Saturday, January 31, 2009

So This is What It's Like?

2 kids at one grandparents, the other at another. It was a nice, peaceful Friday night. Saturday morning was nice and peaceful as well. In fact, we're getting stuff done today. This must be what it's like to not have kids.

But wait. It kinda sux.

Screw that, I'll take the kids over the peace and quiet any day!

Happy Super Saturday! Go Cardinals! Greg Sux!

Monday, January 26, 2009

Long Overdue Andy Update (INCLUDES A PIC!)

Ok, I was talking to one of you today. It made me realize I'm way overdue for an Andy update.

Andy's still in speech therapy. The good news is he's really doing well. I've been spending time getting to his eye level and just talking to him. I think this is helping. A wise man once told me that kids will really listen to you and respect you if you get down to their eye level.

So far he doesn't seem to have any other remaining effects from chemo. I occasionally worry about his overall development, then I realize I'm not being fair. I'm comparing him to Joey & Emma when they were at that age. The thing is that Joey and Emma are both unusually quick in most areas of development. That's the #1 rule of parenting multiple kids: don't compare.

With any luck we'll be past the speech therapy within a few short months. But really we don't know how long this will last. Frankly, it will last as long as it needs to last.

I think this may be the last thing in which he's running behind.

We should be hearing from the Costas Center soon. It's getting close to time for him to get another CT scan, blood work, and see his oncologist.

Now, the long-awaited pic! A great pic of the big guy from Christmas. Check out the bed head on that mop top! He's come quite a long way from shiny smooth chemo head!

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Think YOU Had a Bad Day?

You have nothing on This poor fella.

Must be Kanadian.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

A Random (kinda) Thought

You know Tupac had a buttload of singles after he died. Not really sure how he did it but he did. I'm not much on hip hop and the only stuff I like tends to be from the 90s. Shocking huh? Anyway, one of the few rap songs I've always liked is Changes by Tupac. In that song, there's one line that has been standing out in my mind for a few weeks now for obvious reasons. "And though it seems evident, we ain't ready to see a black president." I just can't help but think he's out there somewhere smiling.

I rip on B. Hussein a lot. I also ripped on GW a lot. Like it or not, he's our president. For the last 8 years I've been telling the liberal Bush haters that he's our president and you need to embrace him as such, whether you like him or not. This is America and we're all Americans. That said, I'm not going to be hypocritical about this. He's my president. I'm an American. I'd rather have GW, B. Hussein, or even Peanut Boy Carter as my nation's leader than a bunch of the other possibilities. (look at the middle east, most of Africa, parts of South America, and most of Asia if you don't know what I'm talking about)

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The good: In a few hours, we can say that we don't have an idiot for a president.
The bad: In a few hours, B. Hussein will be president.
The ugly: In a few hours, Socialist Bitch will be Secretary of State.

For those of you who thought I was joking about his middle name, I'm not. In fact, I can't believe you didn't know that. Listen to the swearing-in, or do some Googling. His middle name is Hussein. If Harry Truman's middle name were Hitler, do you think he would have been elected? Just throwing it out there.

Good luck America.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Go Cardinals!

For the first time in about 3 or 4 years I didn't say preseason that this was Big Red's year. And guess what. Superbowl.

I'm happy about this. Given my AZ connections, the Cardinals <-> STL connection, and of course Kurt, I'm about as happy as I can get, short of it being the Rizzams.

So yeah, if you're coming over for the Super Bowl, I'll be drinking more than usual on Super Bowls, and I'll be less of a host and more of a game watcher. :)

Go Cardinals!

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Caramel Corn Rice Cakes Rox!

Some weekends I'm stricken by weekend insomnia and am up until 12 - 1 ish. Some weekends I'm so damn tired that I'm in bed before I'm normally in bed on weekdays. This weekend was kinda somewhere in the middle. I like those.

But that doesn't mean I won't grab an hour or 2 on the couch today.

Speaking of on the couch today, I'm rooting for the Cardinals but I have a feeling Kurt won't be able to handle Philly's blitz and we'll have a PA Bowl.

I guess we'll do the usual super bowl thing. Come over. Invite appropriate people because I'm bad about doing so.

I know soda is bad for me. I know tea has caffeine, but I need a quick hit, not a slow and steady. Unfortunately coffee tears up my stomach. This means I pretty much have 1 soda a day now. Sometimes it's 12 ounces, sometimes 24, sometimes 32. I don't do the 44 ozers anymore except on rare occasions, and even at that I try not to drink it all. But hey, it's an improvement over 18 months ago when I was going through 150 ounces a day of Dew. But yeah, I need to have a soda every day. It's a small health sacrifice to make. And it's an easy sacrifice since I love the stuff. :)

I can't make it without caffeine. I went 2 or 3 weeks with no caffeine whatsoever. I thought once I got over it that my body would adjust. It didn't. I need it to survive.

That being said, I haven't had any caffeine today and there's a few things I want to get done. Guess I'm gonna go spend $0.89 on a 24-oz Fountain Dew.

DnD tonight. We're wrapping up a campaign. Getting ready for a new one. Gonna build a rogue/fighter. Rox.

Friday, January 16, 2009

The Great Recession Drinking Game

Yes, I've named this era The Great Recession. And why not make a drinking game out of it!

So here's how it works. Listen to a Wall Street Journal podcast. Or jump on CNBC. Basically tune into any program that is business- or finance-related.

When you hear the following words, do the following action:
TARP - Drink!
Bailout - Drink!
"Big 3" - Drink!
Housing - Drink! (must be the actual word "housing" no variations)
"Economic Stimulus" - The first person to slap their hand on the table can make one person drink.
"Rate Cut" - The last person to slap their hand on the table has to chug.
Main Street - Chug!
Depression (financial, not mood) - SOCIAL!
"Credit Crunch" - SOCIAL!
Layoff - Waterfall!

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Yeah that's cold.

Come back Manbearpig! I miss you! Damn you Algore!

I downloaded the Windows 7 beta. I have a very low-end machine downstairs that runs XP and Linux just fine but Vista... forget about it. Windows 7 is supposed to run better on older machines. I'm curios to check it out. I haven't run a beta Windows since 98, so this shall be interesting.

Have I mentioned that 2-year-olds are a pain in the ass?

Back to dealing with brats!

Monday, January 12, 2009

Where the Hell is Manbearpig???

I'm cold. Gonna be even colder tomorrow.

In unrelated news, I've decided I like Facebook better than Myspace. I mean really. I like poking people. And you can't poke on Myspace. Need I say more?

Who walks behind me?

Let me out!

I've been all about the quotes lately. Movies or music mainly. Kinda funny that to some people who haven't heard the particular line, I must appear to be a complete whack job.

I guess I'm a complete whack job anyway.

Ok, my app is finished installing on the laptop. Time to go.

Friday, January 9, 2009

Yes, It's True

No, I'm not quoting a line from a cheezy Huey Lewis and the News song. I'm saying, to all of you that have 0 or 1 kids, that yes, it's true. When you get married and those of us with kids start harrasing you saying stuff like, "So when are you gonna have kids?" we're doing it because we're trying to bring you down with us. Same thing if you only have 1 kid and we harass you to have more. Misery loves company.

All in good fun of course. I love my bratasses.

Now that fucking Huey Lewis song is stuck in my head. Greg you suck.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

I Love Healthcare

Today I went to lunch with the competition to talk about best practices, exchange ideas, and generally network. Will turn into an ongoing thing.

Not only did my boss know about it, he encourages it.

In many other industries, I would have been fired on the spot.

I love working in Healthcare.

Monday, January 5, 2009

This Friday

This Friday will be the one-year anniversary of Andy's official no-more-cancer announcement. It's been quite a long year. A lot has happened since then. There's still some questions that remain unanswered, and he's still catching up from the effects of chemo. But certainly, 1/9 is a much better day than 8/9.

The big guy will have his speech therapy on Wednesday, but then his therapist will be leaving so he'll be on a waiting list. He's progressing so well, now, that it's possible that he won't have to go back. We'll see how it goes.

We'll have to keep an eye on his development. You'll recall a year ago we were worried about his lack of walking. Now it's talking. Hopefully this will be the last problem. But if not, that's fine, we'll work with him.

He's a special little man.

Oh. Friday would have also been Grandpa Key's birthday.

Friday, January 2, 2009

Ok, I'll Buy Into It

Eat This, Not That.

WTF?

Ok this is a double-WTF.

First off, you should know that I have 3 cats and 2 large dogs. Yeah. Three cats and 2 large dogs. Guess what else I have? Mice! Well, a mouse anyway. 2 mice have already met their maker thanks to Tommy (a cat). But we have at least one elusive mouse. WTF? 3 cats, 2 large dogs, and mice still find their way in?

Ok fine. So that's the first WTF. Now for the second. I won't even comment, as a picture is worth a thousand words. (You may have to click the image to really see why it's a WTF)