In the new place, and loving it...

Well we are at our new place, a nice 4 bedroom house on the north side of Eau Claire. Very, very nice place. Bug loves it, her room is pretty big and has a good view. I like having my own space for working, and we all love the kitchen and the porches.

In other news...

- Jen has been in labor for about 10 days now. Not kidding, no joking. On May 17th she started having contractions every 10 minutes apart, we went in, they checked, nothing happening. 1.5 cm dilated, 40% effaced. They stopped contractions because she was 35 weeks along. They told her bedrest, no working. So she spent the next week at home.

- Starting tuesday the 20th, she was getting contractions every 3 minutes apart. We went in, they watched her for 3 hours and... while she is contracting properly, no more progress. So they stopped labor again with medicine, and sent her home, still bedrest.

- Labor came back that same night, but they said don't worry unless it changes and becomes worse. So she waited until saturday, when it became "worse then any menstrual pain ever" and every 1-2 minutes. She sat in there for 3 hours hooked up to a machine which tracked every. Single. contraction.

And no progress.

So now, she is back to work (since she is 36 weeks), contracting every 5 minutes.

Her doctor is baffled, but doesn't want to intervene because aloryn is doing fine, and except for discomfort Jen is able to function. But as he stated, by all medical fact, she should of given birth already. No one including the experts in Minneapolis are sure why she hasn't.

So yeah, been a fun week.

Also - I have a facebook now. That is where you will find the pictures of new baby and such. Watch there :)

No, Not Disapearing :)

Just extremely busy with the move.

We are currently T minus 2 weeks to the official move, and boxes are stacked all over our apartment.

The place we ar e moving to: a 4 bedroom house with a 3-season front porch and a 2-season back porch. The living area and kitchen are smaller, but all the bedrooms are bigger, and the fourth one is going to be used for our computer room and my office. Chloe will be going to a new school, but it's hours are betteR (they start at 9 and go to 4), and the bus picks up and drops off right outside our front door.

Work news... Someone at my office that I have worked with for years (used to be the team lead on my team), and who was recently promoted to supervisor, has requested me to be his new team lead. So I have an interview tommorrow for this!

The problem is, I'm not sure I want it. Financially, while it will mean more money, it also means we have to put Chloe in daycare after school. Combine that with little aloryn's daycare cost, and the fact that if I am in the office, if either of the kids are sick I have to take a day off, where right now I can still work through it.

Tough decision, but it would put me on-par with what my wife makes. All in all, we would actually probably lose a dollar an hour, but... It may be worth it. Some have mentioned that I have become almost "hermit-like" when it comes to a work environment. May be time to prove them wrong.

Baby: Jen's doing great, although she has Gestational Diabetes of a "minor" degree. Literally, her numbers were only 1 or 2 outside of the "normal" range at each marker on the challenge test. So my wonderful wife can't have her favorite treats (chocolate, ice cream, cookies, etc), even in moderation. She is on 0-sugar except for fruit diet at the moment.

Aloryn is kicking normally, responding to voice, light, pressure, and is a little bugger already! Whether it's coincidence or signs of her going to be a problem child, she already has an attitude, and that attitude is "leave me alone". Even now, as she grows more, she refuses to let ultrasounds, dopplers, and fetal monitoring go on without a fight. As soon as a monitor is put on, she kicks and punches directly on the pressure like there is no tommorrow. Last time we had to trick her by pressing down on side while she was monitored from the other. And the fetal monitor belt... yesh. It had to be moved back several times because she kept kicking it hard enough to move it off.

My project:
Has been put on hold until we move. I have most of the codework done, now it is a matter of making things look pretty, setting it up, advertising, etc. Still a month or two away (especially the making it look presentable... i have always been a behind the scenes guy, I hate actually making pictures and the like).

The Future:
We have decided that in September of 2009 we are taking the kids to Disneyworld again. Currently we have my mother in law and 2 friends from CA going with us. Even this far out, it is shaping up like it will be a great trip. My mother-in-law is coming for the soul purpose to babysit Aloryn while we take chloe on the rides she can't go on, and as she put it, to spend time with "all of us" individually because she doesn't get to often. Add in the fact that some of our online friends are planning a trip to meet us there, this could be our best trip yet!

Well another morning has come and gone, wifey is awake, time for me to get moving.

Why are women so suprised...

This is a question to all the ladies out there.

Is finding a man who is good with kids, sensitive, cooks, somewhat cleans, does laundry, holds a steady job, thinks of women as equals, and likes shopping (and isn't gay) such a hard thing?

My wifes friends are always in a sort of wonderment about how she found me, and where they 'can train a man to be like that'. Our great friend R (name withheld, thanks for reminding me of that Sig :) always jokes she wants to clone me to have "the perfect man".

Granted, I'm not perfect, I don't pretend to be. I tend to tune things out, my idea of cleaning is "hiding clutter", my temper sometimes gets the best of me, and in the mornings i tend to be a jackass, at least until my second cup of coffee. (I R NOT A MORNING PERSON).

Is it somehow wrong, in this advanced day and age, to expect the male of the species to cook at least half the meals? To take care of the kids at least half the time? To do the laundry and dishes? To share basic responsibility!

Friday Update: A Day Late

Another hectic week done, another 7 days closer to having a new baby...

Highlights of the Week:
1. UPS Losing a $3,000 check that was sent next day air to us (I took out a partial 401k loan for moving expenses coming up). It was eventually delivered after 3 days, with no apologies or refund.

2. Bug was at the ex's parents this week due to spring break. Gave jen and I some much needed break and calm down time. (ie: we got her warrior and my shammy alot closer to 60)

3. Coloring eggs is fun and messy. And eggs smell bad (yes, our eggs are good, i just hate the smell of eggs)

4. Still waiting to hear back from the new landlord (crossing my fingers big time) - My friend is scheduled to move out, the landlord has our number and has of yet to call. HOping they are just out of town for the weekend.

5. We are now (or will be on Tuesday) in the third trimester!!!


On the project front...

It looks like everything will be ready for a June launch, just in time for all the kids getting out of school. Games covered at the beginning will be Warcraft, Guild Wars, City of Heroes and City of Villians. I could push myself to do it earlier, but with the move coming up I am flowcharting, etc, saving the heavy coding for later. But I am writing snippets here and there, so it is all coming together.

In games, do we choose a class based on buried emotion?

In MMO's and various other roleplaying game, we often want the characters on the screen to represent us as individuals. We want them to be the best they can be because, in our minds eye, they are us. But when it comes time to choose what class/archetype you are going to be, and your playstyle, do you really have a choice? Or is it all pre-chosen by your subconscious?

I ask this because of a course of conversations with friends and family over the last several months. I have one friend who has trouble confronting problems in real life. He tends to run, and no matter how strong he wants to be, he just emotionally can't handle facing things. Yet in Warcraft, he is always a tanker. He has tried mage, he has trield a casting druid, even a healer. But every time, he reverts back to tanking (He has 3 70's, druid, warrior, and paladin, all of them tanks). He mentioned that there is just something about not being on the front line that he doesn't like. Which is completely contradictory to his nature.

Take the case of our friend who is the namesake of our soon-to-be born daughter. In real life, she always gets into problems with her relationships. She has low esteem because of it, feels like she can't stop it before things go bad. In the game, she is a frost mage because she likes the control and power of it all. She loves being able to prevent things from stopping her, to be able to stop the issues before they affect her.

Finally, take me. I always want everything to be "okay", so I am a shoulder to cry on, people try to tell me everything wrong with their lifes, and expect me to have the answers. This also extends to work, where people (even those not on my team!) come to me for advice on both personal and professional issues, instead of talking to their own supervisors or team leads. heck, I'm not even a team lead! Yet i get more questions in one day then half of them combined. So what is my main and favorite class? Warlock. I make people run away, I ruin their lives instead of helping them.

All in all, I think our characters represent our deepest emotions and wishes about our life. From the christians who play druids because it "feels dirty" (i kid you not, i know three of them), to the EMT's who flunked out of med school yet can only play Priests, to the outcast teens who in the game are powerful leaders. In game we are who we want to be, whether we realize it or not.

Project Update: Databases Built

Well I finally got teh hard part done. I have successfully taught myself how to insert into DB's, bring stuff out, delete and modify information on the fly using custom scripts.

Long process ahead... I have to finalize the database structures, complete a linkup, make sure cookies are working, finish a search engine that matches and provides "best results", and write a mail program to send results, updates, and such to members.

Long road ahead... but with the technical knowledge gained the rest is trial and error!

if it's not a three bedroom... DON'T CALL IT A THREE BEDROOM!

Hey all,

We just got back from looking at a "3 bedroom" house. A cute little number in a decent area.

A bit smaller living room and dining room than we have now, but bigger backyard (fenced in as well!), a decent 3 season back porch, and a huge, clean, basement that is half-finished.

But, we were saddened to discover that it wasn't actually a three bedroom!!!

We saw one bedroom downstairs (would of been bugs). Then she (realtor) took us upstairs, we saw one door, a closet, and an open space. She looked at us and said "and here are the other two bedrooms".

We were like "uhhh, that's one bedroom and a closet".

"Nope, it's a "open air loft bedroom" and a "shared closet".

/facepalm

so still looking we are... we have 2 months. yikes.

Champions Online!!!

City of Heroes was great. We enjoyed our time we spent there, but something about it seemed... small. Kinda like Disneyworld - it's a grand place, you want to see everything, but when your done... your done.

Now comes a new entry into Superhero-MMO's, but using an old rpg system that I am familiar with...

Week In Review

Another week down, another Friday has come. I am going to try to at least do Friday segments to keep everyone up to date.

1 - My asthma is back in a really bad way. Peakflow is down several hundred points and I am on another steroid to try to help it.

2 - We looked at an apartment yesterday - what a friggin dump! They actually showed it with a joint still smoldering on one of the nightstands, the entire place reeked of b.o. and pot, and pizza boxes were stacked floor to ceiling in the kitchen. We'll keep lookin.

3 - I won the lottery yesterday. Overall (2 scratch tickets) $750.00. We decided to tuck it away, except for spoiling our little one and our soon-to-be little one with a shopping spree of clothes.

4 - While driving our car I hit a very bad pothole. 1' wide by 8" deep when the tow truck driver measured it. It snapped the tie-rod on the driver side front. Cost of tow and fixing the car: $500.00.


Which brings me to my main point for the day: Luck is all in how you look at it. As a rule, my wife and I have not had good luck with luck. We dread the good things because they are always, ALWAYS followed by the bad. Nothing can every be handed to us or be easy. We have fought tooth and nail for everything while the cosmic forces have tried to take everything away from us. I wish I were being melodramatic here. Number four there is just an example of this.

We can look at this one of two ways:

A: My wife's point of view: It's hilarious. We should expect it. laugh it off, we'll get by.

B: My big worry: Again the universe has proven that we can't keep happiness. What happens when my wife gives birth? After all it's already been a problematic pregnancy.

Yes, I am relating the two. Overdramatic and very drama-queeny. But heck, I can't help it nags at me.

Well that was our week. Baby count is: 24 Weeks Along. Next appointment is next week, w ill post an update (with a ultrasound pic if possible) then.