Day 356 - 02/12/2008

I woke up this morning to a sale. That continues the streak of one sale per month since going live 2.5 years ago. That might not sound like much (and trust me, it really isn't), but it's a nice ego boost to see that someone is paying me for something I created with that Melon between my ears. Let's hope that streak continues.

We had CCR this afternoon. Bales was going for four in a row but it wasn't in the cards (I think he was the first one pulled, IIRC). I've been on the bubble the last two times and was relieved to see my card pulled fourth (out of six players). Frank and Thuc were left on the bubble this month and, after 30+ free lunches, Thuc finally had to shell out for lunch. I really don't care who ends up paying, as long as it's not me. It just makes lunch taste that much better!

I was supposed to go to David's tonight, but with the ice storm, we canceled until next Tuesday. That works better for me anyway since it gives me more time to stretch my left hand when trying to cross five frets up near the top of the neck. Down the neck by the body, where the frets are pretty close together, I can bridge the gap pretty easily, but up near the bridge? Forget it. Actually, I can get it for a little bit, but after about a minute or so of playing, my hand starts hurting. I just have to keep telling myself that one day it will happen and all the practice I've put in will pay off.

So, instead of going to David's house, the kids and I played a Charlie Brown Valentine's Day game that Lori dropped for for N's party on Thursday at school. It's way convoluted for the kindergarteners though, so I don't think D will be bringing it in.

After the kids got to bed (which was late as we were in the basement looking through pictures for the Wall of Shame for the party on Saturday night), D and I watched Terminator: SCC on Tivo. We both get a kick out of the cyborg sent to protect Sarah and John; the other characters we could do without. It was good seeing David Silver [David Austin Green of 90210 fame] back on the small screen. I wonder where the rest of the 90120 gang are? Hanging out at the Peach Pit?

Before hitting the sack, I browsed the music for my party and tagged those songs I wanted to hear. I was able to cull the list from 8 days to 14 hours, as well as remove any duplicates. D will need to go through them again to add/remove any songs she wants played, but for now, I think we're pretty much set.

Day 355 - 02/11/2008

Can it be? Only 11 days left? I can't wait. As I've said on numerous occasions, these posts, while a good exercise in writing (and hopefully reading), are a chore. I keep putting off posting on a daily basis and then write a few days posts at once. While it fulfills the letter of the contract, that's not what I had intended.

I mentioned to M that mornings have become pleasurable and that I appreciate the change in her morning attitude. Part of it is due to her wanting to get to school early to get a tall chair (not a "high" chair, mind you -- those are for babies), but I think part of it is also her maturity level. Of course, there's still a way to on that front, but every little improvement helps. Of course, changing my attitude has helped as well, so maybe we're feeding off each other.

I hit the gym after work today and am still enjoying the resistance strap workout I've been doing since the beginning of the year. I need to get into the gym when Tammy's there to have my measurements taken again to see what's changed since January 4th (when my yearly baseline was taken). I'm sure the body fat percentage has decreased, but my weight has pretty much stayed the same (well, maybe it's dropped a little bit). Regardless, I'm seeing an increase in arm size, as well as an increase in core strength. Today, for instance, I upped the reps for all the exercises to 20 (vs. 15 in the previous weeks) -- even on the push ups I do at the very end!

No book reading tonight as M was late getting her clarinet practice done and she got to bed late. Oh well, we're in no rush...or should I say they don't seem to be in any rush!

Day 353 - 02/09/2008

What a busy day. M started swimming this morning so I N and I hit the road for a boatload of errands. I had promised him we'd head to the train stores to see what we can find. He's been itching for a train set (HO scale type train set) ever since he's been old enough to understand what they were and I think this is the year D and I get him one. Of course, he changes his mind with regard to what he wants on a somewhat weekly basis, so even if we got him what he wants, he'd probably want something else next month.

Anyway, that was stop numbers one and two. Fortunately, the second train store is located in the same shopping center as the uniform store, so we were able to kill two birds with one parking spot (and believe me, the parking lot at Fair City Mall is a pain in the asssssss to negotiate and find a spot...it is always full up like a tick).

Afterwards, we headed up 29 to the Merrifield Post Office, stopping for lunch at Tippy's Tacos. I haven't eaten there in I don't know how many years. I wasn't in the mood for a taco (like I usually got), but the salsa (hot sauce, really) hadn't changed a bit. N ate a cheese quesadilla and had a small Coke Coca-Cola (his correction, not mine). From there we hit the post office to drop off Super Bad and then hit Unique in hopes of scoring a costume for next weekend's party.

Unique is just that: a thrift store in an old Marlo (?) warehouse. It's got tons of used stuff and is dirt cheap. I didn't find what I was hoping to find, but I was able to put something together with what I did find. On the way home from there, we stopped by another thrift store where I finished my costume.

Since it's supposed to turn nasty tomorrow, I went out for a run (~4 miles) and felt good. I was surprised I didn't have any knee issues after Thursday's run. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come!

After bowling we hit the post-bowl party for a bit before heading home to relieve the babysitters. Had they not been in 6th and 7th grade, we would've stayed out a bit later, but seeing as they're just a few years older than M, we decided to make it an early evening.

I wasn't as success

Day 338 - 01/24/2008

M had art tonight (vs. Monday due to the MLK holiday) so I picked her up on the way home from the gym. She really seems to be enjoying it, although we never really thought she wouldn't seeing as she loves drawing. Tonight they did shading with black and white. They'll start working on shading with color next week. The instructor mentioned that M is doing very well and she's quite impressed with her skill set. Apparently M's school provides a lot more art instruction than the local public school does. I guess that's one benefit of sending her to parochial school.

I had to hurry out the door to the gym and tossed on my fleece. It was a little tight for me, but I figured it was just because D had washed it recently. When I took it off later on, I checked out the label to see what the care instructions were. I looked at the size tag after seeing the recommended washing/drying instructions indicate nothing out of the ordinary. I was shocked when it read: Y 14/16! WTF? I could've sworn I bought an adult medium.

Going off on a tangent, have you noticed how clothes are getting larger while the tags are getting smaller? I don't mean the physical properties of the tag, but the article itself. I have a few shirts in my closet that are Large, yet they're billowing on me. Five years ago, these would be labeled XL, but now they're L. I guess it's just another sign that we as a society are getting fatter. Hey, why not call a spade a spade and label the shirt XXL vs.XL. Or would that hurt their fragile self-esteem?

Anyway, I finally figured out what happened to the fleece: When Doug and Nancy were up a few weeks back, Micheal took my fleece and I took his. Case closed. Now I just need to swap them before his (mine) gets shipped off to St. Vincent's.

We dropped the car off...again. This time it's should be fixed for good. As I said the other day, the wheel bearing needs to be replaced. It shouldn't take that long, but with the satellite guy coming tomorrow morning, we went ahead and dropped it off tonight and will pick it up tomorrow afternoon.

Day 333 - 01/19/2008

Since N's party isn't until later tonight, he and I went downtown to the Museum of Natural History to see dinosaur bones. He's studying dinosaurs in school and asked last night if we could go to the museum today. M is going over to Haley's house (who she went to day care with all those years ago) for the day, so I thought it'd be the perfect opportunity.

We got downtown around 10a and, after circling for what seemed like an hour, we finally resorted to parking in a garage about ½ mile from the museum. N didn't like that one bit, but he didn't complain too much. After a brief jaunt through the dinosaur exhibit, he was hungry for lunch. I tried to stall him, but the boy had lunch on his mind. We finally made it to the cafeteria and sat down for a delicious lunch of museum pizza.

Sitting there, eating our pizza, enjoying a man-to-man conversation about why there were two Coca Cola machines and why there were no lids to the soda cups, I was reminded of the trip D and I took to London to see the Cure. I won the trip on the radio (actually, D won the trip...but to be really accurate, I won the trip pretending to be D because I was ineligible). Anyway, I was reminded of that trip because that was the only time in my entire life that I've eaten pizza worse than the pizza I had for lunch.

It was bad. Oh, so bad. I don't recommend it.

As people walked by our table, I looked at their trays with envy. Oh man, I could have gotten a sandwich! I thought as someone walked by with what looked like a pint-sized Dagwood.

Everyone's food looked better than mine. Oh well, I bought it and now I've got to take care of it. And seeing as I was hungry, I did take care of it: I ate all but the crust.

After lunch we headed upstairs to the Insect Zoo, where we saw all sorts of things.

Centipedes. Millipedes. Spiders. Hissing Cockroaches from Madagascar (see below). All things a five year old boy should see.


After the Insect Zoo, we decided to head to the Museum of American History to see the train they have there. Unfortunately, it's closed for renovation and won't reopen until this summer. So, with that not possible, we decided to head over to the zoo to see the more things a five year old boy should see, like crocodiles, lions, tigers and the gorillas. He wasn't impressed with the gorillas.

But he was impressed with the reptile house. We probably spent the majority of the hour we had in the reptile house, making sure we found each and every one of the animals on display. While there, I was reminded of Stephen and his fondness for cupcakes. We joke that when he eats cupcakes, he unhinges his jaw (sort of like a snake) so that he can fit the entire cupcake in at once.

Well, I found Stephen's dream jaw:


As you can see, not only would it accommodate a cupcake, but a whole loaf of bread!

After our whirlwind tour, we made it back to the car about five minutes before the hour was up. They started charging for parking a couple years back and after the first hour (at $4), the price jumps up to $12. I wasn't about to pay that.

We left the zoo and made it home in time to relax before heading back to Pump It Up for another party. I should have stayed longer than I had so I wouldn't have had to turn around shortly after getting home. N wasn't feeling it and wanted to head home.

Day 331 - 01/17/2008

We had our first significant snowfall of the winter today. It started around 1030a or so and really started coming down fast with flakes the size of half-dollars at times. School didn't let out early, but evening activities were canceled, so I left early to beat the high-schoolers (and parents picking up their kids) on the road. I originally planned on working the rest of the day at home, but those plans changed when I got a call from D, saying she was fine, but she needed help.

As she was rounding a curve, the van did a 180° turn and she ended up on the curb. Fortunately, there didn't appear to be any major damage (other than a broken rim). I'll have to take it in tomorrow and get it repaired. I guess I'll go ahead and bite the bullet on the alignment as well, especially since it's either a) really out of alignment; or b) back in alignment.

The kids played out in the snow until it got dark and were called in. N came in first because none of the other kids would play with him (he didn't want to walk down to where they were playing, which translated into "they didn't want to play with me"). Usually he's pretty good about getting himself involved in the mix of things, but I guess he just didn't feel it today.

D had bunco tonight, so I had the kids to myself. We started Treasure Island, getting through the first chapter before calling it a night.

Day 330 - 01/16/2008

Another day at the gym and another day avoiding the afternoon whack-job. I went during lunch today and found out I came in first place in the Holiday Meltdown contest. I'll get my prize on Tuesday. (Actually, I tied for first with two other people; one person came in second.) I'm not sure how that was determined -- whether it was based on reaching the goal, exceeding the goal, working out the requisite number of times, etc. -- but I'll take the prize none-the-less. I'm hoping it's a fleece that they've been selling. I could use another one to give my black one a rest every once in a while.

I had a talk with M about setting goals and how to successfully reach them. She's been upset lately about some things I won't share, but she seemed to grasp the reaching for a goal concept. She even made a goal and associated it with a deadline, which is a must if you want to successfully reach your goal. That being said, the one thing I didn't tell her about were milestones. I'll have to be sure to do so as setting a goal makes no sense if you don't have intermediate goals to use as a measure of success. I mean, if you can't tell whether you're reaching your goal, how can you tell whether you need to alter your plan?

This took longer than I had expected and by the time she was ready for bed, it was 8p. I wanted to start reading Treasure Island tonight, but after getting halfway through the first page, I closed the book. Neither of them were listening that well and I didn't have the patience to try and compete with their toys. I should have listened to D when she told me it was too late to start the book. Oh well, maybe tomorrow.

So, with them in bed, I hit the sack myself. Not to sleep though, to read my book (Rising Tide). I've not been good about getting daily reading in and I really want to get onto The Historian. It's a fictional work that I've read good things about and, after reading the jacket, want to start it even more. I'm pretty sure I'll whip through that pretty quickly. Although I prefer reading non-fiction, when I do read fiction, the pages just fly by. I'm not sure whether it's due to me wanting to process the non-fiction information and relate it to the real world (especially Rising Tide and how the flooding following after Katrina might have been averted had a different decision been made 100+ years ago) or whether reading fiction is just easier. Regardless, every now and again I need a vacation and a good story provides that escape.

I quickly grew tired of reading and was under the covers by 930p and soon out like a light.

Day 326 - 01/12/2008

Happy Birthday, Dad! I hope you enjoy your day!

Our plan for the day wasn't to celebrate his birthday (that'll be tomorrow), but to make some homemade ice cream and raviolis (separately, not at the same time). Things got switched around, however, as Chris invited us to the Mason basketball game. M, N and I joined Chris, Connor and Lindsay as we watched Mason trounce Northeastern 80-52. It was quite the game. The kids enjoyed it, although N didn't like it when I put him on my shoulders and jumped up and down screaming in hopes of getting a pizza delivered to us by the cheerleaders. Apparently we weren't loud enough (I think it was a lost cause from the get-go as the pies went to folks higher up in the cheap seats).

While there, I saw a few of my fraternity brothers sitting a couple rows in front of us. I wasn't able to talk to them as they hit the Patriot's Club during halftime (we went and got Dippin' Dots instead) and then we left early to get Lindsay to her basketball pictures.

After we got home, we went ahead and started the ice cream, which turned out pretty good, although it was a pain in the ass to remove the lid to get the ice cream out. Unfortunately, M threw away the wrench that makes opening the lid a snap, so I had to use a small pair of vise grips instead. Fortunately, they didn't break the lid.

We had bowling tonight, which wasn't all that great. None of us were on the entire night. Instead, we went in fits, with one of us having a great game while the others were middling. Oh well, I don't think we'll be in the hunt for anything anyway, so it looks like we're just out for fun. After bowling a group of us went over to Burke and Heather's where the guys sat around the deck in the cold trying to keep warm by the fire, while the women enjoyed the warmth of the house and stayed inside. D asked why I didn't come inside if I was cold, but I had to remain in front of the fire. It's a guy thing you know.

Day 324 - 01/10/2008

I finally made it to Barnes & Noble to return the duplicate book and CD I got for Christmas. I got store credit as I meant to spend it. I ended up getting Treasure Island and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (both unabridged) for reading to the kids and Feist "The Reminder" for myself.

I got home and N had already been bathed and on his way to bed shortly. He's been a bear to get up lately, so an early bedtime is needed for all. M needs to follow suit, so after a bout in the basement, both were in bed. (Although we were shooting for 730p, it was more like 750p for N and 815p for M.)

Afterwards, I read, played the guitar and hung out with D until she went to bed. She's working tomorrow (subbing for M's teacher), so it'll be an early day for her. I should have joined her in bed, but I had other intentions (like staying up way past my bedtime). Oh well, I'll catch up on my sleep...eventually.

Day 323 - 01/09/2008

I hit the gym again today and am still working out with the TRX suspension strap. While I enjoy working out with it, I need to learn to breath better as my head feels like it's going to pop at times.

N and I went for a run tonight (up to the corner and back). He seems to be excited about the prospect of doing track this spring (vs. baseball). If only M would share his enthusiasm. She ended up staying home after throwing a fit because D and I told her to do something.

It's amazing the difference in their personalities and how they react when asked to do something. M acts like she's been asked to clean up the world, whereas N does it and moves on (although sometimes he can be as difficult as M can, those times are few and far between). Based on this, I've become more of a "nature vs. nurture" believer. Sure, we can help the kids do their best and try to steer them down the right path in life, making the right choices (or, when they make a bad choice, help them recognize that and learn to correct it), but in the end, they are who they are.

I can recall a conversation I had with a colleague of mine once. We were talking about our childhoods and all the things we did that would have gotten us into trouble had we been caught. At some point in the conversation, I told him that even while I was doing those things, I knew deep down inside that I was a good egg and, at some point in time, those good intentions would take over. He sat there listening to me ramble on and when I was done he just nodded his head and agreed: he felt the same way.

But what caused the changes? Was our environment? Our drive to succeed? What was it that caused me to go from a troubled kid to a successful member of society? And who's to say I'm a success? What is the yardstick for success? Is it owning a home? Having a steady job? Going on vacation once a year? Who made these measurements up and why were positive things used?

I really don't know.

Day 320 - 01/06/2008

While the kids watched a show in the basement, I used the quiet time to continue my quest to file the papers from last night. I used the kitchen table to separate the items into piles and then file them in their appropriate folders. There's still a stack that I need to sort again (I ran out of room, even with using two chairs and two bar stools), but for the most part, the pile is gone. Over the course of the morning I shredded paper in spurts so as not to overheat and kill the shredder (which I've done once before). I didn't get all the shredding done until after dinner, though, and after it was all said and done, filled up two garbage bags with shredded paper. I was quite impressed!

After procrastinating the better part of the morning, we finally made it to Mass at 1230p. Father Tony gave an extended homily and asked us for money for him to take back to India with him where $1 buys one person food for a day. After Communion, it appeared we were about to finish up when he invited a seminarian from Philadelphia to speak about vocations. You should have seen the collective groaning that went on throughout the congregation. We ended up leaving church about 145p, which wasn't so bad, but M and I needed to be at a friend's birthday party at 215p and we were cutting it short.

On our way home, Lori called and said she was at our house. D offered to watch Connor during the party but never heard back (Lori called while we were at church), so was surprised about the call. Not to worry, though, as we were just a minute or so from home. They dropped Connor off and left for the party; M and I weren't far behind.

Caroline's party was at ShadowLand by the Expo Center in Chantilly. It's a laser tag facility that hosts lots of kids parties. I had never been, but had a blast at paint ball, so I figured I'd enjoy this as well; I was right. (Chris had invited some dad's to attend and play along with the girls.) As it turned out, I came in first in the first game and third in the second game. Most of the kids were gunning for me in the second game which made it hard for me to be active and get any points. All in all it was a great time and fun was had by all.

Upon arriving at home, I immediately sat down and started watching the late playoff game (Chargers vs. Titans). After a few minutes relaxing, we started taking down Christmas decorations and a few hours later were done. Everything was put away until next year. We must've either gotten rid of a lot of stuff (not!) or D must've just packed more efficiently as we had an extra storage bin leftover after everything was put away. I made use of it with a garland and some lights, though, so it won't be sitting empty over the course of the next year.

While getting the kids ready for bed, N lost his first tooth. It's been on the verge of coming out for a week or so now and D finally got it out tonight. There was a mad scramble to find the tooth container for the tooth fairy (M has a little cylinder designed to hold the tooth until the tooth fairy can retrieve it), but we were able to find it before N went to bed. He handled it much better than M ever did, but I guess boys and girls are just different in that regard.

Day 319 - 01/05/2008

I took advantage of the break in the weather (it was about 50° or so and dry) and took down the outside lights. Although the Christmas season doesn't end until February, it was time to take down the decorations. We'll take the indoor decorations up until tomorrow, but after that, it's business as usual.

D went to a baby shower for Donna, so it was just the kids and I at home. We spent the afternoon watching the 'Skins lose (as I had expected) and then they were off to bed. N's tooth is loose and we tried to jimmy it out, first with floss and then with my fingers, but it's just not ready yet. I told him about how I would yank the tooth out as a boy by tying floss to it and then the other end around a door knob. I would then slam the door and the tooth would pop out. I don't recall how many times I did that, but I know it was at least once. It worked, but I didn't feel like doing that to him in case it wasn't ready to come out. Compared to M, though, he's not shy about wanting it out (nor is he afraid of the blood).

After the kids got to bed, I focused on sorting through various papers that need to be filed. After putting the safe to use, I discovered a Xerox box full of papers going back to 2004 that needed to be filed (or shredded, as the case may be). I spent most of the night doing just that while watching the Steelers-Jaguars game in the office. I was glad to see the Jaguars win, although I think they'll give the Patriots a tougher time than the Steelers would have.

Looking through the papers, I came across lots of old stuff (as was expected), including the trail of appeals to United Healthcare concerning their payment for the neonatalogist called in when N was born. They said he was out of network and therefore would only pay 25% of the bill (vs. 90%). Our argument was that since this was an emergency situation, they should treat it as such. As it turns out, the neonatalogist's office was at fault for not having a contract with the insurance company and they had to end up eating the amount we owed.

Compare that with the estimated cost worksheet we got from Aetna for how much it would cost us in out of pocket expenses when M was born and the difference couldn't have been greater: She was (literally) the $5 baby. It's amazing how much healthcare coverage changed in just four years.

What's even more ridiculous is that now that I'm working for a company with 100k+ employees, we're paying more in healthcare costs (deductibles, coverage, co-pays, etc.) than we were when I was working for a 500+ employee company. I guess the savings is passed on to the shareholders vs. the employees. I hope that maybe, just maybe, this will change in the coming months as open season comes up on the calendar, but, for some reason, I don't think it will. If anything, I would expect to see another increase in healthcare costs. Oh well, at least we have insurance.

Day 318 - 01/04/2008

Today was the last day of the Holiday Meltdown at the gym. When the contest started, I weighed in at 184 with 21.5% body fat. As of this morning, I was 179.5 with 20% body fat. My goal was to lose 3-4 pounds over the past six weeks (averaging ½ pound per week or so), something I didn't think would be too difficult on a regular basis. Over the holidays though, with all those sweets, calorie laden beverages and stuff yourself until you pop dinners, I didn't think I'd lose that much. Of course, the 184 could have been on the heavy side for the day and the 179.5 might have been on the low end for the day, so maybe it wasn't a full 4.5 pounds loss. Regardless, I'm happy with the results and am looking forward to continuing my workouts into the new year. Of course, the new year also means there are new members to contend with. The gym isn't that big to begin with, so every new member that's added means more contention for the various machines.

A new "machine" was added over the past few weeks, but today was the first time I used it. Tammy (the manager) has been trying to get members to try it out since she got it, but it wasn't until today that I did. This machine actually isn't a machine, but simply a strap with handles for your hands (which you also use for your feet). The exercises don't do anything other than work your entire body with a series of resistance exercises. After performing 9 of the 12 exercises outlined in the exercise sheet, I was spent. (I didn't do the first three as they were leg specific and I didn't feel like putting too much pressure on the knees.) It'll take a few weeks of this to see if it will replace the weights, but if since I felt sore in places I didn't used to after working out, maybe there's something to it.

Later on, I checked out how much it would cost to get the strap for home use (I figure I'm paying $360 per year for the gym, why not get this machine for home use and save!). I was somewhat shocked to see it being offered for upwards to $200 (for basically a set of straps you could buy at Lowe's). I guess the R&D budget needs to get funded somehow. I'll pass for now (or look on e-Bay at some point in the future).

Upon arriving home, the kids and I worked on Lego into the early evening. We started building everything a few days ago when N found the instructions to the ambulance. We had everything except for one piece, so I figured we'd just keep building until we found the piece. Well, three days later we still haven't found the piece we're missing. Smokey has a penchant for eating Lego pieces, so that's where I'll place the blame right now. (Of course, with the kids and how well they keep track of their items, you never know where you might find it!)

Day 316 - 01/02/2008

Well, the party's over, I headed back to work after being off for the past week and a half and the kids headed back to school after being off for almost two weeks. Whoops! My bad, they're off today as well. They go back tomorrow. D gets one more day of quality, house-bound time with the kids before sending them back to school.

With the kids not in school, I came into work early so I could hit the gym after work and still get home at a reasonable hour. It's the last week of the Holiday Meltdown at my gym and I've been pretty religious about getting in my 3 workouts per week (except for those weeks where the gym has been closed, then it's only been 2 workouts per week). While I'm not seeing the results I was hoping for, I didn't gain anything since Thanksgiving, so that's a plus. Hopefully I'll see a decrease in percentage of body fat come Friday.

N found some Lego instructions for his ambulance this afternoon, so after dinner we hit the basement to put it together. Now that the basement is somewhat organized, we're more likely to hang out down there. I still need to figure out what to do with Grandpa Pete's desk, but other than that, the space is usable.

After putting the kids to bed, I was back in the basement to watch the Fiesta Bowl where OU took on West Virginia. Hoping it'd be a game like last year's (Boise State vs. OU), I was somewhat disappointed. While it wasn't a bad game, it wasn't great either. I turned it off and hit the sack around 11p.

Day 305 - 12/22/2007

Finally, a day of rest. Well, I mean a day without social commitments. What I had intended to be a day of last minute Christmas shopping turned into spending time with the kids while running errands (the post office to mail our Christmas cards, Target for a couple of returns and purchases, the Guitar Center for strings and Lowe's for a gift card for Doug). We even made it to confession as I had it up to there with the kids sniping back and forth at each other. M wasn't too happy when I pulled into the parking lot and told her what we were there for. N, on the other hand, couldn't have cared less since as soon as we got in the church, he lay down on the pew and fell asleep.

I wasn't able to leave the house until about 8p or so, but I was able to finish off my Christmas shopping as well as hit Giant, finally getting home about 11p. Not ready to call it a day yet, I grabbed a beer and hit the basement for some late night jamming on the guitar. I'm hoping to be able to play Silent Night on Christmas Eve as we process through the house, but I need to get some additional practice in first.

Day 256 - 11/03/2007

Both M and N had their last games this morning, but both of them were at 10a, so D and I had to split up yet again. I was hoping M's game would be at noon so I could see it (due to scheduling conflicts with N's games, I could only make a handful of M's games), but even if it had, with N's end-of-the-year party scheduled for immediately after the game, I wouldn't have been able to go anyway.

Overall I enjoyed the season. Mike and I talked about coaching and how it impacts the kids after the party. I shared with him what I saw on another field with another coach berating one of the kids that was sitting down in the grass. We both agreed that at this age (5-7), the kids are best served by letting them do what they want to do when they want to do it (within reason). In a few years they'll be more prone to focus on the game vs. the leaf blowing about their feet. I could see the difference between N and some of the other players on the team. (Although he's one of the biggest on the team, he's one of the younger ones, so is more apt to want to play in the dirt than watch the opposing batter miss five balls in a row.) Keeping this in the front of my mind really helped me focus on staying positive over the course of the season. Don't get me wrong, there were times I wanted to give the players what for, but it would've fallen on (mostly) deaf ears. In the end, I'm glad I took the route I took. I don't want to be remembered as "that coach" who puts winning above all else and forgets that, at this level, it's meant to be a learning experience and is not meant to be competitive.

After getting home from the game and party, I recruited a neighbor to help me pick up the rest of the boxes for N's bed. I was hoping to put it together tonight, but the kids were done and were in need of an early night. They were already going to get an extra hour of sleep from the switch back to Standard Time and we forced the issue by getting them to bed early.

Once they were in bed, D and I caught up on Tivo (Heros and The Office) after which we went our merry ways: she to bed and me to the basement to play guitar. I ended up wasting away the extra hour of sleep by staying up to watch SNL before finally going to bed. Oh well, I was at least able to get in a few hours of guitar before hitting the sack.

Day 255 - 11/02/2007

After last night's show, I decided to take the day off today. I ended up putting in a few hours thought, but just to make up for missed work earlier in the week.

I spent my day off taking care of long-neglected chores (mowing the yard) and running errands (bank, returns, shoe shopping). Later on, D and I took N to Bombay Kids to pick up a new bed for him. They're closing their stores and everything was on sale and since we had been talking about getting him a loft bed, we bit the bullet (before they sold out). We saved over $300 on the list price (which I'm sure didn't make our neighbors happy as they just recently bought one for list price). I was able to get some of the boxes in the van, but not all of them. I'll have to head back out tomorrow to finish the job.

Before getting the bed, we stopped off for dinner at California Pizza Kitchen. It's been years since I ate there and was quite surprised to see the dining room empty. (Granted, it was only 5p, but still, for being right across from the Cinema de Lux, you'd have thunk it'd have been busier.) N actually like it (what's not to like about pizza?!?) and both D and I enjoyed our dinner, although her salad has changed a bit since she was last there. (M went at a friend's house after school; I picked her up after we got home.)

After the late night out last night, I decided to call it quits early and was in bed by 1030p or so.

Day 242 - 10/20/2007

We had back to back games again this morning. N's was at 10a and M's was at noon. Both of them did alright, but you can tell they're also looking forward to the season being over. I guess that makes three of us. While I enjoy helping out, it just seems as if the season just drags on forever. If they were both excited about their games and practices that'd be one thing, but both of them try and get out of going. I guess their enthusiasm is contagious.

I went of a run this afternoon and my knees are continuing to feel good. This time I hit the trail for a run in the woods and made my way over to the Visitor's Center. I was planning on heading back to the North Trail Loop, but I decided to cut it short and head home instead. I was coming up on 20 minutes at the Visitor's Center and wanted to be back in 30-35 minutes. I headed through Walney Park to a cut-through back over to our neighborhood that I've heard about but, as it turns out, the cut-through was not to be. The new owner removed the walkway and put up landscaping (and No Trespassing signs) to prevent people from walking through their yard. The previous owner had no problems allowing people to walk between the two streets and wondered aloud why there wasn't a sidewalk put in to allow access. I don't blame the new owner for not wanting strangers beating a path through their yard, but I needed to get home. I was overheated and ready to call it quits, so I found another way. Other than that, the run was a good one. This is the second run I've had this week and hopefully I'll be able to keep this up next week as well.

Tonight was our bowling league's costume party. We decided to dress up as walking wounded as a show of support for D. She's not sure whether it's our way of supporting her or mocking her, but we all had a good laugh out of it. Actually, the four of us represented only one of the four teams that dressed up (out of 28 teams). It seems the fun times had by all in previous seasons is waning.

The other team wasn't there, so we had to bowl blind. Add that to having D out and our games flew by. Had we not stopped for 30 minutes between the second and third games, we could've been out of there by 9p.

Day 234 - 10/12/2007

D fell in the bathroom this morning and either sprained her left knee really, really bad or tore her left MCL.

She was rudely awoken at 5a by Butterfly, who was beginning to wretch. Since Butterfly sleeps above D's head, D grabbed her and headed to the bathroom so that she'd get sick in there instead. She was successful in that endeavor, however, that was also the cause of her fall. Butterfly let if fly as they entered the bathroom and D stepped right in it, causing her to go down hard.

I took her to Dr. Aguiar's office later on and she was relieved to hear that surgery is probably out of the question (the MRI will be the final determination). He gave her a knee brace and crutches, but for the time being, she's going to have to stay off of it.

That night I took the kids to movie night at the school. D was going to take them but given her condition, she opted to stay home (as if she had a choice!). This year they showed "A Night at the Museum." It was alright, although the kids seemed to enjoy it. (Well, at least while they were watching it. A lot of time was spent running around the gym vs. watching the movie.)

Day 232 - 10/10/2007

N is still sick today so we skipped practice. Unfortunately, practice was changed from on the field to a facility called Frozen Ropes that just opened up in Chantilly. It would've been great for him to go as they provide better instruction in hitting than his coaches (e.g., the dads who volunteered and who may or may not have any baseball experience, and even if they do have experience, that doesn't mean it will translate into good coaching skills).

That worked fine for me anyway as it gave the the chance to continue recovering from the weekend. Yes, I'm still tired. This getting old thing sure takes the fun out of burning the candle at both ends over the weekend.