Welcome Tyler

Finally!!!  My new nephew was born this afternoon. He is healthy and mom is doing well. 7 pounds 6 ounces. You have to admit, great looking kid, but his first onsie is awesome!

DONE

I am now done with my masters degree.  I just proof read my last paper and as long as the paper gets a passing grade, I am now a graduate.  Kind of strange, but I can't believe that it is over.  I am going to bed and not waking until mid afternoon.  Good night!!!

Frog in our pool

So with the tepid weather and slight rain over the past few days, you could say the pool has not gotten much use. Of course, for the last few months it has been hot and humid and we would really have liked to use the pool. But of course, the pool that was scheduled for 3 weeks took 14 weeks and we couldn't use it when we wanted. Now summer is ending and the weather is getting cooler, but we have a pool now... Anyway, enough of my complaining. So I went out to the pool today, to put a bunch of money, or chemicals into the pool to keep it swimable in case for some reason the weather got warmer and the clouds passed, and look what I found. It was a cute little frog enjoying my pool. Of course, this is just what I had in mind when I decided to forgo everything this summer and devote my life to putting a pool in. So, when it was all done and the weather wasn't warm enough to enjoy ourselves, that the mammal and invertebrates could at least enjoy my monetary and time contributions. At least this little guy won't have to go far to find a place to relax. Me, on the other hand, I am looking to go somewhere warn where I can swim in someone else's' pool...

My little food critic

I took the weekend off of blogging to reward myself. Actually, my brother in law is in town with his girls and the weekend was insane. It was great to see them, but it makes me realize that maybe I am not ready for additional kids at this point. Its not that they are bad kids, but when you go from one small child that is quiet and only slightly mobile to 3 kids with full vocabularies and full upright walking skills, life gets a little bit different. They get into everything and repeat things. Anyway, glad to have them, glad to have them leave. I am just not ready for more kids in my life at this point. But, I do want them in the future, just not tomorrow.

So one quick story. Believe it or not, my wife loves Hooters restaurant. I like the chicken also, but Kacey always wants to go there. So, we were in a rush and hadn't had dinner one night and decided to stop in there. Unfortunately, in our rush, we forgot a bib. Luckily, the waitress thought about that, yes, I said a Hooters waitress thought. And, next thing we know, she showed up with the bib that she has on in the photo. I thought it was great, though I am not sure that i will put it on her again. She seemed happy and had a great time. Scary, I know, but utilitarian in purpose.

Poor Maddie, Poor Kacey, Poor Me

Maddie has been struggling.  She is going through big time separation anxiety.  She only wants Kacey when she gets tired or she is crabby.  Kacey has now accused me of manipulating our young child to support this premise, but in all actuality, it is just hard.  As much as I would love to convince Maddie that she needs to cry for me at night so I can get out of getting up in the middle of the night to take care of her, she doesn't seem to understand the words that are coming out of my mouth.  She stares and then cries like usual.  Only to be calmed by Kacey's angelic presence.  It is hard to believe that anyone wouldn't be calmed by my proximity, but Maddie is only soothed by Kacey being within arms reach.  It is also hard to believe that anyone would classify Kacey's presence in the middle of the night as angelic, but I am reaching a little. Just Joking Kacey...  

While it has been a long couple of weeks, I am actually hoping it will change soon, because I love it when she snuggles with me in the evening.  And believe me, she is not a snuggler most of the time, so those evenings are oh so precious.  

and retail is down...

It was about 85 degrees tonight about 9pm.  Maddie has decided that she won't miss any of the Olympics and is therefore, staying up until 12am again.  So we decided to go shopping.  We stopped at Gymboree because it closes at 9pm even on beautiful nights with many people in the store ready to spend money.  We had 5 minutes to shop and took advantage of it.  Then, we proceeded to Borders Bookstore which closes at 10pm.  Or so we thought.  We walked up and they were locking the doors.  Seems, they have been slow so they have decided to close at 9pm.  Seems very intelligent to me.  Sales revenues are down.  Overall shopper numbers are down.  Stock price is depressed.  So, on a beautiful night with many people still out, you should shut down early.  For the convenience of your staff, lets forgo all of the money that people were more than willing to contribute to your P&L, and just go home early.  And you wonder why retail is down.  Because retail is starting to be about convenience as opposed to serving the customer.  You would think that the store manager, seeing about 20 people wanting to enter his Borders, would just stay open.  Lets get the store numbers up.  Lets show corporate some proactive signs that we can improve sales.  Umm, it is a beautiful night, lets just head home early.  Yeah, good luck hitting your quarterly numbers.  And you know the options that never seem to pay out like you had hoped.  Well, look in the mirror.  Yes, I am this bitter because I was trying to pick up a magazine and missed out by 3 minutes.  Frustrated, yes.  But, don't worry, Barnes and Noble never seem to close early...

Great German Segway Video

Check out this video. Someone sent this to me this morning. It is a Segway in a crash test. It is run full speed into the side of the car. Now you won't understand anything that is said in the video since it is in German, but it is kind of funny. It gets better about half way through when it shows people falling when riding the Segway. But the clincher is the 2 frame photo of President Bush falling off a Segway. Well worth the waste of 2 1/2 minutes!

How could it end so quickly

I have a hard time believing that there are actually 24 hours in the day over the weekend.  I swear, you wait for the weekend all week, and then it is over before you know it.  I don't quite understand how it all goes by so quickly.  To get it out of the way, Kristy still has not given birth to baby Robert.  Sad I know, but it has to be pretty quick.  Otherwise, that baby is going to start ordering room service, he has a small condo in her stomach!

Maybe a new nephew???

So, after the post from last night, you know how close my sister is to having her baby. We have told her, please, call the second you are going in. I have been the bad brother/uncle that has been out of Illinois every time that she went into labor. I missed the birth of my two nieces and I am not planning on missing this one. Especially, since he is going to be named after me!! So, the second part of this, is that everyone knows not to call our house really early. Maddie doesn't go to bed until midnight and she usually sleeps until 11am, so no one calls, right?? Well, the phone rings this morning at 8:50am. First, I am sure it is a telemarketer. Then, I look at caller id and realize it is my parents. I know it before I even pick up the phone. Kristy has called them, she is going into labor, and on the night of a full moon, like my daughter Maddie, our new nephew is coming.

Ummm, no. They just wanted to let us know that they will have child care at church this morning. While helpful, not the news I was looking forward to in order to wake me from my sound slumber. So excited, I couldn't fall back asleep. I got up and had some breakfast and started my day early. Like I do every other day during the week that I can't sleep in due to work. Oh well....

New Nephew coming soon!

Well, today was the last day of school for me!  Thanks for all the congratulations that are sure to pour in...  Anyway, it has been a long couple of years and a very quick couple of years all at once.  I think I started the grad program because I had nothing else going on.  Work was somewhat slow and we had no kids.  Now, my new job is crazy, I have a mobile 9 month old, and I can't find enough time to get things done, so I am glad to be done with this phase in my life.  Anyway, we went to California Pizza Kitchen to celebrate and enjoy a little dinner time with Maddie.

So, we stopped by my sister's house on the way home.  She just got the family room and bathroom painted and we wanted to check it out.  They used to have pink walls, yeah, no joke.  Kind of crazy.  In fact, I think you can kind of see them in this pic, but believe me, that does them no justice.  Anyway, the new color is beautiful, but the biggest thing, well, that was too easy.  The biggest thing was my sister's stomach.  My new little nephew is coming VERY soon!  I think they are going to name him Robert after me.  Please send my sister all kinds of great, warm emails telling her how nice it is that she is naming her first son after me.  I was very touched myself.  Quite honored and almost brought to tears.  Here is her email:  basket_lover01@yahoo.com 

So then I got to thinking.  Why do we always want to decide when babies come?  What if we were relegated to waiting for them to crawl out?  What if it wasn't 9 months, but a timing of their choosing?  Like my sister, she would have gotten out at about 6 months.  Just long enough to have most organs working properly but she would not have wanted to be under parental oversight for any longer.  Or Kacey, I think she would still be in the womb all warm and protected.  Or myself, well, on one hand I think I would still be taking a nap or procrastinating, and on the other hand I would have gotten out with big plans that I would still be dreaming about now.  Either way, I am kind of glad for the whole 9 months thing.  I am not sure either the baby or the parents are ever ready for the 9 months to end, but it does and we are all forced to move on.  

I can't wait for my sis to have the baby.  Mostly, because I will take a day off work, but I am also looking forward to baby Robert to join our family.

Ran out of batteries?

So, today traffic was horrible.  I know everyone always says they are stuck in traffic, but I really was.  I left the city just before 6pm and hit rush hour traffic.  I knew that it was going to be a long drive home so I filled up with gas in the morning.  The funniest thing happened, I ran out of batteries.  To be more specific, I drive a hybrid Honda Civic.  I love the car and it gets me almost 50 mpg.  It is a quick little car that drives more like a 6 cylinder than a 4 cylinder due to the electric motor that supplements the gas engine.  So today, I used so much battery sitting in traffic with the gas engine off, the battery ran all the way down to 0.  I didn't know this was possible, but today I can vouch that it is possible and probable if you drive during rush hour.  So, here I was, trying to do the speed limit in a car that I felt like I was pushing.  You don't realize how much the electric motor helps out until you don't have it.  In fact, I thought that I would never get up to 70mph, of course that wasn't until I was nearing Wisconsin, and almost home!!  Thank goodness the battery recharges itself and should be ready for the drive again tomorrow.

NYC and the Jonas Brothers

I have been traveling and have had little time to blog. Actually, I just got a little lazy. With one more class before my masters is complete, 9 days into Maddie being mobile, and traveling, I have taken a few days off of writing. So here is the great story from this week.

Tuesday, I fly to New York. I have a meeting there and want to get in and out as quickly as possible. I know some of you out there are a little strange and actually like New York, I, on the other hand, spend as little time there as possible. From the garbage lined streets to the flights absolutely never being on time, there is little to like about New York. But, I have to say, for the first time it was not bad. My flights were on time and the weather was really nice.

So, I had to go through Times Square to take a picture of a billboard for work. I get to Times Square and the cops are ridiculous. I mean, they won't even let you look around. There are millions of 12 year old girls screaming everywhere. The naked cowboy is enjoying the rush of people.  For anyone who has not seen him, click on the link, it is well worth it.  This guy is there all the time and this is what he does for a living.

Anyway, so I find out that the reason everyone is crazy is because the Jonas Brothers are at MTV.  I think, of course, the Jonas Brothers.  Then, I think, who are they???  Anyway, here is a link to their site for those of you who are as lost as I was as to who the Jonas Brothers are.  Even after I read their site, I am not sure why they are famous, but I guess they are really big right now.  

Anyway, I am back now and will try to keep up a regular schedule again.  

Moving forward

Well, this weekend has been crazy. We had Kacey's brother and his wife in town. It was great to be around them and see our little nieces. We don't get to see them that often, so to have them here in Illinois was wonderful. If you read through the last post, you know that the Great Grandma was in town also. Anyway, it was a subdued weekend that is now over.

One quick story that might be of some humor. Kacey is a huge Dave Matthews Band fan. We didn't go to the concert last year due to some events that precluded us from going. I surprised her this year and got tickets without her knowing. I arranged the babysitter and took her to Alpine Valley for the concert. Well, we both realized that this was something better left in the past. The concert was filled with pot and alcohol. To the point that the guy in front of us threw up all over the seats and people in front of him. While the concert music was good, it was a different environment than we are used to. Well, I guess Maddie does spit up quite a bit, so I guess not that uncommon. Anyway, we looked at each other half way through the concert and realized that we would probably enjoy ourselves much more with a glass of wine somewhere or just a simple night at home with Maddie. We realized that life is wonderful, it is just different than it used to be. Different priorities, different meaning in life. I guess it is time to move forward and leave the past in the past. Though I have to say, it was really funny to watch this guy throw up on everyone. Since it wasn't me, I really found some enjoyment in that instant. Good Night!

At least its not my family... Just Joking!!!

I went out to dinner with my wife's family tonight.  Great Grandma Jill, her parents, and her brother and sister-in-law and their 2 kids.  In the picture is Jill and all of the girls.  I was thinking how cute it was that they all wore the same color.  Actually, everyone just kept saying that all night.  While I thought it was an interesting side note, I didn't find the complete awe and earth stopping feeling about the clothing colors that others felt.  Anyway, I am sure most of you know what that is like, but let me tell you in case you were wondering.  We went out for pizza.  A lot of fun, until we sat down.  They sat us at a table right next to the windows with no blinds.  I ate dinner with my sunglasses on.  Yes, I was that tool who everyone thought I was trying to be cool wearing my great Revos (did I mention I now have 4 pairs?) indoors.  The kids threw things throughout dinner, everyone yelled.  Oh yeah, and Jill, did I mention that she is slightly deaf and cannot hear anything?  So, randomly, she would yell something.  It never quite fit into the conversation, but we all smiled, nodded, and went on with our conversations.

So here is the best part.  We are back at the house and sitting around talking.  Maddie is playing with the ball you see in the picture.  Great Grandma Jill takes the ball and decides to play catch with the 9 month old.  The next thing we all notice is the ball going about 90 miles per hour right into Maddie's face.  She bounces back, smashes her head on the plastic lego table, and lands smack on her chest in the middle of the floor.  We all stare in amazement at what we saw. No one says a word, everyone lunges for Maddie who is doing the silent scream at the point.  Then, the best line of the whole night.  Jill Screams, "I think she liked it", and cackles.  So strange beyond words that this simple write up does not do justice to the out of world experience of watching your only child get pummeled in the face with a big orange ball and bounce off the table only to come to rest on her slightly ajar nose.  

While I do love Kacey's family, I want to drift to sleep without these sights etched in my eternal memory though I fear that will never happen again...

I love my new smoker

Yes, it is as bad as it looks.  So, here is how the story unfolds...

Bob really wanted a new smoker.  Kacey kept telling him that when he got a little older he could get one.  Bob went to the store and bought one ignoring the advice of his wife.  Well, he decided to test it out.  He made smoked hamburger patties and smoked some bacon to put on top.  Everything was great until Kacey decided to complain about the smell of the smoke getting into the house and making everything smell like Mesquite wood chips.  So, of course, being the dutiful husband who would do anything and everything to make Kacey's life better, Bob decides to adjust the vents as to ensure that the smoke is not wafting into the house.  As Bob is reaching into the inferno, Kacey asks him another question.  Trying to give her his undivided attention, he looks up to ensure that she knows he is listening.  Meanwhile, the flesh on his thumb cozies up to the molten lava charcoal tray.  By the time he realizes that his flesh is slowly bubbling down to the bone, it is too late.  Bob yells, grabs the piece of skin and tries to reattach it.  Realizing that this will not work, he runs in and grabs a stalk of Aloe Vera from the plant window and thrusts the salve over the open wound.  Needless to say, Kacey reminds him, in this very instant, that he shouldn't have bought the smoker in the first place.  And, secondly, that it makes the house smell.  Bob considers a very strongly worded response, but declines to say anything fearing world war III that would result.  Bob swallows his ill advised words and continues to try to reattached the putty like skin that is left surrounding the gaping hole in his thumb.  And for those of you who don't believe me, well, you now have a great picture at the beginning of this post to remember in your sleep.

Navy Pier in all its humid glory

Well, I spent the day at the end of Navy Pier.  Mind you, it is a LONG walk to the end of the pier dressed up and 90 degrees out.  Since it rained last night, it was as humid as it gets.  I was literally sweating like a banshee by the end of the pier.  I had no misconceptions why everyone avoided sitting next to me, I earned my lonely existence on this day.  So here is my question of the day:  What kind of jobs do these people have?  I mean, this picture does not do it justice.  The pier was packed with people. Do people just take random days off to peruse Navy Pier.  Because, having been there many times, there is just not that much to do.  Really.  It is nice and all, but you wouldn't want to use a precious sick day on this trip.  Especially not today.  It was wet fog that dripped humidity and blocked all buildings from view.  I understand using one of those days for Wrigley Field.  Really, that is worth it.  Navy Pier, not so much.  Which reminds me, I missed my team building day with the work team at the Cubs game today.  I am the dutiful employee that skipped the fun, and instead did the whole responsible thing and went to the conference.  Not that anyone will notice or thank me, but it was the right thing.  Besides, that whole team building thing is overrated in a preassigned setting.  When you schedule team building, it is bound not to happen.  Team building happens at 10pm on the night before a big campaign launch and you all have worked 70 hours the week prior.  It is that whole, we did it together, we sweated together, and we accomplished together respect that builds teams.  Though alcohol always helps too.  But, I think that is more blackmail than team building, but that is for another post.  At least that is how it was at Alberto...

What's too early?

I am having a hard time being awake this morning. I had to get up by 5am to catch a train downtown. I am attending the Ad:tech conference. The location is nice. We are on Navy Pier. I will take a picture later of the event, as it is quite the elaborate setup. One thing I have noticed, no one should be cheery in the morning. And if you are, at 5am, don't sit next to me on the train. Better yet, don't talk, at all, on the train. Whether you are sitting next to me or 5 rows behind me, just don't talk. I don't want to hear about your night last night. I don't want to hear about you complain about the cost of coffee. Please get the message, I don't want to hear you period. Neither do the other people on the train giving you dirty looks. 5am is not a time for conversation. It is a time for self reflection. In other words, sleeping. Just because you got an inordinate amount of sleep that none of the rest of us got, we don't want to hear about it. Save it for the forgiving return train that seems much more open to conversation. The morning train is not for community, it is a zombie like shuttle to a semi-conscious state upon arrival. Just enough to wonder into the office with eyes slightly ajar and coherent enough to pass for alert.

Hail to the Redskins!

Many of you know that I am an extremely devoted Washington Redskins fan.  What a weekend, Darrell Green and Art Monk, 2 of my favorite players, were inducted into the Hall of Fame.  Then, the Redskins killed the Colts on tonight.  Jason Campbell played well, Colt played well.  It could not have gone better.  Secondly, Maddie was not a jinx.  Believe it or not, the Redskins have played quite poorly with she has rooted them on.  The first week she was born last year, we lost by 30+ points.  Then, Sean Taylor was tragically killed in a robbery at his home.  Finally, Joe Gibbs retired after the long season.  While not all of it can be blamed on Maddie, I am a little concerned how much lay at her feet.  So, she wanted to change things up and really show her team pride.  She got dressed up in her Redskins Onsie and laid on her Redskins blanket for the whole game.  We played great and I am starting to forgive her for last year.  Time will tell, but my wounds from last year are starting to heal.  This year should be better than last...

Starting to crawl, and crawl, and crawl

Well, Maddie is so proud of herself.  And, well, to be honest, so was I... For the first 20 minutes.  I really thought it was cool.  I thought she was so advanced and I am sure that she crawled earlier than anyone ever has before.  I am starting to see how parents become blind to their children's transgressions.  I settled into this belief that I should call Guinness and get her registered as the youngest most advanced crawler ever!!  Then, after about a half hour of actually having to follow her, I thought about tying her feet together to stunt further progress.  Don't get me wrong, it was possibly the coolest thing so far to see her mobile.  Then, it dawned on me after the first half hour, that she was... well, mobile.  I got tired really quick of the whole impressive crawl.  I already yearn for yesteryear where she would lay on her back and play with toys.  And, of course, I am only hours into this mobile thing.  My sister laughs and she warns me of the mobile stage, but it has quickly dawned on me how much life has changed.  I am already considering a small (and very loose, and padded) dog collar with a short length of rope to keep her safe.  I am just looking out for her!  I thought an electric fence or anything that shocked her is much too early for her current limited mobility stage.  But a small rope and comfortable collar might just do the trick.  Somehow, I don't think Kacey is going to allow this.  In fact, after she reads this, i am pretty sure that I am not babysitting alone any time soon either.