Playhouse Disney

The past week, Emma and I have begun watching some children's TV programming on the Disney Channel after Mel goes to work and before I take Emma to daycare. I have to say that I have become a fan of Higglytown Heroes, which airs at 6:30 a.m. central time. In case you are not familiar with the show, it is about four preschoolers and their squirrel friend. They usually end up in a situation in which they need help, and along comes a person from the town, the "hero," to help. They always sing the same song, with some lyrics adapted for the specific hero. This weekend, I had that damn song stuck in my head for at least a day and a half.

Anyway, I don't let Emma watch too much TV. Usually it isn't more than fifteen or twenty minutes. That's about the longest she will sit and watch TV. I usually sit her down to watch the TV so I can get a few minutes to relax in the morning, or when I need to get a couple little tasks done.

Besides Higglytown Heroes, Emma also like to watch Little Einsteins. I also enjoy watching that. On the weekend we also watch The Wiggles and Sesame Street sometimes. Emma especially likes to watch the "Elmo's World" segment on Sesame Street. She gets really excited when she hears that theme song, and she pays attention for most of the "Elmo's World" segment. These shows can be fun to watch for me as well.

Fixing Up the House

Me have begun packing up some of our belongings and sprucing up the house a bit in preparation for showing it to be sold. Tonight we planted a few hostas and some geraniums in the flowerbed by the front door. Tomorrow night I am going to work on painting the bathroom and touching up some other areas in the house with paint. If this all helps the house to sell quickly, it will be well worth the effort.

The Bathroom Remodel Is Done!

The drywall guy finally finished with the remodeling of our bathroom today. All that is left is for me to paint the walls and install new towel bars. And, the remodeling has been completed just in time as this past Monday, Mel was offered a job in Saint Paul, Minnesota. So, by the end of next week, or the start of the week after that, our house will be on the market. We spoke with a Realtor in town this week, and she is fairly optimistic about the prospect of getting our house sold quickly and at a fair price. Apparently there are not a lot of houses available around the same price as we should be able to get for ours.

Next Friday we are going to be heading up to the Twin Cities because Mel has paperwork to complete for her new job. That afternoon, we are going to meet with a Realtor up there. We hope we can find something acceptable that we can afford pretty quickly as Mel's first day of work at her new job is on May 19. We realize that we will not be in a house by that day, so Mel will be staying with my sister who lives up there for a week or so. We think we should have pretty good luck with finding a house in the Twin Cities that is not too far away from where Mel will be working. We have checked out some websites looking for houses, and because of the housing crisis, there appear to be some houses that have either been foreclosed on or with impending foreclosures which may allow us to get a bargain price on a really nice house.

While Mel will be starting a new job, I am going to be continuing to work in my current job. My employer is fairly open about having experienced employees work from home. In fact, I have been working from home once a week since last fall. So once we get moved to Minnesota, I will be working full-time from my home office. It will be a different experience from working in the office with others, but most of the team for the project I work on primarily are located in Austin, Texas, so the fact that I am in the Twin Cities instead of Iowa City will not change much in my interaction with them.

Weight Watchers Week 53

I slipped this week with the Weight Watchers. Consequently, I gained a couple of pounds. It's really nothing to get worked up about though. I should be able to resume my weight loss this week.

Today's weight: 202.4 pounds
Change from last week: +2.0 pounds
Change from start of Weight Watchers: -31.0 pounds
Change from beginning of 2008: -7.2 pounds
Amount from Goal: 5.4 pounds

Redbox

Last night, Mel and I decided we would try again to rent Juno. Before heading over to Mr. Movies though, I called them up and found out that they were out of copies of Juno. So, I decided I would drive up the road the the nearby Hy-Vee where I would try to rent the movie from the Redbox movie rental machine that they have there. Unfortunately, the machine there was out of copies of Juno, so I returned home without the movie. Going to the Redbox website, I was able to rent a copy from their machine at the Ghetto-Vee, as the Hy-Vee on First Avenue in Cedar Rapids is sometimes referred to. The video rental machine worked quite smoothly. I was in and out of the store in less than a minute with the DVD. One thing that I really like about using the rental machine is that I did not have to return the movie to the same location. So, on our way home from church this morning. I returned the movie to the Redbox machine at my local Hy-Vee. By the way, Juno was a really good movie.

Digital TV Converter

Last night, after having dinner with Mel's coworker Penny, we used our $40 government voucher to pick up a digital TV converter for the only TV in our house that is not connected to the satellite. The converter box cost $50, so after using the voucher it only cost us $10. After connecting the converter to the TV and setting it up, we now receive a lot of channels that we did't before, but I can not get it to receive KCRG. There isn't much we watch on KCRG, but there is at least a show or two that we do like to watch on that channel. I hope I can figure out how to get the converter to get that channel.

Cedar Rapids Kernels

The rain stopped early enough in the afternoon that we were able to go to the Cedar Rapids Kernels baseball game tonight. This was Emma's first baseball game. Unfortunately, while it wasn't raining, it was quite cold. The temperature at the start of the game was around 50 degrees Fahrenheit. It was very windy, so with the wind chill, it felt much colder! We ended up staying for just a little over two innings because Emma was getting cold, as were Mel and I. I hope we get another chance to go to take Emma to a baseball game. Maybe we can go next month when my employer is offering discount tickets to the game.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

It looks like it is going to be a very rainy day today. It was raining so much this morning, that our neighbor's garbage can was swept down the street to the end of our driveway, blocking my exit. So, before I took Emma to day care, I had to go to the end of our driveway to retrieve our neighbor's garbage can and return it to their driveway. It looks like the rain has died down a bit, but not much. And, because of all of the flash flooding, I will probably have to take an alternate route. Normally I drive down a road that goes pretty close to the Cedar River south of Mount Vernon. The river has been pretty high lately, getting really close to the road. I could drive that way, but then I might have to turn around, adding more time to my commute. So, I might as well take Interstate 380 to work this morning. It doesn't add any extra time, although the higher speeds--70 miles per hour instead of 55 miles per hour--will cause me to use extra gasoline. Hopefully the rain calms down significantly before I drive in to work. That will be a little later than usual this morning as someone is coming to the house this morning to finish with the drywall repairs in our bathroom.

Tonight, we are supposed to be going to a Cedar Rapids Kernels baseball game for Mel's work. We are going to be taking Emma, but if it is still raining or if it is too cold, we will not be going. I really hope the weather improves by then as I would like to go to the game.

Weight Watchers Week 52

It has been one year now that I have been using the Weight Watchers online program, and it has helped me to lose a significant amount of weight. I still have a few pounds until I reach my goal of 195 pounds, but I should be there in within a few weeks.

Today's weight: 198.4 pounds
Change from last week: -2.6 pounds
Change from start of Weight Watchers: -33.0 pounds
Change from beginning of 2008: -9.2 pounds
Amount from Goal: 3.4 pounds

The Big Bang Theory

Last fall, I thought I would give the then-new CBS programThe Big Bang Theory a try. It was, after all, on between two shows that I like to watch -- How I Met Your Mother and Two and a Half Men. I thought the first episode was ok, but not great. I watched it again the next week, and before the episode was half over, I had changed the channel. Anyway, once the writers' strike was over and new episodes of The Big Bang Theory were appearing on CBS, I decided to give it another shot. I really felt that the program had improved greatly since the beginning of the season. I can not pinpoint exactly what it is that I think is better about the show now than before, but I just find it more enjoyable. Of course, it did not hurt that on this week's episode, there were two references to Star Trek prior to the opening credits and at least a couple more throughout the remainder of the show. The Big Bang Theory has joined my regular Monday-night TV watching lineup. Now if CBS would just dump the only marginally funny Rules of Engagement and bring The New Adventures of Old Christine back again, I would be happier.

The Weekend

This weekend was a pretty good one, although it did start quite early when Emma woke up around 5:00 in the morning. She finally surrendered to taking a nap around 9:30. So, since Mel and I were still tired, we went back to bed when Emma took her nap. Waking up around 11:30 did make Saturday seem to go by much too quickly though. We did our grocery shopping in the afternoon and then rented a couple of movies from the Mr. Movies down the street from us.

The movie that we had originally wanted to rent, which prompted us to go to Mr. Movies in the first place, was Juno. Unfortunately there were no copies of that available. So we ended up renting two different movies. The first move we watched was Knocked Up. The movie began quite well, but after the DVD froze up or jumped back to earlier in the move three times, I went back to the video store to exchange the disc. The replacement copy worked much better, but it still froze up once toward the end. We both enjoyed the movie. It was quite funny, and I am glad that we rented that movie.

After Knocked Up, we watched Mr. Woodcock, starring Seann William Scott, Billy Bob Thornton, and Susan Sarandon. The movie was about a young man (Scott), who became an accomplished author. He returned home to accept an award only to learn that his mother (Sarandon) is dating his former gym teacher (Thornton) who acted quite sadistically toward his students. It was funny, although it wasn't as good as Knocked Up.

This afternoon, Mel and I went on our first bike ride of the year. In fact, I believe it was our first bike ride since RAGBRAI last summer. We brought Emma along with us, riding in the Burley we bought a few weeks ago. I don't think she particularly enjoyed the ride. Perhaps it will just take some time for her to get used to it. We ended up riding for about an hour, traveling about ten miles. Pulling a trailer behind my bike sure made for a different experience in riding. I was not able to go as fat as I would have liked, and I lost some maneuverability with my bike, but it was fun bringing Emma along.

Trip to Iowa City

I drive to Iowa City for work most weekdays, but I worked from home today. However, I still had to drive to Iowa City this morning. We went to Iowa City because Emma was taking part in a research study at the Spence Laboratories of Psychology at the University of Iowa. The study had something to do with language development among young children. I didn't really understand the whole idea behind the study, but it seemed to go alright. However, Emma did get a little cranky toward the end of being observed. Fortunately, the whole process did not take very long. In exchange for her participation in the study, Emma received a T-shirt which says "Graduate of the University of Iowa Children's Research Lab." It looks like Emma finally has some Hawkeye clothing.

Earthquake!

Upon waking up this morning--about fifteen minutes early, I might add (thanks Emma)--I turned on the TV to watch the early local news. Imagine my surprise when I learned that there had been an earthquake a few hundred miles away in southern Illinois that could be felt in eastern Iowa. I must say that I did not notice it at all, but then I was sleeping when it occurred. Maybe the earthquake is why Emma work up early this morning.

I'm Back

Ok, so my break from blogging didn't last very long. In fact, I regularly have a few days between postings. Anyway, I am back to blogging.

This week is the one week in April that my wife works evenings. That means that my daughter and I have some time alone together. Each night this week, we have gone on a walk after dinner. Walking for about half an hour each evening this week has helped me to reach my goal of walking at least ten thousand steps each of these nights. I also credit it with helping me in my weight loss of two pounds for the week. This is the first time since January 8 of this year that I have had two consecutive weeks of weight loss.

Another thing that has helped me to reach my goal of ten thousands steps in a day has been following Emma around the house. In the past week or so Emma has really taken off with walking. She walks all over the house, often times she will walk down to our bedroom and then return with the remote control for that room's TV. I don't know what her fascination with the remote control is, but she loves carrying that thing.

Another recent development in Emma's life is the fact that she can now go to sleep on her own. For most nights until her birthday last month, we would hold Emma in the evening until she went to sleep. However, shortly after her first birthday, we decided that we needed to put an end to that. The first three or four nights of getting her to go to sleep on her own were quite trying. She would scream for minutes and minutes on end when we left her in her room. We started working on a bedtime routine, and now we can lay her in bed around 7:30. She may play around in bed for a few minutes, but she usually quiets down quickly. Within fifteen minutes she is usually asleep.

So, those have been the developments with Emma recently. I continue to be amazed with the new things she does.

Weight Watchers Week 51

Today's weight: 201.0 pounds
Change from last week: -2.0 pounds
Change from start of Weight Watchers: -30.4 pounds
Change from beginning of 2008: -6.8 pounds
Amount from Goal: 6.0 pounds

Hiatus

I am thinking about taking a break from blogging for a while. I am trying to figure out what exactly I intend on conveying through my blog. I am also thinking about starting a new blog about my family. This would only be accessible to my friends and family. However, I am not yet sure if I am going to do that. Anyway, if you come by and read my blog frequently, you may not see any new postings for a week or so. Of course, I may decide to just resume blogging after a day or two. Who knows?

Those Damn Shoes with the Wheels

Scheel's had a sale this week on cycling shorts, so after Mel got off from work today, she, Emma, and I headed down to the Coral Ridge Mall in Coralville to buy some new cycling shorts. I really needed some new ones since I have still been using the same two pairs that I bought before going on RAGBRAI in 2000. While we were wandering about the mall we saw several kids rolling about on those shoes with the wheels. I'd say that about half of the preteens we saw had them. Those shoes are so damn annoying! I really wish the mall would prohibit their use. I'm sure the mall management wouldn't allow people to skateboard through the mall. These shoes are no different than that. It's only going to be a matter of time before I witness a collision.

Tornado Warning

This evening I was babysitting the son of one of Mel's coworkers while Mel and the coworker went out for dinner and drinks. While we were watching SpongeBob SquarePants, I heard a siren going off outside. Turning the channel to one of the local stations, I learned that we were under a tornado warning. So, I grabbed Emma, and the three of us headed downstairs. As has been the case with every tornado warning I have experienced since moving back to Cedar Rapids in 2005, absolutely nothing happened anywhere near our house. A little over an hour later, we were able to return upstairs, and I was finally able to put Emma to bed. Since she got to bed a little late tonight, hopefully she sleeps later than usual in the morning.

Weight Watchers Week 50

Today's weight: 203.0 pounds
Change from last week: -1.4 pounds
Change from start of Weight Watchers: -28.4 pounds
Change from beginning of 2008: -4.8 pounds
Amount from Goal: 8.0 pounds

This Week's Songs

For my iPod songs today, I had iTunes randomly select songs from my list of one hundred most played songs. The number in parentheses following each song is the number of times I have heard that song on my iPod since I got it two and a half years ago.

Friday

I spent most of today working from home. I was expecting someone to come to the house to install a new vanity and lavatory, but no one showed up. Around five o'clock this afternoon I finally got in touch with the person who was supposed to do the installation and he said that the schedule somehow got messed up. Anyway, someone will be here Tuesday morning to do the installation.

This evening after dinner, Mel, Emma, and I all went for a walk around the neighborhood. Since I worked from home today, I hadn't gotten much walking in. Our walk just about doubled the amount of walking I did for the day. It was enough to earn me a couple of Weight Watchers exercise points.

Weight Watchers Week 49

Today's weight: 204.4 pounds
Change from last week: +0.2 pounds
Change from start of Weight Watchers: -27.0 pounds
Change from beginning of 2008: -3.4 pounds
Amount from Goal: 9.4 pounds

Birthday Party

Yesterday we had a birthday party for Emma. Her birthday was actually on the twentieth, but we didn't think Easter weekend would be good for the birthday party. She seemed to have a lot of fun and she even helped to open her presents. She especially liked to take the pieces of tissue paper out of gift bags. She would pull one out and throw it aside, then she would continue with the process. However, Mel and I did have to help her a bit with opening the presents, and she did begin to lose interest before we finished. She also liked her birthday cake. She had eaten some birthday cake on her actual birthday. That was much messier than this time, but it was still fun to watch her make a mess with the cake.

After the party, we didn't feel like cooking dinner, since we were pretty tired and had been on our feet for much of the day, so we went to the Irish Democrat for dinner. Since they do not have a children's menu, we fed Emma parts of our meals. Toward the end of dinner, I accidentally gave Emma a bit of jalepeño pepper in the food I put in front of her. To put it mildly, she did not care for the jalepeño. She pulled it out of her mouth and started screaming. We tried to get her to drink some milk or water, but she pushed those away as well. She calmed down fairly quickly when she ate some bread. I guess she isn't ready for spicy foods yet!

Stimulating the Economy

Mel and I did our share of stimulating the economy tonight when we went to the bike shop. We had dropped both of our bikes off there a couple of weeks ago for tune-ups. In addition, we had planned on having some repairs done on Mel's bike including re-spoking the rear wheel and replacing the chain. As it turned out, my bike needed a new gear shift lever. But even with all of this, we didn't feel we would be doing our part to bring the country out of its recession, so we also bought a Burley d'lite trailer for our bikes so we can take Emma on bike rides with us. That should really aid us in training for RAGBRAI since we won't have to find someone to babysit her. Of course, there will be times when we still will leave her with someone so we can ride without the extra weight of the Burley and with the better maneuverability we will have without it. Of course, we haven't actually received the tax rebate that we will be using for this purchase yet, but we should receive it May 2 which is before the bill will be due for the credit card with which I made the purchase.

Weight Watchers Week 48

I do not know why I give up so easily when I have a misstep on Weight Watchers. On Friday I ate a bit too much, and then on Monday I ate too many of the birthday treats that were in the cubicle adjacent to mine at work. But that doesn't mean that I had to just give up on counting points the rest of the week. Counting points on the other days would have been better than just ignoring them altogether. Tonight we are going to dinner at Biaggi's for Mel's birthday. I am going to try to make a healthier choice when we are there!

Today's weight: 204.2 pounds
Change from last week: +3.2 pounds
Change from start of Weight Watchers: -27.2 pounds
Change from beginning of 2008: -3.6 pounds
Amount from Goal: 9.2 pounds

Snacking

I don't know why, but this past week I have had quite an urge to snack in the evenings. I still managed to lose weight by this past Wednesday's weigh-in, but I am not sure if I will be able to keep it up if I can't get my snacking under control. I think I need to fill up on more healthier foods and fewer foods on less nutritional value. Besides that, drinking more water may help in my weight loss. I keep thinking that attending Weight Watchers meetings would help as well, but I don't have that much additional weight to lose before I reach my goal, and I think I can do it on my own. I'll check my weight tomorrow morning to see how I'm doing. Tomorrow we are having a pizza lunch at work. I will have to be very careful to make sure I do not eat too much as is very easy to do with pizza.

One

It's hard to believe that one year ago today, Emma was born. In the past year she has changed so much. At first she was so tiny, and she didn't do much except for sleep and eat. Now she babbles quite a bit, feeds herself finger foods, drinks from her sippy cup on her own, crawls very quickly, stands, and plays with toys. In the past few days she has been progressing towards walking. She can take a few steps, but then she falls down. It will be any day now that she it toddling around the house. Mel had to work this evening, so we will be celebrating Emma's birthday with her tomorrow evening.

An Apple a Day

I had a doctor appointment today. Nothing is wrong, it was just a regular checkup. I am having my cholesterol level checked, but only because it hasn't been done in a while. I am not expecting it to be outside of normal range. My doctor did tell me though that I need to be sure I am getting regular exercise, and that I should cut down on my consumption of pop. Of course I knew that, but now that my doctor has instructed me to cut down on the amount of pop I drink, I should.

Weight Watchers Week 47

Today's weight: 201.0 pounds
Change from last week: -2.2 pounds
Change from start of Weight Watchers: -30.4 pounds
Change from beginning of 2008: -6.8 pounds
Amount from Goal: 6.0 pounds

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

OK, here's the obligatory holiday post. However, I didn't do anything to celebrate Saint Patty's Day, aside from wearing green. I could have taken time off from work to go to the SaPaDaPaSo parade in downtown Cedar Rapids this morning, but it was kind of cold and rain was forecast. Besides, I had to watch Emma this evening, so drinking after the parade would have been out. Maybe if the weather is better next March 17, we can take Emma to the parade. Besides, she would probably appreciate it more next year than this year.

Weekend with Emma

This past weekend was Mel's weekend to work again, so much of the weekend was just Emma and me. We did some shopping on Saturday, including buying one of her birthday presents. Because one of Mel's coworkers was alone this weekend with her boyfriend out of town and her son staying with a friend, Mel, Emma, and I joined this coworker for dinner Saturday night at Carlos O'Kelly's. We had a wonderful dinner, complete with margaritas. Before returning the coworker home, we went for ice cream nearby at Cold Stone Creamery. There I ran into a former student of mine. I did not recognize him until he called out "Mr. _____" which made me look at his name tag. Now I don't blame myself at all for not recognizing him. He is a junior in high school this year and I hadn't seen him since he was in sixth grade, so he looked vaguely familiar, but still quite a bit different.

Sunday, Emma and I continued our shopping by buying groceries and exchanging a dress that we had bought for her to wear for pictures of her that we will have taken next weekend, just after she turns one year old. Emma was a lot easier to take care of on Sunday. On Saturday she very reluctantly took a nap, and it wasn't a very long one. I was able to get Emma to take a more substantial nap on Sunday, which allowed me time to pay some bills. Hopefully she doesn't give me much trouble with going to bed this week when Mel works evenings.

Not Reality. Actuality.

Over the past few months, Mel and I have found ourselves seeking out alternatives to network TV to watch in the evening due to the writers' strike. One channel we have found ourselves watching more and more is truTV (formerly Court TV). Besides watching Forensic Files, we have found ourselves watching Most Shocking and Most Daring. These are programs which show real life video of shocking moments such as police chases, riots, robberies, and assaults. The commercials for Most Daring make it out to be the moments that are too shocking for Most Shocking. I have to say that I agree with that assertion. Some of the video clips shown on Most Shocking seem painful even to watch. I guess that next week, when most network programs resume with new episodes, our truTV watching will diminish some, but that will probably only be until the reruns return this summer.

Weight Watchers Week 46

Today's weight: 203.2 pounds
Change from last week: +1.2 pounds
Change from start of Weight Watchers: -28.2 pounds
Change from beginning of 2008: -4.6 pounds
Amount from Goal: 8.2 pounds

New Manager

I was not feeling well most of last evening, and I considered staying home from work sick today. However, I just got a new functional manager at work and she is in the office today through Thursday. While I could have stayed home sick, I felt that I was well enough to go to work. Besides, I didn't think it would make a good impression on her. I won't see my manager too often as she works out of our San Antonio, Texas, office, so I figured I should make every effort to make it to work today. She seems pretty nice. Tomorrow I will have a one-on-one meeting with her. I normally work from home on Wednesdays, but I think that I should really have this meeting face-to-face as she is in town.

Bikes!

Last night, Mel and I took our bikes in to Northtowne Cycling and Fitness to get them tuned up. We need to get them in shape for RAGBRAI XXXVI. This summer's RAGBRAI will be more challenging than last year's ride as the route this summer is supposed to be the eleventh hilliest RAGBRAI ever. The amount of total climb will be apparent after last year's ride which was the third least hilly RAGBRAI. Incidentally, my first two RAGBRAIs both appear in the top ten list for most climbing. While at the bike shop, we also checked out some Burleys. We figure if we can bring Emma along on our rides with us, we will be able to get more training miles in this spring and summer.

Steak Fry

Mel, Emma, and I headed to Keystone, Iowa, tonight to visit my grandmother and my mother. We also went to dinner at the Legion Hall Steak Fry. It had been quite a while since I had been to the Keystone steak fry. I admit, the steak wasn't as good as it would have been if we had gone to Texas Roadhouse for dinner, but that's not really the point. The steak fry raises money for the American Legion in Keystone, and we got a chance to see some family. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that the steak wasn't good. It was good, but just not as good as at a steak restaurant.

Speaking of Idiots

Last night around 6:30, I was driving north on East Post Road in Cedar Rapids. I was travelling at 35 miles per hour, which is the speed limit on that road. For a significant distance, another car was following me quite closely. Then, while travelling along a particularly windy part of the road, the idiot decided to pass me! This was of course a no passing zone due to the limited distance that one could see ahead in the densely wooded area. So, to warn oncoming drivers of the potential danger, I blasted my horn during the entire time this asshole was passing me. And, to attempt to educate the driver as to the error of his ways, I gestured to him that I thought he was making a selfish, unwise, and dangerous maneuver with his vehicle. As soon as he got around me, he sped off. Of course, I caught up with him at a nearby stoplight. I guess his hazardous driving techniques did not help him to accomplish much!

Please Western Iowa, Vote This Idiot Out of Office!

Would the voters of western Iowa please do all of us a favor and vote Representative Steve King out of office this fall? Yesterday this idiot made the assertion that terrorists would be "dancing in the streets" if Barack Obama were to win the presidential election in November. Does King believe that the fact that Obama's middle name is Hussein would lead Islamic extremists to feel that Obama would be sympathetic to their cause? Apparently we should only consider candidates for president if they have "white-sounding" names.

Promotion!

Finally, after over two and a half years with my current employer, I am getting promoted. There is a slight, very slight, pay increase that comes along with the promotion, but mostly this promotion is important to me because it makes me feel like my company values me as an employee. I have always felt they did, but the promotion helps to further confirm that feeling. My title did not change much; I just dropped the word "Associate" from the beginning of my title. In fact, I dropped the "Associate" from my title in both my email signature and from my business cards last summer when my company changed its logo, necessitating the ordering of new business cards at that time.

Bathroom Remodel

The remodeling of our main bathroom began today with the bathtub and shower surround being replaced. An extra, adjustable, shower head was also installed. It looks much nicer than what we previously had even though the drywall still needs to be finished around the tub and shower surround. We are also replacing the vanity and sink, but those have not arrived yet. They should really help to improve the look and functionality of the bathroom as well.

Almost a Year Old

As I was driving Emma to daycare this morning, I turned around a few times to see how she was doing. Every time I turned around to look at her in her rear-facing car seat, I noticed that she was looking over her right shoulder to see me. I think she would really like to have her seat turned around so she can view the front of the car, seeing people in the front seat, and looking out the front window. Well, in just a couple of weeks she will be one year old, and we will get to change her seat's position. I bet she'll enjoy it!

Weight Watchers Week 45

I didn't lose any weight this past week, but then again, I didn't gain any either. So all is good.

Today's weight: 202.0 pounds
Change from last week: 0.0 pounds
Change from start of Weight Watchers: -29.4 pounds
Change from beginning of 2008: -5.8 pounds
Amount from Goal: 7.0 pounds

Viva Obama

For your viewing pleasure...

Trip to Coralville

Mel, Emma, and I were supposed to go to Ankeny for our nephew's birthday party. Unfortunately, his sister was sick today, so the party was postponed until next Sunday. Since we had planned on getting out today, we decided to head down to Coralville to go to the Coral Ridge Mall. We had to get a few new onsies for Emma as most of hers are getting too small. He birthday is coming up in a few weeks, so we didn't want to buy too much, but she really needed something to wear under other clothes.

At the mall we stopped at Sears where we bought some clothes for our newest nephew who was due to arrive in a little over a week. Much to our surprise, while we were checking out with our purchase, Mel's brother gave her a call to let us know that their son, Atticus, had been born this morning! We plan on stopping in Ames to see him next Sunday after our other nephew's birthday party.

Hockey Game

Mel and I went to a Cedar Rapids RoughRiders hockey game tonight. My company had a group of people at tonight's game. However, despite the large group of people from my company at the game, I only recognized three of my coworkers. I guess that is what happens when my employers employs as many people as it does across multiple locations in the area. Unfortunately, the RoughRiders lost the game tonight when the Chicago Steel scored a goal with about thirty seconds remaining in the final period, breaking what had been a tie game since earlier in the quarter.

Weight Watchers Week 44

Today's weight: 202.0 pounds
Change from last week: +1.0 pounds
Change from start of Weight Watchers: -29.4 pounds
Change from beginning of 2008: -5.8 pounds
Amount from Goal: 7.0 pounds

3:45 A.M.

That is the time that Emma decided to wake up this morning. Often we can get her to go back to sleep when she wakes up this early. All we need to do is to hold her for between five and fifteen minutes. Well, that did not work this morning. After drinking eight ounces of formula, all she wanted to do was to crawl around and play with her toys. She whined, cried, and struggled with me as I tried to hold her, so I let her down to play. Once she went back to sleep around 5:40, I went back to bed for about forty minutes before getting up to get ready for work. Well, it's time for me to wake her up now so I get get her to daycare and get myself to work.

More Snow?

It looks like we are in store for more snowfall today in eastern Iowa. At this point, with the excessive amount of snow we have already received this winter I say, "Bring it on!" Another four to seven inches of snow isn't going to kill us, hopefully anyway. Besides, I need to use up the gas in the snowblower somehow!

Pet-Supply Shopping

This afternoon, Mel, Emma, and I went out shopping for some items for the cat. We got him a water fountain water bowl to encourage him to drink more water. The vet suggested that it would be good for him, and it could reduce urinary tract infections in the cat. Besides buying things for the cat, we also looked at some aquariums and aquarium supplies. We didn't buy anything in that department today though. Emma really seemed to enjoy shopping at PetSmart as shown below.

Lunar Eclipse

This morning, while watching the news, I learned that the last total lunar eclipse until the year 2010 would be taking place tonight and that it would be visible in North America. So after putting Emma to bed, I went out in the cold to view the moon as it passed into the shadow of the Earth. I had never actually viewed a lunar eclipse before, not to my recollection anyway.

Weight Watchers Week 43

Today's weight: 201.0 pounds
Change from last week: -0.2 pounds
Change from start of Weight Watchers: -30.4 pounds
Change from beginning of 2008: -6.8 pounds
Amount from Goal: 6.0 pounds

Bad Roads?

I stayed home from work yesterday to work from home because of the poor road conditions were reported to be poor. I had hoped the roads would be better this morning, but the condition of I-380 between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City was still being reported as being poor, with travel not advised. However, I decided that I really needed to go to the office this morning, so at 7:00, I set out on my way.

My drive through town was just fine, although the condition of the roads wasn't all that good. The interstate was in pretty good condition until I got south of Highway 30. At that point, travel speeds were reduced to between five and ten miles per hour. By the time I passed the exit for the Eastern Iowa Airport, some fifteen minutes later, I was ready to turn around and head back home. However, when I reached the next exit speeds were increasing to around forty miles per hour, so I proceeded to the office in Iowa City.

I managed to get to work in a total of about seventy minutes, about twenty minutes longer than usual. Being in the office, it was easier to get work done, especially since I had to print several hundred test items to look at. I did still leave the office early this afternoon so I would be assured of getting home in time to pick Emma up from daycare.

Washington's Birthday

Happy Washington's Birthday everyone! Yes, I called today Washington's Birthday and not President's Day as all of my calendars call it. However, the federal holiday that is the third Monday in February is officially designated as Washington's Birthday. Regardless of what it is called, I will be spending the holiday at home, not because it is a holiday, but because the most recent road condition report from the Iowa State Patrol recommends against travel on Interstate 380 between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City.

Stuck At Home

Mel had to brave the elements to get to work today during the mid-February snowstorm we had today, but Emma and I had nowhere to go, so we stayed home all day. Fortunately we went grocery shopping yesterday in anticipation of this storm, otherwise we would have had to venture out in the icky weather conditions we are experiencing. I had been hoping to get out to join my friend Bill for lunch today, but the ice and snow put an end to those plans even before they were finalized.

As it is, Emma and I have had a pretty good day so far, although she did wake up around 5:20 this morning! She did take a nap for a couple hours this morning which allowed me to take a shower and check my email. We played with her toys and chased each other around the house for a while this morning. The only times she really got cranky was when she was hungry. She has been napping for the past two and a half hours this afternoon, so she will probably be waking up any time now. Fortunately Mel is getting off from work in about 10 minutes, but it will definitely take her longer than usual to get home.

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope everyone had a happy Valentine's Day. I certainly did. Because Mel had the day off from work due to her working this upcoming weekend, I took a vacation day. Since we were able to take Emma to daycare, we had the day to spend together without having to worry about her. Mel got me some really good presents for Valentine's Day. One of the presents was something I expected, a bag of Jelly Belly jelly beans. I just love those. She also got me a RAGBRAI XXXVI cycling jersey. It won't ship until May, so I won't receive it until then. She also got me a stuffed pink and red dragon from Hallmark named Bernice. It sings and flaps its wings as it plays music. It is really cute!

After dropping the VUE off at the Saturn dealership late this morning to have a squeeking problem diagnosed and repaired, the two of us went to Olive Garden for lunch. Following lunch, we went to the Wehrenberg Galaxy 16 Cine to see National Treasure: Book of Secrets. I really enjoyed the movie, but I did have one question about the plot. If you don't want the plot spoiled, you should not read the remainder of this paragraph. Anyway, I was wondering why the President wouldn't have just said that he and Gates were exploring the passageway from the beginning, instead of waiting until the end of the movie, when Gates had already been arrested fr kidnapping him. I suppose it wouldn't have had the same dramatic tension if he had.

After the movie, we went back to the Saturn dealership to pick up the VUE. It had its front strut upper bearing replaced. I have no idea what exactly that means, and I'm just reading it from the service invoice, but it was covered by warranty, so the repair cost us nothing. That's one good thing about having purchased a brand new vehicle.

Weight Watchers Week 42

The pattern continues...

Today's weight: 201.2 pounds
Change from last week: +1.2 pounds
Change from start of Weight Watchers: -30.2 pounds
Change from beginning of 2008: -6.6 pounds
Amount from Goal: 6.2 pounds

Frustration

I have been a bit frustrated with my job lately. It's not that it is too challenging, although it can be challenging at times. The problem I have been having at work lately is that I haven't really been all that busy. I am ahead of schedule on the main project I work on. Because of that, I have volunteered to help out on another project, but the work on that project isn't steady. I have also taken on a couple other tasks when they are available. Now my problem is that I have absolutely no tasks to complete tomorrow! I usually work from home on Wednesdays, so tomorrow morning I will be emailing several of my coworkers, begging them to send me some work to do. Hopefully they will have something for me to work on.

Weight Watchers Week 41

With this morning's weigh-in, I have noticed a pattern in my weight loss. I have had a weight loss in excess of two pounds. That is then followed by a weight gain, but a gain of less than the previous week's loss. This pattern has repeated for a few weeks now.

Today's weight: 200.0 pounds
Change from last week: -3.2 pounds
Change from start of Weight Watchers: -31.4pounds
Change from beginning of 2008: -7.8 pounds
Amount from Goal: 5.0 pounds

Super Bowl XLII Ads

We watched the Super Bowl last night, and while the game was good, I really tuned in to watch the ads. Personally, I could not care less about the game itself, although the end was pretty exciting. Anyway, here are a some of the commercials that appeared during Super Bowl XLII that I especially enjoyed.

Bud Light Ability to Fly

E*TRADE Banking Baby

Coca-Cola It's Mine

Bud Light Jackie Moon

Fun Weekend

I had a pretty good time this weekend. Friday night I met a couple of friends at Fat Wally's in downtown Cedar Rapids for some darts and pool. We had a fun time catching up with each other. After we were through with the pool and darts, one of the friends who I had met there and I went to the Starlight Room so he could have is dinner. I had some snack foods while we talked.

Then last night, Mel, Emma, and I went to Waterloo where we dropped Emma off at my mother's house. My mom watched Emma while Mel and I met up with Mel's cousin for dinner for his birthday. We went to Bourbon Street in Cedar Falls. They have some terriffic food! We both had the steak and shrimp, and I have to say that the shrimp we had was probably the best shrimp I have had in a very long time! It was so succulent! The steak was really good too.

Today, Mel had planned on meeting a couple of her friends for brunch today, but her friends were both sick, so instead, Mel, Emma, and I went out for brunch at Perkins. With all of this eating out, one might think that I have spoiled any weight loss I may have had this week, but this morning my weight was actually down from my last weigh in. So I think I may still have some weight loss for the week.

Jeopardy! Test & RAGBRAI

I just completed two tasks on the computer. One of them was taking the Jeopardy! online contestant search test. Damn, that was a lot harder than I remembered it being from when I took it almost two years ago. I do not think I passed. The second thing I just accomplished was signing Mel and myself up for this summer's RAGBRAI! Now that is something that I know I can be successful at!

Weight Watchers Week 40

Today's weight: 203.2 pounds
Change from last week: +1.2 pounds
Change from start of Weight Watchers: -28.2pounds
Change from beginning of 2008: -4.6 pounds
Amount from Goal: 8.2 pounds

Tax Time

I just got done filing our taxes since I received the last of our necessary tax documents, my W-2, on Saturday. I must say that Emma really helped out with the taxes this year, not in completing the forms, but by putting some extra money in our pockets. Oh, I know we are spending a lot more money on her than we get back on our taxes, but that extra credit is nice.

RAGBRAI XXXVI

The overnight towns for this summer's RAGBRAI were announced today! For many of the past several years, I have told myself that that year's ride will be my last. Obviously that hasn't been the case. By the time the route is announced the next year, I am always eager to sign up once again. This past year was different. Usually I get so exhausted while riding, or it's so miserably hot and humid that I don't think I want to ride RAGBRAI again. Last year though, it was warm, but I didn't feel that it was too warm. Also, the route wasn't too difficult. Now, the only things that could possibly keep me from RAGBRAI are getting time off from work and the cost. Tomorrow I will see about the time off. I don't think it will be an issue, but I can't take it for granted. And with the tax rebates that we will be getting in the upcoming months, I don't think the money will be an issue either.

In case you are interested (and don't want to go to the Register's website), this year's overnight towns are:

• Missouri Valley (Saturday)
• Harlan (Sunday)
• Jefferson (Monday)
• Ames (Tuesday)
• Tama/Toledo (Wednesday)
• North Liberty (Thursday)
• Tipton (Friday)
• Le Claire (End)

Working My Way Through B5

With Mel working evenings this week, and with very little worth watching on TV most nights, I have spent my evenings, after putting Emma to bed, watching my Babylon 5 DVDs. During its initial run on TV, I didn't watch it. Oh, I saw an episode or two during the summer when I was staying at a friend's house, but at the time I just couldn't get into it. The problems I had then were that I had no idea what was going on and it was always hard to find on TV with its time slot seemingly changing from week to week. It wasn't until I moved to Texas that I really got into the show.

I had moved to Texas after graduating from college in December 1997. Shortly after I moved, the final season aired on TNT with episodes from the first four seasons airing nightly also on TNT. I was able to juggle watching new episodes between earlier episodes of the series, and I became a fan.

I just finished watching the second season of Babylon 5. Tomorrow night I will begin watching season three.

Weight Watchers Week 39

Despite the eating out I did this week, the weight loss has resumed.

Today's weight: 202.0 pounds
Change from last week: -2.8 pounds
Change from start of Weight Watchers: -29.4pounds
Change from beginning of 2008: -5.8 pounds
Amount from Goal: 7.0 pounds

A Day Off

In honor of the Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday, I got today off from work. As Mel is working evenings this week, and our daycare provider was still working today, we were able to drop Emma off so the two of us could have brunch at Perkins followed by a visit to the Wehrenberg Galaxy 16 Cine to see Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. We had both really wanted to see that movie, but it has been difficult to find the time with taking care of Emma. Prior to seeing this movie, I knew practically nothing about Sweeney Todd. All I was aware of was that he was a murderous barber. I really enjoyed the movie despite some of the gruesome scenes in contained. It isn't too often that I have seen movies in which people commit murders while singing songs. After seeing Sweeney Todd, I don't think I will ever look at a meat pie quite the same way again.

Sleep

For the first time in a very long while, Emma slept through the night without waking up even once for just a moment! The previous few nights haven't been too bad as she only awoke once each night, usually around 1:00, and she quickly returned to sleep after being tucked back in and being given her pacifier, but she didn't even need that last night. Of course, having her sleep through the night when it has been a while caused me to have irrational fears that she was not well. Despite those fears, I let her be through the night, only checking on her at 5:00 this morning. She even slept a little later than she usually does, not waking up until 6:00.

Weight Watchers Week 38

I gained some weight this week, but not as much as I feared I would. Business travel always does this to me.

Today's weight: 204.8 pounds
Change from last week: +1.6 pounds
Change from start of Weight Watchers: -26.6 pounds
Change from beginning of 2008: -3.0 pounds
Amount from Goal: 9.8 pounds

Home Sick Today

I stayed home sick today. Mel and I went to bed before 8:00 last night because neither of us was feeling well. I slept really well until Emma woke me up shortly after 3:30 this morning. I was pretty much up with her until I put her back to bed at 5:15, allowing me to get an additional fifteen minutes of sleep before the alarm clock went off. I did get a little sleep while I was holding Emma while sitting in the living room. So after getting up this morning, and still not feeling all that well, I decided to stay home. I did have a little work that I had to complete this morning in order to keep it on schedule, but after completing that, I went back to bed. I was able to sleep from shortly after 9:30 until about noon. Once I woke up then, I did feel quite a bit better. Maybe it was just sleep that I needed.

Flying Home

Today I am flying home from Washington, D.C., to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I can not wait to get home to see Mel and Emma, but I will have to wait a little while as it is just under two hours until my flight leaves Saint Louis for Cedar Rapids. My flight is currently running on time. I really hope that status is maintained.

The photo which accompanies this posting is of the clouds below my flight from Washington to Saint Louis from over 30,000 feet. I thought it looked pretty, so I took out my camera and took a few photos of the sky.

Washington, D.C., Tour

This evening, a few coworkers and I took a tour of Washington, seeing several of the memorials that are located in the District of Columbia. I really wish I had brought the tripod for my camera along. That would have helped out quite a bit at getting good photos in the dark. As it was, I did not bring the tripod, so a lot of the photos I took are a little blurry.

The first stop on our tour at which we could get off the bus was at the White House. It was after I took a couple pictures of the White House that my camera's memory card developed an error, requiring it to be reformatted. Fortunately the only photos I lost, besides those I had just taken of the White House, were very bad photos of the Capitol Building that I took from the tour bus. After reformatting the card, I was able to get another photo of the White House.

The next stop on the tour was at the Thomas Jefferson Memorial. I was amazed at how big the memorial was when I walked into it. Sure, I knew it would be big, but I just felt dwarfed by its size. Shown below is the bronze statue of Thomas Jefferson which is inside the memorial.

We then stopped at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial before going to the Lincoln Memorial. It was raining pretty hard when we were there. I was soaked! Here is a photo of the statue of Abraham Lincoln inside the memorial.

Near the Lincoln Memorial, were the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Korean War Veterans Memorial. I took a photo of the Three Servicemen Statue at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

Of all the memorials we visited on our tour. I felt that the most moving memorial was the Korean War Veterans Memorial. The photos I took of it can not do it justice. The dark, rainy night gave the memorial a particularly haunting feel. Below is a photo of a statue from the memorial and part of the wall that is engraved with photos of soldiers.

I really must tour Washington, D.C., some time during the day when I can better see some of the sights. It would be nice if Mel, Emma, and I could come here on vacation some day to see all of the historical sights that there are to see.

And Then There Were Five

It looks like my man, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, is ending his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. I really thought that he had a lot going for him. He had a lot of experience having been a secretary of energy, ambassador to the United Nations, a member of the House of Representatives, and a state governor. Maybe he will end up being in the running for vice president for whoever eventually gets the nomination. Now I am just wondering when Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel will end their futile campaigns for the nomination.

Trip to Washington, D.C.

Yesterday afternoon I arrived in Washington, D.C., for a business trip that will last the remainder of the work week. I had never been to D.C. before, and so far I have to say that I like this city. However I haven't seen much of it yet, and probably won't on this trip. I did see the Washington Monument from the window of the taxi as we rode to our hotel located on Dupont Circle. The view of Dupont Circle from my hotel room is shown below.


This morning when we were taking a break from our meeting I stepped outside and saw a familiar flag in front of the building next door. I walked over there, and as I suspected, the building next to the hotel is the Jamaican Embassy. So, as I walked up to the door, I guess I can say that I was on Jamaican soil. I knew I would want to back to Jamaica some time, but that was not what I imagined.

Weight Watchers Week 37

First of all, this week's weigh-in posting is a day early. That is because I am travelling to Washington, D.C., today for work and will not be able to weigh in tomorrow morning. Second, I am glad to say that my weight loss seems to be back on track, at least for this past week. Returning to really paying attention to what I have been eating has returned my weight to about where it was before the holidays. The previous two weeks I didn't do a very good job at trying to pay attention to my food intake. Now the question is, will I lose any weight this coming week? With work travel through Friday, I will probably exceed my daily points allowance, but I am going to try not to overindulge.

Today's weight: 203.2 pounds
Change from last week: -4.6 pound
Change from start of Weight Watchers: -28.2 pounds
Change from beginning of 2008: -4.6 pounds
Amount from Goal: 8.2 pounds

Wrestling

Yesterday I travelled south to Riverside, Iowa, to help out with the Gary Curtis Wrestling Invitational at Highland High School. I taught there from 1999 through 2002, and except for last year when I had a family wedding to attend, I have returned each year to assist with the tournament. I have been responsible for entering all the necessary data into a spreadsheet in order to compute the team scores. This was the first year I helped out in which I didn't know any of the Highland students, as the students I had in my final year there, when they were in seventh grade, graduated last year. Nevertheless, it was nice to see some of the staff there again, and of course, there were former students of mine in attendance at the tournament.

Thank God It's Over!

It's been nice being able to watch TV this morning without seeing a single political add now that the 2008 Iowa caucuses are over! Prior to lat night, I have twice attended presidential caucuses in Iowa, in 2004 and in 2000. This was by far the largest crowd of participants I have even seen at a caucus. The 252 people in attendance just about doubled the previous record for attendance at the Cedar Rapids Precinct 44 Democratic caucus.

While my candidate did not win, coming in fourth place in the state with just 2% of the delegates, I am really glad that Hillary Clinton didn't finish first, or even second! I am sure Hillary Clinton would be a decent president, but I do not think she can be elected. There are way too many people who absolutely despise her. I think this would make it tough for her to pick up votes from independents in the general election. Now if she were the nominee, I would most likely vote for her, especially if her opponent was Mike Huckabee. I am not sure exactly what it is, but Huckabee really scares me. Anyway, while I think that John Edwards is the most electable of the top three Democratic candidates, I won't be too disappointed if Barack Obama wins the nomination.

While watching Fox News at 3:00 this morning as I fed my hungry daughter, a commentator was talking to a Mitt Romney campaign official in New Hampshire. She wrote off his second place finish in Iowa as a result of the high number of evangelical Christians who voted in the Republican caucus since they had "one of their own" to vote for. I find that a bit insulting to assume that people would vote for someone purely because of their religion. However, it may very well be an accurate statement. This campaign official did not see it a big deal that Romney came in second despite all of the money the campaign spent here and his organization compared to Huckabee's lack of money and organization.

On a similar note, a commentator on ABC pointed out that is was interesting how well Obama did in a state in which 98% of the residents are white. What was this supposed to mean? Did he intend to imply that white people would not vote for a black person for president? I find that even more insulting that the comment I addressed in the previous paragraph. I think most Iowans look more at someone's qualifications for public office than his or her race, or even gender.

Anyway, I am very happy that the commercials, mailings, and phone calls will finally stop, at least for a few months!

Caucus Results

Well, the Richardson group couldn't get enough people to remain viable so I joined the Edwards group. In the end, the Obama group ended up with 4 delegates, the Edwards group earned 3 delegates, and the Clinton group ended up with 2 delegates.

Caucus Update

The caucus is now under way. I an currently in the Bill Richardson group. After the first round, we only had 18 out of the 252 people in attendance, 20 people short of the number needed to be viable. At our precinct, the Obama group has just over 100 people, and the Edwards and Clinton groups have a little more than 50 people each. We are trying to get more people, but if we are still short, I'm headed to the Edwards group.

Caucus Night

Well, the day is finally here. Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucuses are being held tonight, and I plan on being there. And while I do like playing an important part in the democratic process, I will be glad once the caucuses are over. Yesterday when I got home form my mother's house, there were five messages on our answering machine. Each of them was a recorded message supporting a presidential candidate -- two were for Obama, one for Edwards, one for Richardson, one for Dodd, and one for Biden. I have made a final decision on who I am supporting, and I am going to stick with the candidate who I was leaning towards all along, Bill Richardson. I had contemplated changing my decision to caucus for someone else, and I have changed my second-choice candidate from Barack Obama to John Edwards. So, if the Richardson group is not large enough to be viable at my caucus location, Edwards will be getting my support. We'll see how it goes later tonight.

Trip to Waterloo

Since I was home alone with Emma yesterday, the two of us headed up to Waterloo to visit my mother. We had a nice visit, which included lunch out at the Hong Kong Chinese restaurant in Cedar Falls. It had been a very long time since I had been there. I also helped my mom take her Christmas tree down. Her tree comes apart into three segments, and the middle one sure is heavy!

Happy New Year!

The year 2007 ended, and 2008 began, for us at the Wingate by Wyndham hotel in Cedar Falls, Iowa. We all went there to ring in the new year with some of Mel's relatives and friends of theirs. We had a lot of fun while we were there. Emma even got swimming got to for the first time. She really enjoyed it a lot! After putting Emma to bed, the rest of us played various games, including Taboo and Scatergories. It was a really fun evening.

Weight Watchers Week 36

Here's my first weekly weigh-in of 2008. I didn't post last week's weight which was up significantly from the week before. I managed to lose some weight from last week, but my weight is still up from the Wednesday before Christmas. Things should improve this week as I will be tracking all the food I eat.

Today's weight: 207.8 pounds
Change from last week: -0.8 pound
Change from start of Weight Watchers: -23.6 pounds
Change from beginning of 2008: 0 pounds
Amount from Goal: 12.8 pounds

Bye Bye Bennigan's

Since I moved to Cedar Rapids from Iowa City in 2002, including when I lived in Waterloo, my friend Homercles and I have taken each other out to dinner for our birthdays. With just a few exceptions, the dinner has always been at the Bennigan's at Lindale Mall. Now I just read a news story on KCRG-TV9's website saying that Bennigan's, as well as three other stores, will be leaving Lindale Mall by the end of next month. In fact, he, Mel, and I had dinner there just last week. We even have a Bennigan's gift card that we still have a balance on. I suppose we better get back soon to use it, otherwise we'll have to drive down to the Coral Ridge Mall in Coralville to use up the balance of the card as that is the closest Bennigan's location other than the one at Lindale Mall. To make this even more disappointing, Weight Watchers recently has begun including points values for some Bennigan's items on its website and in the new edition of its dining out points guide. Maybe something good will replace it though.

Evaluating My 2007 New Year's Resolutions and Some Resolutions for 2008

My first blog posting of the year, on January 2, listed three New Year's resolutions that I came up with to improve my life. Now as the year is drawing to a close, I can only find it appropriate to evaluate how I did on my resolutions.

My first resolution was to cut back on the amount of soda I drink, limiting myself to just twenty-four ounces each day. Well, that resolution was a bust! Most days at work, I begin my day by walking across the parking lot to the Subway restaurant where my coworkers and I can get soda refills in thirty-two-ounce or larger cups for just twenty seven cents! I rarely skip that.

I did make some progress though on my second resolution, to lose weight. My goal was to get my weight down to 200 pounds on my birthday, October 20. I almost succeeded in reaching that goal. A few weeks prior to my birthday, my weight was down to 199 pounds, but by my birthday it was back up to 202.8 pounds. As of my weigh-in on Wednesday of last week, my weight was at 201.8 pounds. It was significantly higher this past Wednesday, although it was still under 210 pounds.

The final resolution I made was to exercise more, at least twenty minutes per day, three days a week. I don't think I ever reached that goal. I did exercise more when I began Weight Watchers at the end of April, but that has dropped off quite a bit.

Now that I have evaluated how I did on this past year's New Year's resolutions, I am going to come up with some for 2008. Some of these will be very similar to my resolutions for 2007.

1. Drink less pop! Currently I probably drink in excess of 100 ounces of pop each day on average. While this is all diet pop, that still can not be healthy. I'm not going to quit cold turkey, but I am going to begin easing off the pop as the year begins. My goal is to drink an average of 40 or fewer ounces of pop per day each week by the end of February.
2. I am going to continue watching my weight and get it down to 195 pounds. This shouldn't be too tough as I am less than 15 pounds from this goal. My timeline for this goal involves losing an average of half a pound each week, a very doable rate. Hopefully the final pounds I wish to shed will come off a bit faster than that.
3. I still need to exercise more. This year for Christmas, Mel got me a pedometer. I have used it the past three days, and except for today when I worked from home, I walked over 7,000 steps each day. I would like to average 10,000 steps per day each week. I want to achieve this goal by the end of February as well.
4. I also need to exercise more using the elliptical trainer and the Bowflex. I want to use these at least three days each week.

Now I know that New Year's resolutions seem to be made to be broken, but I think I can do it this year if I put my mind to it.

I Love Our Neighborhood!

We live in a really nice neighborhood. When Mel, Emma, and I returned home Christmas evening, after being gone for three and a half days, I was expecting to have to clear away the eight or so inches of snow that had fallen since leaving Saturday morning for Mel's parents' house. We were quite surprised to find that the snow had been cleared away, not only from our sidewalk, but also from our driveway. Our neighbor, two houses down the street, Pete, will occasionally use his snow blower to clear the snow from the sidewalk all the way to the end of the block, so that wasn't as much of a surprise as finding or clean driveway was. I suspected that he had been the one who did it. As I was unloading our truck, Dean, our neighbor across the street confirmed my suspicion. So today, while I was snow blowing the freshly-fallen snow from our sidewalk and driveway, I went over to Pete's house to personally thank him as he was out finishing up some shoveling of snow from his property. I got into a nice conversation with Pete. I have lived plenty of places, but I think this is the only place I have lived with neighbors who would be this helpful.

New Foods

On Thursday of last week, Mel took Emma to the doctor for her nine-month check-up. While there we were told that Emma should now be eating stage three foods instead of the stage two foods we had been feeding her. So the past week, we have begun feeding Emma some Gerber Stage 3 baby food. Emma hadn't had any problems recently with the stage two foods she had been eating, but getting her to eat the stage three foods has been a bit of a struggle, especially the chunkier foods.

I have tried a couple different techniques to get Emma to eat her chunkier stage three foods the past couple days before coming up with a plan which worked quite well tonight. First, I let Emma play with a second spoon. When she tried to put her spoon in her mouth, I stuck the spoon with the food on it into her mouth. Next, I noticed that when I wiped her face with a damp paper towel to clean her up, she would open her mouth, so I started doing that, inserting the spoon of food when her mouth was open. That worked alright, but she caught on pretty quickly. Finally this evening, while trying to feed her the Gerber broccoli and carrots with cheese, I started alternating spoonfuls of the vegetables with spoonfuls of banana, which she likes. This actually seemed to work quite well. I will have to try it again tomorrow. Hopefully though, she will soon begin to actually like the chunkier vegetables and meat entrees.

Back to Work

I actually should have made this posting yesterday as I had to return to work already on Wednesday, the day after Christmas. However, I am only working during the morning this week. I am using the rest of my vacation time for the afternoons this week since Mel has to work evenings this week and Emma's daycare provider is taking the week off.

Yesterday for lunch, Mel, Emma, and I got together for lunch with Homercles as well as my friend from Las Vegas, Anna, at the Irish Democrat. It was good to see them, especially since Anna doesn't make it back to Cedar Rapids too often. Hopefully Mel and I will be able to go out to Las Vegas sometime this spring on vacation and we'll be able to see her then.

It was pretty quiet at work today since there are not many people here. I did get quite a bit of work done this morning as I listened to the CD I gave Mel for Christmas, the Jolly Rogers' live album, No Refunds. I have to say that it is quite an enjoyable CD. I also put out some of the things I got for Christmas, such as my Bad President daily calendar. It's actually a sixteen-month calendar, so I had to remove all the pages from mid-September, when the calendar began, until today. The calendar even goes twenty days into next year, ending on Inauguration Day, January 20, 2009.

If you read my blog regularly, you may have noticed that I skipped my weekly Wednesday Weight Watchers posting. Well, let's just say that the Christmas weekend was not very good for my diet. I will be getting back on track this week and plan on resuming the Weight Watchers postings next Wednesday, January 2, 2008.

Merry Christmas

Emma wants to wish everyone a merry Christmas!

Holiday Weekend

I got a slightly early start to the Christmas holiday weekend today when one of the vice presidents at work walked around the office this afternoon telling everyone not to "stay too late." I took this as a code for "go ahead and go home." So I went home early.


We are also getting an early start to our travels this weekend. We had planned on going to my parents-in-law's house on Sunday. however, with the winter storm and the several inches of ice and snow that it is predicted to dump on us, we have decided that we should leave for their house in Humboldt, Iowa, tomorrow morning instead.

While I would have loved to stay home an extra day, and sleep in my own bed for another night, on the plus side, leaving early than we planned means that there is one less day that I will have to deal with political campaigns calling.

Weight Watchers Week 34

All I can say about this past week is this: too many Christmas cookies and chocolates! I really wish my weigh-in day had been yesterday, because yesterday morning my weight was only up 0.4 pound from last week to 200.8 pounds. This morning however, my weight was up an additional 1.0 pound to a total of 201.8 pounds! This next week will be pretty tough with family Christmas celebrations three days in a row beginning on Sunday. And today I will have to stay focused on what I eat at the holiday potluck at work for lunch, and on what I have for dinner at Bennigan's with my friend Homercles tonight. If I don't lose any weight this upcoming week but am able to maintain instead, I will be happy.

Too Busy to Blog

I feel like I have been too busy to blog lately. This weekend I was especially busy. Saturday morning I donated a pint of blood at the American Red Cross blood drive in town. I had been scheduled to give blood at the blood drive at work last month, but I was sick then and was unable to give blood. As my blood type is O-, my blood is in high demand, and while I really hate needles, I am more than happy to put up with them to give blood. It doesn't cost me anything, and it can help others. After my blood donation, I had a few errands to run before returning home.

In the afternoon on Saturday, Mel, Emma, and I went out shopping once again to get the very last things we needed to get before Christmas. While we were shopping at Lindale Mall, we stopped so Emma could visit with Santa Claus. We got her photo taken with him, shown below. She was really good for Santa. It only took two shots before we were able to get a photo of her smiling, although Santa did have to pull her left hand out of her mouth!

Sunday was a somewhat busy day as well. After church in the morning, we took a photo for our Christmas cards. I picked up the cards this morning from Walgreens and plan on getting them out in the mail tomorrow morning on my way to work. Mel and I also went shopping separately in the afternoon. I went shopping for groceries, while Mel, along with Emma, finished up some Christmas shopping for which I could not be present.

Weight Watchers Week 33

My weight loss continued this week with a loss of an additional 0.6 pound, bringing my weight down to 200.4 pounds, for a net change of 31.0 pounds in the past 33 weeks. This does bring my average weight loss to less than one pound per week, but I suppose that is a healthy rate at which to lose weight. From what I have ready, a rapid weight loss is more difficult to sustain over time. Now I have just 5.4 more pounds to lose before I reach my goal of 195 pounds!

A Couple More Ice Storm Photos

Here are a couple more photos from today's ice storm in Cedar Rapids.

The first shows the DirecTV sattelites on the roof of our house, covered with ice.


This second photo shows the tree in our front yard covered with ice.

Ice Ice Baby

The results of freezing rain can be beautiful. I'm just glad that I don't have to go back out in it today! I took a short break from my work earlier this morning and stepped outside to check out the weather. As I was outside taking a few photos of the ice on the trees, I kept hearing snapping sounds in the background as branches broke from trees in the neighborhood and fell to the ground. I also heard what I thought was crackling sounds coming from a nearby electrical transformer, but I am not sure about that. Fortunately I sill have electricity. Without it, it would be pretty challenging to get any work done from home today.

The Weather Outside Is Frightful

And because of the weather, I'll be working from home today. I spent most of yesterday at work unpacking into my new cubicle. It naturally looks very much like my old cubicle, but for some reason, there is a very different feel to it. Currently I can not open one of my filing cabinets because it is locked shut, and the lock has yet to be installed. Hopefully they get that done today or tomorrow so once I am back in the office I can move things from the overhead bin into the file cabinet where it belongs.

Friday Wrap-Up

I was able to make it to work just fine as the roads had been cleaned up pretty well from the snow the day before. It was not a very productive day at work however. Oh, I did get a significant amount of work done, but a group of nine of us went to HuHot in Coralville for lunch as it was the last day in the office for one of my coworkers. It was the person with whom I used to carpool. She is moving to the Dallas, Texas, area this weekend, and will be working from home from now on. Upon returning to the office following out extended lunch, I finished up some work and then completed the packing of my office since the movers are coming this weekend to move our belongings to our new cubicle locations within the building. I'll be having a lot of fun on Monday unpacking all of my stuff and getting everything set up, ready to get some work done.

Because we had to be all packed by 4:00, I was able to leave work early yesterday. Since everything was packed, it would have been pretty challenging to do any work. I was actually done packing by 3:15, so I left at that time.

After I got home, Mel, Emma, and I went across town to do some Christmas shopping. We just about have all of our gift shopping complete now. I do have a couple of things to pick up today, but that should be it. We also stopped by FedEx to pick up a delivery that couldn't be left since neither of us was home when they attempted to make a delivery yesterday afternoon. It was our new cell phones. On Sunday, when our contract with U.S. Cellular is up, we are going to activate the service on our new LG cell phones from Verizon Wireless.

Yuck!

Most of this afternoon snow fell across eastern Iowa. That meant that what is normally a thirty-five-minute commute home from Iowa City to Cedar Rapids took about an hour and a half! For most of my drive, I did not exceed thirty-five miles per hour, and for the first half of the drive, my speed was significantly slower. It took me twenty minutes to go from the exit on Interstate 80 that is next to the Coral Ridge Mall to the exit from I-80 to I-35! That is a distance of just a few miles.

Hopefully the roads are better in the morning. If the roads are really bad, I could normally work from home, but I do need to go into the office tomorrow. We are moving cubicles at work and we have to have everything packed up by 4:00 tomorrow afternoon. I don't have much left to do, but I still have to get it all finished up. In fact, the rest of the packing that I need to do will take less than half an hour. I'm sure the roads will be better by morning though, so this is probably just a moot point.

Weight Watchers Week 32

I did much better this week with watching what I ate, losing 1.4 pounds bringing my weight down to 201.0 pounds. This makes the difference from my starting weight 30.4 pounds. Now I have just 6 pounds to go to reach my goal of 195 pounds!

Upset with Pizza Hut

Around 5:30 this evening, Mel and I decided to order a pizza from out local Pizza Hut on Mount Vernon Road in Cedar Rapids. I placed the order through the Pizza Hut website. Shortly afterward, I received an email indicating that the pizza would be ready for pickup around 5:50. Well, at that time, I drove to the Pizza Hut only to learn that they were closed. Apparently they closed at 5:00 due to the bad weather. I thought that it would have been nice to have been informed that they were closed, either by phone or email, shortly after placing the order. Well, some time during my drive back home, the store called home to let us know that they were closed. We ended up getting a pizza from Papa Murphy's instead.