2006 Goal Update - 30 April 2006

We are now 1/3 of the way through the year...

1: Move up on ITRC forums. 3618 points this week, 27 points more than last week. I am firmly in slot 149 on the list. My goal is to get to slot 100 or better. I was doing good one this until about 8 weeks ago or so when I started a project at work that is taking a very large amount of time to complete. (Still not close.) I had estimated at the beginning of the year that I would need 1500 new points this year to get to slot 100, that theory is already busted, it maybe something like 2500 points for the year. To date, I have gotten 396 points, so I am a little behind both paces. I have moved up 13 slots, so that is something, and I was passed by about 6 people. There are 2 people directly ahead of me that no longer participate, and I am sure to pass them soon. Anyway, this will likely wait until after the vacation. Also, HP has promised to release the second half of the "HPUX Networking and Security Certified Systems Engineer" exam, I will likely take that in June while Tara and the girls are away. (Not that I need to take the exam, the little slip of paper means nothing, but it will be interesting to take.)

2: Mission Journal - Nothing new done this week. Really, I need to schedule a time sometime during the week to do this or it will continue to never get done. (Plus I need to finish it so that I can start the "John Payne - The (non-married) college years" memoirs. It's sure to be a best seller, and I know a number of people willing to give editorial input.)

3: Garden Retaining Wall - Nothing done this week. I think I will need to start buying blocks a dozen at a time, instead of an entire palette at a time, since I don't know anyone who has a truck large enough to handle the 1.5 ton load anymore. Plus if I get 12 at a time, I can just spend an hour on it and be done until the next batch...

4: 6 Wooden Chairs - Nothing done this week. I may not get around to putty, sanding, and painting on the 1 I made until after Tara and the girls are in Buffalo.

5: Weight - 214 this week, which I blame on the KFC/Tucanos/Burger King 1-2-3 punch I took this week. 214 is still ok, I am down 11 pounds since the beginning of the year. I am also starting that walking program, I expect to get plenty of walking in this summer, so it's ok. I actually think my ankle hurts a little less than it did at the beginning of the year, so maybe if I take off another 10 pounds this year, things will be good. (I have no intention of going below 200 pounds, in case you are wondering. If figure 200 is a good target weight for me now.) Also, my thyroid bloodwork came back ok with the 4 grains I have been taking, so I'm staying on that for another 3 months, hopefully it's balanced now...

6: Gazelle - Still waiting on the replacement part, but it's mostly for Tara to use, I'm not sure that I will start using it at all while I am walking to work. Maybe I should make a rule to use it on days when I end up getting a ride to or from work...

7: Vacation - I am giving the Airlines 8 more days to bring the fares down a little (pipe dream?) before I figure out what to do about the trip. I'm also putting vacations down on the Presidency Meeting agenda for Wednesday so that we all know when people will be gone. (Had I known the President was going to be out of town the week I went to Baltimore, I could have come a day eariler and stayed a day later...) I'm also waiting to see if the ricksaw rates come down. I may end up purchasing tickets on an airline other than Delta, which means another short trip at the end of the summer may be possible for Tara or me.

8: CPAP usage - The machine I have as a loaner is missing the attachment for the humidifier, some mornings I wake up a little plugged. I have also been having pretty bad allergies, which is making things harder. All in all, I think I am actually getting to use the thing now, and it definitely helps on nights I use it, there is a big difference...

Wasting time update - 413 badges at MSN games. (None this week)

Basically what I am saying is that the only goals I am not slacking off on are vacation and weight loss. I guess that's not all bad.

No comment

I would like to not say who I think this picture makes me look like. Needless to say, I will not be wearing my glasses on my head anymore to try to avoid it happening again. Good thing my hair is not turning gray/white, then people would really let me have it. (Of course, when my hair does start turning gray, I won't know it. If no one tells me, I won't find out for a while...)

Records were set today

Albert Pujols of the Saint Louis Cardinals set the MLB record for the most Home Runs in the month of April. That's not the purpose of this blog entry.

I set a record for the most times in April I have mowed my lawn. The lawn was mowed 4 times this month. Last year I think I got it mowed once. (It was rainy last year.) Before that, we were in our "drought", and the grass wasn't growing as good as it is this year.

Anyway, I think I will need to water the lawn for the first time Monday or Tuesday. It's supposed to continue to be very warm and sunny here. (See the forcast at the bottom of the main page of the blog for the forcast.)

If I do not use the weedwhip, by the way, it's about 3000 steps to mow the lawn.

Proof I'm out numbered here

Mark, around the corner, just went to the store and bought $100 in plants and garden stuff. I just went the the store and bought 8 pairs of shoes for the same amount...

Games

Online Monopoly was played at games.atari.com. They also have online old Atari games. (No Pong...) I was playing them tonight. (It took a little while to figure out I could make the screen bigger.) The games are old. There is no joystick and buttons on my laptop. The games are still ok.

Now Nintendo is coming out with a new controller on their new system, Wii. It is split in 2 pieces. I will not get the new game system, not just becuase the name is WII in all capitals. (A Japanese company making something to remind people (with nothing better to do than think of these things) of World War 2? What were they thinking?) Now I have to find some site where I can provide feedback on the name...

Anyhow, we had a Colecovision growing up, I spent plenty of time playing Donkey Kong, Frogger, and Defender. No Atari. Give me a Colecovision with the old controllers, one of these three games, and an hour to tune up, and I'll take on anyone.

We're walking, We're walking....

I'm in a walking program at work starting Monday with the Wellness program. Basically, you are supposed to walk 800,000 steps in 4 months. I was thinking this improbable until I wore the pedometer today. I logged 12,000 steps by 7pm. That's an awful lot of steps for one day. Not that it gets anything close to amailman or a rickshaw driver, but it's signifigant for someone who sits in a chair at my desk most of the day...

I have started counting my steps. What does that say about me?

GameTime

Monopoly - Online while working...

Me - 1
Rob - 0
Brian (Rob's brother) - 0

Soccer Update

Kate and Mary had their 3rd to last soccer game today. Mary started off with her normal landscaping job, but then got into the game and didn't look back. The girls had fun playing. Mary was goalie again, this time they didn't score on her, much to her delight. (She thought they scored the one time, but the ball just missed, I had to explain it to her.)Emma spent the game gathering pine cones.

I think all in all, they have really enjoyed playing this spring. They'll have to do it again.

Working in the garden

Today is commencement. Every year we get kicked off campus at 2:30pm so that parents have a place to park for the exercises. Usually this means something important in the computer room crashes at about 4:30pm, and I have to walk over because of lack of parking. Not so today.

I ended up working on the garden. I planted flowers in the flower pots, pumkin plants, and green beans. I have provided one picture of the green bean/carrot/radish/pea beds (you can't really see anything, but you get the idea. It was really an excersize in taking pictures with the new camera), and one picture of our raspberry plant we got from a neighbor (This thing is really taking off. Hopefully we will have enough raspberries for a pie). Hopefully it's warmed up enough for the year of the green beans to be ok, maybe I should have waited, but didn't.

Canon PowerShot A410

I bought a new digital camera today. It was on sale. I get some complaints about this particular blog not having enough pictures. We only develop film only once a year.

So far, I like the features of the camera. It has a video feature. It has a number of different automatic camera settings, like indoor, outdoor, portrait, snow, sun, fireworks, etc. I haven't really read the manuals yet, (did you really expect me to right off?) I'm saving them for the doctors office tomorrow. Anyway, expect to see more pictures here.


I have provided you some of the first pictures I took with the camera. Included are: my finger, my hand, my foot, and both sides of my broken ankle. Enjoy!

Restaurant Review

Tucanos Brazilian Grill

I know what you are thinking: "Eating out three days in a row?" Need I remind you that I didn't actually eat out on Monday? I just went and got Tara something to eat.

Anyway, Tucanos was free. (An occassional work perk...)

All I have to say is:

"Mmmm... Tri Tip Sirlion"

"Mmmm... Top Sirlion"

"Mmmm... garlic roasted sirlion"

"No thanks, I'm opposed to the idea of cooked pineapple"

Anyway, I enjoyed it.

Airfare

I have been looking for a roundtrip fare from BUF to SLC for travel in June. I have been waiting for Delta to come down, we still have the $170 travel voucher for them. Right now, all the other airlines show up as listing at $300. Delta has nothing available the days I would like to travel close to that. Their current lowest fare is $650 after taxes. This is a little out of my price range. My current plan is to wait maybe 10 more days to see if Delta comes down at all, if not, buy from someone else.

I also need to see if the President is planning a vacation (not likely, he rarely leaves town, and just took one.) at the same time, to see when exactly I should come back.

For $500, I could rent a rickshaw to carry me home...
For $368, I could take the train.
For $339, I could take the greyhound. (I might also be able to get a discounted fare on this one.)

Hopefully the airfare on Delta will come down.

Very clean car

Tom detailed our car today. It looks very nice. Thanks Tom.

Unfortunately, it took him 4 hours. I had tried to get all the stuff out of it and get rid of some of the junk, but he still filled 2 bags full of real stuff we missed.

Needless to say, the car looks better than it has in a long time.

I put a sign in the car asking for $10,225. If we sell it, we buy a new one. If we do not sell it, we have a new 'like new' car to drive around in.

Restaurant Review - Round 2

So, it turns out that it was a good idea not to try to go to the Buffet King for dinner. We tryed to go tonight, it turns out they have been closed a number of days in the last week, including yesterday and today. I'm not sure if the King is sick or ran out of employees, or ran out of food. We didn't get to go there yesterday. Maybe the King will have an even better deal when they reopen.

We went to KFC instead. If you haven't tried the KFC snakers yet, it's highly recommended, one by itself does not fill a person up, but at 99 cents each, you can get as many as you want. At 99 cents eaqch, they make a very affordable dinner for the girls also.

Restaurant Review

Costa Vida: Fresh Mexican Grill

Tara wanted their grilled steak salad with black beans. I went here fully intending to getting the grilled steak salad, some chips and salsa, and maybe something for me.

I ordered the grilled steak salad, they queued it up with the tortilla, rice, beans and meat, then the employee disappeared. Another guy came back several minutes later to say: "We have not salad sir." Nothing else, just that. He finished the burrito before the one I ordered, they paid me no further heed, so I walked out. No salad, no chips and salsa, no nothing. It was nearly 10pm, maybe they had been selling lots of salads that day, but is that really an excuse?

It reminds me of the time I went to Taco Bell, they were all out of meat. How does Taco Bell run out of meat? I then tried ordering something with steak, there was no steak. I ordered a chicken something-or-the-other and some bean burritos. The guy behind me tried ordering, they enventually told him that they were also out of chicken.

Tara's #2 choice was a 1/4 pounder and a salad from McDonald's. I was not in the mood for McDonald's, so it's nothing for me.

Earlier in the evening we concidered a place called Buffet King, we heard that they are running a $4.99 special all week. Unfortunately, we had no desire to take our tired and crazy kids, and the buffet king was not answering his phone to confirm this rumor I heard.

Anyway, in general I like Costa Vida, I have been there before, but I guess 10pm is not a good time to show up at the place.

Easter Dresses

Special thanks to the Palicas, who provided the dresses...

Christmas has arrived!

I got my christmas present from Adam today. He sent me a very nice Hawaiian shirt. He also sent me a Happiness Tiki. I am seriously concidering taking it to the next project meeting where I always seem to end up argueing with people. In the meantime, I will have to see where he will be best located in the house.

It's really very nice, I like it. Thanks Adam.

I also got my new business cards today. If you missed the post talking about the cards, you can refer to the post here.

blogger fodder (Say that 10 times really fast)

Yesterday, Emma said she was hungry. This was about 45 minutes before we were supposed to leave for a birthday dinner for Tara's dad. I gave her a cherry fruit pie to eat. about 30 minutes later, I went into the kitchen, she had a spray bottle of diluted ammonia, she had sprayed it everywhere. I asked her want she was doing, she said she saw a bug and was trying to get it. Tara uses the spray bottle if she sees an ant or box elder bug to try to kill it and discourage any others from coming back. That must have been one fast and well traveled bug. Our kitchen should be completely bug free for some time to come.

Giggle Giggle Giggle

Mom used to worry about Adam when he would sit down and read Stephen King books as a teenager, giggleing all the way. Tara worries when I start laughing to myself while I am creating a blog entry. Is this the same, or different?

Stuff, Stuff, and Stuff

Earlier today, I added the 7 day forcast to the sidebar for your viewing pleasure. Tara informed just now that it messed the sidebar up when viewing under Internet Explorer. My response is: "Dirty Little IE." The thing looked perfectly fine in Firefox. (You can switch to firefox if you want, I have provided a link for you at the top of the blog.) I took the 7 day forcast off, and stuck it down at the footer.

It has come to my attention that Missy now has a blog. All siblings now have blogs. (And a few I am related to via marriage, I might add.) If we could just just get them to update them more often now... Missy is worried about being conformist. I guess she hasn't been reading some of my posts. In that case, just for her, I will show her just how non-conformist a blog can be. (Stay tuned.)

I went to a "Singles over 30" fireside tonight. (There are absolutely no plans in my future in this area, no need to worry.) It was our stake's turn to host the Regional Fireside, they needed a projector and laptop to run a powerpoint presentation for the speaker, so naturally, they asked me to help. Techincally speaking, this went off without a hitch, once we found the buttons to the lights. Let's just say that after listening to the fireside and hearing some of the questions that were asked, I am very, very, very glad to not be a single adult at this point. After I packed up my stuff, the President asked if I was staying to mix and mingle. (Refreshments.) Normally I would never turn down food, but when they put it like that, left the building. Oh yeah, one more thing. Some guy came up towards the end of the fireside and interupted to ask if there was a doctor in the house. Someone has colapsed coming out of the chapel. I went out to look things over, there were 15 people hovered over him, all giving different ideas, but someone call the paramedics, so I stuck around just to make sure the "first response by committee team" didn't do anything really stupid before the paramedics came. The guy was alright. Afterwards, the presidency was asking what the problem was, I told them I figured it was all the talk about the afterlife. This had mixed reviews.

2006 Goal Update - 23 April 2006

1: Move up on ITRC forums. 3591 points this week, I am firmly in slot 149 on the list.

2: Mission Journal - Nothing new done this week.

3: Garden Retaining Wall - Nothing done this week.

4: 6 Wooden Chairs - Nothing done this week.

5: Weight - 213, same as it's been for a little while.

6: Gazelle - I ordered the replacement part this week. It should arrive sometime next week.

7: Vacation - I have been waiting to buy tickets to get back home from the trip at the end of May, I have that $170 voucher from Delta. The tickets keep going up and up...

8: CPAP usage - I got the machine back on Wednesday. Since that time, I have used it 6 hours a night. It has the BiFlex mode on, and that's really nice. It allows the pressure to go down a little if you are ending the inhale, or starting the exhale.

Wasting time update - 413 badges at MSN games. (1 this week)

Maybe by this time next week, this weekly post will be spiced up a little...

No New Car.

It turns out that the deal is also for all Chrysler group cars. We can get 1% below invoice for any Dodge, for example. One of the biggest problems with the Dodge Grand Caravan is that the dealership closest to us it very, very aggressive. To the point that one visit to them spoils any thoughts of going back. The last time we were buying a car, one of their salesmen said "What will it take to get you into this car today?" This had the opposite effect on me than the salesman was anticipating, I am sure.

Anyway, I went to the Mazda dealership today, they had 1 car on the lot that was like what we wanted, we couldn't find it when we were looking for it. I went home, Tara said she really wasn't emotionally tied to the 4 seasons/towing package, so after a trip to walmart, I went back. There was a car up at a dealership 60 miles away that matched our option 2, I had the guy spec out a tradein. They eventually came up $1700 short. They did offer an additional incentive or $500 I was not expecting, so I figured they were $1200 short, so I left. (I told them I would be back in the Fall, possibly.) On my way home he called back, got the tradein up by $500 more, but it's still not what I want. He started talking about the tax savings I would get with the tradein, and I could figure to save another $500 on the deal, but this was something I was already planning on, not something that the dealer was getting for me.

It would be a $26,000 car for $21,000, but I think it's still got a 'hold' status.

New car. (On paper, anyway)

I got an email this evening about a new benefits program from Ford and GM (Only those 2...) that gave new car discounts. I went on the sites, it appears to be 10% off MSRP. (Their employee discount) All incentives in existance are also included.

We looked at the minivans, being a minivan sized family. (Mazda has a new 'little' minivan that seats 5. I think they should call that a subminivan, or a microvan, or something like that.) Ford has a new minivan, the Freestar. It looks ok, but for the price, it has not features built into it. Maybe I'm cheap, but if it's not the least or second to least expensive model on the market, it should have some bells and whistles on it. Something comparable to what we have was about $26,000. Minus bells and whistles: $24000. (After the $4000 incentive they threw in.)

We looked at the Mazda MPV, they have split the LX model into LX and LX-SV. We really like the car we have, it gets great milage, handles well, is one of the relatively cheaper cars. The LX-SV is the non-bells and whistles model. The LX has nearly all the stuff our 2002 model has.

The LX-SV, with Rear Air, Cassette player (This is for Tara), Roof Rack, and Trailer Hitch was $22475 minus a $2500 Customer cash incentive. ($20000, only $1500 more than what we paid for the one we got 3 years ago, but without the fun stuff in it.)

I priced 2 different specs for the LX, 1 I label "OK.", 1 I label "Now that's nice."

"OK" - Same options, Rear Air, Cassette player, Roof Rack, and Trailer Hitch. Also available for this is Door Guards, Floor & Cargo Mats, and a Rear Bumper Step Plate. (Giving some of the thing our current car has.) Things that the LX model which the LX-SV model lacks, but our current car has: Overhead storage components, bigger tires, Traction Control, undersoilers and underskirts, and more options available. This priced out at $23290 minus the $2500 Customer Cash.

"Now that's nice" had all the options of the "OK" config with Privacy Tinting on all back windows (We have this now. It's nice.), Windshild Shade (Got it), Fog lights (Got it), and a 4-Seasons & Towing Package that included (None of which we currently have): 1.5 ton towing capacity, Heavy Duty Oil Cooler, Heavy Duty Battery, Heated Door Mirrors, Rear Heater, Cold-spec wiper motor, and Large windshield fluid tank. I think the large battery, heated door mirrors, and Rear heater would be worth it. The girls hate to sit in the cold car in the winter, they would love rear heat. This priced out at $24309 minus the $2500 customer cash. At $22000, I think we would be getting a lot of car for the money.

Our car loan is the same amount as what Kelly Blue Book says the trade-in would be. I figure if we got Tom to do a really nice detail on the thing, and reminded the people about the brand new tires, we might be able to get a little out of the car we have. We are seriously concidering looking into this. In addition to the new tires, the car just had 60,000 mile maintainence done to it, it's in good shape, but with this deal and the current incentive on the MPV's, it might we worth it to buy new, get a van just like or a little better than our current one, but then we have the 4 year warrenty on the car. We needed to start looking at some point anyway, we didn't want to necessarily drive it to the point that we couldn't get any trade in for it.

Just a couple of questions: What color do you suggest? I have a hard time finding our silver car sometimes, what do people think about "Strato Blue Mica?" A Remote Start feature is available, does anyone have this? If so, do you like it? Our neighbors have a Mazda 626 with a remote start. It seems to be a nice feature to have for the Winter to get the car warmed up, and nice in the Summer to get the A/C to cool it down before getting in. One of the disadvantages I see is little fingers learning how to remote start the car... We had a remote start rental car 2 years ago in Clearwater Beach, I had fun starting and stopping the car from the 5th floor of the hotel... The Option for Remote Start would be $280, is it worth it?

I plan to make at least 1 visit to the dealership. It's a newly built lot. I plan to walk away at some tactically appropriate time. Then maybe come back the next day and walk away again. Then maybe come back again if we are really serious and think we want to buy a new car. There aren't any car salesmen in the audience, are there?

Carseats

We got 3 of the 4 girls new carseats last month. I think Emma is still a little jealous. I tried to put her carseat in the back seat with Mary and Kate (What a party that would be...) just before the soccer game this evening. Emma leaped into the back seat when she saw what I was doing. It looks like she would really like to be back there. (The 3rd row party seat.) Emma's seat would not fit.

Tonight I ended up taking apart Kate and Mary's seats. They had little cupholders on them that were taking up too much real estate. The cupholders are now gone, and Emma's seat fit into the back, but it did not fit so that Mary and Kate would be able to buckle their seats.

Ruth's seat, however, did fit just fine in the back. This is not to say we would subject Ruth to that kind of punishment necessarily, but we are strongly concidering buying Emma a seat like Ruth's. (They go to 40 pounds, Emma has a ways to go before that happens.)

Either way around it, we may soon be back to having room for a passenger in our van again. (This is especially good when Tara and the girls decide to go somewhere and take Tara's parents with them, because there would be room for both of them.)

Sometimes I think they shouldn't let me have the root password for my laptop.

They ordered our new laptops today. (In purchasings hands.) They estimate that the laptops will be here the first couple days of May.

This has emboldened me a little with the one I have. This afternoon I tried doing something to the operating system that I can gaurentee is not supported by the Suse people. That's never stopped me before, I've done plenty of things in HPUX that the HP Support Center would balk at. (The HPUX Engineers might not, but they also might not want all customers trying some of the things I have done. When there is an outage, you do what you have to to get the machine up sometimes...) Anyway, I try not to play too much with my main laptop OS, but I ended up doing it this afternoon anyway. I don't think I caused any permanent damage, but I was about to reboot my laptop when someone asked me to restore something for them on a machine. I did it, they walked away, and I typed reboot. What I failed to do was log out of the server... I figure it's time to go home now.

In case of fire...

A few years ago I confiscated a ball from the girls. It has a velcro wrist strap, and an elastic string, so you can throw the ball and have it come back to you. It migrated to my office several months ago.

Today, I invented a new game. It involved throwing the ball away from me, when it got it's furthest out, yanking it back so it shoots the other direction. When it gets the furthest out, yank it again... The purpose of the game was to see how many times I could yank the thing without having it hit me in the head (or some other body part). This was not as easy as it seems. The ball does unpredictable things sometimes when it hits the wall, floor, or ceiling.

The final time I played the little game, I got up over 50 yanks, then the ball hit the fire extingusher. Lets just say that the glass really does break if you hit it. The game has been retired, just like kleenex bowling, and rubber band ball cricket. (And they wonder why the Alumni department did not want to move into our building.)

BiPap

I got a loaner BiPap machine today to use until mine is fixed. This one appears to be missing the humidifier gasket, but it works...

I look forward to sleeping tonight.

I also went to have my blood checked again for thyroid & company levels. I told the nurse that even if the dose stays the same, I would like to go to a single dose instead of a split dose, since I have a hard time taking the 2nd dose if I do not take them both at the same time.

Listening to baseball on the internet

I like to listen to radio broadcasts on the internet. There is something about listening to the games that's just great. I don't have to sit and watch, for one thing. I can listen and do any number of other things, even watch TV. (really. I'll read a book, play a game on the computer, listen at work, or whatever.)

Anyway, as I listen to the game, I just let my mind put the game together for me. Some of the radio announcers are better at describing the game and putting the picture out there for you than others. The Cubs announcers to a great job. (And the side banter is usually pretty funny.) The Mets announcers do a good job. There are a couple of stations that do not air their commericals on the internet. I really like that, no distracting beer commericals, car salesmen, etc. They are not there to interrupt the listening of the game. (Like if you were at the park watching the game.)

Today, there were no day games. There was one yesterday, but I got busy once I got to work. I listened to games last night and tonight. The game starts at 8pm my time, which makes it end really late. My bipap still isn't working, I have yet to call the lady back. Staying up late to listen to baseball and not sleeping well at night means I sleep in mornings. I have too much to do at work to be sleeping in, I need to get the bipap fixed. (Because going to bed early seems to be too hard.)

There are a bunch of games tomorrow during the day. I should be able to get a game or two in tomorrow during the day. (Some start at 11am my time, that makes it possible!)

Beat the Streak update: I went 6 days in a row. This was my best streak so far. It ended tonight, I start over tomorrow. Not changing my system yet, it did give me the best streak so far...

New Laptop

We are ordering new laptops tomorrow at work. We had several different models to choose from, some that were desktop replacements (How it is a replacement if I do not currently have a desktop?), some that were smaller machines with a beefy desktop. For 3 of the 4 options, we could choose between a 24" flat monitor, or 2 20" monitors.

I really did not want a Desktop, it would annoy me to have to connect back to it to get anything done. Some people at work like that sort of thing, but I would rather carry the things I need with me all in one machine. (This also prevents the old "Which machine did I stick that on?" problem.)

The 2 different laptops were a Dell D820 and a Dell M90. It didn't matter a whole lot between the 2 to me, I picked the D820 last week. The D820 is the same size as my current machine, with more processor, memory, disk space, better video card, etc. The M90's screen is 2.5 inches bigger, and has a lots better video card than the D820. I thought the D820 was signifigantly cheaper than the M90, but today I found out that it was not.

I don't really use the external monitor that much (maybe I will with the 20" model), but a couple of factors made me choose the M90: the order comes with a new backpack which fits the laptop (it would fit in mine, being larger), the laptop came with 2 batteries (I was down to one on this laptop), everyone else in the office was getting one (making it easier to fix a problem in Linux as we can share configuration files if we ever have a problem), and the video card and wireless card are supported in Suse Linux, I wasn't sure about the D820. The M90 only has 1 20" monitor, but like I said, I rarely use it...

Even if they change the configuration tomorrow at the last minute, it will be a very nice machine.

2006 Goal update - 16 April 2006

1: Move up on ITRC forums. 3583 points this week, same as last week, and the week after that, and the week after that... (I have been way to busy at work to put time into this. I hope to have the project I am working on pretty much wrapped up before the trip at the end of May.)

2: Mission Journal - Nothing new done this week.

3: Garden Retaining Wall - Nothing done this week.

4: 6 Wooden Chairs - Nothing done this week.

5: Weight - 213, same as before, my pants fall down unless I wear a belt.

6: Gazelle - Nothing to report, except that Tara broke it this past week. I have nothing to complain about, sinceI have only done 2 miles on the thing this year, she has done hundreds. I have to email the place tomorrow to see if I can get a replacement part.

7: Vacation - The night we got back, Ruth, Tara, and I were sitting on the couch, Tara tried to say something to Ruth, and Ruth gave her the dirtiest look I have every seen a baby give. It was pretty funny (to me...). I had to put her to bed that night, Tara and Ruth have since made up and are friends again.

8: CPAP usage - I used this thing 7 hours Sunday night, since then, I have amassed 15 minutes total, mostly while awake and trying to test the thing. If I leave it at 9 (normal exhale pressure), it's too low to help me sleep, and just interferes. If I bump it up to 11 or 11.5 (normal inhale pressure), it is blowing to hard to breathe out properly, and it feels like an asthma atack is coming on or something. I guess the lesson I am sharing here is never check your medical equipment as luggage if you can possibly avoid it.

Wasting time update - 412 badges at MSN games. (3 this week)

Netflix questions

I have posted questions about our netflix service before. I once talked about the numbers located on the mailer. I have been trying to track how long it takes for each different set of numbers to arrive at our how after being shipped by Netflix. There are several things that have been interferring with my research:

1. The post office. Sometimes I think they take the day off.
2. Netflix has sent us our disk from other locations besides the one closest to us sometimes, making it harder to figure out what's actually going on.
3. We do not always write down the number of days each mailer takes
4. I think our sample size is still too small.

Anyway, if someone can tell me what these numbers mean, I can move on to a different hobby.

Bratwurst

Bratwurst used to taste so much better before I lost my gall bladder. Now, had I cooked them tonight like in this picture, it might have been better. As it was, I used a skillet, then got tired of waiting, so I added water to the skillet to help cook it. Maybe next time. I still don't think I can eat a whole lot of it...

Oh, spicy mustard (the one time I eat mustard) and maybe some sauerkraut (the one time I eat sauerkraut) might have also helped.

72 hour kits, part 2

I went to Walmart tonight looking for something we could use for the girls to make 72 hour kits. I would have saved a whole lot of time had I gone directly to the sporting goods section. They had some tackle bags, which had 4 containers for tackle in them, for 15 dollars. Had I not had anything for Tara and I already, I would have bought those. For the girls, I found these tote bags that were just the right size to fit in the lockers. They are little enough that we won't be tempted to put too much stuff in there, but big enough to fit water bottles lying down. These were 5 dollars each.

I filled their bags, and we had a little room at the top, so we put those little snack sized bags of chips at the top.

We all have 72 hour kits now, we will be ready for whatever happens tomorrow night.

New Sneakers

After having passing up a new suit because I would rather buy new sneakers, and passing up buying junk from the SkyMall because I would rather buy new sneakers, I went out today and bought new sneakers.

Our first stop was Gart Sports. (This was because traffic was really bad going to the theater, so we bought tickets for the next showing, the mall was right next door. For the record, we highly recommend Curious George for families with children ages 8 and under...) It turns out I should have been shopping for shoes there all along. Not only do they have a very large selection, (this one is a "Superstore") but they have a lot of different sizes of stuff.

The pair I got are made by "New Balance". Gart's had a lot of different types of this companies shoe, and they had a lot of "extra wide" shoes. I don't know why, but I like it. I actually found 2 different pairs with little effort that fit my foot. This is a new record. I ended up getting the pair that was $20 cheaper, being on sale.

I have to say, if these shoes last, and this company is still around when I need a new pair, I will go directly to Gart's and start trying on all the New Balance shoes they have. No more piddling around from store to store.

72 Hour kits

I made Tara and me 72 hour kits tonight. A couple of years ago I picked up 2 old tape carriers. (For transporting DLT tapes, I think.) I pulled them out tonight and made up the kits. Now I just need to find 4 of something that I can get for the girls that would fit in their lockers, and would be easy to grab. I'm thinking something lunchbox size or something...

Anyway, they are sitting by the door now. In them we have:

• 5 bottles of water
• 4 packs of gum
• 2 things of Ramen
• 4 granola bars
  
• A lightstick
• a poncho
• An emergency blanket
• a toothbrush & toothpaste
  
• A pen
• A pair of socks
• A set of garments

Then we have a little bit of different stuff. Tara has:

• A can of spam
• a package of wipes

I have:

• A flashlight, 3 sets of batteries, and 2 spare batteries
• A box of Mac & Cheese

I figure that really what I need is water an a change of dry underclothes more than anything else. At this point, if I'm anywhere near home, we get out, then go to the Stake Center, or wherever the Stake Presidency goes. Once the Stake is taken care of, there is potential that I spend time after that at work, depending what happens. Anyway, what we have is better than nothing.

Our plan is to open it up every Conference, replace the food, then eat out the old stuff, we just need to get something for the girls...

Stake High Priests social

The Stake had their annual High Priests social tonight. I had no plans to attend, not being a High Priest and all.

As expected, the Stake President called me at 5pm. He asked me if I was going to the social tonight, I told him no. He said "What do we have to do to get you to go to one of these, make you a High Priest?" Then he said "It's kind of weird how that works."

Now, I don't see any need to be made a High Priest, I can go to an Elder's Quorum activity just as well as I could a High Priests activity. I won't press the issue. I remember once someone telling me they wanted to be made a High Priest. I thought in my head "Be careful what you ask for, there are only a few ways people are normally made a High Priest.", but I did not say it. Sure enough, a few months later, he was called into a Bishopric. That's what he gets...

Broken CPAP

My CPAP is broken. I took it on vacation with me this past weekend, and ended up packing it in my suitcase for the ride back. This appears to have been a mistake.

On Monday night, I put the thing on, it appears to have come off about 2 seconds before I was completely out for the night. Tuesday night I fell asleep without using it. Wednesday night I starting using it and discovered something wrong. Thursday night I did not use it. I have been just a little tired.

The machine does not change pressures. It acts like it can not tell that I am breathing into it, and does not give me the higher pressure. This makes it not really work. I took it in this morning, they lightly chastized me, but the machine is still under warrenty. The lady didn't have one to loan me yet, she raised the pressure on the one I have, so I have to try to use it like this for a couple of nights. We will see how it goes.

More Postal Service fun

Tara got a postcard the other day. It was to invite us to her 10 year class reunion at the ballroom in the library here in town. This was great, except her reunion was in 2004. The card was postmarked 23 Jul 2004. Needless to say, we missed it.

How does this happen? Some guy was doing a 50,000 mile cleaning to some sorting machine, and out popped this card? Has it been stuck to the bottom of a shoe? The address was right, the thing just showed up now.

Anyway, now I want to make three "mail" boxes for my front porch: one labeled 'Mail', one labeled 'Not Mail', and one labeled 'Junk Mail'. (The bottom one would not have a bottom, anything placed in it is immediately shreded.)

It's too bad the Postal Service doesn't offer some sort of "Junk mail" service like you can get from any good email client. Just charge me some amount a month, but let me put certain places on my junk mail list so that I do not see it. The first thing I would do is mark anything from Wilmington, Delaware, zip code 19886 as junk. This zip code has a population of zero. It's a zip code shared by credit card companies with high volume mail. (This little fact brought to you by the Feb 2005 National Geographic...)

Lawn

I mowed the lawn again. I think it's starting to look pretty nice right now. If you don't believe me, come over and have a look yourself.

Equally Yoked

The Stake President was talking about his trip to Nauvoo (he was in Chicago and drove over for a day or 2.) in Presidency meeting tonight. He talked about how on the oxen, the yoke had a number of holes for the pin that attaches to the load they pull, not just connected in the center. He started talking about how he learned that the yoke can be pinned closer to a stronger ox, so that if one of a team is stronger than the other, it can pull a greater portion of the load. In this way, they were equally yoked. Not doing an equal amount of the work, but doing their share based on their abilities.

I had been nodding my head slightly while he was talking about it, mostly because it made sense to me more than anything else. When he got done talking, he asked if I had experience with that sort of thing, since I was nodding my head. My response was "No, but on my Mom's side of the family, we come from a long line of backwoods people."

They laughed, we moved on.

Beat the Streak update

Here's your update on my standing for mlb.com's Beat the Streak game:

Goal: 57 in a row
Game Leader: 10 in a row
My best streak: 4 in a row
My current streak: 1 in a row

I guess the system I had for picking broke down. I now have created a new one, I'll give it to you. (For free!)

I had started picking the team alphabetically. tomorrow's pick is from the Astros. The next day is the Athletics. If a team next in the alphabet does not play the day their name comes up, they get skipped. Once I have picked a team, I pick the name of the player that most stands out, subject to change. I may change the player for that day, but I won't change the team. (Unless I know of really, really bad weather that might make the game not be played in time, when all bets are off...)

I'll let you know how well it works for me.

Something I haven't done in a long time

I didn't have a clean shirt for presidency meeting tonight. I hadn't washed any just before I left, and forgot to after I got back.

I had about 30 minutes to get ready this evening, so I ended up pulling one of the shirts out of the laundry. I ironed the thing, and lightly misted it with Fabreze so it would smell a little nicer. (Having been in the laundry for 2 weeks...)

I think this was a prefectly acceptable solution, it's just not one I have done in a long, long time. Having a washer and dryer in the house all these years has been a very good thing. I highly recommend it.

New Business Cards

I just ordered new business cards. I get them "free" from vistaprint.com. They do charge shipping and handling, and as you are doing the order, they try really hard to get you to buy other stuff, but I get 250 cards for $5.25, so I say it's still a great deal. I am providing a picture of the new business cards for you as an exclusive for my current readers! Lucky you. In 4 short weeks, I can start meeting people on the street and inviting them to my blog.

Shopping under the Influence

Some people say it's bad to go grocery shopping while you have a case of the munchies. I say, embrace the experience! The thing about shopping when you are hungry is you end up getting lots better food. (Or at least lots better tasting food...)

I just went to the store. I was hungry. I was set for bread and milk. Here is the list of things I bought:

3 1/2 gallons of ice cream
4 gallons of milk
a loaf of bread
a peach pie
Tyson hot wings (So I can be lazy when I want wings)
5 bags of chips (I only buy Dill Pickle chips when I'm really hungry)
13 yogurts
5 pounds of cheese
6.5 pounds of bananas
2.5 pounds of grapes
1 cantaloupe
5 pounds of oranges
10.5 pounds of apples
3 pears
20 pounds of potatos (or potatoes, if that's how you are...)

Grand total, $95.72, which is really expensive bread...

Things I learned on my vaacation

• It's better to let people know you are leaving town. They stop pestering you that way.
• Ruth travels very well
• For a short trip, it's nice to not actually make your body change time zones.
• If I put something in my wallet 6 months ago, then forgot about it and didn't use it, but airport security says they have to confiscate it, it likely wasn't all that important to me anyway.
• To get things past security, it's all in how you stuff things in you bag. The thing that got confiscated was taken at BWI, not SLC. The SLC one was slipped in on it's side, the BWI one was lying flat.
• Sometimes when leaving work for 3 days, 5 days of work piles up.
• If the Stake President is gone at the same time, things are much easier.
• Given time, Ruth will talk to her Grandma.
  
• I'm sure there were more.
  

Book Review

"Praise to the Man"
Fifteen Classic BYU Devotionals about the Prophet Joseph Smith 1955-2005

This is a little book that the people at speeches.byu.edu put together. It was an excellent book, as would be expected. The editors found 15 different devotionals that pretty much focused on a different topic each. (Subtopic? Theme? whatever.)

Anyhow, I highly recommend this book. I have it if you want to borrow it.

Traveling with Ruth, part 2

Ruth was very good again for the return flights. For the first flight, we sat next to a couple with a wild 2 year old. Basically Ruth spend a good portion of time watching the kid go nuts. There was another couple with a baby a row up and across the aisle from us. Halfway through the flight, the baby threw up all over the place. I ended up giving them a large stack of our remaining diaper wipes. I felt sorry for the couple, the baby kept throwing up, but I felt more sorry for the lady sitting next to them.

For the 2nd leg, We had 3 seats all to ourselves. This was very very nice. I had Ruth asleep before the flight even took off, after takeoff, I let her lay down on the seats. It's not bad work, if you can get it.

Restaurant Review

Pei Wei Asian Cuisine (Baltimore)

This restaurant I think is owned by the PFChang's people, there food it basically the same, but the restaurant is a little different. It looks like a sushi bar when you walk in, you order your food first, at the register, then sit at a teable, they bring it to you. For their entrees, you pick a type of cooking, and a type of meat. (And a type of rice.) I got spicy korean chicken, Amy got Lemon pepper chicken.

It was good, the food was just like PF Changs, but I think it can lots faster. (Maybe it was because it was 2pm.) I would recommend it, but I don't think there are any around here.

Something I remembered that happened to me once

Pyramids on the moon and mars. I remember that. On my mission, in the high desert (near Edwards AFB), I think the sun and heat and wind fried peoples' brains. One day while tracking, some lady told us a story about how there were pyramids on the Moon and on Mars. She also told us about a number of "strange things" the AFB did up there. Mostly she went on about the pyrmids and how she was once watching a show on television that told all about the pyramids up there. (If it is found on TV, it must be true, right?) People in the Mohave Desert have too much time on their hands where it's too hot to go outside...

Drugs and "The Matrix"

We were watching Sportscenter here after the Cub's game ended, I was keeping Madilynn asleep for Amy. They did a segment on Darren Daulton and his crazy beliefs. (Crazy enough to make a post here for you to go read about it...) He used to be a catcher for the Phillies, Marlins, etc.

Basically, it sounds like he once dropped acid while watching The Matrix. He thinks in 6 years a large number of people would transfer to a higher dimention. SI.com did the story in February. (It's weird, as the story shows. One quote from this guy: "Reality is created and guarded by numeric patterns that overlap and awaken human consciousness, like a giant matrix or hologram") This guy is just crazy. I don't think he got hit in the head by the ball too many times while he was playing, but maybe he needs it now. He really wants to manage in the major leagues, but the team would have to be crazy to touch this guy.

Just goes to show what really wild living, drugs, and alcohol can do to you.

He's writing a book. More from the story: "If They Only Knew! would also reveal the secrets of the pyramids, which Daulton insists are strategically placed all over the galaxy: the moon, Mars..." "Vegas? "What goes above, also goes below," Daulton says, cryptically." "He believes the Mayan temples were built not by the Mayans, who were merely caretakers, but by a lost civilization. Possibly the Atlanteans, who allegedly disappeared beneath the waves. Possibly space aliens."

Something I remembered that happened to me once

The only other time I was really in D.C. doing a tourist type of thing was when I was 12 or 13, the Washington DC Temple was our temple. We did a multi- day youth temple trip. We had to bring our own spending money for things like food, souviners, etc in the city. I think they took care of our food on the road. (Can't remember for sure.)

We took the bus trip down, and checked into our hotel. At this point, I realized that the bulk of my money was missing. I wasn't really sure what happened, I just knew that at some point I had it, then it was missing. I spent 3 days eating nothing but popcorn (which I brought a couple of bags of), and sunkist soda (which I bought with pocket change, being the late 80's when pocket change could still buy soda from a vending machine.). I think a couple of people gave a little money, but everyone brought just enough.

Anyway, we enjoyed ourselves, spent plenty of time touring around. It's just really memorable for the diet I had then.

Washington D.C.

Darren and I took Evan and Ruth into Washington this afternoon. We were headed to go see the WWII monument. I don't understand why it took 60 years for them to get around to building this thing. It is very nice. They have kiosks over to the side with a National WWII registry on them, so people can look things up. They have pillers representing all the states/territories that supported the war effort. (All of them) There are quotes throughout it, walking in there are bronzes carvings with different WWII era dipictions. There is a central pool with fountains. They have 2 large pillars with eagles in them as side entrances, and they have a central Freedom Wall with 4000 bronze stars representing the 400,000+ service men and women who died in the war. It was very nice.

After we were done looking at it, Evan was not done running, so we went over to the Washington Monument. It was closed, we just walked around it. It was a nice little visit.

I just wonder why they couldn't have done the WWII monument 20 or 40 years ago? It's nice that it is there now, but there are not a lot of veterens of that war left. They are all getting old. Maybe those who went through that war were not ready to deal with the monument back then, and the government really wasn't pressed to do it until that generations children made them do it. It's worth a stop if you are in DC. It's at the end of the reflecting pool, just across the street from the Washington monument.

Baby Blessing

We went to the baby blessing for Madilynn today. Darren did a very good job. Amy was worried he was going to change her name, (square root of 2, Meredith, Madison, or whatever) but he didn't. After we went back and had lunch. I eventually took Ruth downstairs to have her take a nap, it was only partly to get away from the people. (I sat down in church, and after a few minutes, Darren's sister put her hand on my arm to get my attention to give some comment about Ruth. Sometimes it bothers me when people I do not know touch me. Sometimes it bothers me when people I know touch me. Anyway, the conversations around me were all on tracks I had no desire at all to be involved with, so I slipped away...)

2006 Goal Update - 9 April

1: Move up on ITRC forums. 3583 points this week, same as last week.

2: Mission Journal - Nothing new done this week.

3: Garden Retaining Wall - Nothing done this week, except looking at it.

4: 6 Wooden Chairs - Nothing done this week.

5: Weight - Not sure. This computer chair does not have a "weight while you type" feature.

6: Gazelle - Nothing to report

7: Vacation - I am on vacation. Work only called me 5 times, one of which I got. Yesterday, Ruth left an excessive amount of drool in the phone for me, the microphone in the thing no longer works, this means people can call, or I can place calls, but the person on the other end of the line can not hear what I am saying. This could extend my vacation some, if I work it right.

8: CPAP usage - This week I averaged 5 hours a night. Same as last week.

Wasting time update - 409 badges at MSN games. (20 this week)

Nearly bought a suit

I nearly bought a suit yesterday. Dave forgot his Sunday clothes, so we went to a store. We ended up at a Burlington Coat Factory, I think it was 2 or 3 times bigger than the one at home. While waiting, Ruth and I looked at the baby stuff, then wandered over to the suits. They had a number of expensive suits on sale for just over $100.

I looked through them, and found one that was a potential candidate. I even tried it one.

I did not buy the suit. (Don't you hate when the punchline is given away in the title?) My reasoning was as follows:

1. Buying a suit would force me to start breaking my "wearing a suit only when there is an ordinance involved, or other special occasion" long standing rule
2. I was not sure if Tara would like the multi colored pin stripe
3. I need new sneakers, and figured if I spent money on something, it should be footwear, not a suit.
4. Same as rule number 1.

I got Ruth a stuffed animal instead.

No Baseball game for us

We did not make it to an Orioles game. We really had 2 options, Friday night and Saturday afternoon. Friday night we made the call to not go, clouds were on the horizon. It ended up being a good decision, it started pouring at the game. Saturday was cold and rainy. (very cold and very rainy) We decided to not go. The game ended up being delayed 90 minutes for rain. Then it was even colder...

We'll have t0 go another time.

Game Time

Age of Empires 3

Me - 0
Dave - 2

The first game was me and Dave against the computers, I quit to attend to a baby. The second 2 games (later) were head to head. I switched people for the second game, but Dave ended up with a couple of ships I didn't know about that could blow up my buildings from across the map. This made things turn out badly...

Restaurant Review

5 Guys (Baltimore)

This place is a burger and fries joint. Their 2 big pitches are "100% Fresh Ground Beef" and "Real Idaho Potatoes". They had a sign up saying that today's potatoes came from Rigby, Idaho. I figure the 100% fresh ground beef sign means they killed the cow within the last week.

The burgers were good, and they are very, very generous with the fries. This restaurant gets a "if you're in town again, and are wandering around looking for a place to eat lunch, stop there." vote.

She's not so sure about these people

Ruth won't give Grandma or Grandpa the time of day. Hopefully she warms up to them tomorrow.

We considered going to the baseball game tonight, but a storm started rolling in. Right after I put Ruth to bed, thunder and lightening started, and not 'Utah sissy thunder and lightening'. She did not go to sleep. I eventually called Tara, she sung to her over the phone, that seems to have done it. I don't know if she's asleep, but she is not crying, so I am assuming she is, and avoiding the room for a little while.

The forcast for tomorrow is for rain. The high and the low are supposed to be 59. We'll see what happens.

Welcome to Montgomery County - Watch out for snipers

I forgot that Amy and Darren live in Montgomery county. Remember the DC sniper? Sherriff Moose? All that happened right here. At the time, Amy and Darren said that they weren't really all that afraid, but at that time said he was taking the garbage out a little faster.

Traveling with Ruth

This entry delayed a day so that I don't ruin the suprise for Grandma that Ruth came with me...

Ruth was very, very good on the plane. The first leg, she just played and played. We ended up having the seat open next to us, which was very nice. After they announced that we were landing, I noticed that her diaper was leaking.

During our short layover, her diaper was changed.

The second flight, the plane was full. The people next to us had a 10 month old boy, but he slept the entire time. Ruth was very good on this leg also. She ended up sleeping for half of it.

All in all, it was a very nice experience. Why do people complain about traveling with little children?

I should have told more people I was going to be out of town.

I only told 4 people at work I was going on vacation. (Don't they read this blog?)

When I turned my cell on here in Baltimore, I had 2 VM's from work, and the phone started ringing from work while I was trying to get the messages. I have gotten 2 other calls today. At least they won;t wake me up first thing in the morning, being 2 hours ahead of them. I may not answer the phone. Let this be a warning to you.

Have I ever mentioned that my name is on the terror watch list?

Luckily my birthdate is not...

Every time I go to the airport, I end up having to wait while they call up someone, give them my name, driver's license number and birthdate, then issue the tickets. It happened again this morning. The guy didn't look to happy that he had to call. Incidently, there were 2 people checking in at the same time headed to Baltimore, the Amsterdam. (Not Americans.) They started getting hassled too. The girl ended up on the plane, I have no idea what happened to the guy.

A year ago we were flying, and we had tickets from Delta. It turns out that the second leg of the flight home was Continental. We were in Ft. Myers, Florida. We got the tickets, and started walking away, when I looked at them. We were missing the 2nd leg for me. (I'm glad I looked, by the way.) We went back, the Delta people said my name was on the watch list, they couldn't release the 2nd leg that went through Continental. I went to the Continental desk, they said they couldn't issue the ticket, I had to do it in Newark. The Delta people in Ft. Myers agreed with them. Our flight got into Newark late, we didn't have a lot of time, and the funny thing about Newark is that the terminal is very fractured, they have multiple security points. We had to go through security to get to the next flight. Before this happened, I had to wait for a long time for the guy at the Continental desk to figure out what was going on and get me a boarding pass. We ended up having to run to the plane.

Last October, I went to Ft. Collins, Colorado with my boss. I was telling him that I needed to be there a little earlier than normal to get through security because I was on the watch list. He didn't believe me until we went to the kiosk, and his name was 'ready for check in' but my name was 'please speak to a customer service representative.'

Now I don't necessarily blame them for putting my full name on the watch list (wouldn't you?), but sometimes it can be quite a hassle.

Speaking of plane travel...

Flights between here and Buffalo have shot up like a rocket in the last few days. I have been watching to get tickets for 'Summer Excursion 2006'. I had a hold sign on for a few weeks. I have also been looking for flights from Delta, we have that $170 left on that voucher, it would be nice to use it towards the travel.

Last week, the tickets from Delta were $300, now they are at $425. (I was hoping to grab it for $250 or less.) I know it goes up and down all the time, but I can't imagine a whole lot of people will decide to buy those tickets. The hold sign is gone, the stop sign is up.

Now it will be a risk to buy tickets from Delta. They have that little problem with their pilots that looks like it may not turn out so good. I thought I remembered Delta working out a deal with the pilots last year, then they go and mess with them this year, so the pilots threaten to strike. I have always wondered what would happen to air travel if the government refused to help them anymore...

Plane travel

I called Northwest this morning. My question was about my CPAP and my laptop bag. (Their website said they had a strict 1 carryon per person rule.)

The lady on the phone told me that they really can't prevent you from carrying on medical equipment. Then she said "As for your laptop, well we know people don't like checking those as baggage." I asked her if I needed to give the ladies at the counter a smile, maybe bring them flowers.. She said just to maintain a low profile, they likely would not do anything about it.

Today I mowed the lawn

Today I mowed the lawn. I am not sure, but I think this was the earliest in the year the lawn got mowed. Not that it didn't need it in previous years or was dry enough, but I actually got around to it.

I only had time to do my yard this afternoon before Presidency meeting. Had I more time, I would have also done my neighbors yard, they need it badly also. My Bishop was lamenting this evening that I didn't do his yard. If I have time tomorrow, I might come by, otherwise, he's always welcome to borrow the mower.

My new t-shirt

I wore my new t-shirt today. The guys at work 'convinced' me to get it. (Not that it took all that prodding...) I think a couple of them were a little suprised that I wore it. The rest of them were not suprised in the least bit. I enjoyed it at least.

The shirt is from ThinkGeek. If anyone just can't figure out what kind of present to buy me (socks and pants. I always need socks and pants.) I include a couple for your perusal:

LED Binary Watch - I prefer the blue one.
Hal 9000 1GB Memory Stick - "Dave, what are you doing?"
I'm blogging this t-shirt - And you're reading it...

Anyway, if you come across me and I'm wearing this shirt, don't take it personal, unless I really am planning to replace you...

Baseball

Baseball season is in full force. I went to go listen to a game this afternoon, mlb.com's gameday audio service was down. All afternoon. I had to make due with the gamecast of the game. (MLB.com calls it "gameday", but it's really, really nice. It has all kind of features in it. I think I'll start using it all the time.)

Hopefully there will be less days of broken audio services in the near future.

After 2 days, my 'Beat the streak' record is 1 day in a row. The guy I picked yesterday didn't do anything. The guy I picked today waited until his last at bat to get a hit. My next three players are:

Tuesday: Manny Ramirez (Boston) - 1 hit today
Wednesday: Aramis Ramirex (Chicago Cubs) - 1 hit today
Thursday: Carlos Beltran (Mets) - No hits today, but I'm not going to worry unless he has no hits still on Wednesday.

Anyway, weather permitting, we will be in Camden Yards on Saturday watching the Orioles play the Red Sox. (Darren and Dave sounded excited, my Dad sounded like he'd go if that's want we really wanted to do.) We didn't buy tickets, there is a chance of rain, I don't want to sit through a downpour if that's what's happening Saturday...

Doctor Visit

It only took me a week to go see the doctor...

Friday and Saturday, my shoulder seemed to be ok. (A notch below fine.) On Sunday, it was lots worse, and this morning it felt even worse than Sunday. I decided it was time to call the doctor. I started calling shortly after 9, the phone rang and rang and rang. No one answered, no voice mail picked up. About 10, I was able to make an appointment for just before lunch.

I ended up seeing the nurse practicing. This is ok, but she tends to ask questions that my doctor already knows the answer to. (Can't she tell by the thickness of the folder that holds my charts?) Had the doctor walked in to see me, his opening line would have been: "What did you do to yourself this time?" followed by "I bet that hurts." (He's a living example of the joke "I went to the doctor and told him it hurts every time I do this." "What did he say?" "Don't do that anymore.")

Anyhow, after poking me some and finding out exactly where it hurts, she said "Maybe physical therapy would help." I told her I wasn't going to physical therapy. She took it suprisingly well. She talked about a couple of the things it could be, what some of the pains could mean or didn't mean, and told me there might be some exercises to help it, then asked why I didn't want to go to physical therapy. I told her that they weren't going to have me do anything that I didn't already know how to do, I shattered my collarbone a long time ago and spent plenty of time working the shoulder back. She asked what I meant by shattered, I explained it to her, and she agreed shattered might be a good term.

She didn't know exactly what to do, she said "Let me go look in my book", and ran out. This set me off just a little bit. I figured when she got back I was going to have to ask her to go get someone who knew what they were talking about, because I didn't want to come back in 2 days when things were even worse. I stewed on this for a few minutes when I heard her talking to one of the doctors out in the hall. At least she had the good sense to get someone else's opinion before coming back in. She brought the book anyway.

The book had some of the excersizes you do in therapy for a shoulder injury. She went through them with me. A couple of them she said she didn't know what they were for, so I told her. (Was that a test?) She agreed that I knew what I was talking about, then suggested a cortizone shot. She gave me one in 2 different places after numbing everything up. Then I was told to take it easy for 2 weeks, and REALLY take it easy for the next week. She told me it would hurt for a couple of days after the shot, I should ice it down, etc.

She redeemed herself for the "Let me go look at my book" comment, but the pain is back in full force now. Hopefully this will fix it up.

2006 Goal Update - 2 April 2006

1: Move up on ITRC forums. 3583 points this week, same as last week. I didn't really have time to go and visit this week. I did move up 2 positions last week.

2: Mission Journal - Nothing new done this week.

3: Garden Retaining Wall - Nothing done this week, except looking at it.

4: 6 Wooden Chairs - The first chair has been put together, it still needs to be puttied, sanded, and painted. Then the plans need to be re-written so that the rest of the chairs go together correctly.

5: Weight - 213 right now.

6: Gazelle - Nothing to report

7: Vacation - I'll be in Baltimore on Thursday. I expect the calls from work on Friday...

8: CPAP usage - This week I averaged 5 hours a night. This is likely the best I have done since I had the thing. 6.5 hours seems to be the limit, or at least that's when Emma wakes up...

Wasting time update - 389 badges at MSN games. (6 this week)

Planting

Today is Conference Saturday. Normally on this day in the spring, I plant vegetable seeds in my little planter thing. I am not doing it today, though. Some of the plants come out very fast and get too tall very fast. I don't want this to happen while I am gone next weekend. I will plant on Wednesday night if I get finished packed that night, or I will plant when I get back.

So far, Conference is good. (As if it wouldn't be.)

Baseball 2006

Baseball season starts tomorrow. I am all set with my MLB.com gameday audio subscription. mlb.com has a lot of baseball stuff on it. They have a 'milestone tracker' where you can see the projected milestones about to be made, with their projection on when it will happen. (No, they don't list the day barry bonds gets any more Home Runs. They must agree with me.)

I prefer the National League style of play much better than the American League. There's something about having to stick the pitcher out there to hit that appeals to me. (And it's funny watching the pitcher try to hit the next at bat after their rare Home Run. They always seem to think they can hit after that, you usually see people whiffing after that.) Plus you get more bunts, steals, etc out of the National league.

I have been picking a team each year since 1997 to win the World Series title. In 2000, I was rooting for the Mets. (They won) In 2001 I was rooting for the Diamondbacks. (They won. This was mostly because we had FSN Arizona on our cable system, I could what a lot of their games.) Getting it right 2 years in a row kind of got me thinking I had a streak going. Since that time, I have been 0-4. That makes me 2 of 9 since I've been making picks. Having said that, here are my picks for 2006:

NL Playoff teams: NY Mets, Chicago Cubs, LA Dodgers, Washingtons Nationals
AL Playoff teams: Toronto Blue Jays, Cleveland Indians, Oakland A's, Chicago White Sox

World Series: Chicago Cubs over Toronto Blue Jays

Everyone disagree with me immediately? Anyone care? My pick for the Cubs assumes that their 2 currently hurt pitchers, Wood and Prior get healthy and contribute. I think some of the Cubs off season pickups will make them a high scoring team. What they need is good pitching to keep the other team's scoring down...

April Fools Day

Today is April Fool's Day. In the past, this was a good day to make a phone call home to share the new imaginary events of my life. Sometimes I made it up on the fly. Between me and my siblings, this day has become a day for my parents to not answer the phone. (Except my Mom did this morning...) Go ahead, try to call.

I call every April Fool's Day just to see if they will answer or not. 2 years ago, they forgot it was April Fool's, they stopped answering the phone after my call.

Maybe it's just a plot by me so they get comfortable with answering the phone from us, so that we can get them really good in a couple of years... ;)