what word comes to mind after viewing this commercial?

Man, this commercial rubs me the wrong way. Every time I see it I think "what a little b*tch". Like she is lowering herself to go out with this guy when the star quarterback is trying to call her. Guess what you little ***t, you aren't that hot and he just wants to nail you!! Like she is degrading herself to go out with a seemingly nice guy. And the whole "eye roll" when he licks the cup, while it is a little gross, makes me want to punch this chick. I think we have all known a girl like this (at least the guys). Before I made any comments about this commercial the other night, Jen looked over to me and said "what a b*tch".

Sorry I just had to vent.

The experiment is almost over

A year ago I was going over the need for a cell phone. I knew with the baby on the way in January and just general need to stay in contact that I needed to get one. Cost was a major factor. Even on the "cheap" plans by the time you throw in all of the fees and bullsh*t charges it worked out to be over $40 a month (at least). I have own various other cell phones in my life, and I have am not a high minute user, so the promise of "unlimited weekend minutes" or any other "special offers" wasn't a big draw for me. I looked at the "pay as you go" phones but those plans were still B.S. with the fees and access charges. Then I looked into the prepaid phones. I had looked into them before, but to get minutes you had to buy cards, and they expired after 60 days, and it just seemed like a pain. But then I came across a phone that was good for a year and came with 1000 minutes. Would I use 1000 minutes in a year? I didn't know. Especially since we don't have long distance at the house (again a budget issue) we would use the cell for that as well. So I plopped down $150 for the phone and 1000 minute year card. You can't find any cell phone offer for around $12.50 (total) a month including voicemail/caller ID/ and other features.

Well, my minutes are set to expire on August 10th and I still have 117 minutes to use up. I figure that our trip to Rochester will burn up those minutes (or one conversation between Jen and Carrie). I think overall this phone is a good fit for me. I am going to get another "year" card and try it again for this year. It would be nice to get one for Jen too. If no other reason than being able to talk to Carrie a little more often. My mom has also expressed interest in getting one of these phones as well. I should see if they have a referral program. The only minor complaint that I have about the phone is the battery. I make sure that I run the phone down to nothing before I recharge it, but it doesn't seem to hold a very good charge if you are using it. Maybe I will splurge for a new one.

It was a little hot

We had a very busy weekend. Friday morning I helped my cousin Marc move. I volunteered the use of a work truck to help with the move which entailed me getting up at 6:30am to drive out to work to drive back north to get to his house by 8:00am. We had to get an early start on the move since I had a distant family reunion to get to by noon. I was a little worried when I was the only one there, but very quickly there was alot of hands to help load. My goal was just to get the big stuff loaded and over to the new house so I could get to my other event. They actually left some of the furniture in the house since they are still trying to sell it so that made the load a little less, but we still managed to load the entire 26 foot truck up. I was also hoping by getting an early start that we could possibly avoid some of the heat of the day, but that didn't work as my shirt was quickly drenched by the many trips up and down the narrow stairway. I drove the truck over to the new house and the many hands followed to make the unload go just as well. Marc has a very nice house that doesn't look like it need too much work and a nicely finished basement. (It makes me want to get going on my basement again) Marc had originally planned on moving that day since it would have been about a month before the baby was due,but leave it to the little whipper snapper to show up early. Peter was born last friday and had to spend the last week in the NICU unit at dupont to make sure that his lungs were properly developed, but he was cleared to go home Sunday (the day after the move). I feel sorry for Marc and Julie with having to move and having a child in the same week since Jen and I have done the same thing (or similiar) situation with our children. So not only do they get to deal with trying to arrange a new household, but also have to deal with a new child (first time parents). I am sure they will do fine, they have a great family around them. Anyway, after we unload them I run back to the office and drop off the truck. Luckily I had planned ahead and knew I would probably be sweaty so I brought a change of clothes and clean up a little before heading out. Lucky for me Foster park isn't too far from the office so I didn't have far to run.

Let's see if I can explain whay I called it a distant family reunion earlier. These people are my grandmothers side of the family, so also my mom's cousins. We used to get together every year. There was usually a party on Friday night at the lake cottage, golf on saturday morning with more partying saturday after noon, and then a family cookout at the lake place. I am not real sure why these get togethers ended. I think it was just because trying to get everyone together at a same date was a pain with all of the other family stuff that comes along. I was pretty much a kid the last time we were all together, ok maybe late teens, so it had been probably 20 years or so since I had seen everyone. By the time I got there everyone was already there. I remember or know a few of these people and was in the process of trying to talk to some of them. The huge playground at Foster park was right next to the pavilion so my boys were all over that. I spent the rest of the after noon in the playground area trying to keep an eye on the boys so I didn't get a chance to visit that much. Both of the boys are on a kick where they love wearing their lightning McQueen baseball caps so they were soaking in sweat playing in their hats in the upper 80 degree weather. After a couple of hours of that we decided to take off for home. I took the boys while Jen headed for a sale at the mall. I put christopher and Andrew (and myself) down for a nap when we got home. Saturday night was bathtime for the boys (again) and then to bed. I didn't get to bed until 1:00am, then the f*****g cat slams our bedroom door at 4:00am, and then a thunderstorm goes through at 5:30am, leaving us with a bed full of children for an hour. After that the boys played downstairs for the most part letting us try and catch a few more winks of sleep, but they kept calling me downstairs for juice, or cereal, or more juice, or .... you get the idea. So we got up and got ready for church. After church Dan and I decided to play golf. We met up at Arlington Park for a quick 9 holes. We originally talked about playing at cherry hill, but the day I had on saturday I wasn't sure that I wanted to do a full 18 holes. The weather wasn't that bad with the occasional breeze that made it bearable outside. There was no one playing ahead of us, but a bunch of people playing behind us. It's not that we were playing that slow, we were keeping a good pace, but I prefer to play a little slower than that. Dan claimed to not having touched a club in a few years, but he came out of the clubhouse playing like tiger freaking woods. He was putting together par after par after par and ended up smoking me by 4 strokes. I can tell you that almost never happens when we play together. We had a good time and some good conversations about life in general. After we were done playing I headed home. We had asked mom to watch the kids Sunday night so Jen and I could go out for our anniversary. Yep 7 years ago she took pitty on me a married my sorry butt. J/K. We headed over to Granite City to have dinner. Jen had never been there, and my only experience wasn't that great, but I had high hopes. Overall the food was very good, but whooooo it was pricey ($16 for ravioli is nuts). I think we will stick to Triangle Park for our special dinners. Another early start on Monday as the garbage truck comes at 5:30am and wakes both of the boys up. Busy weekend, but I didn't get anything done around the house.

Another year older

Yep, Monday was my birthday. I didn't really have any plans since I wasn't real sure of Jen's work schedule. I was thinking that if Jen didn't work that we would go out for a nice dinner without the kids. Why is it we are trying to get rid of the kids to have a "nice" dinner? Probably since we know it will be "nice" not having to deal with the worry of keeping the kids from destroying a restaurant. Anyhow. We find out that Jen didn't have to work and my mom offers to have a get together at her house. She suggests a few things for dinner with one being lasagna. ooohhh yeah I will never say no to a good lasagna. We ended up with quite the group including the in-laws and my brother and sister in law. The boys had a blast playing with Uncle Dan and Uncle Jim. Dinner was delicious but very filling. Jen made me a very good yellow cake with homemade chocolate frosting. We finally headed home after 9:00 so we could get the boys to bed at a decent time.

I also got the Lego Indiana Jones game from my dad (it pays to blog what you like). I was a little worried when I threw it in since it wasn't loading very well, but I tried it again later and it loaded alot better. Jen got me a new controller so she can play also.

There was one, kind of annoying thing that happened. I got not one but THREE of those cards where you open them and it plays a song. The boys LOVE these cards and are continually opening and closing them, and open and close, and open and close. Quite the mix of Quiet Riot's "Cum on feel the noise", Otis day and the knights "shout" and one card that just "clucks". The batteries do wear out don't they?

All kidding aside I had a great time....

I am going to have to call Bullsh*t on that one

I have read many stories about "global warming". It is becoming annoying on the laundry list of things that they are blaming on it or what MIGHT be the effect of it in 50 - 70 years from now. Anything different in the world seems like it is blamed on global warming. Say a bird flies south rather than south southeast by a few degrees. Global warming. A weed grows 4 inches rather than 5 inches. Global warming. Cow poop MIGHT be more acidic 80 years from now. Global warming. I agree we need to take better care of the Earth, but it seems like scientists are tying any baloney study they are trying to get funding for, into global warming. BUT I am going to have to call bullsh*t on this one. According to a FRONT PAGE article in USA today they say that global warming MAY raise kidney stone risk. huh? According to the article "Kidney stones result from salts crystallizing in the kidneys, often triggered by dehydration, causing famously painful blockages." Uh no. Take it from someone who has dealt with kidney stones for years, they don't know what actually causes kidney stones. According to my doctors kidney stones could be caused by either a chemical imbalance in the brain where the body produces too much salt, or it is stress related (also inherited, thanks dad:)). They are claiming that because it is hotter in the south the chances of dehydration are better. That is kinda true I guess,but I can get just as dehydrated in the North. Also according to the article there is a kidney stone "belt" were kidney stones happen more often. And it will head North... in 40 years because it will be warmer to the North. Again no way to prove it or be accountable for it in 40 years since they will be dead. Of course could it be that there are more cases in the South because that's where all the old people go and it effects them more often? nooooooo. Global warming. They PREDICT that the cost of treating kidney stones will increase 25 percent (in 40 years... maybe). Uh duh. That's actually cheaper than the cost of living increase. I would take that. They also claim that kidney stones happen more often in summer. Ok, kidney stones don't happen overnight. They take months (or years) to form, so I would believe the study if it had an increase in the fall,but that wouldn't make for a good bullsh*t, everybody panic, statistic.

I think I have ranted enough. It's just a good idea to stay properly hydrated and the system flushed out is all the article had to say.

That was kinda cool

Yesterday I am doing some running around for my work. On my way out I see a sign for a business down the road that they are having a garage sale. They do this every once in a while. It's kind of unusual to see a huge warehouse having a "garage sale". Not knowing what they actually do in this run down looking warehouse I am thinking that their "garage sale" is where employees bring in their crap and they have an impromptu flee market. Its strange because it's only tues-thurs and ftom 8 - 4. On the way back to the office I decide to stop by and check it out. Much to my surprise the place is very crowded. Come to find out this little warehouse is America's leading manufacturer and marketer of outdoor products, household consumer products, and professional kitchen textiles. They had quite a few different cushions for outdoor furniture. Very unique and different patterns that you wouldn't find in most box stores. The part that interested me was that they had quite a few unique patio umbrellas. I need a new one since I sold my miller lite umbrella in the last garage sale. Unfortunately the garage sale is poorly organized so everything isn't marked and no one is around to help you, but the one umbrella that I saw was $35 which is a pretty good deal. Of the stuff that was actually marked, I could have gotten a pair of oven mitts for 25 cents. Who knew our next door neighbor actually had some cool stuff. Next sale I might go earlier in the week or in the day so I can talk to someone and see if they have more stuff earlier in the week.

http://www.ardencompanies.com/

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TV trouble

A few months back I reported about our big screen TV having a problem. It wouldn't turn on and just kept "chirping". Well we found out the simple solution was to unplug the TV wait for a while and then plug it back in so it can reset itself. (a repair suggested by the techs at Philips). The tech guy at philips knows exactly what the problem is and it a pretty simple part. I just don't know if I can fix it myself or not. Over the past couple of months we have had to do this a couple of times when it stopped working. Well I get home yesterday and mom tells me that the TV isn't working. I unplug it and go about the task of feeding the boys and the other stuff I do when I get home. After about 10 minutes I plug it in and it still "chirps". Crap. So I unplug it again and do other stuff and listen to the radio. After two hours I plug it back in and "Chirp, chirp,chirp". I am thinking that the TV might have finally bought the farm. I surfed the net looking for new TV's and more importantly a company with special deals on financing. The only one that I found on-line was circuit city with no payment and no interest for a certain amount of time. While I was at Sears buying parts for the gill (yet something else I am trying to get a few more years out of) I see a 42 inch plasma for $855 on sale so I was using that as my baseline. Overall I found most of the places that I looked had 42" for around $800ish. With the deal at circuit city it would be about $25 a month for three years, interest free. Of course I find a 50" projection for $999 which works out to $55 a month for 18 month interest free. I guess I really don't need to go as big as 42", but I have a feeling that anything less in the front room would look real tiny. We will find out when I bring the TV from the front room into the main room for the weekend. I think that's around 28". I am going to make every effort to fix the old TV (as long as it is cost effective) because I have no idea how I would get rid of a TV that big. I am thinking that it will require a trip to the dump. Who knows, maybe this is another one of those things I can put on the curb and the junk guys will come and pick it up.

Q collective (pt. II) / 4th of July weekend

Wednesday- After getting all the kiddies into bed we broke out the indiana jones game and played and played and played. Finally at 2 am we were all too tired to continue and called it a night. We were trying to get far enough in to let Jen see some Lego "face melting" in the final scene of raiders of the lost arc. We got to it, but it wasn't as dramatic as the movie.

Thursday - The boys were up promptly at 7:00am. Damn... 5 hours of sleep is not enough. I took the day off work so we could have some quality time with the Q's. I got up and went for a haircut. After that I had a few errands to run. First on the list was stopping by the in-laws and pick up some wood for a fire pit for the night's party, but it was raining so I made that the last thing. Instead I went over to Sam's club to get some party supplies. We just recently got a membership again after a few years. I was having fun looking all over the store at just about everything, but decided that I better get home since I didn't know what the plans for the day were. So I picked up the plates and cups that Jen needed and started heading toward the checkout when I realized that I didn't have the checkbook, crap. Since I knew that Sam's doesn't take credit I grabbed the checkbook, but left it in the car. So a quick calculation of what I had added up to under $20 which I had in my wallet, cool, but I wanted to buy some Sam Adams beer, so that would defiantly take me out of the cash that I had. So now what to do. I thought about taking the two items to the front to see if they would hold them for me, but it looked real busy. If I would have had a cart I would have just left the cart there for a few minutes. Finally I decided to put the things back on the shelves while I got the checkbook. So from the front of the store, to the back of the store, to the car, to the back of the store, and back to the front of the store. That was quite a walk. I go to grab the Sam Adams and find out they don't sell it, so I could have used the cash that I had for the plates and cups and saved myself the walk. oh well. I stop at the inlaws to get the wood and look at their bathroom remodel and then to Walmart on the way home. After I got home we decided to pack up the kids and head to the zoo. That was pretty fun and I think the kids enjoyed it. I took William and Andrew on their first log ride at the zoo. I hadn't been on that ride in many many years, but I seem to remember being able to see animals on the ride (kind of like the train). You could kind of see the kangaroo's through the thick brush and a pen for an animal that wasn't there. After the zoo we headed home to get ready for the party. Jen and Carrie had prepared alot of the food in the morning, so all they had to do was throw it together when we got home. The party went pretty well except for Izzy and her face plant into the mulch under the swing set and Andrew throwing up all over the swing. I found an old bag of fireworks that I have had in the basement for years and ended up shooting off a few of them with the help of Tracy's boys. The one fireworks had some scary fuses so I was being real careful with them, but they were really cool. I hadn't shoot off fireworks in years. I think I might have finally toasted my blender with that pitcher of margaritas. The engine didn't sound right and there was a residue on the counter the next day. The party kind of broke up and we were just visiting with Jeff and family, so we broke up the Wii again. Again before we knew it, it was 2:00am. Man that game is addictive. During the game I got a bad cramp in my upper thigh and that freakin hurt. I have never had a cramp there and I don't ever want one again. Of course during the night I got a cramp in my lower leg on the other leg so it evened out.

Friday - The boys are up at 7:30. The Q's get up and going to meet John's sister for breakfast before heading home. It's hard to believe they were here for 4 days, but we had alot of fun. I know the boys did for sure. After the Q's left we just sat down and commented how quiet the house was :)... We did some quick clean up from the party and tried to decide what to do for the day. We decided to head up to the lake for the day and visit the in laws. We got up there and the boys played in the trailer and just the general running around. I found a lounge chair and ended up taking a nap. I am not real sure how long I was out. It felt like 5 minutes, but it might have been closer to an hour or more. We took the boys swimming, but they spent most of the time playing on the beach. The water was COLD. I tried to get into it, but when the water got over my knees and near my boys, my body just said "that's far enough." I have dove into the water when it was this cold before, but I am not sure my body can handle that shock again. We headed home pretty early so we could get the boys to bed at a decent time, and everyone fell asleep in the van. Good thing I took that nap earlier. I spent the rest of the night listening to the mortar barrage outside my window until midnight. Man alot of people have enough disposable income for fireworks.

Saturday- didn't do very much that day. It was a recovery day for the house. I had thought about packing the boys up and visiting grandma, but I wanted to make sure that Christopher and Andrew got naps in the afternoon, so it became too late to do that.

Sunday - Church in the morning and then outside to work on a few projects. The bigger project that was bugging me was the grill. One, it hadn't been cleaned since we bought it and it was caked pretty good with goo and Two, I needed to tear it apart to find out what parts I need to replace. The burner is gone, the drip plate is rusted out, and the electronic ignitor hasn't been working in a year. So after cleaning it up and taking inventory I figure for about $40 I can get the old grill working almost like new.

The Q collective is in town

The Q collective is in town. They came in Monday night much to the joy of the boys as the non stop playing didn't stop until dark. We fed the kids chicken nuggets, but decided to grab some Fish of Stroh for the adults. I haven't had fish of stroh in quite a few years and it was pretty good, but not exactly how I remember. I think they might have changed the breading recipe a little bit with the new owners. It was good, but holy crap it was expensive. After finally getting the kids to bed we just sat around and visited. Yesterday both Jen and I had to work so the Q's just drove around the fort and visited John's sister. A funny thing; as the Q's were visiting they were keeping an eye on the clock and thought, 8:30, time to get the kids to bed, but upon getting into the car they see that it is actually 9:30. Either John's sister either didn't "spring ahead" or he read the clock wrong. After all had been fed, it was the job of getting the brood into bed. Mary was having an issue and cranky. Our boys were in bed but Andrew was being a little pistol and wouldn't stay in bed. Finally Jen had to sit up on the landing to keep him from getting up and he fell asleap quickly after that. Unfortunatly that was almost 11:00. So with the kids to bed it was time to break out the Wii. The Q's brought a few games and I actually wanted to play them since the last time they were in town I didn't get a chance to play them due to the fact that the kids took the Wii over at the party that we had. And with us having another party on Thursday night this would be probably one of the only chances that I would have to play. Another funny story; Carrie brought a couple of Wii steering wheels to play mario cart, but as I am getting ready to load in the game, I open the case, and no disc. Opps. We all got a laugh at that. So we ended up opening John's father's day gift "Lego Indiana Jones". Man that is alot of fun. This is the first time I have played anything in the lego series since again every time we play these games the kids take over. After John and I played for a while (and got stuck) we handed the controls over to the womenfolk and grabbed a snack. I think Jen and Carrie had a good time playing the game. Time flew and it was after midnight before I knew it. During the night Izzy had an issue and not a happy camper either. This morning I found her and Carrie downstairs asleep. I will find out what happened when I get home. So far the visit has been lostsa fun with only a couple more days until they head to the East. :( I actually enjoy the pandelerium when they visit.