My Name Is Not Earl

It's been a while, but I'm back!

2007-08-16T04:24:00.000-07:00

I don't know if anyone will check out my blog again, but I hope to post again. With another kid on the way, who knows?

Ta-Dah!

2006-10-03T18:12:00.000-07:00

The new Scissor Sisters album is great. Not as great as the first, awesome regardless. It is refreshing to hear a different kind of music again, away from the typical stuff.

Next I will probably go back to more typical by purchasing the Killers new one, but am looking foward to that one as well.

A-

Beverly Hills, thats where I want to be! Part 2 - Hollywood/Beverly Hills/SD

2006-09-28T18:41:00.000-07:00

I know this post is long overdue; however, after Catalina was the best part. Yes, the tour of Hollywood and Beverly Hills was fun, and driving around on a Sunday with little traffic was fun too. Instead of going into detail on the rest of the trip. I think I will simply post some pictures from time to time. The least thrilling part of the trip was San Diego, but that was mostly due to that we were there the year before. I would have to admit, that the zoo was great. We had fun on the tour bus and sky ride. Both are definately worth the money. I wish the DC zoo had some transportation inside. But I guess you can't complain when the admission is free (taxes).

Downtown Beverly Hills (view from our hotel room)

For Ron (its Red)

For Val

For Amy

Many more pictures available. More to come when I have time.

I bid you goodnight.

Beverly Hills, thats where I want to be! Part 1 - Catalina Island

2006-08-16T18:43:00.000-07:00

Ok ok ok, the long and overdue blog of our trip to the west coast. Fortunately, two years in a row, my work allowed me to visit San Diego again for a conference. Last year, Amy and I had a blast, so when the opportunity arose, I could not pass it up. This year; however, we extended the trip a bit. We left on a Thursday, so we could enjoy Thursday through Sunday. The conference started on a Monday. I have to thank Nathan's mema, because she watched Nathan the entire 9 days or so we were gone. Ok, now to the trip.

We drove Tuesday afternoon to Moon, PA to drop Nathan off at his mema's house. We also stayed Wed at Memas' as well. Thursday morning we left from Pittsburgh International Airport for Las Vegas. Unfortunately, after being dropped off, we discovered that our flight was delayed an hour. It was due to delays in Philly for some reason. We left da burgh about 11am or so and arrived in Las Vegas, to witness a heavy, but small thunderstorm directly on the airport while we landed. The highlight of the flight was seeing the Grand Canyon from the air. I took a few pics, but they did not turn out too well from the air.

At the airport, with only 40 or minutes or so to catch our connecting flight to San Diego, we rushed to the gate, to find out the flight was delayed a little over a half hour. The woman at the gate was sort of a smart ass to me when I asked her if the flight was on time. I should of looked more closely at the screen behind her. Anyway, we had a little time, so we went and grabbed a bite at the Airport BK. Afterwards we donated a dollar to an airpot slot machine, just to say we did it. We eventually left for San Diego. By the time we were finished ascending, the flight was about ready to decend. It is not very far from Vegas to SD. I did not realize it, but SanDiego is one of the more busier airports in the country with only one runway. I think Miami had the busiest with one runway.

Upon arriving at SD, went to pick up our rent a car. I ordered a midsized car from Priceline. I thought it was a pretty decent deal. However, a midsized car to Hertz is a Carolla. I was a little surprised by the car. It was at least 2 cars larger than the cheapest economy/compact car, I wonder if they consider that to be a scotter? Regardless, I could not complain about the new Carolla, it definately had enough pickup for a smaller car. My main concern was having decent enough power to drive on Interstate 5 and in Hollywood, so the Carolla ended up being powerfull enough and economical.

We drove the car up to Dana Point, CA. We had reservations at a Best Western that was 500 feet directly in front of the Pacific Ocean. We could hear the waves crash from our hotel door. The room was fair. That night we were looking for a place to eat, and discovered the Harbour House Cafe. This Diner was fire-engine red restaurant looked like a nice place to eat. We discovered that it had been around since 1939, and served all of the great Diner type dishes and breakfasts all day. At this restaurant, Amy had the best tunafish sandwhich she ever had. And my crab sammich was amazing as well. If we would of stayed at Dana Point again, we definately would had dined there at the Hourbor Cafe again. The place was packed at 8pm at night. It looked like a lot of locals patronize the place. We later overheard other's recommending it as a great place to eat to those not from the area. So we were lucky to find it.

Friday morning we woke up early, 6am, and checked out 630. We drove our car to Dana Point to catch the Catalina Express, a boat that taxis passengers to Catalina. We had a 7:15 departure time. I would have to say that finding parking for this event was a nightmare. The company does not warn you of where to park. I, like 98% of the tourists pulled into the wrong spot, and were told to drive to another part of harbour to park our car, and walk back to wait inline for the boat. That really ticked me off. Fortunately, my father in law packed us with written directions for parking. Unfortunately, I forgot I had the directions.

The day at first was overcast and cool. We climbed aboard the Catalina express and set sail for an 1hr 15min journey. It was too windy and cool to sit on the outside of the boat, so we finally gave in and sat in the cabin. Halfway or more through the trip, I went on the outside front of the boat and started snapping pictures of Cataline coming into sight. I could see some rays of sun beaming on Catalina, but it was still an overcast day in general.

Our first impressions off the boat was like we were visiting another country, perhaps a Mediteranian type place with the weather and mountainous terrain. Homes were built on the edge of mountains in the City of Avalon, the only city on the Island. The rest of the Island was uninhabited. The water and city were beautiful. The water was extremely blue, like the Carribian. There were cool shops and other touristy things along the main street. Old homes graced the gentle sloaping town as well as the steep hills. Avalon itself is only one square mile. There was a cool beach area with sand in the middle of the city. We were early enough that there was no one laying out or swimming, and shops were just opening up.

A cool thing about Avalon is that there are not many cars, mostly golf carts. Infact, to obtain a car, you were on a waiting list that was currently 18 years (like getting steeler tickets). We went on two tour excursions. One was the inland tour. We went in a small bus up some steep and narrow roads up through avalon and the mountains. We drove on skyline drive, and along the way saw some of the famous Catalina Buffalo. We learned alot of interesting facts about the Island, like it was owned by Mr. Wrigley (yes the same one for the gum, and former owner of the cubs. He had a mansion on the island that was now a fancy bed and breakfast. The Cubs had spring training on the island for 30 years at one point. You may wonder about the buffalo? The were brought to the island in the early 19 century for Hollywood movies. Later we discovered that John Wayne had a house there, and liked it because he would not be bothered. At over 1600 ft in a very short period of time we ended the journey at the Airport in the Sky. There was a cargo plane parked there, and some rich folks would fly there planes to to the mainland. Beside seeing a ton of cactus and other coold plants, I was hoping to see a Catalina Fox, which are native only to the island, but did not luck out.

We did not have much time to eat lunch, since our second tour was bumped up an hour. So we decided to wait for our Seal Rock tour. This was a boat tour to the southern part of the island. This is a summer only tour, because the seals are only there in the summer. Amy and I had alot of fun seeing the seals in the wild. We actually got a bit close to some of them in the boat who were sunning themselves. On the coast, there were at least 40 or so sea lions. We also saw something that was suppose to be rare, a huge sealion and seal resting a foot or two from each other on a rock. The tourguide sayed the two species do not usually get a long, especially in cloes proximity. The boat trip in general was awesom. We both learned even more about he island. The water was even more beutiful on the souther portion of the island.

Finally, after taking a couple of tours that took up a majority of the day we dined at an Italian Restaurant on the water. It was neat to see people kayaking and swimming only a few feet from our table. We had the "Day Old Spaghetti". It was pretty good.

The rest of the adventure was finding each of us a cool tshirt. We were not interested in getting another one from San Diego, plus Catalina is much more unique. It took the rest of our hours on the island, but we were happy with our purchases in the end. Finally, after a long day, we set sail back to Dana Point at 7pm. We were tired, but had an awesome trip. The sun was beautiful falling behind the island.

Part 2 soon!

I bid you goodnight.

Dutch Wonderland

2006-07-29T11:10:00.000-07:00

This blog is a week late, but better late than never.

Last Sunday we traveled 1.5 hours to Amish Country, Lancaster PA, Dutch Wonderland. I had never been there before, and only heard of it about 5 years back from locals in this area. It is a really child focused amusement park. It has lots of little kiddie rides. There are a few child/adult rides, but for the most parts any kid from 1.5-5 yrs old would simply love this place.

We went with my parents and had a great time! DW is ranked the 5th best amusement park in the world according to an international amusement magazine. A neat thing to know is Idlewild Park is ranked at #2. Back to DW. Dutch Wonderland's mascot is a Purple Dragon (no, not a purple dinosaur) named Duke. That front of the park is a big castle. Nathan went on about 60% of the rides. A couple he was not too fond of were the child rollercoaster, and the whip. I went on the rollercoaster with him, and he tucked his face in my belly the whole ride. I guess he did not know how it was going to be, but wanted to ride.

The biggest mistake was putting him on the whip. It is a small ride that I have seen at other amusement pars that travels sideways around an oval track. When the car gets close to an end, it whips you around. Nathan started crying almost immediately. We should of had them stop the ride, but none of us said anything. I actually remember riding it as a child and remembered it was too rough, so I thought it could happen.

DW had a bunch of the typical kiddieland rides. It also had some really nice ones that went around the enitre park like a monorail, and sky lift. It also had a few boat rides.

When Nathan napped I dragged my mom on the older child/adult roller coaster. Amy went on it with me as well. It was pretty nice for a small park.

What makes the park great was it was relatively small, and easy to get around Enough you could cover the entire park. Plus, even with lots of kids there, there was never a really long line for any one ride. You definately get your money's worth of ride if your a kid.

The park also had a pony ride. Nathan looked really cute on it. It was his first. However, he was really sleepy, and looked like a cowboy who just got back from a long ride. He took a 1.5 hr nap after lunch.

They also had a lot of live entertainment and shows. We attended a high dive one. Where they put on a play about a frog and a princess. The frogs dived off highdives. One actually dove from a real high dive probably 100ft or so in the aire, like the ones you see on the olypics.

It was a blast.

I bid you goodnight.

Way to go Nathan!

2006-07-19T18:59:00.000-07:00

We have been trying to potty train Nathan off and on for the past few weeks with virtually no success. Fortunately, on Saturday, Nathan did a 1 on the potty about 4 times.

Now to the best news: This evening Nathan laid his first deuce! He also dripped out an uno earlier in the day. Before he did the uno and the 2, he uno'd on the steps before Amy had a chance to get him to the potty. He's seems like he might be getting this whole potty thing afterall. I know we have a real long way to go, but its a start.

I bid you goodnight.

Nice little vacation to the beach.

2006-07-08T19:06:00.000-07:00

We just went to Rehoboth, Delware for a nicle little 4 night vacation. Because it is so close to where we live, 2.5 hours, we could further maximize our Monday and Friday there. This is my 3rd time going the Deleware beach. We went 2 years ago to the same hotel, and prior to that 8 years ago to Bethany Beach. This year we went with my inlaws like 2 years ago.

We had a blast. I love the beach. Granted, I used to have more fun as a kid body boarding/boggie bording, but I still enjoy walking and wading in the ocean, but now with Nathan, he brings a new type of exitement. In a few years he will probably want to go further into the water, but for now, he is getting warmed up to the idea.

Nathan loved the sand. He would dig and make sandcastles/lagoons all day if you let him. One of the best parts of the trip was the walks on the boardwalk and taking Nathn on a bunch of kiddie rides. He rode the classic boat ride, motorcycle/car (with the annoying buzzer horn), the rocket, helicopter, mini ferris wheel, and swing. He also was daring enough to try a fast car ride that goes up and down in a circle. I went on it with him. It was definately an older child to adult ride, but he loved it. I liked it too.

Another great part of any trip is the food. We ate at Grotto's Pizza, and Nicola's 2 times a piece. It't hard to top Grotto's. It is a very good pie. Nicola's is an awesome mom and pop (literally) run Itailian restaurant. There was usually an hour wait there. My momma inlaw says that they make the best Ziti she has ever had. I have to admit, they give Grotto's a run for the money on the pizza category. Plus its hard to touch their Nicabolis. I consider Nicola's the Pappy's of Rehoboth. The food the very reasonably priced, including the bear, plus it is made from scratch and is delicious. The wife owner, Joan, who is 64, is always keeping the place in line, and stops after dinner to see how the food was. She is great, and is in semi retirement only working 5 day a week shift. Also, they have Yeugling on tap. The cost of the first mug of beer is $225, and all refill mugs are just $1.00 more. It is the same price as two years ago. This place is definately in my top 20 on places to eat for atmosphere, food, and price. I love it. There is also a train constantly running on a train track above the tables the entire time. Nathan loved watching it go by.

Weather wise, we had a really hot day for our first. The second day was overcast, but still warm. So we could go to the beach that day too. We tried going to see fireworks at Bethany Beach July 4th, but mother nature put on her own fireworks, and the show was called off. We had a rain morning on our last full day there. So we did what all other beachgoers do, hit the outlets. Donna Lou would do anything to go shopping. She walked 2 miles to get from one shopping center to the other. Amy and I had a nice walk on the beach. The weather was really comfortable. Ofcourse the day we left was the best day of all. Clear, and comfortable. A high in the mid 70s and no humidity. Fortunately, we stayed after we checked out of the hotel and got some Grotto's for lunch. We also walked the boardwalk, and did not leave the beach until 2pm.

It was a great time. I could go back there anytime.

A Day with Thomas the Tank Engine

2006-06-19T17:31:00.000-07:00

Ok, it has been a while since my last post. Well I have not had too much to say lately, and we have not done a whole lot the past few weeks.

Our summer officially began today. Amy's last day at school was last Thursday, and she only worked 2 hours and got to leave. Her last day with kids was last Tuesday. I have this week off myself, and have two other weeks off later this summer as well.

Today we traveled to a quaint and historic town call Stratsburg, PA. For those like me, who were not aware of this town, I don't know if its famous for much, but has a nice historic main street with old buildings. More importantly, he has a nice railroad station. Thomas the Tank Engine is there this week. It is a huge thing. You can actually ride on a coach car pulled by Thomas. Plus there is all sorts of other activities, and just about every type of Thomas merchandise and memorablilia you can choose from. We got there early, like 8:45. We purchsed tickets ahead to ride Thomas at 9:45.

Nathan had a blast. He was real cute waving to other kids on the trains, and visa versa, when he was on the train and other kids were watching from the side.

Nathan got to ride on a Thomas Steam Tank Engine train, an old black steam locomotive, a miniature steam engine, and a little hand crank trainlike care for kids.

It was a real nice time. Definately worth taking any fan of the Thomas thing. Oh, I just remember one thing the are might be famous for: while on the train, the announcer said that the Turkey Farm on the left was the oldest in the U.S.

Nice Day for a Bike Ride

2006-05-27T18:44:00.000-07:00

My folks came by for a nice visit today with my grandfather. The highlight of the day was Nathan's new (almost new) bicycle. It was one of those Grandma Can't Pass Up Deals.

The bike is a 16" Rock It, by Huffy. I would have to admit, when I first saw it, I thought it might be a little too big in that Nathan would not be able to reach the pedals. But after adjusting the seat to the lowest position, and adjusting the handle bars, it seemed to work out quite fine. More importantly, I did not want to frighten Nathan with it. I assumed he would get on it, have an impossible time pedaling it, and would just ride his tricycle. The opposite happened. He could actually reach the pedals. It is a little streach for his legs at the 6 o'clock position, but he can do it. More importantly he loved it. He was not scared at all, and after about 15 minutes, he could actually get started and pedaling himselt. He also did a suprising decent job of stearing it while pedaling. My hopes were simply that he would want to ride it a little, at the least and go back to the trike. He really loved riding it (did I mentioned he loved it yet?). He rode it for over an hour. We really had to convince him to get down and go to dinner.

After a nice meal at the Olive Garden, where Nathan actually behaved fairly well, on the trip back home, Nathan actually asked to go home and ride his bike. He usually does not want to go home from school or anywhere. He usually likes to be out and about. When we got back from dinner he rode the bike another 20 minutes or so, then we said goodbye to my parents and grandfather.

It was a nice visit on a beautiful warm spring day.

I bid you goodnight.

Congratulations Taylor!

2006-05-25T17:44:00.000-07:00

You are the American Idol!

Nathan said one funny thing today. Amy was talking to her sister on the phone. Nathan at the sametime on his knees, kneeling beside ottoman with his elbow on it and hands to face. We noticed that he gave his patened "Joker" grin, which meant he was pooping. Amy asked Nathan to talk to Aunt Julie. Nathan looked at Amy and said, "No, I am busy."

I bid you good night.

2 Votes In

2006-05-24T17:20:00.000-07:00

I got 2 in for Taylor last night.

More importantly, Chris and Live just blew the crowd away on the American Idol Finale. Whatever Chris is selling after the American Idol tour, I am buying. Any rockin band could really use him as the lead singer!

Go Taylor!

I bid you goodnight.

Go Taylor!

2006-05-23T18:21:00.000-07:00

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Wine in the Woods

2006-05-21T17:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we took our annual visit to Wine in the Woods. It is located in Columbia, Maryland at Merriwether Post-Pavillion/Symphony Woods. The best thing about it, is its in the woods. You feel like your in rural PA, or Western MD, but you're actually right accross the street from the Columbia Mall. This wine festival is great. There are over a dozen Vineyards there with there wines. I have a friend from work that hooks us up with tickets. She has been kind to do this since the tickets are about $20 a piece. It is sponsored and put on by Howard County Recreation and Parks I think we would pay regardless, we like it so much.

This year we went with John and Murano. We weren't even sure if we were going to go, because we did not have a babysitter for Nathan. This year we went late, like 4pm. The time of the festival is 4-6. We stayed about an hour and a half. Nathan was actually pretty good. Amy was the designated driver. If this would have been the typical year, we would had someone watch Nathan, and planned it better. Most likely we would have talked to our budds in another office to see when they are going. If they go, they can sneak us into the VIP tent. The VIP tent is for executives, politians, and corporate sponsors of the event. It mean, they will pour you glasses of wine, and we could enjoy a wide variety of cheeses, crackers and other muchables.

We still had a good time, but next year, we may plan for the VIP thing. They also actually had some good entertainment there as well. Good singers on stage. After the festivities we went to Fudruckers and had a burger at the request of Murano.

Sorry, not pictures from this. I usually get crunk, and would not trust taking a camera with such tempting wine.

Today, we did not do much, but we did take Nathan to a new playground. Infact, it is so new, it has not officially opened yet. I would have to say, it is the biggest playground I have ever seen. I thought the new playground at Centennial was great, this one actually blows it out of the water. Nathan had a fun time running around and going on the dozen or so slides. He also enjoyed climbing around. Afterwards we got pizza at Unos.

Ok, Nathan did say one distrubing thing today. At the dinner table he looked at Amy and said "I am going to kill you". We could not believe it came out of his mouth. His said it a couple of times. We corrected him and gave him a good speech on it. He did not say it since. I don't know where he picked it up from.

I bid you goodnight.

And then there were two.

2006-05-18T18:55:00.000-07:00

I could not believe how close the vote was for the final three last night. The top vote getter was within 1% of the one getting the boot. That was amazingly close, even closer that the past two presidental elections. Good Luck to Elliott, he deserves to do something in the music business. He has a great voice. I only got through one time in the vote for Taylor Hicks. My one vote must have really counted in such a close race. Now I see why Chris got the kicked off. It is soooo close, if you take it for granted that a person will be there and don't vote, that person might not get the support in such a close race. I wonder how close the Chris vote was. Maybe it was a 5% difference. I am just happy to get my one vote through for Taylor.

Nathan Speak...

On the way home tonight from school, there was a runner on the side of the road. Nathan said "Get off the road man!"

After dinner, Nathan was out of milk, so he asked me for some of my drink. I poured him some diet pepsi. He immediately turned and asked "Is this beer or soda?"

After washing his hands Nathan said "How many times do I have to say wash my hands!"

Up up and away

2006-05-17T17:38:00.000-07:00

For the first time, Nathan rode his tricycle up our street to the top of the hill. I knew he was strong because he can ride up the incline of our driveways, but I did not know he had the endurance to cycle to the top of the street.

After dinner tonight, Nathan played with all of his Neighbor friends: Joseph, Niomi, Sahra, and Tiffany. He rode both his tricycle and big wheel. I tried putting him on Niomi's real bike, but after sitting a little while he realized it was too challenging to ride or balance, so he got off. I got pulled into the mix as I caught football with some of Nathan's neighboors too. I was in the outfield for baseball as well.

I bid you goodnight.

AI

2006-05-16T18:19:00.000-07:00

That was a very enjoyable American Idol. I am very happy with Taylor's performances thus far. I think he has been the most consitant performer of the entire group thus far. The only problem is his genre' of music is most likely not the most popular one. From the beginnning I have rooted for him. I hope he wins it. If I could predict the outcome of the vote tonight I would say that Elliott will be gone. I do like Elliott, but I would have to say of the top 10 AI's, his performance are the most boring. He is a consistantly good singer, but is not much of an entertainer. It should be Kat and Taylor in the finals, but I have predicted wrong before. I really thing the finals should be Taylor and Chris.

Kat's Over the Rainbow song was by far the best of all in the night. The funny thing about this contest is if I were to purchase an album of one of the top 5ers, it would have to be Chris, followed by Kat. Even though, I think Taylor should win the competition, I don't know what type of Album he would put out. Its sort of like Rueben a few years back. He was by far the best of the bunch, even better than Clay who was probably the closest 2nd in the group. I voted for Rueben as my favorite, but probably would have never bought his album. I guess I would like to see the type of Album Taylor could make. What type of new songs he could sing. He would have no probably selling a copeout album like Rod Stewart, full of remakes. I would like to see some music "taylored" to Taylor.

Nothing too too funny with Nathan, just the little catch phrases that make everyday with him special.

I bid you goodnight.

Happy Mothers Day!

2006-05-14T09:54:00.000-07:00

Happy Mothers Day to all mothers, and mothers to be!

Nathan gave mommy a Cookie Monster Card, and a mug with mommy and his picture on it. Mommy was happy.

Nathan cracked me up again today, again another one of those "you had to be there" type things. While at the grocery store today Amy called and told me to get batteries. She needed them for Nathan's giant remote control fire engine. When I pulled into the drive way I looked up and saw Amy and Nathan in the window. Amy cracked the window 5 inches, Nathan stuck his head our and said ", do you got batteries?" Read the quote again, and put it into the context of an Arnold Jackson, "what you talking about Willis?" and thats what it sounded like. We put the batteries in his fire truck and he played with it all day. He was really into it.

We did not eat out this Mother's Day because, first Mother's Day is a crazy time to eat out, unless you're at McDonalds, and two, we ate you twice yesterday. It sort of was our Saturday version of Mother's Day.

I bid you goodnight.

Strawberry Fields Forever

2006-05-13T19:16:00.000-07:00

Before I get into our little trip, I have a quick Nathan blurb. This morning I was about to turn the tv on, and Nathan turned to me and said "That is the big tv. Daddy and Pa made that tv". That cracked me up.

Ok, onto the day. We took a trip to Charles County Maryland, to pick Strawberrys. Yut picked us up in his Minivan, and we went down with his family, and Noy's mom. It took a little over an hour to get to form our house. It was fun. I haven't done this thing since I was 12 years old. I think the parents had more fun than the kids. Nathan and especially Austin, did a great job picking ripe berries. It was a perfect day, about 70 as a high. And we got to the place early enough, that there was only one family pickin. We basically had the place to ourselves. When we left there were about 5 cars/minivans just pulling in. The Strawberries were delicious off the vine.

After going there, we were going to go to St. Mary Point. This is where the Potomic river runs into the chesapeake bay. We got to the park, but decided to turn around and eat, since it was lunchtime. We looked for a ghost quiznos by St. Mary's College, and we never found it. So we went to a Mom and Pop type Corner Store, Gas Place, Beer Distributor, and Video Rental. We had some good local sanmiches. Afterwards, we decided to skip the point, and go to a lighthouse. It was a nice and probably the smallest lighthouse I have every seen. Yut said it is the oldest one on the Chesapeake Bay. It was a quaint little area. This lighthouse is on the beach of the Potomic river. It might be seen from the Chesapeake Bay. We had to drive past a small private beach, where people had beach houses accross the street, and owned an actual lot on the water. Many had Gazebos or small shacks by the water. Fortunatly, there was a little two day festival going on, and there were decent amount of people by the lighthouse. You could take a tour of the lighthouse, but we did not want to wait in line. There were other small festivities.
After an hour, we hit the road home.

The only other detail to note, was Trace Atkins was to be in concert in the St. Mary/Charles County Area Sunday the next day. I have not seen as man trucks in one place before. Southern Maryland is a beautifull place to visit.

I bid you goodnight.

TGIF

2006-05-12T17:36:00.000-07:00

We had a typical Friday for us. Everyone went to work and school. Amy had a dentist appointment, so she had to take a half of day. Fortunately, she was in and out in 15 minutes with a routing cleaning. Of course, friday at Nathan's school means cookie day. So Nathan grabbed a cookie on the way out. I usually snatch one for mom and dad as well. They are really good cookies made by a company call Ralph's Almost Famous Cookies. I know the last three words are right. Anyway, they have killer chocolate chip, oreo, m&m, and mint/white chololate chip cookies. They maybe the best I ever had.

A cool thing we did today was go out to dinner with Amy's friends Judy and Lynn. We ate at La' Madeline's. It has some decent French quizine. We sort of celebrated Lynns Belated Birthday. Nathan was pretty good, and actually ate some trees (brocolli) offered to him by Judy. The soup there is amazing. And the dessert wasn't bad either. Nathan started misbehaving towards the end. The usual throw food on the floor type thing.

We made plans tommorrow to go with Yut and his family to pick Strawberrys in Charles county. I am looking foward to it. I have not done that since I was in 8th grade in PA. I hope Nathan has a good time. There is a place call Larriland Farms in Howard County (20minutes away), but it does not start till next week. Plus, Charles County is very rural and somewhat scenic. We may take a trip to St. Mary County after words and visit the point where the Potomic River meets the Chesapeake Bay. I'll post pics if I think about it, and remeber to take them. We may also go with Murano to the mall to pick out a Mother's Day gift.

I bid you goodnight.

Good but no cigar!

2006-05-11T16:46:00.000-07:00

Nathan slept really well last night. He slept 12 hours from 6:30-6:30. When he woke up he was fine. I took his temperature twice, both were bellow 98 degrees, plus he was playfull. I got him ready for school, but when we arrived, we were told that Nathan had to go home. There is a 24 hr rule about fevers. The assistant director told us, that if we could get a doctors excuse, he could stay. Getting Nathan a Drs appointment would have probably taken at least a half of day, so I figured I might as well take him home.

I told her I heard about the 24 hr thing, but was not sure if it was for fevers or puking. She said he could be teething. I was slightly upset, because it was a wasted trip, plus Nathan was fun. But another part of me, about 90% was very happy. First, I was going to get to spend the day with a healthy Nathan at home, and two, I am happy they enforce their rules. I would not Nathan's classmates coming to class after having a fever and spreading it to everyone else.

So, this morning, Nathan rode his tricycle for about an hour before it rained. We also went up the hill in our plan to watch a bull dozer and digger rip out trees across the street. The building a huge development their that will have a Lowes, Costco, and a Traider Joes, just to name a few. Plus they will be building 66 townhomes along the road. Okay, I got sidetracked. Nathan and I sat on the Natural Gas cement doors, and watched the men chop down, and rip out trees, and throw them into a shreader. Nathan loved it, and I did not mind it.

Afterwards, we read a couple of books and watched Clifford, the big red dog. Then it was time for lunch, then his Nap. He was out for 1.5 hrs. After waking, we played with trains, read books, and wrestled. He also watched a PBS show Read between the Lions. It was a really good show!
We started cooking, mommy got home from work, and the rest was a regular day. We did have Pot Stickers for dinner. I would say, they were delicious. Even Nathan ate em up.

A quick funny thing that Nathan said. We both were walking to feed the fish, he sort of ran into my legs and fell down. I asked him if he was ok, and said I was sorry. He replied "I'm sorry daddy, it was my fault". That cracked me up.

I bid you goodnight.

Sick and Surprising?

2006-05-10T19:01:00.000-07:00

Nathan had a fever today. He was a little warm before school, but not bad. I gave him some motrin. He was good all day, until the late afternoon. I got a call about 15 minutes before I normally leave, that he had a 102 degree temp. When I got him home, it was about 102. However, an hour or 2 later it was up at or above 103. So we gave him motrin, then he fell asleep in Amy's arms at 6:40. He has been sleeping ever since (it is 10pm right now).

The surprising thing was American Idol tonight. First I must say that I like all 4 contestants, and although Chris was not my favorite, I did not think he would get the boot. Katherine was definately the weaker singer this week. My personal favorite, has and always will be Taylor since I saw him in the auditions. Regardless, I am happy for whoever wins this show. I guess when it comes down to it, you really have to vote for your favorite. I was wondering if Chris had a lesser fan following than Kat? I don't know, but I like many others probably assumed he would win or make it to the finals. Thats the way it goes I guess. I personally tried voting for Taylor a dozen times with no luck. The thing to remember is, these guys are not getting voted off, the favorite is being voted on, and if you have the least amount of votes, you're gone. It really does not matter, Chris will get a record deal, along with Taylor and Kat. I have no doubt about it. This has been the strongest top 5 contestants the show has ever had.

I bid you goodnight.

The Little Things

2006-05-09T19:51:00.000-07:00

Some funny things to note that Nathan is saying.

There is a turn on the way to Nathan's school that I take at a slightly higher speed then I should. Nathan has been saying "that hurts my pee-pee!" as he giggles. He has been saying that the past few weeks.

Last week Nathan woke up (1am) crying, saying "there is a bug in my eye". This morning, he said "remember daddy, there was bug there (pointing to the an area of his crib), uh remember, the bug was in my eye (pointing to his eye)." I guess there probably was a bug in his crib that night, or he would not have brought it up again.

On the way back from school, Nathan point out two men jogging and said "that man is running with not shirt on, the other man has a shirt on." These are definately you had to be there type things.

Everyday, on the way home, we make a left, and Nathan says, "go that way to old macdonalds". He knows if I go straight down a road about a mile, we are going to McDondalds, and he will get a happy meal.

I bid you good-night.

Quick DC Trip

2006-05-07T17:53:00.000-07:00

Today, Nathan, Amy, and I took a nice trip to DC. The main reason we went on the trip was for Amy to meet up with other teachers and plan out an upcoming field trip. When she told me she needed to go there, I jumped at the chance. DC is definately one of my most favorite cities. There is just so much to do, and they have a great metro system. We met the teacher, then Nathan and I went to the Natural History Museum, and Amy and the other teacher went to the American History Museum. Nathan loved the Dinosaur bones. He cracked me up. He said his favorite was the tall one (Trex ofcourse). He also recognized the skeleton of a giraffe. He futher made sure I knew that it was infact dead. Nathan was really good through the whole trip. When he started to get tired, I slipped him a few Yogos, and he was happy. After we were done there, we met up with Amy, and the other teacher and had a vendor hot dog outside. It was a beautiful day, upper 60s and comfortable. After the hotdog and Nachos, we wondered over to a merry-go-round that was in between the capital and washington monument (nathan refered to it as a candle!). I ofcourse went on the merry-go-round. It was fun. I think it was the first time Nathan went on his own horse with very little handling.

I think that was it.

I bid you good-night.

Balsa Airplanes

2006-05-03T18:56:00.000-07:00

You know those Balsa-wood airplanes kids get. Well tonight I figured out that one of those things last about 12 or so flights before it breaks or becomes unflyable.

Nathan was good at school today, no incidents like a little whale hitting one yesterday, which by the way was his first one in a couple of months. Also, just as important, he did not hit mommy or I today either when he was tired. Maybe the punishement is working.

I bid you good-night.

A hitting phase I guess?

2006-04-30T17:59:00.000-07:00

We had about an average Sunday today. We did not go to church, but we definately want to start going more often. We do go once in a while, more than being a Chreaster, but not enough, and it is something I am not proud of. I definately want Nathan to be a church go'er and make some friends, while participating and growing his faith. I know that part is a few years away, but I still want to get him used to a church.

Today we did some of the usuals. The weather cooperated, so we let him ride his tricycle outside. He is really good at it. He goes foward and backwards. He also goes really fast at times. He is pretty strong on it. Strong enough to ride it up our inclinded driveway, steer around our car, and speed down. He is fun to watch. He is also becoming a better ball catcher. He has improved greatly on that skill over the past 4 months or so.

The only thing to really write home about, is we went to our local Carmax, and test drove new Toyotas. We tried out the RAV4, which we really like. Its hard to beat increased volume inside and out (15% outside or 14 inches longer, and 21% inside), a peppier engine (more horses) and better fuel economy (up to 30 on a highway). I was a little dissappointed in the Camry's. The look nice on the outside, but for a family with at least one kid, there is not enough headroom in the back. It is hard to get a child in and out of his or her own carseat with out bumping their heads on the ceiling. What is even more dissappointing is I was really looking foward to the Camry Hybrid debuting in May. It gets 43/37 city/hwy.

We testdrove the RAV4 and for kicks, an Avalon. The RAV4 may be what we are looking for. Very functional, yet roomy enough for a kid or two. Plenty of storage in the rear as well. It has some pep for a 4 cylinder.

The Avalon was awesome. I know we are not going to purchase one, but if it weren't for the Persona that an early 30 somethings should not be driving a larger, older person's vehicle. It is very luxurious. I defintely would consider it, but I know Amy's heart is set on a more versitile vehicle.

We had Nathan's car seat in both vehicles. The Avalon was very roomy.

Finally, getting to the title of this blog, is Nathan and his little probably harmless hitting ways. Sometimes when he doesn't get what he wants, he gives a whack. We are currently putting him in his crib and leaving him alone for 15mintues. We have been performing this type of punishement for the past week or so. Somedays it works well, and others, its useless. I hope he just grows out of it someday soon.

I bid you goodnight!

Long Time No See!

2006-04-29T12:58:00.001-07:00

Wow, sort of lost interest in blogging. Its busy when you have a kid. Also, I talk to people throughout the day, so most of the time I have no need to write it down again on a computer for less than the average had full of people who, with nothing better to do, actually read it.

Nathan, Amy, and I went to Maryland Day along with a coworker, Murano (an alumni who graciously showed us around campus). We had a ball. For those who don't know, Maryland Day is a festival held at The University of Maryland once a year. There is basically a ton of activities all around the campus. This campus, like Penn State is huge. That is probably one of the main reasons I had a good time. It was my first time to UMD, and by going to this festival, there were tons of people.

MD besides having lots of children's activities, has many neat experiments and talks to see for prespective students and adults. There may have even been a practice football game, akin to the Blue/White game at PSU.

We first got there around 10am. There were not many people there yet. The lines were short to get UMD icecream and other things. By the time we left there were alot of people. I can't blame them, it was a beautiful day. The lot was empty at the comcast center at arrival, and packed at when we left. For those who don't know MD trivia, like me, about the only true famous person to attnend school there, besides Connie Chung, was Jim Henson. There are many signs of his presence around campus. One of the cooliest things to do, was to sit my his statue where he is playing with Kermit, and have your picture taken. A student takes your picture, and in an hour they have it developed. You pick it up for free.

In a couple of years, Nathan will be the perfect age to participate in some of the events. Regardless, he still had a bunch of things to participate in. Murano took a bunch of pictures, so maybe I will post some later.

I would have to say, I was pleasantly surprised with the campus. It is clean and appears safe, even though it is not in the most desireable area in Maryland.

I bid you good night.

Proud Dad

2005-12-20T05:03:00.000-08:00

Last night Nathan performed in his first school play. Ok, it was not a play, but more of a pageant as the school called it. I ofcourse had my video camera ready to go. I was all warmed up had it on and started taking practice shots of the auditorium, ok it was not an auditorium, but more like a nice size room (its a daycare, not a high school). The first group of 1's come out. Some walked, others were carried, but everyone got to see the littliest of the bunch. Then came out the 2's, Nathan's group. They were decked out in snowflake hats of white and blue. They walked from the back, down the center of the isle and up to the micro stage. Nathan was the last of the bunch and had to be redirected. He saw Mom and I and wanted to see us, but his teachers directed him to the stage. Eventually, with little help, they got him and the rest of the children up on stage. Some kids started to cry but not Nathan, not yet anyway. They sang their first song. It was "Happy Holidays" in the tune of Happy Birthday. We were wondering why Nathan was singing Happy Birthday the previous 3 dinners at home. Any way most of the children were singing, including Nathan. He was watching the teacher, following along with the hand movements and singing. The second and last portion of their show was concluded with a song about snow flakes falling. It was sooo cute. Nathan was singing and into it. He also performed his couple of coreographed moves perfectly. One was spinning around like a snowflake. It was cool to see him do it with and possibly earlier than the other children. The other move was to fall down. He crouched just like all of the other kids. I was just so impressed with the singing and moves in general for early 2 year olds. To think that a year ago or so Nathan could not follow along at the library for Wheels on the Bus, and now him and other children are following directions for this little pageant. I was just so proud of him. After their performance, the children walked down the center isle between the chairs to head back to the classroom. Nathan eventually saw us standing in the back and passed us by. He then started crying because there were so many parents towering above him in the back of the crowd on the way to the classroom. So full of tears, I picked him up, rounded up mommy. On the way out we stopped at the refreshement area, got Nathan some coke and a pizza snack and left. Needless to say, I have never been prouder of anything else in my life.

Star Wars Episode III

2005-11-12T22:06:00.000-08:00

A coworker told me that this movie sucked; however, I quite frankly enjoyed it. What the hell its Star Wars. You get to see what happens before it all began. Now, let me first be the one to say the acting is obviously not great, and there are definately weak points to the movie. At times I almost thought that Lucus had to come up with something before Star Wars started, and wrote this idea before he went to bed one night. I'm probably wrong in thinking that Lucas wrote Star Wars first, then came up with the prequel. Ok, "Aniken really wants to save his wife". "He cares about that more than anything, and is willing to turn to the dark side to do it". He practically kills her in the movie before she gives birth. I can't give this movie an A. But the special effects were great, and I like Star Wars. I guess I can say that the movie was entertaining, but the whole Star Wars plot line was rather thin.

It was so obvious that the Chancelor was evil emperor from the begining. His mouth and voice looked and sounded like the evil emperor even at the very beginning.

I bid you goodnight.

Field Work

2005-11-10T21:34:00.000-08:00

I had the opportunity to do some fieldwork with a coworker today. I had lots of fun getting on his nerves. He really needs to not take things hard. Its all in good fun. I take his wisecracks all the time. Life is full of wisecracks. Those who laugh at them will be happy. So cheer up Murano!

Cheers

I bid you goodnight

No time tonight!

2005-11-09T23:47:00.000-08:00

The pens got blown out.

Candy

2005-11-08T20:22:00.000-08:00

I got to stop buying candy. If it is in the house, I eat it.

Nathan

My kid is really maturing under my eyes. The last week or so Nathan has been sitting quietly with us, or would just act more patient in general. He still has his moments, but these are the first signs that he does not need to be constantly moving.

Work

My coworker, Murano, loves to talk up Apple. Well, it looks like they are having some trouble with the Nano. I like to refer to it as the no-no. It now has its 3rd class action lawsuit brought against it due to the fragileness the screen. It appears that enough people have complained about it being scratched with little use, that not only is a customer in the US suing Apple, but so to are Mexico and the UK. I guess that is what happens when you rush a product to market without sufficien testing. How long has the Nano been on the market? A month? Altough, it appears most if not all ipods scratch easily based on the use of one by my coworker. His is banged up and it see's as much rugged use as a grandfather clock. I guess users must have to spend extra and purchase a skin for it. Thats too bad.

I bid you goodnight!

Gwins win!

2005-11-07T21:44:00.000-08:00

The pens beat the rangers tonight 3-2. It was nice to see them get the win. They looked pretty good.

Politics, Yuck!

I am already getting sick of politics on tv. I barely watch any tv, and am getting bombarded with tons of Virginia governor and other political crap. I would not trust any of them. Vote for Pedro!

The reason I had to put up with commercials is due to the King of Queens. It was pretty good. Doug and Carrie go to a Bed and Breakfast and have a crazy time.

I bid you goodnight.

Great Sunday

2005-11-06T15:25:00.000-08:00

Day Trip

We met my folks at the Hagerstown Outlets today. It was a great day. The weather was beautifull too. Nathan was cute and the grandparents loved him.

It was also the first time I had ever eaten at the Cracker Barrel. It was great. Awesome food at a reasonable price. They serve fabulous comfort food, that kind of stuff you would get at a diner. You can also shop at their general store. A good family dining place.

Simpsons

I just finished watching another good Simpsons Treehouse of Horror, their halloween special. As a great man once and still says. It was "not to bad, not to good, just on the cutting edge of mediocre". The family guy was great too. You just don't know what is going to be said next. Probably the best animated show out there these days. Well close to South Park anyway, and its is on network tv.

I bid you good night.

Great day for PSU

2005-11-05T20:43:00.000-08:00

Penn State took care of Wisconsin today to make their record 9-1. They have Michigan State left. It should be a tough one as they battle away. Plus they beat Michigan State last year in the last game after a dismal season. MS may be looking for revenge. Too bad they lost a close one to Michigan. They would definately be top 3 material.

One of the few times I get to watch a pens game, and they are getting shallacked by Boston at the end of the 2nd period 5-1.

Nathan rode his tricycle more today and sat on a real bike with training wheels. I think it will be a year or two more before he masters a bike.

My bro is about to have a baby. I am excited for him and his wife. They are due in early December. He is married to a great Indian girl. I think they will make awesome parents. They live in TX so I don't get many opportunities to see them.

I forgot to tell my friend at work that he is an ABCD!

I bid you good night.

Today

2005-11-04T16:51:00.000-08:00

Correction

I appologize to my coworker. He is not "Extremely Liberal", but just very liberal. He definately has a couple conservative views that I totally agree on. So you can say he is fair minded, or he thinks so, and not that far on the left. I joke about him, but I probably agree with him about 80% of the time.

Lunch

I had a great lunch today at a Japanese restaurant in Ellicott City. It has very good sushie and Japanese buffet. We actually waited in line about 20 minutes until we got seated.

Entertainment

We are over half way through the movie 13. I am surprised at how good it is. The teenage boppieness annoyed me at first, but I definately got sucked in. Holly Hunter is a great actress even though she talks out of the side of her mouth.

I bid you goodnight.

Regular Day

2005-11-03T17:10:00.000-08:00

Not much went on today. It was pretty much your typical day. Work, Home with family and surfin right now.

Internet

Its great that comcast is actually streaming hockey games for free. It is great. I hope they can keep it up. I love watching the pens.

I big you good night.

Toothy Day

2005-11-02T17:25:00.000-08:00

Dentist

Well the dentist was ho hum today. It costed a little less than I expected. Everyone knows that even with insurance, that the dentist is expensive. I would not complain; however, this is the 3rd time I have had something done to the same tooth! First was a root canal and crown 3 or more years ago. Next, with a new dentist, the xrays show that the old crown was not totally sealed, so the crown had to come off and be replaced (1.5 years ago). That was the second thing done. Finally today, with the portable crown in my hand I find out that it is useless, and I need a post in the tooth to help support the tooth and a new crown. All together with everything done to this tooth I have easily spent well over $2200. I wish they would of just yanked it to begin with, or give me a fake.

Nathan

My kid has been hitting, or taking swipes at mommy and daddy more so than normal lately. I can see revenge in is eyes when he puts his hand back after I make him angry. We do the notty chair thing, plus I will spank him from time to time. But I don't think hitting him will really teach him that hitting is wrong. I think though that a sting to the ass does pay dividends from time to time.

This morning he counted to 20. He missed 2 numbers in between, but its pretty neat to hear him count into the teens. He has been counting to 10 for about a month now.

He also really rode his tricycle well today. I did not have to get him started either. He was all over our little street.

Work

Work went well today. My co worker really cracks me up though. He is extremely liberal. I rate myself in between. Although I tend to side with democrats in most issues, I would say I am a moderate democrat. I voted for our republican governor and do not regret it. I don't know how people can totally agree with the philosiphy of either party and defend it. I would have to say I hate the far right and the far left. You would think most people would have some common sense and be in the middle. Politics basically sucks. We should do whats best for all people, not what gets us elected.

Maybe I will write a little more about this in the future.

I bid you goodnight.

Wow I have a blog.

2005-11-01T20:57:00.000-08:00

What to do, what to do... Let me see. Do I waste alot of time with this thing only to have one or two, or no people read it? Anyway. Welcome to you and myself. I hope I can read it from time to time, or possibly post here as well.

I got to go watch a couple of good shows: My Name is Earl, and The Office. The office is probably one of the best shows on tv these days. I mean right behind King of Queens.

I went up to Happy Valley this past weekend and saw PSU win a game. In the process I received a speeding ticket that made everything even better.

My son just went trick or treating yesterday. He is 2 and went as a Bee for the second year in a row. Mommy and I devowered most of his trick or treating efforts.

I have a dentist appointment tommorrow. Not much else going on right except for being busy at work and being a dad which is probably one of the most tiring, but surely the greatest job off all.

I bid you goodnight.