The Year Without A Blog

Happy New Year!

See, my blog isn't dead!

Pig shopping and ground breaking....

Time seems to be flying and crawling here in Paraguay. We´ve finally got a temporary 4x4 and treated it like a rented mule. It responded well and ate up all the rain and mud we could throw at it. Now we have a different 4x4 and so far it´s been a keeper as well. It has a little more clearance and that means a lot here. We´ve been taking lots of pictures and some video clips as well. Unfortunately we have to wait till we get home to post them as the internet is slow here. Besides I´ll have to edit them first (for size, not necessarily content).

Yesterday Raquel, her brother, and I went pig shopping. We bought one for about $70 and hauled back home. The plan is to slaughter it and cook it this weekend. Raquel plans to invite all the kids from Portrero Guazu to come over to eat. I´ve been around two pig preps here so far and it´s not a pretty sight and the sound is horrible. Reminds me of Silence of the Lambs. I prefer to go to the local supermarket in the US and buy the meat and poultry ready to go.

I guess the big news is the ground breaking on a little house here for us. Yep, a house. My father-in-law gave us his property and house to do as we see fit. The current house is old and a little disheveled. We contracted a guy to come and build next to the house the beginnings of a house. To start it will be one bedroom with private bath and a small all-purpose room. As money becomes available, we´ll add on to it. Anyway, this will be our comfortable place to stay instead of getting a hotel. Also we probably won´t need a rental vehicle anymore on the next visits.

Well, I´ve got to go for now. More soon.

I´m a bit behind....

Somehow I´ve let the days, weeks, and months slip speedily by without an update. Well, I did post a few photos on the flickr thingy.

I knew some might suspect something might have been wrong because my last post was in June and we were expecting our baby in late June or early July. I apologize for not posting - I just kept thinking I´d get to it sooner or later.

Anyhoo, we were blessed with a wonderful, healthy baby boy on June 26th. Everything went pretty smooth over all. Richard Theodore was born in the early afternoon and has been growing rapidly ever since.

Lots of things have happened since, but just a couple really stand out right now. First, Lourdes started her Bright Futures (pre-school) and seems to be enjoying it.
Second, a friend´s mom died recently, but it was really great to have some friends get together to celebrate life.
Third, we lost two of our three dogs. The dachshunds escaped and one was hit and killed and the other just disappeared.
Finally, we´re in Paraguay on vacation.

We´ve been here for just over a week and it´s been great over all. The family all seems to be doing well. We wanted to rent a four wheel drive vehicle, but one wasn´t available from our agency when we arrived. We´ve been getting around in a nice little sedan that was doing really well over all. Then it rained. We were out in the country visiting my wife´s parents at the time. It rained really hard. We waited for it stop raining and hoped the road wasn´t a disaster. Our trip back to the city started off a little squirrelly with some difficulty getting up a slight hill. But I made it up that hill and thought about turning around. Against my better judgement, we went for it. I drove like a champion rally racer for a long while, sometimes suprising myself with my skills. The Corsa was eating up the mud for the longest time and then we finally hit a really bad spot. I think that if I had stayed out of the ruts caused by a previous vehicle (a truck no doubt) I might have made it (probably not). We sunk up to the frame and couldn´t go forwards or backwards. Luckily we were very near a house and Raquel went to ask for help. She ended up getting a man to come with a tractor and pull us quite a distance to where we knew we were safe. Lots of things go through your mind when you´re stuck in the mud in the middle of nowhere. Oh well, we made it out and it´s just another sidenote in our Paragauyan adventure. By the way, we should be getting that four-wheel drive rental tomorrow. The roads should be dried out enough to make it out to the in-laws for a visit.

More some other time.

"verbosity - it's common sense" but I beg to differ...

In my last post I mentioned Games With A Purpose. It's a website where you can play a few different games that have a purpose. For example, one of the games is basically designed to tag pictures. You and your partner are shown the same picture and you have to use "ESP" to determine what your partner types based on the picture. For example, if the picture is of a yellow puppy with a red collar sitting in the green grass, you might type "dog" and your partner might type "green". You keep describing the picture until you and your partner have at some point used the same word. Oh yeah, you play for about four minutes and earn points for every match.

Another game is called "verbosity - it's common sense." In this game, you and your random partner take turns giving clues for the other to guess a "secret word". There are preformatted phrases that the clue giver has to use to plug in up to two words to form the clue. There are about six of these phrases, like "it is the opposite of" or "it is related to" or "it has" or "it is". For example, if the secret word is NEST, as the clue giver I might use the "it is" and fill in BIRD HOME. Hopefully my partner will understand and guess NEST.

"Verbosity - it's common sense" is kind of a bold statement. I've played this game a lot over the past week and sometimes I've been frustrated by the lack of common sense that I've encountered. Let me give you an example.

For the secret word in question, my partner's clue was "it is a kind of" SHEEP FUR.
I guessed FLEECE, which wasn't right immediately followed by WOOL which also wasn't correct.
My partner said "it is a type of" SWEATER MATERIAL
I guessed CASHMERE which wasn't correct, then YARN which also wasn't correct.
My partner said "it looks like" FOOL
I guessed WOOL again thinking that maybe I misspelled it or it didn't transmit (this is an internet game after all). What more could I guess?
My partner passed and we finished playing. After you play a four minute round you can review the game. It shows the clues given and the guesses and the secret word.
Guess what the secret word was that dealt with SHEEP FUR, SWEATER MATERIAL and looks like FOOL?
It was WOOD.
It's common sense but I beg to differ.

Assault with a deadly confectionery

Article in the Peoria Journal Star: "Galesburg man, 84, assaulted with Moon Pies." Dan, are there Moon Pies in England? I'm sure the industrious crooks, thieves and nardowells of the UK are always on the watch for a new weapon since they can't have guns there.

I posted a few (okay, I think there were 10) pictures from the last few months. The next time I post any more pics will probably be when our son is born.

I read an email from H.O.G. (Harley Owners Group) about the 1,000,000 Mile Monday. They want Harley owners to get out on Monday for a ride on their Harleys and then log on to the H.O.G. webpage to log their miles. They're hoping to get 1,000,000 miles. So I dutifully got onto the beast and rode her for just over 100 miles despite the threat of rain. At one point the skies darkened and I just knew it was going to pour. I pulled in to a parking lot and donned my rain gear and continued on. It seems that as soon as I hit the road again, the skies pretty much cleared up and we had one of the warmest days of the year. But, I pressed on in my gear. I figured if I continued, I would act like a rain preventer and everyone else could enjoy the weather while I semi-roasted in my suit. Doesn't matter, it was a good ride. So when I got home, I logged on to post my miles. Don't you know the devil is in the fine print: the H.O.G. Million Miles Monday is 30 June. Like I said, it was a good ride. One of my objectives was to find a german restaurant (The Alpine Village Restaurant) in the small town of Minier. I met that objective, so now I just need to get a handful of us together to head over there and eat sometime.

This was a long weekend for me. Friday we goofed off most of the morning, then dropped Lourdes off with a sitter so we could enjoy the latest Indiana Jones movie, something about crystal skulls. It was as good or bad as any of the other 3 Indy movies, but it was funny (in a sad way) to see Indy kind of hobble around like he needed hip or knee replacement surgery. I watched parts of a couple of the old movies and they weren't as good as they were when they first came out. This new one was a mixed bag of rubbish and classic entertainment. But I must agree that the CGI gophers were unnecessary.

Saturday, I went for a 160 mile ride with my friend Greg (not Wisconsin Greg). He recently got a newer motorcyle (03 Dyna) and he was itching to get some saddle time in. I guess I should specify that I went on my Sportster and he went on his Dyna. Good times. After I got home Raquel, Lourdes and I went to the Legion with Adam and his family. We ended up at his house for the first game of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Sunday was a lazy day until we went to a cookout that evening.

Greg (Wisconsin Greg) has read WIRED magazine for a long time, but I never got into for some reason. Then I got a free subscription to it last year and I've been hooked ever since. I read a few months ago about a website that had the intent of letting people play games with each other over the internet while collecting the data of your play to catalog words and pictures. The website was not working when I read the article and I checked back every so often to see it still not working. It looks like it finally launched and it's kind of addicting. There are a few different games to play. Check it out, but don't blame me if you stay on it for hours: Games With A Purpose. I'm looking at you Greg and Dan.

On the family front, we had a sonogram on Thursday. It was supposed to be the last one, but baby is breach at the moment. We'll get another sonogram in 2 weeks and see what's happening with him. If he's still breach, the doctor is going to ask us what option we want to take: schedule a c-section or schedule a manual inversion. The manual inversion could lead to a normal delivery or an emergency c-section. We'll see what happens.

Lourdes was screened for Bright Futures on Wednesday. I was suprised that the tester classified her as "English As A Second Language". We've been trying to get her to understand that there are Spanish words and there are English words and that she shouldn't mix them. She really understands the concept, but I guess there are some words that flow easier for her in Spanish. What is really funny is that Lourdes used ONE Spanish word during the screening and a couple of made-up words. Oh well, if it puts her higher on the priority list to get in a class, I'll take it.

Not Twit Enough to Twitter

-Greg updated so I must.
-Took Raquel to OB today, all is well, sonogram in 2 wks, then go to weekly visits.
-Got economic stimulus money last week, bough tank of gas.
-Dogs are sleeping in basement instead of our bed, they're taking it better than I am.
-How cute is Lourdes? "Too cute!"
-Recent headline in The Onion "Charlton Heston's Gun Taken From His Cold, Dead Hands".
-Survivor ending this week, why do I watch?
-Gotten hooked on Ghosthunters some how.
-Signs of the apocalypse??: Thundersnow in February, Earthquake in mid-April, then Snow, hail, rain, and sunshine all within an hour in late April; now gas getting close to $4/gallon and Britney gets visitation rights.
-Picked up sticks from the yard last night and burned them, don't be jealous.
-After this post I will go push my daughter on the swingset, just trying to be a good dad.

EARTHQUAKE!

This morning I woke up because the bed (and the whole house) was shaking. I knew right away that it was an earthquake but I wasn't worried because it was so mild. In fact I went back to sleep and forgot about it until I talked to my friend about 10 AM and he asked if I felt it. It was originally reported as a magnitude 5.4 but was later revised to a 5.2. The epicenter was somewhere in southeastern Illinois and was felt all over the midwest. No injuries or major damage were reported.

Thundersnow and earthquakes! What's next?

The Practical Joker

Yesterday Lourdes found a red Sharpie permanent marker and colored one of her fingers. Then she put on her best sad, concerned, and frightened face and ran to her mom clutching her finger. Of course Raquel thought that Lourdes was bleeding and it scared her to death. Fortunately Lourdes announced that she only joking. I swear I had nothing to do with it. Honestly.

No more THUNDERSNOW!!

Okay Greg, your post prodded me into posting. Well that and the fact that if I comment on Dan's blog, there's a link back to my last post which has been stuck on Thundersnow for a little while. I had many witty and insightful comments to Dan's posts but frankly I was too ashamed because I haven't updated in so long. But now I can comment with pride!

Everything has been going well with Raquel's pregnancy. We have less than three months left to go until our little boy joins us. That's right, we're having a boy! Time has been flying by. We'll have to do a birthing class sooner or later, hopefully not too late. We could probably get by without a class but I want to make sure there haven't been any changes to the basic techniques: the men wait in the waiting room and the women do all the work.

I'm typing this post on my OLPC XO laptop computer. I'll leave it to you to google that if you aren't familiar with the OLPC foundation or the XO laptop. It's small and difficult to type on, but it's also small and pretty cool. I use it a lot to sit on the couch and surf the internet. I'm hoping to learn some cool modifications to make it a little more usable. For example, the built-in browser was slow and didn't have many features, but I put Opera on it and works great.

I'm sure I've got more to say, but it's getting late.

THUNDERSNOW!!!

A snowstorm hit late this afternoon with nearly whiteout conditions. As I was walking to my truck to leave work, there was a flash of light in the sky followed by a loud boom. I can't recall ever seeing lightning and hearing thunder while it was snowing.

Thanks for the Christmas present!

"Ground to a halt" or "Busy as a beaver"

I was impressed by Dan's prolific blogging in November when he took part in something called NaBloPoMo and posted everyday for a month. I was on the opposite end of the spectrum and only posted a few times all year. I wanted to change things around in December and started strong with 4 posts in a row but the world conspired against me. I had a 19-hour shift at work on Wednesday, a supper on Thursday, Rivermen hockey on Friday, and Saturday was packed with gymnastics, paying bills, a little work, and finally another hockey game. I thought I'd squeeze a post in before going in to work a little bit today.

The Pregnancy

As soon as we knew that Raquel was pregnant, we told Lourdes that she was going to be a big sister and that mommy has a "baby belly". She has been quite excited and wants a little sister, but she knows mommy wants a little boy. The day we went in for the sonogram, Lourdes told Raquel that there were two babies: a little girl for Lourdes and a little boy for Raquel. We took Lourdes with us to the appointment for the sonogram and she thought it was really neat to hear the heartbeat despite the strange sound. The two baby theory went out the window with the single beating heart. If anybody asks Lourdes if she wants a brother or a sister, she says there's only one baby and she knows that it is a sister. We'll see what the next sonograms reveal.

Work, work, work

I've been very busy at work lately. We're in the midst of some projects and also trying to prep for an inspection. One huge project that I've been heavily involved in has been the upgrade of our data network infrastructure. There are so many details to take in to account and a lot of prep work. I got so much help from so many people, I could do one of those endless award thank you speeches where they start playing the music in an effort to wrap it up. There's a lot of work remaining to complete this phase so I'll be busy for a while longer.

Rivermen woes
The Rivermen lost back-to-back home games against a team they have dominated. They really should have won. You hate to blame a loss on a referee who makes a questionable or outright bad call. A team should play with intensity for the whole game so that one call is not the reason for success or failure. However, an endless series of bad calls can easily be blamed for a loss, or back-to-back losses in our case. This particular ref was officiating youth league hockey last year. This year he's in the AHL and we had him Friday and Saturday. He didn't get any better as the games went on. Hopefully, some review process will get him the feedback he needs to be an official at this level or send him packing.


Well I need to get ready to go in to work for a little bit today. Tomorrow we have another appointment and another sonogram. Will try to post tomorrow.

Bun in the oven...

That's right. Raquel is expecting and here's the proof:

There's a 1.45 cm little person growing there. Of course the picture is about 3 weeks old so I'm sure it's much bigger already. We go in again really soon for another sonogram so we'll see how our little person is growing. By the way, the due date is 29 June 2008. And in case you are wondering, this is quite unexpected but very much welcome.

It's kind of funny because I blogged back in July about Lourdes needing a playmate but not a sibling. Look at me now.

Santa Photo as promised

We hope to go see Santa at the mall soon and get some proper pictures taken.

She's such a girl!!

We were shopping for a Christmas outfit for Lourdes the other day. We found her a pretty dress and boots to wear to see Santa. Her shopping genes kicked in and she said she needed a new purse to go with her new outfit. How can I resist a pretty girl?

Later I noticed that on her new boots there are some decorative pendants (I don't know how else to describe them) and they say "I LOVE SHOPPING". Folks, she's only 3 years old. I'm in trouble!!

Her visit with Santa at the base went really well. She was very happy to see him, was not shy, and talked to him a little. Santa rewarded her with some girlie walkie talkies. Thanks to Greg and Dan for the gift idea.

Look for Santa pics soon!!

Cursing like a sailor

We had a bit of an ice storm today. I was at the base this morning when it started and my truck got covered in ice. In the afternoon I went home to pick up Raquel and Lourdes to bring them to the base for a Christmas party. When I got there, Lourdes was looking at all the ice on the truck and said "What the hell is wrong with the window?"

Happy Birthday to Greg!

Today, September 14th, is Greg's birthday. Forty-one years ago, Greg's mom went to the hospital to give birth to a son, but Greg came out instead. He was 4 weeks overdue, weighed 17 pounds, and came out breach. His mom has hated him ever since.

Greg's childhood was far from normal, yet somehow he managed to turn out far from normal. The youngest of 12 sisters, Greg got all the hand-me-down clothing. When he was 8, he realized he wasn't a girl, just a dress-wearing sissy.

His adolescent years were trying times. Greg discovered his body and there was no stopping him. Morning, noon, and night, he had to "get the poison out" as he referred to his continuous cranking. All his teachers had special bathroom passes at the ready so Greg could take care of his urges. Greg's a lefty and his grip can only be described as vise-like. Of course his right hand is as limp as Greg is dandy.

Greg went to a small college in Ohio or West Virginia or was it Washington, I forget, where all the girls were homely. This worked in Greg's favor as his social skills with the opposite sex were less than nonexistent. Slowly but surely Greg let his left hand relax and he became quite the ladyman, I mean ladies' man.

When Greg left college and entered the working world, he didn't let his higher education determine his course. No, Greg rolled up his sleeves and became a copy boy. Or was it a newspaper carrier, I forget and details are sketchy. Eventually Greg worked his way up to...well I'm not sure what he's up to, but he'll tell you it's important.

Along the way, Greg found a wife, some kids, and a mortgage. He seems well adjusted, but it's a little known fact that Greg still wears Batman Underoos and pretends his motorcylce is the Batcycle as he dodges traffic on his way to see the commissioner.

So Greg, it's your special day. Always remember that you have family that loves you (because they have to), friends that tolerate you, and coworkers that fear you. Happy 41rst you old fart!!

"Saddle sore" or "Rode hard and put away wet"

I got up fairly early today and went for a long motorcycle ride. I left the house at about 7 and went north for a couple hundred miles. I stopped once along the way to refuel and get a drink. It seemed like I had the road all to myself. I was really into the ride, but I was concerned that it was going to be long day. After all, not only was I going north for a couple hundred miles, but I was going to pretty much turn around and go right back home in the same day (400 miles round trip). Oh, yeah, the temperature was going to be in the 90's.

Fairly early, I saw a large deer meandering across the south bound lane and I saw a carcass on my side of the road up ahead. The live one kept me on my toes even though he was really far away. Deer tend to travel in groups and I didn't want to find any stragglers. I saw several dead raccoons, skunks, opossums, and even a large bird. Anyway, I tried to keep my eyes on the road and not take in too much of the scenery.

I arrived at Greg and Deb's house at about 11:30. I had been thinking about how I wanted to greet them when the answered the door. "Can Greg come out and play?" "May I use your restroom?" "Guess who's moving in?!"

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to use those or any other greetings because Greg and Deb weren't home. Oh, I didn't mention that I didn't coordinate with them. I decided it was going to be hit or miss and I missed. I went over to Culvers and had lunch. Then fueled up again the bike and bought a Sobe Pomegranate Cherry Life Water. I went back to Greg and Deb's and waited for them and drank the Sobe. I waited on their porch for about an hour. They didn't show up. I couldn't wait any longer so I left the bottle under their table and the lid on top as a little mystery (should they find it) as to how it got there.

"A grown man shouldn't have to play with dolls" or "Spinning Strawberries Sicken Sluggo"

My Little Pony Hell When I'm sitting on the couch playing with dolls (mostly various princesses) and/or horses (mostly My Little Pony or My Little Pony knockoffs), and the occasional other toy, I really wish Lourdes had a companion to keep her company/occupied. A companion that we aren't responsible for. A companion that does exactly what Lourdes wants/needs done. A companion that's always there for her. A companion that is not a sibling.

Now don't get me wrong, I love spending time with her. I love that she almost exclusively chooses me to play these things with her. In fact, sometimes Raquel is a little jealous that Lourdes wants to play things with me instead of her. The problem is that it is typically the same scenario over and over again: "Hi, what's your name?" (repeat the introduction process several times) followed by someone falling into the "fire" or getting stuck in something, getting rescued and promptly falling or getting stuck again. Oh it's fun for a minute, but the fun wears off fast.

Once, I tried to change up the routine by throwing my pony into the adjacent room. Lourdes retrieved it and I threw it again. She retrieved it again and admonished me. I threw it yet again. She retrieved it yet again and closed the door so that I wouldn't be able to throw it. I was very impressed with her solution to a problem.

This airman doesn't fly well About 10 years ago, I flew on one our C-130 Hercules cargo planes. The flight was kind of an incentive flight for those of us in the Air Force that don't get to fly on the planes very much. It was a warm, strike that, hot summer day in upper lower Michigan (sounds funny but look at Alpena, Michigan on the map and tell me a better way to describe it!). The pilot put the aircraft through the wringer and I was enjoying it until motion sickness set in. The ride was not even close to some of the more thrilling roller coasters I've been on, yet it took its toll on me. I managed not to "lose my lunch" but I felt awful for several hours after. Something about turning 30 that year caused a physiological change in me and I've suffered from motion sickness ever since. I'm fine as a passenger in a car under normal circumstances, but air travel requires medication. Now I just want to make it clear, I don't have a fear of flying, I just suffer from motion sickness.

Last weekend, there was a carnival in town. We took Lourdes to the opening night because they have wristband night so for a flat fee you get to ride as many rides as you want. Lourdes and I did the merry-go-round first. I was fine with it. Then Lourdes went on some smaller go-round-in-circles rides without me. She really wanted to ride the strawberries. This ride has giant strawberries that you sit in and can spin them if you want, while the whole ride spins in a bigger circle. I had hoped we would get our own strawberry so that we wouldn't spin, but that was not the case. The two little girls in our strawberry made it spin. Fortunately they didn't make it spin too fast. Unfortunately they made it spin fast enough to bother me. It was hot in the strawberry, and got hotter by the minute. The little girls kept it spinning steady and complaining that they were going to get sick. They were obviously brain-damaged to not associate their spinning of our strawberry with their onset of nausea. I put it together right away, spinning=nausea. By the time the ride was done, I was done. I was sweating, I was nauseous, I was pale. Lourdes was fine.

We went on to do some "safe" rides (read non-spinning). The giant slide was great, although it reminded me of my suspicion of heights. Okay, fear of heights. Well not so much fear of heights, but a fear of being up more than 15 or 20 feet in the air on a platform that I don't have confidence in, especially one put together by "carnies". We climbed the stairs to the top of the slide, Lourdes had no fear at all. She looked down over all the carnival and enjoyed the view. I looked down and hoped the "carnie" had bolted everything together properly. We each had our burlap bag to sit on and slide down. Lourdes sat next to me, we held hands and slid down with great excitement. All in all, it was quite fun except the last drop was steep (not a problem), with a not at all subtle transition back to horizontal (a problem). If you want to simulate the last part, try this: Stand up on your sofa, jump up and away from the sofa, as you are free falling, put your legs and feet out in front of you while your trunk remains vertical, land on your bottom and see how your lower back deals with the stress. I think the carnies were getting kickbacks from local chiropractors trying to drum up more business.

Eventually Lourdes wanted to ride the ferris wheel. I hadn't fully recovered from the strawberry incident yet, but decided to ride the ferris wheel with my little girl. Remember I said I have a fear of of being up more than 15 or 20 feet in the air on a platform that I don't have confidence in, especially one put together by "carnies". By the time we got the ferris wheel loaded, I was not doing very well. I had one hand "white knuckled" on the bar and one clutching Lourdes tight to my side. It seemed like my mind and body were conspiring against me. Fortunately there was a bit of a cooling breeze that helped me considerably. I was definitely not in good shape and felt like I was on the verge of passing out. I toughed it out, aided by the breeze, knowing that Lourdes was having a good time and that if I passed out, it would be equal parts 1)dangerous to her health and safety (she could have easily slipped out of the carriage if we weren't careful) and 2)extremely embarrassing. Once we reached terra firma, I knew I was done. Lourdes wanted to ride more spinning rides that would require me as her chapperone/copilot but we were able to distract her from those. I managed another ride on the slide, this time more prepared for the backbreaking finish. I was impressed by the sheer fearlessness exhibited by Lourdes. I hope she keeps quality (for the most part), although a little fear keeps some of us from accidentally killing ourselves.

Like you're gonna goad me in to posting!!

Deb "tagged" me to post my favorite toddler books. So here goes:

1. "Which way do you swing Mr. Froggy?"


2. "Don't Tickle Me There!"


3. "Leather Pants, Leather Undies"


4. "Don't Bogart the Jesus Juice!


5. "The Riding Crop Goes Whack, Whack, Whack!!"


6. "My Friend, Mr. Matchbook"


7. "Under the Sink"


8. "Make the Dogs Stop Saying My Name!"


9. "Mommy's In Heaven and Daddy's In Jail"

And for the pre-teen and teen:

1. "The Monster in my Pants"


2. "Altar Boy, Alter Ego"


3. "The Scoutmaster's Wish"


4. "The Magic Weed"


5. "NAMBLA and You"

My favorite fiction/horror: "The Clinton Presidency:The Hillary Years"

Okay, if it isn't obvious, the lists are satirical and I have no intention of taking part in getting tagged. At least not right now, not this topic.