hkellick | Entries tagged with kristen

Oh, DW, I haven't forsaken you entirely. I've mostly been posting a lot of very locked down entries. Mostly because no one wants to hear me whine about work.

I think R has hooked on to a new show: Bob the Builder. He loves all the trucks but he swears Scoop is his favorite (which shows that this boy REALLY loves diggers.) Boy is already a bit of a TV addict, so he'd watch nearly anything happily..

.. including, I may add, Futurama. One morning I had Futurama on and the boy woke up. I wasn't inclined to turn it off. R saif, afterwards, he wanted to eatch the Robot Show again.

Speaking of.. the boy's beginning to develop an appreciating for imaginative play. It's gone past him saying he's a bunny, or lately, a chickadee (I may be at fault for him saying he's a chickadee..) If I talk in a Robot Voice, he calls me Robot "What are you DOIN Robot?" "*in robot voice* I am tickling Robot Child."

.. actually the Robot voice kinda annoys my wife a bit, but she can get over it. I only do it to play with the boy and the boy loves it.

Robert's birthday came and went. He did well. He got some brand new books, some wooden blocks, TINKERTOYS (WOO!), Duplos, a metchbox Car Transporter, and a BRAND NEW Fire Truck. All of which are his very favorite toys EVER! ESPECIALLY the Car Transporter (K and I did well there..)

He also got some moneys for gifts, but we've decided it was high time to start putting some money away for him for college and opened him up his own savings account. As long as K keeps working, we'll add to it too, which.. I feel good about.

We're still happy K is working. It just works out well, for the most part, for everyone. Well, except for last week. Last week was crazy for me and I couldn't work from home, and K is being groomed to handle desktop support by herself since her coworker will be out of office for.. six weeks, I think? And R.. R had a fever. So he couldn't go to school. It was.. kinda crazy trying to make that work. But we got through it and the boy is on the upswing.

What else?

I've been playing a lot of Guild Wars 2 lately. I've got a guild I like that's active and fun and often silly. I've got a character I generally enjoy playing except for when I get surrounded. Thiefs are good for sneaking up behind you and sticking a dagger in your back, not for trying to take on a group of more than 2 or 3. I can generally use my shortbow on a small group, but if I overaggro.. and I still sometimes do.. I get squishy...

.. um.. yeah.. maybe two people care about that and I'm one of them. So.. yeah.

Posting and working some more.

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Location: Oklahoma City, OK
Current Music: John Mellencamp - Small Town

So.. two things.

1) Streaming the superbowl was a total disaster. If I needed to watch the game, without the.. superbowl experience, it was OK, I guess, and the game WAS decent, but..

A) They played the same FIVE ads over and over and over. If I had ANY interest in Call of Duty, it's been sapped from me after seeing that ad at least 50 times. And don't get me started on Samsung or GE.

B) They didn't play the half-time show. K and I had to find it after we watched the commercials. It wasn't much to see, mind you, but it's part of the experience and I was pissed that NBCsports.com didn't stream it.

C) So.. there WAS a way to see the superbowl ads, after it aired, but NOT while they played those same five ads, over and over. That is.. I was locked into seeing the streaming ads, but if I wanted to miss the game for a minute, I could see the superbowl ads.

So... yeah. Total disaster. Never doing that again.

Though, having seen the superbowl ads now, I thought some of them were cute but most of them weren't great this year. My favorite was the Met Life ad, though, with all the WB and Hanna Barbera cartoons. That was cute. :) I wonder why Disney didn't say yes to that...

I didn't care for the "Ferris Bueller's Day Off Remake". It was... more strange than amusing.

2) Totally new topic.

The time came this weekend to face the music. Yes, I'm working overtime. Yes, it will help once I finally get that money. But.. chances are, we're still drowning in debt. So.. K is officially looking for a job again. More on this to come...

Current Mood: annoyed
Current Location: Oklahoma City, OK

But I'm not really sure what.

Squirm's doing.. pretty much significantly better, with one little issue. He's spitting up, about once a day, white.. with purple or brown streaks. We have no idea what it is, where it's coming from or if it's a problem. He's acting alot better, though. He's our happy and rather Chatty little boy.

Him acting OK has helped us both cope alot better and things have quieted down alot at home. Not quiet, per se. There's still the hustle and bustle of daily life with two of us at work and a little boy at daycare (albeit daycare is K's mom for another week), but.. this is expected, and thus easier to cope with.

Not much else really on our radar. Boy's got another appointment next Wednesday. We need to start planning out trip to Buffalo in late July and make sure we're OK to visit Matt and Amy for July 4th.

That's pretty much it!

Current Mood: busy
Current Location: Washington, DC
Current Music: Dead or Alive - Right Round 2003

On Friday, someone I was friendly with on CC (that I could become friends with as I got to know better) had an interview in DC. New Carrolton, actually, but the job is likely in DC. She said before she headed back to Ithaca, she was trying to see people, and so Saturday morning, K, I and the Squirm met her at Tyson's Corner. We went to TGI Friday's and ate, the Squirm flirted. Michelle held the squirm and took a picture with the Squirm. And then I got dizzy. Really dizzy. It bothered me for a while, til after I laid down for a bit of a nap. No idea what happened, but.. it sucked.

But the GOOD news is Michelle is pretty sure she rocked the interview, so.. hopefully I'll have another new neighbor worth seeing.

Sunday was quiet. Sunday afternoon, K says "I don't want to be inside all day. Let''s go outside." I say "OK, but not the path near our house again. It's a little too extreme for me. (especially when we're pushing a carriage) So we look around and we find two good choices nearby, a Botanical Garden and a Nature Education Center, but the Education Center's closed, so we agree that Monday, we'll head to the Botanical Garden.

Monday was out 2nd Anniversary. We got up, did the things we had to do, got out the door about 1:00 for what wasn't precisely a romantic lunch out at Bertucci's since the boy woke up before the food got here and so it was an "eat fast while the other is walking around bouncing the boy" lunch, but such is life with a child...

Then we went to the Botanical Garden, by way of Petco so we could get Fuzzy Food, and by the time we got there, it was HOT. REALLY hot. And the botanical garden was all outside (very nice, what we saw of it, but.. it was HOT out!) and we had no water bottles, no suntan lotion, nothing. So.. we kinda melted in the sun.

We agreed to go back, and better prepared next time.

Today, K is back to work. I'll let her talk about that, as she wants, since she can better explain what's been going on through her head, but it's a mixed blessing.

Grandma T is watching the boy and doing in-hotel child care. This probably works out for the best as it gives K a chance to get back into the swing of things without worrying about the boy unduly.

Also, today Sims 3: Ambitions comes out. I am excited. I don't have time to get into the details of the game, but there'll likely be a "OMG, this game is so awesome!" review post in the near future.

Fin.

Current Mood: excited
Current Location: Washington DC

So.. K is in Buffalo with Adiral Squirm, and I'm in Reston, alone, with the cats.

There's "ah, I can relax" quiet and there's "AUGH! TOO QUIET!" quiet. The house is far more the second than the first.

On the plus side, I probably slept more soundly last night than I have in weeks. So.. there's that!

--------

So.. when I posted Friday, I was feeling hope. SOMETHING was clearly working, whether it was the hypoallergenic formula or the kiddie antacid, I didn't know, but the boy kept most of his food down.

However.. there was a problem with one of his medications, the Reglan. Reglan is supposed to help him digest his food faster so less food stays in the stomach (and he digests more, faster). However, there are some potential ugly side effects to Reglan, including irritability, tics, and, for young children, possibly putting them to sleep.

It was putting him to sleep. At first, we thought he was just catching up on sleep. It had been a tough few days (why I stayed home Wednesday.) But then, Wednesday afternoon, we gave him the Reglan, tried to get him to eat thirty minutes later and he was out like a light....and then stopped breathing for two seconds. So.. off to the emergency room we went.

On the plus side, I guess I really got to SEE the emergency room. The last time I was there, my gall bladder was explodifying. It was a tense couple hours, but the doctor did see the Reglan at work, ended up talking to the GI Specialist's on call who told us to bring the dosage down. Oh, and the not breathing may have been his body protecting him from trying to spit up with his mouth full of milk.

So... K stayed home Saturday and we waited 24 hours to see if the new dose of Reglan helped, but it didn't. He was still going to sleep. So we called the on-call again and the on-call just took him off the Reglan.

By Saturday, he seemed mostly better. He was still spitting up a bit, but less than he had been, so they agreed that they could travel to Buffalo Sunday.

As they left Sunday, I realized just how tense the week had been, and how tired, mentally, I was.

So.. now I have a vacation, of sorts. Though I miss my wife and boy. Still, it'll be good to catch up on sleep. And work, possibly.

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: Washington DC
Current Music: Billy Joel - Leningrad

The good news was the weather. It was a glorious weekend, weather-wise, with temperatures in the low 70s, comfortable enough to keep the windows open during the day and air the house out.

The bad news was yesterday..

We had noticed a... tenuous causal link (that is, we can't scientifically back it up, but it seems to be the case) between the amount of dairy K has and.. the poor boy having alot of uncomfortable gas and having a bad day.

Saturday, K had desert. It was chocolate-peanut butter cake. I didn't think there would be THAT much milk in it (in fact, I'm the one that egged K on to have it, since she's been entirely dairy free for two weeks), but poor boy spent most of Sunday an utter wreck. Gassy and spitting up and just.. having a bad day.

It seems to have settled down this morning, but if it hasn't, K is going to call the doctor and see if she can get an appointment in.

Meanwhile, K's family is asking (begging) K to come down for Easter. EVERYONE wants to meet Robert. I think she's considering it, but there'd be some issues, the biggest simply being the amount of stuff they'd need to take up (cosleeper, possibly stroller, etc.) and the other being her getting home.
It's up to her. If she does go, I'll stay home and watch the cats.
And catch up on sleep.
And play video games like CRAZY.
And probably go see "Alice" again, because that movie was awesome. :D And because K would kill me if I saw another better movie without her.

But we'll see.

It also turns out the next weekend, the weekend I'm heading up to say goodbye to my friend Kim (we're spreading her ashes in a park of her choosing north of Baltimore), there's a free acapella concert (the New Dominions. We enjoy their concerts) in Vienna I definitely want to go to. Not a problem in and of itself We'd probably just need to head out by 4:30 or 5:00 (and honestly, with the boy, if he comes, I dunno how long we'd be able to hang ANYWAYS.)

And that's all the news that's worth mentioning.

--------

In other news, the house passed the Senate Bill and FINALLY we have.. some small measure of Health Care reform.

I do agree with those that say that what we did wasn't so much a success for the bill itself so much as a message that we, the country, believe Americans have the right to affordable healthcare. Lots and lots of people have talked about affordable healthcare for years and years. No one has done anything about it, hithertoforward.

The bill, as it stands, is not a success in and of itself, but as a starting place, as a message on America's right TO afforable health care, it was a success.

Especially given the antics of those on the other side (Death Panels, indeed.)

The new bill doesn't do everything I think it should do. But it's a start, and some reform, I truly believe, is better than status quo.

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: Washington, DC
Current Music: Carbon Leaf - What About Everything?

K has had the Cold of Doom (if it's a cold. Maybe it isn't) since last Wednesday. What started out as a sort throat and stuffy nose has gone into an ugly cough and blood shot eyes.

Friday morning, she hit her limit. The baby had been fussy during the night and she was tired and sick and blah. She begged me to stay home and help with the boy, so I checked my PTO and made it happen.

Amusingly, Friday morning while unable to sleep, I was busy thinking of a game I hadn't played in a while, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. I hadn't played it.. probably in over a year and I suddenly wanted to play it.

So Friday, while K and the baby slept and watched TV, I played. And played. And played.

Saturday was better, in general. K still had (has) the sick of doom, but the baby was less fussy, at least. We didn't do much, but we enjoyed what we did do.

Sunday, the sick got worse. She woke up coughing like crazy. We had thought of going to Babies R Us to get a swing, but we didn't. We sat and watched TV instead (I found a red box and rented "Time Traveler's Wife" for her. She enjoyed it.) and took care of the baby.

Sunday night, about 7 (as I was beginning to feel tired.),

kareila calls to remind me that ChaoticMUX is going down "for good" (except maybe not.)
( Cut )

Yesterday, the Squirm had an Orthopedist appointment and I wanted to be there for that. The Orthopedist felt very positive about Mr. Robert. He moved his palm, his fingers, his wrists, his neck. She noticed movement between the thumb and pinky which could be used later to help him learn how to do things two handed. All in all, she felt very positive he'd grow to learn how to use two hands. She said she didn't need to see him again until he was a year old, and then only to start training us, her parents, on how to train him on how to use both hands properly.

Got home from the appointment, K went to sleep and when she woke up she screamed for me to come up. Her eyes had gummed together and she was freaking out that she could have pinkeye. She ended up calling her mom who suggested that it was probably the same sick she's had for six days today and that it had infected her eyes, which is not good, but a whole lot better than pinkeye.

(Meanwhile, though all of this, while K is suffering this horrid cold, I've had the occasional sore throat and runny nose, but nothing half so horrible as her. Knock in wood that it stays this way and we can figure out (or the doctor can offer suggestions on) how to strengthen her immune system.

Today, I am back at work. I have real work to do. Today, my wife is going to the doctors to check out the cold (if it is a cold.)

That's pretty much it from over here.

EDIT: I also joined

liv's friending meme over here.

Current Mood: busy
Current Location: Washington, DC
Current Music: Barenaked Ladies - Snacktime

I keep meaning to post, but I'm never really sure WHAT to say.

Life is.. finding it's groove, but we're not exactly doing much, just getting through.

K is veryveryvery pregnant now. Chances are, if you're reading this, you're on her filter and you know what's going on with her, the aches, the pains, the sleeplessness. I think we're both at a stage where we're ready for the kid to pop out already and we can get on with our lives.

Things have been slow. We both are working on limited amount of spoons. There's alot to do and we'll get it done, though indubitably, some of it will be last minute.

The new office is settling down and I'm finding a new groove here as well. It's different than the old place, better in some ways. I'm enjoying not driving and find the commute taking an hour doesn't really bother me cause, honestly, there were plenty of days it took an hour anywyas, and then I had the stress of dealing with traffic.

My computer was returned to me a week or so ago, with one slight issue. We replaced the hard drives, both of them, with a single hard drive. What that meant is that I retained my music and lost all of my ratings. For over 10,000 songs. Gah.
So I'm rerating my stuff. Again. Not a project I was really looking to do, but.. oh well.

Still playing Guild Wars. Two or three times a week. Maybe not as much as I'd truly like, but as much as I truly can, at the moment. I'm still moving forward in the game, and that's important to me. All sorts of drama going down with the guild I joined in GW, but none of it has to do with me and I'd rather ignore it and keep playing.

Birthing Classes seem to be going positively. It definitely seems to be working for K, which is the important part.
I'm learning alot of stuff. Stuff I needed to know. Not only what K wants (and doesn't want), but also.. what my roll in the whole day is going to be. That is precisely what I needed. Knowing my roll and the expectations of me, I feel alot more confident and ready for the big day.
And that's without the script that K's class wants me to read to help me feel calm and confident. Calm isn't normal for me, but confident is, if I know what to do.

And that's what's going on over here, my quick life update.

Current Mood: amused
Current Location: Washington, DC
Current Music: UNC Clef Hangers - The Way You Move

I'm really enjoying The Sims 3: World Adventures. I'm really digging the tombs which is probably the most un-sims-like addition to a sims game every (there's an actual point to them.) There's not much depth to the actual world environments otherwise, but the tombs are fun!

I'm also feeling GW tugging at my interest again. Luckily, I have a four day weekend approaching and there WILL be gaming!

I had to go home early yesterday due to a migraine. Gah. I've only recently started suffering from them but I already hate them and what they do to me. It used to be that the rain would play hell with my sinuses. I wonder what changed.. :/

Thanksgiving is going to be quiet this year. Just K and I and a few things we're going to make together (Turkey Breast, gravy, mashed potatoes, corn, stove top stuffing.) I have hopes that it's enjoyable (and a whole lot less awkward then the year we went to K's church for Thanksgiving. That was just.. awkward. Thanksgiving should be about a feast with family, not total strangers. :/).

I think we have plans to stop by Amy's place for desert and games Saturday. Excited about that too.

Still adjusting to the new cubicle. It's busier than I'm used to. And alot more open. A couple of us were having a slightly.. heated conversation in B's cubicle yesterday (next to mine) and today someone stops by and lets me know that she heard alot of it...

This morning I had my arm around my wife and I felt a very pronounced kick. Guess we woke up Babyboy.

And that's the weekly check in. Have a great holiday all!

Current Mood: awake
Current Location: Alexandria, VA
Current Music: Steve Winwood - Don't You Know What The Night Can Do?

It has been.. ( a heck of a Week. )'

That's been my week. Busy doesn't do it justice.
But YAY DINOSAURS! :D

Current Mood: DINOSAURS! YAY!
Current Location: Fairfax, VA
Current Music: Nirvana - Come As You Are (Internal)

A little under six years ago, I drove off to the corner of North Forest and Maple to meet a woman. We met, we went to IHOP for lunch, we hung out, we saw X-Men 2.

One week later, we started officially dating.

We had some good times. We had some less-than-good times, but mostly what we had was each other...

One year ago, exactly, we took the plunge and got married.

To my wonderful wife,

phoenixsong, who STILL completes me, who STILL helps me when things are tough, who's my best friend, my first confidante, and in every way I can think of, my true life partner.. I love you.

May there be many more of these happy anniversaries in the future.

Current Mood: sappy
Current Location: Fairfax, VA
Current Music: The Beatles - I Want To Hold Your Hand

*waves to all*

Gah, I got the sick of doom. I don't know from who, though... :/ Not that it matters. Hopefully it ends with me and didn't get passed to K.

Quick four-day report.

Saturday, I headed off deep into Arlington City to meet up with some friends from Calorie Count. We went to a.. less than awesome middle eastern restaurant and just hung out. The company made up for what the food itself was lacking. I miss my Calorie Count friends.

While I was hanging out in Arlington, the wife had headed off to.. Centerville, I think, where she and her friends kidnapped our friend L who required kidnapping. Dinner came and she still wasn't home, so I was just about getting ready to figure out dinner when she calls to make sure it's cool if she stays out with friends for dinner. She suggests I call

blueslives and hang out with him for dinner, which I do. After a stop at Ruby Tuesday's, we ended up at Blues' house playing Super Swing Golf which.. I liked, sorta. In Theory. In reality.. I dunno that it's my kinda game. I borrowed it, brought it home and confirmed this.

By Sunday, the sick of doom had hit me and I realized that what I THOUGHT was allergies I was dealing with Sunday.. was not. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday were doom. I played a little Wii, but mostly watched DVDs and drank lots of Sunny D. (I don't care if it's not as good for me as real juice. I like it. It's comfort food. Don't argue with Grumpy-Howard!)

Yesterday, the wife also let me know she had contacted

zvi to see if she needed help getting the get-together.. well, together.. and zvi indicated she needed help, so.. I guess I've been brought in ;) Just as well.. Mark and Janine are headed my way and I want a chance to see them. Before the wedding, since they may be somewhat otherwise occupied come the wedding.

Speaking of.. if you're reading this, I am strongly considering another trip to Darien Lake in Middle August to celebrate my birthday. I miss Darien Lake. We don't have any good theme parks down here. And yes, Darien Lake is much better, in my mind, than the ones down here (Six Flags Great America? HA! And King's Dominion is.. OK, but not as good as Darien Lake)

If you're interested, contact me. :) I'll assume that you know how by now ;)

Current Mood: a little sick, but definitely
Current Location: Alexandria, VA
Current Music: Freezepop - T DJ

Actual New Years Eve was pretty decent. Last year, K and I spent the night playing Civ IV. This year (OK, last year), we spent it playing Animal Crossing and Mario Galaxy for the Wii. Twas good.

On the night of the 1st, however, my back pain came back. I've had a couple of flare-ups. I tried calling the doctor I worked with a couple weeks back, but all I got was his receptionist, however she apparently talked to him late Friday, cause I was told to make another appointment to try to see him soon.

Last night, I had another flare-up. A bad one. Kinda like how I felt back when the doctor thought it was a kidney stone (the one he can't find, so it's probably not that.)

Going to try to make a doctor's appointment soon as the place opens today.

On top of that, with at least a happy ending, was the Ballad of K's tire. Last week, K drove to the metro station (sounds like it was Wednesday, the 31st, but I'm not sure.) She parks her car and goes to work, comes back, pulls out.. and hears the pop and tinkle of her car going over a glass bottle that WASN'T there when she pulled in. She was afeared of the damage, but it didn't seem bad yet. Saturday, we drove to the Metro again, headed to Georgetown and I can only assume the act of driving did the tire in because when we came back, we had a flat.

LUCKILY, K had a donut. So we put the donut on and drove home. K called around and found a Firestone about 20 minutes away, so we planned to drive there yesterday, but she got into the car and the donut, which we hadn't used in five years had deflated. Lovely. So.. she called AAA to tow her (but they just reinfalted the tire instead), GOT the car to firestone, replaced the tire and drove home. End of Story.

Not much else to say. I'll let you know about the whole doctor appointment when it's over (since I know some of you care and stuff.)

Son of Edit: Well.. I have a Doctor's Appointment. For next Monday at 8:15. I asked to leave a message with the doctor to see if someone else could maybe see the case, but.. I dunno. :/ Wednesday at 3:30. That'll do.

Current Mood: annoyed

We spent a quiet weekend at home. Mostly because K couldn't ditch the cold.

That was OK, honestly. We spent alot of time playing Animal Crossing, which is cute all it's own, but add other people, and you can have all sorts of other gameplay you couldn't have had otherwise. You can play hide and go seek in someone else's town. You can have 5 or 10 minute fishing/bud-catching tournaments. You can exchange fruit, go raid each other's shops (Clothes Shop and General Store), visit each other's museums to see how people are doing compared to you.

It was a good time.

Not much to say past that. We're hoping to get Fleetwood Mac tickets today. 3/10 at the Verizon Center. The tickets go on sale at 10. :) Both K and I like Fleetwood Mac and how many chances will there be left, I wonder, to see them live. :)

Current Mood: refreshed

Part the First:

I don't want to think about how much money the wife and I spent yesterday. Nearly all of it was actually necessary, though.
List of things we got:
- K - updated winter wardrobe
- H and K - New Cell Phones (I messaged a bunch of you last night with my new 703 number (I figure.. if I'm staying in the DC area, it's time for a local number)
- H and K - New Knives (we registered for a 15 piece knife set for our wedding and decided to finally buy them. They're niiiice and they cut things GOOD (Yes I know that's not gramatically correct. Trust me, they cut GOOD not Well. OK? OK? OK!)
- PE Review Book ($160 for this, but it's necessary and, with luck, something I'll be using for a looooong time.)
- Plane Tickets to Buffalo for Thanksgiving

So... we've done OUR part to help bolster the economy ;p

The P.E. Review Book is big. It flags the beginning of yet another stage of my life. The exam I want to take is about 7 months away. That means I want to take the next six months reading all 1,088 pages of this book (and the last month doing practice exams) and make sure I actually understand stuff I learned years ago and, by and large, don't regularly use. The good news is I DID understand this stuff once upon a time and haven't entirely lost it (I was looking through the book online and I do at least VAGUELY remember alot of this stuff)

So.. this is Big. Big Big Big BIG!

Part the Second: Anti-American Repulican

First of all, let me preface by saying that I DO NOT think ALL Republicans are Anti-American, but let me tell you what I DO think is Anti-Americans, messing with the election system to make your candidate win. Voter Fraud. Laws meant to try to dissuade the poor from voting. THAT is Anti-American.

Some of the people McCain has hired are Anti-American. They want to win at ALL costs.. and if they can't convert you over to their side, they want to make sure you don't vote.

For the record, this has been an ongoing issue. It was a DEFINITE issue in 2006 (and thought to be connected with the U.S. Attorney Scandal of 2006. Some attorneys wouldn't 'play ball' with Bush/the RNC and thus Bush and Gonzales fired them.) Someone screams voter fraud and a stupid law appears on the book that would make it harder for Americans, especially those that are poor, to vote.

Don't believe it's happening? Read the Wall Street Journal. 200,000 new people in Ohio Registered 200,000. Worried about voter fraud in Ohio came up and a Republican Judge tried to put the Kabash on 200,000 new voters until the Supreme Court overruled them. This is UNACCEPTABLE.

THIS is UNAMERICAN. This is UNACCEPTABLE. This country was founded on the idea of all (free white) men getting a vote on how this country should be run, not just those that agree with a certain party.

And it's especially ironic in the face of Sarah Palin, who likes to visit "Pro-American" parts of the country (EXCUSE ME?!?! Listen, you stupid woman, but we love America in New York JUST as much as you love it in Alaska or Texas. Just because we don't agree about how the country should be run does NOT mean we're Anti-American. For God's sake.. is that how you see the world? There's "Us" (The Right-Wing Christians of the world) and everyone else, who's out to get you and everything you stand for? What a sad, pitiful life.)

And then.. and THEN Michelle Bachman (R) Minnesota who not only suggested that Obama is Anti-American, but a number of members of congress are as well. Excuse me? Is this the 1950s again? Are we really back to McCarthyism? That's just.. just.. I don't believe people still believe this shit.

I just hope and pray that the lies don't work, that the voter fraud scare doesn't work this time and that ALL Americans get a chance to vote (and knock those assholes out of government.)

And now.. some amusement, why politicians shouldn't roleplay online (MMPORG for those of you in the know)

Current Mood: chipper

Personal Day. Truth be told, I'm spending it with my wife. :D
Will be back in tomorrow.

Have been doing some thinking off and on this weekend. I try not to take for granted how wonderful my relationship with K is. I feel, sometimes, as though I'm reminded pretty strongly of just how awesome our relationship is.

My wife spent the weekend in West Virginia as part of an adult retreat. She didn't do much but hang out with people, but she had an awesome time. She played games, sat next to a campire, sang songs (Tried to lead others in "The Other Day I Met a Bear." - my wife, the ~~dork~~ little kid. ;D But then again, I'm sure I'd have done the same in front of a campire as well! ;D [ "On top of Spaghetti, all covered with Cheese, I lost my poor meatball, when somebody sneezed..."] )

Meanwhile, I had a great time at the Zoo with Kimba and Longwalker and two new people (Dee and Dawn). God, I forgot how much work it was walking around the zoo. I need to get more fit just so that next time, I can 0WN the Zoo instead of the Zoo 0wning me. We had lunch at Kallie's mediterranean place (the Hummus was as good as I remembered).

And then I came home and played a new game Civ IV Colonization, which I wanted to love, but... it wasn't as good as Civ IV. Too hard. :/ (But now I want to play Civ IV, so K and I may play that today. :D )

We both had a good time, and it wasn't TOO awkward being alone (I missed her, but it wasn't like "OMG, No K! What do I DO with myself?!?!", but K's homecoming was sweet.

There are some people who just don't understand the value of an actual life partner, someone who believes that, living together, life can be sweeter, better and altogether more worthwhile than it would be if you were on your own. I do. I understand the value of it because I know the ways that living with Kristen has encriched my life and made it easier.
Kristen isn't just a sexual partner (not JUST that), but she's a confidante, a friend, a playmate (By which I mean we play games together, you perverted friends o mine! ;p Like Civ IV!). She truly cares about me.
And that relationship makes her the most beautiful person in the world to me.

...

I probably have more, but I'll end it here.

Current Mood: loved

Where to begin...

First of all, the diet is.. mostly going. I am still struggling against stress and tiredness (and I did SOMETHING to my back on Sunday I'm getting over.), but... in general, I have more good days than bad. I've decided, for now, to back my weighing in to once a week.

So, I'm still in this, Marie, and I still intend to win! I'm planning on stopping by the gym and take a light workout today. If what I did had to do with the extra-long workout I did on Friday (I walked for 40 minutes instead of 30), some light moving MIGHT be the soup de jour. Perhaps about 30 minutes of 4 or so mph, no slope. Just to get back into things.

K and I had a discussion this morning about dance classes. We agreed that for now, at least, once we get through Freestyle on the 27th (dancing competition), we're going to take it a little easy on the dance classes and space them up. K is missing choir and I'm finding I'm finding the Thursday classes and practices very to too challenging for me.

Plus, somewhere in all this, I need to start studying for my PE I want to take next year.

The job remains.. draining and stressful more often than not. There are days I'm barely getting through. I'm not quite sure what, if anything, I can do to relieve this. I'm just trying to deal with the stress better (going to the gym will help with that.)

K and I are still ticking along best we can. At least there's nothing between the two of us that is stressing us out. Kristen remains a source of compassion and caring and someone who'll at least listen me vent about the daily stresses, and who knows when to back off and let me play my games. In short, things are still fantastic with her.

So.. wish me luck in getting through everything, keeping going, staying on track with the diet, studying for the PE and working through the stress in a relatively healthy way.

Current Mood: busy

And I'd like to thank those of you whom would like to point out that I'm not Furry to please silence themselves. :) That's what my Cat Calendar says and it amuses me! :)

It's Friday. And do you know what that means? :)
It means... that the weekend draws nigh!
*attempts to sketch the concept of nigh, fails* Curses.

Yesterday was a pretty good day, as I posted yesterday. Except for the traffic on the way home, but.. it's DC, and there isn't an awful lot you can DO about that here, except, you know, not drive :p (And then you gotta worry about snarls on the Metro systems or the busses being late, but.. anyways..)

K's still got the cough of death and I'm trying to suck down enough Zinc pills and Vitamin C to stop the cold of death from hitting me or, if it does, being much more muted than it has been for K! :p
Cause she sounds like she's coughing up a hairball, which is not an attractive sound for a 28 year old human to make.
Just saying.

Gonna pick up K at the Metro Station and hit a game shop. I've gotten the A-OK to buy "Sims 2: Pets" for PS/2. No one's getting it for me for Chrismannukah, so tonight, it shall be mine! ;D
Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! ;D
Mine, I say, All mine! ;D

... OK, I'm done. :)

Oh, so despite my "I quit forever and ever" thing for C-C, as of yesterday, I became volunteer moderator for The Lounge :) I get to act as a first responder and general assistant to the bossmen in helping to keep things ticking, and to keep things in the Lounge from getting out of hand (and that has, occasionally, happened :) )

.. can't think of anything to say.

Making this one public :)

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Location: Alexandria, VA
Current Music: Dandy Warhols - Bohemian Like You

In no particular order:

1)

ecwoodburn is sick as a dog with some sort of cold that makes her throat hate her :(
2) Got a bunch of things I need to do today: Gotta swing by the DMV over lunch, Gotta get to Giant, K wants me to go to Bank of America for her AND I may need to take K to the doctor. Funfunfun.
3) While, and at the same time, being at work and doing work things.
4) I was up at 3 AM myself and had some trouble getting back to sleep and staying asleep. Blah :p

Good news, though
1) It's clear out, if cold
2) I'm healthy, so far
3) I finished making Orange-Glaze Carrots that look nummy, just in time to pack some for lunch
4) Time-dependant, I want to make something tonight - perhaps the simple salsa in the Moosewood Cookbook.
5) Boss says we should know about end-of-the-year raises next week. I dare to hope I get another raise. I could use it :)

... That about covers it!

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: Alexandria, VA
Current Music: Fleetwood Mac - My Little Demon

Let's see. Where to start?

On Friday, I DID go to see "Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny". It was.. pretty much what I expected, movie-wise. It was amusing and I enjoyed seeing it (And I need to go and see the Rock and Roll History Museum, dagnabit!)
Oh, and I get awesome points.
Why, you ask, unknowingly?
I've heard the soundtrack for about a week before and there's a bit part for young JB's dad. Well.. I listen to the part and I say "That sounds like Meat Loaf." but why would Meat Loaf be in a Tenacious D movie? And then I see the movie and it LOOKS like Meat Loaf.
Finally surf over to IMDB yesterday.. and.. it IS Meat Loaf.
*boggle* :)
One annoyance about the movie.. you know you're in the Old Dominion when.. when a movie which is rated R for F-bombs and sexually explicit discussion isn't played until 10:30 at least. That's right.. the first showing was 10:30 or 10:35 in all the theaters local to me. *boggle*

So, Saturday.. I just take it easy. I'd gone to bed after midnight, but was up bu 7:30 or so. Stayed up, ended up reading and couldn't/wouldn't put the book down until a little before noon. We take the rest of the day easy, watch some Firefly and get ready for Kristen's office party Saturday Night.
Kristen's office party was at the Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, the cool museum that's basically a full hangar with planes of every shape and size, along with some very nice space artifacts, including the Enterprise (the first Space Shuttle).
It was there last year as well, but.. K wasn't happy with it. it was six hours long (we stayed for all of it, which may have been bad us) and K only saw one person she knew. The food was cold and the house band was awful.
This year.. it was only four hours, and more of K's coworkers were going. We didn't catch them all (Too many people and it IS an airport hangar, so it's HUGE), but we found K's boss and at least two of K's coworkers, so that was cool. The food was.. warmer, except for the part of the hangar which was uber-air conditioned, and the house bad... was potentially worse than last year. Ah well.
So, next year, we may or may not do K's office party if it's back at the Udvar-Hazy Center.

Went to sleep late again, got 6 hours of sleep. K goes to church. I get some things done around the house... and then go to sleep for another two hours, waking up just before K gets home.
On Saturday, we'd gotten one of those "Adult and Community Education" booklets. K was looking through it and I wondered to her, if they had a course teaching the certification she's working on.. and.. they do! Awesome! So, she's giving that alot of thought (it's expensive, but it might be worth it if she can grok this stuff and pass the test. :) ). I start looking through it myself and there's some interesting looking cooking courses. I think I may take one :) Lots of different ethnic cooking courses. Will have to decide :)
What else?

ecwoodburn started feeling sick, so we took it pretty easy. We finished Firefly last night and will, no doubt, watch Serenity within the week.
Oh, wedding planning. We finally started talking about this last night. We both agreed we really want/need to come in on Christmas with more to say than some vague ideas. We need actual answered. More "We've discussed it and we want it... on a Saturday, inside, in a place with windows showing a nice landscape that isn't all city." Something like that.
Also, after some delays, I finally got down to work and picked a replacement groomsperson,

kareila. A friend of ours (I want to say it was

sattruckguy, but I'm not sure, as I wasn't at this wedding), had a gal on the groomsperson side. She wore a dress with colors matching the tuxes the other groomsmen wore.

ecwoodburn was at that wedding (not I), and she thought it worked pretty well. I just know that

kareila is a dear friend of mine and has been for a very, very, very long time :)
Also, amusingly, this continues the "All the tall people on Howard's side and all the short people on Kristen's side" trend ;) Hee ;)
The other amusing question will be "Which one of our bridesmaids will walk down the aisle with

kareila ;)

And that was my weekend!

Current Location: Alexandria, VA
Current Music: Ella Fritzgerald - It Don't Mean A Thing - Internal

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The color of infinity inside an empty glass

The random insanity of your not-entirely-typical geek

dustdustdust

Superbowl and.. well, then

I feel like I should write something

Update

So Quiet that the voices in my head are screaming.

(no subject)

An.. interesting long weekend

A Quick Life Update

The Weekly Brain Dump

A Week (tm)

Sappy Post

I hate being sick

Bad Start to a New Year

A quiet weekend

Spending a Boat Load of Money and SOME Republicans are Anti-American

Personal Day

An Actual Update

TGIF (Thank God I'm Furry)

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Busy Weekend

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