Seventy more then I expected

Since the 19th, I've tried on a number of occasions to write without any luck.  Not just publicly either and not just about last week.  I'm not ready yet I guess.  In time, I will be.  I'm willing to accept that.

That being said, I do want to at least say this to close out 2007:

I'm greatful for vox.  Even if no one were to read my blog, it's been such a positive release for me to write (regardless of what the topic was).  Honestly, after my first entry in January I had no idea if I'd even post again.  Here we are in late December and this is entry #71 for the year.  More on that another time...

A lot has happened this year.  As a whole, I've definitely enjoyed myself and have so many great memories, but it's also been one of the most trying years of my life on a number of fronts.

However, I can most definitely say this:

I've always been thankful for the amazing cast in my life that I am fortunate enough to call family and friends.  But this year in particular, I've been even more aware of how privileged I am.

To all of you, thanks for everything (and for also being exactly the way you are). 

You mean the world to me.

25 Skills Every Man/Woman Should Know...

See Jon/Shannon/Molly/Amy/Super

1. Patch a radiator hose - Yes
2. Protect your computer - Yes
3. Rescue a boater who has capsized - I can swim, yes
4. Frame a wall - Definitely
5. Retouch digital photos - Yes
6. Back up a trailer - Yes
7. Build a campfire - Yes
8. Fix a dead outlet - Certainly
9. Navigate with a map and compass - Yes
10. Use a torque wrench - Yes
11. Sharpen a knife - Yes
12. Perform CPR - Generally speaking, yes
13. Fillet a fish - Yes
14. Maneuver a car out of a skid - Thank you snow, yes
15. Get a car unstuck - Yes
16. Back up data - Yes
17. Paint a room - Yes
18. Mix concrete - Yes
19. Clean a bolt-action rifle - I've never held a gun, no
20. Change oil and filter - Yes
21. Hook up an HDTV - I am assuming yes
22. Bleed brakes - Yes, thanks dad
23. Paddle a canoe - Yes
24. Fix a bike flat - Yes
25. Extend your wireless network - Yes

24/25 = That surprises the heck out of me.

A little bit of this, a little bit of that

In what has become tradition now, I have no chance to keep up with what's going on in my life on a daily basis so I am summarizing it (over the course of four or five working sessions since this weekend) in one big post that touches on many different items over the last month or so.  Enjoy.

Ms. Macie

Well, it's been an interesting six weeks with MJ.  As you may know from a past post, Macie developed a significant rash the day before Halloween.  After a series of visits to the doctors, this is what we have learned:
A full set of allergy tests were done, revealing that she only had one minor allergy (1 out of a possible 5 in significance) to pet dander.  Everything else came back clean.  Obviously this is not good since we have a dog, but the results showed that it clearly was not the cause of the rash at least.  Though it definitely could be an irritant to it.

We were really expecting the allergy test to give us the news we were looking for.  The rash was moving down her body (covered a good chunk of her) and itched.  Even after the rash left her face it continued to stay bright red around her cheeks and mouth as well.

The next step was to make an appointment with a dermatologist.  The one we were suggested to see didn't have an opening until 2/11/08.  Not cool.

This trip was important because if the dermatologist did not have any answers for us it was going to start to get a bit scarier trying to identify the other possible causes for Macie's condition.

After informing Macie's doctor about this he pulled some strings and got us in on 12/3 (at a differnet place).  The appointment revealed a few things. 

First of all, Macie had a moderate to severe case of atopic dermatitis (i.e. eczema).  Serious cases of eczema can significantly affect a person's life.  While this is not good news, it was still better news then it could have been.

She also was diagnosed with impetigo on her face.

The next step was to discuss treatment options.  They gave us a handful of different creams and the doctor subscribed an ointment for the inpetigo.  However, they asked us if we'd like to participant in a study currently being done on children just like Macie. 

It was determined that ~46% of her body covered in eczema.  At least 35% was needed to participant in the study.

It would take a series of five visits over the next four weeks and would test a corticosteroid that is only approved for children ages one and up by the FDA currently.  The study is for children three to twelve months old (hoping to prove to the FDA that they should change the range it's approved for).  The doctor said the corticosteroid being tested is fantastic and would help her immediately.  However, If we decided against the study there were other steriods we could try with her as well.

After some soul searching (since the testing was a study and would involve multiple blood draws) we decided to do it. 

We would have done it for free, but surprisingly they are paying us (fairly well I might add) to participate.

On Wednesday, 12/5, we showed up at 8am with Macie and a painfully long blood draw session occurred that confirmed she was eligible.  They study states that parents cannot be in the room while the bloodwork is being done (something I questioned and they allowed me to stay for the initial try).  While there are still much harder things to deal with, I can tell you that it tries you as a parent when you see the doctors attempting to take blood from your child's head.  Unfortunately Macie's veins collapse (it's nothing serious to worry about) when suction via a needle is applied to them, making it difficult to get any significant amount of blood from her.  After a handful of attempts, they got just enough blood to complete the tests (though much less then they had hoped for).

After the bloodwork, we were given the medication, with a diary and specific information about how/when/where to apply it to her.

Here's the good news, since we've been applying both sets of medication (along with nightly baths, approved lotions, etc.) she'd done a complete 180.  Her body looks good and she's no longer itching much either.  She's even happy.  We missed the "real" Macie, as her condition had put her in a perpetual state of unhappiness.

We'll see how the next few weeks go, but as of now things are definitely on the up and up.  It's been a serious stresser on the family the last month or so and it's wonderful to finially see some positive progress.

The butt scoot

Gina and I have accepted that Macie is not going to crawl.  Instead, she's decided to scoot on her butt.  She can make it around the room scooting without much problem (though, carpet is easier for her to maneuver on then hardwood).  It's pretty funny to watch her do it.  I am going to have to film it sometime and post it in a blog entry.

Super Under Roos

For whatever reason, Nattie has decided to "get it" as she has now gone over a full week without a single accident in her underwear (other then sleep times, which we still use a diaper for). Gina and I are not sure why she made the transition all of a sudden (before this she'd generally be in a diaper and use the potty chair when she felt like it) but we are lovin' it.

Jack Johnson

Interesting story.  Gina and I were listening to Jack Johnson's "On and On" (specifically the song "Taylor") Sunday when Natalie asked me if we were about to start watching "Natalie" (which is her first six months DVD I made).  I didn't draw the connection right away, but Gina did.  Natalie heard Jack Johnson. 

His "Better Together" is the first track on her DVD.  It didn't matter that the song was different, she associated his voice with her DVD.  I must say I am quite impressed with that.

Friday garbage

When you move next, ask what day the garbage man comes.  If it's Friday and you still move into the place, you've been warned that it's a miserable day to deal with garbage.  Sure, on the surface it sounds great to empty the trash just before the weekend, but in the fine print it's easy to miss that any week there is a holiday your garbage is not picked up until the following Monday.  Why do they do double duty on Mondays and not Fridays?  Why not Saturday at least?  It makes no sense.

Mr. Clean, Mr. Clean

I've been using them for a couple of years now, but I've decided to finally come out and make the statement that I believe the magic eraser is one of the greatest inventions of the last decade.  It even works on walls that are not white!  Thank you Mr. Clean.

Seven horses of pure power

Don't get me wrong, I honestly do not mind shoveling when the driveway beckons me to it.  I spend so little time outside in the winter that it's nice to enjoy the crisp air, etc.  I can usually clear everything in under an hour. 

What I don't like is that we live on a corner lot and Mr. Snowplow destroys our driveway every time he plows.  Generally speaking, after the plow is done with us our driveway has a pile of snow at least 2+ feet high and 3+ feet wide.  And, it's the wet/heavy stuff.  You can spend an hour shoveling it and it doesn't even look like you did anything.  Neadless to say, when the plows come around at 5am (like they did last week), we needed a way to get our cars out of the driveway before 9am.  So, we brokedown and bought a snowblower over the weekend.  To better understand how we financed the purchase, please reference Macie's section above. 

20/20 visions and murals with metaphors

Gina had her six month checkup this week.  She continues to have 20/20ish vision in both eyes.  Eye surgery is quite simply amazing.

An additional 274 square feet

While the eight month project downstairs is still not competed, we are definitely nearing the finish line.  By 1/1, the project (and all sub-projects associated with it) should be finished.  I'm looking forward to having my free time (as minimal as it is) back again.  I'm sure my dad would say the same thing as well.

Crash and burn, baby!

Stewie (the name of our computer's hard drive), decided to crash and delete all files in the Documents and Settings folder on the C: drive.  This is not the first time he's played tricks on us.  While we didn't lose a ton of stuff because we also use an external hard drive for storage, we are now without a couple of weeks of pictures and my work on the Macie DVD was not backed up anywhere else.  So, besides deciding to buy a new hard drive and needing to format the drive, re-install progams, etc. I will also need to start over on that project as well.  The timing could have been better, as I'm fully emerged with working on the basement and Gina needed the computer to do her homework for school (along with report cards for her kids).  I currently have a makeshift version of the computer working and will re-visit the topic more specifically next month.

You're 25% there already?

Speaking of her masters, Gina just finished one of her four semesters.  Hopefully, it continues to go fast (for the sake of all of us affected by it).

Guitar Hero III

I finally received clearance to send back my defective guitar to RedOctane around Thanksgiving.  I sent it back on 11/26.  However, it was just received on 12/10 and they say that there is a three week turnaround to ship a guitar back to me. 

Maybe I'll be able to play again by mid-January.

1 of 268,000

Yep, I just got my letter last night.

We tried, we failed

Our attempt to keep up on three different TV shows this year (House, Boston Legal and Grey's Anatomy) did not turn out as we had hoped.  We never even started Grey's and only got two episodes into the other two before we realized there was no chance for us to keep up with them.  We have not seen an episode of any of these shows now for a couple of months.  So goes the life of a parent.

Name those fish

Even though I had hoped our fish would not make it (I know, that's horrible), I have finally accepted they are going to be with us for a while.  We purchased them in January.  I suggested getting them, I think I needed something to help me feel like we were ready for Macie.  I regret that.  It was almost like I was nesting.  Initially, there were three but one did not make it.  I would never purposely kill them (though I did joke with Gina about flushing them down the toilet). 

Which leads me to our current situation.  If we are going to own fish, we should name them.  The names are TBD.

A mouse in the house

I got a panicked call from Gina while I was on the bus yesterday because a mouse was in the house.  I'm pretty sure I know when it got in.  When we use the nail gun downstairs, we leave the compressor outside because it's so loud.  To do so, a small opening in the patio door is needed. 

My guess is that it is the only one who came in but I set some traps last night to find out. 

The crazy part of the story is how Gina found it.  She had returned home early from her eye appointment and wanted to take a bath before she went to pick up the girls.  She saw some black specs in the tub so she started the water to wash them away.  After the water was started, the mouse came up through the drain into the tub (which creeped Gina out and rightfully so). 

However, both my dad and I reaffirmed to her that the mouse did not get into the house via the drain.  I think that helped her deal with it a bit as I am sure the fact that we just watched Ratatouille wasn't helping matters.
After a call to my dad, she was able to trap the mouse in a container and bring it outside.

I am the greatest

Inspired to discuss this topic by Guitar Hero III (and Messer), I wanted to make the following statement:
In my personal opinion, you are looking at a picture of the greatest living guitarst on the planet.  If you want proof, feel free to ask me about it.  Better yet, ask Rory.

Fogo de Chao

For our work Chistmas celebration last week, we were taken to Fogo de Chao.  It's a Brazilian resturant in downtown Minneapolis. 

It was one of the best meals I have ever had and I strongly recommend it.  For $24.50 (the lunch price), it's a steal. 

Here's the premise:

When you buy a meal, you are given unlimited access to their extensive salad bar.  You are also given a coaster (one side red / one side green).  Meanwhile, at least a dozen staff members are walking around with fifteen different cuts/types of meat (filet mignon, top sirloin, bottom sirloin, pork chops, chicken drummies, lamb, etc.).  When your coaster is flipped green, the staff members will stop at your chair and ask if you'd like a piece.  In a matter of three minutes, you can have five different types in front of you.  When you want to stop, just flip the coaster back to red.  When you're ready for more, flip it back over.

One time, I flipped my coaster to green and turned down the first couple of meat offered to me.  Shortly after that, one of the chefs came out to talk to me and ask if I'd like him to make one specific option that had not been offered to me recently.  How cool is that!  I asked him for the parmesan pork (which was fantastic).
After a very good molten cake for dessert, I did not eat again for over 24 hours. 

I wasn't hungry.

The wildest offseason in Twin's history - part 1

11/21 - Torii Hunter signs with the Los Angeles Angels for 5 years, $90 million.

11/28 - Minnesota acquired Delmon Young, Brendan Harris and Jason Pridie from Tampa Bay on

Wednesday in exchange for Matt Garza, Jason Bartlett and Eduardo Morlan.

-------------------------------------------------------

My take:

*The Hunter deal is off the charts.  I will miss the guy but his salary next year ($18.5 million) would have been the fourth highest salary in baseball behind Giambi, ARod and Jeter.  I hope the best for him in LA but he was grossly overpaid.

*I don't love or hate the Young trade at this point.  However, I'm just happy Bill Smith did something and I think this is obviously just the first piece to a bigger offseason puzzle for the team so it's hard to draw any conclusions right now. 

Terry Ryan was too cautious, I like Smith's mentality more already (from what I can tell at this point at least). 

All that being said, the more I look at things the more I think this is a trade our franchise will be glad we made five years from now.  Young's numbers at 22 are similars to Torii's at 26.
My only big complaint is that Young is defensively an average corner OF.  If he was a CF, I'd be much more excited. 

I suppose I also hope he's grown up a bit as he claims.

Harris and Bartlett are a wash to me.  Hopefully we acquire a SS so Harris can play 2B.  He's more valuable there.

Not the kind of news you ever want to hear

Mess informed me last night that this is the Dan Andretta that we graduated with.  He was living in Maine, married and had two kids under the age of three.

I think he is only the second one our class has lost now (Mike B.).  While it doesn't make this news any less sad, I must say we've been pretty fortunate with that.

Heroes come in all sizes

This article is in regards to a story that aired last week on channel 11 called "Nick's Choice" about a first grade student Gina's team had a few years ago.  It's pretty amazing story and is now getting national attention.  If you get a chance, please take a couple of minutes to check out the video.

R.I.P. Little Buddy

We just got bad news that Scooter, Sarah and Chris' dog, ended up getting out to the main drag near them this morning .  He runs around in the yard all the time but he rarely goes all the way to the street.

It was foggy and a car hit him.  He didn't make it.  The good news is that it appears as if it was quick and he didn't experience much pain.

Casey's lost his cohort in crime.

He was a good dog, a little hyper but a good dog.  We are going to miss him.

Bambi's a what?

I'm so far behind again that I am just going to stick to some observations I've had the last week, again from more of a high level perspective.


Bambi's a what?

I just found out this week that Bambi (the Walt Disney version) is a boy.  I was floored.  I've always been a Disney fan so it's not like I'm one of those "guys" who shouldn't have known this.
The things you learn later in life.

Grandma K

For whatever reason, maybe because it's approaching the holiday season, I've really been missing my grandma lately.  I'm assuming that Thanksgiving and Christmas are going to be awfully hard for many of us this year.

On the up and up

Both girls lungs have been deemed healthy and neither need to use the nebulizer at the moment.  However, it's ready and waiting for the next attack on either of them.  If it happens to Natalie again, it's pretty much been determined that she will be put on some sort of preventative medication for the winter.
The girls recieved their flu shots yesterday as well.  We are all vaccinated now.

MJ's rash

Macie's rash is still pretty bad and we are now onto the next stages of diagnosis because she has had a fairly severe case for a couple of weeks now.  I will be setting up a dermatologist appointment this week for December and Gina will be taking her in for some bloodwork at Children's tonight so that she can be tested for a wide array of food allergies.

The following allergies will be tested for:

Eggs (white/yolk), fish (cod), cow's milk, two types of mold, dust mites, wheat, cockroach, soybean, peanut, cat and dog dander, apple, banana, carrot, cheese, grape, orange, pea, pear, tomato and cacao (chocolate).
My money is on tomato (as it's the only thing that's new for sure in the last couple of weeks) and I pray it's not a peanut allergy.

Say it ain't so

Sickness finally struck the last healthy member of the house.  Gina's been fighting something the last week.  Nothing too serious, but she's been bedridden from headaches (regular/sinus) and tiredness a couple of nights from it.  Hopefully the worst has past.

Curse you GE!

If it's not one thing, it's another.  Monday night, Gina and I noticed a small puddle of water in ther corner of the new bedroom downstairs.  It turns out the metal portion of the cold water connector between the washer and the faucet has corroded to the point that it was slowly dripping water from the small hole to the floor in the laundry room. 

The washer and dryer appear to be a perfect match for one another it seems.

The good news is that we pushed the carpeting date back to this upcoming Saturday instead of last weekend.  Had we stuck to the original plan, it would have been a nightmarish first couple of days of carpet for us.

Mono be gone

Without a blood test even being needed, I've been deemed monoless.  All and all, outside of a miserable 14 day stretch I got off pretty easy.

Guitar Hero III

I'm still enjoying the game when I get a chance to play. I am onto medium now and I did record a 100% completion percentage on the easy version of Slow Ride which was fun (and stressful) to do.

I unfortunately need to send the guitar back though, for exchange, as it has a rattling issue. I should be without it for about a month.

Money be gone

My buddy Matt at work has spent $4,000 in the last week on a 50" Sony LCD HDTV, a 8GB iPod Nano and brand new Dell computer.  Not a bad week's haul, especially considering he's pretty stingy.  But, they have been saving for the TV for about four years and their last computer was purchased around the Y2K days so it was time. 

I'm definitely happy for them (and hope to take advantage of the TV here and there in the future).

Bank Officer (a promotion of sorts)

As of this past Monday, I am now a Bank Officer at my unnamed employer.  While my promotion this week has no financial ramifications, it is significant in that having a title in this line of work is recognized across the entire banking industry. 

I'll be honest, however, that I was not aware of this significance until just a few days ago.  Titles matter more to some then others and I've never been one to really worry about that kind of thing.  Recognition comes regardless of said title if you do work worthy of it.

Just in case you're curious, the next title change after Bank Officer is Assistant Vice President. 
However, that usually takes around 20 years of being in influential positions to get so it's not likely to happen anytime soon.

The happy wheezer and the no-no girl

OK, OK, I know I'm missing a 'h' in wheezer but saying it as Weezer instead is better.

 

Here's a recap of the last week...

Rick/Jo/Sarah/Hailey

On Sunday, Gina's parents came over for dinner (as well as Sarah and Hailey) so they could see all the girls before they left on 10/31 for Australia for three weeks.  Nothing significant happened other then a couple of good pictures.  Yes, that is a roast in Macie's mouth (if possible, refraining from any questions about it is preferred...j/k).

Downstairs

The downstairs is to the point where we will be painting the rooms this weekend.  The six month project (to date) is within a month or so of completion.  With the help of my parents (who have been significant in the completion of the project), our goal is to be done by the X-mas party on 12/15.  At that time, I will share pictures from start to finish and talk more about our undertaking in a blog entry.

The happy wheezer

Our story, in the grand scheme of things, is not that significent.  We even personally know of situations much more difficult then ours.  However, our sickness saga (sans Gina) just never seems to end.  This past week, Gina and I both took unplanned days off to stay home with the girls.  Monday night, Natalie had a 102 degree fever and on Tuesday we learned that she has pneumonia like symptoms again.  She was put on anitbotics and sent home with a nebulizer.  She will also eventually be put on singulair for the winter. 

The doctor said that while this doesn't mean anything yet, what Nattie has experienced the last six weeks are the types of trends they see in kids that develop asthma, so he'd prefer to be more agressive in the treatment.  It's strange because Nattie has been so fun lately and she is eating better then ever.  When Gina told the doctor this he said that they call kids like Nattie happy wheezers. 

Now she just needs a Weezer shirt...

 

Halloween

 

On to happier news...my parents and Molly were over for Halloween to partake in the festivities this year.  With the recent revelations with Nattie, we decided to keep the trick-or-treating to a minimum.  However, they were both adorable and all the neighbors still got to see them.  Nattie was a lion (thanks to Molly) and Macie was a pumpkin.  We tried to get Nattie to say "trick or treat, rrrrrroooaarr!" but she would only do it for us.  We did not end up getting a lot of pictures, but the ones we got will be added to our main website in the upcoming days.  Here is a teaser picture, however, of the family.

 

BoSox and ARod

 

As already stated in my previous post, the boys came through again this year.  Sunday night was pretty cool in my opinion, no matter what anyone says about it being a boring series.  It stressed me out plenty considering the Rockies were within one run in the seventh inning or later during games two, three and four.  I would have preferred each of the games ending before midnight however.

On a side note, I was disappointed that ARod opted out if his Yankees contract (for a handful of reasons).  It was so dang easy to cheer against him as a Yankee.  As long as he doesn't end up with the Red Sox next year I'll be fine with it though.

For some enjoyable ARod bashing, check out this article.

Guitar Hero III

The game showed up on Monday.  I've probably spent a total of two hours playing it this week so far. 

I'm definitely enjoying myself.  But, I just can't envision ever getting good enough to handle the hard or expert levels.  I've been told it will come, but we'll have to see.  The highlight to date was missing just one of the approximately 400 notes on the easy setting of Paint It Black.

The no-no girl

Ourside of a nasty cough and a rash that comes and goes on her face (we think at least in part from her drool), things are going alright with Macie when she's not upset that we aren't holding her.  She's going through "that stage" right now.

Macie is doing something pretty funny.  If you shake your head at her (especially while she's eating), she will do it back at you.  It's like she's saying no-no-no-no-no.  Usually, she can be entertained with it for minutes on end.

Nattie's displeasure

When Natalie gets frustrated these days, she sighs (usually with determination).  Seriously?  She's only two.  I thought we were exempt from stuff like this still.  While it's a habit of hers we can hopefully break, it's hilarious (especially when it's not directed at you).

Our tempermental dryer

It's frustrating when an 18 month old dryer doesn't work, let me tell you.  It's been working on and off now for a couple of months.  We can generally get it going within 24 hours but last week it went out for a handful of days.  We had enough and as much as it pained us to do, we called Sears to take a look at it this week.  It was $65 just for them to walk in our front door!  Fortunately though, the dryer was working when the service man showed up so he was able to offer us a one year warranty on it for an additional $58.99.  As frustrated as we are with the dryer, Sears and GE (Gina is ready to wage war), the issue appears to be the control panel ($343 to fix with installation) so biting the bullet and purchasing the warranty is the significantly cheaper option of the two whether our pride is bruised in the process or not.

It's good to be...

...a New England area sports fan right now!

On top of the BoSox, here's how the rest of the Boston teams are doing at the moment:

Patriots 8-0,

Boston College 8-0

Bruins 6-4

Celtics (the trendy pick in the East this year)

Noteworthy Moments #1

I just wanted to give a few updates on the girls while I had a chance.

Macie:

7/31 - Her first tooth broke through her gums (both bottom front teeth came through about the same time)
8/19 - She started to sit up well
8/24 - She rolled over back to front for the first time
10/2 - She rolled over front to back for the first time
10/8 - Both top front teeth begin to break through the gums...a couple more are on their way as well

* This sounds weird (as I am with Macie quite a bit) but I have still never seen her roll over (either way).  The girl is unquestionably on her own schedule (unlike Nattie).  Our neighbors daughter is a month younger and is somewhat mobile already.  Macie still dislikes her stomach and has no interest in crawling yet.  She can stand up fairly well though if being held.

Nattie:

She continues to amaze daycare with how overall "growing up" progress.  She speaks in full sentences, comprehends pretty much anything you say (unless you spell it...thank goodness), understands how to communicate non-verbally and is even using a scissors already (daycare said they never let two year olds use a scissors normally). 

However, as you can see in the picture below, a recent crash on a tricycle (into a highchair) has her and her shiner re-thinking her future in drag racing.

The Sox and the Rox

I belong to a group called SOSH.  The best way to describe it would be to say that if you're a Red Sox enthusiast, it's the quintessential online membership to have. 

It's the kind of place where you could potentially see a post called "The detailed statistical analysis of all 653 of Mike Lowell's at bats this season," where the point of the post would be to justify that Lowell should be batting fourth, instead of his typical fifth position in the lineup, vs right handed sinker ball pitchers. 
It's ridiculous. 

To join, I had to make my case to some of the leaders of the site (which I did in 2003).  The only way to get accepted (at least at the time I joined) was to get someone in a power position to back you up.  Needless to say, not being a Fenway junkie or a even Boston resident made it a difficult process to convince anyone to bring me aboard. 

None the less, I got in and I definitely enjoy being a part of it.

Anyways, one of the members has a small picture on his page holding up a banner that I think is just fantastic and I wanted to share it.  It have officially adopted it as my own:

"FENWAY IS MY GRACELAND"

Also, now that the World Series is set I figure it's time to share my bracket.  Some people have seen it already but I wanted to document it here on Vox.  Other then those darn Cubbies, I've done pretty well.

 

 

 It's hard to pick against the Rockies right now, but my best guess is BoSox in six.

Welcome back to the free world Mr. Torre

It's well documented that I loathe the Yankees.

However, over the last twelve years as my dislike for the Evil Empire has grown I have never had a problem with Joe Torre.  The man has always handled himself with dignity and class in what some (including myself) like to call the Bronx Zoo.

Yesterday, the Yankees brass made a reasonable one year offer (on the surface) to Joe.  With it, he'd remain the highest paid manager in the game.

In reality, the offer was a slap in the face.  Essentially, if Joe were to accept it would have given the Yankee brass all the power in the relationship going forward.

Joe turned it down and will no longer manage the Yankees again. 

A CBS Sportsline article written yesterday by Scott Miller does a great job explaining why Joe did not deserve to be treated with the disrespect that he was shown over the last week. 

ESPN's Buster Olney had a good article on the situation as well.

Yesterday, a small victory was had by Red Sox fans.

As Miller says...

The Yankees are going to miss Torre a heck of a lot more than he's going to miss them.

Sorry Miss Lori

I know I'm talking to a small group here but I still feel the need to share.

PBS made two mistakes recently in regards to it's PBS Kids programming.

First of all, they removed It's a Big Big World (my favorite evening broadcast for the kids on PBS) for a new program called Super WHY!  I'm OK with the new program, I just wish they would have removed Dragon Tales instead.  I must say that I'm not a big fan of Dragon Tales.  And, in the world of watching TV with small children it's all about tolerance as shows/movies are usually watched in bulk.  It's just the way it is.

We only watch TV occasionally so it's not a life and death situation, but it is still unfortunate at the same time.

The second, and bigger issue, is that Miss Lori was not replaced.  Instead, they simply changed her outfit (which is an upgrade, I admit).  I am sure she's a great person in real life...but she annoys me to no end on PBS and she's just got to go.  They can get rid of Hooper while they are at it too.  I wouldn't mind.

 

 

P.S. It's a Big Big World is still on PBS, but is now on at 10:30am each morning instead.

Not a bad knockoff

I rarely buy a candy bar this days, but on occasion I will get the latest and greatest version of some popular sugary snack just for fun.

Unfortunately, I am almost always disappointed.

However, I just recently tried the new Nestle's Crunch Crisp and I was pleasantly surprised.  While it won't qualify as a life changing event, it is definitely worth a try if you get a chance.

 

The poor pooch

Around 2am Sunday morning (just four hours after my mono diagnosis), Gina woke me up.  While checking on the girls she noticed a faint streak of blood on the carpet.  She had taken a look at Casey and noticed his behind was bleeding.

After some analysis we figured out it was one of his anal glands.  It had ruptured and he was in a lot of pain.  After some deliberation, I slept on the couch and we put him in the bathroom within eye shot of me.  We'd re-evaluate in the morning as it wasn't a life threatening injury.

In the morning it was still bleeding and looked even worse.  Even though we knew the price tag was going to be substantial (it's nearly $100 just to be seen), both Gina and I decided it was best if we brought him to urgent care.  Just before 10am I left with him for the vet.  Not only was Gina's sick husband and bleeding dog walking out the door...she was just an hour away from hosting 20-30 family and friends at 11am for her sister Beth's baby shower.

The pup and I waited three hours to see the vet (it was pretty ridiculous).  He confirmed what we had expected.  To fix the problem they would need to sedate him and perform a procedure to flush out the ruptured area.  After getting an estimate, we decided it was in his best interest to do it.  I left him there around 1:30.  The procedure would be performed that afternoon.

When I got home, the baby shower was just wrapping up.  Gina was told by many that it went very well (including Beth) even though she freely admits she does not remember much of it because of everything else going on.

After a few calls to the vet that afternoon, we were told that Casey would be ready to come home at 7pm.  We were informed things went well and that he'd need to be placed on a couple of antibiotics.

When I picked him up, he did not even know who I was.  He was still semi-sedated, couldn't stand up straight (he wavered like the wind was gently blowing him back and forth) and had a constant stream of drool coming from his mouth.  It was so surreal.  He seemed so different that it was like he wasn't even our dog.

After getting him settled down that night, he slept off the drugs and was close to the Casey of old (in terms of personallity) in the morning.  I was off on Monday so I was able to spend some significant time with him.  I think he appreciated someone being there since he was still in a lot of pain.

The pain is still there but things are improving every day. 

Thankfully, they say he should be back to normal in the next 7-10 days.

So, there's part two of our weekend.  I think you can see why it will not be looked back on it with much fondness in the future.

This kind of sickness at thirty equals bad idea

I got some good and bad news on Saturday night. 

After a week plus of nightly fevers, extreme tiredness, night sweats, headaches, etc. I went into urgent care to get looked at.  I had an appointment for Monday morning with my regular doctor but my 102.1 temperature (in combination with the past week) dictated that I do something sooner.  That morning my throat had started to hurt as well and it was clearly white near my tonsils.  Considering my surgery when I was younger from strep throat, I wanted to get looked at in case it had been strep all along and I needed to start treatment ASAP.

Answers!  Clearly, it seemed, strep throat was part of the reason for the way I have been feeling.

When I got to urgent care they swabbed my throat.  The nurse agreed, my tonsils looked bad.

About 10 minutes after the nurse left, the doctor came back.  The quick strep test returned negative.  He looked at my throat, my lymph nodes, etc. to see if he could figure anything out.  He was a bit confused but after I explained my story to him, he said we should test for one more thing.  I had symptoms matching mononucleosis (i.e. mono).

What?

Sure enough, the test came back positive. 

I have mono.

The doctor then proceeded to tell me all the not so good news related to it.  I don't remember anyone close to me ever having it so I did not know about these things.

Mono is untreatable.  Mono is like chicken pox, the older you are when you get it the worse it typically is.

Rarely do people over 35 get mono (school age kids are the most common victims).  Normally it lasts four to six weeks but at my age it very possibly could be two to three months.  Extreme cases last six months.
The potential timeframe of mono starting with me is anywhere between 9/18 and 9/28.  On 9/18, I had a mono like day but then felt pretty good again until 9/28.

My spleen and liver felt fine to the doctor, which was good, but I need to pay particular attention to any pain on either side of my body as both tend to enlarge (and in some cases the spleen ruptures).

Bed rest for a couple of weeks is suggested but the doctor said he understands it's not really an option for a father of two young girls.  I am just going to need to nap and rest whenever possible and continue to work.

My throat doesn't hurt today, which is nice.  Hopefully I will be able to swallow without pain again going forward.

How did I get it?  I honestly have no clue.  I do not even know anyone else with mono right now.
Thankfully, I won't be featured on any new House M.D. episodes after all.

While this is all bad news as a whole, it puts me a little at ease to know what I am dealing with.  It gets scary when your body is doing weird things to you for a prolonged period of time and you can't explain why.

However, that was just the start of our weekend fun.  Sunday was an adventure all onto itself and will be explained in a different blog this week.

I must say, it feels weird being grateful for a Monday.

Childrens Do Learn

You just gotta love Jon Stewart, no matter what side you're on.  Please click on the link below to understand why.

Childrens do learn

Mike Rowe for President

While Gina and I aren't habitual TV show followers, we found a few television programs last year that we did our best to at least know what was going on with them.  Prior to that, we'd never had "shows" before.
House M.D. and Boston Legal

All three have their season premieres this week, which we are happy about.

This summer, however, we watched Dirty Jobs episodes on the Discovery Channel when we needed some entertainment.  Gina and I think Mike Rowe (the host) is hilarious and the show itself is so refreshing.  If nothing else, it gives you a new appreciation for your own job. 

If you get a chance (or just need to feel like you don't have the worst job on the planet), check out an episode sometime.  New episodes are on Tuesdays at 8pm but reruns are shown on and off all week.

Thank you Mike for entertaining us this summer!

Spin the black circle

It's been a fairly eventful week.  So much so that I have not had the time to update the blog as things have occurred.  Here's a recap:

Emergency Room 101 - We spent our first night in the emergency room with one of the kids on Monday.  We knew it was going to happen some day but you're never quite ready for it.  A simple trip to the doctor to recheck Nattie's ears and see if something was wrong with Macie (she has a right ear infection) ended up turning into Nattie having pneumonia (with oxygen levels below where they were comfortable) and needing to be sent straight to the ER.  She had started a tight cough on Sunday but we were thinking it was just a cold.  Everything ended up being fine (they caught it very early as her chest x-ray was clean) and we did not have to stay overnight as they had expected.  They said you can hear pneumonia before you can see it.

101.8 Fahrenheit Degrees - The family stayed home on Tuesday and surprisingly, I was the sickest of the bunch.  I was up from 12:30am-5am on Tuesday night / Wednesday morning and ended up with a fever of just under 102.  By morning however, it had broke and I ended up feeling OK on Wednesday and going into work a couple of hours late.

So Long School Loan - Thanks to some diligent help from my parents over the years, we were finally able to pay off my school loan from NDSU.  Good riddance!  It feels great to be free.

Hello School Loan - A mere three days after I paid off my school loan, Gina started up her Master's of Education program via Winona State.  It will take two school years to complete (one weekend a month, Sat/Sun 8-4).  The cohort meets at Metro State.  Gina really enjoyed her first weekend.

Spin the Black Circle - Gina was given two free magazine subscriptions from her union.  She chose an education magazine and allowed me to pick Spin.  The first issue came this week and I must say it's grand to have an idea what's going on in the music world again.  Thank you Spin!

Kings over Queens - Long story short, we now have a king size bed.  Outside of needing to buy a new quilt and sheets, the bed was free.  A queen is 60x80 and a king is 76x80.  The difference is amazing.  It's like you're on an island.  I can tell you this, there is no going back once you've had a king.  I now need to re-read Ray Ramano's bed section in Everything and a Kite.

You gotta love her

This was completely unrehearsed (OK, I may be fibbing a bit)

Yankees vs Redsox

39 (Greenwell) ~ 7 (Nixon) ~ 15 (???)

Picking a favorite Red Sox is not something I take lightly.  In the 20+ years I have followed the team I have had two favorite players (Mike Greenwell and Trot Nixon).

When Trot was not signed back this last offseason I knew I had a important task in front of me.  I needed a new favorite and it's taken me nearly the entire regular season to determine who it is.

Watching the Red Sox/Yankees series this weekend has helped solidify the decision.

Welcome to some exclusive company Dustin Pedroia.

Don't be a hero

A couple of weeks ago I went to Target to purchase some Huggie's pull-up diapers (the night time variety).  The night times are extra absorbent, which is very important.

Here are the two possible packages available:

Pretty simple right, one boys package and one girls package.

 

Wrong.

I outsmarted the diapers (even though there is a boy and a girl, respectively, on the covers).  Nothing on the packaging states that the diapers are specifically for one gender.  Click on the pictures, check it out for yourself.  Not convinced...next time your at a diaper carrying store take a look.

Natalie loves Buzz (the one featured on the "blue" package) and is indifferent to the "pink" package's Princesses. 

So, I decided to be a hero and buy the blue package.

Bad idea (side note: never let a non-parent be the wing man on this sort of endeavor).

They are gender specific (based primarily on the extra absorbency location within the diaper, which is slightly different for boys then for girls).  You are just suppose to know this nugget of information when making your purchase. 

What happens if you do not have superhuman parenting common sense and/or you feel like being a risk-taker one day?

I've learned a lot in my time as a parent.  I could have literally written a book on the do's and don'ts a father should generally follow (eliminating so many unneeded problems) if I would have just remembered to document these noteworthy moments.

I am not letting this one slip by, however.

Fathers of the future...don't try to unnecessarily be a hero in certain situations

Blue = Boy, Pink = Girl

If you do nothing else to protect yourself from potential pitfalls, at least make sure to follow this golden rule (even though it is a unfortunate norm in society).

Trying to get cute with your decisions when it comes to this topic involves far more risk then potential reward.  I know first hand.

You have officially been warned.

P.S. That wasn't the only issue I ran into with these diapers.  Issue #2 was based on deciphering the magical "age group vs weight range" line.  This is a lesser infraction however, so I will spare you the details.  Certain problems, such as this one (if I am not receiving royalties from a best selling book), should remain initiation opportunities into fatherhood.

I choose life

Gina's co-worker (and friend) Velma and her husband own a small private airplane.  In passing one day, G suggested to Velma that Bob should take me along for a flight sometime.

I'm glad she thought of me and thinking about doing it sounds like a lot of fun.  It would probably be one of the coolest things I ever experienced.

 

When she brought it up to me I politely declined the invitation.

Why?

It's not even like I don't trust Bob.  I would be very comfortable with him as my pilot.

I am not comfortable with the fact that the plane needs to be taken apart each fall and put back together each spring.  No matter what I'm told, the concept just does not sit well with me.

I've taken some crap for being so feeble (which is fair), but I'm happier dreaming about (and not acting on) things like that at this point in my life.

Rockin' the suburbs

As of today, I am the soon-to-be owner of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.  It's not being released on October 21, but I just pre-ordered.  In my opinion, the unconfirmed playlist is the best yet (though I wish Tribute was the Tenacious D song).

How is this possible?  Not easily.  It's not hard to figure out that I do not have the money to buy this game.  However, I have won quite a bit of money via work over the years from a program the company sponsors (team members nominate other team members for exceptional work) and have almost always spent that money on things we need around the house, etc.  Each time I do this, Gina tells me I should spend the money on something I want for once.

Enter today.  While I still feel like I should spend the money elsewhere (i.e. spending money on myself could also include new underwear, new work shirts, etc.), I rarely buy anything fun for myself anymore (for obvious reasons) and I must admit that I am very excited for this.

G doesn't love the idea but, who knows, maybe she will even enjoy the game in the end.

I'm not counting on it (mostly because she would then be accepting the game into our house)...but you never know.

Power struggle

From 5pm on Tuesday until 5am on Wednesday this week, we were without electricity.  Our whole extended neighborhood was for that matter. 

Until you don't have it, you forget how dependent you are on those kWh's of power.

Everything from not being able to close the garage door to not being able to warm up baby food becomes a hassle.  Not only that, but with small children it's never good to lose air conditioning when it's in the low 90s outside.  By 8:30pm, the outside light wasn't much help anymore either and everything had to be done by flashlight.

In the end, we pulled through just fine.  After freting during the night about Casey in a hot house, potentially not being able to lock the garage door all day and whether or not daycare would even be open (as they are only a few houses down) the power came on in just the nick of time to keep me from having to stay home and possibly missing my date with Messer at the Twins game at noon.

I now have a rekindled appreciation for electricity.

It's merely a flesh wound

Working on finishing my basement, I suffered my first injury in the 4+ months my dad and I have spent on the project.  The ironic part is that it had little to do what I was doing. 

For whatever reason, when the builders where doing the mechanical work they did not bend over the metal sheeting that they used to hold a portion of it up to the rafters.  I was adding a vent to a completely different portion of the structure and just reached backwards as I was coming down the ladder. 

The end of the metal was very sharp and my arm was sliced pretty good.  The cut iteself was about one inch long by 1/4 inches deep and 1/2 inches wide.  I've done my best to replicate it in 2D form below, as we forgot to take a picture of it.

Take a moment and feel the skin on your arm.  It's not nearly as tight as other areas of your body.  I was amazed at how wide the gash ended up being.  Furthermore, the skin actually curled over into the wound because there was so much loose skin.  It bled pretty well but stopped after pressure was applied in about ten minutes.

 

It looked much uglier then it felt.  There was not a lot of pain associated with it.  But, it was far too gaping of a hole to just let it heal on its own so I ended up going to urgent care for treatment (however, I was scolded by my wife for convincing my parents to let me drive to the hospital alone).

Two and a half hours later, I had seven stitches in my arm.  The doctor said the skin came together well so I may not have a scar.  I need to leave them in until next Friday and then need to use steri strips to keep it together for quite a while after that.  He said that when the stitches come out my skin strength holding the cut together will only be about 10% of what it normally would be.

 

To add insult to injury, I hadn't had a tetanus shot since '97 and I ended up getting one of them too.  I also have a funny looking area on my arm with no hair and it will make me look like (more of) a weirdo then normal for a significant period of time.

P.S. Nattie is impressed by the injury and made sure to tell daycare yesterday that "Daddy has big owie."  She wants to touch it (when the bandaid is covering it up) and has asked multiple times if I am OK.  She's so sweet.

T-R-O-U-B-L-E

Pray for us...and hope that you have boys.

OK, OK, I'm kidding.  In reality, this picture was just to dang cute not to share.

However, I do sense that we are currently in the "calm before the storm" stage.

I would like to submit this picture as visual proof of that.

Today's who's who

A couple of weeks ago, Gina and I visited Matt and Morgan in Chicago.  They now live in downtown Chicago so we wanted to see their new place, etc. 

We had a good time, as they are always great hosts.  Here are a couple of pictures from the trip:

They live close to Millennium Park.  I had never heard of it before we visited but I would strongly suggest checking it out if you are in Chicago in the future.  The park and surrounding portions of the city are amazing and the story behind how the park was built above some of the city's railroad tracks is pretty wild.  Cloud Gate was my favorite (and is maybe the single most interesting sculpture/monument I've ever seen).

Since returning, Gina and I have seen Nickelback's new video "Rockstar."  I am not a fan of the band, but the song isn't bad and the video has a handful of scenes filmed in/near Millennium Park.  For us, the timing of the video being released was perfect.

Bonds away, please

 

Last night I watched #756 crushed over the center field fence at AT&T Park on ESPN2.

 

I'll be honest, over the last week or so I have tried to catch an at-bat or two of Bonds each night.  Not so much because I was interested in seeing him hit the record breaking home run, I just wanted it to happen in the hopes that this whole thing would finally be over with in the media. 

The feat itself is incredble, regardless of what you think of the man.  However, the fact that America never embraced this chase and will likely still continue to call Hank Aaron the "Home Run King" is priceless.  Both good and bad Barry, you've got what you deserved.

Now can we please move on to something in baseball worth talking about...

Movies Reviews (2007A)

I don't see a lot of movies these days with the kids and all, particularly at the theater.  However, Gina and I try to watch movies here and there when we can.  Here's my reviews of the movies I've seen to date this year (most recent on top).

Also, the movies I'd like to see in the near future (likely on video) include:

Crash, Pan's Labyrinth, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Shrek the Third, The Bourne Ultimatium, The Italian Job, Ratatouille, Live Free or Die Hard, Knocked Up, The Da Vinci Code, Ocean's Thirteen, The Illusionist, Thank You For Smoking

Forty one hundred pages later

Yesterday, I finished the Harry Potter series.  I feel surprisingly poignant about that today.  While there is now some closure, just like so many others I am saddened that I will no longer read about Harry and his adventures again. 

I would have never expected to get so into this series, however I think that's probably one of the main reasons I've enjoyed the books as much as I have (and also because J.K. Rowling did a excellent job developing the characters).

Since there are so many people who are working on finishing or plan to eventually read the series, I will refrain from talking about anything in the books today.  However, I would like to share my favorite / least favorite characters in the series (and my grades for all the books and movies to date).  I will likely do a much more detailed list of items at some point in the future.

Favorite characters (in order): Ginny, Sirius, Hermione and Neville (in book seven)

Least favorite characters: Snape (in the first five books), Vernon and Peeves

 

July 26

Happy Anniversary Gina!  It has been four wonderful years.

Break on through to the other side

 

Around 10pm tonight, my grandma took her last breath.

Shortly after my post on Monday she relapsed and was moved back into ICU.  By Tuesday night, my grandma had decided it was her time to go.  Overall, her chances of regaining any quality of life had deceased significantly and she made the decision to stop all treatment on Wednesday morning.  Instead, she was given morphine to help her painlessly drift away.  They had thought it would take anywhere from 24-48 hours (mainly because dialysis was stopped).

Wednesday night, Gina and I were able to say our goodbyes.  At that point, the morphine had kicked in and she was no longer truly awake.  While the morphine helped her tremendously it also eliminated any two way communication, as she basically slept.  However, I still got the sense that she could hear us talk to her which I am thankful about.

My mom and her siblings were able to individually say goodbye to her earlier in the day when she was still aware and could respond on some level to them.

After spending much of the last couple of weeks at the hospital, we (Gina, the girls and I) left the hospital tonight around 8:30pm as nothing had changed with her all day.  I was planning to head back up very early tomorrow morning with the girls.  Shortly after getting home is when we got the call from my dad.  I wish I was there but much of the family was still around which I am happy about.  My grandpa had spent about a half hour with her alone just before she passed away.  Gina and I both believe that her letting go so abruptly had a lot to do with whatever he said to her during that time.

Considering everything that she was fighting over the last couple of years, we are so blessed to have had her with us as long as we did (and Gina and I are especially grateful that she was able to get to know both Natalie and Macie).  She was an amazing person.

My mom, Matt and Morgan were in the room when it happened.  However, the rest of the family was able to get to the room just seconds later.  After being in a comfortable rest for over 24 hours, she opened her eyes and stared up at the ceiling just before she took her last breath.  I was told it was very peaceful.

About ten years ago, I gave both my grandparents memories books to fill out if they wanted to.  My grandma was the only one to do it and she did an incredible job answering questions, adding pictures from her childhood, etc.

I have not read it yet.

For so long, I told myself that I wanted to wait until she was gone to go through it.  I thought that if I had something to look forward to after we lost her it might help me heal.  Looking back, I wish I would have sat down with her and asked her about all the answers that I undoubtedly would have wanted to learn more about.

There is good news in all of this though.  My grandma lost her mother in childbirth and was raised by her aunt Louise.  My guess is that shortly after finding my grandpa tonight, she went looking for her mom and then her aunt and she's probably having a wonderful time with them right now. 

While I (and the rest of my extended family) will miss her incredibly, she was at peace with her decision.  Without being selfish on some level, there is not much more we could ask for.

I love you grandma.

A few decades down and a handful more to go

I was reading through Elena's archives one night a few weeks back when I stumbled across her very first blog entry.  It was about turning 30.  I liked the premise of the post and seeing as I turn 30 this month I figured it would be fun to do something similar. 

I'm having more trouble letting go of my 20s then I had expected.  Saying that I am 30 (as of today) feels weird to me.  I don't necessarily know why.

Hopefully, after I am done writing this post I will feel a little better about this year's birthday (by looking back at some moments from my past and documenting some of the exciting milestones I still hope to accomplish in the years to come).

Accomplishments of note (to date) in no particular order:
- I have followed through on my education goals, earning a bachelor's (from NDSU in 2000) and a master's (from Hamline in 2005) degree
- I have a wonderful wife and have now been happily married for four years
- I have two amazing daughters
- I have a dog and he has a fenced in backyard (it's something I always wanted)
- I played one season of Division II college baseball at NDSU (my gaudy career stats were: 2 for 6 with a walk)
- I have known many of my closest friends for over half of my life
- I've attended five baseball games at Fenway Park (including two vs the Yankees) and I have seen both the Twins and Red Sox win World Series Championships
- I've seen many of the bands/artists I've always wanted to see in concert (> 60 in total)
- I have been to twenty-four states (including Washington D.C.)
- I have a hole-in-one on my golf resume

*Future hopes of note in no particular order:
- Take and extended vacation later in life, with Gina, to Europe (at a minimum spending time in Italy and Switzerland)
- Become lower then a ten handicap in golf (when I stopped playing regularly five or six years ago I was an eleven).  If I start playing more when I get older I hope to get under a five.
- Bowl a 300 game (I've had twelve strikes in a row before, but not all in the same game...eleven is the most I've had)
- Learn to play the guitar (it's been a goal of mine for years and will likely never happen...but it's nice to dream)
- To see my girls become women

*I was surprised at how hard it was for me to come up with future hopes.  Thinking about it more, I am quite alright with that.  I think it means that I haven't decided exactly what I am hoping my life becomes (as most of my future hopes I've had since I was a kid).  My preference is to just let life take it's course and try to figure things out as I go.  I fully expect plenty of exciting things to happen along the way.

P.S. Happy birthday Mo!