Mocked by the Wii

This next story is true, in it's entirety, and it happened a couple weeks ago, but then I was reminded about it today again when it happened a second time.

So, just for the fun of it, I've been getting on the Wii and seeing what my Wii Fit age has been. When I got on, it was very close to what my actual age was on all the different things I did. It ranged from 26-30, so I was happy. A couple weeks ago, I was just doing amazing. I was on everything. Anything I did I was doing amazing. I figured that it was going to be a very low age, and I was interested to see what it was. So, when it went to the screen where the age was displayed, it gave me a 20. Wow, I was pumped. I know it's not real, and there is no real value in it, but it was cool. After all 20 is the best you could get, so I did a little celebratory dance which my wife wishes she could block from her memory, and as we both turn back to the screen, the Wii Fitness age starts to tip to the right like the top right corner nail had come out. It's like having an item hung with two nails, one in each corner, and one falls out, so the item will then pivot so the only current nail is in the middle of that item. Well that's what happened, and as it started to tip, a new age formed from the top, and came crashing down smashing the 20, and pushing it off the bottom of the screen. Now, it displayed 24. WHAT???!!! WHAT JUST HAPPENED?? And what person got that programmed and put into that game? It made me mad, especially when I'd already broken out the celebratory dance. Heather couldn't stop laughing. She laughed for 5 straight minutes. I was ticked. It looked like the Wii saw me celebrate, and then decided to not reward that kind of behavior. Today, I took the same test, and the same thing happened. I hate that thing.....

Grillin' and Hot Tubbin'

At work this afternoon, several of us got on the topic of cooking. I'm not the best at it, but I do an ok job, and I can grill pretty well. That was the topic of discussion at work. With Heather closer to having that baby, if she needs to be resting, I'll take over the cooking for the evening. Today, with the temp here around 40 degrees, tonight, I was outside in a sweatshirt grilling one of our favorite meals, grill potatoes and steak. Ohh, was it wonderful. Now, I've packed up the grill, and put it back in the back of the garage. So, we are bundled back up and ready for the multiple inches of snow predicted over the weekend. Great.....

I'm not able to predict when the baby will arrive, but let me think here. The Trailblazer is having an oil change and light maintenance done, so we don't have that vehicle right now. So, we get some snow on the roads, make things a bit slippery and don't have our 4x4 vehicle, hmm, sounds like a time when the baby might try to make an appearance to me.....

Ohh, the other night, I decided to get ambitious and get a path cleared out so that I could walk in flip flops, all the way to the hot tub. It was 20 outside, and 102 in the hot tub. Ohh, that was a fantastic soak. Heather had to go to a meeting that evening, so I didn't even have to leave her inside alone. I sat out there for 45 minutes, and it was incredibly enjoyable. It was a great opportunity to check out the effectiveness of the newly purchased cover for the hot tub. I was stunned at it's weight. It was awfully light, and I couldn't believe it. I wonder how old the old cover was, but that's what made it difficult to use the hot tub was the weight of the cover. We found out that the life on a hot tub cover is 5 years or so. I'm thinking the one we had might have been the original, back in 1996. So, after this upgrade, which cost nearly as much as we paid for the hot tub, now all I need is to get the light inside working, and I'll be just pumped. All I need is a nice blue light inside, and i'll be satisfied. Right now, I'll just be happy for just being able to use it with a nice cover that I can actually lift.

Just a waiting game

Well, Heather and I are continuing to play this waiting game. Her due date isn't until Feb 20, but we have some reasons to believe that LB will be making an appearance sooner than that. Even the doctor things that LB will come sooner. So, we sit and wait. The room is as ready as it's going to get, except for some new brackets that are being made to hold the mattress into the crib. So, we've got that all squared away, we've got the bags packed, and the Trailblazer is prepared for a carseat now. That is sitting ready to grab as well. All I have to get ready yet is the video camera and the ipod with headphones. No, we are not filming the birth, it's for afterwards. But, it's comforting to know that if we wanted to, we could get LB's birth in HD! Got the regular camera, and clothing, and baby clothing, so i'm thinking not much more to remember. I think part of the beauty of this is we have no idea what we're doing, so we aren't as terrified as maybe we should be.

I'm Practicing

It's after 11pm, and I'm still awake. I'm telling myself that I'm just practicing for the arrival for our little one. Things are still progressing well, and I'm finding myself continually operating on different time schedules. I've been awake later and getting up at the same time I would. I don't like functioning like that, but it's working. I know Heather is talking about feeling the baby move and grow and change, and can feel herself getting ready for the baby to be born, but is it possible for me to do that to, only to adjust to schedules and operating with very little sleep?

Busted by Security

Out here on the road this week, security has been all over me. At the Sioux Falls Airport, I got thoroughly searched because of the large of the number of electic cords in my bag. I made it though that ok, but the next tussle with security was nearly the end of me.

So I arrived here in Tennessee, and Monday morning I'm headed into the office and I'm headed to floor number 6 on this massive building. So, I get to the elevator, and scan the badge I was given, and bang, up to the 6th floor I go. I get to the conference room and set up my computer and settle in talking to the project manager. I haven't been in the building 10 minutes, and security shows up at the door, saying something to the project manager I'm working with. He promply points to me, and security is after me.

There are four of them, and three of them are bigger than me, so resisting is probably a bad idea. Three of them come storming after me, grab me and pin me to the ground while the 4th one pulls his taser. "Don't resist, or you'll get it." I'm thinking that's not good, so I am just lying there calmly, waiting to be accused of something horrific. The finally pull me up to my feet....

Ok, that last paragraph is a total fabrication, but it sounded cool in my head. So, really, there was only one security guy, and I could have taken him easily, but I already knew what he was after. He wanted my security badge. It was actually the one he'd given me on my last visit that I'd found in my backpack after arriving at Mitchell. When I arrived back at the office, I figured I'd just keep using it, but he (that sharp little guy) had flagged the badge number, so as soon as I used it, he knew it was in the building again. I was actually fairly impressed he found me so quickly, but I gave him back his badge as he told the project manager he should get me something more permanent. So, I went down and got my offical badge for the building now, and I don't have to worry about my fantasy above becoming a reality. I'm now a feared name though, all over the city of Chattanooga....

Great Week

It's been a pretty great week. It has nothing to do with work or with the baby. Well, last night was pretty cool as we stocked up on some needed baby things on a special trip to Sioux Falls, but nothing new as of now.

This week, there were some sweet things that happened.

1. Verizon said they were going to start offer the iPhone. I think I will have one later in the summer.
2. The new hot tub cover got delivered and put on the hot tub. Now I can actually open it and use it presumable. I needs a good shock treatment and a cleaning, but when the weather is this cold, it just has to stay warm. I may even try to just clean it out with the net and a good treatment would take care of it.
3. Jim Thome signed with the Twins again! I love Jim Thome. i liked him as long as he wasn't hitting home runs against Minnesota, but now that he's playing for us, even better!! I think that I'm going to wear my Thome jersey my wife bought me starting tomorrow, and I'm going to wear it for 7 straight days without taking if off for anything. It's going to be a great celebration.

The Saturday List

Well, we're getting down more to crunch time around here. I can't even seem to find time to write here anymore, but I'm sure that will improve once this baby comes. Or, maybe not so much. Just finished up folding some laundry, and doing up the dishes. I imagine that I'll do some laundry tomorrow, and be working on the rest of the list. As of now, it includes:

Getting myself out of bed (perhaps the toughest of the jobs)
Exercising
Get supplies at Menards
Work on Baby's dresser
Take down the Christmas ornaments (but I'm going to try to avoid taking the lights outside off the house)
Re-Organize the basement storage room
Exercise (yes, I have to do it twice)

If I really get ambitious, I'll do the outside chores of scraping off my driveway, and take the lights off the house, but with a high of 8, I'm doubting that's going to happen. In between, I'll be making sure Heather is keeping rested, and not working too much on getting the baby's room ready. I know, things need to be done, but I keep telling her to rest up a bit, especially since she's headed back to work. We'll see how well I do on "the list" tomorrow. Heather's been doing well, and after going to parenting class on Tuesday, we're getting close to time. I learned all about what's going to happen with labor and delivery, and man am I glad that's not me. I admire all women out there for enduring something like this. I'm just hoping it's a fast labor and delivery. Let's get this over with quickly is going to be my theory, and my wife strongly agrees.

Blowing away 2010

Well, I blew away what was left of 2010. We got between 10 and 12 inches of snow which made for some snow blower fun. Or, not so much fun. I will say that at least I didn't have to shovel it, because that would have taken me 6-8 hours at least, depending on how much I had to stop for the back pain. But, the snow blower did it's work, but the wind made it miserable. I ended up spending about 3 hours total blowing the snow around. It doesn't quite rival last year's storm at Christmas, but it's still bad enough. I'd estimate that we'd be able to take that amount of snow again, but after that, problems are going to start. If we get more than 24 inches the rest of winter, I'm going to run out of places to put it. Some people have the luxury of putting snow on both sides of their driveway, but since people live in the house next to us, I don't quite have that luxury. More than 24 inches of snow, and we'll have to consider the same thing we did last year, and that's piling snow in the middle between the driveways with a narrow escape for both of us. Hope the rest of winter is much calmer.