Dad Mode

My Commute

2008-09-10T16:19:00.002-05:00

The hour drive to work is not nearly as bad as the drive home. On my drive in, I listen to a morning show and drink my coffee. The sun is low in the sky and it is actually a nice time to prepare for my day.

At the end of the day, I want to be home. Walking out the door at five knowing I have to drive an hour to get home, well, it sucks. I really didn’t think it would be that big of a deal to add twenty minutes to my commute but, it was significant. My solution, since I can’t move closer or quit my job, will be to leave earlier. I am going to shorten my lunch and get out of here by 4:30.

That is the plan anyway. I’ll see if it works. I am going to implement today. Yes I am writing this at work. Only because I couldn’t justify leaving at four and I have reached my work tolerance threshold already.

My American Hat

2008-09-03T14:02:00.005-05:00

I did not take a huge interest in the last election. I was not super impressed with Kerry but, I knew for certain that I would not vote for Bush. I cast my vote against Bush.

This election however, has my attention. I have been watching both parties and the emerging hot topics. It seems the discussion is more about the individuals and not the platforms. The rhetoric is blinding. I have hope for change. Maybe if we all take off our party hats and put on our American hats, we can put the right maverick in office. I am going to put together a Political Buzz-word Bingo game and sell it on-line.

Last night, I watched the RNC. This could be the election with the highest amount of party defectors in recent memory. I watched as the 2000 Democratic VP nominee gave a speech supporting McCain.

Hopefully, both parties can move past all of the personal crap. I actually have empathy (not a lot but, some) for Palin. I can’t imagine having to justify my personal life to half the people in the U.S. I personally could not run for office. Imagine what the vultures would dig up. Having a daughter that gets pregnant at 17 does not make you any less capable to lead. It seems like the Republicans are making more of an issue about it that the Dems.

I personally like the fact that she can “properly field dress a moose”. If I didn’t think they picked her up just to further the oil industry's grip on our economy, I might be able to look at her other qualifications.

WOW. This is not a political blog.

With that, I leave you with this image. Whatta woman.

No Rain

2008-09-02T10:33:00.004-05:00

No this post is not about a Blind Mellon song.

Earlier this summer we had too much rain. The rivers here in the cheese state were out of their banks and Lake Delton actually drained because of the flooding.

Since the rains that caused the floods stopped, we have had below average rainfall. Not that I am complaining about the sunny days but, the kids don't want to play in the pokey yard. My garden looks a bit rough and I have been watering it most nights. Even the people that water their grass everyday in our neighborhood have brown in their lawns. I can't justify the time or money to water the lawn. Plus, Carli would not like 'wasting' the water. I have mowed twice since August 1st and it was only to knock down the weeds a bit.

School started today. Summer is officially over so, bring on the rain!

Settling in

2008-06-26T12:18:00.006-05:00

I took a night off on Tuesday. I ate dinner and then just lounged around the house. I did take down the tent and take out the trash but, that doesn't really count as work since it is normal day to day stuff. It was a nice break.

I spent last night making up for it. I have to finish getting the garage unloaded. I have 5 boxes left that need to be unpacked and I know where two of them are going when I get home. The other issue is all of the loose items that are now stacked on my workbench and other various places because they are yet to have a home. My goal is to have the garage functioning by Saturday.

I also had two yards of dirt delivered on Monday. They were supposed to dump it in the driveway on the right side. Instead they dumped it on the side of the driveway to the right. In an attempt to save some of the only nice grass in the yard, D1 and I were out until nearly 10pm shoveling the dirt and redepositing it around the yard. We managed to get all of the dirt moved but, I still spent an hour last night re-spreading some of if and cleaning up the walks and driveway.

Tonight I will stop and get some grass seed and straw. Our garden was planted last week and after tonight I will have all the seed down. Maybe by the end of the summer we will have a pretty nice yard.

Trash Day

2008-06-05T16:07:00.002-05:00

I finally called the city offices to find out what I needed to do for trash pick-up and recycling. The town we moved from recycled just about everything including plastics 1 through 7, all glass, paper, aluminum, etc. There was very little we actually threw out. We were also limited to 30 gallons of trash a week. If I needed to toss out more, I had to pay almost $4 for a tag that I could put on a 30 gallon garbage bag. Since so much was recycled, I rarely had more than a can full anyway.
In our new town, they recycle the minimum required by law. Yes, it is the law that recycling be offered. They only recycle plastics 1 and 2, glass and cardboard, however. They also only pick up the recyclables once every other week. So, I see more trash in our future. There is a recycling center in town but, I am not sure they will accept more and the gas used to get me to town might offset the effort.

As far as trash I was wondering what the limit was on how much I could set out and if there was some sort of amnesty for people who just moved. Here is how the conversation went:

Me: “Is there a trash amnesty for new residents”?
City Worker: “Unfortunately no”.
Me: “How much can I leave out”?
CW: “We have a 10 minute limit”.
Me: “A 10 bag limit”?
CW: “No, A 10 minute limit”.
Me: “What is that”?
CW: “We stop at your house and take everything we can in 10 minutes. Then we have to move on”.

Holy Crap! Do you know how much I can move in 10 minutes? Where is the incentive to recycle? No wonder only two thirds of my neighbors even had out a recycling bin this morning. On the other hand, I was able to put out all of our trash from the move.

The move.

2008-05-30T09:40:00.001-05:00

This is a bit long. If you have time, read on. I started writing this three days ago and have been having a hard time finding time to finish.

The last several days have been exhausting. I am not even sure I was awake for parts of it. We had a major issue at work on Wednesday (last week) that consumed my lunch breaks and kept me from leaving on time on Wednesday and Thursday. Simple things I can usually do at work, like calling to make sure we are on the trash route, were neglected. So life at our new house begins without a recycling bin and a huge pile of trash in two different parts of the garage.

Friday I left early from work and got home to find out that our dial tone provider was being super efficient and disconnected our phone three days early. All day I was wondering why the truck rental company hadn’t called to confirm. Not only did they shut it off but they “forgot” to put a message on with our new phone number. While I was on the phone with customer service, Carli called to confirm the truck and where it would be waiting for me. A short 20 mile jaunt to pick up the truck and we would be in business.

Saturday morning I picked up the truck. It was brand new. Must be karma for driving that piece of junk they gave me last time. It’s amazing what a difference it made on the move. Once again we had too much to fit on the “biggest” truck they had. We filled my truck as well but, still had enough left for a couple of trips. We got to the new house and started to unload. Unloading goes so much faster than loading. Everything was off the truck in half the time it took to load. I even swept out the truck and had it back before they shut down the rental facility for the day. I got back in time for some cold pizza and a little beer.

At about 7:30 I realized I forgot my “everything box”. The “everything box” is loaded with everything I will need the first night. It contains hardware to put the beds together and the important tools needed for the little things. So I grabbed D1 for the two hour round tripper. We loaded my truck since we were there and figured we’d be back just after 10. I took D1 with me to keep me awake. She was asleep before we left our old neighborhood. Nice.

Sunday, we went back over to the old place to clean and load the truck for the final trip or trips. I decided to rent a trailer so I could make just one trip. After 40 minutes of trying to get the wiring harness on my truck to work, I gave up and started loading the truck. Luckily the boy was tired and slept most of the two hours it took to drop off a load and come back. I didn’t want to make a third trip so I piled it high and strapped ‘er down. Carli wasn’t sure I was safe and expected things to fly out as soon as I hit highway speeds. We made it to the new house without incident. Carli and the girls were busting their humps to get the house ready for the 4 o’clock walk through. The landlord called at 3:45 and said she wasn’t going to make it because of a potential storm. WTF? We will be getting all of our deposit back so I guess I can deal.

Monday was Memorial Day. Believe it or not, we still hadn’t gotten it together enough to buy appliances but, today would be the day. We went and got all of the appliances for our kitchen without too much trouble. The washer and dryer however were back ordered and we were not going to wait 3 weeks for them to be delivered. I think Carli’s exact words were “We can cook on the grill for weeks but, I will NOT go to the laundry mat again”. So we scrapped that idea and started shopping for a washer and dryer. We tried several places and couldn’t find what we wanted. There were certain brands we wanted to stay away from and the ones we liked must have been popular because they would take weeks to get. We went home defeated to grill for Carli’s brother and his wife. We got very little done in the house again.

On Tuesday, my objective was to buy a washer and dryer and take it home. I shopped all of the appliance stores on-line, I found a washer and dryer that I liked and saw that they had a set in the store 30 minutes north of were I work. I left a bit early. Went to the bank and loaded up with about $100 in cash less than what they were asking. I pretended to shop and have the sales guy follow me around. I stopped at the pair I wanted told him I was a bit short but I would give him cash and take them home today if they were in stock and he could get the price with tax to match what I had in my pocket. After some negotiations I was driving home with a new laundry pair.

I set up the washer and dryer but, I couldn’t find my wrenches in the garage. So we couldn’t really use them for 2 days until I found my tools and leveled them. I went to bed last night while Carli waited for a load to finish so she could toss them in the dryer. She had what I would liken to ‘afterglow’.

There have been many adventures in the last week. I will share some more in future posts. Right now I need to get some work done so I can get out of here early today.

Cheers!

The best laid plans....

2008-05-20T14:57:00.005-05:00

Yesterday, I went to the house to mow and complete various other small tasks. Before I could mow, I had to find a home for the branches and bag worms that had been cut and piled in the yard. I managed to cram everything into the back of my truck to be taken to the yard waste pile in town. As I was mowing I kept thinking of things that I needed to get done.

I did stop at one point, to call and pay for the carpet going into D1’s room. So the carpet is ordered and being shipped to the installer. When they get the carpet, they will call to set up an appointment and install the carpet. The whole process could take three weeks. We are moving in this weekend. Ugh. I just assumed that we could walk in with a handful of money and things would get done. I am not patient when I am paying for things.

Then there is the whole appliance issue. The previous owners took everything not nailed down before they left. We knew we were going to have to get appliances in but, I didn’t suspect the process to get what we want, the way we want, would take more than a week. We may or may not (likely the latter) have appliances the day we move in. I did buy a part for the fridge we have in the garage and it is being overnighted to me. The temp control needs to be replaced and then we will have a fridge to put food in the day we move. It’s summer and I have a nice grill or a microwave for rainy days. It should only be a week after we move before the appliances get delivered. It’s all shaping up to be a real adventure.

Before I left, I plugged in the water softener, cleaned up some of the stuff piled on the island in the kitchen and drank a Spotted Cow. While I was drinking my frosty beverage I figured it would be the best time to replace the dimmer switch in the kitchen. Nothing goes better with beer than electricity and maybe some cheese. The new CFL bulbs don’t like dimmer switches. They tend to make a wining sound when they are not at full power. They do save energy though so it is worth the effort. I have another to replace in the basement sometime this week.

No trip to the new house tonight. I have way too much to pack to spend every night there. I’ll take a little break from my lengthy drive tonight.

Leave it for the pros

2008-05-19T13:35:00.007-05:00

The living room didn't look too bad before we started but, the carpet was pretty nasty and had some wear. The walls were in bad need of a coat of paint. I tried my best to capture the transformation.

My brother-in-law came up for the weekend to show me how to install hardwood floors. I had rented the flooring nailer and I knew he had a finish nailer and an air compressor he was bringing with him. I didn't realize how many additional tools would be required to correctly put in floors. He brought some tack nailers to quickly staple down the underlayment. He also had in his truck a miter saw, a table saw, a finish nailer, a micro pin nailer (used for taking small pieces on the end of a board), an air compressor and hoses as well as a stud finder (re-hanging the trim) and a myriad of other tools that got used as well. Apparently you can do all the work with a skill saw and jig saw that I had furnished but, it might look like crap.

We started before 8am on Saturday and Sunday and worked past dinner time both days. The first thing we realized was the floor nailer was set up for 3/4 inch flooring and we were installing 5/8 inch flooring. It took three wasted boards before we removed the plate and set the nailer by hand. It took a bit longer but, we stopped chewing up boards. I chose not to run the floor nailer but, to set the wood in place to be nailed. It meant that I spent the majority of the weekend bent over or on my knees. I did have knee pads but my back aches and my thighs feel like I was doing squats all weekend.

The bamboo floor turned out fantastic. I need to get a new transition piece to put between the wood and the dining room but, the living room is done and we can start putting stuff in it. We also worked on the boy’s room. I ended up about 15 sq feet short on the flooring for his room. Instead of trying to match the flooring, I put the left over flooring from the living room in his closet. It actually looks pretty nice since there is a color transition right where the door closes. I have a couple more rows to complete in the closet and I need to put the floor boards back up. His room has to be ready for the move. He doesn’t do change well.

My other brother-in-law and wife came over and the rest of the family was there. Everyone pitched in and we now have four painted rooms and one that is prepped for painting today. The bag worms are trimmed out of the tree in the front and my father-in-law also cut down all the bushes around the garage so I can pull them out. I also sent Carli to the dump. You can read about her experience here. Everything is really coming together. One of the reasons we moved back to Wisconsin was to be closer to family. Without our family, we would not be ready to move in this weekend.

The water softener is going in today. I need to call and have the remaining carpets professionally cleaned so we can move in. The floors in the master bedroom, D2’s room and the hallway will be replaced later this summer. We got the estimate back for carpeting in D1’s room and we are going pull the trigger on that. OH… and my friend Kyle said he was coming up to help us move. He committed on the last post (check the comments). I am going to head back over to mow, again, after work and try to get a new screen in the sliding door.

Work Day

2008-05-16T09:27:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, I drove to the new house after work. It was the first time I left work and drove to the new place directly. It took 45 minutes in traffic. Not bad considering.

My father-in-law has been helping us get ready to move in. He offered to mow the field surrounding our new home while I took care of some stuff inside. I finished caulking and changing out shower heads. I fixed the drain stopper in the bathroom downstairs. I replaced some more bulbs and took off the screen door to replace the screen.

Once the lawn was done, we worked on prepping the floor in the living room to put down new bamboo floors this weekend. We took off all the baseboards. Some of it was nailed in odd places but, I did manage to get it all off without breaking any. After the baseboards were off we decided to pull up the carpet, padding and the tack strips. There are still some staples and a few tack strips that need to be pulled up today.

Carli and my father-in-law headed over early this morning to let in the carpet guy, so he can measure D1's bedroom for carpet. Also, the water softener guy is stopping by. They patched holes and masked the living room yesterday. I just got off the phone and they are already well into the first coat of paint. They want to have 2 coats on before I get over there this afternoon.

My brother-in-law will be here this afternoon. He is going to help (actually I am going to help him) put down the flooring. I have done Pergo but this is solid flooring that has to be tacked down. I will be learning as we go so I can finish the other rooms in the coming weeks.

I'll take some pics for my next update. The weekend is upon us. See you on the other side.

One of those days

2008-05-15T12:50:00.004-05:00

I am sitting here at my desk listening to a little DMB after a working lunch and thinking about all of the other things I should be doing. We closed on our new house yesterday and there is a lot of work that needs to be done. Some of it can be done later but, there is a fair amount that needs to be done before we move, in nine days.

The house we purchased was for sale as the result of a foreclosure. The house is in good shape but needs all new floors in the bedrooms and living room and the walls need to be painted. It is a nice house but it needs a little love. The house was winterized and after turning the water back on i knew what my first task would be. I spent several hours yesterday replacing flappers in toilets to get them to stop running. I had to replace washers and gaskets in the faucets and replace the clogged aerators to get water to flow. All in all it was only about a 20 dollar investment but, it took time to get it all done.

Today, I am taking the last of the new flooring into the house which apparently needs a couple days to adjust to it's new surroundings before it can be put down. I am also taking the lawn mower over to cut the dandelion farm that is our yard. Just like a fresh coat of paint, a lawn that has just been mowed makes everything look much nicer.

I am going to try and get out of work early today to try and squeeze more out of my afternoon. Until then, I will be making lists, prioritizing and maybe, just possibly doing a little work. I have my headphones on and a little good music will hopefully keep the distractions down so I can finish the tasks keeping me here.

Spring Brings Change

2008-04-15T15:16:00.000-05:00

It’s been a while since my last post. It’s not that I have had nothing to say because that rarely happens. The incentive for starting my blog was to get Carli started on a blog of her own. I have been busy at work and unable to post during the day. When I get home I would rather spend time with my kids than staring at a monitor.

Today however, I will break my silence. Today we made an offer on a house. We have had many homes but, this will be the first house we have owned. We have only been looking for two weeks but, we are confident we have found the right place. It will again, bring big changes for the family. A new town, a new school district, new neighbors, a longer commute for me and a new house to make into our home. It’s all quite overwhelming.

With all the changes there is great excitement and anticipation as well. This will be the first place we have owned. If I want to paint, I’ll ask my wife not the landlord. No more worrying about putting up shelves or planting a garden. The neighborhood we are moving into is loaded with kids. The house is, we think, the perfect size for our family of five. Plus, it puts us 20 minutes away from Carli’s oldest brother. The positives beat out the negatives handily and as always we will adjust.

If our offer is accepted, their will be much work to do. We need to be out of our current place by the end of May and the new place will need to be painted and have some flooring replaced. Carli hates carpet! I am looking forward to a busy spring and my own piece of the American Dream.

Stories for Bedtime

2008-03-18T12:29:00.005-05:00

The boy has a hard time in the morning. Like his mother, he can’t just spring into his day. He likes to adjust from his slumber into his daily activities slowly. Unfortunately, our mornings are usually hectic and if he wakes up before the girls and I have left for the day, he has a hard time dealing with the fact that I can’t stay and entertain him.

He also needs time to prepare for bed. Unlike the morning, we have found a routine that seems to work well. About an hour before bed, we give him a head’s up that bedtime is approaching and he will need to start getting ready. We get him into the bathroom for one last pit stop and then into his PJs. I brush my teeth with him and then we hop into bed for a couple of stories. Depending on how late it is or how tired I am, I will read two, three and sometimes four stories before turning in.

We have a stack of six or eight books that sits next to the bed. I will read through the same ones several times and after a couple of days he has a favorite to be read every night. Last night it was time to ‘refresh’ the stack. So, the boy and I went to the book shelf and picked out six new stories for the rest of the week. Last night I read two of them and one happened to be one of my favorites when I was his age. My mom must have read The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein to me a thousand times. I loved the book and so last night I introduced the book to my son.

In the story the boy cuts off the tree’s branches to build a house. He leaves with the branches and the tree is happy.

My son says “Daddy, why is the tree happy?”

“Well, because the tree was able to give to the boy.”

“But, the boy left.”

“I know.”

As the story went on, I tried to explain that people can be happy by giving and not receiving anything in return. I am not sure that my three-year-old got the message but, I will certainly read it to him again. I always remembered the boy in the story being a bit more grateful. Perhaps my perspective on human nature has changed…

Saturday Mornings

2008-03-15T06:32:00.003-05:00

Saturday mornings I wake up early and get a couple hours of time to relax. Usually the Boy is the first one to come out of his slumber but, I will have two cups of coffee and a litle breakfast inside me by then. In the summer, I will have spent twenty minutes or so outside before anyone else in the house realizes it is time to rise and meet the day.

This morning I am planning on watching the first episode of Dexter season 2. First I thought I would check my mail and spend a couple minutes surfing. I have been less than inspired to write an update for the last couple weeks. I have been busy at work and since I drop the girls off at school during the winter, I have not exactly been arriving at work 'on-time'.

Today my dad is coming. We are going to the Elementary school with the family for lunch with the Easter Bunny. The kids are totally stoked and it sounds like it should be a good time. I will do my best to update more often.

Winter Reprieve

2008-03-03T13:05:00.001-06:00

Yesterday, we had a nice break in the weather. It warmed up over forty degrees for the first time in weeks. D2, the boy and I were out chipping ice off the bottom of the driveway. There was water streaming by and pooling in one corner of the driveway. As the ice was chipped away, I would take a snow shovel and push the ice and water out into the street with the boy’s help. At one point the boy launched into a full out run at the ice with his shovel on the ground. He hit the ice, the handle hit his chest and he landed flat on his butt. I fought the urge to laugh because it looked painful. He looked up, smiled and said “I didn’t see that coming”.

After lunch we were back outside. D2 was determined to chip away all of the ice in the driveway. The boy was determined to see his third change of clothes. I put soccer socks on him and slid his feet into wading boots. I figured it would be more than adequate in the 2 inches of standing water. It would have been but, I forgot how high water splashes when a three year old jumps in a puddle.

Before dinner we got out the bikes. D2 has moved up this year to a larger bike. She adapted quickly to the new bike despite not being able to sit on the seat and touch the ground with both feet. She spent about an hour riding circles in the driveway, practicing starting and stopping by moving on and off of the seat in a fluid motion. The boy followed her on his micro-bike and somehow managed to tip the bike over every third or fourth trip around the driveway.

Since the kids were fully set on staying outside, I pulled the grill out into the driveway and fired it up. I cooked up some steaks and turkey burgers for dinner. I love grilled food. Not only does it taste great it is a healthy preparation option. We have figured out how to grill almost anything. My grill sees as many vegetables as it does meat. Asparagus and corn on the grill are fantastic.

It was refreshing to spend some time outdoors in a function other than snow removal. Of course I got to do that again this morning. The gods are laughing at Wisconsin with another day of snow in a record season of snowfall for the area. I have never looked forward to spring as much I am this year.

Riddle me this....

2008-02-24T11:40:00.006-06:00

On Friday, Carli took the boy to see the doctor. He came home with a diagnosed ear infection and a bottle of pink antibiotics to be taken three times a day for ten days.

On Saturday morning, I was up making coffee when the boy came out and demanded his morning cup of chocolate milk. I negotiated with him to take a dose of his medicine before he could have his milk. Even though he will not give up his cocoa elixir, it took some convincing to get him to ingest his morning dose of sickly sweet pink drugs.

I then grabbed the bottle to go back in the fridge. I had forgotten to put the lid on and immediately dropped it on the counter and watched half of it spill to the floor before my brain caught up and I was able to return the bottle to it’s proper upright position. I think the kids were more horrified then me.

The boy said “Let’s clean it up real quick before she finds out”. I had to assume that by ‘she’, he meant his mother still slumbering in the bed room. D2 was much more dramatic with “Mom is going to kill you. She then snuck off and woke her mother to be the first to break the bad news.

At 9, I called down to the pharmacy and they told me to come down and they would see what they could do to replace the portion I had spilled. I told Carli that we might have to pay cash for the replacement drugs. She was concerned at the cost since she paid $15 as a co-pay for the drugs. “Who knows how much they will cost without insurance”. Regardless, the boy needs to finish all the doses so, it really didn’t matter.

The pharmacist confirmed that our insurance would not cover the new bottle of antibiotics. Also, because it was pre-measured, I would have to buy an entire bottle. He gave a slight smile and said “Don’t worry, it won’t be much”. That made me worry. What isn’t much to a pharmacist? 100 bucks isn’t much to some. I really didn’t know what to expect. He handed me the bottle and the total came to $13.82. WTF? I paid less by paying out of pocket.

So here is my question. Who gets the extra money? Does the pharmacy take my $15 and bill the insurance company for the difference? I doubt it. My guess is the insurance company gets my $15 and sends the pharmacy far less than the $13.82 they charge the general public. What a rip off. It should not cost me more with insurance than without. Who should I be mad at? Should the pharmacy have told me that it would be cheaper to just pay out of pocket? Someone help me out here. I really don’t know.

Long Week

2008-02-22T16:15:00.002-06:00

This week has passed at a snails pace. Tuesday I had some network maintenance to perform at work so I was up at 2am to be at work and ready for the window at 4. Wasn’t so tough to make it in the morning but as the day wore on, it started to catch up with me. I intended to make it home for a nap but, after breaking up the ice on my driveway, taking a shower and performing my civic duty it was dinner time so I just coasted until 9 and went to bed. I didn't really fully recover

The boy has been sick all week and last night decided that a cold was not enough and started working on an ear infection. It must be a bad one because it has completely affected his ability to speak. Last night he would just grine ( it’s a cross between grunting and whining. I just invented it but, I am sure Urban Dictionary will pick it up soon.) at me and look miserable. As I lay in bed trying to sleep he would wake me up every 20 minutes or so to let me know he was not happy and cough or sneeze on my face. I have been on the verge of a cold all week.

Today I caught myself staring blankly at my monitor. I have no idea how long I was lost in a haze. It could have been hours. Luckily a coworker stopped by my desk for a coffee break. I have had so much coffee today I developed some weird tick in my right eye and I have to hold it closed to kill the strobe affect. It may take a bottle of wine to reverse the trend.

Jackasses

2008-02-18T23:35:00.002-06:00

When I woke up on Sunday it was raining. It continued to rain until around 2 in the afternoon and then turned to snow. I was tempted to go out and try to clear some of the slush and water from my driveway before it was covered in snow but, the water kept pouring off the roof so I figured it would be a worthless endeavor.

This morning I woke up early because I knew that I would need to shovel and put down some salt. I started shoveling and quickly realized that I would be better off pulling out the snow blower for the heavy snow on the driveway. I went to work on the neighbor’s drive first and took care of it in short order. On my second pass across the bottom my driveway; I hit what I thought was a chunk of ice and after a loud thud the snow blower quit abruptly.

When I went to clear the blades it became painfully apparent what the true nature of the problem was. There stuck in the blades of the snow blower was our new phonebook. What jackass would come out on a Sunday, in rain/freezing rain/snow, and toss a phonebook on the bottom of my driveway? It certainly was not there Saturday evening when we got home from our day in Madison. I didn't see it because it was a half inch deep in ice and buried in snow. The stupid phone book was and still is jammed in the back of the snow blower. I am going to wait for the snow to melt and then I may have to extricate the book a few pages at a time.

I wanted to call the phone company and when their customer service picks up, yell “JACKASSES” and simply hang up. I know they won’t help with my snow blower but, it will make me feel better.

Modern Sports?

2008-02-12T14:44:00.000-06:00

My three year old son is obsessed with American Gladiators. He loves to watch the contestants battle against the gladiators. We can not miss an episode and most of them he views multiple times on-line. He always roots for red and is seriously disappointed when the blue contestant comes out victorious.

He likes Wolf and the big guys Justice and Titan. He says that Helga scares him. He always asks me who my favorite gladiator is. Personally I like Crush. So finally I asked him who his favorite was. The conversation went something like this.

‘Who is your favorite gladiator?’

‘Evan’

‘He is a contestant.’

‘No. He is a contender. He is fast. He is my favorite.’

If you haven’t seen the show, it is a much better version of a decent show that was out in the eighties. Check it out.

The LAN Party

2008-02-11T22:18:00.000-06:00

Saturday we spent the entire day running errands. Grocery shopping, to the wholesale store for bulk paper products, a nice lunch, a quick stop at Target and well, you get the picture. Our children were forced to come along and they were well behaved under the pretense that we would do “something fun” on Sunday. Well, Sunday came and it was cold. I mean real cold. The temp was below zero and the wind-chill was as low as forty below. BRRRR…

I called the bowling alley to see if they had open lanes. The guy who answered said they were packed because of the cold. We sat down to discuss our options for the day. I was opposed to going outside if I could help it. All of my daughters' suggestions involved taking out a small loan to fund. Finally, I asked if they would like to challenge me at Age of Empires.

We pulled out a table and set it up in the family room next to the girl’s PC. I grabbed Carli’s laptop and mine and the three of us headed downstairs. It was super geeky when I hooked the three computers into my Cisco Catalyst switch but, it worked. We played two games. The first game I destroyed both of them so in the second game I set them up as allies. They fared much better but, still lost to their father. I am not one for taking it too easy on them. The best way for them to improve is to get their butt’s kicked a couple of times.

The game is old (1997) but, still enjoyable. The later versions of the game a much better but, I bought the original disc brand new for a couple of bucks at a store a year ago for my daughters. I like it because in order to win you have to plan ahead. You have to build your civilization and use resources to advance through the game. I can endorse games of strategy for my kids. Hopefully, the skills they learn in building their virtual civilization will come in handy when they do their part to change the world.

Maybe this weekend they will get a chance to seek retribution.

Snow

2008-02-06T17:24:00.000-06:00

Today was a snow day. It's the second full work day I have missed because of weather this year. I worked diligently from home until about 3 and then went out to try and clear the driveway. Two and a half hours later, I am back inside sipping on cocoa with some schnapps and looking at a driveway that still has a considerable amount of snow in it.

The driveway is not huge but it is forty to fifty feet wide. The snow blower can not throw snow completely off the driveway from the center. It's not such a big deal until there is a foot of snow sitting on the drive way. By the time I got to the outsides, the snow was two to three feet deep and some places drifted to close to five feet. I have to use the shovel to "knock down" the snow and then use the snow blower to toss it out of the driveway. It's quite a process but still easier than shoveling.

So tonight I have a driveway that is still a third covered in snow but, it is good 'nough dammit. I can get the cars out. Maybe I'll finish up tomorrow but, probably not.

Super Tuesday

2008-02-05T22:36:00.000-06:00

I don’t usually share my political views but, since it is Super Tuesday, I think I may deviate a bit from my norm. I have been struggling, at least until this past weekend, picking the candidate that I would support for President. After watching the Democratic Debates I have made my decision.

Both candidates have essentially the same policies with some differences. Small differences in health care, immigration and foreign policy were the ones that caught my attention. I have no doubt that either candidate will make a much better President than our current failed administration.

So I have chosen to support Barack Obama. It is not so much the differences in policy although they did sway me. When I watched him in the debate he seemed to be so much more passionate than Hillary. He made me feel like things could be fixed. I am sure if Hillary is elected, she will do a fine job at turning this country around. The difference is that Obama made me feel good about supporting him. We need someone that can pull our country together; someone to rally behind. I think he is the one.

Fight Night

2008-02-01T16:28:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow night is fight night. UFC 81 will be on Pay-Per-View. When we were living in PA, I would head out to one of my buddy’s houses to watch the fights and drink some beer. There were usually a few of us and we would place friendly bets on each of the fights. It was a social event for men.

In my new digs, I have only found one person that likes to watch the fights and he will be watching at his brother-in-law’s. So, I will be watching the fights at my house with Carli. Yes, my wife likes to watch the fights with me. I used to think that she just liked watching muscle bound, sweaty men with there shirts off but, the other night she said “There is no way that Mir is going to submit Lesnar”. What? Of course Mir could submit Lesnar because well, he is a badass. At the same time I am impressed by her involvement in the sport. She could miss the televised event and not be sad but, if it is on she will watch it with me.

Tomorrow night I will knock back a few with my wife as we watch two guys in an octagon bloody each other to prove some primitive dominance over each other. I love the sport.

My new hat

2008-01-29T15:47:00.000-06:00

Today, our team at work took a field trip to our new site. The site is under construction and as such hard hats are required. We all gathered 15 minutes prior to the tour and new hard hats purchased for the group were being handed out. One of my co-workers spray painted mine hot pink. It has been an ongoing joke since the first week I arrived. I was provided with a fiber vault lid puller that had been painted pink as a joke. He said, I think your desk would look good pink. Since then random items disappear from my desk and return in a bright shade of pink. My stapler, dry erase markers, scissors, stapler and even my LAN cable are now pink.

I enjoy a good joke and it provides justification for me to return the favor. I donned my pink hard hat and traveled to the construction site. It was only on site that I realized that all of the union workers, not privy to the inside joke, were looking at me strangely. I guess a guy in Dockers with ear rings and a pink hard hat are not common place on a construction site. Just the same I was fine in my pink hat. That was until the site supervisor said he would not be comfortable wearing my hard hat.

What am I supposed to do? It has my name on it. I am keeping it.

Workday mornings

2008-01-28T16:56:00.000-06:00

The boy does not like when I have to go to work. Mondays are really tough for him because he has just spent two days relaxing on the couch with me in the morning while I drink my coffee. He does not understand why I can't just hang around the house for a bit longer and then go to work later.

I try to be extra quiet as I get up, shower and go through my morning routine. If he rouses before I am out of the bedroom, I have to stop what I am doing and give him some lovin' before I can head out to the kitchen and start breakfast. When get back to my morning routine he does whatever he can to slow me down. He likes to throw flying karate chops as he leaps from the bed. He will grab the socks from my hand and giggle as I wrestle him to the ground. I think I sound serious when I tell him that I need to get ready but, it doesn't seem to deter him from continuing his attack.

His kryptonite is chocolate milk. Once I offer the brown elixir all bets are off. I make him his cup o' milk and then I can brew some coffee and eat some oatmeal before taking off for work. Maybe I should get my clothes out in the morning and dress in the bathroom.

My downtime

2008-01-25T17:14:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, I beat Super Mario Galaxy. It is a fantastic game and I found myself having a hard time turning the game off. My kids complained to Carli that I am not good at sharing. We have only had the game system for about a month and I bet, I only logged 8 to 10 hours on the game. The interesting thing is that even though I beat the overall objective, saw the credits roll by and got the big “The End”, there is still more game play. I would say that this is the best game I have played in years. I can see there is still hours of enjoyment left but, I can now say I beat the game.

My new obsession is the Showtime series Dexter. I have been talking to a co-worker for a couple weeks about the show and he assured me that I would like it. I finally broke down and started watching it, streaming from Netflix. It is very well written. The main character is a serial killer yet, somehow they have written him as a very likable character. You find yourself being able to identify with some of his personality traits. I have watched the first 5 episodes. I try to make alone time for myself to watch more. It is one of those series where you can’t wait to see what happens next.

What did you say?

2008-01-23T21:10:00.000-06:00

A conversation between my three year old son and me:

'Your cheek is red. Looks like you need some lotion.'

'Maybe I need some Vick's.'

'I don't think so.'

'Shut your pie hole.'

'Hey! Why did you say that? That wasn't nice.'

'Well, you weren't listening. Do you know what a bonk bed is?'

'No.'

'You have to build one for little boys.'

'Do you mean a bunk bed?'

'Yeah. I need you to build one when my other one breaks'

'OK. .... Don't break the other one.'

'OK. I'll try not to.'

Too Cold

2008-01-21T12:03:00.000-06:00

It has been unbelievably cold here in Wisconsin the past couple days. On my way to work Friday the roads were still snow covered from the night before. It is too cold for salt. They have been throwing down cinder on the roads. Saturday, aside from a couple quick trips to the store for coffee and eggs, we stayed inside and ignored the fact that the skies were blue and the sun was shining for the first time this year. It was a mere 2 degrees when I left for work this morning. Tomorrow we are supposed to warm up to 12. Grrrr.

--- Friday night was my work holiday party. I know it seems late but, the holidays are our busy time where I work so, there wasn’t much planning done until after Christmas. It was a formal affair. People were dressed in sharp black suits and tuxes. There was free food and alcohol and everyone got vouchers for 1,500 in chips for “Casino Night”. The chips had no value in the real world but, it was just as much fun as shooting craps in Vegas. It was funny to see how stingy people can be when it is not even real money. Carli and I started with three thousand bucks between us and ended up with over 10k before we cashed out. It was a good time.

--- Last night we watched the Packers lose to the Giants in overtime. It was a bummer. I am a Steelers fan but, living in Wisconsin it is hard not to watch The Pack on television. It was -1 on the field at kickoff and the wind-chill dropped it another 15 to 20 degrees. The big linemen were out there with short sleeve shirts. It seemed a bit ridiculous. It seemed like it was just too cold for Favre. He is getting up there in age. I think his body just wasn’t responding for him. I would have liked to see him go to the Super Bowl since he is probably going to retire. His last pass in pro ball may have been the interception.

Driving the hour home after watching to playoff games was tough. I sit here now thinking that I probably could have slept for another hour this morning.

It's a new world

2008-01-17T21:46:00.000-06:00

As I write this update, My three and a half year old son sits next to me playing Diddy Kong Racing on his Nintendo DS. Every so often he blurts out "HA HA I lost him"! It started as a way to keep him occupied on car rides and when riding in the shopping cart. We now have to regulate use of the handheld.

It is very surprising to me some of the words that are in his vocabulary. Not the four letter words. I walked in the door and asked him what he was doing. He looked at me and said "Waiting for this page to load". He was so matter of fact about it, I wondered if he had aged 10 years while I was at work.

He spends a small amount of time on the Internet most weekday mornings. My wife has set up an account on noggin.com for him. It is a personalized preschool program that increases in difficulty based on your child's progress. It is pretty slick and seems to really be helping with his development. It is just hilarious to see his little hand clicking away on the mouse.

When I was his age, I am pretty sure I was digging in the yard with my Tonka trucks.

Not So Super

2008-01-16T09:07:00.000-06:00

Last week a friend of mine at work, sent me a link to an exceptional deal on a Wii game that has not hit the market yet. Super Smash Bros. Brawl will hit stores in early February. It is supposed to be the new hot ticket item. New Wii games normally retail for $50. The link he sent me had it on walmart.com for $19.82. We try to stay away from Wal-Mart as much as possible. D1 watched a documentary about the super store that her uncle left at our house. She was ‘horrified’ by their business practices. This was however a chance for me to buy the game possibly below cost. The price had to be an error. So I whipped out some plastic and placed my order. Maybe I could bleed just a little back out of the commercial giant.

Then when I got back to checking my e-mail this week, I get this e-mail from walmart.com:

Dear Tim…,

We have received your request to cancel the item(s) listed below from your order (#xxxxxxxxxxxx).

We will attempt to cancel this order, however, we may already have processed your order for shipping. If you need to contact us about this order, please call us at 1-800-966-6456 between 6 a.m. and 1 a.m (CT), seven days a week.

I figured that Wal-Mart might catch their error but, to make it look like I requested the cancellation was pretty crappy. Just another reminder why we don’t shop at Wal-Mart anymore. I sent their customer service an e-mail and they confirmed that they had a pricing error and canceled my order. The also mentioned that I could find the game re-listed on their site for the correct price of $49.82.

Renewed Focus

2008-01-15T16:46:00.000-06:00

It’s been almost a month since my last update. There has been a lot going on but, I haven’t been so inspired to write about it. When I took days off for the Christmas break, I decided to set my laptop aside and spend some time with my family, undistracted. I did watch a couple episodes of Voltron with the kids but, I spent very little time on the Internet. During the Holiday break, Carli and I also started a webpage to track our successes and failures trying to get healthy in 2008. I have been adding blog entries there but, they are focused on eating the right way. It is not the place to post of my love for the Baconator.

---
This past weekend I went to my Uncle’s funeral. He was 50 and he died suddenly at home. He has children the same age as my girls. It was heartbreaking to see them standing there, consoling strangers. I think of all the life experiences they will go through without a father and it saddens me. I also saw my grandparents grieving for a lost son. No parent should outlive their children. Through all of the sadness, there was a great sense of family. The support network that should exist in every family was there. Each person grieving in their own way for a son, a brother, a father, an uncle and friend.

It helped me to remember the importance of the extended family. I forget how much I miss my aunts and uncles and cousins until I spend time with them. It reaffirms our decision to move back to the Midwest to be closer to our family. It also reminds me why Baconators are no longer an approved food. It will keep me focused on getting to a healthy weight and adding exercise back into my daily routine. I want to be there for my children and continuing to overindulge has definitely put me at risk for serious health problems. This will be a year of change.

A photography lesson for me

2007-12-20T11:34:00.001-06:00

In a last ditch effort to pull together some pictures of the kids for the holidays, I gathered the children in the living room and told them to prepare for a frenzy of photos. I only needed one good shot to make the event worth while. None of my children seemed eager to participate. D2 was “scared” to let me comb her hair and D1 huffed away in disgust. The boy has a huge bruise on his face from running into a wall, which he seems to do frequently. I had to force them all back into the living room with threats of canceling Christmas. My mom used to do this several times during December and while Christmas was never canceled, it was an affective measure to get us kids to comply.

I sit the kids down in front of the fireplace and ask for smiles. D1 is not very happy with me and can’t even force a grin. D2 wants to slump on the boy and he wants to sit on the floor which positions his head a full foot below his sisters. I try to get him to kneel which causes him to become upset which makes everyone unpleasant. I take a picture to show them how ridiculous they look and they now want to be done. So I say in my angry voice “This is supposed to be fun Dammit!” The ridiculousness of my statement causes everyone to break out in laughter including myself. Now I can’t get D1 to stop with her guffaws which results in shots where all you can see is mouth. D2 keeps falling over because of the hysterical humor created by the situation. By the time I have D1 and D2 calmed down, the boy has lost complete interest. I took about 60 pictures and one of them was not horrible. I decided not to make prints from any of them. Perhaps we will try again tonight.

While my initial objective was not accomplished, the night was not an entire loss. Apparently, the boy is an aspiring photographer. On the digital camera there are 20 or so pictures that he has taken around the house. Most of them are blurry or only contain images of his feet. There are pictures of his current library book and even one of my wife wearing his black cowboy hat, sitting at her computer and drinking her morning coffee. This one is truly hilarious but, at the risk of sleeping on the couch over the holidaze, I won’t post it here.

I want to share a couple of the pictures taken by the boy. Use the comments to let me know if you see the same potential I do.

This first one is of our Christmas tree. Not much to say here. I think you can see, he is looking past the physical and focusing on the spirit of the holidays.

This next picture is of our cat. I believe he has captured the true essence of the cat. This picture shares insight to the personality of the kittie, deep in thought.

This last picture is my personal favorite. Here the boy is using contrast to make his point. The different textures and hard lines coupled with the lighting. I would have to say this is his masterpiece.

My Animated Life

2007-12-18T17:00:00.001-06:00

I haven’t been doing so well on my “diet”. Yesterday, I weighed more than when I started two weeks ago. I do fairly well and then I grab fast food somewhere and blow it. I have eaten at Culver’s and Wendy’s in the last week. There is a steady stream of cookies and candies being delivered to the office from our clients. There is no escape. I guess I am going to have to step it up a level and start working out with the animated hotties on Dance Dance Revolution.

When I was nine or ten there was an animated series on television called Voltron. This was by far the best cartoon series on at the time. There was Thundercats, Gi Joe and Heman but Voltron was the ultimate.

In the third season or so they continued the Voltron series with "Vehicle Voltron" and it was super lame. I watched it on and off because the original series was so stellar and sometimes they threw in reruns of the Voltron I knew and loved. About a week ago I was feeling nostalgic and did a search for Voltron and found the official website. I spent a couple minutes looking around the site. I found that they have made available on DVD the original series in a 5 volume set. I pulled out my credit card and then stopped short when I saw it was going to cost me $150 bucks to buy the complete set. I was a bit discouraged but, there are always "other sources" for media. Today I was looking at my Netflix queue to see what was coming and thought I would check to see if I could just rent the Voltron discs. To my pleasant surprise, you can actually stream all of the episodes directly from the site. I watched episode one at lunch today. Tonight I will watch the remaining 30 or so from the first year. I will only stop for food or if my eyes start to bleed.

I am so stoked.

Wii are Crazy

2007-12-17T11:04:00.000-06:00

Both of my girls have the Wii as the number one item on their lists for Santa. The Wii has been out for over a year. When we found out in October that they wanted one, I didn’t feel the need to rush out and get one. I should have. By the beginning of November they were noticeably gone from the shelves. By mid-November there were rumblings of a worldwide shortage. Crap. We had completely planned Christmas around the Wii. We even gave ideas to family members that included games and accessories for the game console. Many of them already purchased.

I started my on-line search. Amazon.com had sold out and the marketplace shops were already selling for $350 (Today they start at $450). I couldn’t bring myself to pay more than retail. I have always lucked out in the past. I got my Tickle me Elmo at retail so; I resolved to find the Wii at the MSRP of $250. A co-worker told me about wiitracker.com .The site constantly craws the Internet and reports when major E-tailers post the Wii. It is great except the closer to Christmas it gets, the quicker the consoles sell out. Then I found wiialerts.com . This site works on the same principle but, when the Wii is available at the price you are looking for, the site sends a text message to your cell phone. Pretty slick.

I got my first alert about a week ago. Amazon.com had just posted the Wii for $250. I was 8 minutes from home. I hurried home, fired up the laptop, connected to the site and they were sold out. I figured I got a false positive alert. Actually, Amazon.com had 10,000 (yep, ten thousand) game consoles and when they put them on their site they sold out in 10 minutes. The images of the girls opening a Wii on Christmas day were now being replaced with images of D1 saying “I really thought we would get a Wii. Oh well, I am so happy you got those long underwear I wanted”.

Time to call in some favors. My mom knows people who work at Wal-Mart. She has an in, we can cheat the system. I guess it’s not that easy. Employees can’t buy anything when they are on the clock. I sent a request out to all of my relatives. Someone has to come across one of these devices but, they are not to be found. Then it happens… Carli reads on the Internet that retailers like Best Buy, Toys R Us and Sears will have the consoles for Sunday morning. I call Best Buy and the woman confirms that yes they will have a limited number of them on Sunday morning. They open at 8 am. I start planning for my Wii pilgrimage.

I don’t want to risk being too late. There was an article on the net about a man that showed up at six in the morning to a store that had sold out an hour earlier, three hours before the store opened. I figure I will need to be there by 4am at the latest. On Saturday night I am anxious about missing my opportunity. I climb into bed and set the alarm for 2am. I’ll sleep for a couple hours and then head out. As I was laying there I kept thinking of the morning I missed a turkey hunt because I slept through the alarm at 4am. I decide to just go. I’d stay in the car as long as possible. It was supposed to be cold. I loaded up D1’s ipod with several movies, grabbed my laptop, wool socks, hunting boots, gloves, snow pants, a sweatshirt a fleece and my snow jacket. The one thing I did forget was a chair but, it turns out a blanket would have been a better choice anyway. I stopped for coffee, a bottle of water, some trail mix and a box of Nutrigrain bars. It could be a long, cold night.

I arrived in the parking lot at midnight. I looked around and I was the only fool there. Perfect. I pulled out the laptop and watched Sin City. I made a trip to the gas station to go to the bathroom. Better get it all out now before a line forms. Around 2:30 two more guys showed up. They tossed a football around for about 10 minutes but, quickly retreated back to their vehicles. It was 12 degrees and the wind was blowing. Finally at 4 am a couple cars pulled in and it was time to leave the warmth of the van and stand in line. The line hovered somewhere around twelve people until about 6:30 and then started to ad a person about every 10 minutes. By this time, we had met someone that said they were supposed to have fifty game consoles at this particular store. Damn! I could have stayed in bed until 5:30 and still gotten a Wii. I wasn’t too upset. I was number one in line. I would certainly have my Wii.

At about 7:20 the manager and his posse came out of the store with Wii tickets. These guaranteed you would get a Wii as long as you presented it in the store before 9am. Handing out tickets is supposed to avert the pandemonium that would ensue if they opened the doors at 8am with a hundred people waiting and only fifty consoles available. I quickly retreated to the van where I attempted a rapid defrost of my extremities. It also turned out to be a great view of the people showing up at 7:40 thinking they would be first in line only to be disappointed when the Best Buy employee greeted them and told them they were sold out… before the store even opened. People react in different ways to disappointment. One man became very irate insisting that he should get one because they advertised in the paper that they would have them. Then he cried. I feel for you buddy.

Carli called me when I was driving home. I told her I had secured a Wii and she assured me Father of the Year status… at least for the remainder of 2007. She said all the kids were still in bed. Ahh bed. Nice and warm. That is where I was headed. I pulled into the drive way and just to be extra careful I wrapped my coat around the Wii to carry it into the house. I went in and took off layer after layer. When I picked up the Wii and my coat, D1 says “Dad, you are not very tricky”. What? What does that mean? Evidently, Carli had told D1 that I was out looking for a Wii all night but, that I had not found one. WTF? There had to be a better lie laying around. Obviously, the bag hidden under my coat contains a Wii. Carli never was a good liar. I would have told D1 that daddy was out drinking and couldn’t make it home last night, or that I had gone to get doughnuts. These things are believable and don’t put thoughts of a Wii into her head. Then D1 says to me “Don’t worry Daddy, I won’t tell D2”. Now, I feel much better.

I am too tired to worry about this small set back. I headed to the shower and then to bed.

throw away your television

2007-12-04T22:09:00.001-06:00

After receiving inspiration from Anthony Kiedis we decided to remove the TV from our living room this weekend. On Saturday we had a rearrangement of sorts. Carli's computer desk and accessories where moved upstairs to the living room and now run exclusively on wireless.

In order to make room for the television in the family room downstairs, the girl's computer desk also had to be moved. since it was only moving 10 feet or so, I thought it would save some time to just drag it across the carpet without removing the contents. About two feet from it's final destination it stuck for half an instant and the rest is a blur. I either pulled something or my back just locked up on me. I finished moving the desk but only hastened my trip to the couch were I would be stuck for the next thirty minutes. only after two Alieve and some Icy Hot was I able to function again. I felt like an old man.

Of course it started to snow shortly thereafter and on into the night the white stuff continued to fall. Overnight, the snow became rain and the 6 inches of fluff on the ground the night before became 3 inches of the wettest, heaviest slush known to man. D1 and I spent 4 hours outside shoveling on Sunday. The first thirty minutes really sucked until my back either loosened up or went numb. In either case I was able to complete my task.

Of course it was also he day dedicated to finding and cutting down our Christmas, oops I mean Holiday, Tree. We didn't get to the tree farm until almost 4. That gave us a solid 45 minutes to find the right tree, cut it down, drag it from the woods and then strap it to the top of the minivan before it was too dark to see. We succeeded but, only because D1 again rose to the occasion and helped my drag the ice caked tree from the field.

I paid over $50 for a seven foot tree this year. How frikken ridiculous. I never paid more than $2 a foot in the Midwest before and even the tree farm we went to in Pennsylvania we never paid more than $30. It was because we were pressed for time, it was Sunday and we didn't do much research on tree farms. It is the story of my financial life. The deal always presents itself after the fact.

Next year we head south away from the Mad City. And for those of you who were concerned, the back is fine now. I think I twisted wrong and it caused my muscles to seize up.

Super Mega Ultra Revisited

2007-12-01T08:09:00.000-06:00

With the pending winter storm for the weekend we decided to move up our bi-weekly trip to the grocery store and headed into Woodman's last night. Woodman's is always insane but, last night was utter chaos. I have never seen the parking lot so full. The place was packed.

When we were walking in, a random woman with an angry face said "enter at your own risk" and then stormed past us. Carli and I looked at each other and continued toward certain doom. It wasn't until we made our first pass by the checkout area before we realized the magnitude of the situation. There were lines extending from each checkout isle that extended down the food isles and around the corner. We had only finished two thirds of our shopping but, I decided to get in line and wait while Carli and D2 tried to grab the remaining items without the cart.

The boy and I hung out in line reading Bandaid boxes and antacid bottles to pass the time. Usually I am the first to lose my mind in a situation like this but, I was getting too much enjoyment from other's pain to be upset. The man and his wife in front of us had just enough items that they couldn't justify the express lane. He was missing some show on television and was bitching at his wife for making him come with her. She was making derogatory comments about the threadbare spot on the couch and his inability to think of others. It was quite entertaining.

25 minutes later, the ladies returned with arms full of produce and bakery items. Based on our current speed it would be another thirty minutes before we could start checking out. The entertainment value of letters on boxes related to the digestive system was quickly waining. We needed a mission. Carli suggested we replace the empty bottle of rum from our Thanksgiving holiday and the kids and I were off.

We went slowly through the crowds hoping to kill more time. I found the bottle of rum and decided to wander a bit. I thought it my be fun to try and find the most expensive bottle of liquor in the store. We were walking down the vodka isle looking for top shelf stuff when we ran across Effen vodka and couldn't pass up the opportunity to get my kids to talk about f**n vodka in line with me. What would you think if you heard a three year old telling his dad that he should get some f**n vodka. The looks from others were priceless.

By the time we got back to Carli, she was just checking out. Perfect timing. It actually took us longer to check out than it did to shop. The last task was getting to our vehicle without getting run down by hostile shoppers trying to flee the parking lot.

Before I go make breakfast for my family, I want to mention a small personal accomplishment. On our way to the store last night we were looking for a place to grab some dinner. All the places we passed seemed to be busy and spending hours in a restaurant is not a good primer to a packed supermarket. Carli suggested Wendy's and I quickly agreed. I really wanted to try the Baconator with it's half pound of beef and six strips of bacon. Yummy. I know what you are thinking.... So here was my first victory. I ordered a grilled chicken sandwich with a baked potato and an unsweetened iced tea. I still had butter and sour cream on my potato but, let's not get crazy. Baby steps.

The weight of reality

2007-11-29T20:00:00.000-06:00

For the last year I have been slowly but, steadily gaining weight. I am now 15 pounds shy of the heaviest I have ever been. It's not like it snuck up on me, I have just been trying to ignore it. I sit in the car for an hour and behind a desk for eight to nine more every day. When I get home it is dinner time and then I like settling into my spot on the couch.

I have been over weight since the fourth grade. Growing up my mom always told me that I would thin out when I got a bit taller so I never worried about it. I weighed 254 pounds on the day I graduated. I moved out when I was 19, lived with an aunt 1000 miles away and got a job in a lumber yard while I went to school. I lost 60 pounds in 4 months. I didn't even realize I had lost the weight until I went home for Christmas. A year later I was 270.

I have never been too concerned about it. Other than some extra weight I have always been healthy. My blood pressure is always good and my check ups result in all good marks, except one. I am, of course, getting older. I am now becoming concerned about the reality of diabetes or gout or heart disease. It's similar to when I quit smoking. I knew for years that smoking was slowly destroying me even if the effects were not immediately noticeable.

I have dieted several times and been successful over the past 12 years and then something changes and I slowly put the weight back on. The impact on my family is significant and I know that I need to be a better role model. One of the reasons we wanted to move back to the Midwest was to make some lifestyle changes. It has been a challenge adjusting but, I think I have finally hit my stride at work and now I need to keep the commitment I made to myself.

I gave up on getting selected for The Biggest Loser. I know that my sharp wit would make for good television but, I have a feeling I am not fat enough for the show. I only have one hundred pounds to lose. I get very motivated during the day but, then after the evening routine I justify putting it off one more day. On the way home tonight, I came up with a plan to motivate myself to lose the weight I need to.

After dinner, I went into the bedroom and changed into some soccer shorts I bought two years and thirty pounds ago. I went downstairs and had D1 take pictures of me in the shorts and only the shorts. I don't think I will make the list of 100 Sexiest People this year. D1 now has the pictures and instructions to post them on the Internet should I not meet my monthly goals. I will post them myself when I lose 100 pounds but, until then I would rather no one else see them.

I weighed myself today and my goal is to lose ten pounds a month. Hopefully I can figure out how to post some charts and a graph on this blog and then I can share my progress. I am certain the thought of having those pictures posted on this site will keep me away from Culver's for the next ten months.

P.S. I walked on the treadmill for 30 minutes after the picture session.

Learning for Dummies

2007-11-27T12:34:00.000-06:00

It’s been three months since I started my new job. It is amazing how comfortable you become in a work environment and how long it takes to adjust to a new one. I imagine this is what it feels like when you leave an abusive relationship. My previous work environment pretty much sucked. My boss couldn’t see around his ego to save the group which completely fell apart over the course of the year. His boss had no authority to enact change because his boss had little faith in him. I digress….

My new work environment is completely different than the last. Employees are empowered to make business decisions without having to go through approval processes. They trust that they have the right people for the job and therefore the decisions should be made by those people. The stress is much lower and my roles have been fairly clearly defined. I am in a similar role but, the company itself has a different business model and goals.

There are some additional responsibilities that I have taken on that require me to expand my knowledge base in a field I am familiar with. The trouble I have is re-learning how to learn. It has been so long since I have been truly challenged that I have become complacent with learning. I had a concept that I wanted to learn so I picked up a technical manual and started reading on the subject. After 15 minutes, I was blankly staring at the pages. I had to force myself over several days to read and re-read the pages. In the last month it has become easier for me to initiate self study but, there are so many new skills for me to work on, I get distracted easily.

I think back to my first day and know that I have just started to hit my stride. At the same time I look at where I want to be and I know that I am going to have to invest some serious time studying and potentially taking some classes at the local technical college. I do not need them to do my job but, it certainly would help if I understood on a more granular level how the tasks I complete affect the whole.

I see though that I am not the only one that is working on bettering themselves.

Holiday Highlights

2007-11-26T12:37:00.000-06:00

I found myself wanting to take a break from the technology that consumes my time during the week. Over the Thanksgiving holiday my only lapse into technology was a couple of video games. This should catch you up on my holiday.

Wednesday

At 5 pm Carli reminds me that she needs color catchers to complete her wash. I try to find what I need without heading to far into Madison. I ended up at the supermarket 3 miles from where I work. It was insanity. Everyone was running around trying to buy their last minute needs for the Thanksgiving feasting. It had been snowing for a while when I left work and by the time I exited the chaos and started to drive home, it was snowing hard. Luckily I still had Bridget in the truck and used her to prepare for upcoming turns. Only once did she indicate that I might be turned sideways and with the horrible visibility I couldn’t be sure that I wasn’t.

Thursday – Thanksgiving

Tom and I had a date. Since he had been in the big freeze until 2 days ago, he was going to need a bath before going into the oven. After a couple hours in the sink, I had Tom in the oven by 10am. Now I could sit back and enjoy some snacks until 2:30 or so. I was a good Thanksgiving. There was a ton of food. This year we asked everyone to contribute a little to the meal. We had seventeen people in our house and there was plenty to eat. Carli and I had refused to buy alcohol for the weekend. I had some home brews set aside but they were gone the night before. There were a handful of beers left that had been purchased by another family member but, they were consumed before dinner was served. It was actually nice to not have to worry about anyone drinking too much on one of my favorite family holidays.

Friday

There is an empty bottle of rum on the counter. We don’t have soda in the house so I am not sure what it was mixed with. There is also a missing bottle of NyQuil and the vanilla extract is nearly gone. I am sure it was used properly. Most of our guests spent the night so, we spent a couple hours being lazy and eating leftovers.

I decided to take a break and go sit in a tree stand. I haven’t really been hunting in Wisconsin so I took an offer from one of D2’s soccer coaches and went to hunt on his property. I was surprised to see the woods as thick as in PA. I felt at home. Then I felt cold. Really cold. I sat for three hours watching some squirrels foraging and then I called it quits probably 10 minutes before it was too dark to shoot. As I was climbing down out of the ladder stand my feet stung every time I stepped to the next step. It was the coldest I have even been while hunting. I saw nothing but, being in the woods again felt good.

Saturday

The rest of our guests left and we spent a couple hours cleaning. The weekend with the in-laws went well. Carli’s family provides for hours of entertainment. They always recount stories of traumas that occurred as they grew up. When the stories are particularly funny, it must be told with an English accent. I assume it is family law or related to some movie they have watched countless times.

D1 and I started the task of hanging Christmas lights outside. The task that makes putting up lights such a painful undertaking is finding the bulb that is causing only half the string to light. I decided to ignore the strings that did not fully light and start with what I had. Lighting the house went quickly so we decided to decorate the tree in the front. I can only imagine what the neighbors must have thought. I was standing on the top of an eight foot folding ladder with D1 at the bottom holding it steady as I stood on my tip toes to get the lights up as high as I possibly could. I saw a guy do this last year and I thought that the idiot was going to fall and break his neck. It’s amazing how much safer it seems when it’s you that is doing it.

Carli and I went out to dinner for our anniversary. We went to a nice little restaurant in town that has been touted as the best place to eat prime rib. After a couple of pints and an eighteen ounce prime rib, I was certain my belly had never been as big. Dinner was good and as they rolled me to the door I am am pretty sure they asked the waitress to make sure I hadn’t eaten the flatware.

Sunday

We didn’t do much. I did find three more strings of lights and worked on several others that didn’t light the day before. I went out and did my ladder stunt again for those neighbors who might have missed it. I disguised the fact that I hadn’t changed out of my PJs by throwing jeans on over them and putting on a coat. I didn’t make it though the Simpson’s. My daughter poked me and told me to go to my bed because I was snoring so loud they couldn’t hear the television.

Ahhh…. Making Memories.

Wonderful. Just Wonderful

2007-11-20T12:12:00.000-06:00

On Sunday night, the boy asked for dinner at 8:30 at night. Since he can’t seem to eat with the rest of us, he is pretty hungry when it is supposed to be bedtime. We keep frozen tubes of yogurt in the freezer for just such a snack need. When Carli grabbed one out of the freezer, she noticed it wasn’t completely frozen. No worries, right? Someone must have left the door open. We checked an hour later and the temperature in the fridge was continuing to rise. It was time for action.

Everything from the freezer we took down to the chest freezer in the basement. We then proceeded to take all the items that could stand being frozen (bacon, sausage, cheese, etc.), and moved it to the chest freezer as well. We have two fairly well sized coolers but they would not be enough to contain the contents of the fridge. Thanksgiving is being held at our house this year and Carli’s entire family will be at our place for several days. As such, we had our mighty Kenmore filled to busting.

After moving as much as possible to the chest freezer and placing two full coolers on the back porch for the night, we still had some additional food that we would have to leave in the rapidly warming fridge until the morning. Most of it was leftovers and produce that should handle warmer temps. It was 46 degrees outside and should fall overnight but, the next day was supposed to be in the mid fifties so we would have to take care of it in the morning.

First thing in the morning I called the landlord. I had gotten myself into a little trouble earlier by replacing the defective garbage disposal prior to getting approval. I left a message for our landlord and decided to make a call to Sears. Since we had no idea if the fridge was under warranty or if the landlord would want Sears to service the fridge, Carli asked me to wait. I headed to work and She would try to get in touch with the landlord and schedule the repair.

At 10am Carli called me at work. She had just gotten of the phone with Sears and they were being less than helpful. Our food had been un-refrigerated now for over 12 hours and her morning experience had been difficult at best, I decided to head home and take care of the issue myself.

I called an appliance repair shop and talked to the very helpful person who indicated the problem sounded like the fridge was stuck in a defrost mode. He tried to direct me to where he thought the defrost timer might be located on our fridge. He was not familiar enough with the fridge and as I found out later they can be in about forty different spots. I asked him if he could just send someone out. They were booked through Wednesday. So I decided to just have Sears come out since they seamed more likely to have parts on hand. I went on-line and opened a ticket and scheduled an appointment for Wednesday.

I called to get some help from Sears. I wanted them to direct me to where the defrost timer was located on my fridge. The guy on the line was helpful until he realized the fridge was not under warranty. He then promptly told me there was nothing more he could help with since the warranty was expired, thanked me for calling and terminated our call. They have to have a record of how much I have spent in their store. They ask for my phone number every time I buy something. And all those items I charged on my Sears card and paid 30% interest on? They should have life-flighted me a new fridge.

I am resourceful and I have the Internet at my fingertips so I decided to search for an owner's manual on-line. Apparently, Kenmore does not provide downloadable owners manuals. No worries, I know Kenmore is really some other makers fridge with the Kenmore sticker on it. I search and find that my fridge is made by Amana. Did anyone else know that Amana was recently purchased and no longer offers downloadable information either? Finally, I find a schematic for the fridge and locate the defrost timer. I reach behind the grill and turn the knob. Nothing happens. I decided to give up. I have already lost several hours that I will not get back and I now realize that I am under qualified to work on refrigerators.

To solve our food situation, I drove an hour to my brother-in-law’s house to pick up his ‘beverage fridge’ that sits in his garage. It is much smaller than I remember. It is now in our kitchen packed with food. We still have a large cooler that I put ice and mostly produce into. We tossed quite a bit of items that probably needed to go anyway. All the leftovers are gone and I need to get more relish when there is room. Sears is scheduled to come out on Wednesday; the same day Carli’s family should start arriving. I have a feeling that they are not going to “have the right parts” and the repair will happen some day next week. I knew it was going to be a long weekend, I just didn’t think it would start before the guests arrived.

Medical Error

2007-11-19T16:20:00.000-06:00

Several weeks ago, I sent for my medical records. I actually started the process a couple weeks after moving but, a phone call wasn’t enough. I had to write a letter and a mail it and then wait what seems like a month for them to make the copies and mail them back.

I opened up the medical records to see what the doctor had deemed necessary to put in my file. Diabetes? High Blood Pressure? Why had he not told me this before? Then I realized I have never had a broken hip. After all the hassle I had to go through to prove that my request for copies was legit, I get the medical records for some 71 year old woman that has a whole slew of medial issues. The poor lady must be on the verge or death and now her new doctor will have to guess what is wrong with her because I have her medical records.

Wally World

2007-11-15T13:54:00.000-06:00

For reasons I am still not sure I understand, we decided to visit the new Wal-Mart in Madison yesterday evening. The plan was laid out in advance. I would drop Carli off at the door and take D1, D2 and the boy to eat at Pizza Hut (We had a free pizza coupon that was going to expire). This would be our first trip to Wally World since the move. I would have to say I haven’t missed the place.

We needed groceries so the regular store would not do. We drove the extra 15 minutes to get to the super-store version. When we pulled in we knew right away this would be an experience unlike all others. The store sits on top of the parking lot. Not so much a parking deck but rather a lot with a building on stilts sitting directly over it. And this store was big. Right away the splitting up plan went out the window. I could sense intimidation in Carli’s voice when she asked if I thought she would have trouble finding what she needed. The girls were enthralled with the fact that there were escalators in Wal-Mart and so we decided to eat at the on-site Subway and “help” Carli with the shopping.

After the kids and I ate, D2, the boy and I decided to check out the sporting goods section before tending the cart. D1 thought it best if she went to help. I seemed to pick up a sales associate in the hunting section. As I walked down the aisle, D2 would ask about some product and our new personal shopper would provide his opinion on the items we were looking at. This grew old at break neck speed and as we turned the corner at the end of the row, we made a break for the lawn and garden center. After checking out the mowers and the giant turkey deep fryers, I was done browsing and we went to find the other half of our family.

After diving through a freezer for a twenty plus pound turkey, we had started to fill our third cart. This was to be expected as Thanksgiving is a week away and Carli’s entire family is coming for a day or two or three. This Wal-Mart was much less crowded than the one I had become accustomed to shopping in over the last several years but, I didn’t enjoy the experience any more. The people that shop there and the people that work there, always provide reason for concern. When we got to the checkout lane, there were two high school age girls running the register and bagging our items. The third item on the conveyor belt was fresh cilantro. I could tell right away neither of them had any idea what it was.

“Sir, is this parsley?”

“No, it’s cilantro”

“It looks like parsley”

“Well, it is green”

“Hmm, I can’t find it on our produce list”

“Did you try spelling it with a C?”

“Not an S? Oh there it is. I feel stupid”

“No worries. I’ll have my wife put back the artichokes”

“Hunh?”

“Never mind”

I decided it was time to go check out the video games while my wife handled the check out process. On the way out, we got to experience the “cart escalator”. This was after all the whole reason that we all stuck around to begin with. As you are entering the escalator, you push your cart through some small double doors. The cart then rides down the escalator with you and you retrieve it at the bottom. It made the experience just a little less painful but, I don’t think I would trade Woodman’s for Super Wal-Mart.

Much Ado

2007-11-12T12:28:00.000-06:00

So Saturday morning D1 announces that she wants to do something fun and that we need to go into town. We had no real plans so we decide that a trip to town wouldn’t be such a bad idea. We call Sears to make an appointment to get the boy’s picture taken at 5pm. There is a restaurant my wife read about that she wants to try and a book that I am looking for as a study guide.

We left just after noon and stopped on the way out of town to pick up one of D1's friends who will be accompanying us on our excursion. Carli can’t remember the name of the restaurant where she wants to eat, only that it is in Middleton 35 minutes away. She assures me that she will find the name in the restaurant guide she has brought along and have an address for me before we get there. Thirty minutes later and Bridget is still waiting for input. Carli was pretty sure it started with a B but, the closest she could find to something that sounded like it might serve natural food was the Prairie Café or something like that. I plugged the address into Bridget and we arrived a few minutes later. As we were exiting the vehicle I noticed this brightly colored place across the street called the Bean Sprouts Cafe and made some sarcastic remark about the place. Of course this turned out to be the B restaurant Carli was looking for and so we ended up crossing the street to eat there.

The Bean Sprouts Café is very bright and clean but, not quite what I had in mind. Everything has it’s own clever little name and there doesn’t appear to be fried cheese curds on the menu. I told Carli to order whatever she wanted and I would just split it with her. The food was not bad however it was a bit pricey. I had never tried edamame before. It wasn’t horrible but, it was a lot of work for a cold vegetable that fairly flavorless. I guess it would be easy to get a kid to eat and since this was a youth geared restaurant, it was one of four sides listed on the menu. Overall I would say the kids liked it. The pizza was really good and I would order that next time. I guess I wish we would have just gone to the place across the street.

We went to Barnes and Noble to browse for books. I wanted to get a study guide and we also were looking for Christmas Ideas. I found the book I wanted in the computer section. They wanted $95 for the book. I figure for that price it should take the test for me. I decided to pass on the book. I was headed toward the children’s section when the Bean Spouts food decided to make it’s second impression. When I got to the men’s room both stalls were occupied and there was a solid conversation coming from one of them. It was very odd. I couldn’t tell which stall it was coming from or even what was being said. My guess is the guy was taking Swahili or some language that was not of Eurasian origin. I assume he was either talking to someone on the phone or there was a conservative Republican politician in there with him. Either way, I had to go and neither stall was freeing up.

I rounded up the family and rushed from the bookstore and headed to Gander Mountain. Not only was it a great excuse to do some real shopping, the restrooms are much nicer. By the time I was finished in my office, my phone was ringing. Carli had done two laps in the store and was ready to go. D1 and her friend were unimpressed with the store and D2 was asking for one of everything on the shelves. I decided to acquiesce and head to the mall. We wanted to get the boy’s hair cut before his pictures.

At the mall, we started with some soft pretzels and then D2 and the boy got haircuts. I stopped by the jewelry store to have Carli’s rings cleaned. It had been seven years since they had been inspected by the chain where we purchased them. With the rings now taken care of it was time to get some coffee. The mall was packed and when we made it to the coffee shop the line was wrapped around inside and backed up to the door. I tried to escape the line by telling Carli I had to go again but, she wasn’t having any of it. So, I stood in line waiting for my caffeine boost. We still had about thirty minutes before our picture appointment. This brought us to my least favorite activity: Killing time at the mall. The boy and I spent so minutes looking at tools and appliances in Sears while Carli went to sign us in at the picture studio.

I do not understand why but, there is always a wait at the Sears picture studio. There are always the slowest living people in the world working there. Waiting is not one of my strongest skills and both my wife and I acknowledge this fact. So, after waiting for 15 minutes, it’s time to go. Carli can reschedule sometime during the week and go when I don’t have to be there. By the time we left it was 5:20 and the 4:30 appointment was still waiting to be photographed. I can’t stand that place. Ten years ago, getting pictures taken of D1 almost caused Carli and I to divorce. I am not sure what it is that sends my blood pressure sky rocketing but, I should know to just stay away.

Finally a Day Off

2007-11-06T10:13:00.000-06:00

We had nothing planned for Saturday. It would be the first Saturday since moving to the land of cheese that we had nothing scheduled. So I guess it is fitting then that we were all up and about before 8am. My son woke me with excessively loud rooster impression that he has been working on for a couple of months now. After he successfully raised my heart rate to the “I just ran up the stairs” level, he gently whispered “rise and shine daddy”.

After breakfast we all went outside to rake the leaves so I could mow for what I hope will be the last time this year. It was absolutely gorgeous outside. While D1 and D2 raked leaves the boy continually drove his Power Wheels through the pile scattering the leaves. This was as amusing to me as it was to him. The girls screeching at him on this fine day was more comical than annoying.

D1 decided that Saturday would be the day that she learned to mow the lawn. So I mowed the front and then mowed two ‘buffer strips’ around the outside of the backyard. She wanted to learn so she could get paid. I thought that was a stellar idea. So I showed her how to start and stop the mower and how to keep the lines straight. She did a great job of mowing. Then I explained to her that I thought she meant she wanted to start a mowing business and that a kid never gets paid to mow their own lawn. I guess that misunderstanding worked out in my favor.

Since it was nice out and none of the kids had assaulted one another yet, I decided to take them on a bike ride. Since the last trip, I have acquired a bike trailer for the boy. It is a pretty cool purchase. It is fairly light and I only notice the added weight on hill climbs. He enjoys riding in it and it allows me to take all the kids on a bike ride so Carli can stay home and do whatever moms do when they have an empty house.

My brother-in-law and his wife came over to visit that afternoon. I decided to uncap one of my home brews and give it a taste. I expected the beer to still be slightly flat since I just bottled it the week before. To my surprise it was well carbonated. It was very cloudy and since it was unfiltered there was quite a few ‘floaties’ in the bottle. The beer is real good. The hops are intense and it makes the beer flavorful. The best part is my wife and sister-in-law were not so fond of the hops so it looks like more for me.

I am now browsing a home brewing supply company's website. I am looking for the next recipe to brew at home. I am thinking a cream ale. MMMMM Beer.

All Hallows Eve

2007-10-31T21:09:00.000-05:00

Halloween is my favorite holiday. I think it has to do with the weather. Fall is my favorite time of year. It's that feeling you get when you can finally wear those new clothes that your mom bought you before school started but, made you store until it was the right temperature outside. Halloween being my favorite may also have to do with all the candy. Now that I have kids, I can enjoy the micro candy bars but, I don't have to do any of the work.

We have taken our son to no less than four Halloween parties this year. This was the first year he was able to really enjoy the holiday. Both of my daughters are at different stages of their Halloween experience. D1 is old enough to go out with her friends. It would be the end of her world if she were forced to go with her parents. D2 wants to go out on her own. Maybe next year. She is still a bit too young and with the new town and new friends, it was not quite time.

When I was younger my mom used to have a Halloween party every year. We would bob for apples, eat donuts from a string, eat candy and drink punch until we puked. It was a good time. I think next year we may start observing the day with our own party.

Every year there is that one odd item you find in your candy bag. One year I had five pennies in my bag when I was done. We learned to skip the brown house at the end of the block. The guy living there always handed out something healthy. The closest he ever cam to candy was a bag of pretzels. You know the guy who buys in bulk and then bags it himself? It always got tossed. You couldn't trust items that were packaged in some one's home. You never know when you might find a razor blade.

This year my son received a 1,000,000,000 dollar bill stapled to a Butterfinger. I thought it was an interesting idea and it certainly gave my kids something to talk about. Tonight, as I was sifting through his candy, I found the fake currency and noticed writing around the edges. The money asked if I had lust in my heart and if I had accepted Jesus. Hmm. I guess that some people can't just let the Pagans have a holiday. It was actually pretty intense. I think I may be destined for hell.

One thing I just can not find an reasonable explanation for is the parents that follow their kids door to door in their cars. I understand that some people live out of town and need to drive to get to a place where little goblins don't need to hike a mile between houses. If you drive to town, park. There are so many cars on the road already, why make trick or treating more dangerous for the kids. I thought it was an upstate PA thing. It does get cold there so I figured it was a rolling oven for the kids to thaw in. It was nice tonight and there were still people driving behind their kids. I wish someone could explain this to me.

The festivities started tonight at 4pm. We didn't get back to the house until after 6 and there was nothing made for dinner. So guess what? I went and picked up Culver's. I think I need to eat Culver's until I puke. That may keep me away from there for a while. At least a week....

Super Mega Ultra

2007-10-30T09:14:00.000-05:00

We recently discovered the mega-store for groceries.

On a recommendation from a family member we visited Woodman's Food Market. Holy Crap this place is big. Their produce/bread section is on it's own as big as the entire store in the small community we called home previously. The main store must be two football fields long. In addition it has a liquor and beer store attached to the main facility. This booze bonanza is one of the biggest I have ever seen. I didn't know you could buy gallon jugs of grain alcohol.

When I first walked in, I was in total amazement. This store was similar to the giant warehouses I have been in before except you could buy normal size containers of food. The biggest difference was the selection. Miles and miles of food. There was a giant dairy cooler of just cheddar cheese. Huge ethnic and natural foods sections. Re-learning a store is enough of a challenge in a normal size store but, this place is ridiculous and crowded. I had troubles negotiating the isles with my overflowing cart of food.

Soon my amazement turned to frustration as the time seemed to pass and we struggled to locate some food items essential to our diet. I had enough shock and awe for one day yet we still had items that we had not procured. I felt my skin getting warmer and a trickle of sweat had started to roll down the middle of my back. I knew that time was short before I would decide we didn't need food, I would tell my wife that it was her fault that we were in this crappy place and my kids would have no idea why I was so angry with them.

Finally, time to check out. Here at the front of the store, with our completely full cart of food, we would stand with 100 other customers and wait to leave with the fruits of our labor. It took a half an hour to get through the check out. Total time spent in the store was over two and a half hours. This is time I will never get back. Now I am spent, it is almost 7pm. We haven't eaten and still have a thirty minute drive home. Needless to say, a trip through the Culver's drive-thru and a couple Fat Squirrels and everything returned to normal.

We decided that our next trip to the ultra-mega-store would be on a Tuesday night. No one grocery shops on a Tuesday night. Well, except people in the Midwest. The place is totally insane. Unfortunately since the store is not in the town we live in, Carli has not yet gotten comfortable with the driving into Madison. So I am stuck making this trip for the foreseeable future.

A side order of thunder thighs please

2007-10-29T14:32:00.001-05:00

Carli and I decided several months ago that we were going to make a solid effort to start eating better and making better food choices at the grocery store. We have been slowly making changes to the products we buy. Reducing the amount to processed foods and increasing our intake of fresh whole foods.

Since moving to Wisconsin we have been able to frequent the farmers’ market on a regular basis. Fresh eggs, cheese, produce and bread. We have also slowly started to buy more organic items especially in the dairy and animal products realm. It costs a bit more to buy whole/organic foods but, if you stay away from junk foods the overall cost of food doesn’t really increase.

Now for the catch... When you buy whole foods and foods that are not processed, you keep less on hand because it has a shorter shelf life. It is also not as easy to just ‘whip something up’. On nights that both girls have soccer practice and it’s late and we are hungry, we sometimes submit to fast food.

When we go we go hard. In our small town we don’t have a McDonald’s, Wendy’s or Burger King. Nope, here in The Land of Dairy we have the ultimate in fast food. We have Culver’s. Culver’s is hands down the best tasting fast food I have eaten. Eating there is probably also the most artery-clogging endeavor one can embark upon.

The fast food chain is most famous for their butter burgers. Their cheese burgers taste so damn good because they are grilled in butter. What else would you expect from a fast food joint born in Wisconsin? You can order fries but, why would you when, for a slight increase in cost, you can upgrade to fried cheese curds? Then you can wash it all down with a frozen custard shake. That’s right, no messing around with low fat ice cream. Don’t want a burger?? That’s fine. You can order a pork tenderloin or fried walleye sandwich off their menu.

Every time we drive by Culver’s my son now states how he “loves curds”. Of course I respond with “Daddy loves them too”.

For my family of five it generally costs about $30 to have dinner there. That, of course, seems totally justified when you are hungry but, when you think of all the raw spinach and kale that could buy……

The Joys of Youth Soccer

2007-10-22T17:06:00.000-05:00

Sunday was dedicated to Soccer. My Oldest daughter had a 3 game soccer tournament on Sunday. To be on time for the first game she had to be at the field by 9:30 in the morning. The field is a two hour drive from the house. So I left the house at 7:30 with two blurry eyed soccer players. My wife was supposed to go with us but, remained home because of a back injury suffered the previous day. It was probably for the best since she stayed home with my three year old son who needs to be constantly entertained.

The tournament was seemingly well organized until it was time for the first game to begin and only one of the three referees needed was just arriving at the field. Something I never adjusted to in small town Pennsylvania was the people who arrive late and think nothing of it. I guess I unfairly judged the ref because of his lack of timeliness. It may have also been that it was 70 degrees outside and he showed up wearing a skullcap and sunglasses. I guess he had to impress all the 13 year old girls on the field.

Before I continue let me just state that I am usually very accommodating of soccer refs for youth soccer. I have refereed several games at this age group and I know how hard it is to see every foul. The parents can be unforgiving and ruthless. This guy on the other hand was just lazy. I think he only called two penalties the entire game and one of them was actually initiated by one of the line judges. After he missed about 6 fouls I started getting a bit loud. One of the girls on the other team was trying to stop a breakaway but, couldn’t get to the ball so she fell in front of the girl headed to score. This resulted in a trip. Although it was “incidental”, the end result was a possession change and no foul. I may have yelled a bit at this point. One of the parents warned me that I might get kicked out but, it was the only game I was going to be able to stay for so I thought I would take my chances.

The game ended in a 0-0 tie. It was a good game except for the officiating. There were a couple of injuries that resulted from hard contact that should have constituted a foul but, the only thing I ever heard him say was play on.

Twenty minutes after the game was over, I left daughter number one (D1) with a cheeseburger and a wad of cash in the care of one of the soccer moms. I had to take daughter number two (D2) to her soccer game. This amounted to another two hour drive and got me only slightly closer to home. By the time we arrived, I had heard from D1. They had lost their second game and had an hour before their third.

For D2’s soccer game we had a much better referee. Of course when he showed up, I could tell he would do better. How did I know? He showed up 10 minutes before the game, he greeted both coaches and he made the girls tuck in their jerseys. I had no idea if he knew the rules but, I liked him already. They asked me to assist as a line judge and I obliged.

D2 is on a team that has a significant amount of talent. They were going into this game undefeated and had handily disposed of other teams in the past. The team they were playing also had an impressive record. As expected D2’s team scored first but, this was definitely the toughest challenge they had faced. It always amazes me how well the parents understand the game. They should officiate from the side because they obviously are aware of the rules that referees are not privy to. It was a close game and the parents on our side of the field were feeling the pressure. I thought for sure one mom was going to pop. I also learned that “It is OK to shove them if they shove you”. Holy crap I have made so many bad calls as a ref. If I had only know about the ‘eye for an eye’ rule.

It was so bad that at one point the ref had to address the parents. After the game the referee asked the coach to talk to the parents about their behavior. I was quite embarrassed. Being the line judge, I walk up and down the side of the field in front of both teams parents. By the comments that were being made I thought that there must be a talent scout mixed within the parents. Recruiting for DC United, maybe.

After the game, it was another hour and a half drive home. We didn’t get home until 5:30. D1 arrived at home at 6. They lost their third game but, they drenched their sorrows in frozen custard from Culvers.

The season is almost over. I love soccer and for all my bitching I love to go to all my kids games. I only have a problem when we forget why we are there. We are there to ref games not to look cool and get paid for standing around for an hour. We are there to support our children not to yell at them when they let a goal go by. We are there to reinforce the idea that our officals are human and can miss calls not berate the refs when you don't fully understand the rules. Soccer is a complicated game and many of the calls are subjective.

I can't wait for next weekend's games. D2 has three days worth of games in the year end tournement.

Physics Lesson

2007-10-19T15:09:00.000-05:00

I bought a bike.

Madison is the bicycling capital of the Midwest. There are trails running between all the towns surrounding the city and there are bike lanes painted on almost every street in town. I knew a couple bike enthusiasts in Pennsylvania but, I would bet half the people I work with ride at least once a week and several of my co-workers commute to work on a bike every day. Even in the winter the city plows the bike paths.

No I am not going to get crazy with bike riding but, since we moved I have been looking for another way to incorporate my family into healthy activities (Some of you will be shocked to know that I have a couple pounds to lose). The weather has been great and bikes are everywhere. So, I got inspired and went to buy a bike. I went to buy a budget bike since I haven’t ridden one in years and I am cheap.

Once I rode a couple bikes, I realized that just like cars there is a huge difference between a Huffy and a Giant. I couldn’t believe how much I was sucked into the whole ‘you get what you pay for’ philosophy. I walked out of the “budget” bicycle shop with a Trek Navigator 3.0. I spent 5 times my pre-established max and felt good about it. I did get them to sell me the upgraded helmet for the same price as the cheap one!

Today I went for a ride at lunch. I wasn’t planning for a physical work out. Just a leisurely ride down the nearest bike path to where I work. After pedaling away from work for 3 miles I decided to head back.

When did the wind start blowing? Damn. Wind sucks. This brings me to my physics lesson of the day. My trip to the “turn” had been mostly downhill and with the wind. While I have 24 gears at my disposal, I am now faced with the fact that I can not alter my surface area or weight on this short relaxing trip. Gravity and my own size are now against me.

The wind must have been a sustained 40 mph. Seriously. I needed only pedal half a mile to get back into the woods and hopefully a reprieve from the wind. I was pedaling so incredibly fast and yet the bile was creeping along. An old man in a walker passed me. I tried hitting the higher gears but, with the wind in my face and my general physical fitness level, I could not get the bike moving any faster.

I finally made it back to the woods and picked up the pace a bit. Then it happened. I broke a sweat. Damn. I didn’t change my clothes. It was supposed to be a little, relaxing jaunt. The 3 miles I covered in 15 minutes on the way out took me 30 minutes to cover on the way back. I am so out of shape. I am reconsidering the 10 mile trip I planned with the kids for tomorrow. Maybe we’ll just ride down to the park.

Do you smell that?

2007-10-18T17:54:00.000-05:00

I went to the dentist a week ago. He cleaned my teeth and polished them. The dentist I had been going to usually sent me home at after the polish. The new dentist pulled out some new high tech gadget that looked as if it were off the set of Star Trek. This device was promptly shoved into my mouth and touched to several of my teeth. It apparently detects crevasses in the tooth enamel. It started beeping madly. The dentist seemed to be somewhat confused by the activity of this device but, moved forward taking notes. "Yes number 29... there is something.. Oh number 13... Hmmm". This was not reassuring. Even less reassuring was when he pulled the device out of my mouth and it continued to beep.

"Ahh, seems my battery is dying. Well I wrote down the ones that will need to be drilled. You can come back next week. We will check the rest and recheck the ones that look bad now."

So today I returned for my follow up. Unfortunately, the dentist left his tri-corder at his "other office" and was forced to confirm with his pick that I indeed did have cavities that needed to be filled.

There was no time for argument or questions. Before I knew what was happening my gums were going numb and the tip of my tongue was tingling.

Now, I have never had a cavity before. I had my wisdom teeth pulled when I was 20 but, I only had two to begin with and they plucked right out like carrots from the soil. So actually accepting the fact that I needed to have my teeth drilled was going to be hard. Fortunately, I was now numb and had no time to decide otherwise.

He started by drilling out number 29. He said that my cavity was shallow. I would hate to see deep. It wasn't too bad. I couldn't feel anything. Just as I was wondering why people avoid the dentist I caught a wiff off my tooth being drilled away. It is an interesting smell. You should never have to smell any part of your person burning. At one point I am certain I saw smoke coming from my mouth.

Number 13 was not very bad at all so he was going to try to drill without anesthetic. He peered at me with the 'let's give 'er the ol' college try' look. He proceeded to drill. It took about 3 seconds before both of us realized I would need anesthetic.

I can't describe the feeling of having the nerve endings in your teeth hit with a metal bit revolving at light speed. My body shuttered once and my head instinctively pulled away from his tool. To which he said "Oh you poor thing. I guess I'll need to numb you up a bit". You think?
Numb me he did. No messing around this time. I am pretty sure he had to refill his syringe. He pumped so much in me I am only able to type this entry with three fingers. The rest are numb....

It's been a couple hours now. I am still waiting for feeling to return to my face. I know understand why some people will do anything to avoid going to the dentist. I won't let my teeth rot out of my mouth but I am going to need to be very convinced that my health is at stake before I let him in my mouth with his drill again.

I am pretty sure that my old dentist would have let them go until he could visibly confirm craters had developed. New time I go to the dentist, it will be a quick clean, polish and then I am out.

Home Brew

2007-10-16T10:57:00.000-05:00

I won a home brewing kit and personal home brewing instruction through a charity auction at work. I started my first batch of home brewed beer this past weekend.

I went over to the house of a co-worker that donated the equipment and his time to the auction. He has been brewing beer at home for at least 20 years and has quite the set up at his home.

The first thing I learned is to be patient and relax. The best way to do this is by enjoying some of the previous batches of home brew. There where many samples to choose from. He had taken an old fridge, upgraded the thermostat and created a pretty nice beer fridge with three separate taps on the outside. He even ‘kegs’ his own beer using old 5 gallon soda containers. I had tried a cherry stout, a cherry ale and a cream ale before we even started brewing.

It turned into a brew party as two other gentlemen showed up to brew their own batch of beer. These guys really knew quite a bit about beer and had invested in some very nice brewing equipment. They even built their own reverse flow wort chillers. I was very impressed.

For those who may not know, the wort (pronounced wert) is the liquid you have after cooking the grains, malt and hops but, before you add the yeast. The wort has to be cooled to 80 degrees before you can add the yeast. So you have this 5 gallon kettle of wort that just finished boiling and you want to cool it as fast as possible to avoid contamination from airborne bacteria or wild yeast. Even with an ice bath, this can take several hours. The wort chiller they built, cooled the beer in 15 minutes. It was ingenious.

Before we added the yeast, we took a sample to measure the potential alcohol content when the beer is ready. Looks like it may be around 6.5%. Instead of dumping the sample, we decided to have a taste. Even though it was flat and had no alcohol it was pretty tasty. I guess the taste won’t change too much as it ferments.

So I put the beer in the basement where the ambient temp is around 68 degrees all the time. Yesterday after 24 hours I went to check on the beer. My wife had all the windows downstairs open because it was ‘stuffy’. The beer had cooled to 64 degrees and there were no bubbles. I was concerned that I might have to add some active yeast to start the fermenting. On the suggestion of my new brew friends, I wrapped the beer in a blanket to bring the temp up a couple of degrees.

This morning the beer was up to 68 degrees and there are nice large bubbles belching from the air lock every few seconds. I did a little beer dance and my kids stared at me as if I were crazy. I asked my wife to check on the beer today and send me a report. Next, I will transfer the beer to a second carboy and wait for the fermenting to end so I can bottle the beer.

It should be ready to drink around Thanksgiving.

Cheers!

Guilty Pleasure

2007-09-26T15:32:00.000-05:00

Cheese curds are fairly unique in the upper Mid-west. Although I have found them in Iowa and New York, they are not quite the same as fresh cheese curds in Wisconsin. If the curds are fresh they will 'squeak' as your teeth bite into them. At the farmer's market you can buy cheese curds that are made from that morning's milk.

For someone who enjoys cheese and food in general, these are a fantastic creation. We can debate the healthfulness of eating cheese later but, I know my favorite way to consume these mighty morsels is probably not recommended to people trying to lose weight. Fried. To do it properly, the curds must be hand battered and deep fried.

Fried cheese curds are fantastic. They are the perfect compliment to one of them many fine local brews that Wisconsin produces.

A friend of mine who has never heard of cheese curds was asking me why they squeak. As I was doing some research I came across a dish I have never heard of. It's called Poutine.

Poutine (pronounced poot-sin) is a dish consisting of French fries topped with fresh cheese curds and covered with hot gravy (usually brown gravy). The curds become soft in the warm fries, without completely melting.

OOHH baby. I certainly want to try that. I love to find and try regional dishes.

Now that I have made myself hungry, I will eat my snack of organic raisins that was packed in my lunch.

Welcome to Wisconsin

2007-09-20T10:50:00.000-05:00

Well, we have been in the badger state for just over a month now. Feels like home. There are brats and cheese curds everywhere I go. There are so many breweries that I haven't been able to sample all the options yet. I may become my lifelong goal.

The girls are in school and making new freinds. I have been working now for 5 weeks and enjoy my job much more than the last.

Change is a good thing.