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Ofoto Update

2005-01-18T07:38:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone. Just wanted to let you know that we updated our ofoto pics. Christmas through this past weekend are included in the update.

What were they thinking - brick roads

2005-01-12T18:01:00.000-06:00

Well, I've been meaning to bring this up for a long time. Some time in the last couple of years it became fashionable for some towns to start using brick to accent their streets. I know that one town by where I work decided that it would be a good idea to replace the crosswalks in at least one of the residential neighborhoods with brick. While I have to agree that this looks nice, there is one small problem. It snows here in the winter and the snow plows tend to be a little tough on the bricks. Thankfully I'm not paying the taxes in this area to support this. Until recently.

I've come to accept that people make strange decisions. I can even live with most of them. However, the decision made in a subdivision near our home to replace some of the raod with brick is a big head scratcher and the fact that I'm more then likely supporting this with my tax dollars doesn't sit well. If this were only crosswalks I might be able to live with it, but they decided that for at least two of the entrances to the subdivision that a huge section of road be transformed into brick. In addition, they decided that some intersections in the development as well as what appears to be random sections of street have been transformed with brick as well.

It even gets worse from there. At the intersections and the random sections between, they narrowed the road about a foot on both sides of the road so they could plant flowers. While that doesn't sound too bad, it appears that more then a couple people have hit the curb in this new narrow section of road because not long after completing the project, reflectors were installed on the curb. The reflectors apparently didn't help either because soon after, large white tubes with reflectors on top were placed on either side of the road.

Last but certainly not least, as I suspected, after the first significant snowfall, the bricks started to get chewed up by the snow plows. As well, at least one intersection is suffereing from potholes near where the brick starts.

Between the potholes, the narrow road, and the uneven brick surface, the road has become a hazard to drive on. The sad part is that while the "paving" was taking place the road was closed for weeks on end to through traffic. Of course, maybe the whole point to this project was to keep people from driving through the neighborhood and costing the tax payers the money for construction and the yearly repair costs.

Barenaked For the Holidays

2004-12-15T07:52:00.000-06:00

We had one fantastic night last night. We had tickets for the BNL Barenaked for the Holidays show so we headed downtown. Before I go any further I'd like to say a big thank you to three people. My parents for watching our daughter and my daughter for being good for her grandparents!

Once we got the car parked, my brother and I headed to the theater to pick up our tickets from the fan club. Looking at the tickets I figured we were in the front part of the theater, but wasn't sure where. We then headed over to Italian Village for dinner. Anyone living in or near Chicago should make sure that they eat there at least once in their life. I recommend the upstairs part of Italian Village. The wife was a little surprised when I gave her the fan club tickets, but nowhere near as surprised as we both were when we found our seats.

We got to the theater with plenty of time to "relax". When we presented the tickets to the usher they told us to go down to the bottom. In short order we found out that we were right in front of the stage. What an incredible place to see a BNL concert. I don't think I've ever been that excited about a concert at that point in time.

The show started off with a chlidrens choir. Turns out that some of the kids go to school where a friend of mine works. The band came out sang a few songs with the choir and then it was just BNL. At some point during the concert, someone by the name of Sean (can't remember his last name) came out and sang a song w/ the guys. Some time during that song my wife and the girl next to her burst out into laughter. Well, I almost wish I hadn't asked what it was about. She told me. Apparently the guy singing right in front of us didn't realize it, but his fly was open. At that point it was a challenge not to look.

Once ths song was done, he called my crazy for wearing a santa hat, and continued to tell a pretty funny Christmas story until someone further to our left finally got his attention and told him that his fly was open. A good laugh was had by all. Once the story was over, the concert continued and they ended up doing 2 encores. All in all it was incredible. We could only be so lucky to see another concert like that again.

Since we didn't know that we could take pictures at the show, we didn't bother to bring a camera. Since there were a few people in the pit with us that did have camera's I posted to the fan club forum requesting a picture or two. The funny thing is that the person sitting behind us with a really cool BNL santa hat turded out to live in the next town over and has at least one fantastic picture or Steven Page. After exchanging a couple emails we are supposed to meet up to get a copy of her pics.

It's about 1am when I'm finishing this post so, it's off to bed. However, before I sign off, I'd like to mention that backups are a really important thing when you're working on something. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank my laptop for crashing a horrible death to the point that I had to reformat the hard drive.

Ofoto Update

2004-11-29T07:09:00.000-06:00

Just a quick update to let anyone that has access to our daughter's ofoto album that it's been updated. Christmas pics are included in this update.

Happy Turkey Day

2004-11-25T07:32:00.000-06:00

It's turkey day once again. First of all I'd like to say I'm thankful for a lot of things. Most importantly, I'm thankful for my family and friends. If you get a chance, leave a comment with what you're most thankful for.

In other news, Mollie went to see Santa for the first time. She didn't cry, but she wasn't exactly excited to be there. We've got at least on pic that turned out OK that will be put on ofoto this weekend.

Since I was off this week, I managed to get the lights up on the house. It's a good thing I did it when I did too, because we now have about 2 or 3 inches of snow on the ground. I can't remember the last time we had snow on the ground for Thanksgiving. Mollie was totally entranced by the snow falling.

current stuff:

TV - Jo Jo Circus. I gotta say that the theme song for this kids show is EXTREMELY catchy. As well, the show is certainly better then most kids shows (from an adult point of view).

PS2 - Burnout 3. Something really satisfying combining racing and crashing.

PC - Roller Coaster Tycoon 3. While not as good as the 1st RCT, the new one rocks.

Happy Halloween (almost)

2004-10-29T10:54:00.000-05:00

Happy Halloween everyone! OK, so it's not quite there yet, but I doubt I'll be able to remember to post on Sunday.

This weekend is shaping up to be a busy one. Tonight is the John Heffron show and tomorrow it's a trip to grandma's house. Sunday is a halloween party where my daughter will be a bee and we are going to be bee keepers. Pics from the party to come.

TTFN

Quick Update

2004-10-17T20:20:00.000-05:00

We just got back from a trip to see my in-laws. Relatively uneventful trip. However, I have one question for everyone reading this. Do cats wait until the most inoportune time to throw up and/or leave a mess? After a 3 hour car ride the first thing that I'm greeted with isn't two adorable cats, but cat puke in four locations throughout the house. I feel sorry for the cat, but the timing leaves something to be desired. We're pretty sure that the cranky or the two is the one not feeling well. Hopefully, she'll be better tomorrow and no trip to the vet will be necessary.

I also wanted to make a note that some of my faith in stragers has been restored. We took our daughter to the local farmers market about a week ago. They've got the whole pony rides, pumking patches, and petting zoo thing going on right now. When I set in the hay w/ my daughter to get a picture, I set my sunglasses down and forgot to pick them up until it was too late. These weren't exactly cheap shades, so I was doubtful that their return to my personal inventory was assured. However, upon leaving the festival, there they were. Some stranger had turned them it. So, while I doubt the person that did this will ever read this I would like to say a huge THANK YOU to whoever turned them in.

Piggies and Patience

2004-10-03T22:24:00.000-05:00

Well, today has been another one of those hurry up and wait kind of days. Starting at 8am we had a production rollout starting. Unfortunately, nothing seemed to go right and I ended up waiting forever for everyone elses stuff to finish. Luckily, I managed to get out to my brother-in-law's birthday party about 5 minutes from the house.

While at the party my daughter discovered Guinea Pigs. There's something amazingly fun seeing the look of pure joy on her face when she's screaming "Piggies Piggies Piggies" over and over. In general she seems to be getting more aware of her surroundings and curious.

Cool site of the day: www.strangerhood.com (new roosterteech production)

Chemistry Rocks!

2004-09-29T21:26:00.000-05:00

Today has been one of those days that seems to be about 100 hours long. I had some minor surgery today. I love how a procedure that takes approximately 5 seconds to perform requires you to be at the hospitol for around 6 hours.

On a realted note, I may have failed chemistry, but I'd like to say that chemistry is my new best freind. While not wanting to go through anything like today any more then ABSOLUTELY nevessary, this anethesia stuff is pretty cool. Just that feeling right before you can't remember anything is pretty sweet. As well, when your hurting like hell, pain medication is pretty awesome too. The only problem is that it takes a few seconds to decide if swallowing something the size of a small terrier is really going to help.

Micrwaves for Dummies

2004-09-29T21:14:00.000-05:00

Before I go on with this post, I'd just like to state that I hate computers. This will be my third attempt at this post thanks to a tempermental laptop.

While at work yesterday I noticed the instructions on the micrwave oven that made me wonder about the average user of micrwaves in this day and age. Since the controls on this microwave consisted of a timer dial and an open/close button I wonder if the following instructions are truely needed:

1. Push button to open door.
2. Insert food into oven.
3. Close door securely.
4. Turn dial to desired cooking time.
5. open door and remove food.

With that said, how many people can read and understand the above instructions that would require reading of the instructions to operate said oven? In addition to this, there appears to be a critical ommision to the instrucions. I would like to recommend to the manufacturer of the oven that a warning like "WARNING: Food removed from microwave may be hot. Please use caution"

Book Title

2004-09-28T11:00:00.000-05:00

While this is nothing new to anyone that has kids or is around kids on a regular basis, I think I'm going to write a book. The title of the book would be "Aaaaaa! The 1 step program for driving people crazy!" The contents of the book would simply entail how to most effectivly use the word Aaaaa (I know it's not really a word) to drive anyone crazy. Excerpt:

"If you're in a situation where you want something that is on the other side of the room. Simply point in the general direction of the item and say "Aaaaaa!" This should only be done when the number of possible items that could be percieved as your target exceeds 10. If you can't count yet, just remember that more is better. Remember to say "Aaaaa!" more and more with increased urgency..."

Granted, that if the above were used by an adult the title would more appropriately be "Aaaaa! The 1 steopprogram for looking crazy"

NOTE: I do not appologize for bad spelling or grammer. IOW, don't post saying something like "Aaaaa! is spelled with 9 a's not 4 you idiot!" While I will attept not to use either bad spelling or grammer, I'm not going to care if it slips by.

Hello

2004-09-28T10:44:00.000-05:00

"If everyone else jumped off a bridge, would you?"

Apparently the answer to that question is yes. I'm not really expecting many people to read this if any at all. It's more of a way for me to hopefully keep some form of a journal. I doubt most of what is written in this blog will be interesting to many people, so you've been warned. If you find yourself bored to death, it's not my fault.