (It’s hard to spot .25Miles a way with goggles on.)

Also an extra water station should be added, if nothing more then to throw water over the body to cool off.

Last it appears everyone will need a participation medal. Triathlons are difficult. As I said in the beginning… “Train, Train, Train”

Relay for Life

Kelli and I participated in Relay for Life on the team of Koehn(pernounced "Kane") Lawn Care.

At the Relay someone on your team is supposed to walk around the track at all times. I haven’t run in a while because I’ve been sick so after the llumination ceremony I decided to run. After the first 30min, I decided to shoot for 1hour. After the 1hour I was hurting but put in a good fight and go another 15 min of running in for good measure.

When I got back to our Team area, I wanted to get a picture of Kelli and I. Kelli hated getting in this picture because I’m so sweaty. You would think she would be used to this by now.



Fortunately this year we didn't have to stay all night becasue of the prego and got to go home early...12:30 in the morning.

Cardinals Game

Cards Game with the Wilson’s!!!

This was a long game. We left in the bottom of the 9th at 11:15. The game I think went to 14 innings. I’m not sure though I tried keeping up with Ben beer for beer. He won if he felt okay in the morning. If not, we tied.

Bicycle Group Ride

So I was convinced to go on a bike ride with a group.

We meet at the O'fallon Illinois YMCA at 6. As we started I felt pretty good, but then again we were on a flat course. Within 15 minutes we were out in the country climbing hills.

Let me just say this completely and entirely kicked my ass. This group was good and made me look like I was riding a tricycle. So after 30 minutes they were already a good 20 minutes in front of me. Luckily they guy I was with didn't mind taking it easy and we went at "My Own Pace", which was like 15- 16 MPH.

We started at 6 and ended at 7:30 but holy geez I was exhausted. I've got a lot of work to do to even come close to staying close to those guys.

Retainng Wall

I built a 33' X 1'2" retaining wall between Friday and Saturday.

Friday after work, I went to the bar with a coworker for a few beers. My wife picked me up and we carpooled home. I proceeded to mow the grass and began digging the 33' long ditch. Avoiding any leveling, digging was enough to finish the day at dusk.

Saturday was daunting. Kelli and I went to the store to pick up some supplies and pick out the landscaping block. I ended purchasing them from Market Basket for $1.80 per block which was cheaper then I anticipated. I was only able to get 100 bricks on my Z71 Chevy Silverado. I was amazed the truck was so weighted although it was a no brainer considering each block weighed 25lbs.

When I got home, I flattened the dirt, poured and flattened sand and began installing "The Wall". A project such as this isn't so bad if you space it out over several days. I however did this all in one day when temperatures reached 93F with no clouds.

Finally after the wall was complete at 5 p.m. I took a shower and my fingers would inadvertently make a fist(cramping). I would then have to pry my fingers away. I then calculated using 137 bricks at 25lbs a piece is 3,425 lbs.!The joys of completion, the pains of labor.

Finders Fee

I've told friends I have a blog but, not where it is.

Well, Kelli(the wife), found it so now I have to keep it clean.

Or not. ;-|

Carpool-Day 3

STORY TIME:

My wife, Kelli, and I carpooled again today. We have the second class of three for Child Birth at the Hospital from 6 – 9:30. She gets tired late at night so I like to drive her home so I know she’s safe.

Any who we headed to work and we started off listening to a little country music. It was my donut day (Side Note: The Engineering group I work has a tradition of bringing in donuts every Thursday ever week of the year for the past 8 years. I’m currently in charge of providing a list of who brings on a particular week. On days where there is a holiday on Thursday we move up donut day or back a day, but basically we have donuts every week. If you grab a donut and weren’t on the list, you are now. We’ve tricked a lot of people but they secretly like it. It’s really a cult with aspirations of getting fat). So I run in to get the dozen and a half donuts and I come out and now she’s listening to talk radio. See Carpool Day 1.

That’s fine with me as I know it makes her happy. 30 minutes into the drive I ask her a few questions about the topic at hand, again politics. She answers with some in-depth answers that lead to more questions from me and more in-depth answers from her.

After I pulled up to work, kissed her good-bye, and watched her drive off to go to her work, one thought came to my mind. Kelli is a wonderful person and I enjoy talking to her.

Toilet

FUNNY STORY:

Ok, so I was told a funny story today at work. A guy, who I let remain nameless went “#2” in bathroom slang speak, in the Machine shop bathroom. It is a one toilet and sink room and small.

The individual has a tendency to work late and on this particular late evening he finished his “#2”. He is a rather large individual and I’m not sure how things are done but in his situation as he was explaining it, lamented how he couldn’t just bend forward because he would hit his head on the door.

This lead to the only course of action one could carry out in this unfortunate situation. He stood up, turned around to face the toilet with rear toward the door, bent over and wiped. It was at that precise moment that he heard the door open and heard a woman’s voice shriek in horror, realizing “Oh crap, I forgot to lock the door!”

He stood up looked behind him and saw the door shut. As quickly as he could, he finished, washed his hands and left the restroom only to see a few cleaning ladies in the shop sweeping very quickly with their heads down.

They never looked up as he walked out of the shop area.

Dislikes

Lazy people: Who the hell do you think you are, you can just sit. There is way too much to do then sit in front of a TV. Get off your ass and make the world better.

Constant Complainers: Do not be lazy and a complainer, because you my friend would be better off finding the nearest bridge. Don’t get me wrong, this list is complaining, but as soon as I type I’m done, no more complaining and I’ll probably go out and run a mile or two to forget about it.

People who commit suicide: Ok if you found that nearest bridge and are going to jump, note one thing. You are a selfish piece of shit. Think about your family. How are they going to feel if you’re gone? Why would you want to make them grieve your death? What, you can’t take life, awww, are you going to squirt a few tears? Grow up and start putting in some effort. Effort just happens, by some freak nature, to be therapeutic. So is the outcome of effort. Grow up and face life like the rest of us. We can take it and so can you.

Therapy: I acknowledge it’s good for some, not for me. I’m not depressed, and I don’t think I’m someone I’m not, and my main worries include retirement and feeding my family. Not how am I feeling, or what do I think worrying about retirement means or who am I talking too?

Depression: You want to talk depression. Find someone else, because I don’t get it, it annoys me. Everyone gets temporarily sad. Medication helps initially, but the bottom line is something you are doing, or people you are around in your life cause continuous depression. You know what it is, you just don’t want to face it. Change it. Perhaps, go run a few miles or bike a few miles and think about some goals. Notice nature, and come back. Then I’ll tell you how many things happened bad in life but each is placed to make you stronger. So if you’re depressed you’re letting life beat you, so stop it. You’re better then that.

Games, not having a winner: What kind of B.S. is this? Are you sure our world isn’t being run by people who were picked last in P.E. This makes no sense. It’s part of life and being human to know the feeling of victory and the humility of losing, or becoming a gracious winner, and a humbled loser. Please, you’re screwed up in the head if you don’t think there should be a winner. Maybe seek Therapy. But for love of our posterity, don’t screw it up for them. Also you’re making our generation look like wuss’s.

Carney’s: This should be self explanatory. If not see Austin Powers: The spy who shagged me.

Colds: Where do you come from cold? Causing coughing, sneezing, sore throats, stuffy head. You definitely know how to ruin a weekend. Get bent.

Not Coming to a complete stop: If you knew me in High School, you may remember this was a dislike then, and it still is now. It’s not a four way roll, it’s a four way stop.

Merge Lane Hoppers: Not sure what to call them, but we all know them. They’re the ones behind you riding your ass in the merge onto the highway lane as if you’re the slow car when in fact you’re only following other slow cars. As soon as the grass or concrete barrier is finished and the only thing that separates the Merge Lane from the Highway Lane is the Solid White lines representing “Do not cross”. These hard on’s veer over as if the rules don’t apply to them.
I especially don’t like it when they speed up, but not quite pass your vehicle just as the merge lane and the highway are meeting forcing you to put on your brakes for this fool. Ass munch, drive normal like everyone else.

Road Construction Last Second Mergers: When you see road construction on a two lane road that reduces to one lane. Everyone merge’s into the one lane. Except for these sporadic idiots who see this as not a situation to be stuck in traffic with your fellow drivers, but as an opportunity to screw all the other drivers and save about 2 minutes of sitting time. Trust me, if you think your life is that grand and important that you can’t wait for 2 minutes with everyone else, you especially need to sit and come to grips with reality. I do thoroughly like watching a car creep up and pass everyone and try to merge in front of me just as the Barriers are closing the other lane. My bumper in moments like this is so close the vehicle in front of me there is no possible way they can merge, especially when I start honking. I even more like it when the driver behind me is doing the same thing I do. That’ll show that stupid Road Construction Merger.

The Wave: At baseball games, I don’t like the wave while the home team is pitching, unless I don’t like the home team. The wave screws with pitchers so do it when the visiting team is pitching.
Weight Gain: Why is it so easy to put it on, and so F’n difficult to get it off. Equal, aggregate energy should pertain to each.

Blinker: Hey is your blinker broke on your vehicle. No, then use it, moron. I could of pulled out had I known your were turning, but nooooo. You couldn’t use your blinker. May that happen to you every turn of your driving career.

Kurt Kobain: You poor little dead rocker you. Why couldn’t you have been a generation early. You single handedly convinced everyone, women included to wear grundge. Grundge if you’re not familiar is just as it sounds. You dress in clothing severely lacking cleanliness. Most prominently noticeable are the baggy pants, long baggy shirt, flannel outer shirt, greasy lose hair. Instead of seeing the women wearing low rise jeans, tight low cut shirts and mini dresses like they do now, even it is Ho’ish, grundge sucked and I missed out in High School with what is offered now. Screw you Kurt. Courtney should get the saint award.

Large Sunglasses: Ok, I mean this in the nicest way possible but women, you all look identical now. When referring to identical I’m saying you look like miniature 90 year old women from Jersey with less wrinkles. You look silly, not hip. Stop wearing those glasses.

Sideways hats: Put you’re hat on straight you fairy. Either wear it in front of you or behind you. The only people that deserve to wear there hats sideways are the really old farmers with their just as old hats where it’s slightly cocked one side. I don’t know how this transformation takes place, but they’ve worked hard enough to earn the right to be the sole owner of this trend.

Sunday at the Lake

Kelli and I spent the night at the clubhouse. It was a nice morning and Kelli decided to clear so moss and seawead from around the dock. Here she is pregnant and pissed that I took her picture being pregnant.


I then decided to walk around and take more pictures of the hoping to catch maybe a deer or turkey. Instead I got side tracked and started playing with the camera. I found the function to set it to Black and White and came up with this crazy picture.


I felt bad for the dog(Sable) so I took another one of her just running around.



Well, it was a fun day. We had breakfest overlooking the lake, got to relax, and picked up some wonderful memories on camera.

Carpool-Day 2

STORY TIME:

My wife and I headed to work on Friday. We were carpooling a second day in a row (Crazy!!), when Kelli said in a voice I didn't at first catch but turned out to be a rather false sympathy voice as she touched my arm. “Hey there. Are starting to feel sick?....you Sicko !”


In so many ways, I just don’t know how to take her.

Carpool-Day 1

So Kelli and I carpooled together today. I normally broaden my knowledge by listening to music by scanning the channels from Oldies to Alternative Rock so really my knowledge isn’t broadened. Kelli broadens here knowledge by listening to talk Radio.

In this particular said morning, we listened to talk radio and politics was the topic. Of all things the continuing topic of why the Republicans are so retarded and will not just let the war go. It’s a failed war that is only hurting the U.S. and they (Republicans) need to start listening to the Democrats.


Also, in this particular said morning, I realized that even if an “OK” Republican were running for office vs. a “Better” Democratic I would never, ever vote for the Democrat because I’m so tired of listening to the same broken record speech’s. It’s one thing to be against the war, but it’s another to throw around statements such as “See there were no WMD.” “See, this war hasn’t helped.”, and create an illusion among our brethren.


Funny, I guess Saddam killed millions of people with ant spray or weed-b-gone, or is now when we say “Well that doesn’t count, that was in the past.” Ok, Mark McGuire, good answer.


Are you really sure this war hasn’t helped? Do you know anyone who has gone overseas? Specifically do you know anyone who has gone overseas and had to walk around the cities? From the few people I know it’s described as “Everyone one is so glad we are there and how much it has helped. It’s like taking the Bloods and Crypts with guns and bombs, sticking them in the same area that is surrounded by normal cities, so it’s an area. Oh and it’s funded by the Rap Word. So, yeah we have that problem too.


Ok, what I really hate is this. Squeaky wheels will always get the grease. The democrats are going to keep complaining about this war only for political aspirations, and completely disregarding the benefit of the United States. Meanwhile more and more people will side just because of the constant barrage of complaining even if it is a small percentage. After all squeaky wheels get the grease. The only upshot is people do have a brain and hopefully those brains are used.

Crash and Burn

Yesterday, my Hard Drive at work crashed taking many work reports, all my run times and training logs, which hurts the most.

Why? So much information most of which could only be described as personally valuable, just vanished. I understand it's really a necessary evil for there is also a lot of useless information gone as well.

It's just too bad there isn't a countdown.

SLU Shower

Kelli's Saint Louis University Girl friends came to Edwarsville to throw her a SLU baby shower. She is the first of the group so the ladies are very excited. We had a good time and went to Shenanigan's to enjoy the cool evening out on the patio. Mostly they reminisced.

Foot Dr.

Today I went to a foot Dr., one day after the Biathlon. I had this scheduled for 4 weeks but I've known I have a problem.



I feel a sharp pain under the my ankle ball joint. It's typically happens when I increase miledge to 25+ Miles a week.

Now I first went to a general Dr., who took a lot of time a moved my foot around and poked in areas and did an x-ray. He concluded I needed to take Ibuprofen. Not a great answer.

The foot Dr. office started with a nurse getting an x-ray before he saw me. He came in asked where it hurts and told me I have a pronation problem with a longitudal tear in a ligament. WHAT!?!? But he didn't even look at my shoes to see the wear. He told me my options of an MRI, a shot to encourage rapid healing to the ligament or an orthepedic and then stood up to walk out. I rattled off a few more questions, but we were basically done. Nurse came back in to get my foot profile for the orthopedic.

This guy better be good.

Highland Biathlon

I participated in the Highland Biathlon on Memorial Day in Highland Illinois.


Back in 2003 I participated and netted a time of 1:45:xx. (of course this was on a Mountain Bike, and I killed myself).

A few weeks ago Kelli bought me a Trek 1600. It's pretty damn sweet and is a insanely easier to ride, for obvious reasons, then my trusty Mountain Bike.


Even with my limited riding skills I was still able improved to a time of 1:30:xx. 15 Minutes Faster!!

As I return to the car, where Kelli had been sitting to stay out of the rain, read a book and take the pictures you see posted, she say's "Great Job!! I left a surprise for you."

"Thanks, and what surprise?"

"Car battery is dead, I guess I listened to the radio to long."

All I could do was laugh. Fourtunately we had some friends there. I'm going to take nap know.

Ice Cream Trifecta

Friday = Helped a friend move. Reward = Ted Drew's Ice Cream in Saint Louis.
Saturday = Friends came over with kids to walk to Bonnifest. On the way home we stop at Annie's Custards in Edwardsville IL.
Sunday = Went to wife's families Clubhouse to enjoy the day. On the way home we hit up Bobby's in Maryville IL.

Recap
Friday = Ted Drew's
Saturday = Annie's
Sunday = Bobby's

What a great way to unofficially start the Summer!!!

There's nothing like moving.

Funny story:

I helped a friend move Friday Night, who I will leave nameless. The goal was to move a TV into the house. It was a large TV and required additional help. Once that was complete it was just my wife and I,...and friend. Friend asks if I could help move a Queen size bed up stairs. This should be no problem as there had been a king upstairs.

Kelli is still pregnant so she was not allowed to lend assistance. We started with the mattress and immediately found out a tight fit would provide a challenge. Since this was tight, I asked we start with the Box Spring first. We did. 10 Minutes later, I am sitting on the steps looking for some sort of break-away step or break-away wall because the box will not make it past the 3rd step before being wedged. Friend had a few more suggestions, as I keep questioning the validity of a King Size Bed being upstairs, I pose the question out loud. "Are you sure their weren't two box springs instead of one."

Friend thinks for a second and says "Oh, Yeah" "Sorry".

It worked out though. Friend took us to Ted Drew's for some Ice Cream.

Poor Baby Lubby...

Kelli and I took a trip to Babies-R-Us to register.

What a mess. The baby arriving is becoming more real every day, but events like this kick the reality up a couple notches.

New parents picking items for a child is a difficult thing. With all of our friends you would think we would be more for sure about items we want or need, but that was not the case. We went there after work. The was something Kelli decided was a "Weekday, project" when I tried asking to go on a weekend. "It will be quick" was another statement.

Bulky items such as car seats, pack-n-play, or stroller are not so bad to decide on for the registry. However when we start looking at small items such as bottles, burp towels, or first aid we're going to need to take our time.

At 8:30 we were, correction I was, at my wits end and I told Kelli, we needed to leave as our dog had not been let out since 7a.m.

The Horn that haunts the night

At 2:30 a.m. last night, or rather this morning, this horn starts blaring outside our house. It startled me and my wife, but stayed on solid for 1 minute before fading out.
Kelli mentioned how weird that was. I suspected someone left there windows open and the rain or moisture was causing a short. No biggie, things happen.
Fast forward to 3:30 a.m. The Horn returns except stays on for 5 minutes. I should mention we do not have our AC on yet, so this noise is ridiculous. I go to the window and realize it's my next door neighbors convertible Miata. Rather then call the cops like other neighbors do rather then kindly talking to a neighbor like an adult, I went over and knocked on the door. Nothing. Knock again, Nothing. No dogs barking. I figured they must be gone, and walked to the car and tapped the horn. Aghh, sweet relief, no Horn.
Fast Forward to 4:15 a.m. The Horn returns for a brief 15 seconds and fades away.
Fast Forward to 4:30 a.m. The Horn returns I again throw on sandals and a shirt. There other car was there so evidently this family is heavy sleepers, so I did the Police Knock (really a pound). Dog barks now, the guy comes to the Door and I catch him up, he apologizes. I leave.
Fast Forward to 4:45 a.m. The guy and his wife our outside trying to figure out the horn and probably wipe off the wet seats, there talking, vehicle running, and porch light is disturbing. hmmm. This is proving to be a rough sleep.
Fast Forward to 5:05 a.m. My wife’s first of 3 alarms for her to get up at 6:00 a.m. goes off. I cut my losses, shower and go to work and am there by 6:15 a.m.

Moral of the story. I considered it training the incoming baby in Aug '07, however I really could do without the training.
Tim

Bosseses

WORK:

It’s a wonder anything gets accomplished with globalization. I’m the only technician work on a particular project. We had a meeting about the project which has just been made a #2 priority with us having exclusive engineering design change permission. This is a list of who was in the meeting

-My immediate boss who I directly report too.
-A sort of secondary immediate boss here, whom I also report too.
-Our Site/Plant Manager
-(On Phone) Our Site/Plant Managers boss who is in Chicago, who BTW is British.
-(On Phone) The Project Manager who is in Zuhia, China.
-(On Phone) The Product Manager who is in the UK.
-Myself


Let me just say this is a type of meeting you want to stay away from. As my father in law would say “too many chiefs and not enough indians”. My list was so long my pen ran out of ink (ok almost ran out). But truthfully it’s humorous listening to the different dialects.

New Furniture

My wife and I purchased a new splendid Bedroom furniture set yesterday from Schwarz Furniture in O'fallon IL. (The set pictured above to be exact). Schwarz is a small family owned store so it's a place I prefer to spend my money.

Well any way, Kelli is extremely excited at least more so then I, which isn't entirely truthful. As a male I need to explain why I am excited about bedroom furniture. Currently Kelli is a prego (short for pregnant). Being a prego she has the right to slowly absorb more bed space, with as many pillows as she needs, to make herself as comfortable as possible. Only problem is before I controlled the bed space and she is border line narcoleptic. So now we are going from a full to a Queen size and I get back some bed.

Beyond that she is more excited, because she has never had new furniture, always hand me downs.

So we were at my moms for dinner and she was explaining the bed headboard (which is slotted)and went on to say it was a sleigh bed. I then added it didn't come with any jingle bell's though.

Ummm....I seriously recognize the fact I probably drive her crazy.

Co-Worker Story:

At work the new theory is to outline work benches, tool drawer's tools, chair's, etc. in yellow tape. Trash cans get Red Tape. Oh, one guy had to have a picture of his kid on his work bench yellow taped. Yellow tape is everywhere in our plant, but primarily production. Thought is this well help to keep everything in place because production is repetitive and shouldn't change and will help if someone new comes in or workers swap stations. I'm in Engineering, and we don't have yellow tape since we constantly change products to test, re-evaluate, re-engineer, and more or less operate under a permanent state of crises. (Don't get me wrong, we do have down time.)

No yellow tape that is until now. Since none of Engineering (Boss's included)feels the need to put yellow tape down the "Powers at Be" had two production workers come into our Lab put some down around the benches and outline the lab kind of half assed so when the CEO comes through all labs look uniform and has yellow tape somewhere on the floor...whatever.

One of the workers is from Cambodia. After lunch I came into the lab and he came up and said "What do you think, man?" in his broken Cambodian English. I looked at him and saw this. Starting from middle of his lip straight across all the way to the edge of his mouth was what looked like a thick white and blue string that was rolled up and stuck there. Only one problem it was also shinny. As he got closer I immediately turned around, grabbed a shop towel and said "Here wipe your face."
"Why, do I have ink on my face?" As he positioned his head so the item in question was ever closer. (Note: I work with Industrial Printers, i.e. ink could have been on his face.)

"No just wipe!" I repeated.

"Ok." he said and did as instructed. Looking down at the towel and back up at me he proclaimed, "It's snot!"


ughhh.

Funeral

FUNNY STORY:

So a co-worker, who I will leave nameless did a good deed and went to another department coworker’s mother’s visitation. She lost her fight against cancer. The visitation was nearby and he left after work.

He explained there were some people there but not a lot and this made him feel bad. My co-worker who is a shy, but nice and always polite, decided to talk with her for a little while.

He said he small talk was rough and he was feeling self-conscious and had a hard time with the conversation so he started using his hands to aide the story’s. That’s when he said it happened.

Mid conversation he was using hands when one of the hands came down and hit her breast. I laughed, and asked what was said after that. He said both were able to ignore it and he carried on with the story.

I said wow that must have been awkward. He said it wasn’t as awkward as doing it a yet a second time.

Healthy sort of Fat Diet

Yesterday, I stopped at a Gas Station to get gas.

While I waited for the gas to fill my tank thus making my wallet $45 lighter, I decided to purchase a thirst quenching Gatorade for hydration purposes and a Cliff Bar to fill me up with some carbs as I was planning on a 5 mile run and a light work out after class.

I walked up to the counter and set down my items. The cashier grabbed both items and said "Would you also like a soda and a corn dog with this?"
He was not amused by my laughter, but I said "Are you serious, look at what I'm buying." I then couldn't help but wonder, as I left that gas station, if he knows of a new fitness diet the general public is not aware of yet. If so I want in.