100 things

I'm so vain, because this blog IS about me....

2 of the blogs that I read had birthdays last month and the authors wrote 100 things about themselves. I forget what their inspiration was for it, but I thought they were both very enjoyable to read, so I am mimicking their blogs. I hope you enjoy mine as much as I enjoyed theirs.

Oh yea, tomorrow I turn 28! I'm posting it tonight because tomorrow I don't think I'll want to make the time.

100 things:

1. The cat doors at our house were probably a larger motivator for us buying the house than it should have been.
2. I know we bought the right house because after we closed, we celebrated by going to Steak and Shake and while we were eating our wedding song played on the Muzak.
3. Elvis is the King...
4. ...so we had him sing at our wedding.
5. We have 2 cats, Ainsley(hers) and Min(mine)
6. At some point after bringing Min home, we seemed to have switched...her cat who didn't really like me follows me around and is waiting for me when I exit the shower every day.
7. Min pays more attention to Hugs.
8. I like to run in the hilly Metroparks here in town.
9. Earlier this week, a girl was passing me before I went up a huge hill, so I kept pace with her up the hill.
10. I thought I was going to die at the top of the hill.
11. It doesn't hurt my ego that I got passed up by a girl. I'm slow and I know it.
12. Running relaxes me. It makes me feel refreshed, like mass.
13. Sometimes mass works better than running, or vice versa.
14. I try to plan out everything.
15. When I get overwhelmed about my planning and feel like I lose control, it gets to a certain point combustion point and I start laughing at myself for being so foolish and planning too much.
16. It's like an inside joke with me and God. I think he's laughing at me when I laugh at me about making plans.
17. I had a good Easter this year.
18. I had a good Easter because at some point I had a deepening of my faith.
19. I've been Catholic now for 4 years.
20. I think it's funny how guys I know who get married in Catholic churches to Catholic women, never become practicing Catholics.
21. I love my wife.
22. I love the fact she is smarter than me.
23. That way when I don't know what to do I can ask someone smarter than me.
24. Most of the time she is right.
25. I brag that I married up.
26. We got married in the church where I went through RCIA.
27. I miss that church.
28. It had a frisbee golf course kitty-corner from it.
29. It's the best frisbee golf course I've ever played on.
30. We are expecting our first child this October.
31. My wife is pretty scared.
32. She's scared of the birth a bit.
33. The rest of the scaredness comes from fear of what my spawn will do as a child.
34. When I was 5 I killed a toad with a stick for no reason.
35. My babysitter thought I was going to be the next Dahmer.
36. I can see why my wife worries. Birthing is just 1 day, putting up with things like #34 day in and day out could be tiresome.
37. I think I only killed 1 toad intentionally.
38. 1 more benefit of my reel lawnmower is that I can put my kid in one of those backpack things and cut the grass with him/her on my back.
39. I can't wait until next summer and I can put my kid in one of those backpack things and cut the grass. It'll be sweet!
40. Hugs bought me a battery powered weed whacker and I can't wait to use it.
41. I get pissed the people don't think more about helping the environment.
42. Gasoline prices are just plain absurd. Of course prices rise over time, but at this rate?
43. I wish I still had my Festiva.
44. The only bad thing about it was that it the door were made of hardened aluminum foil.
45. My ex girlfriend who was 'heavy hipped' dented the door with her hips by trying to nudge the door shut.
46. I was really blessed in college to be friends with so many foreigners.
47. Those goofball foreigner friends of mine really opened my eyes and were a hell of alot of fun.
48. I wish me and my college gang were still able to hang out.
49. It's funny that most of my foreign language knowledge from them is bad words in Ukrainian and Arabic.
50. I never played any sports in school except track in the 7th grade.
51. I ran the mile and 1/2 mile.
52. I came in last place every time, except once I tied this fat kid from another team for last place in the 800.
53. It was the only time people were cheering as I crossed the finish line.
54. My fasted mile was 6 minutes and 52 seconds.
55. I wonder if I could beat that now?
56. I ran a 5k 2 summers ago at our old parish, it was pretty cool.
57. I might run another one this summer, I'm just sheepish because I'm too cheap to pay the 20 dollar entrance fee.
58. My favorite band is Pearl Jam.
59. I can sing along to any of their songs...or at least mumble like Eddie does.
60. I've been to 5 of their concerts.
61. Each concert just keeps getting better.
62. A new band I like alot is Muse.
63. We went to see them last summer in Detroit.
64. 5 minutes into the concert I knocked some girl over and didn't know it.
65. She came up to me and pushed me and shouted some expletives at me and I really had no clue what she was talking about.
66. I still feel kinda bad about that. I'd hate to ruin someone else's concert experience.
67. I always wear earplugs at concerts.
68. Amanda makes fun of Muse.
69. Ask her do to her imitation of Muse next time you see her. She makes a noise like the teacher from the Charlie Brown cartoon except she drags out the syllables (both of them).
70. I've watched Pulp Fiction too much because every time the toaster ejects my toast, I shoot John Travolta with my automatic weapon.
71. Movies glorify smoking.
72. It only looks cool when they do it, not me.
73. I'm glad the only addictive habit that I picked up in college was weightlifting.
74. My coworkers tease me that after Peanut is born I'll lose all my muscles.
75. I wonder what will happen with having a baby and me weightlifting?
76. I really have to laugh at myself when I worry about things I can't control.
77. Sometimes I really can't believe that I have 2 college degrees.
78. Someday I'll have to get fancy frames for them and hang them up.
79. Maybe in our new house....along with those sunset pictures I keep taking on vacation.
80. With all that education you'd think that I could pronounce 'probably' correctly.
81. I say 'prob-lee'.
82. I hope we really enjoy the parish in the town we are moving to.
83. The one where we are at is okay, but it just feels too rich for us.
84. Maybe if we participated more and gave more time and talent.
85. We signed up, but then bought a house in another town so we were forced to opt out.
86. I really miss our last church.
87. I really miss the gardening club at our last church.
88. What I really liked about it was that I was helping others while I gardened and that made me feel really good.
89. One of the best feelings I ever had at that church was helping out all day at a community church sale. All day long I carried chairs, tables, desks and other furniture out to cars. I sweated through my shirt so badly that you could see salt lines. It was all worth it because at the end of the day I got free pizza.
90. That doesn't beat the feeling I felt when the music started at our wedding and Amanda started walking towards me.
91. I'm glad the church where we were married had the 2nd longest aisle in town.
92. It was something like 150 feet long.
93. It's nice being the groom, you can just stand there and enjoy the view. That's what I did.
94. If Peanut is a girl, I thought of a great name, but Amanda keeps vetoing it.
95. My only solution is to have enough daughters so I can wear her down.
96. I should remain calm and focus on one child at a time. Sometimes that's difficult.
97. Sometimes I wish I would have joined the Marines and became a lawyer so that I would have an easier time running for a political office.
98. Engineers don't get elected to office often enough because we aren't good liars.
99. I was President of Tau Beta Pi for one year as an undergraduate and now I think I can be President of anything.
100. I'll stick with being an Electrical Engineer for now, it's satisfying!

C

I finally cleaned our bbq grill. It was beyond becoming a fire hazard. Last time we used it, I cooked the burgers over the grease fire, not with the flames of the propane tank. I actually turned off the gas and the grease did the work for me. No joke. Obviously, the energy benefits of allowing the grease fire to cook our food is outweighed by the danger of the grease fire....so I cleaned it.

I also started packing a bit. Just a few boxes.

Oh, and my trip for work is on the fritz again...so that means I get to be home for Mothers Day! I can help my wife celebrate being a Mother for the first time and stare at her big (and soon to be bigger) pregnant belly!

1 room done

Well, here is our first adventure in painting.


It's a light shade of blue. I think it turned out pretty well. There are a few spots along the ceiling that I want to touch up, but other than that it's pretty good considering it's the first time I've painted something and really cared about how it turned out.

There aren't any more home improvements on the near horizon. Peanut's room, but I have until September to procrastinate about that.

I've been pretty frazzled at work lately. They keep telling me I'm going to travel and do a software install and it keeps getting pushed back. I was supposed to fly today, but it fell through. I had my bag packed and I was headed back to my office to grab my laptop and go and the phone was ringing as I walked in. Postponed.

It's like putting off a root canal everyday. I've never had one, but I've heard they are a pain. Honestly though, if that's my biggest gripe (and it is) then I'm sitting pretty. So hey, that's my biggest complaint, it's so very insignificant in the big picture.

Speaking of postponing...we postponed our move to Memorial day weekend due to my work travel. I'm really glad the movers are flexible. We really caught a break there. So somebody's looking out for us!

Take care.

doing some home improvement

Got to do some home improvement this week. I ripped down the first layer of silly looking border in Peanut's room. I got the first layer, but the second layer of border below that is buried beneath the goofy yellow paint. Where we do have all of the border removed there is a nice pink stripe. Yeaaaa, so the goofy yellow covers some goofy pink.


Then over here in our spare room we prepped for painting, primed it and painted it a nice light blue color. Almost a baby blue...I think it is officially called Azore blue. I think it looks pretty darned nice and I'll try and get some pictures tomorrow after I take down all the tape.

I think I'll call him....

....Rocky.

Here is opponent number 1, measuring in at 13 and 3 quarters inches, thick, lush, wet and green....the current reigning champion.....The Unkempt Backyard.

(whooo hooo, yeaaaah-- try as he might, Rocky's operator is unable to sway the surrounding audience members to join in the booing and hissing)


And in this corner we have opponent number 2, with 10" wheels and 5 rotating blades and a 20" cutting width....Rocky!

(The boo's ring through the audience --Rocky's operator is the only one cheering. He abruptly stops as he sees a heavy shouldered man who looks disturbingly like Tony Soprano lift his meaty right hand--complete with pinky ring-- and taps his extended index finger on pursed lips.)



Battle ensues. Unkempt Backyard left no mercy for little Rocky's debut fight. Left. Right. Left, left, left. Hook. Slippery grass. Whhttsh, whttsh, whhttsh was the sound of Rocky's parry's and counter attacks. Whhttsh, whttsh, whttsh. Slippery, wet grass. Choked blades. Whhttsh, whhtsh.

The operator huffed and puffed with arms straining throwing Rocky into a towering opponent. Whhttsh, whttsh, whttsh. Rocky didn't give up. He fought. He knocked a path down and caught the deliquent blades on subsequent passes. Whttsh, whttsh, whttsh. His voice was stronger now, whttttsh, whttttsh, whttttsh as his opponent was beaten back against the ropes.

However Rocky grew tired, deliquent blades remained defiant. He was the little engine that could, whttttsh, whttttsh, whttttsh. Rocky fought and fought. In the end, Rocky was declared the winner despite the subprime conditions for his debut fight.



Above you can see Rocky stand tall, with his defeated opponent wailing for mercy in the background. Rocky retired to the shed for a few days off and hoped before his next battle he would receive some precious WD-40...however, lubrication or no, he knew he wouldn't be given an uphill fight like that again for some time.

whoomp here it is!!

shaka lacka shaka lacka shaka whoomp!!

I am now the proud owner of a 20" Scott's Reel Lawnmower!



Last night I was surfing the web looking at closet organizers thinking of ideas for Peanut's room and the spare room and I decided to check again and see what dear Mr. Google would bring me. I am so very glad that I did because I stumbled upon Craigslist and found this beauty for sale on the south side of town for 60 bucks; which is approximately 50% off of the regular sale price. Now that's a deal!

I'm not really one to say this much, if hardly at all, but God really helped me out on this one. I never would have found it his help.

I brought it home and Amanda even exclaimed how easy it is to use, but then immediately retracted that statement in hopes of never having to cut the grass. Not only that, but it's so light!


I spent some time testing it out here at our apartment and I am pleased with the results. It is easy to push and it really does CUT the grass! Finally, I feel like I'm doing something good for the environment.

And, the timing of this is all very good. We close on friday and when we stopped by our new house yesterday the grass wasn't cut....so we are wondering if the sellers are going to leave us with some hay to bale. Oh well, I will surely cut it with joy using my new lawnmower.

I'm elated!

I'm so elated right now. After church we got off our butts and drove up past our new house. Still looking good. Although I think they are going to let the lawn grow between now and the closing on friday. Oh well.

It was an excellent trip because we saw our new neighbor out and stopped and talked to her. She's a really nice lady and is the same age as us. Her and her husband both work and have a little girl who is probably less than a year and a half. So maybe Peanut will have a new playmate. She told us the neighborhood is really nice and a few things about some of the other neighbors. The nice part is she seemed welcoming, relaxed, easy-going and someone we can get along with. Not that we have problems with our current neighbors, but it's nice to know you aren't moving onto Wisteria Lane (Desperate Housewives).

We then cruised back through town and stopped and Sears and I checked out a reel lawnmower and Amanda checked out paint. This sales lady came by and asked if she could help with anything and I said "yea, can I test this thing outside?". So a manager came by and I got to test drive a reel lawnmower. I though it did a good job cutting, the clippings didn't coat my legs and it was easy to push. I tried to take a real careful look at it and see if there was a roller or some other part of it that would push the grass down before the scissor mechanism cut it, but there didn't seem to be one. I took it for what I thought was a good test drive and was very satisfied. So I went back it, looked and some paint colors with Amanda and then showed her my tracks outside and she seemed okay with it. Not that I was expecting some in depth lawn care tips from a girl who has probably never cut grass, but she was happy I was happy.

Not only that, but they have rechargeable weedwackers there too. So that's on my soon to get list as well.