I'm exhausted

Wow ... what a weekend!! Saturday was spent preparing the nursery for painting and going to a book launching party thrown by the world's greatest author.
Sunday brought the arduous task of painting the nursery. The day began with a coat of primer. Since Debbie couldn't help me (man ... is being pregnant like a great excuse or what?), it took about 2 hours to finish the primer. I let that sit for about 1.5 hours during which I realized I did not possess paint removing soap. Does anyone remember that bar of soap your dad had that would clean absolutely anything? Paint, grease, blood ... you name it! So, I made a quick run to the store to pick some up as I'm not exactly the tidiest painter. It's funny though, I could only think of Lever 2000 and wondered why the Home Depot guy gave me an odd face when I asked for it. At Ace Hardware, I realized my faux pas ... the soap in question is named Lava.
Once I felt the primer had cured enough, out came the Moonlit Yellow paint. Let me tell you, this paint is ... YELLOW! It looks good, I'm not questioning the decision. It's just that walking into a yellow room is a completely different experience than the previous red/blue wallpaper. It has a nice warm feel to it and I think I'm going to enjoy this decision.
I'm not done yet as I have at least 1 more coat to do. However, my back simply cannot take anymore right now. I think I stressed it the most leaning over our slop sink cleaning all the accoutrements. My upcoming week is now full of fun and exciting things like putting on the 2nd coat, assembling the crib we bought, and putting up the wallpaper border.
Now, why am I assembling the crib and THEN the wallpaper border. It's because I want the border to be at a height just above the crib. I certainly don't want to just throw it up there and hope it's the right height.
I think it's time to end this rambling string of semi-related thoughts. I'm tired and I want to go to bed ....
I had a little drink about an hour ago
and it went right to my head!
Wherever I may roam,
on land or sea or foam,
You'll always hear me singing this song ...

*ahem* sorry bout that ... Whenever you start doing show tunes, it's time to go to bed.

Pop vs Soda

It's an age-old debate. When wishing to order a carbonated beverage at your local eatery, do you ask for a pop or a soda? Well, someone with entirely too much time on their hands created this website. Which do you say?

Friday Five (first time for me)

I have seen a couple of Friday Five's that were intriguing. Today, there were actually 2 that I saw. The second one asked a few political questions that I will avoid as I don't want to be arrested for sedition. Here are the non-political ones:

1. What's your signature outfit?

In the summer - jean shorts, polo shirt, tennis shoes.
In the winter - jeans, polo shirt, boots.

I wear those outfits 6 days of the week

2. What kind of clothing are you uncomfortable in?

I have found tube tops are not that comfortable.

3. Ever had an outfit or article of clothing that you loved, even though others thought it hideous/tacky/questionable?

My lime green leisure suit; matching fedora with giant white feather sticking out of it.

4. Ever worn something more than once, even though you though it hideous/tacky/questionable?

Leather chaps. What was I thinking?

5. Ever walked a mile in someone else's shoes? Did you learn anything from it?

I learned that no matter how flattering, I shouldn't really wear pumps.

A milestone has been reached!

Well, it finally happened!!! At 31 or so weeks, Debbie's stomach is finally bigger than mine. WOOT!

Also, she finegalled tickets to see Bill Cosby at the Rosemont Horizon on October 9th. I have no idea why I gave in. It's not that I didn't want to see him. It's just that I don't want her to let out a guffaw and a *whoosh* at the same time. That would be a mighty awkward moment not only for us, but for those around us. I mean ... can you imagine calling an usher saying "Bring a mop ... NOW!!!!"

All I can do now is pray. Pray that kid knows s/he better not decide to come out til after the show.

And now for something completely different

I feel like a blogging dam ... I store a bunch up then burst open a flood of posts on you poor reader. Sorry!

Anyway, unless you've been living under a rock, you might know that the Summer Olympics are currently under way in Athens. First off, I have to say I am impressed by the way in which Athens has handled itself. I didn't think they could pull it off, but the first week seemed to go very well. Now ... onto my pet peeve. I cannot stand Olympic events that require a judge to determine a score. It annoys me. So naturally, these events are the ones Debbie loves (read gymnastics).

<TANGENT>I do not consider those events where a judge determines a score to be a sport. Athletic competition ... sure, but sport ... no. A sport is an athletic competition with some objective means of determining a winner (i.e. time, score, distance, etc.) Nothing bothers me more than hearing of a medal controversy because someone chooses to participate in a subjective event and then complains when that subjectivity doesn't go their way<END TANGENT>

I've enjoyed the swimming so far ... the kayaking looked interesting .. and the women's beach volleyball is muy bueno! Mmmm ... women's beach volleyball .... Ahem ... sorry ... got lost for a second. There will be more Olympic posts, but for now ... that is all!

Maybe I was too hasty

In an earlier post, I stated that if a friend asked you to help remove wallpaper, you should "throw salt in their eyes and run like hell." I think that assessment may have been a bit premature. You should POKE THEM IN THE EYES, KICK THEM WHERE IT HURTS, THEN RUN LIKE HELL!!!!

Guess what I've been doing this weekend :) That's right, continuing the never ending saga of getting the nursery ready. In the end, getting all the adhesive off the wall required the one thing I didn't really want to do: work. I wanted to spray some magic wallpaper removing fairy dust on the walls, wash with a squeegee and there ya go. No such like for this hombre. No, I had to take a Scotch Brite (patent pending) pad and scrub, scrub, scrub, while using hot water. Very hot water! I expect I'll be able to feel my fingers again in a few days. Fortunately, that part of the nightmare is over. Up next is preparing the wall by filling in any oopsies I may have caused while removing the wallpaper, sanding, maybe doing some patch work. *sigh* It's for the baby .... It's for the baby.

I'll say one thing, when that baby comes out, the first thing s/he better do is turn, look at me, and thank me for busting my butt to get that room ready. A little gift might be nice ... but a simple thank you would suffice. Is that too much to ask?

How old am I?

Okay, so I was up at 8 am to let our HVAC guy in (just a routine checkup). No ... Really ... I WAS up. I mentioned to him a clanking sound and he looked into it. He mentioned that he thought he had fixed the problem but that if I experienced any more problems, I "knew who to call". My initial reaction was "Ghostbusters?" Then I realized, this guy was too young to even know Ghostbusters. That movie is like 20 years old!!! I'm glad I didn't mention my thoughts because I don't think I could have stood the blank stare.

Nostalgia

For those pining to play old arcade games, old Atari 200 games, Intellivision games, etc ... Have I got a site for you. http://www.gamehippo.com is an absolutely incredible site. It's got 1000's of the old games all for free. The site is legit too, I have downloaded about 6 games and have not run into any problems with ad or spyware. Some games I've gotten are Chicken Invaders, Arkanoid, and a BurgerTime. For those craving Mrs Pacman ;), look for Mrs. Blitzman under the arcade games and I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

Tournament time

For those who read my wife's web log, I thought I should write about my 1st No-limit Texas Hold-em Poker Tournament. This particular tournament was run by a friend of a friend and that is how I got invited. Now, I've played Texas Hold-em Poker on numerous occasions so I had an idea of what to do. Having not played in a tournament before, I have to say the experience was quite thrilling. I did okay by placing 15th our of 30 players. I was happy as my goal for the tournment was to make the top 20. What made the experience even better was a mediocre player's game. Normally, after enough people go out of the tournament, a table is created for them to play a smaller stakes tournament amongst themselves. The losers' table was full when I went out, so I was part of the mediocre players' table. I did quite well, but not well enough to win any money. The top 2 got money and I finished 3rd.
All-in-all, I had a great time and would play again in a heartbeat. The only caveat to the whole experience is that the place where the tournament was held was 1.5 hours from my house. I'd say where, but I don't want to get in trouble with the authorities :)

One friendly note ... if it's Monday the 16th and you think this is my new post ... you need to go down about 4 more articles to see all my updates for today. I got a little behind in writing these and figured I should catch up.

I'm a Genius!!!

Not that this fact should surprise anyone :) Here is the latest demonstration of my intellectual superiority. I have removed almost all the wallpaper from the nursery and am now down to just little tiny bits of paper stuck to the wall. These nasty little devils are nigh invisible to the human eye and will not come off by just washing the wall. So, what to do?
I decided that the best way to find these little suckers is to turn off all the lights in the room (of course this only works if it's dark outside as well). Then, I take a flashlight and hold it perpendicular to the wall. WHAM!!! Those little stuck scraps of paper spring into view and now I can focus my wall cleaning efforts on the areas that actually need cleaning.
Now, I have heard of a water-iodine solution that when applied to the wall will cause those scraps of paper to turn a purplish color. The only problem is I don't know how much iodine to use, so I shall keep using my technique of exploiting the diverse luminiscent properties of paper, adhesive, and wall.

Serendipity

It is not often that one gets to experience serendipity. Friday night revealed just such an experience to yours truly. For some reason, I was in the mood to have dinner with friends. Not that there is a time when I wouldn't be in the mood to have dinner with friends. I just really wanted to have dinner with friends. I shot off a quick email earlier in the day to Heather and Rob to see if they were available. As it happened, they could not meet us for dinner as they already had plans. So, Debbie and I decided to give Stacey and Greg (what ... no web page?) a call to see if they wanted to get together.

Here, my friends, is where I experienced serendipity. As it turned out, some friends from Detroit (Julie, Rob, and their son Jacob) were staying at their house for the night. They had been camping in Wisconsin for a week and stopped by for a breather on their way back home. If I hadn't called, we really wouldn't have known they were in town and would not have had the oppurtunity to get together. By sheer luck, Debbie and I got the chance to see them and their cutie of a son, Jacob. We had a great time having dinner at Max & Erma's, including fresh baked chocolate chip cookies. Jacob had an episode where he lost his cookies, but it provided a lot of humor for the evening. Rob and Julie did an amazing job preventing a mess with well timed, well placed napkins and plates.

Afterwards, we played "Scene It", a great game which I highly recommend. My team lost so, of course, my evening was ruined ;) We really enjoyed seeing everyone and I can't thank serendipity enough for that!

Welcome!

I wanted to send a huge "Hello" to my newest cousin Faith. She was born on Friday to my cousin Bunny and her husband Gene. Faith marks my grandmother's 10th great-grandchild (get that relation). There are 5 boys and 5 girls ... so unless Debbie gives birth to some hermaphroditic creature, our child will break that tie. Which gender will gain the edge? We shall find out in October won't we :)

Monday reader ... start here

Okay ... I've got a couple of posts coming, so if you're reading this on Monday, start here. This is the first post, then work your way up. I might have a few posts, I may even reach a gaggle ... I don't know yet. We'll see.

Where I should be right now

I have to say that this week is a little depressing. Mainly because I should be lounging around in Ocean City, MD right now with my family. I've been to the ocean (pronounced OOOOOO-shun) every year since I was 5 (though a few of those years were spent in Nags Head, NC). This year will mark the first time that is not the case. I understand the reason for not going, mainly that traveling in your third trimester to a place where its 90 degrees with 100% humidity, lots of walking, lots of sand, and not being able to do much in the way of swimming in the ocean is not the best. I really do. Its still just a little bit of a downer that I won't be seeing the ocean this year.
Is it good that we didn't go? Absolutely! I finally figured out a major problem I had been working on for over a month now; it turns out this is the last week for my intern (I've kinda ignored him the past month due to this major problem); there's a department picnic all afternoon tomorrow; and I'm playing in a No-limit Texas Hold-em tournament on Saturday. I also finished stripping all the wallpaper from the nursery and am now in the process of cleaning the rest of the adhesive (a major pain in the butt). So, its not like I'm sitting around here mopeing or that I'm not getting a lot done. It's just that I should be sitting on the beach, spending much more money than I should on arcade games, and other vacationy things.
One final thought here. It's probably for the best that we didn't go because next year is going to be a completely different experience. Up until now, I've experienced Ocean City as a kid, a teenager (the the best words to describe these years are shy and awkward), as a single guy (again ... shy and awkward), as a boyfriend (still awkward but not so shy), and as a husband (I dont think I'll ever get rid of awkward). Next year, I get to experience OC as a dad. If I have a daughter, I have a feeling I won't be so approving of those bikinis the gifted young ladies prance around in. Then again, if I have a son, I may point out said young ladies. All in all, I have to say this skipping the ocean this year probably provides a nice clean break between how I remember O.C. and how it will be from now on: constantly worrying about my kid.

How weird am I

So ... here it is ... 4 in the morning ... Why am I awake? I have no idea. More importantly ... Why am I posting now? I have no idea.

*sigh* I didn't expect senility to set in this early.

Just to be clear though, I have got a good 5 hours sleep. I think I may be so used to going to bed at 1, that my body had no idea what to do when I went to bed at 11:00. Then again, it's not like I was getting up at 7 anyways. Stupid biology.

All work and no play...

Well, this weekend involved a LOT of work. Saturday was spent helping our friends helloheather and phule move into their new house. And what a house! The big chore Debbie took was categorizing all of their books (no small undertaking given their rather sizeable collection). I did odd jobs and generally dispensed what handyman knowlege I had acquired. Usually, this dispensing of knowledge was preceeded by a pulling up of the jeans to emphasize the point.
As Eileen quoted one of this quips:
"Yup ... *loud exhale* ... ya see .. whatcha got there is a 40 gallon water heater ... appears to be a 1987 model"

We were treated to both lunch AND dinner for our efforts including an awesome Brownie ala Mode with chocolate sauce. We had a ball reminicising (how sad is it that we are old enough to reminisce!) and just plain telling jokes all the while making Heather and Rob's new home feel comfy and cozy. I even put my electronic skills to good use by almost hooking up their TV, DVD/VCR, and stereo. I say almost because I managed to pull the cable connector right off of the coaxial cable. Hopefully, Rob was able to get in touch with the Comcast guy to get that fixed.

Sunday was spent doing a little furniture shopping (unsuccessful) and finishing stripping the rest of the wallpaper. Should I be concerned that I had a near orgasmic experience when an entire sheet (floor to ceiling) came off the wall with almost no effort? Is there anything better after spending day after day with a putty knife pulling wallpaper off in little 4" by 4" sections. Up next for the nursery is making a little solution of wallpaper gunk remover and wash the walls with it. After that, sanding. Then, priming. At this point, I can then get to actually painting the walls. It is now a race between me and the baby and I hope I win or Debbie won't let me sleep!

I just keep reciting the mantra: "This is for the baby ... This is for the baby ... This is for the baby"

GAH!

Yesterday had to be one of the the worst days of my life. My good friend at work began joking that I was losing my hair a little in the back. Now, he has been saying this for years and I kept telling him that's how I comb my hair. There's this one spot that seems bald, but is just the central point from which all my hairs are combed. Kinda like the way the Vatican is laid out with this spot being St. Peter's cathedral (is that a sacrilegious analogy?). He came back with an unusual response: "That's a good line ... you should keep sticking to it" While waiting to be seated at lunch, the conversation came up again. My other co-workers were wondering what we were talking about. I showed them and I heard "Oh ... yeah". Hmm ... this isn't getting funny anymore.
Then, while having dinner with my wife, I mentioned the conversation to her. You want to know what she said? "Yeah ... I kinda noticed that a while ago, but I didn't want to say anything."

WHAT?!?!?!?!?! YOU NOTICED?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! YOU DIDN'T TELL ME?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Actually, she had a good reason for not telling me. I have been very adamant for some time now that if I were to ever start losing my hair, I was going to shave it. Not down to the skin, but very short so my head looks like a peach. My reason was that I didn't want to be that guy who grew his 1 hair to 8 feet long so he can wrap it around the top of his head. I also didn't want to be that guy who spends 10 minutes getting those 3 strands of hair to lay just right across the top of my head. Debbie was afraid this would be my first act once she told me about this travesty and she didn't want to be married to a giant peach-head.

Well, we got back from dinner and I had to go look in the mirror. GAH! I AM LOSING MY HAIR!!! *sigh* better invest in some rogaine.

Happy Birthday!

Why does that phrase make me think of the Rankin and Bass' "Frosty the Snowman"? Eh, anyway, it's Debbie's birthday today ... YEAH!!! She's exactly *mumbles something unintelligible* years old today.

The nice part is that for the next month, I'm married to an older woman! Ooooooooooo! Yup, she sure robbed the cradle when she married me.

I wonder if I'll get a better trade in now or if I wait one more year? Hmmm ... questions of the ages!