Flora from Paraguay

Let's face it, winter can be pretty blah! So I dug up these pictures of plants around my mother-in-law's house in Paraguay.

From Blogger Pictures

From Blogger Pictures

From Blogger Pictures

From Blogger Pictures

From Blogger Pictures

From Blogger Pictures

From Blogger Pictures

From Blogger Pictures

From Blogger Pictures

From Blogger Pictures

Spring is only a few months away!

She's a model - another picture post

From Blogger Pictures

From Blogger Pictures

Photo Post

From Blogger Pictures

Bless you

Teddy just hit 19 months old yesterday. It's really neat to see him growing and changing. He's been chattering for a while now, but most of his words seemed to be gibberish to most people including me most of the time. But now, some things are starting to be more intelligible. If you happen to sneeze around him you're likely to hear a very clear "Bless you!"

I know several posts have mentioned New Super Mario Brothers, so why change now. When Luigi loses all his lives, he is given another five lives and he proudly announces "I'm back!" Teddy has heard this so many times that he chimes in as well.

I think his favorite sentence now is "No Mommy!"

Teddy is quite helpful, or at least tries to be. He helps Raquel with some of the housework. He often will take my empty coffee cup to mommy for a refill. When I arrive home from work, he comes running to greet me and he immediately pulls a chair out and pats it motioning for me to sit. The routine is that I sit down so that he can help take my boots off. After the boots come off, he wants to help remove the Velcro blousing straps that help keep the pants tucked into the boots (tucking the pants into the boots will be mandatory later this year). He gets extremely upset if he's not allowed to help.

Hopefully he will continue to be a helpful little boy.

Colds and cold

After a reasonably warm weekend with lots of rain, it has turned cold again which brought snow. I know that cold temperatures don't cause colds, but it sure seems that colds come with cold temps. So now Teddy has a head cold, Lourdes has the slightest of colds, and I feel a little run down. Hopefully a little rest and over-the-counter medicine for all will keep things in check and let us all recover.

Teddy actually had the croup at the end of November. The good thing about that was that we now know what it is and how dangerous it really can be. Infants and small children have small windpipes and croup is an inflammation of the windpipe caused by a viral infection. This inflammation causes difficulty breathing and causes a barking sound when they cough. Usually croup will go away in a few days, but a severe case can require breathing treatments, steroids, and hospitalization. Teddy was close to being admitted. We didn't realize how distressed his breathing really was. Now we know what to look out for and what actions we need to take. For more information on croup, check out kidshealth.org.

Greg is a pusher

One time Greg and I were in his BMW and we came across a guy struggling to push his stalled vehicle to a side rode. Greg and I dutifully got out and started pushing to help the gentleman out. It just so happened that the side road had a bit of an incline to it but it was no challenge to the three of us. The man thanked us and we got back into Greg's bimmer and were on our way. I remarked about how easy it was and that I barely had to push. Greg looked at me incredulously. Turns out I barely had to push because Greg was doing all the work!

Good times, good times! Another time we were going to the mall in Greg's bimmer to buy a wedding gift for a friend. On the way back from the mall, I had an unfortunate gas attack. Something so foul that even the deepest bowels of hell itself couldn't produce the equivalent eked out of my bottom. Greg almost had to pull over due to retching. I'm sure Greg can't tell the story without throwing up in his mouth a little.

Another time I had the pleasure of driving the bimmer. I think I needed to run home to get something and Greg was gracious enough to let me borrow it. On the way to my house, a squirrel darted right out in front of me and I had no time to react. There was the sickening thud of flesh and bone against steel. Yes, that squirrel committed suicide by bimmer.

I don't know why Greg ever got rid of that car.

Productive day, lazy afternoon

I spent some time today paying bills, going through the week of mail, and filing federal and state income taxes. Once that was all done, it was time to be lazy. We played Super Mario Brothers on the Wii for a while making it into World 8 and then lounged in front of the TV. But it wasn't mindless TV, it was some Planet Earth on the Discovery Channel while playing MegaBlocks with Lourdes and Teddy. After the kids were in bed, it was time for some quality time with the wife - playing Super Mario Brothers on the Wii. We made it to the first fortress and defeated Kamek and were able to save our progress.

Now it's time for bed.

PS Rivermen defeated Chicago on Saturday night - awesome game!!

100th day of school

Lourdes is closing in on her 100th day of school and they will be celebrating this on 1 February. All the students in her class have been asked to bring in 100 of an item. The teacher has even provided a small plastic bag to take the 100 items to school. The bag has some pictures of suggested items, like buttons, paper clips, jelly beans, Cheerio's, and Hershey Kisses. I asked Lourdes what she would like to take and she replied "Butt Kisses!"

REF YOU SUCK!!

Rivermen lost 3-2 in a game where two goals scored by the Rivermen were disallowed by the referee, one with less than a minute to play. The ref got an earful from the crowd on the first one. The second blown call had the crowd beside itself and the chants of "REF YOU SUCK!!" rained down for a long time. As the ref left the ice, a paper wad and a "chuck-a-puck" foam puck also rained down on him.

Now to be fair, being a referee or umpire (or whatever your sport calls the official in charge of rule enforcement) is a tough job. And sometimes the fans see (or think they see) injustice when in fact they have a different perspective. The ref is often in a better position to make the call and has training on the rules. For example, a hockey ref has an obligation to whistle a play dead when he loses sight of the puck. The first disallowed goal fell in to that category - a pile of players blocking the refs view of the puck so he had blow the whistle. No goal for my team. I hate that it happens like that, but I'm sure my team has benefited from that type call at the other end as well.

The second disallowed goal tonight I'm going to have to go right now with the "REF YOU SUCK" crowd. I'll have to see if there are any replays and I'll have to read what the local sports writer writes. But for now, once more "REF YOU SUCK!!"

Darn you Mario, and the Wii you rode in on!!

When I got home tonight, one of the neighbor kids was over playing New Super Mario Brothers on the Wii with Lourdes. I played a little before eating, and with the boy's help we made it through the final stage of World 5. I had supper and the neighbor went home. After supper, Lourdes and I played more and we managed to make it to the end of World 6 after I managed to find a shortcut that let us bypass several stages in that world. Then Raquel took over for Lourdes and we managed to get through that final stage and in to World 7. We made it to a stage that if you win, you can save your progress. It took lots and lots of tries, but we finally made it. We basically played about 5 hours of Wii. Is it wrong to do that?

When it rains, it freezes

Yucky weather today - freezing rain. It was quite bad for a while. We put out ice melt but it just melted small pellet sized holes in the ice. It was very slippy and one had to walk like a penguin to avoid falling.

Ever notice that when you really need to buckle down and focus on something you seem to get more interruptions that keep you from the important task or tasks? Especially when you're shorthanded! I needed to do some fine-tuning on our network switches at work as we are going through the initial phase of a security certification. I wanted to look at the configurations of the switches to prevent some simple findings. For example, every network device has to have a warning banner at the log-on screen kind of like a "no trespassing" sign. So I wanted to make sure every switch had the appropriate warning banner. Every time I started, something would come up that couldn't be ignored and there wasn't anybody else to handle the issue. A company came by to pick up a storage pod that one of our contractors had used. That was a good hour in the freezing rain. A person called with a computer issue that diverted me for a little bit. Someone else complained about a radio not working properly. A contractor needed help troubleshooting an alarm system that uses our fiber and copper infrastructure. Several other minor interruptions happened as well.

Long story short (too late!), I was finally able to check about seven or eight items per switch stack on nearly 30 switch stacks. I was surprised to find that several switch stacks needed the tweaking. We've had major infrastructure changes over the last year that involved moving/rotating switch stacks. We reconfigured the switches during the moves (updated firmware/software) and somehow overlooked some items. I need to update my cheat sheets for my people on configuring our switches and implement some preventive maintenance/security maintenance checklists.

When it rains, it pours. When it rains when it's really cold, it freezes.

15%

What is 15%?

Perhaps a decent tip for good service at a restaurant...

Maybe the return on an investment...

Or how about the amount of your income you are stashing into your retirement fund...

Could be those things and more. For me 15% is none of the above. I've had this blog since July 2003. I've never been very good at the upkeep of this thing. It's often hard to post - I've even posted about how difficult it is to blog on a regular basis. In fact, I didn't post one single time in 2009, causing me to tumble from Dan's Blogroll. I was tempted to blog a few times last year and just lost the urge. As the year wore on it became a personal challenge to not blog just so I could say I didn't post in 2009.

Now, 2010 I have posted every single day, even a couple posts on one day. The 20 posts this month represent 15% of the total number of posts on my blog!

Okay, so what to post about today has been solved. Maybe tomorrow I can post about how long it took me to come up with the idea for this 15% post.

Another exciting day, another exciting post!!

I'm a liar! Not a very exciting day overall. We did get some laundry done, Raquel cleaned the basement a little, and I changed the filter on furnace. Lourdes was counting down all day to watch iCarly to see Freddie and Carly kiss. We also played on kongregate.com. There were a couple games I found quite interesting - Music Catch and Red Remover. Don't blame me if you check them out and lose 10 hours on the computer.

I also read a little on the computer today. I try to follow Peace Corps volunteers in Paraguay. One guy just got assigned to a small town very close to my in laws' home. My wife has lots of aunts, uncles, and cousins in his town so I left him a comment about how to get in touch with us and maybe we can help him from afar. Volunteers have to stay with various host families for the first three months in their site before they can get a place of their own. Sometimes it can be really difficult for them to find a suitable place so I figure that my wife's family can help if he wants.

We played a little Mario on the Wii this morning and a little this evening. Teddy wants to be so much more grown up and when Lourdes didn't want to play anymore, she gave him the Wiimote. The only problem was that he kept hitting pause!

Back to work tomorrow after a four day weekend. Sometimes life is really rough!

Mario, WalMart, Taco Bell, and Eli

Today was a mostly relaxed day. Lourdes, bless her heart, has been going through her terrible twos for the past four years. She was sent to a five minute time-out that actually seemed to work for a change. I'm trying to get back to time-outs because yelling doesn't seem to work, just gets me madder, and is a bad influence/role model for the children. By the way her acting out was minor overall, but needed correction because it involved tossing things at her little brother.

Sometime after the time-out, we played some Mario on the Wii until it was time for Lourdes to take a bath so we could start getting ready to shop. While she bathed and Teddy napped, Raquel and I actually played on the Wii. Raquel had not played Mario Brothers on the Wii yet, but loves playing it on the Nintendo DS. She's probably going to addicted to it now.

We eventually got ourselves together and made it to WalMart for the weekly shopping. I wandered off to look at guy things while the rest of the family shopped. Turns out that Teddy was completely grouchy and as I went to look for them I could hear a kid/baby crying. I hoped it wasn't my offspring, but it was. I took Teddy for a walk in the store hoping it would blow off some steam but I think it only served to make him more determined to be cranky and not want to sit in the cart. I don't blame him, but it makes everyone on edge.

We made it out of there and hit the Taco Bell drive thru for supper. After getting home, unloading groceries, and eating, I took off for the movies to see The Book of Eli. I really enjoyed it and there was a big twist at the end - turns out he's an ALIEN!! Just kidding! There was a big twist at the end that I thought was clever. I'll leave it to you to either see the movie or find someone on the internet to reveal it for you. I'm wondering if there are plans for a sequel because they definitely set the very end for that option.

Okay, enough is enough - it's bedtime!

Late start + overtime shootout = not much of a post

The Rivermen started 30 minutes later than normal due to another event happening. The game was really exciting with the Riverman coming back from being down 3-1. They were able to tie the game, force an extra period, and win in a shootout.

I'm beat and want to get ready for bed.

Boom Boom Pow

Teddy loves music and loves to dance. I think he has some pretty slick moves for an 18 month old toddler! Here he is dancing to Boom Boom Pow by the Black Eyed Peas:

Dick, Jane, Mario and Luigi

I've mentioned before that Lourdes is starting to read and is doing a good job. She read another Dick and Jane book to me this evening that was much longer than the some of the previous ones. She only needed help with a couple of words and read the whole book in very short order. I'm very proud of her progress. She's also using little tricks to help her figure out words that she doesn't know like looking at the illustrations to get clues.

After she read to me, we played a little New Super Mario Brothers on the Wii. I mentioned earlier this week that Lourdes is a clever Mario Brothers player. She's also quite skilled in moving around, jumping and shooting. We played for almost an hour and got through several stages, but alas didn't get to a stage where we could save our progress. So we'll have to do it over again next time. Since we have a long weekend, I'm sure we'll make a lot of progress.

What's in store for the long weekend? I've already mentioned the Wii and yesterday I mentioned seeing a movie. I think I also mentioned going to a hockey game on Saturday. No other hard and fast plans at the moment.

Okay, time for bed!

Scoring and fighting

We went to an NHL game in St. Louis last October. It rained all the way there and all the way home. There were five of us cramped in a little car that is only meant for four. The seats we had for that game were really high up, not horrible seats but you could see the horrible seats nearby. The Blues played an uninspired game that night and lost quite handily.

Yesterday was a different story. The weather, while not warm, was mild. There were only four people in the four-person car. The seats were really, really good (well except when the action was down on the far end). The Blues were on fire, scoring three goals in the first period. There were also four fights in the first period. Exciting. The Blues went on to win 4-1. We thoroughly enjoyed it! Now I'm looking forward to a Rivermen game on Saturday night.

I'm also looking forward to catching a movie this weekend. The Book of Eli will probably be on the top of the list. I've really enjoyed the last three movies I've seen. I went to see Avatar in 3D when it came out. I must say 3D is the way to go. That movie was visually stunning and the plot wasn't bad. I also saw Sherlock Holmes which I thought was quite good as well. Rounding out the trio was The Blind Side and I found it to be the feel good story of the year. So I'm hoping that whatever movie I get to see continues my little streak of enjoying movies.

Got the Posting on the Road Blues

Driving while blogging or blogging while driving is tough. Plus it's illegal in Illinois. That's why I'm in the passenger seat, which frankly makes it difficult to drive. We're on our way to St. Louis to watch the Blues play Columbus. It's gonna be a late night. The last time we did this I got home late plus I had to make a late night run to WalMart for juice for Lourdes to take to school. I don't think I'll have to do that tonight, so I'll probably make it home at about 1 AM. Well that's all I'm writing tonight. I don't do well reading and riding.

Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease?

Lourdes woke up this morning complaining about her hands burning. She had some red splotches on her hands but we didn't know what they were. She kept complaining about her hands hurting but we thought she was just being a morning grouch. We sent her on to school and apparently her hands got worse. After a couple of visits to the school nurse, the nurse called us. I took Lourdes to the doctor and he said Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease - a viral infection. She doesn't have any signs of it on her feet and she doesn't have any sores in her mouth. The doctor did say her throat was a little raw looking. She didn't complain about her throat any. So she's out of school for two days.

So Lourdes and I spent the evening playing New Super Mario Brothers on the Wii. We busted in to World 4 and got to the first place you could save. Lourdes is a really good player. Sometimes I have to remember she's only 5, because sometimes she thinks better than me while playing the game. She's got some great hand-eye coordination and uses innovative strategies to get through the levels. In this variation of Super Mario Brothers, there can be up to 4 players playing at the same time. Lourdes and I have chosen to work together when we play. We call out "Bubble!" to each other when we think it's appropriate for the other player to activate a protective shield. If one player gets too far ahead of the other, the one that is too slow can get pushed off the screen and easily dies. But if the person "bubbles" then they are protected and can float towards the other player. We try to be apologetic when one of us causes the other to die. If you have a Wii and were contemplating a fun game for the family, I think the New Super Mario Brothers should fit the bill.

Side note, how do you get your kid to listen? For example, if your child is jumping on the bed and you tell them to stop and they don't what's your course of action?

-12F

Driving to work this morning, the thermometer in my truck was showing the outside temperature to be -12F (-24C). That's freeze-the-snot-in-your-nose cold!! At work, there are public address announcements to let us know the current wind chill (or real feel temperature) and appropriate work/rest cycles for those who have to work outside. It seems that the work/rest cycle is always 40 minutes work / 20 minutes rest (warming) once the temp is below about 25. There have been a few times when I think it's too cold to walk from the parking lot to my office, let alone work outside for 40 minutes. I'm glad my primary duties don't take me outside for very long!!

The Rivermen lost this afternoon to Milwaukee. That's two losses in two days. Hopefully they'll get there act together. December was really good to the Rivermen (or rather the Rivermen were really good in December).

It's bedtime now, night night!

18.6 Stone

I weighed in today at work for our Biggest Loser contest. I rocked the scales at a whopping 18.6 stone! I've really let myself go and there's the proof. Our contest runs until the beginning of June so I hope to lose 2-3 stone in that time.

All right, I don't know the proper grammatical use of stone. What is the plural of stone? Stone or stones? I know one stone equals 14 pounds, so I weighed in at 260 lbs and hope to lose 28-42 lbs.

I'm going to lose the weight in a radical manner - I'm going to eat foods that are good for me in the appropriate amounts and exercise!! Novel idea, huh?

Rivermen

The Rivermen lost in Chicago tonight. They play here tomorrow against Milwaukee but I have to work and will miss the game. Next home game I can go to is next Saturday against Rockford. One of the actors from Disney's Wizards of Waverly Place is expected to be there to sign autographs.

Good night!

Quantity or Quality?

Okay, I know my posts have been lame, but at least I'm posting something!

We just got back from a Rivermen game and they won 5-1, woo hoo!! There weren't any fights but there were a couple of times when somebody on one side or the other was ready to go at it. The Rivs put the game out of reach with an empty netter with under 2 to play. Then the Marlies got a penalty and we capitalized on it in just a few seconds.

Lourdes generally plays her DS at the games while Teddy watches the game a little, dances to the music, and looks around for the team mascot. There's a game Sunday afternoon, but I have to work. Bummer!

Well I could probably just go on and on, but I need to get ready for bed. The important thing is that another day has gone by and the streak continues!

Hurry up Saturday!

This Saturday we will start our Biggest Loser competition at work and it can't get here quick enough. I feel so bloated and run down. If things get much worse, I'm going to have to hire someone to tie my shoes for me and take care of the nether region hygiene. Seriously, I'm at the point that if I drop money on the floor, it has to be at least a fiver before I consider bending over to pick it up lest I risk the ridicule of my coworkers. "Look at Sluggo! I bet if it were a twinkie he'd pick it up!!" Ironically, we weigh in on Saturday morning and then have a large holiday meal.

We did get quite a bit of snow and now we're supposed to get a lot of wind to blow it all over the place. At least it's supposed to warm up to the 20's. Hopefully our parking lots get cleaned well or we'll have the same old skating rink we always have.

This is the 7th day in a row that I've blogged. Take that you naysayers. Now if I can only liven up the entries, maybe I'll make it back on Dan's blogroll.

Posting from the crackberry

I'm sitting on the couch watching Man vs. Wild on Discovery Channel and updating my blog from my crackberry. I'm using Opera Mini as my browser and it is quite adequate. I don't think I can do the brackets to do HTML so this will all be one paragraph. But at least I'm feeding the blog. It's currently snowing and we could get up to 8 inches.

Two posts in one day, is the world ending?

Well, close. We just experienced a small fire in the kitchen. Everyone is fine, thanks for the concern. It seems that our little Teddy is so eager to be a big boy and do anything he sees the big people doing. So he has learned to climb up to the microwave and turn it on. And he's quick at it too! Turn your head for just a moment and in a flash he's up there turning it on. So tonight, he was playing with the cordless phone. Next thing you know, it's on fire in the microwave!!

Luckily it was caught in time and the fire was contained to pretty much the phone inside the microwave. I was able to grab the phone and throw it into the sink. Obviously it was a total loss and the microwave is no good either.

I'm not too upset about the phone, it's been doomed for a while. The phone was originally a base station, a satellite station and two cordless handsets. Shortly after getting the phone, I had one of the handsets with me outside in the garage. I put the handset on the hood of the truck towards the base of the windshield (frontal glass to you Englatarians) and worked on whatever I was working on. After a while, I needed to go to the store for something and took off. On the way back home, I saw a phone laying in the street at the turn in to my alley. I laughed at the poor sucker who lost a phone as I ran over it pulling into my alley. Then about the time I heard the crunch I realized that it was my phone!!

The microwave has been on its last leg as well. The carousel made an awful noise, like the sound an accordion makes when it's thrown into a dumpster full of banjos (or ukuleles). I'm surprised it's lasted this long. Years ago, a pop tart on a plastic plate was meant to be heated for a few seconds, but some carelessness resulted in a completely melted plastic plate and a pop tart reduced to a charcoal briquette.

We already have a spare cordless phone to take over phone duties, but now I'm in the market for a microwave.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it....Nevermind!

We've got a few inches of snow on the ground and we've been in a deep freeze for a few days with lows in the minus single digits and highs around 10. For those of you in England, that is between 1 and 6 stone I think.

Tomorrow the forecast is calling for 3-5 more inches of snow to start falling. Again, for the non-american, that's like 7-11 deciliters or something. We'll see how it turns out.

Read with Dick and Jane

Lourdes is halfway through kindergarten and will be six years old in a couple of months. She had really great teachers in her pre-k and currently has a terrific teacher that really loves her students.

I have been reading to Lourdes for a while, but now the tables are turning. She started reading to me. She started with some books that focus on a particular letter or sound and then progressed to Dick and Jane books. As long as she stays focused, she can read really well and I thoroughly enjoy listening to her read. I'm proud of her.

As I type this, I'm eating Ben & Jerry's Cake Batter ice cream and it is yummy. I'm trying to pack on a few pounds before this weekend. We'll be kicking off a Biggest Loser competition this weekend. I absolutely plan on winning as well. I've really let myself go and need to use this competition to jump start a change in my eating habits and start working out again. I hit the gym for a couple months in 2008 right before we went to Paraguay and it worked wonders for me, but I've lapsed in to a steady stream of late night cookies and milk and little to no exercise. In the mean time, I've got to finish this ice cream and pass out.

Historic Antarctica plane remains 'found' by expedition

This is the title of a story on BBC News. The way I read this headline was more like "Historic Antarctica plane still  'found' by expedition". Kind of like Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead of SNL fame.

In general I'm a descent decent reader and righter writer, but sometimes I just reed read words wrong. So the story about the plane explains how some Australian conversationists have found the remains of a plane in Antarctica. I wondered what the heck were conversationists, only to find out the word was actually conservationsists.

Now get this, it just dawned on me that Antarctica is the continent around the South Pole. Again my attention to detail had me thinking of the North Pole and that these Australians sure are adventurous and were a long way from home.

Two days in a row, say it ain't so!!

I'm sure I have lots of interesting things to catch you up on but I just don't have time right now. It's late, the kids need to get to bed and I want to get to bed too.

I just needed to post something so that I don't break my streak.

Here's a tweet from the Rivermen Twitter page today: "Bishop makes a face save. The shot was hard enough to knock the strap loose. I'm sure his head is ringing a bit after that laser."

Maybe I'll post something original tomorrow, maybe not.

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.

Britcom Saturday Night

I'll be forced to record Keeping Up Appearances and Last of the Summer Wine. We'll be out of town for the day and come back in time to see a Rivermen game tonight. Maybe we'll enjoy them Sunday morning.

Why do I like Last of the Summer Wine? Well, mostly because it's funny. It's similar to Seinfeld in that it is a show about nothing, yet a lot happens. I like the recurring gags and the subtle humor. Then there's the physical humor. I know they use stunt doubles but it's still funny to think of an old man losing control of his bike and crashing into a hay bale.

Also because it's a nice show to watch on a night that broadcast TV offers nothing.

So I look forward to the eventual receipt of whatever tat Dan can manage to throw across the pond, whenever he can manage it.

I have to shower now so we can hit the road. GO RIVERMEN!!

Where's my tat?

Well the brits have come and gone and failed to deliver the "tat" they promised me!!

Sorry Dan, I had to say that because it made for a good post title!! Don't worry, I'm not upset. Unless you really bought the tat and Greg kept it for himself! And if that's the case, I'm not upset with you. Greg, you better 'fess up!

It sounds like the visit was a great time for all. I honestly thought Greg and Deb had visited you when they went to Europe, but they set the record straight. When they do come to your house, perhaps they can be of some assistance with your garden project? Maybe a deck on the house? Painting? You can always tell them it's a tradition in the countryside to leave the host's home better than you found it. They wouldn't know any better (I don't know if you realized that they aren't very well educated, but they fake it rather well).

Pancho We bred our boy Pancho with a beautiful black and tan dachshund in late February. If it took, the litter will be due at the end of this month. This particular female delivered 7 pups in a previous litter (not with our Pancho), so I hope she does the same with Pancho.

Lourdes is in gymnastics and is having a good time. She's quite strong on the rings. I should post a video of her on You Tube.

Gotta go.

Paragon Harrow Wiper allows safe recycling of difficult disks.

I did a Google search for something today and ended up looking at the page of a software company. I glanced through some of the descriptions of some of the software and one said Paragon Harrow Wiper allows safe recycling of difficult disks. I thought about it for a second and realized that difficult is another word for hard. It made me chuckle.

Dan and Kerry
Welcome to the US! I hope you enjoy your stay. Your hosts are terrific people despite their tendency to swing! Dan, if Greg invites you to go to the "store" with him, DON'T GO!! And Kerry, watch out if Deb invites you "downstairs". Be sure to ask Greg about the "ether bunny".

It's Official: We're crazy!!

I've mentioned before that my coworker Greg (not Greg of Greg and Deb on the Web) and I are trying to get/stay in shape by walking/running a nearly 3-mile trail as often as we can. It snowed a little last week, well a few inches, nothing compared to the several feet of snow in other parts of the country. Greg and I opted not to go the day it was snowing as he was not feeling well and it coming down fast. The next three days I went by myself as Greg was still sick. The trail was a little treacherous because the snow was quite powdery and there were several icy patches hidden underneath. It was like putting sawdust on a shuffleboard table. The snow was just deep enough and my mukluks were just heavy enough to make the trek quite a workout. Oh yeah, it was cold too. The wind chill was below zero, sometimes way below zero. I went again this past Monday and then Tuesday the area got hit with another 6-10 inches of snow with high winds. Again I didn't want to go in the blizzard. I didn't work on Wednesday.
Thursday I anticipated going to the gym and using a treadmill because of all the snowfall and snowdrifts. I asked Greg if he was feeling better and if he planned on exercising. He said yes and yes. Then I asked, with much hesitation and afraid of the answer, if he thought he wanted to walk the trail. My fear was substantiated with his reply of "I was thinking about it". Oh no. I tried to reason with him, but not too aggressively because I think I secretly wanted to try as well. I said that it was very difficult last week, like walking on a three-mile stretch of beach only with many long, steep hills. So I guess it would be closer to walking sand dunes and not the beach. Plus it was cold instead of hot. So maybe not like sand dunes at all. More like walking a three-mile, hill-infested, snow-covered trail in the cold. And now it was going to be even worse.
Well we're crazy. We went ahead and did it. The snow was just deep enough in most places (at least half way up the shins) but there were stretches of snow that went up to mid-thigh. We hadn't even gone one-half mile and I was thinking we were in trouble. It was slow going and much further to go without knowing if conditions would improve or deteriorate. My calves were burning, my feet were cramping, but other than that I was okay. Greg was in the same boat. Neither one of us mentioned turning around or taking a route that would avoid the toughest hills. The only thing we kept saying as we trudged along was that we're crazy. In the end, we concluded that it was very challenging, we were glad we did it and that, once again, we're crazy.
Rivermen - one of our enforcers was called up to parent NHL club St. Louis and got in fight. D.J. King held his own against a veteran, and may have actually gotten the upper hand (or fist). We'll probably go to a game this Sunday, maybe D.J. will be back with us then.
Movies - We used to go to movies all the time, but it's been a while since Raquel and I have gone without Lourdes. Finally, this afternoon we will leave Lourdes with our friend Anita and we will go see a movie intended for grown ups, an adult film if you will, but not an adult film. Actually it will be Eddy Murphy's Norbit which looks pretty funny.
Dan reviewed Hot Fuzz which I've seen previews for. Unfortunately it will probably have to be a DVD rental someday. We've rented a lot of movies since Lourdes got too big to be quiet at big people movies. Kids sure do change our lives!
Joke - Two buddies, Bob and Larry, are getting very drunk at a bar
when suddenly Larry throws up all over himself. "Oh, no...Now my wife
will kill me!"

Bob says, "Don't worry, pal. Just tuck a twenty in your breast pocket
and tell your wife that someone threw up on you and gave you twenty
dollars for the dry cleaning bill."

So they stay for another couple of
hours and get even drunker.
Eventually Larry stumbles home and his wife starts to give him a bad
time "You reek of alcohol and you've puked all over yourself!
My God, you're disgusting!"


Speaking very carefully so as not to slur his words, Larry says,
"Nowainaminit, I can e'splain everythin. Itsh snot wha jew think. I only
had a cupla drrrinks. But thiss other guy got ssick on me...he had one
too many! and he juss koudin hold hizz liquor. He said he was verrry
sorry an' gave me twennie bucks for the cleaning bill!"

His wife looks in the breast pocket and says, "But this is forty bucks.."

"Oh, yeah.. I almos' fergot, he shhhit in my pants, too."

Seems like a nice enough bloke

Greg and Deb have become friends with Dan after he stumbled upon Greg's blog/webpage a while back. Dan started his own blog and quickly climbed Greg's Links page settling in at number 3 behind Greg's wife and Greg's brother. Somehow, I have managed to climb to and stay at number 4 despite the fact that I only post sporadically at best.
Please don't think I'm jealous of Dan. On the contrary, I've recently started following Dan's blog on a regular basis and have grown to appreciate his sense of humor (or is it humour?). Well, actually I guess I am jealous of the fact that he blogs so much more than I, but I do enjoy checking his blog. Anyway, good on ya, mate. Or is that Australian? I'm not too good with the words and making them come out correctly.
Deb has become a prolific poster. It seems that not a day goes by without something from her. Thanks Deb for keeping us updated on the family.
I've wanted to become a regular blogger but I just can't seem to muster the determination or the topics. By the time I get done reading all the regulars, I don't feel like writing anything. Or if I do feel like writing, it takes me forever to write a single paragraph. How long does it take you (whoever you are) to do your posts?
Weather - a pretty good winter storm hit last night and all day today. At work, they implemented liberal leave and finally early dismissal. The roads weren't too bad but far from pristine. I had no problems with my big 4X4 and I didn't see anyone stuck anywhere. While at work, it was hard to keep up with the falling and drifting snow. My coworkers ran the plows on our little utility vehicles and were running out of room to push the snow. I'm taking tomorrow off so hopefully everything will be clear when I go back on Thursday.
Rivermen - They haven't done very well recently. After losing several games, they won last Wednesday and Saturday, then lost in sudden death on Sunday. They still have lots of games left and have the potential to turn things around for a playoff run. Seems like if I post something positive about them, they lose, so if I post a lukewarm blurb, maybe they'll do better.
Fitness - Greg, my coworker, fell a little ill last week and I went on the trail by myself three times last week and once this week. It snowed last week and it felt like I was walking on a three-mile stretch of sand. I was wiped out at the end of the week. I'm not sure I will feel like walking in even deeper snow this Thursday. By the way the temperatures had been really low with negative wind chill but it didn't stop me.

Mr. T, Pinky Lee, and Scott Hamilton

President Bush visited Peoria today. A recent Journal Star article commented on some of the preparations and speculations involving a presidential visit. According to the article, if the president were to become sick or injured then he would most likely be taken to OSF St. Francis. Mr. T, Pinky Lee, and Scott Hamilton were listed as entertainers who have been patients at the hospital. That's some top notch reportin'!!

Back in touch...

Last post, I talked about some around-the-world-on-motorcycle blogs/websites that I had been following lately. I was worried because there hadn't been any updates for a little while and I quite frankly wondered if something bad had happened to them. Finally a little news about them.
The World Rider guy finally put up a quick post and picture saying he was in Santiago, Chile. No explanation as to why he hadn't posted nor were there any tales of his travels. He did say he was behind and has lots of photos and stories to tell.
The "Round the World or Bust!" couple also updated and included a bit of a journal with their adventures. The key reason they hadn't updated was due to a maid knocking their laptop off the nightstand and breaking it. They've got a replacement computer now and should be back to regular updates.
Weather
Yesterday the weather was to take a turn for the worse. Rain was to change to freezing rain and later this weekend it's supposed to snow a little. It didn't seem too bad at first, but as the day wore on, I noticed more and more cars with ice on them. Salt spreaders were out in force, trying to stay ahead of the weather. There was a really bad winter storm in November/December that shut down this area. The storm came and went but the recovery took longer than many think it should have. Now public officials are wanting to seem proactive and implement a better snow/winter storm plan.
Fitness
My coworker Greg and I have been trying to focus on maintaining a level of fitness that will allow us to pick up where we left off in better weather and hopefully notch it up a ways. We are afforded the opportunity to work out three times a week on company time. We typically run a trail in the back 40 that has some steep hills. The trail itself is just shy of three miles. Greg started working with us full time in the spring last year and it only took him a few times to consistently run the trail without stopping. I took much longer to get there due to shin splints and foot problems. After changing to the Brooks Cascadia trail shoe, my legs and feet got better and I was able to run the whole trail without stopping on a much more consistent basis. With the onset of winter, we've been determined to continue hitting the trail, but we're not running it every time. Some times we'll run as far as we can, other times we'll fast walk, and still other times we'll fast walk most of the trail and run some of the hills. We've not allowed rain or snow or darkness deter us. After the first snow of the season, we put on the mukluks and waded through some knee -deep snow. Another time it had rained all day, but we hit the wet muddy trail with enthusiasm. By the way, we didn't see anyone else out there that day!
Last year, we were prepping for a major exercise and in turn a major inspection to prove that our unit was ready for war. A big part of the exercise/inspection process is to wear an anti-chemical suit, flak jacket and kevlar helmet while waiting for attacks to happen. If it's a chemical attack, you have to put on a mask and gloves and do what you have to do. During the simulated war, you most likely wear the ensemble minus gloves and mask for your entire shift. The chemical attacks in these simulations will put you the whole getup and "sucking rubber" for up to six hours. Greg and I prepped for these times by walking the trail in our flak jackets and masks. This was July and August by the way. In September when we had to play the first war game, Greg found himself in the mask and started to get a bit of a mild "panic attack". He calmed himself down immediately by thinking back to walking the trail in the mask and knowing that he made it through that hard physical exertion so sitting on the floor waiting for instructions should be a piece of cake.
Another benefit we've both noticed is that we pass our annual fitness tests much easier than before. There are four major components to the test and each carry certain amount of points. Waist measurement and cardio recovery comprise the most points and if you can't get decent scores on those, you get a marginal or poor score. Greg and I both improved our cardio scores and that's directly attributed to our running/walking regimen.
Greg has a goal of running the 15k Steamboat Classic which I think is in June. I haven't decided if I want to do that yet. Either way, we'll be increasing our distances. Don't be surprised if I get roped into it!!
Rivermen
The Rivermen won last night and are third in their division and not too far behind first and second. They're looking pretty good overall, but occasionally will have lapses that cost them dearly. They face the same problems that all farm teams have to deal with such as player callups, injuries, injury-rehab assignments, and the dreaded impatient - foreign - players - who - think - they - should - jump - right - into - the - NHL - because - they - were - stars - in - their - country - but - aren't - adjusting - well - because - the - game - is - more - physical - and - faster - so - they - jump - ship - and - run - home - to - mama types. Let's see how the rivs do tonight against a Milwaukee team that's not too far behind in the standings.

Post #85

Welcome to my 85th post!! What a milestone! I know there are those of you who never thought it would go this far, but here we are!!! Can you smell the sarcasm?

Actually, I know there aren't a lot of readers of this blog, but I really need to do a better job of posting (doesn't that sound familiar?). There are some blogs and personal web pages that I've been following and I always enjoy their updates. I'm finding myself worried because there haven't been any updates in a while. For example, there's a guy traveling around the world on his motorcycle. He started in the US, made his way to South America, and had an accident in Bolivia. He broke his leg rather badly when his motorcycle fell over on him and he needed to be medically evacuated back to the US. He had surgeries and therapy and recuperated for about 9 months. He then went back to Bolivia, got his motorcycle repaired, ran in to some red tape, had another minor accident (tweaked his leg/foot), etc. Well the guy hasn't posted for a couple weeks and that makes me a little concerned for his well-being.

Then there's a couple who are on their way around the world on motorcycles. They haven't posted in almost a month. I'm a bit worried about them and I can't even begin to think about what their families must be thinking.

I feel weird getting caught up in the lives of these people I don't even know, but I enjoy reading about their adventures. They are doing something that I would love to be able to attempt someday. I'm not so sure about how far around the world I would want to go, but I definitely want to travel extensively on a motorcycle. I think I would probably start on some smaller treks within North America, but the coolest thing would be a tip-to-tip trip, the Artic Circle in Alaska down to the tip of South America in Ushuaia, Argentina. What do you think, Greg?

Around the world.......

Dan's blog had a nifty link to a website that let you check off a list of countries that you have visited and it would generate a map of the world with the visited countries in red. As I was checking off the list, I cheated with a couple countries in that I really didn't spend more than a couple hours at an airport there. Those countries are England and French Guiana. Two other countries on the list are a stretch but allow me to explain them.

One time I was going to Kuwait for a 30 day temporary duty with the Air Force. Someone at our base was misinformed on how to get there. This person thought that all personnel going to the Middle East had to take a normal personnel rotation flight to Saudi Arabia and would then continue on to their destination. After delays getting out of the US and finally arriving in Saudi Arabia, we (I was traveling with one other person from my base) were informed that we should not have flown to Saudi Arabia as there are no continuing flights to Kuwait. The base there really didn't know what to do with us so we spent the remainder of the night under a giant overhang outside and waited for further instructions. The next morning, a small plane that did a regular mail run was able to give us a lift into Kuwait, and then we were able to hitch a ride with some Air Force security guys to our base. So my visit to Saudi Arabia was brief and limited.

Once I was returning from Paraguay and had to change planes in Brazil. There was a mechanical delay there and the airline put me up in a hotel in San Pablo (Sao Paulo). It was a somewhat eerie feeling to arrive at the airport the next morning without proper credentials (no Brazilian visa in my passport) and try to convince security that I was legally there.

My Visited Countries

Get your own Visited Countries Map from Travel Blog

We were able to have a short visit with Greg and Deb on Saturday. Their little girls were terrific with our little girl. Allie was very patient and shared her Leapster and Julia surprised her parents by sharing her little babies. They said that Dan had mentioned us in one of his recent posts. Thanks Dan and Amy! And we think our Lourdes is pretty too!!


It was nice to see Greg, Deb and the girls. I hope we can spend a little more time together in the future. Perhaps we should consider a visit to the magical state of Wisconsin (even the name is enchanting!). Greg explained the problem he is having with his blog. Basically he goes through his web page with his ISP to import from Blogger. That method has always been a problem for him and basically his web page host/ISP changed something and he's got to figure out what he needs to do to get back up and running. Good luck!!

The end of Greg and Deb on the Web....

Greg mentioned that Blogger Beta has caused the demise of his web page. I'm not sure what he means as he didn't give any details, so I thought I would post an update on my page to see if there are any problems.
I know October was the last time I posted, so I'll make the same empty promise of trying to do better in the future.
Everything is fine here and Lourdes is growing like a weed. In mid-January we'll probably be helping her move into the dorms for the spring semester at U of I. Just kidding, she's growing by leaps and bounds and seems to be getting smarter all the time.
Time to take a shower and go visit the family for an early Christmas celebration.
Take care and Happy Holidays (Christmas, Chanukah, Kawanza, New Year's, and any thing else that I swear to God or your higher deity (or lack there of) that I didn't intentionally leave out).

Move over "Ask This Old House"

I had to work on the garage today. Last year I replaced the soffit and fascia on one side of the garage and put off doing the other side. Earlier this year, I had a roofing and siding company come in and replace the gutters on the house and garage. Well before they could do their thing, I needed to tear down the soffit and fascia. I was able to put up the fascia but ran out of time to put the soffit. Ideally one puts up the fascia and then the soffit and then guttering. So here I was with new fascia and guttering and totally lacking the soffit. I had to get creative to avoiding taking everything down and starting over. So I put up F-channel all around, cut a piece of soffit in half lengthwise, and slid the soffit into the F-channel. So much easier than the normal way and just as effective! I wish I had done this sooner, today would have been a beautiful day for a ride.

Bad Rivs

Last night was a very disappointing outing for the Rivermen. They played sloppy and didn't attack on offense after the first few minutes. The penalty kill teams did a pretty good job overall, killing something like nine out of ten power plays. Otherwise it was a poor showing and they lost. Actually they got shut out 5-0 by the Chicago Wolves. It's still early in the season, so I'm not worried, but it's not fun to watch your team get a spanking.

Greg called asking when we could meet on motorcycles, but it's probably too late to try it this year. Next weekend is the only chance we would have and that's not looking promising. After next weekend we both have work interfering for a couple of weekends or more. Then it'll be well into November and the temperatures will most likely not be comfortable for a long ride. But I think we'll keep our options open or plan for next season.

I'm currently blogging from the couch using my new laptop (got it for my birthday) on my newly installed wireless network. The wireless network was easy to install. I followed the instructions step-by-step and everything came up perfect. I then fired up the new laptop which already has a wireless NIC built in and put in all the settings for security for my wireless LAN and bam! I'm wireless on my laptop.

I put a wireless card in my old HP desktop that I have in another room. I've been running SUSE Linux 9.3 on that thing for several months as an experiment in learning more about Linux. I like the fact that Linux can be free and often can breathe new life into older machines. The downside is that it can be a bit of a learning curve. Don't get me wrong, it was an easy install and is quite a bit like other operating systems that I've seen over the years. It even recognizes newly installed hardware. I haven't tried installing any new software yet, so I have yet to experience that. It recognized my PCI NIC and the wireless NIC, but the wireless NIC is a problem. It seems that many wireless NICs don't have drivers for Linux so users have to trick their computers by loading a piece of software that emulates a bit of a Windows environment and run the Windows drivers for the wireless NIC. Well instead of messing with that for now, I ran a piece of CAT5 from the wireless router to the HP and it was up on the net in no time. At some point in the near future, I will try to download the aforementioned software and be able to cut the umbilical cord to that computer. Wish me luck!

Well, I know that was boring to all but the geeks out there. What else can I talk about that might appeal to all? As I'm blogging, I've got the TV on to watch the NASCAR race at Talledaga, the dogs are napping all around me (if the computer weren't on my lap, one or more of the dogs would be), Lourdes is napping in bed, and Raquel just showered and is getting ready for us to go to Adam's house later for a fish fry/seafood fest. You can make fun of me for watching NASCAR but I don't care. These guys are running over 190 mph right now and are bound to wreck so I'm just waiting for the chaos!.

Last night I fired up Google Earth for the first time in a long time and checked out Paraguay. I had looked for Caazapa before and either I couldn't find it or there wasn't any detail yet. This time I found Villarica which is an hour or so north of Caazapa and I just followed the roa d south and found Caazapa. I marked the hotel that we stay at, the cemetary near my sister-in-law's house (I didn't want to mark her house), the sport's complex, and one of the hospitals. It was pretty neat to see. I tried to follow the road out of town to find where my inlaws live, but the details suddenly drop off. It was still really neat. Hopefully, the earth will get completely mapped in detail someday. Raquel actually got kick out of seeing Caazapa and her sisters house.

Well that's it for now. Besides the batteries are running low and two posts in two days is going to cause my friends and family to expect more consistent posts.

How did I get up here?

Okay another post. This makes what, the second one in three or four months? I should pace myself.

Raquel and I celebrated our fourth anniversary at the end of September.

Greg joined me in the ranks of the 40-year-olds last month.

The Rivermen kicked off the beginning of another season with a win last night. It was a good game that was 9.6 seconds away from a shootout. We were there and we'll go back to night for another game against another team. Good luck guys!

Lourdes keeps growing! I was gone for a week in September and she started putting more and more words together. It seems like she advanced so much in that one week. At this rate she'll be writing for the Times by age five. I'll be gone for another week soon, I wonder how far she'll be when I come back.

I'm suddenly very tired as I write this. I'm on the verge of being recovered from a cold but it feels like I'm coming down with it again. Let's hope that I'm just sleepy from a later than usual night. Plus I didn't get my weekend nap in. Actually, we've all had a touch of something over the last week and a half, but we all seem to be about over it.

Greg and Deb are closing in on their 10th anniversary. It seems like just yesterday that Greg and I were hanging out in his apartment, eating chili and ice cream after a workout at the gym!

I pretty much haven't been out on the motorcycle at all this year. I really don't like to ride it to work because so much of the time I stay after and run or walk and I don't want to have to change clothes again to get back on the bike for the trip home. Greg and I should try to coordinate a road trip where I head north, he heads south, we meet somewhere and ride for a short while then head back to our respective homes. What do you say Greg?

I wanna go home!

Lourdes keeps saying she wants to go home. The problem is that we are already home when she says this. What she is implying is that she wants to go to the neighbor's house. The neighbors will usually let her come over and eventually she'll want to come home on her own. One evening they had to go do some errands but Lourdes didn't want to leave them, so she ended up going with them and not coming home until after dark.

Like many little girls, Lourdes is crazy about the Disney Princesses. Well now she has her own little princess dress because like many dads, I like to spoil my little princess.

It seemed like we were gone quite often recently. We had two consecutive weekends of family reunions way out of town. We also had a wedding the day after one of the reunions, which meant a road trip. Then the following weekend we had a cookout to go to (also out of town). So we spent a lot of money on gas during that stretch. Even if we didn't have Lourdes, we couldn't have gone on the motorcycle because we had to haul some things from my grandma's house everytime we were near Decatur. I think all of that is behind us now and we're back to less frequent out of town trips.

There's another addition to the barn at my mom's. This cute little guy was born sometime around the middle of July. I think they now have 4 miniature horses.

"Stop touching my butt!!"

Monday was my day off. We work a compressed schedule and so I get a day off during the week. I used to get just about every other Friday off, but I recently changed to Mondays off. So we left Lourdes with the neighbors in the afternoon for a few hours so we could see PotC: Dead Man's Chest. We enjoyed the sequel almost as much as the first.

We met up with the neighbors afterwards at the ballpark for their boys' baseball game. Lourdes was happy to see us but she had a great time without us. She didn't want to sit still for the game; she kept running away. I had to chase her a couple times and bring her back to where we were sitting. As I was carrying her, she started shouting "Stop touching my butt!!" Of course it seemed like everyone was looking at me at that moment. For the record, I was not touching her butt.

Took Pancho to the emergency room the Saturday night. Not sure what happened but he was very distressed and shaking and occasionally yelped in extreme pain. The vet examined him and determined that his neck was sore. We think that maybe he fell down the stairs while we were gone that day.

Dover got neutered a few weeks ago. I had asked about the removal of stitches, but was told he had internal stitches so there was no need to come back. Well, I thought maybe the stitches that I could literally see on Dover's junk were the kind that dissolve after a few days/weeks. Well the were still there today so I called the vet. They looked up his chart and said that he didn't have stitches. I explained that he really did have stitches and that I wasn't just imagining them. They suggested I bring him over for a look. Sure enough he did have stitches (I told them he did!!) and the vet hadn't annotated the chart correctly. They promptly removed them and we were on our way.

I had told Raquel on Monday that I didn't have to go to work on Tuesday because I was scheduled for a workshop/class on datacomm at a local vendor. Tuesday morning I got up and headed up to the local gas station for a cappucino and I called Adam's office to make sure he wasn't there and that he was on his way to the class. Well he was in the office and had forgotten about the class, but he wasn't worried because it was actually on WEDNESDAY!!! Needless to say I felt foolish and had to go back home to put on my uniform.

My World Cup Fever has broken!

I didn't have much of a World Cup fever. I watched part of a couple of matches (like the tie between Sweden and Trinidad and Tobago and part of a USA match and part of the England final game) but didn't get to involved with the whole thing. I would check on how Paraguay did but that was about it.

I tuned in today to catch the final minutes of the final game today, just in time to see the replays of the French dude head butt the chest of an Italian player. I thought it was hilarious that a star player could lose his cool at a crucial moment and may have cost his team the game. Who knows what the result would have been if he had remained in the game. Regardless, France lost, Italy won. Between those two teams, I was pulling for Italy anyway. I felt a little more connected to Italy, having spent 4 months there a few years ago. Besides, who likes the French anyway?

We hit the Rock Island Trail again today. We didn't quite go as far as we did yesterday, but we were close. I think we got in a little over 14 miles. Our goal was to go just past the 7 mile mark to this mulberry tree that has huge, ripe mulberries that are easy to reach. I took a couple of pictures and posted them.

We rented a some DVD's this weekend. A Dirty Shame stars Tracy Ullman, Johnny Knoxville, and Selma Blair. It was pretty much retarded. I don't think John Waters should be given any more film to make movies. Ultra Violet was much better but still not very good. The Hills Have Eyes rounded out our trio of stinkers. But please don't let my opinion prevent you from renting these on your own. I think a bad review sometimes makes a movie better. Go in with low expectations and come out saying "It wasn't that bad!"

Gotta go shower. Check out the pics on Flickr.