welcome to our world

In the new place, and loving it...

2008-05-28T16:24:00.002-05:00

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 :)

2008-04-14T06:39:00.002-05:00

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...

2008-03-22T16:16:00.002-05:00

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

2008-03-22T15:32:00.002-05:00

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?

2008-03-13T07:57:00.003-05:00

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

2008-03-10T19:32:00.003-05:00

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!

2008-03-08T17:56:00.002-06:00

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!!!

2008-03-07T19:57:00.002-06:00

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

2008-03-07T15:35:00.002-06:00

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.

My new "special project"...

2008-03-03T17:40:00.002-06:00

Okay, to 1/2 of you who actually check this, this will mean nothing. Absolutely nothing. To the rest of you, those who know me from WoW or CoH and still keep in touch... listen up :D

I love online social gaming. Getting a group of friends together virtually is something that my parents and grandparents generation will never understand, but we think is important for our kids to learn as well. The only problem is finding the right group.

No matter what game you go to, whether you are looking for a guild/sg or simply a weekly playgroup, you have to sift through the forums, in-game spam, and reccomendations. Sure, if you have a friend in a guild you can join them. But for the majority of people, they don't want that. They want to meet new people, experience new playstyles. They want groups that fit them, not being forced into roles.

Thus my idea was born, and is slowly (very...) coming to fruition. A singular source for players of any game to come together and find eachother; where guilds can list in one simple source exactly what they are looking for, and players can search for only those guilds who match what they are.

No more joining a guild only to find that you are the wrong class or build. No more logging in at 8am only to find your entire guild plays at 8pm. And best of all, no more scouring the forums and noobishly yelling "LOOKING FOR GOOD GUILD PST ME" in game.

Unfortunately it will be a few months until I can unveil the beta of the website, as I am still building the iniatial code... but I will be using this as also my production log, so those who care can keep track of my triumphs and failures.

Wow, 2007... what a year...

2008-02-28T17:19:00.002-06:00

No, we have not dropped of the face of the Earth. I am just a bad boy who forgot we had this blog... not that too many people look at it anymore :)

Quick year-in-review:

Jan. 07 - Wife Miscarried (last post)

Feb. 07 - Wonderful Ex-Wife gets sued for child support by the state. Her reward? She now only has to pay $35.00 a month. And she still hasn't paid that in a year. Also found out that Chloe has disability-class ADD. (ie: it's not a case of a teacher handing her ritalin, brainscans found an anomoly in her hardwiring. So for reading and writing and such, she knows the answers, can learn them, but can't retreive the answers.) She was in first grade, but at a pre-k reading level and even worse math level. The school wouldn't hear of holding her back, instead gave her a "education plan" due to the "no child left behind" initiative.

March 07 - Found out that Chloe has disability-class ADD. (ie: it's not a case of a teacher handing her ritalin, brainscans found an anomoly in her hardwiring. So for reading and writing and such, she knows the answers, can learn them, but can't retreive the answers.) She was in first grade, but at a pre-k reading level and even worse math level. The school wouldn't hear of holding her back, instead gave her a "education plan" due to the "no child left behind" initiative. She has to take medicine daily to maintain focus and help the process along, but it is slow going.

April to July 07 - Wife and I grew apart, marriage was beginning to get really strained. Mistakes were made, but by the end of July we discovered we loved eachother more then ever. Dropped our City of Heroes and Warcraft accounts, and starting interacting with society.

August 07 - Decided we hated normal society, have gotten too old for the "bar scene" and such, so went from "night out" to dinner at a nice place and a bottle of wine/bourbon/good whiskey at home.

September 07 - Settling into a routine, enjoying life. Decided to give up on having kids, figured we would spoil bug with all we have. Chloe started second grade, going to special ed for reading and math, staying in the classroom for science, social studies, and general time.

October 07 - Found out Jen was pregnant again!!! Very cautious, didn't tell anyone. Saw the doctor due to the previous miscarriage, everything looked okay. Suprisingly traced her "possibly conception dates" (to figure estimated delivery date) and found that it was September 10th. The night the second season of Heroes premiered on NBC, and we got fairly well drunk waiting for it to start.

November 07 - Everything going fine with Pregnancy, until about the second week. Then Jen started bleeding heavily. Ran to the ER, but an ultrasound showed baby was a-o-k, and so was jen. Decided to tell the mothers... Neither of which could keep it a secret until christmas, which is what we wanted to do.

December 07 - Ultrasound discovers that Jen has low amniotic fluid. Sent to a specialist in Minneapolis, who tells her it's looking okay, no need to worry yet, come back in a month.

January 08 - Fluid level is lowered again, Jen is told she may need to go on bedrest. Fortunately, her job involves sitting on her ass all day except going to the bathroom (a lot like mine...) so she is allowed to keep working. Also, have mid-term parent teacher conference. Chloe has advanced full grade levels in reading AND math! Suprisingly, her science and social studies are on-par. Basically if she hears the information, or has enough time to do the work (not an exorberant amount, just extra time) she can do what's necessary.

February 08 - Just got back from Jen's DR appointment - everything is good with the baby. Seeing specialist in 2 weeks in Minneapolis though, and was told to bring a hospital bag "just in case". if the amniotic fluid drops again, she may have to stay there for a while. Chloe advanced 3 levels in math, she is finally getting it down, working better with numbers now then anything.

Overall:
It's been a hectic year.

We are proud of our daughter, who has stepped up to take charge of her life. She knows that she is a bit slow, but she doesn't let it stop her. And for those of you that think "slow" means "less intellegent", think again. She is very quick witted, ingenious when it comes to planning something, and thinks things through to the minute detail. She just has trouble retreiving data :)

We have found out that Jen is carrying another girl (good little baby decided she was done being poked last ultrasound, so pulled both her legs up to her head giving us a clear crotch-shot), so we are prepping for her by moving in the next couple weeks (still in Eau Claire or surrounding area), and starting to stock up on necessary items/target cards for late night runs.

The baby has an attitude. The doctor was amazed today, when she is awake she likes to play a game with what we think is her foot. She will push it out as far as she can (making a fun little bump appear on jen) - if you push it in, she kicks back out. if you tap it a few times she taps back. She likes music, and certain songs make her go nutzo in there dancing. She also hates ultrasounds or doppler - she won't stay still. And we have two ultrasound pictures with her giving us the finger. And the funniest one... the nurse was doing a scan last time, and said out loud "now i need to look at her face, we want to see her lips" and that little dork in ther turned from face forward to the side, and "swam" behind the placenta.

Say what you will about babies... they are all smarter then we give credit for.

We have also already picked out a name, and it is set in stone.

Aloryn Audrey.

Respond if you still read!

No easy way to say this...

2007-01-15T07:08:00.000-06:00

The reason for no update post is because we have all been a little depressed.

Jen miscarried last week, the day after her first ultrasound where we were able to see the baby. Everything was fine one day, and the next it wasn't. So we have been taking it a little harder then normal.

We have both kinda fallen into the solace of virtual worlds lately, avoiding many things in our own lives. But we are starting to pull out of it.

One plus though, we did get a new car. We are no longer driving a 1990 geo prism that is held together with ductape and luck. We now have a 94 chrysler concorde LSX, and our mechanic praised us on our excellent fortune finding one in such good shape. At 188,000 miles, two mechanics (ours and my wifes grandfather, who is the man I admire the most) both gave the car an excellent bill of health, and just basically told us to "baby' the car with regular tune ups, winter and summer flushes and the like. But that we will most likely get at least another 200k miles out of the car.

The body, except for a little hood rust and some "normal" key scratches at the door is perfect. The inside (besides smelling a bit like ass, quickly solved by Fabreze), is perfect with no stains and no rips or burns. All parts work great, and it has a wonderful little invention called the "Traction Control" (which i know is now basically standard, but we are thrlled, especially since we had icing last night). It really helped me maintain the car when i started to slip off the highway last night.

The Full Scoop - Best. Christmas. Ever.

2006-12-26T17:30:00.000-06:00

As you may (or may not) know, Jen has PCOS (Poly-Cystic Ovarian Syndrome), which is why we have had a hard time having a child over the last five years. It caused her normal cycle to be erratic, so every month it would range from as little as 3 weeks, to sometimes as long as 3 months. The normal course of fertility medication did nothing but cause more cysts to grow, so they had to be ended. That was about 15 months ago. We were told, basically, that we had two options for children: "Chance it" without drugs, or take a medication that would have "practically guranteed" 3 or more at once. So we decided to chance it.

Since then, both of us have started living a happier, healthier lifestyle. Yes, we are both addicted to our games, but other then that we don't eat out as much, we excersise more, we eat right, and we have both lost weight. Well, I lost about 15 lbs. Jen lost 45! The other benefit is, that during the last year or so (since we started living healthier), her cycles became regular, give or take a day or two. Our relationship is better then it has ever been, and we stopped worrying about having another about 8 months ago, and we had a lot less stress.

So now, with her pregnancy confirmed with 3 tests (1 to just plain test, a second to put her mind at ease, and a third this morning to put MY mind at ease), we decide to kick things into high gear. First, we decide that to pick an OB and a birthing center, we would read the review and call both asking for some information, as well as asking about getting blood tests immediately (in case the PCOS is causing problems).

We call marshfield clinic first, at 8am sharp. They act "all business" on her, not even a congratulations or any excitement, and when she asks about the PCOS and if she can come in and get bloodwork done, they give her the standard "i have to talk to a dr." answer and give her a January 22nd appointment. We wait 3 hours, no call back.

So Jen calls Luther Hospital. After jen explains the situation the first words out of the nurses mouth is "CONGRATULATIONS! is this your first? You must be so excited!" and then went on to explain how Luther can help us with all aspects (from classes for mommy and daddy down to classes for the brothers and sisters, even at home aftercare for mom and baby for 2 weeks after birth). When Jen asks about getting bloodwork for the PCOS the nurse puts her on hold, talks to the Dr IMMEDIATELY, and gets back to her in 5 minutes, saying "Nope, you took 3 tests, you have had consistent cycles for about a year, Congratulations!" and makes a January 11th appointment.

Marshfield finally called back. 9 hours later. Even then, it was just "yeah, you don't need to do anything. Really, we don't even need to see you until February unless there is a problem".

So we have decided to go with Luther based on their "Excitement" factor, good reviews, and their ability to actually give us information to put our minds at ease.

Now Jen is more excited then ever. We already went to Target and did a baby registry (premature i know, but she has been waiting her whole life for this moment), and she has already had her first really weird craving.

Buffalo Chicken Wings. 15 of them. She downed them in less then 5 minutes. With pizza and breadsticks. Hilarious to watch, because she was doing a "chicken wing" dance and song while eating them.

Jen is positively glowing right now, and we can already see (due to the weight she lost already) a "pouch" for the baby.

She was a smoker, but she is having a very easy time not smoking. Her biggest problem is Caffeine - she is a huge coffee drinker. Starbucks, Mountain Dew, Coke, etc. Now she can barely drink even her favorite tea due to the caffeine level.

Well, have a happy new years everyone! Any questions, comments, or just want to re-connect and chat, shoot me an email or give me a call! most of you know how to find me, or call my parents and get my number from them :)

Guess What...

2006-12-26T10:46:00.000-06:00

we got for Christmas?

A positive pregnancy test!
Yes, on Christmas Morning!

And no, the baby (be it a boy or a girl) will not have a "christmas themed" name!

Bug is almost as excited as we are, but she had her concerns at first (and honestly, is still acting them out...) - she is afraid of all the change that is going to happen. She is afraid that she will be ignored through this (she says this happened when her step-brother was born...), and she is MOST afraid that since this is her "mommy's" first baby, she won't be loved anymore. So we both have to shower her with attention and let her know that she will still be BOTH of our baby :)

And we are involving her in every step of the process. We need her support, and she wants to help where she can, as long as it doesn't interrupt Spongebob.

Merry Christmas

2006-12-22T10:19:00.000-06:00

Just checking in here:

Jen almost has her first 50 in City of Heroes! Congratulations Soulfull Wail
"Santa" spent way too much money on the bug. Over $300
The bug has ADD (confirmed through several doctors, therapists, and tests) and is currently on a deluge of medication. It is helping already, but we are still just on the lowest level, and need to increase slowly.
My warlock in World of Warcraft will hit 60 by the end of the year!!!

Yes, I am alive...

2006-12-02T17:48:00.000-06:00

Just very, very busy.

Everything here is running smoothly, and this just slipped out of my mind that I even had a blog! Between work, having an ADD child who is struggling in school, City of Heroes and World of Warcraft

(Which yes, I still play, but now I am on Anvilmar - i didn't like trying to level on the PvP server).

But everything is good!

I am going to be here in Eau Claire for Christmas, and all through break, not counting the 9th and 10th of December here, when I will be back in Rapids.

In other news, a quick recap of things that have happened...

A new game store opened in Eau Claire - I run events there every Tuesday night and every other Saturday - Heroclix, Vs, Dreamblade, Horrorclix, and WoW TCG.
Our elder cat needed to have his teeth pulled - 5 of them. He hates us now. Except when it is convenient for him to snuggle.
I hit lvl 40 with my new Undead Warlock! 3 weeks from 1-40, playing maybe 2 hours a night.
Our CoH Supergroup is doing exceptionally well, with my wife having taken over the leadership responsibiities. She is more personable then my "You pissed me off, so i am kicking you" stradegy :)
Our daughter is extremely weird. She has basically given up on cartoons except for Spongebob, Fairly Oddparents, Justice League, and Batman. She threw a fit the other day when I wouldn't let her watch Batman Begins on DvD, and we had to run out and buy Superman Returns for her.
More weirdness from my daughter - On her day off from school, she chose to watch Fantastic Four, Spiderman 1 and 2, X-Men 1 and 2, and Superman.
Finally, we are pretty sure she is ADD, but we have been told by every "knowledgable" authority (Therapists, doctors, consutants) that we have done everything we could to help shape her learning patterns. Basically we have been told we are lucky she isn't a "bad egg" and trying to hurt others.

That's our life in a nutshell!

I wil keep up with this better.... i promise.... :)

I have never been more scared...

2006-10-03T09:05:00.000-05:00

Sometimes life gives you a kick in the pants, to make sure that you are paying attention.

And last night, I got that kick. I nearly lost my foot, and very nearly lost my life.

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. That's mainly because nothing is going on. School is going good for bug, our jobs and life are just scooting along at the normal pace. No emergencies, no abnormal happenings... just normal. Which of course is why this kicked us so hard.

So, last week Wednesday I was doing laundry, and fell down the stairs. Not all the way, and I caught myself, but not before my ankle and knee twisted and a pretty odd angle. Went to the emergency room after work thursday when the pain became unbearable, they took a butt-load of x-rays, and even showed them to us - no breaks or anything, except a funny clump of improperly healed bones in my foot, from a few years ago. But nothing big. They gave me vicodin, i took Friday off, my mother came up to help around the house, and things were going swimmingly. I just laid on my arse all weekend playing video games.

Monday morning I felt good enough to work (desk job at home, after all), so I started working. My foot started feeling colder and colder, and it started turning purplish blue.

Right about this color,actually. Only a little "fleshier" color.

So I called the nurse line from our insurance, and she told me to get to urgent care within 2-4 hours. So we went over to Marshfield Clinic, where our favorite doctor took one look at my foot, squeezed both my good and bad foot, got a very scared look on his face and told us he had to "make some calls".

Now, during this time, my foot stopped functioning completely, and the coldness was creeping up my leg. The pain was (I thought) gone, and my tempature was rising from my normal 97 degrees to 100.

The doctor came back in, gave us a note, and told us to give it to the doctor at the ER at Sacred Heart. And he told us to hurry, but wouldn't say anything else.

So we hurried over there (It is less then 200yards away) - and the gorram receptionist made me stand there for 10 minutes while she helped a woman "who thought she may have a headache but wasn't quite sure because she hadn't had a headache in a while and doesn't know whether tylenol or regular aspirin would be better for her". Didn't even offer me a wheelchair (my wife did when she came in from parking the car).

So while we were waiting, my wife looked at the note.

Significant discoloration (we knew this)
Significant temp difference between feet (guessed this)
Non responsive to pain stimuli on lower portion of foot (i didn't realize he tried to pinch me)
Blood pressure at 150/80
Unable to find pulse in foot

The unable to find pulse scared us... my wife read that, and told the receptionist to look at the note and that we were expected only to have her go "sorry this woman was here first".

So we waited for 20 minutes, all the while the pain getting worse, my tekmpature increasing. Finally they got me into triage, where they took my blood pressure - it was up to 180/99. The nurse took one look at my foot, glanced at the note, then said the equivalent of "why the hell aren't you back there already?" and got me into a room quick, where i was greeted by 4 nurses and a surgeon.

THey found a pulse using a dopplar system, but it was very, very weak. They tried warming my foot with heating blankets and hot compresses, but my foot wouldn't change temperaturs and it was getting worse.

So they sent me for an ultrasound with a surgeon watching - fortunately, they found bloodflow, no blockage and no clots.

But, there was little bloodflow - the artery had "spasm'd" on it's own, closing up. My blood pressure was not at 200/110, and i was starting to pass out.

They shot me up with Morphine and some beta-blockers, at which i started regaining consciousness, and low and behold i could feel my foot again!

The doctor came back in, and told me what the problem was (my artery closing itself by spasming), and that if I had not gone to the hospital , in a few hours my foot would of been "unrecoverable". Even worse, my blood pressure would of kept going up... and my heart would of blown out (it was already dangerously close).

It didn't hit me until a few hours later, when we got home and were watching tv on the couch. Probably because the morphine wore off. I had dodged a bullet big time. I had just been told that I was at death's door. And it makes you think.... and for the first time in years I was truly scared that I had not done what I wanted to do in life yet. And that I don't want to be going anywhere any time soon.

So now I sit for the next couple days, a team of doctors going over how to fix my problem permantently. I am on some very good narcotics (the walgreens guy said this is the strongest stuff you can get from a pharmacy, any stronger you have to be in the hospital) and with instrucitons to not work, not drive, and be as stress free as possible until the orthopedic surgeon has a chance to look at everything, and make a decision between therapy and surgery. Right now they are leaning towards surgery, but he wants to avoid it. So until they make a decision, here i sit, thinking about what could of been, but thanking the world for the gift it gave me, both in the scare of a lifetime and the chance to keep moving on.

Sorry it took so long to update...

2006-08-28T09:01:00.000-05:00

Our Vacation in Disney World is Over!

We returned on the 22nd, and it has taken me this long to collect my thoughts, photos, etc, enough to post it on my blog! We have been BUSY since we came back. (no... not just playing games... but close...)

I was going to write this big long synopsis of our trip. Then i got bored.

We went, we had fun :)

We rode nearly every ride we wanted to, there were some stressfull times, there were great times.

The best meal that we had was on Jen and my's "alone day" at the Rose and Crown in Epcot. We had supper and a seat for Illuminations - we were able to see (clearly) the fireworks from our table, and could feel the HEAT from the ignitions we were so close! Not to mention that the food was to die for.

The worst meal we had was at Tony's Town Square in Magic Kingdom. The food itself was excellent, but the waitress was a snobby bitch.

We had a few experiences of bad service (IE: You can wait, he is actually buying something, so he can cut in front of you).

And here are a few pics from our wonderful vacation:

Chloe did not want her picture taken right then!

Jen's Favorite picture of Bug from Animal Kingdom

Jen hates this picture because of the weird angle, but I think it is hilarious. It makes her head look 3 times the size of mine lol.

And they are off!

2006-08-14T11:24:00.000-05:00

My parents will be here shortly to take us to Minneapolis (a hotel right next to the airport) for the night, then we all leave for Florida at 8am tommorrow morning!

(Well, 4am since we have to be at the airport 3 hours early :/)

Will post if I can while down there!

Have a good Week all!

The new FAA Regulations...

2006-08-11T12:28:00.000-05:00

The new FAA regulations aren't going to slow us down one bit!

Well, maybe at the airport - we were told today by Sun Country to come to the airport AT LEAST 3 hours early. Thankfully we are staying in a hotel the night before... Otherwise we would have to be up at 2am...

As it is, we have to be to the airport at 5am now. Not too bad, could be a lot worse. Like we will be able to rest anyway :P

The one mistake I see a lot of people reporting on is this, though:

No cremes, lotions, water, juice, ANYTHING is allowed on the plane. Not just into the "clean zone" past security: You can't take it on the plane AT ALL! That means, even if you buy a bottled water at a high rate in an airport store, it must be drank before you get on your plane!

The only thing that affects for us is Sunscreen, especially for Matt (who needs to lather up before he goes into the sun). This simply means we will have to buy some when we get to Florida - but otherwise everything is looking AOK for us!

As for are we worried about flying... The answer is no. We are flying Sun Country, a small charter airline, in a nonstop flight between Minneapolis and Orlanda. We are definitely not worried about our flight being a "target"!

On a sidenote, if anyone ever has the chance to fly Sun Country, please do so. Support the little guy in the market. I say this especially because they have a new fleet of planes (less then 5 years old), all leather seats, great customer service, and we are supposedly getting "hot food" on the plane, a rarity in today's travelling world.

6 Days to go to Disney!

2006-08-08T14:20:00.000-05:00

Don't you love the week before vacation?

Work, Daycare, and life in general all seems to go by so fast... For me, there is only 3 workday's left! And one of them is only a half day!

The culmination of all of our planning, hard work, and penny pinching is going to pay itself off next week, and we will do our best to provide you with photos of our trip! This is, of course, assuming we pay for the high speed internet... that is still up for debate... (After all... both Jen and I know that if we were to get the internet connection, we would be playing either Warcraft or City of Heroes at night.... We are that addicted...)

If nothing else we will have good pictures (and maybe some video) when we get back!

We bought a new Camcorder for the trip! One of those fancy ones that you can plug straight into the computer and stream the videos. It also takes still photos on an SD-Card, which we have multiples of. I will be running the video camera, while Jen will have control of our digi-cam. Least year, we took over 200 pictures... this year we are going for more! Not to mention we are going to try to get ride videos of all the rides :)

The weather looks like it is holding out for us, which is a good thing. No tropical storms on the map right now... YAY! But even if one does hit while we are down there, no biggie... From what we have read, it only impacts people one day, and the parks are usually empty but functional the next day.

Sorry this was such an upbeat and non-logical post. Disney does that to me sometimes. Makes me... happy (weird). Especially knowing the look both Jen and Bugs will have on their face when we pass through the gates... Not to mention my mom.

If you didn't hear (or don't care), my parents are coming along this time. While they have been to Disney World before, they have never done what we are doing this year. My mother is very excited. She has never stayed on property, or eaten at so many of the "in park" restaraunts as we are this trip. Her and Dad don't have to drive around, since we are not renting cars (we are doing only Disney things, not going off site). And Matt and I are fully grown, which means they don't have to watch over us. They get to RELAX this entire vacation, and do nothing but spoil a 6 year old girl that they can hand back over to us if she gets out of hand!

Anyway, this will probably be my last post until our official "send off" on Monday! We have a lot of packing to do, and a little more shopping left. It's going to be a quick week, and if we don't do it now... we will be rushing at the last minute!

Have a good week all!

In Rapids This Weekend:

2006-07-21T08:58:00.000-05:00

Just an FYI for anyone that cares, or if anyone is by any stretch going to be in or near Rapids, we are visiting my parents and having Chloe's 6th Bday party this weekend!

Of course, it couldn't' of happened on a worse weekend.... City of Heroes is giving out Double XP this weekend (I could of taken my scrapper to 50... **sniff**). Not to mention I have the Defias Brotherhood quest/Instance that i have to complete in WoW... i may have to "borrow" my aunts DSL connection... hmm...

Anyway, if you'll be in town and want to get together/meet Jen and Bugs, let me know!

This just makes me sick...

2006-07-21T08:55:00.000-05:00

Here is the link to a recent Wall Street Journal Article on healthy people who use ECV's. The first paragraph text will follow:

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB115291408087707342-d3knU98U3xXi3xesgCRyFSfaECs_20060728.html?mod=blogs

[i]On a recent afternoon at Walt Disney World, Dennis Robles was cruising around on an electric "mobility scooter" that the park usually rents out to people with disabilities. Mr. Robles doesn't have a problem walking -- he says he was simply saving up energy for late-night dancing.

"I'm pretty healthy," says the 37-year-old truck driver from Brooklyn, N.Y. "Just lazy, I guess."
[/i]

Now that irks me. I know, everyone should have the freedom to do this if they want but... How many of these people who just didn't feel like walking run over our feet, push us out of the way, and use the disabled lines? If you are healthy and just "lazy" maybe Disney isn't the place for you.

Updated my profile...

2006-07-16T14:47:00.000-05:00

Decided to update my profile, seeing as... well, i have never updated it.

Jen says i have now exceeded the "geek" level and have gone to "supergeek" - Every night when our daughter goes down, she logs into City of Heroes for the night. But me... I play City of Heroes for a few hours, manage our supergroups, etc. Then I play World of Warcraft too. Yeah, I am a sucker for those games.

But i am not bored at least.

(okay... so I am... or I wouldn't be writing this...)

Happy Birthday to... ME!

2006-06-30T14:20:00.000-05:00

Today is my birthday! Hurray Me! 26 years old and counting... ugh. I feel old.

Especially since a lot of our new recruits in the Justice Academy are school aged. They make me feel old...

I saw Superman Returns on Wednesday, took bug to see it, and boy, what a wonderful time we had.

Before the movie, as we sat there munching on popcorn, our wonderful daughter decided to detail to me how her life was going to turn out. In excruciating detail, down to what age she was going to marry and have children (when she is 30, established, and has her own home in case her man is no good and leaves her - her words, not mine).

She has also gotten very... mature on us lately. The way she talks, and acts, sometimes is something you would expect from a teen, or even a mid-twenties yuppie. She is using words like "ciao", "inconsciouable (i can't even spell that one)", "courteous", and the like.One minute she will be pretending she's a puppy, the next she is lecturing us on ettiquette.

Oh well, back to the movie: It was a very good film, and only left me with one problem: Why does no one realize that Clark Kent came back at the same time as Superman???

Other then that, Brandon Routh was a great Christopher Reeve as Superman. No, not Superman himself, but a christopher reeve impersonator playing Superman.

See it if you can!

Well, i gotta go.. time to fight evil... i mean work... yeah, work.

long time no update....

2006-06-08T08:46:00.000-05:00

Mainly because there is nothing to update. Absolutely nothing! So I will just list interesting things that have happened in the last month:

Bug's last day of school was yesterday
Our Supergroup on the Heroes side has grown to full capacity
Our disney trip is 100% paid for (yay!)
Only 67 days left until we leave for disney (double yay!)
Jen quit smoking
I am not going to quit drinking

And that about sums up our life lately :)

I knew I shouldn't have made a post about it being quiet...

2006-05-04T08:20:00.000-05:00

As soon as I do, weird shit starts happening. I swear, there is some cosmic being going "oh look, they are happy and content, time to give them a mindfuck".

We spent the weekend at my parents house, not bad, was kinda nice because we were able to really relax. But I started feeling worse and worse there.

Sunday afternoon, after we get back to beautiful Eau Claire, I decide to go to Urgent Care. My cough is starting to get constant, and I am wheezing more. The PA looks at me, and just says "oh you have bronchitis, here is some medicine, have a good day".

So we fill the meds (4 different perscriptions!), go home. I sleep most of Monday (codine laced cough medicine... lovely), and feel slightly better Tuesday. Or so I thought.

Fortunately, Jen had off on tuesday. It started with me, apparently, babbling. And my lips and extremities turning blue. Then, apparently about noon, I started singing "It's a small world" over and over again. My wife, knowing that I do not sing and dance on a normal basis, dragged me to the hospital.

I never had bronchitis. I was having the mother of all Asthma attacks. My oxy level was dangerously low, and if it hadn't been for my wife being home, i was told there was a good chance I would of passed out in my chair. My body was suffocating me slowly.

Now, this is the SECOND time that Sacred Heart Hospital here in Eau Claire has fucked up my diagnosis, and cost me dearly. The first time was with my ankle. (as in: "It's just a sprain, walk it off.", then the next day "er, apparently that bump you feel movign on your leg is actually the bone with is broken, you shouldn't walk on it, oh and it will never heal right because you did").

So as a warning to all: If you are in Eau Claire, and you aren't feeling well, go to Luthor hospital. NEVER go to Sacred Heart.

Nothing new...

2006-04-25T08:21:00.001-05:00

Sorry there has been no update lately. That's because there is nothing to update!

Our life has been pretty static, we have just been going along our way with no suprises. It feels nice to be able to live almost a full month without something big happening.

Except for the game, of course. We have been playing it more and more, and because of that my social life outside the game has dwindled.

Our normal (real life) gaming group has dissasembled into merely once or twice a month, but that is mainly because we no longer have a place to play, unless one of us manly men ask our wives or girlfriends if we can invite our friends over. (why does it, we men want to know, always feel like we are children again when we have to ask our SO's if we can have freinds over?)

In the City of Heroes, though, my wife and I are starting to become popular. Electric Justice, now level 30, is often requested to help with missions in the PvP zones, mainly because of his one-shot potential. And my wife is becoming a great tactician.

Then there are our alts... we can't log on for 10 minutes without getting team invites. Her scrapper can take down groups of villians in one swipe, where my 'troller (Ice/Kinetics baby!) can freeze an entire room for four minutes, even elite bosses. We ran mish's with a team last night on Invincible (think: hundreds of enemies vs 8 heroes). With 2 empathic defenders, 2 blasters, 2 controllers, a scrapper, and a tanker, we didn't even suffer a single death.

Oh well, enough about that. Now back to playing city of... i mean working. Yes, working.

VERY good news!

2006-04-12T07:01:00.000-05:00

Matt got his results back from the doctors. His cancer IS still in Stage One, and he does not need surgery at this point.

This is different then what another doctor told him.

You see, the first doctor he saw, after he had his mole removed, told him it was stage 3 (very bad). So my mother had been living under the assumption that he was not destined long for this world.

As it turns out, the first doctor read the measurements wrong. Something about "width" vs "depth" of the infection.

At any rate, he is OK - he is seeing his oncologist on friday, will post more info then.

In other news... City of Heroes is WAY better then World of Warcrack. I'll have to post some pics of my character soon.

Everything else here is quiet. Bug has a field trip today she has been looking forward to, and I am done working in 3 hours (today is my short day). Then it will be Supergroup work for a couple hours (I have about 20 people I command now, we are running team tactics practice today).

To all those who are concerned - here is what is happening...

2006-04-10T08:07:00.000-05:00

I talked with my parents about it, and they thought it would be best to share it. Since half of Wisconsin Rapids now knows anyways.

Matt, my little brother, has been diagnosed with melenoma (aka: bad skin cancer). He has had two biopsies already, and has at least one more surgery already scheduled. He is staying at his apartment, and is still going to college.

I will keep everyone updated.

What a week...

2006-04-07T08:49:00.000-05:00

No big update today. Some big things are happening with my family in Rapids, but I can't post about any of them until I get clearance. Let's just say that in the near future I may be taking personal leave for a while. Not sure yet. (My wife and I are fine, as is Bug - it isn't any of us).

On a somewhat side-note, we finally (with some online friends of ours) formed a Supergroup. Check out my quickly-made webpage: http://www.soulsofjustice.org

Kingdom Hearts II releases today!!!

2006-03-28T07:57:00.000-06:00

Yeah, most of you are thinking "big whoop, a video game based on Disney. How fun". Then again, some of you may be as excited as I am. Frankly, I don't care. Because our local Gamestop will have them in stock tommorrow, and I have the day off tommorrow.

I have been waiting for this game for a looooooong time. According to reviews, it is a lot better then the first one. The control scheme was completely revamped, and now it is (according to Game Informer and Gamespot) "controls to rival God of War". if you havent played GoW, pick it up. It is value priced now. But be fore-warned, it is very bloody. The controls, however, are incredible. It makes even the biggest noob feel like a king.

Back to KH2 - Updated graphics, and new worlds, including Pirates of the Carribean (the actors are scans, and they look photorealistic), Lion King, and the one I am looking forward to the most... TRON! Yes, you get to fight beside TRON in this game! not to mention the original actor for Tron, Sark, and the MCP all did the voiceovers.

Speaking of voices... Everyone from KH1 returns, and a bunch of new people have joined the group. Haley Joel Osment is still Sora. Goofy, Donald, and Mickey are their "disney" voices (the ones used for all current disney cartoons, etc). Mulan is Ming-Na (of ER Fame). Leon (aka: Squall, from final fantasy VIII) is David Boreanz. James Woods is Hades.

But the one I am most excited about... CHRISTOPHER LEE is voicing DiZ!!! His voice, in the trailers, it truly chilling.

The story is intriguing, and it gets a lot darker in KH2. It more clearly defines what is light and what is dark, and how the two intertwine. The brighter the light grows, the deeper the shadows become...

In other news, my mother has succumbed to her own guilt, and has invited and paid for my brother to come to Disneyworld with us. yay!

Are humans finally evolving?

2006-03-21T07:50:00.000-06:00

I know. It is a hard concept to swallow. That evolution, mutation, can happen. It is the stuff of Comic books and movies.

The fact is, though, that there has been a rash of people with abnormal mutations getting media attention lately. Some of them have since flittered into obscurity, some simply aren't grown enough to know what happened. And some are actually true...

During my days sitting here working I have started researching and investigating the possibility of an upcoming surge in mutation and/or human evolution. Suprisingly, I have found that there is science behind it. I do not include those who beleive they are "psychic". Way to many of those to prove or disprove that it could happen.

Here are some examples of people who, as best as I could research, have been in the news:

Natalya Demkina - "Clairivoyant Diagnostician"
Otherwise known as the "girl with the X-Ray Eyes", she has proven to have a 80% success rate in diagnosing illnesses ranging from Migraines to Cancer just by looking at patients. She can see "through" people, in the physical sense. Recently, a group tried to debunk her as a true mutant. Decide for yourself here: http://www.skepticalinvestigations.org/Demkina/X-ray.htm

The Chinese Hair Boy -
Found living in northern China about 3 years ago, this boy was born completely covered in fur. He also has "abnormal" agility, and a good sense of direction. (meaning, he can be dropped in the middle of the forest, and he can find his way home easily). He made the knews because his parents stood up to the Chinese Government - The government wanted him to go join a circus. his parents fought back that he was a normal child, just "gifted" - they argued that he should be allowed to go to school until he made his own choice. They won - he went to school. Now, he is still very hairy, and an aspiring chinese rock star.

The Muscle Bound Baby - An example article http://www.thefactsaboutfitness.com/research/andro6.htm
When this baby was born, he had twice the normal muscle mass as a normal infant. It turns out that he had a mutated gene that caused this to happen. Research stemming from his discovery is leading to cures for muscle wasting diseases. And the coolest part? At 5 years old he is considered super-strong (for his age), with no signs of health risks from the mutation.

"AJ" - The Woman with the perfect memory
She is currently confounding scientists. She can remember EVERYTHING she has ever seen, heard, read, or felt. And not just "oh yeah, i remember that..." - They can give her any date in her lifetime, and she can tell them what happened on that day. This one recently hit ABC news at this link - http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=1738881&page=1

Only four people right now that I count as "truly" evolved. Sure, there were some other stories, but I don't count tabloid news or if I only see one source.

But imagine... even if there is only four right now, how many are undiscovered? How many could be living normal lives? And will the number of instances increase?

Something interesting to think about.

Were in Rapids this weekend...

2006-03-17T21:39:00.000-06:00

Using our laptop away from home for the first time. Fortunately, even though my parents still have dial up (what can you do.... some parents are just behind the times), my father was insightful enough to wire the house as a network, and they have a server for the phone connection. So while it is slow as shit, at least everyone can use the internet at the same time, including us.

Fortunately, City of Heroes still runs without a problem. Whew. I was unsure of what I would do if I couldn't play for two days. (yeah that is sarcasm). At least this way I can sit up until 3 in the morning playing CoH with my bro, adn I don't have to worry about getting up early (For once!)

So, some things I learned today:

- Even though I am, more or less, a house husband, I still do mannish things. Like not realize that a five year old girls hair needs to be brushed twice a day or it get's ratty.

- Maybe a chocolate pop tart isn't the best treat before bed for a five year old. Yeah, I gave bug one last night (thursday night, and she was giving me the cute little puppy eyes and the pout... how could I say no?), and guess who was puking this morning (friday). Yeah. She puked a few times, then slept like a log until 1 (we didn't send her to school), then got up and was all happy go lucky. At least I got a day off from it.

- Every day I am becoming more and more like my father. Easily distracted, mumbling to myself, and a general forgetfullness. This, my wife and I have determined, isn't really that bad.

- When a child reaches a certain age (say, 5?) they should be sent to military school, only returning on holidays and when they turn 18. (Just kidding. It was one of those "I don't want to listen to you" days, mainly because we are at the grandparents house.

Oh well. Bug is in bed, my wife and mother are at the Casino, and my dad is fast asleep on the couch. My bro won't be here until tommorrow. So it is time for me to go meet my group of friends electronically.... After I grab another beer.

Snow, Snow, and More Snow...

2006-03-16T09:29:00.001-06:00

First the kids had off on Monday... yeah, we got hit quite bad by that storm that came through then. 12 inches of snow on the ground, 2 inches of ice below that, and my wife and I woke up to lightning hitting a tree three houses away. (Gotta love Thundersnow though...).

But now mother nature is throwing another bucket on us... we had another 7 inches last night, and it is still coming down. So there is no school here again. And next week is spring break...

So I am not liking the weather right now. Ugh.

In other news, the gameshop we are playing Heroclix and Vs at is closing at the end of the month. This is really bad... first, the shop we played at for four years closed. We found another one, one that had been in business since the early 90's. And now they are shutting down. That's it, no more gameshops in town. The comic shop is too small... and the other one is run by a weirdo who none of us like.

So we are going to try to play at Borders... Considering everyone who plays is either a college student or a business professional, they should be okay. But if our curse persists, and we shut down borders... we have agreed we will then play at Walmart. If we can take down walmart then the world will be ours! (or not).

2006-03-16T09:29:00.000-06:00

Warning: MMO's are dangerous for your health

2006-03-06T08:03:00.000-06:00

This should be on all online games. Because they are, very dangerous to your mental and physical health.

Take the case of my wife, who I love dearly, but is addicted more then I am to the game. She played without wrist support (a gel pad or something) for four hours per night for a week straight. She now has a severe case of tendonitis and has to wear a splint for 10 days.

On the bright side, we are really warming up to the whole online experience. Before, we thought we would just go Duo (just the two of us). now we realize how fun it is to play with entire squadrons of people.

In other news, it is amazing how stupid people in hollywood are. We were half-assed watching the Oscars last night, and thought Jon Stewart was amazing as a host, we wish he would do it every year. But the people in the audience... man, talk about a dead crowd. They really don't have a sense of humour. It's funny if you are making fun of someone else, but you make fun of them, and they go to "golf clap" mode.

While there were some in the audience that still looked like they had a good time, you gotta like Jamie Fox. If you watches closely (and noticed where he was sitting), he was throughouly enjoying the roasting Mr. Stewart was giving hollywood.

New Laptop!

2006-02-25T23:07:00.000-06:00

Yeah, we finally did it. For some reason, we did it on the same day we purchased all of our airline tickets for Disney too.

We bought a laptop to take with us when we travel...... and so we can both play City of Heroes together.

Let's just say that my eyes are burning right now because we sat down at about 5pm this afternoon to play for a little, and just got done about 10 minutes ago. Damn, that game is addicting. Good thing Bug is gone this weekend! I think after an hour break to rest the eyes, we are logging back in.

Isn't it amazing that some couples can actually bond over something as geekish as video games? I have never seen my wife so excited and fervent in something that I enjoy as well.

But, we will use th elaptop more too. Whenever we go to Rapids, it will be nice to have this along. Or when we travel. Heck, even if I want to run to the coffee shop. (We have an excellent coffee shop that has free wi-fi inside.) We can think of a hundred different uses for this.

For the record, this is the 4th working computer in our home! We have our main computer, Chloe's computer (a little pentium 1 that can just barely run her programs), my work computer (which isn't technically mine, but it is in our home), and now the laptop. We have more computers then people! (unless you count the kitties...)

In other news (or in case you didn't see it) - we purchased our airline tickets for our August trip today! $1300 for 4 adult and 1 child tickets (Since we are paying my parents way and all). This is round trip, nonstop flights from Minneapolis. We leave at 8am on the 15th, and will arrive in Orlando at noon. Not bad at all.

Not to mention the airline has "Hot Sandwiches" on each flight. So we will get more then just peanuts.

We have all of our dinner reservations made for Disney (Yeah, you gotta do them 6 months in advance now, otherwise you have a good chance of not getting decent times).

I made a huge mistake....

2006-02-20T08:17:00.000-06:00

I showed my wife how to play City of Heroes. And then she played it for a couple of hours, and didn't want to share.

On one hand, I am glad that my wife enjoys video games, and is slightly a geek like I am. it makes it easier to play Heroclix, and Vs, and City of Heroes. But on the other hand... I just got City of Villians too, and I want to play...

We may have to get a second computer just for that. We have been looking at Laptops anyway.

at any rate, why do schools have to shut down for President's day? I mean, it is not like the teachers need a break. (hell, here in eau claire they had last wendesday off for "inservice"). Now they get today off too?

That means I have to have Bug at home with me today, while I am trying to work. Not usually too bad (I have time to do this after all). But for some reason she is being needy today. I'm probably going to have to work late tonight... which means my wife will get to play CoH and I won't :(

In other news, we are buying our airline tickets on friday! Yeah! We are going to fly Sun Country this time, non-stop out of Minneapolis, and we get served breakfast on the flight. For only $230 per person, after tax. Not bad at all.

The Cartoons that still Fascinate me...

2006-02-15T09:53:00.000-06:00

It's amazing. I spend most of my day lately watching cartoons, both new and old, on DVD, Video, and regular old cable. And you know what? My days go by faster, and I am generally happier while watching them. Cartoons seem to make my work day go faster.

Sure, I still like non-cartoon shows. My favorites are still CSI, Attack of the Show, and House. Not to mention the judge shows.

But nothing quite gets to my emotions more (for some reason) than a good cartoon, whether it be an "adult" (no, not sexual you perverts) cartoon, or a childs cartoon. They evoke more laughter, and more tears than regular shows. Not quite sure why. Maybe it is my sense of living in a false reality.

At any rate, here is a list of my favorite cartoons, split into "Old" (basically, from my youth), "New" (since my daughter was born), and "Anime".

Favorite "Old" Cartoons (no particular order):
1 - Voltron - I got the entire 58 episode "Lion Force" series plus the movies on DVD. I watched them the other day while I was ill, adn I gotta tell ya... There is something that just makes me smile, watching five space explorers fight for justice.

2 - Transformers - The original ones. Not the new "cgi" animated ones. Man, while there was some major crap in there, the stories were more adult then I realized at the time. Whether intentional or not, there is a big political statement in the whole "search for energon" that applies today. or I am thinking to deep about it.

3 - Ren and Stimpy - Pure, joyous, disgusting fun. Not to mention the "happy happy joy joy" song! Defintiely, a great thing. Of course, I did not like the new series as much... I only remember that the new one came right out front with the gay jokes... "Stimpy, remember I am the pitcher and you are the catcher!"

4 - South Park - Need I say more?

5 - Angry Beavers - Again, one I watch religiously every morning. A well made show that has enough humour to even make me giggle now. The story of Norbert and Daggit, they live on their own as beavers who don't truly want to live in the wild - they have all the modern conveniences in their home made dam. Maybe because of the brotherly love that is portrayed, maybe because of the shows constant questioning of who is actually the smart one, but I can watch it every morning. . And I quote Dag "The bloating, the pain, he's a mongoose, I'm a beaver, it all makes sense! I'm a mommy!"

6 - Futurama - I hope this makes a comeback. Word on the street is that there are 4 straight to DVD movies coming for this show!

Favorite "New" Cartoons:

1 - Fairly Odd Parents - Even my dad laughs at this one. There is a lot of adult humour in here if you are willing to look. it's sad, really, that the writing is wasted on Nickolodean (or however you spell it).

2 - Spongebob Squarepants - I admit it. I watch it. And I love it. 'Nuff said

3 - Family Guy - Not sure if this was on before bug was born, but I know we started watching it religiously about 2 years ago on Adult Swim. A great show, good humour, yeah there are a lot of fart jokes, but hey, we love it.

4 - Drawn Together - A show that a lot of people hate, we think is hilarious. So crude, so mean, and so wrong, but you gotta admit it is very funny.

5 - American Dad - We didn't like this at first... but after a while it grew on us. Not as good as the others, but still a darn good show.

6 - Boondocks - Hilarious. If you haven't seen it, watch it. A great social commentary.

Favorite "Anime" - New or Old:

1 - Full Metal Alchemist - Without a doubt. I have talked about it before. There are times in this show where both me and my wife tear up. Very dramatic, and very well done. No wonder it is such a big hit.

2 - Ghost in the Shell - Stand Alone Complex (1st and 2nd Gig) - A more philosphical show, bringing us to a future where hardly anyone is still truly human, most people are cyborgs or "rebuilt" with new parts. What is a soul?

3 - Evangelion - I could go on for hours about this one, but I won't. A good anime, one of the standards.

4 - Cowboy Bepop - Another one I dragged my wife into liking, Spike is a great character. It has an old-west feel mixed in with the space drama.

Discuss, berate, and opiniate!

Life stinks sometimes...

2006-02-07T08:34:00.000-06:00

Just when you think your going up, things happen to take you down. Anyone else notice this?

For example, in the span of one week:

One of our cars started burning oil so much it was smoking under the hood. Now the spedometer doesn't work.

Our other car started running really loud on our way back from Rapids, so much that we were stopped and given a noise ordinance violation. Oy.

We have to get them both fixed. This week. That's going to drain our Disney budget slightly.

Not to mention today I have to drive up to Durand to laugh at... er, I mean be in court when my ex explains to the judge why she decided she doesn't have to work to support her children. Something about how it is the states responsibility if she has a child without having a man in her life. I'll let everyone know what happens there (unless the judge "seals" the case, but I highly doubt that).

In other news...

- I probably won't get the promotion. Something about how everyone likes me too much to respect me. (or, they think I am too nice, even though I am qualified). Makes me wonder what they have planned...

- We may start a home based business soon - part time to start, and go from there. We are still talking about it.

- I may actually get to golf in Florida this time! (It would be my first time golfing down there!)

Why not? I'll play the Quad game...

2006-02-03T06:45:00.000-06:00

Four jobs I’ve had:
1. Assistant Manager - Sears Portrait Studio in Eau Claire
2. "Sales Associate" - Mautz Paint
3. Traffic Controller for Instep
4. Claims Representative for United Health Group

Four movies I can watch over and over:
1. Daredevil (Director's Cut)
2. Saving Private Ryan
3. Xmen 2
4. Batman Begins

Four places I’ve lived:
1. Wisconsin Rapids, WI
2. Eau Claire, WI
3. The other world
4. Lost in the Ether

Four TV shows I love:
1. C.S.I.
2. House
3. Family Guy
4. Attack of the Show

Four places I’ve vacationed:
1. Wisconsin Dells
2. Minneapolis
3. Walt Disney World
4. Denver, Colorado

Four of my favorite dishes:(Pre-Low Carb)
1. Cottage Pie (Hamburger, Onions, and Cheese, baked with Mashed Potatoes on Top)
2. Potato Crusted Chicken w/ Cheesy Brocoli
3. Hand Made Mannicotti (I make it myself)
4. Medium Well New York Strip (non-charred)

Four sites I visit daily:
1. Fark.Com
2. HCRealms.com
3. wizkidsgames.com
4. Other Blogs

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Disney World
2. Wisconsin Dells (All inclusive resort)
3. The other world
4. At the premier of X-Men 3...

Four bloggers I am tagging:
1. uhh... no one?

Is this what they teach in college now?

2006-01-27T12:55:00.000-06:00

I was bored and reading through CNN's website, and came across an article about new home sales. Ho hum article, nothing special.

Until I read the second to last paragraph.

Click to see the article

The exact paragraph is:
"The latest Census Bureau report shows median prices for new residences sold in December fell 1.5 percent from the previous month to $221,800. Half of the homes sold for more than the median, the rest for less."

Now isn't that a given? If you have a "median" figure, that means that the data must fall either above, below, or exactly on. Since something like homesales will hardly ever sell for such an odd number.

Is this a new class for communication? How to state the obvious while making it sound important?

Lemme see if I can do it without edumacation:

"Over half of children are above the average weight, while the other half are below."

"While 50% of Americans have a household income more then the national average, the other 50% still lag behind."

This is why I don't watch news on TV anymore.

(Sidenote: I don't actually trust CNN for any news - they are completely biased and have edited out individual words from content. The best example was during a presidential speech, they chopped half of a sentence out, and it was OBVIOUS because Bush's whole posture changed within a milisecond. I could of done a better job with ahome computer).

In other news - I had my interview, it went really well, I will know in a week or so!

Finally, time to recommend a couple of shows to some people. Both can seem weird at times, but have a very deep sense of both religion, philosophy, and moral ethic.

The first is my all-time favorite Anime series, and is still showing episodes on Cartoon Network. Otherwise, the DVD's aren't to hard to find.

Neon Genesis Evangelion - 27 episodes and 2 movies.

The show centers around a young boy named Shinji, who barely knows his father, and his mother is dead. He is recruited by his scientist father to pilot a giant fighting "robot" (watch the show, you will find all is not as it seems...) against "angel's" who are out to destroy mankind. In the start, the series is simple - Boy who is too whiney fights off aliens.

But the plot thickens - the project is called into question. What exactly are the angels? Why are we fighting them? What are they looking for? And why is Shinji so important.

And the ending... it is the most stunning ending to an anime series I have ever seen.

Definitely check it out. Avaliable for rent at most rental stores.

The second series is a new phenom in the US, and is becoming more and more popular. But we liked it before it was popular, so there :)

Full Metal Alchemist - 52 episodes + One movie - currently on Cartoon Network

Full Metal Alchemist takes place in a world eerily similar to ours, only that Alchemy is the dominant force behind things, not Science and Technology.

The story is about Edward and Alphonse Elric, who tried to use alchemy to ressurect their dead mother. Ed ends up losing an arm and a leg, while Al loses his entire body, his soul beign bound to a suit of armor. The series follows their exploits during the search for the "philosopher's stone", the ultimate power that will restore them. But what happens if and when they find it? Is that the end? Why does this world seem so similar? Who is the man of light? And why does Hawkeye keep shooting at that puppy?

When Jen and I first watched it (a couple weeks in), we thought it was a cutesy-type anime. You know, some fighting, but nothing horrible, no blood or anything. Couldn't figure out why it was on at 11 at night.

Then everything changed, including our love for the show... Let's just say that this show is not for children. Adult themes run rampant (no nudity). But also the philosophical aspects of their craft, alchemy. The ending isn't here yet - although Jen and I got our hands on a copy of the movie in Japanese. Very good ending movie... and a very interesting premise.

If you are more into Manga, pick up the FMA Manga - more expansive story, still just wonderful.

Well, one step away....

2006-01-24T20:25:00.000-06:00

As you may or may not know, I recently applied for a promotion at my wonderful workplace. That would put me from a regular old drone to a supervisor.

Normally, you can't do this. You have to go up the ranks (processor, team lead, then supervisor). But so far I have avoided that little trap and I have skipped the team lead position and gone straight up. The three people I have interviewed with have all been impressed, and the final interview I have is with a manager I have a good repoire with. So I feel good about this!

What would it mean? Well....

More Pay
Work in a supervisory/management role
Would have to go back into the office :(
Wayyyyy more stress
Less time with Family
Would travel for my position
Jen could get a part time job

All in all, some people might go "but the negatives far outweight the positives (or affirmatives... tee hee).

I just have one more hurdle to clear... I will keep everyone Posted.

Next, I had someone ask me who my favorite Superhero was, and what my favorite comic book is. And the harder I thought about it, I thought I was going to say Batman, or Deadpool, or Green Lantern. You know, the standards.

But then it hit me. My all time favorite comic book character is Jaime Madrox, AKA Multiple Man.

He is a B list character. Heck, a C or D list character. He has a cool power, where he can create duplicates of himself that he can control. Sometimes, they even try to control him. He has to be careful, because he is technically human - even though he uses kinetic energy to create a duplicate, he is not super strong, or invulnerable, or anything like that. He doesn't fly, have psychic powers, or even have a cool uniform.

He was always fun to read in the old books, but he recently made a breakout in his own LS - Madrox. This showed him at his best. And pushed him to the top of my list.

He had a dream - to help mutants by creating a detective agency. But he knew nothing about being a detective. So he created his duplicates and sent them on journeys to master various arts. One learned kung-fu. Another learned to master detective skills. Another to perfect his shooting skills.

And then he absorbed them back to gain their skills, their knowledge. But this comes at a price... when one of them is hurt, he feels their pain mentally. When one of his duplicates is bleeding to death, he feels what it is like to die. Yet he continues because he knows that someone has to stand up for the rights of mutants, especially after the events of Decimation. (since you probably don't know what that is, it is when the Marvel Universe lost most of their mutants).

He currently stars in the new X-Factor with Guido, Wolfsbane, and more C and D list characters!

Pick up the book, give it a try.

Even those of you who don't read comics should try them. You may be suprised at the depth of the stories. Besides the new X-Factor and Madrox LS, I would recommend Kingdom Come (the art from Alex Ross is worth it alone), and the trade paperback of Identity Crisis ( I have that one in hardcover - great book).

I hate being ill...

2006-01-23T10:12:00.000-06:00

Anyone else hate having the flu? I mean sure, I don't have to go to work, but I can't even eating a saltine without feeling nauseaus.

Oh well, that's the way the world works. At least I get to catch up on my movie watching - we still have movies from Christmas that we haven't even opened yet!

In other news, Chloe lost her first tooth! Hooray!

Nothing else too much to write today. Except an interesting article I saw from fark.com

Did you know that there is a private mint out there putting out money in $20 coins, called "Liberties"? They are not real, official money. The government doesn't sanction them. But they don't forbid them either.

Basically, if stores and banks wish to take them, they can. But they can't be forced to take them (like with $2.00 bills and dollar coins).

The article (click here for it) is great for a laugh, and some insight into these coins.

Finally, my wife started a blog as well!

Here is the link to hers:
http://wibarnesfamily.blogspot.com/

She's mainly putting pictures on hers, and keeping it as an online photo album of sorts... i think. who knows what she will do with it!

Reading other blogs takes me down sometimes...

2006-01-20T09:32:00.000-06:00

After all, Sig is now a professor, Lisa is a teacher, Erica is going to be a bug expert (btw - you should go on to also do criminology - be the female Gil Grissom!) and what have I done with my career?

Well, almost nothing. That is, until I think about what I actually do all day.

I get to change someone's life every day - sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. Every day, I decide whether someone will receive payment for medical treatment, or whether they will have to pay out of their own pocket.

I get to sort through thousands of pages of documentation and determine whether a doctor is trying to screw taxpayers. I get to bring the wrath of the law down upon facilities who try raise the cost of healthcare.

I get to help those less fortunate get a second chance, whether it be by approving a transplant, or taking care of a multi-million dollar medical bill. But at the same time, I can destroy a family by telling them that we can't help them.

And yes - we are the last place they can go.

I started feeling better after I got my yearly review - I paid over twenty billion dollars in claims last year. I denied over eighty billion dollars.

Those are the kind of numbers that make someone feel important.

Pictures...

2006-01-19T14:56:00.000-06:00

Chloe, With Cinderella, at Cinderella's Royal Table in Disneyworld, Sept 14th 2005

First Day of Kindergarten

Chloe Posing

Thought everyone might enjoy a few photos of Bug.

It's great hearing from everyone again! Keep the comments and emails coming!

Why do certain people still surprise me?

2006-01-19T13:37:00.000-06:00

To give a minor update on what is happening with my ex-wife...

Currently, she is in trouble with Child Support. She owed a years worth, which she paid in two weeks ago. But, she still doesn't have a job (heck, she still lives with her parents), and is currently ignoring a court order to find one. So the State of Wisconsin is taking her to court for being a deadbeat mom.

So, I am sitting (in the middle of a meeting), and I get a phone call from her "new lawyer". Who tells me that I am to "cease and desist" from filing frivolous lawsuits, and "let them know" that we will not be going to court.

Do these people not understand that I am not doing this? I am not preventing her from finding employment? And most of all, I am not the one dragging her ass into court?

Ahh, but the plot thickens.

You see, it turns out her lawyer is a member of the same law firm that the court commissioner works for.

Which means, the trial gets "delayed". How convenient.

And to think, all she had to do was get a part time job at McDonald's. Or work at a gas station. She didn't have to get a "good" job, just something, anything. But instead of doing that (which should be done anyway, to support her OTHER child and her, what, 4th boyfriend and 2nd husband since we divorced?) she pays for a lawyer.

Some people are not very bright.

Finally getting with the times...

2006-01-19T09:07:00.000-06:00

I decided it was time to do my own blog. Let former friends and contacts know about my life, and just post random thoughts and other tidbits of information that I can aquire.

For those of you that don't know me, I am a 25 year old husband and father living in Eau Claire. I work for an insurance company doing many functions, and having fun. Especially since I work from home, so I don't have to put up with people during the day, which gives me the time to do this blog! My wife is a manager at a local telemarketing firm - she get's to fire people all day, lucky woman. And our daughter is 5 and a half, in kindergarten, and too emotionally mature for her age. But anyone that knows her past knows why. We also have two cats, the ever annoying Bixby (who refuses to get off my lap at the moment) and the loyal Lucky, who is currently sleeping on his back with his feet straight in the air. yeah, both of our cats are strange.

I will try to update this often. But it may be weeks between updates. Or days. hell, maybe even hours.

As for news in our family...

August 15-22nd, we will be in Disneyworld! We are making our second trip down. We are once again staying at Port Orleans Riverside, and this time my parents are coming along! It should be a great week. We had a blast last time (except for at night... note to everyone, if you are going to travel with in-laws, NEVER stay in the same room), and with Bug being another year older, we should have even more fun this time. Not to mention we have more play money...

The wife and I have decided to go low(er) carb. Not following any specific diet, just cutting out carbs and increasing protein, and doing a bit more excersing. After one week we were both down about 10 lbs. Will keep everyone updated!

And finally, I still hate my ex wife. Most people berate me initially for not having and residual "feelings" for her. Nope. She is a very bad person, who has done very bad things to both me and still does them to my daughter.