A Political Dilemma

I have a bit of a dilemma politically. The candidate who I am currently planning on supporting during the January 3 caucus in Iowa wants to eliminate No Child Left Behind. While I think NCLB has many issues, and philosophically I wouldn't be sad if the program were scrapped, my job developing tests owes quite a lot to NCLB. Now I don't think the testing industry would disappear if NCLB were to go away, but I don't think it would be good for business.

The candidate I am supporting is not one of the top tier candidates, so it isn't likely that he will win the nomination, but it does bother me a bit to be supporting someone who has a position which would hurt the business I work for. Now there are other aspects of the candidate that I like for which he has earned my support. I do have a backup candidate who is in the top tier of candidates running who will get my support should my candidate's group not be large enough to be deemed viable at the caucus site I attend and he does not plan on eliminating NCLB, so my job is probably secure in that sense.

Weight Watchers Week 31

Thanksgiving week was a good one to me from a culinary perspective, but not from a weight-loss perspective. I ended up gaining 2.4 pounds this past week, bringing my weight back up to 202.4 pounds for a net weight loss of 29.0 pounds. Not being able to get my weight much lower than 200 pounds is becoming frustrating. I suppose I just need to follow the plan, and it should work. I admit, I have been doing some snacking at work that hasn't been recorded into the Points Tracker. Recording everything I eat is definitely what I want to do if I want to lose the last 7.4 pounds needed to reach my goal of 195 pounds.

Emma Stands

On Wednesday I posted a video of Emma crawling, which she just began doing the Friday before. Then, this past Saturday, Emma began to pull herself up to a standing position all by herself! I tried to get a picture of her standing then, but she fell down before I could get the camera ready. Tonight I finally got a picture of Emma standing. It won't be long now, maybe a month or so, before she begins walking. Then we're in for trouble.

Fist Fight at the Galaxy 16 Cine

The Cedar Rapids Gazette is reporting that the manager and four other employees of the Wehrenberg Theatres Galaxy 16 Cine in Cedar Rapids today. According to the article, a group of moviegoers were being disruptive during the movie. Other patrons complained to theater staff about the group and after not settling down when confronted by the manager, the manager asked them to leave. They then assaulted the manager and other staff who came to his assistance before fleeing the movie theater. One thing the article did not mention, but which I am interested in, is what movie they were viewing. I'm just curious, that's all.

Shopping with Baby

For the third time in three days, Emma and I went shopping. On Friday we went to Westdale Mall; yesterday we went to Home Depot and Wal-Mart; today we went to K-mart, Kohl's, and Lindale Mall. I have noticed that strangers really like to talk to parents about their babies, or even just to talk to the babies themselves. I don't mind as I enjoy talking about Emma to people who will listen. I just find it interesting how strangers will just begin talking to me about her. In shopping with Emma, I learn about other people's babies as well since they will invariably tell me that they have a grandchild around her age. They will then proceed to tell me about the developmental milestones that these other children have achieved. Children, especially little girls, also love to look at and talk to Emma when they see her.

The one thing I don't like though is when they get the baby's gender wrong. Now I understand that it can be difficult to tell baby boys from baby girls, but they could at least ask if it's not apparent. To avoid the possible gender confusion, I try to put Emma in clothes that are obviously "girl" clothes -- pink, purple, or flowered clothing. Now I thought that Emma's red turtleneck shirt with black pants that she was wearing today looked feminine, but apparently that was not the case as I had more people think she was a boy today than usually do when I am shopping with her. I guess I need to go back to the girlie colors next time we go shopping.

There was one really cute moment of our shopping expedition today. After we entered the elevator in Younkers, we were followed by a couple who each had a stroller with them as well. The man of the couple was pushing a double stroller with twin boys who appeared to be about Emma's age. The woman had a stroller with a somewhat older girl in it. As the three of us with our collective four children rode the elevator down, the children all just looked at other, not sure what to think.

95th Birthday

Tonight we all went out to dinner for my great uncle's ninety-fifth birthday. We typically celebrate his birthday in the Amana Colonies, and tonight was no different in that respect. One difference tonight is that we went to a different restaurant than we usually do. We went to the Ox Yoke Inn, and I have to say that it was a good decision. I felt that the food there was better than it is at the restaurant we usually go to. They didn't have as big a selection of salads there, but there was enough, and the hot dishes were really good. I really hope that we go there again the next time we go to the Amanas for dinner.

Black Friday

The Christmas shopping season unofficially began today, and I did my duty as an American in spending money to help the economy. However, my shopping began by returning a pair of jeans that Mel bought last Saturday. After putting the jeans on at home, she discovered that one of the legs of the pair of jeans was an inch or two longer than the other leg. Well, that's no good. I did do some actual buying of goods though while I was out. I bought one Christmas present. I also bought some Pyrex storage containers. It was an eighteen-piece set that had a regular price of forty five dollars. After all the discounts I received on the product, it ended up costing me just eight dollars! Now that was a bargain!

Thanksgiving Dinner

Mel had to work today (as well as tomorrow and both days this weekend) so my mom and sister came to our house for Thanksgiving dinner which we has this evening. It was the first time my mom had ever cooked a turkey, and it turned out really good. It was also the first time I had ever carved a turkey, and I think I did an adequate job getting the meat off the turkey carcass if I do say so myself. I actually enjoyed having a Thanksgiving dinner for which I did not actually have to travel anywhere. It was also only the four of us, plus Emma who slept during dinner, so it wasn't too crowded and there weren't really all that many dishes. And because there were only four of us eating the twelve-plus-pound bird, there is plenty of turkey left over for sandwiches the next day or so.

Emma Crawls!

For about a month now, Emma has been able to get around the room by crawling backward and by scooting forward. Last Friday Emma began crawling forward! Here's a short video of her crawling in the living room.

Write Your Own Caption

I saw this photo of a stormtrooper, an Imperial officer, and Darth Vader in the local newspaper yesterday. It was taken at a local sci-fi convention. I don't want to say anything unkind, so I will leave the comments up to you, the reader.

First Snow of the Season

We had our first real snow of the season yesterday in Cedar Rapids. It actually accumulated some in the grass. Fortunately, all the snow on the driveway and sidewalk melted, so I didn't have to shovel it off. As the snow began to fall yesterday, I noticed my neighbor across the street mowing his lawn! During the summer he typically mows about once every three days. I guess he wanted to get one last mowing in before putting the mower away for the season.

Last night was also the first time that Emma was out in the snow. She seemed a bit confused by the freezing bits of frozen water falling on her face, but it didn't really bother her. She experienced the snow as we were walking into the Irish Democrat to meet a friend of mine for dinner. It was a nice dinner. I tried something other than my typical order last night. Instead of the ribs and chicken strips, I had the Democrat burger. It was good, but I think I like the ribs and chicken strips better.

Walker, Presidential-Candidate Endorser

Chuck Norris has endorsed former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee for the Republican nomination for president. And Huckabee's plan to stop illegal immigration, Chuck Norris. There is a pretty long border separating the U.S. from Mexico. I don't really think that Chuck Norris will be able to adequately stop people from entering this country illegally. Who knows, if Mike Huckabee wins the nomination, maybe he'll make Chuck Norris his running mate. Chuck could really kick some diplomatic ass!

Sleeping Through the Night

Monday night and last night were the first nights in a couple weeks that Emma slept through the night, at least for the most part. She did wake up once each of those two nights around 11:00, but giving her pacifier back to her was all it took to get her back to sleep. She even slept in a little bit, not waking up until 6:15 yesterday morning and 6:00 this morning. Emma must be feeling a bit better since being sick last week.

Weight Watchers Week 30

Once again, I was scolded by the Weight Watchers website for losing too much weight this week, losing 3.8 pounds bringing my weight down to 200.0 pounds. This is just one pound above my lowest weigh-in weight since beginning Weight Watchers thirty weeks ago. This brings the difference between my starting weight and my current weight 31.4 pounds.

Will the weight loss continue this week, or will I maintain or gain? We are going to the Irish Democrat for dinner with a friend tonight and having a Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow night. Then on Saturday we are going to the Ox Yoke Inn in Amana for my great uncle's ninety-fifth birthday. With all this eating, maintaining my weight loss will be a challenge, but I think I can do it. Anyway, I am just five pounds from my goal, so if I don't lose any weight this week, that's alright too.

Saturday

I had to work for a couple of hours this morning. It has been a while since I have done work on the weekend, not counting travel time for business trips. This work was participating in the training of some subcontractors for the project I am working on.

Early this afternoon, Mel, Emma, and I went shopping. We had to get a birthday present for Mel's cousin's five-year-old daughter. After buying a Barbie doll for her at Target, we went to JCPenney because I wanted to try on some jeans so I would know the style and size to ask for when I complete the Christmas list that my mother would like me to complete. Because of the good price on the jeans, I ended up buying one pair today, although I can still use some more. I also ended up buying three polo shirts. I normally would not have made such a purchase so close to Christmas, but it was a deal I couldn't pass on. I was able to get three thirty-six-dollar polo shirts for $2.54 each! This will make a good addition to my wardrobe as I haven't added many new polo shirts in quite a while.

After our shopping expedition at Westdale Mall, we went to the birthday party at Pump It Up in southwest Cedar Rapids. Pump It Up is a place where kids can go and play on inflatable slides, bouncing areas, and other similar things. The hour and a half we were there was quite enough. The twenty-something children around the age of five seemed to have a great time, although it was a bit noisy.

After the birthday party we headed home so Mel could get ready to go to a RoughRiders game with her friend Penny for Penny's son's sixth birthday party. While Mel was at the hockey game, I had a friend over to visit. We played a few board games. I hadn't seen this friend in a while, so it was good to have him over.

Now that I have finished writing this blog entry, I am going to check if Emma has gotten back to sleep so that I might be able to go back to bed for the evening. Hopefully she sleeps through until morning. That would be a nice change from her new routing of waking up at midnight and at three in the morning as she has the past few nights.

Badges? We don't need no stinking badges!

Well, actually I do need a badge to get into the building at work, and today I got a new badge. This summer my company changed its identity by eliminating a couple of words from its name, and therefore the company logo also changed. So today some of us got badges with the new company logo. It's nice to have a new badge since the one I had was getting a bit worn and the picture on it was fading. Now my work badge has a nicer looking picture on it.

Back to the Dentist

After my headache didn't subside following my dentist visit last week, I got a prescription for an antibiotic from my doctor, thinking that I had an ear infection. After completing the round of antibiotics, I still had some pain, although noticeably less. However, this pain was located more in the area of one of my teeth, and it seemed to come on more while and after eating. So this morning, my dentist removed the filling that I had in that tooth and replaced it with a filling of medicated cement. So far I haven't felt any pain, but that could be due to the fact that the effects of the local anesthetic hasn't completely worn off yet.

Weight Watchers Week 29

I managed to turn things around this week and lose a significant amount of weight, 5.4 pounds to be exact. The difference between this past week and the prior two weeks is that I actually paid attention to what I was eating and recorded my Weight Watchers POINTS. Now my weight is down to 203.8 pounds for a difference of 27.6 pounds from when I started Weight Watchers. Now I just have 8.8 pounds to go until I reach my final goal of 195 pounds!

Laryngotracheobronchitis

Yesterday afternoon I got a phone call from my daughter's daycare provider informing me that she had just coughed up some of her formula and did not sound good. So last night, Mel and I took Emma to the doctor where she was diagnosed as having croup, a viral infection that causes a tight, low-pitched barking cough. She is also making a raspy breathing sound called stridor. The doctor made her diagnosis the moment she walked into the exam room and her Emma breathing across the room. For treatment, Emma got a shot in her leg. The shot seems to be doing some good as her breathing is sounding a little better this morning than it did last night. However, due to the fact that she is contagious, she is staying home with me today and tomorrow. That actually works out pretty well for me as I didn't have a lot of work to do today.

So far today, I have done about a hour of work while Emma was napping. Other than that, she and I have been doing a lot of cuddling, trying to comfort her despite the fact that she is uncomfortable. She recently began another nap. Hopefully she feels even better when she wakes up.

Kitchen Stuff

Mel, Emma, and I went to Ankeny today to visit Mel's sister and her family. While that was one of the reasons we went there, we also went to attend the Pampered Chef party that Mel's sister was hosting. I had never attended one of these sales parties before, and that's probably a good thing as there are a lot of kitchen gadgets in the catalog that I would be very tempted to buy. We did end up buying a few items, but there were other things I wouldn't mind getting. Perhaps we can get a few more in the future.