RAGBRAI XXXVI

This year’s RAGBRAI is now over, and has been for a few days. I had a good time riding this year, even though I was a bit worried at first since I had ridden my bike a grand total of 23 miles prior to the beginning of RAGBRAI last Sunday. And, for the second year, Mel joined me on RAGBRAI. She did a really good job as well.

Last Friday, Mel, Emma, and I headed back to Iowa where we first dropped Emma off with her Aunt at a truck stop on Interstate 35. We then proceeded to Waterloo where we stayed with my mom for the night before joining the Superior Hawgs, our team, in Evansdale on Saturday.

The ride to Missouri Valley was uneventful until we were partway across the western half of Iowa. All of a sudden, the bus came to a sudden, but controlled, stop as the traffic in front of us had screeched to a standstill due to an accident ahead of us in a construction zone. Since traffic wasn’t moving well, and several people needed a potty break, we stopped at a rest area for half an hour or so.

Once we arrived in Missouri Valley, Mel and I set up our tent then headed to the expo to check out the bike shops and to find some food. Unfortunately we were about as far from the expo as we could possibly have been. It was quite hot, and by the time we got there we needed some water. We did a little shopping for RAGBRAI T-shirts and for water bottles, since I had forgotten them at home. After eating we returned to our campsite.

Day 1

It was fairly hot and humid on the first day of the ride, but we made it through just fine. We stopped at Mama Rafael’s for breakfast. I had never stopped for Mama Rafael’s before, but it was very good. There was a buffet where customers created their own breakfast burritos, and there were a few other options as well. After eating we continued down the road.

When we arrived in Pottawattamie County we were greeted by signs alerting us to the fact that the roads in Pottawattamie County were designed and maintained for motor vehicular traffic and that we should proceed at our own risk. The roads were actually in very good condition. I suppose they were trying to shield themselves from possible lawsuits such as the one that prompted nearby Crawford County to ban future RAGBRAIs from the county. Pottawattamie County also put up some bike crossing signs, including one on the bike route itself, despite the fact that we were not crossing the road, but rather traveling along it.

Our night in Harlan was nice, until around 2:00 in the morning when a fire truck started driving around our campground warning us via its loudspeaker that there was a severe thunderstorm approaching at that we should take immediate shelter. We were camping in a city park, where there was no shelter, but a woman from across the street came out and let us into her house. We stayed there for about an hour before the all-clear was sounded. No thunderstorm ever made it to Harlan that night, but I suppose it was better to be safe than sorry.

Day 2

As we did not get a good night’s sleep, and the fact that we had each ridden significantly further on Sunday that we had previously ridden so far this year, Mel and I both decided to sit out on riding on Monday, resorting to traveling to Jefferson, Iowa, by motor vehicle rather than bicycle.

In Jefferson we camped in someone’s yard. Unfortunately, the yard was a block and a half away from some railroad tracks on which 75 trains pass each day. They had to be going by at least every half hour all night, sounding their loud horns each time they passed. I do not know how I managed to get any sleep at all.

Day 3

Despite the poor sleeping conditions due to the trains, we both set out on our bikes on Tuesday. We both had a really good ride riding to Ames. There were not too many hills. The biggest hill had to be the one right before Boone where we had to climb out of the Des Moines River valley. It was a long hill, but not too steep. It didn’t bother me too much.

Tuesday night in Ames was an adventure though. Our bus driver had stopped at the grounds of an abandoned middle school at which there was some remodeling going on. After we all got our tents set up, and when the bus driver was away, an official came to us and told us that we would have to move as no camping was allowed there. This was a major inconvenience as several people were gone. We called those we could and they returned so we could pack everything up. We then moved to an official campground about a quarter of a mile down the road. This entire situation really upset a new group of riders who were traveling with us for the week so much so that they left. We did not see them again.

We did have a good dinner Tuesday night as Mel has a friend who is currently living in Ames. She and her husband picked us up and we went to the Olde Main Brewing Company for dinner. It had really good food, and there wasn’t much of a wait.

Day 4

Wednesday’s ride started out alright, but the headwinds really began to pick up. Mel wasn’t feeling really well, so she called the day short partway through the morning. After riding a short while, I kind of regretted not doing so as well, but I made it the 75 miles to Tama/Toledo.

We went to downtown Toledo for dinner, taking the shuttle bus. However the bus ended up taking almost an hour to get to our destination as it seemed to take us on a tour of the entire area before going to downtown Toledo.

Day 5

As we woke up Thursday morning, it was chilly and raining. Mel still wasn’t feeling all that well, and I didn’t feel that I really needed to ride in the rain, so we both rode the team bus to North Liberty. We had a good time once we got to North Liberty. We met a former coworker of mine who tool us to the Coral Ridge Mall where we bought sweatshirts since it was cold. We then had lunch at Iguana’s Grill in North Liberty. It was good food, although Mel’s portion was kind of small.

Later in the evening, Mel’s friend Penny from Cedar Rapids came down to see us. We went to Carlos O’Kelly’s in Iowa City for dinner. As it was Thursday, they were having their weekly half-price margarita special.

Day 6

On Friday, both Mel and I woke up around 5:00 as we had been all week and prepared to set out on our ride to Tipton. On the ride today, we stopped in Martelle where we got our picture taken with a pig.

We also stopped in Morley which seemed a little messed up as they were welcoming RAGBRAI XXXVIII. I guess they are being optimistic about RAGBRAI passing through in 2010.

As we were arriving in Mechanicsville, the final pass-through town of the day, I broke a spoke on my rear wheel. The bike mechanic who was set up there did not have the type of spoke I needed, so I had to ride the remaining 15 miles with a missing spoke. I was able to get it repaired Friday night in Tipton though, so everything worked out alright.

Day 7

Our final day of RAGBRAI for 2008 was a very good day. We were arrived in Le Claire around 11:30 and were not the last to arrive at the Superior Hawgs bus.

When we got to Le Claire though, we did have to ride a few miles to find the bus. It was parked next to an entrance ramp to Interstate 80, so when we were ready to head home, we didn’t have to drive through the throngs of bike riders.

As with my past several RAGBRAIs, when I began the week, I was thinking that I may need to make this year’s ride my last, but I once again had such a good time that I hope I will be back for RAGBRAI XXXVII in 2009!

Away on RAGBRAI

As I write this, I am sitting in an Iowa Telecom trailer in Harlan, Iowa. Harlan is the first overnight stop on this year's RAGBRAI. Last year I blogged several days during the week while I was on RAGBRAI, but this year I think I will wait until Mel and I get back home to Minnesota on Sunday. So I will be back in a few days.

Neglecting the Blog

I don't want everyone to think that I have been neglecting my blog lately, it's just that I have been really busy with unpacking boxes, and trying to find places to store the things that were in those boxes. Also, I have been struggling the past couple of days to try to figure out how in the world I am going to hang a closet organizer on the wall of one of the rooms in our basement. It would seem pretty straightforward, except for the fact that the brick foundation of the house lies just over an inch and a half behind the drywall that covers it. I think I came up with a solution tonight. Hopefully it will work. Anyway, I need to get to bed, because while I do not actually have to go anywhere to work, I do need to work. Of course, I don't have to look good since I work from home, although I do have to take my daughter to daycare. I'd hate to look crappy for that.

We've Moved to Minnesota!

Emma and I are finally living in Minnesota with Mel. On Thursday, July 3, the moving company came to our house to load up all of our belongings. Unfortunately, they were unable to load the waterbed mattress because, even though I drained it all day, it still had too much water in it; at least that’s what they said. Anyway, once everything was loaded onto the moving truck, I found Mel’s cat, which was hiding under the stairs, and proceeded to drug him in order to make the trip to Minnesota more pleasant for both him and me.

After loading the last few things into the car, I headed to Emma’s daycare to pick her up from there for the last time. I am going to miss our former daycare provider. She was really good with Emma. And Emma liked going there and playing with the other kids as well. Then Emma, Ike (the cat), and I headed up to the Twin Cities. Because it was a hot day and I had the cat in the car, we couldn’t stop for very long. That meant that we had to eat dinner in the car. Not stopping for very long—we did stop once for a restroom break and to change Emma’s diaper—meant that we got to our destination fairly quickly.

Getting Emma to settle into her new home was quite challenging the first night. Mel and I tried to calm her down and to get her to go to sleep by driving her around town. That calmed her down as long as she was in the car, but she did not go to sleep. I ended up taking her out for a drive two more times that night with the last time happening around 1:45 in the morning! Eventually she got some sleep, but not nearly enough.

Because the movers wouldn’t take the waterbed, and because there were a few other things left in our Cedar Rapids house, we all took Mel’s truck back to our old house to pack up our remaining belongings. Unfortunately, I underestimated the amount of stuff that remained and it wouldn’t all fit in the truck. So Mel had to return to Cedar Rapids again on Monday.

While Mel was driving to Iowa and back on Monday, I tried to get some things done around the house, although it was tough to get some of it done with Emma being around. I did almost manage to get one room painted as she took a nap, but I didn’t get it done.

On Monday I also made an effort to find suitable daycare for Emma. After calling five or six in-home daycare providers and learning that they were each full at least until the school year starts, I drove to a daycare center that is located near our house. I had intended on just getting some information, but the director gave Emma and me a tour of their toddler area. While we were there, Emma even had a snack with the other kids, and she seemed to get along with them well. So when Mel returned home, we all went back to the daycare center so she could check it out as well.

On Tuesday we took Emma to this daycare center for a free trial day. She did really well there, although when I dropped her off this morning, she cried and didn’t want me to leave. However, she seemed to do well for most of the day. The daycare center’s director told me that she had been a bit sad a few times when they were outside, but she cheered up once they went back in. The daycare we have Emma going to now is a bit more expensive than what we had been paying before, but I think the experiences she will have there will make it worth it.

While Emma was at daycare yesterday, and while Mel was at work, I worked at painting Emma’s room and another room of the house. I also had to stick around for the entire day so I could meet with the carpet salesperson, the DIRECTV installer, and the exterminator who we called take care of the ant issue in the garage.

Today the cable installer came to install our Internet and telephone service. Once that was done, I was finally able to actually get to work, although I had to work sitting on the office floor as the movers haven’t yet delivered out belongings. They are scheduled to arrive on Friday. Had I known they would take full advantage of their delivery window, I probably would have gone with the other mover from whom I received an estimate. Oh well, at least I don’t have to worry about the furniture as I paint.

One More Day

I have one more day to finish getting the house packed up for our big move to Cottage Grove, Minnesota. I feel that most of it is under control with the exception of a couple of areas. First of all, I need to get the garage packed up. I also have a couple more boxes of things to pack from the kitchen, and probably another box of odds and ends from around the house. The thing that is frustrating me the most right now is getting the water drained from the waterbed. I simply could not get more than half the water out. And in trying to get the water out, I created some more problems for myself. I had the hose from the waterbed connected to the faucet in the back of the house. Because it was running too long, water leaked into the basement from outside. Fortunately it was clean water and I caught it before it spread much beyond the laundry room. I cleaned up as much as I could. Hopefully the rest of the water evaporates by tomorrow. Unfortunately, the garage flood also got wet from the faucet outside. If it doesn't dry up by tomorrow afternoon, I do not know where I will put the boxes I pack there.

I had to stop for the evening because I ran out of boxes. I will resume the packing tomorrow evening, or maybe even in the afternoon if I complete everything I need to get done at work early enought. My mom was nice enough to come down to help out tonight. If any of my readers who actually know me want to come over tomorrow to help out, please feel free to do so. Anyway, this will be my last blog posting until at least Wednesday of next week. I simply will not have enough time tomorrow, and the Internet will not be installed at our new house until July 9.

Put Out Those Cigarettes

Iowa's ban on smoking in bar, restaurants, and myriad other places went into effect at midnight this morning. Now I will be able to go to out to eat in Iowa and not have to specify that I want to sit in the no smoking section. Also, I will be able to go to an Iowa bar without leaving smelling like smoke. Of course, I am moving to Minnesota, which already has such a ban, on Thursday, so I guess I will not benefit from this much. It will make going to a bar during RAGBRAI nicer though, although I am not sure how will the law will be enforced then. It seems like the great number of RAGBRAI participants far outnumber the number of law enforcement personnel around. I hope they do enforce the law, but I have seen numerous other laws broken during RAGBRAI, so I guess we will just have to see.

It's Finally Ours!

Today, Mel and I finally signed the papers to make the house we are buying in Cottage Grove, Minnesota, ours! It was about time. The closing kept getting delayed again and again. Finally though, it is done!

It being Monday, Mel had to work today, so prior to the closing Emma and I went to the Mall of America where we had lunch and checked out a couple of stores, the Lego and Apple stores. As we were on our way through Nickelodeon Universe, the amusement park in the center of the mall. We passed by character meet and greet area where we saw SpongeBob SquarePants. So, I decided that Emma might like to meet him, so we got in line (it wasn’t very long) and Emma met SpongeBob. She seemed to enjoy standing next to the yellow, rectangular-shaped prism of a cartoon character. She yanked on his tie until I took her picture. We might have to go back some time to see other beloved characters from Nickelodeon programs.

Saturday

Today was a busy Saturday for me. It all started at about a quarter to five this morning when Emma decided it was time to get out of bed. I was surprised that she was awake so early, especially considering that she didn't get to sleep until around 9:00 last night. I was able to put her down for a nap around 6:30 though. While she napped, I resumed my work on packing up the house for our move. She only slept for a couple hours.

After her nap, she and I went to a garage sale. There was an article in today's Cedar Rapids Gazette about a man who was selling his Star Wars collection at a garage sale. I wanted to see if I could find any Yodas to add to my Yoda collection, and I did. I also got Emma a plush Chewbacca toy that originally came from Burger King.

After returning home, Emma kept herself busy playing and watching me as I continued to pack up the house. After eating lunch, Emma took another nap, although this one was just for an hour and a half. By the time she woke up from her second nap, I had run out of bubble wrap packing dishes, so the two of us went out shopping. Besides picking up bubble wrap, I also picked up a couple of T-shirts from a Hy-Vee Drugstore that are being sold to raise funds for the Grant Wood chapter of the American Red Cross to help with flood relief.

After packing for much of the day, Emma and I met up with a friend of mine for dinner. We went to Red Lobster. It had been a while since I had been there. The food was good, unfortunately we were not able to stick around to fully enjoy the food. Emma had some fried clam strips from our appetizer, but she did not want any of the biscuits. She promptly threw a piece of the biscuit on the floor when I placed it in front of her. By the time our meals came, Emma had been getting a bit cranky. She calmed down when I sat her in my lap. That made eating difficult. Also, she wouldn't eat anything unless she could take it from my plate. So I ended up putting her food on my plate for her to eat. She ate some French fries, but would not eat any of her popcorn shrimp. She just threw that on the floor. I could tell that Emma was getting tired, so I got the rest of our meals boxed up, and we headed home. Besides, I was getting kind of full anyway.

Emma fell asleep in her cars eat on the way home. She did wake up though when I got her out of her seat. After her bath tonight, we read a couple of books and I put her to bed. I put her down at 7:30 and she is till not asleep at 8:05. Once she is sleeping, I am going to go back to packing.

Tomorrow, Emma and I are heading up to my sister's condo in Woodbury, Minnesota, so we can see Mel. Then on Monday, we finally get to close on our house purchase! I really wish it could have been on Thurday of Friday of this past week. That would have given us the weekend to begin cleaning, painting, and fixing things up. Oh well, I guess this will finally be done nevertheless.

Closing Time

The time and date are now set for the house closing in Minnesota, but it will not be until Monday afternoon. It sure as hell better happen then, or I am going to be pissed off beyond all belief!

Summer TV

This week I have watched some of the summer offerings on network TV. On Monday I watched Celebrity Family Feud on NBC, hosted by Al Roker. On the episode I saw this week, Ice-T and his family competed against Joan Rivers and her family. Then Raven-Symoné and her family competed against Wayne Newton and his family. It was entertaining, but I like John O'Hurley better as a host.

I then watched I Survived a Japanese Game Show on ABC. Now that show was fun! At first I thought it would just show Americans competing on a Japanese game show, but it turned out that a group of Americans were told they were going to be on a reality show, then were flown to Japan. As they thought they were on a tour of a television studio in Japan, they discovered that they were going to compete on a game show. The winning team got to take a tour of Japan, and the losing team had to take people for rickshaw rides. This is a show I would like to watch again next week.

Then yesterday I watched a show that I had recorded on Monday, Wipeout. This show was alright, but it's not what I would call "must see TV."

Tonight I watched another episode of Last Comic Standing. I had watched it last week when they auditioned overseas comics for the show, so I thought I would watch it again this week. It was pretty funny, and the comic who I really wanted to make it through to next week, Paul Foot, made it!

Normally I avoid reality TV, but I would like to see two of these shows, I Survived a Japanese Game Show and Last Comic Standing through to the end.

Frustration

The process of buying a house in the Twin Cities has been filled with nothing but frustration for me. The first time we looked at houses, we realized that it was going to be difficult to find something within our budget. We considered expanding our search to townhouses, but our real estate agent talked us out of that. Instead, we increased the amount of money we were willing to spend by a little. After a couple more weeks, we found the house we wanted to buy. It was a foreclosed property in Cottage Grove, Minnesota. So on Memorial Day, we wrote up the offer.

Without much problem, we seemed to reach an agreement with the seller, although it did take them what seemed like an inordinate amount of time to get back to us. The inspection found some issues that needed to be addressed before we would buy the house. After a few days, the bank which owns the house agreed to make the repairs. We were supposed to close on the house on Thursday, June 19. On Wednesday, June 18, our real estate agent let us know that the closing would not take place as originally scheduled. Apparently the paperwork was not ready yet. So, the closing was set for Monday, June 23. As I wrote about earlier this week, that didn't happen. The closing was rescheduled for 4:00 this afternoon, but as of yesterday the title company had not supplied the required paperwork. It wasn't until 3:00 today that my real estate agent told me that the paperwork was ready. Of course, since I didn't want to make another unnecessary trip, and use even more vacation time from work, I was still in Cedar Rapids.

So today, a week after we were supposed to complete the paperwork to buy the house, we still do not have a house in Minnesota. The paperwork is ready. We are just waiting for the seller's agent to specify a time at which we can get this done. Mel and I would like it to be tomorrow, but our agent is afraid that it might not be until Monday. If that is the case, Emma and I will likely stay in Cedar Rapids until Sunday so I can get more packing done. Yesterday I scheduled the moving company to load up our belongings next Thursday, so we really need to finish this purchase. Once that is done, we need to concentrate on getting our Cedar Rapids house sold.

A Weekend of Ups and Downs

Thursday, June 19, was the day that we were supposed to close on out house purchase in Cottage Grove, Minnesota, but the day before that was to happen, I got a call from our Realtor. He told us that the seller had to delay the closing to Monday, June 23. So, I changed my plans. Instead of driving up to the Twin Cities on Thursday, I waited until Friday to drive up.

Since we were not going to be able to work on cleaning and painting the house during the weekend, as we had planned on doing, Mel, Emma, and I went to the Minnesota Zoo instead. We had a fun day at the zoo, and Emma seemed to enjoy herself for the most part. Well, toward the end of the day she was getting a bit tired of riding around in her stroller, but she was still pretty good. Here are a few photos from the zoo.

The first photo is of some Japanese macaque, or snow monkeys.

Here's a shot of Emma and Mel at the zoo.

This photo shows Emma enjoying a drink of water. Much of it ended up all over her. We had to change her clothes before driving back from the zoo.

And here's a photo of a caribou.

After returning to my sister's condo, we all, including my sister, went to dinner at Red Robin. We had a nice dinner. It had been quite some time since I had been to Red Robin.

On Sunday, Mel, Emma, and I did some shopping. We went to Home Depot to pick up some of the things we would need for the house, especially paint. We also went to a Sears appliance store where we bought a new stove. The one in the house we are buying is very filthy and has some non-functioning burners. It will be delivered to us in a few weeks.

It's a really good thing we didn't schedule the stove delivery to be much earlier, because on Monday, while Mel was at work and Emma and I were about to eat lunch at IKEA, I got a call from our Realtor. He told me that there was an issue with the title company and so we would not be able to close as we had planned. Now we are supposed to be closing this coming Thursday afternoon. So, instead of using just two vacation days for the closing, this past Friday and Monday, I will have to use more to get the house bought. At least it is almost ours!

Today, I had someone from a moving company come over to our house to write up an estimate for the cost to move our belongings to the new house. It looks like we may be able to move as early as the end of next week. I am so ready to be living up there. It's been really difficult this past month with Mel living hundreds of miles away. It will be very good to be together in the same house again!

Photos of What the Flood Left Behind

Yesterday after dinner, I took Emma near downtown in Cedar Rapids and we went for a walk, looking at the destruction that last week's flood left behind. We stayed toward the edge of downtown, not getting any further than Fourth Avenue, because beyond that it didn't look all that safe for Emma to be. However, here are some pictures of some of the things we saw in and around downtown. If you click on any of the pictures, you will see a larger version of the photo.

This first photo shows water being pumped out of the Iowa Building at 411 3rd Street S.E.

The next several photos show the railroad bridge that used to cross the Cedar River south of the 8th Avenue bridge to Penford Products.

The video below shows the Cedar River flowing by the railroad bridge and pans to show the entire remaining part of the bridge.

Finally, here is a photo of Bill's Brothers Furniture on 8th Avenue. By the time I took this picture, the roof of the part of the building in the right of the photo had been braced to keep it from falling. When I passed the building a few hours earlier, this was not the case.

Finally, here is a photo of a street sign at the corner of 3rd Street and 7th Avenue in southeast Cedar Rapids following the flood.

Resuming Weight Watchers

I quietly stopped blogging about my Weight Watchers diet several weeks ago even though I was still following the plan, for the most part. However, in the past couple of weeks I did not at all watch what I have been eating. Going on a business trip to Dallas where there was terrific food to eat didn't help. As a result, my weight is up 5.6 pounds from two Wednesdays ago. So today I have resumes carefully tracking the Weight Watchers points of what I eat.

Buying Music

One of the presents I got for Father's Day was an iTunes gift card. Last night I was trying to figure out what I should buy with it. I decided to buy the soundtrack to Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End by Hans Zimmer. We already had the previous two Pirates of the Caribbean soundtracks on CD, so I completed out collection. It was a really good soundtrack, although I like the soundtrack to the second Pirates movie better.

Tonight I was perusing the iTunes store and decided to check out some of their classical music selections but I could not find a link to the classical genre. So, I did a search for Ralph Vaughan Williams, who I think may be my favorite composer. Upon looking through the pages of music by Vaughan Williams, I realized that I did not have a recording of his Five Variants of "Dives and Lazarus." I considered buying it at iTunes, but it would have taken five dollars worth of my gift card to get the five individual tracks. There were some albums that had it as a single track, but I would have had to buy the entire album to get it. However, I ended up finding it at Amazon.com as a single track that I could get with my Pepsi Stuff points, so I got the piece for free there, and I still have credits to use at the iTunes store.

Getting on the Bike

I went for a bike ride this evening. It was the first time I have been cycling in just about two months. With just over a week away until the beginning of RAGBRAI, I figured I should get some riding in. Anyway, I wasn't able to go for a ride until this evening, so I took Emma with me in the Burley. She didn't seem to particularly enjoy the ride, although she didn't really complain either. My ride lasted just over twenty minutes and I rode about three and a quarter miles. At the end of the ride, I was worn out. In fact, my leg muscles are still a bit sore. I am attibuting this to the fact that I was towing an extra thirty pounds behind me than I would normally have. I definitely need to get more riding in before RAGBRAI though or else I will be miserable all week!

Cedar Rapids Flood Video and Photos

Here is a video that shows the flooding in Cedar Rapids. Mel shot it yesterday afternoon as we drove north on Interstate 380. It begins just after we passed the 5th Avenue/Diagonal Drive Exit and continues until just after we crossed the Cedar River.

We took the video after walking near downtown. We couldn't get too close because the area was blocked off, but with the zoom lens on the camera, we did get a few pictures of the flooding.

This first photo shows flooding around Quaker Oats and Cargill.

Next, here is Second Avenue on the east side of the Cedar River. I took this photo from the intersection of Second Avenue and Fifth Street.

And here is a photo of First Avenue to the west of I-380. Beyond the NAPA Auto Parts store is the church where we had been planning on going to a wedding yesterday. Due to the flooding, the wedding has been postponed until sometime this fall.

Open House

We are having another open house today to try to sell the house. My Realtor called my in Dallas last Wednesday to schedule it. She indicated that someone had requested an open house for this weekend, so that makes me fairly optimistic. And to top it off, someone actually showed up about twenty minutes ago asking if the house was open. Apparently she didn't notice the sign in the front yard stating that the open house was from 3:00 to 4:30. Hopefully she and her husband or boyfriend come back. She appeared to be pregnant, so maybe the Winnie the Pooh decor in Emma's room will help them to like the house. I am also thinking that the fact that a significant portion of Cedar Rapids is flooded may have the effect of reducing the number of houses for sale that are in a suitable condition, although many of the houses in the affected area are probably not at our price point. Anyway, there may be people looking to move, so maybe the flood will help us to sell the house. Besides, except for a little water in the garage, the house remained dry.

I was also pretty happy to be able to finally shower this afternoon for the first time since Friday morning when I was in Dallas. The water department is up to 50% capacity and so they are allowing people to use water for showering, laundry, and dishes once again, but on an alternating schedule with people in odd-numbered houses be able to use the water for such purposes on odd-numbered days and even-numbered houses on even-numbered days. Being in an odd-numbered house means we could shower today. I will be doing laundry tonight after Emma and I get back home following the open house.

Also this evening, but not until Emma goes to bed, I am going to post some photos that Mel and I took yesterday when we went for a walk near downtown to see the flooding. We also have a video of downtown that Mel shot while we drove north on Interstate 380. I plan on putting that online again tonight.

I Made It Home

My flight left Dallas yesterday just a few minutes late. I guess we were waiting for the flight attendant to arrive. Anyway, once I arrived in Cedar Rapids, I got to sit in traffic on Interstate 380 for about half an hour to get home. Fortunately, I did not have to go as far north on I-380 as I had earlier thought. I was able to get off at 7th Street NE and head home from there, so I did not have to drive much farther than usual, and it only took me an extra half hour to get home.

While approaching and driving through downtown Cedar Rapids, I was amazed at the amount of water that bordered the interstate on each side. Sure, I had seen photos online and on TV, but it was so different to actually see it!

Now that I am home, as well as Emma and, for the weekend, Mel, we have to conserve water since only one pumping station is operating. I got some paper plates and paper cups at Hy-Vee when I got home, as the city was suggesting, but they were completely out of plastic cutlery. In fact, the were pretty short on paper plates. About all they had were the Nickelodeon plates that I bought. Now I get to eat with Dora the Explorer staring back at me from below my food.

Change of Plans

It looks like the route I had so thoughtfully crafted to make my way home from the airport this afternoon will not work out after all. I had planned on driving east on Highway 30 from I-380, but I heard this morning that Highway 30 is closed east of I-380 all the way to Highway 1. So I guess I will have to drive through Cedar Rapids on I-380 until I reach the north end of the metro area so I can exit and then backtrack on other roads.

And, I just got a text message from my wife to let me know that the wedding that we were supposed to go to tomorrow has been postponed until some time this fall. That is really too bad for the couple getting married, but when one hundred blocks of the city are under water, including the church where the wedding was to take place, I guess there is not much you can do.

Last Night in Dallas

I am wrapping up my last night in the Dallas, Texas, area as I write this blog entry. Today was the birthday of one of the people whose company is sponsoring the test we are working on, so a group of about twenty of us--both employees of my company and committee members--got a shuttle ride from our hotel to a nearby restaurant, Saltwater Willy's in Grapevine, Texas. At Saltwater Willy's, their specialty appeared to be seafood, and it was fantastic! I had the jambalaya which was really good. We really had a good time.

Tomorrow I get to return to Cedar Rapids, my home until I get moved to Minnesota. It looks like I will not be able to shower or do any laundry once I get home as the city is requiring people to conserve water, using it primarily for drinking only. That is probably alright for me as I am planning on working from home on Monday at least to avoid having to drive to Iowa City. I also hope I can find a route to get from the Eastern Iowa Regional Airport to our house in southeast Cedar Rapids. I have a route worked out that I think will work for me.

Mel and I have a wedding for a friend of hers on Saturday. It is supposed to be at Saint Patrick's Catholic Church in Cedar Rapids, but from looking at their website, it looks like they may be flooded. I hope that the wedding is able to go forward, but I do not know where it will be. That is really too bad for the couple getting married, but I am sure things will work out.

Dinner

Tonight a few of my coworkers and I went to dinner at the Big Buck Brewery and Steakhouse which is attached to both our hotel and the Bass Pro Shop next door. Because this was the third time this week that we had gone there for dinner, the gave us a couple of complementary appetizers, including venison sausage. I had a steak once again this week. On Sunday night I had a buffalo steak. Tonight it was regular "cow" steak. It was fantastic! Maybe we will end up there again tomorrow night for dinner.

Bass Pro Shop

Tonight was my second night in Dallas, well actually Grapevine, Texas. The hotel I am staying at, Embassy Suites Dallas - DFW Airport North Outdoor World, is connected to a Bass Pro Shop. When I told one of my coworkers that I would be there, she asked me to get an elongated penny for her son at the Bass Pro Shop. After dinner, a few of my coworkers and I went through the hall connecting the hotel to the shop. After wandering our way through the entire store, we did not see the penny machine, so I asked the person attending the entrance. He said they did not have one. I was not so sure about this, so I checked out a web site which lists locations of such penny machines. It specified where in the store the machine was located, so I was able to go back there and acquire an elongated penny for my coworker's son. We walked by its location earlier, but we just missed seeing it.

Dallas

After spending the weekend with Mel, who drove back to Cedar Rapids from the Twin Cities, and Emma, I flew off from the Eastern Iowa Regional Airport to Dallas, Texas, where I will be the entire week for work. This is the first business trip I have been on since January, and the first in even longer that I do not have to leave the Central time zone. I really like that, because while I often get to sleep in an extra hour when I am travelling for work, for the past several trips I have been on, I have been in the Eastern time zone. So sleeping in an extra hour does not actually add up to any extra sleep.

Cute Emma Photo

I wanted to blog this evening, but I couldn't come up with a topic. I am continuing to stay at our house in Cedar Rapids with Emma while Mel is working in Saint Paul, Minnesota, while staying at my sister's condo in a suburb of Saint Paul. We still haven't been able to get the inspection done on the house we are buying because the seller, a bank, apparently can not complete paperwork in a timely manner. We don't have a buyer for our house yet, but there is another showing tomorrow night. So really, not much has changed for me lately. So I decided just to post a really cute photo of my daughter. This picture was taken toward the end of last month, when she was 13 months old.

Presents at Work

Yesterday afternoon was pretty exciting at work, at least for a math geek like me. A few months ago, a representative from a major manufacturer of calculators located in a very large southern state came to our office to discuss some calculators with representatives from our group and other groups at the company I work for. After the meeting, one of my coworkers spoke with the rep and was told that she could send us some free calculators for our use. Yesterday the calculators arrived! Each of the math specialists in our office now has four brand new calculators of different types to use. Now I just need to find time to learn about the features of each of them, unfortunately that probably will not be this week as I have a lot of work to get done.

Another Weekend Ends

Well, the weekend is drawing to a close once again. This weekend, instead of driving to the Twin Cities with Emma, Mel came to Cedar Rapids to see us. We had a good weekend. Saturday night we went to dinner at Carlos O'Kelly's with Penny, one of Mel's former coworkers. I had predicted that Mel would want to go there as she really loves Carlos O'Kelly's and they have none of them in the Twin Cities.

This past week, Emma has begun doing a couple of new things. Earlier this week, Emma began to climb up onto the sofa all by herself. I was shocked to return to the living room from the kitchen one afternoon to see her sitting on the couch. Also this weekend, Emma began to walk backwards! The first time I saw her do that, she backed into something which she must have found funny, as she began to laugh when she bumped into the object.

Grammar

Mel and I were watching a movie on Lifetime tonight. Each time the movie returned from the commercial break, there was a message at the bottom of the screen that said "YOUR WATCHING..." I could not believe that whoever creates their graphics can not use correct grammar! I realize that English can be a difficult language, but is it really that difficult to use the correct word?

Upgrading the Computer

Over the past year, our home computer has been performing slower and slower. I have tried a few remedies to fix this performance issue with the machine. I tried removing a lot of software from the machine, I added an external hard drive to free up hard drive space, and I cleaned the computer's registry. All of these seemed to result in minor improvements in the speed of the computer. Well yesterday I finally ordered some additional memory for the computer. It arrived today, and once I got it installed, the computer has begun performing much, much better! Applications are no longer crashing left and right, and I can switch from one application to another without having to wait minutes for the other application's window to become active. Now my computer has 2.5 gigabytes of RAM instead of just 512 megabytes. I really wish I would have done this months ago as it has been very frustrating at times waiting for the computer to respond to an input.

Offer Accepted, Almost

The bank which owns the house in Cottage Grove, Minnesota, that Mel and I want to buy accepted our purchase offer for the most part. They did change two very minor issues in the agreement, but they weren't anything that will keep us from buying the property. So assuming that the financing works out, and I have no reason to doubt it will, especially considering that we have been pre-approved, and if the inspection of the property checks out alright, we will be the owners of a house in the Twin Cities by the end of June! Now, we just need to get a buyer for our house in Cedar Rapids. Our Realtor is having an open house this Sunday, so maybe that will generate some interest.

Another Weekend in the Twin Cities

As my wife started her new job in Saint Paul last Monday, she has been living in the Twin Cities with at my sister's condo. Being without her for the entire week was difficult, not only did I miss her, but it was also a lot more difficult to take care of Emma on my own. So, Friday after I got home from work, Emma and I got in the car and drove four and a half hours to Woodbury, Minnesota, to see Mel. Of course, the trip took an hour or so longer than that. First of all, I had to make a few stops in Waterloo to deliver PartyLite candles to some people who came to Mel's PartyLite candle party a couple of weeks earlier, and Emma and I had to have dinner. After leaving Waterloo, we drove for about forty five minutes before Emma started whining. So after an additional forty five minutes of driving, we stopped in Clear Lake where I changed Emma into her pajamas and let her walk around the Shell gas station for fifteen minutes or so. She was not happy when I put her back into the car, but she soon fell asleep.

Besides seeing Mel and my sister this holiday weekend, my mother was also at my sister's condo because all of the family was gathering in the area to go through my grandmother's belongings which had been stored at my aunt and uncle's house up there since my grandmother passed away last fall. My aunts and uncles, and my mother, had already divided up a considerable amount of her belongings before I arrived. On Saturday though, everyone had the opportunity to pick out some of my grandmother's jewelry. Then, all the grandchildren, including me, got to pick things from what was left over. We drew cards to determine the order in which we would pick. The whole process seemed a bit strange. My grandmother's belongings were spread out on tables throughout the house. It kind of felt a bit like a garage sale the way everything was laid out. Mel and I picked out a bowl and some pots and pans. We also got a stool and a couple other small things. After we were all done, the entire family went to the Green Mill in Hastings for dinner. It was nice to all get to eat together.

On Sunday, Mel, Emma, and I went to Roseville to do some shopping. Mel needed some new clothes for her new job. In all of her previous jobs, she didn't need any special clothes as she usually had to change into some type of lab clothing at work, but at her new job, she needs to dress in business casual clothing, so she needed to expand her wardrobe. I also got a couple of things.

After shopping, we met with our Realtor to look at a few houses, two of which Mel had seen with him earlier in the week. The house that Mel really wanted had sold between Wednesday and Sunday, so that one was out. However, our Realtor told us that had probably would have discouraged us from buying it. We did find another house that we liked though. It is smaller than our current house on the main floor, but to get something the same size or larger would be a lot more expensive. The last house we looked at on Sunday had a few minor issues. Mainly it needs a good thorough cleaning and some fresh paint, but it really wasn't in that bad of condition, so we decided to make an offer to purchase the house. We are really hoping that the bank which owns the house, as it is a foreclosure, will accept our offer as is. We hope to hear back by Wednesday from it.

Monday after lunch, Emma and I got back into the car to drive back to Cedar Rapids. The trip took a lot longer than it would have had I been driving alone. Emma was getting cranky being cooped up in the car for so long, so we stopped in Albert Lea, the Iowa welcome center near Northwood, and Clear Lake, each of which is about fifteen minutes from the previous location. After stopping at the Casey's General store in Clear Lake, Emma finally fell asleep for a nap. She stayed asleep until we got to Cedar Falls. The rest of the drive wasn't too bad, although Emma was getting a bit impatient with being stuck in her car seat by the time we reached the exit for Urbana, about half an hour from home. Once we did get home, she had a great time running around the house. She did have a had time getting to sleep though last night, but she was sleeping shortly after nine, about an hour and half after her bedtime. Next weekend, since we do not have any house hunting tasks to complete, Mel is driving to Cedar Rapids instead of us travelling to the Twin Cities. That should make the weekend a lot easier on Emma. I really can not wait until we get relocated to the Twin Cities permanently!

Neighborhood Crime

I like to think that our house in Cedar Rapids is a nice, quiet, and safe neighborhood, even though we are just a block and a half away from Mount Vernon Road, a major route of travel on the southeast side of town. Despite my feeling about the neighborhood, there has been some crime nearby on Mount Vernon Road since we have lived here. There have been two or three robberies of the banks or credit unions on the corner near our house. And now, the Mr. Movies that is just on the other side of Mount Vernon Road from us was robbed at gunpoint! Now don't anyone start accusing me of committing this robbery, not that anyone would seriously do so. I have an alibi for the time of the robbery as I was on the phone with a friend. Anyway, I still feel that this is a nice neighborhood.

Emma and Daddy

Mel started her new job yesterday, and we haven't found a house in the Twin Cities yet, so for now, she is staying with my sister and Emma and I are at our house in Cedar Rapids. Taking care of Emma on my own is a bit difficult, but I think we will manage. We did look at some houses this past weekend and have a couple of possibilities, one in Newport and the other in Saint Paul Park, but we want to look a bit more to find the right house for us.

As far as getting out house sold, so far things are going well. We signed all the paperwork on Friday. This afternoon there was one showing and there are two more scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. I am really optimistic about getting the house sold, but we still haven't found one to buy yet. Fortunately, a lot of the houses we are looking at in Minnesota are vacant, so I am guessing that the possession date could be a bit more flexible.

New Carpet

This afternoon, carpet installers finished the installation of new carpet in our living room, dining room, and basement. The carpet in these rooms was seventeen years old, and it showed its age. Our Realtor suggested having it replaced to help with the sale of our house. She thought that it would improve the look of the house inside, and she was right. Our carpet looks so nice now. It's too bad we didn't replace it three years ago when we moved in. Of course, it wouldn't look so nice today if we had replaced it three years ago. I really hope that it does help to get the house sold quickly.

I've also finished with painting the remodeled bathroom. There are a couple other minor cosmetic things that I can do to improve the appearance of the house. Tomorrow I will be calling the Realtor though to let her know that we are ready to sell!

Looking at Houses & Dinner

Mel and I looked at four houses today with our Realtor. We had a list of six that we wanted to look at, but one of them had an offer pending, as well as mold in it, and another one in South Saint Paul that was unavailable to show today. We were a bit disappointed, because we really wanted to see the house in South Saint Paul. The four houses we did look at today all had some major issues. The carpet in the first house we looked at was soaked with water. The walls in the basement had mold coming through them! Our Realtor felt that the house was looked like it could possibly be condemned.

The second house we looked at, one in Richfield, was in the middle of a renovation, so we would have had to complete that. The layout in the basement was very odd, and it needed a lot of repairs. We looked at a second house in Richfield that started out to look promising, but none of the bedrooms were big enough for our king-sized water bed, plus this one also had an oddly configured basement.

We finished our tour of homes this afternoon with a house in Bloomington. From the description we saw prior to viewing the house, it sounded pretty promising. The description said that it needed some cosmetic fixes. I expected that it needed painting and maybe some carpet cleaning or replacement, but I was underestimating the amount of repairs the house would need. The carpets were all pretty disgusting, so they would all have had to go. The counter top in the kitchen was awful, and a lot of the windows were in terrible condition. One of the windows in the upper floor had a T-shirt jammed between the outer and inner panes to keep air from passing through.

None of the houses we saw today was the house for us, but now our Realtor has something to work with in regards to what we are looking for. This evening though, Mel and I were talking with my sister, and we decided that we would expand our home search to consider town homes as well. We figure that we can maybe get something that is in better condition for the money we can afford if we look at town homes as well. In fact, we saw a lot of promising properties online tonight.

Now for dinner, last night we were disappointed by that fact that the Woodbury Don Pablo's restaurant was closed. So tonight, we drove to Roseville to eat at Don Pablo's there. The food was good, but the service left some to be desired. We waited a long time for some extra chips, and for a drink refill. We think the server was probably just too busy with too many tables to attend to, and he was quite apologetic, but nonetheless, the service could have been better. That will not dissuade us from returning to that Don Pablo's though.

Trip to Minnesota

Yesterday afternoon, Mel, Emma, and I all got into the truck and hit the road for a trip to Minnesota. Mel starts her new job in Mendota Heights in a couple of weeks and needed to come up to complete some paperwork. Since she had to drive up anyway, I suggested that we all go so we could begin searching for a house. So, while Mel was working on her paperwork, Emma and I met with a Realtor in the area to begin discussing what we would need in a house. Hopefully tomorrow we get a chance to look at some of the properties we identified today.

I spend much of the rest of the day at my sister's condo in Woodbury. She was hosting a garage sale today for the orchestra in which she plays. They had a lot of stuff to sell, and it seemed pretty busy for much of the day. She even made a sale a good hour and a half before she officially opened!

This evening, we all headed to the Don Pablo's restaurant in Woodbury for dinner. My sister really wanted to go there while we were in town, and we though it would be a great place to go, so we drove there. Unfortunately, when we got to the restaurant, we learned that the Don Pablo's location in Woodbury had closed! Because of that, we had to continue driving to find somewhere else to eat. We ended up going to Plaza Garibaldi‎, a Mexican restaurant in Oakdale instead.

When we got out of the truck in the parking lot at Plaza Garibaldi, we heads a hissing sound. Upon further examination, we discovered that One of the tires of the truck had a nail stuck in it, and that the tire was quickly losing air! After getting seated in the restaurant, I called a towing service to come out to change the tire. I have previously changed tires on cars, but never on a pickup truck. Anyway, I was very glad I called someone as the tow truck driver had a heck of a time getting the lug nuts off. He indicated that they had been over torqued the last time they were put on. We eventually got the tire replaced with the spare though, and were able to head back to my sister's condo for the evening.

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.