You Can Pick Your...

You can pick your friends, you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friend's nose...

I was out cutting down some large boxes in the garage. I've been cleaning it out to fit the cars in. My car can squeeze in, but it will be a bit before we can get Cheryl's in as well. When I say mine can "squeeze in", I'm exaggerating slightly. The car fits in fine, but there's a mere 6" to open the door, so really, I do all the squeezing. :)

Tangent aside, Cheryl came out, "Hun, can you help Belle? She has a bean stuck in her nose." Derg! I'm thinking ...small hard object in nasal cavity, likely hospital visit, just paid to fix the boiler's gas valve, egads... "I'll be right in" *with a smile*.

You know those foam clown noses you can buy at any reputable dollar store? Belle's now prominent feature was doing a fine imitation. 0.o

"Look up sweety" I said. Pinch, pop, whew! A fully cooked pinto bean popped out. The whole scene reminded me of the nature channel where a snake was eating a rat 3x as large as the snake's mouth... *pat on the back* A job well done. :)

Moments later, Belle (still sounding stuffy) says, "Dad, I still have some bean in my nose."

^^ -> 0.o

Alright... I ask her to tilt her head up and sure enough, I can see a little mashed bean high up in her OTHER nostril. I squeeze as much out as will easily come, then ask her to blow into a tissue. A little more comes out. "Alright sweety, give it a super blow. One. Two THREE!" Blam! Out shoots an entire second bean from far enough up in her nasal passage that I couldn't even see the tip of it! Blagh!

Needless to say, we imparted the gravity of the situation, and I was compelled to show her the slight of hand behind my age-old "poof goes the object, then pull from subject's nose" trick. 0.o

Minutes later she was back to happy-go-lucky, and we were on to bigger and better things like constructing our next live-action Angry Birds stage. :)

Paintball

Yesterday, I played paintball with Armondo's groomsmen. It was fun. I came home with enough mud on my pants that I had to pre-wash them outside before I brought them into the house. XD Catch the video and photo galleries at the bottom of the post!


Three quick stories:

From 2011-05-14_Paintball

One of my favorite moments was when I was storming the castle with Nathan inside. I saw him scurry around the back and started to move in that direction, then slowed as I came to the corner, waiting for a team-mate to flank around the other way. Pfft, pfft, pfft! Nathan got me in the back after rushing around. Turns out, Nathan had done a stellar job of striking terror into the hearts of my mates, leaving me the only one to approach the building. :D

From 2011-05-14_Paintball

Me and mud get along. In the first round, I ran and dove for some low cover on the side of the field. In quick order, I flanked left, covering the distance to the middle of the field doing a belly crawl. When I popped up over the side, the other team didn't know what hit them. XD

From 2011-05-14_Paintball

In one of the scenarios, Nathan was a VIP and Ryan was his bodyguard. The VIP took up cover in the far corner of the field. I called out for suppressive fire and advanced under cover as much as possible, covering the full distance of the field. 1, 2, 3, Another burst of suppressive fire as I

flanked right, taking them by surprise again and ending the game in a 5 round burst. Woo!

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0lekYF6NFE


Photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/ultimadj/20110514_Paintball

Wax Paper Skating

Do you use wax paper? Well, you have a reason to use it now!!

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8iupODCjMM

Snow Tires?

I work in Victor, NY now. I used to work in downtown Rochester...

My old commute was a typical, dull, flat, traffic-packed, eye-bleeding morning scenario. My new commute however, is a lovely drive over beautiful, rolling terrain. During the summer, the birds are out, the village bustles, and there's a lot to notice on the way in to work. I now see that during the winter, there's just as much beauty to behold. Today's drive in was a quiet, deliberate mosey through a misty, snow swept wilderness. Now and again, you'd see a faint light, joined by a partner grow til out of the mist, a car heading the other direction would appear. You could catch a glimpse of patches of the road you were traveling, but only with a good eye and a little luck. For the most part, you just followed the deep tracks in front of you, taking in the mysterious, and somewhat daunting beauty while remaining vigilant for traffic ahead which appeared and vanished as the blustery white vail advanced and receded with the wind.

The road was slick, and my tires are getting old. For the most part, it just took a little convincing to get my sporty red focus to start moving (not unlike myself when the alarm went off at 6:30am), however, the light at the top of a particularly steep one of those rolling hills proved... difficult.

Traffic stopped for the light. So did I.
Traffic waited for the intersection to clear. So did I.
Traffic advanced when the light turned green. I... did not.

I teased the accelerator, attempting to go from stopped to at least a crawl, but to no avail. The front tires would spin, or stop, but no progress was to be made.

Moments felt like minutes as the line of angry traffic behind me began to realize their chance at the fleeting green ahead was getting slimmer and slimmer...

Fortunately, I wasn't going backwards. I opened my door and put a foot out....

With one foot on the gas, a hand on the door, and a hand on the wheel, I used my left foot to PUUUSH against the ridiculously slick incline. Heeaaave... heeeeave... heee.. AHA! It was working! Feathering the gas and pushing the car brought me to 1 mph... 2... 5... YES!!! I WAS MOVING AGAIN!

Me and the 5 cars closest behind me made it through the light. Phew!

For the rest of the drive, I gave myself a LOT of space between myself and the car ahead of me before hills, rushing up the incline to avoid the previous situation. A quick visit to TireRack.com and a grand later, both my Focus and Corolla will be sporting the automotive equivalent of some fancy new Gore-Tex boots for the rest of the season. :)

How has the weather been treating you?

Welcome Isaac Mitchell Johnson!!

Ring ring!! Gah!! I startled out of bed after a few restles hours of sleep. Where did my phone come from? It's dark, why am I awake. Why didn't the rocket work?

Oh, there's no rocket (what a dream). I'm home. Annabelle is still asleep. It's still dark out. Where's Cheryl? Why did I wake up?

Oh! Cheryl is calling me. How did I get this phone in my hand?

After a minute of dashing through the fog between sleep and wakefulness, I was out in the living room... and Cheryl was having conTRACTIONS. Owie owie ooooooh graaaaaah!! Apparently, these were intense... and painful. I called the midwife. Halfway through the call, Cheryl said "I'm pushing!"

"She's pushing?" replied the midwife. Yup. In a mere 4 hours (only 40 minutes of which she thought was serious), Cheryl had gone from relaxing in bed, to a baby who was coming out. NOW...

Annabelle woke up. "Mommy is being too LOUD," she said with a slightly concerned tone. She rolled back over in bed and clamped her arms over her ears. "Daddy, would you please shut the door." And she was back asleep... just like that.

"Oooough" Low, groaning birth sounds were the order of the day. Belle woke up again and asked to join us. I picked her up and brought her to our perch. She looked concerned with Mommy's anxiety, but I smiled at her and told her the baby was coming. Wow! You should have seen the explosive smile that lit her face. "I'm going to be a sister!" She sat and waited patiently on a chair a few feet from us.

Cheryl went to feel for the head to get an idea of how far off we were. "I think I can... is that the head... ? Ow! *another contraction* HONEY CATCH THE BABY!!" *splort* out came the head, I dove. With a quick twist Isaac plunged from the birth canal towards the floor. Due to the odd angle and cramped quarters, I made a blind grab, and caught him on the way down.

Annabelle hopped off the chair to get a better look. With a proud smile, she observed "her baby", then hopped back up to her seat.

"Aaaah..." Cheryl's relief from labor was instant and complete. I quickly unraveled the cord from around his neck, wiped him clean, then verified his heart-rate and breathing. Healthy, happy, and apparently hungry, Isaac joined us in bed where we relaxed til the midwife arrived. :)

Let's Go Fly a Kite... Ack! Annabelle!!

Yesterday, Annabelle and I went to fly my kite. The temperature had dropped from the steamy 92 it had been the week before, down to the low 70's. The drop was accompanied by gale-force winds. (At least, gale-force from Annabelle's perspective.) "Daaad! I need to walk with my head down like this because my hair is going to blow away!!"

We walked to the park and set up my stunt kite. Belle held the poles while I rigged the nylon, then held the handles while I attached the strings.
(See this video for an intro to stun-kiting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2ghrrCNRe8)

The launch was successful, and the wind was STRONG. ZZzzzzZZZZZzzzz the nylon sang into the wind as it zipped up and down, doing spirals through the air. Belle was as excited as me! "My turn my turn!" she exclaimed as she pranced around my legs.

At first, I had her stand in front of me. Putting her hands on my hands, she got a feel for how to direct the kite's aerial ballet. After a few minutes, she wanted to drive the kite herself. So, I passed the handles off to her. "Don't let go baby. If the kite gets away from you it will float over the trees into the lake and we won't see it again," I warned.

Taking this advice to heart. She white knuckled the handles and began her flight. Dip! Dive, turn WHOOSH!! Zip! stall... neeeeewwwwwwww bang. After around a minute of successful maneuvering, the kite bit the dust. I asked her to stay there and hold the handles tight as I started to jog towards the downed kite. "Alright baby, 3, 2, 1, LAUNCH!!!" The kite was back up, and Belle was doing a fine job of flying it! She got so excited, she started running towards the kite. Without the wind, it fell back to the grass. I told her to walk backwards slowly this time as she flew. After a quick nod, the kite was back up again.

Just then, the wind doubled or tripled in strength. Whoosh! The wind hit the kite, the kite pulled the string, the baby lifted off the ground!! Ack!! Taking my advice about losing the kite, she held fast, even though she was a foot off the ground. The first crowhop lifter her about a foot off the ground and caused her to travel a yard. The continued bluster picked yanked her off the ground again the second she landed. This time though, the tug was so fierce, she went prone about 2 feet off the ground. Proing! The lines zipped out of her hand and she got a face-full of grass!

Still lying on the ground, scraped and bruised, she looked up to see the kite soaring away, diving and twisting, pilot-less. She pointed and cried, desperate to retrieve it before it hit the lake! I did a 180 (when she lifted off, I started sprinting towards her... halfway there, she pointed and my priority shifted.) She was fine, and she wanted daddy's kite!

I made a mad dash for it, and caught the looping lines a mere 10-15 feet before the water.

I picked up the kite, and brought it back, but Belle had had enough for now. She helped me disassemble the kite, and we started the trek back home...

Next time, I'm going to bring a backpack with rocks, or a stake and string to fasten her to the ground... I can't believe the wind was strong enough to lift my 20 lb kiddo!!!

Surgery? What?!

(WARNING: This post contains several items that are considered to be TMI (Too Much Information), I've tagged those items, so skip ahead if you're squeemish.)

Wednesday I had a lovely filling meal at Sbarro in Eastview Mall. The meal was huge and delicious comprised of a broccolli, chicken strombolli, 2 breadsticks and a medium drink. The company was grand and the walk over in the 70+ degree weather had me in higher than normal spirits.

I walked back to work with my team lead, Peter Pan (a.k.a Matt). The walk back wasn't nearly as great as the walk out, despite the excellent conversation, something was amiss. I thought I had a case of bad gas, and told Brion later in the day that the wonderful meal wasn't sitting well at all.

Two days later, I was still feeling the pain, but the twinge had increased to more of a stabbing and I was starting to see a bulge in my 6-pack... something far more nefarious than mall-food gas was setting my insides asunder.

Friday morning I woke up with the feeling that something wasn't right. I couldn't put my finger on it. It didn't feel different than any other morning, and I (warning, TMI) passed a fair amount of gas during my morning yoga routine (still totally normal). I called in sick to work and raced down to my family doctor. I say raced, because I had thought walk-in hours were 9-10:30, but they were really 8-9:30... the time was currently 9am, and I was 30 minutes away in Webster.

Arriving at 9:29 precisely, I got in to see Dr. Maskiell and told him about my Sbarro experience and the subsequent pain and bulging. (By the way, I would like to note, Sbarro made no contribution to my state of affairs and I will be eating there again next week... soooo good!!)

Dr. Maskiell poked and prodded as doctors do, landing on a very, VERY tender point. Tender enough that it made me yelp and tears sprang forth of their own accord. "Yeah, I need you to go to highland's ER. I need you to get a CT scan for appendicitis," he said.

I headed to the checkout window with the paperwork. The secretary took one look and said, "Oh! You're headed to emergency!? Whenever you come it's something big. Good luck!!" (I have a reputation at this office. Whenever I go in, something drastic has happened. My last three incidents had me: 1. On crutches for a month with a high probability of lowered mobility for years, 2. pass out on the floor of the office on my way to check out (warning TMI) from rectal bleeding (EWWWW), and 3. covered in a case of systemic poison ivy, which is as close to hell on earth as I've come.)

With a hop, skip and a jump (actually closer to a labored waddle, grunt and a thump) I was back in my car and off to Highland's ER. I got in with no waiting. They ran a variety of tests on me which all came back good... really good.... good enough for one of the nurses to comment, "Whoa, you are one healthy dude." The resident commented that the pain was probably bad gas and because everything came back clean, he didn't expect to see anything in the CT scan, but still wanted me to get it. Better safe than sorry.

Throughout the day, I received many comments on my positive attitude. I took a nap during the first bit of downtime, and chatted with the nurses and other patients near me the rest of the time. With the exceptions of the IV, starving from having not eaten since the night before, and the odd hospital stink, I was having a grand old time. This comes in to play later.

My turn finally came at 1:30 in the afternoon (I'd bee at the hospital since 11am), and after downing a litre of contrast solution, I was off to the CT room. I entered and the nurse asked, "Did they tell you that we need to give you rectal contrast?" I laughed. The nurse smiled, but came back with, "No, I'm actually serious. :(" (fast forward) so filled with contrast from the top and bottom, I started in on the bed. They hooked up an IV contrast as well. When the tech told me the list of side effects, I laughed again, but he was serious too: "Hot flashes, a metalic taste on the tongue, a burning smell..." And when the IV contrast shot in, I got to experience these firsthand... It was weird, but not the least bit unpleasant.

(EDIT: There was originally a bit here about my time in the bathroom after the CT scan, but it's pretty much two paragraphs of quite disturbing, TMI content.)

So back in my ER room, the results came back and everyone started scurrying. It was appendicitis and it was BAD. Shelly and Sarah (sweetest nurses ever) came in and gave me the news that I was headed for surgery. All of the nurses were shocked. They had assumed from my grand attitude that I couldn't possibly be experiencing the pain associated with my condition. NOTE: It's the whole dancer and extreme sports thing. I'm almost always in pain from something or other, so my tolerance is pretty ridiculous. Also note, I bring up the tiniest scratch in pretty much the same way I bring up a deep tissue gouge. (I have a high tolerance, but I am also quite sensitive, leading to my edge in sports and thing like juggling.)

Less than an hour later I was in surgery. I came out with a big smile and two thumbs up, much to the delight of the nurses in the OR holding room. I couldn't talk or pee owing to (warning TMI) a full catheter up my woohoo into my bladder, and the respirator tube that was shoved down my throat, but aside from that, I was still doing well.

It took 6 hours to finally start peeing, and when I did, I had to go every 3-5 minutes (irritated bladder). Two hours later, after a full meal, and about a mile of pacing around the hospital to try to work out the carbon gas they had injected into my abdomen (turning me into a human balloon for the operation), I was free to go. The problem was, my bladder didn't agree with leaving. I asked for one of those urine buckets for the trip, and the hospital staff was quick to oblige. Bucket in hand, clothes back on, I set off for the car. I barely made it. It took 2 pee stops to reach the 24-hour CVS (a mere 3 miles away). I had to wait 30 minutes for my Vicodin script to be filled (another 4 pee stops), then it was off to home (20 minutes and 3 pee stops).

We got home at 2am, readied ourselves for bed, then passed out for a great night's sleep. Upon arising this morning, I find I still can't talk right, and using my abs is excrutiating, but all-in-all, I'm none the worse for wear. I'll be taking it easy for the next few days. I'd love to hear from you on Facebook or via Email if you get the chance. :)

Thanks for all the "get well" txts, twitters & emails so far! I love you guys!!

P.S. Here's some more info on what went down: http://www.umm.edu/general_surgery/lap_appendectomy.htm

What is a laparoscopic appendectomy?

The laparoscopic (minimally invasive) surgical technique involves making several tiny cuts in the abdomen and inserting a miniature camera and surgical instruments. As many as three or four incisions are made. The surgeon then removes the appendix with the instruments, so there is usually no need to make a large incision in the abdomen. The camera projects a magnified image of the area onto a television monitor which helps guide the surgeons as they remove the appendix.

Annabelle Goes to the Hospital

Photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/ultimadj/AnnabelleVisitsTheHospital

Annabelle broke all of the bones in her wrist last night. Those of you who know Belle, know that she rarely cries and when she does, it's not for long.

She was balancing on top of a climbing tower (not in the climbing part, but actually up on the structure (That's my girl!)). Several adults were in the room, but nobody saw what happened. All we know is there was a loud thump and a distraught Bella-boo sprawled on the floor. After 30 minutes of screaming, she fell asleep for a short nap on mama's lap while mama iced her wrist and kept it steady. I was already on the way as we were planning to hang out at our friend's for the evening. When I got there, Belle woke up and started crying (hard) again. It was pretty obvious that this was worse than the normal spill.

We weren't sure exactly what to do... do we go in and spend the night at the ER, or could this be a bad sprain, is it something we should wait til morning to figure out an action plan for? A few quick web searches and we called in to her pediatricians after-hours line who referred us to several local hospitals. Hospitals? Oooh, I hate the wait! The last time I went to the ER, I passed out on the desk and still didn't get a bed for an hour, narrowly missing the point of no return...

So I asked about after-hours clinics. There weren't any on the list, but the after-hours lady knew of some in the area, so we called one near us. The after-hours clinic said we needed an xray, but because Annabelle is so young, we should really hit the ER. (They expected that Belle would not be able to pose for the x-ray by herself, and the ER was capable of sedation.) Gah! Sedation!? This night just got bad!

After pleasantly presenting the possibilities of the night, much to the alarm of my wife, we talked options. A mere 30 minutes later and we were off to the Park Ridge ER (a 2 minute drive, hooray for convenient location!!).

Belle was so sweet. It was obvious that it hurt a lot. She shielded her arm at every turn, and would whimper at the mere thought of contact. :*( I tried to put her coat on and she was distraught. She put one arm in and was softly crying "No daddy, no daddy" as the other arm's turn came up. She didn't pull away, she just knew it would hurt. :*0 Ahh! Poor baby!

I didn't put her arm in the sleeve. I zipped it into the coat against her ribs, and she was much happier about that.

Side note: When Cheryl and I were discussing options, I told Belle that we were going to take her to the doctor. She asked why. "Well, because the doctor will be able to look at your arm and make it feel better," I said. Her immediate response was, "Really?" with a HUGE smile on her face. I assured her it was true and she told us "Let's go!" It took us a full 10-20 minutes to get out the door. Belle was prodding us the whole way, "Go now! See doctor. Make my arm better! Hurts huuuurts. Go now! Come on. :)"

When we arrived at the ER, we registered and sat in the waiting room. 2 things to note:

1. Registration took less than 3 minutes

2. The receptionist was EXCEEDINGLY friendly

We took our seat amid the sick and broken people. Belle asked what was wrong with each of them, smiling and providing reassurance to each while coddling her own arm. She was definitely a hit.

By the time we made it in to the triage nurse, Belle was in high spirits and excited that the doctor would now fix her arm. (Major props to Park Ridge, we only waited 30 mins for the triage nurse.) The nurse took her temperature, checked her heart rate and O2 level, then examined her arm. Annabelle took a little convincing to stick the thermometer in her mouth, but after mama demonstrated the proper technique, Belle followed right along.

Now for the scary part. The nurse started to examine the arm and wrist. I flinched with each movement, but Belle, thoroughly filled with faith in the nurse's skills, submitted to a thorough exam and didn't make a peep. So much so that the nurse was convinced that nothing was broken. (So was I! Belle didn't flinch or make a sound despite the acute pain that was, without a doubt, shooting through her limb.)

They asked us to have an xray, and we asked if it would make a difference in the treatment. The triage nurse totally understood where we were coming from (minimal unnatural intervention since birth), so she asked the dr to see us before the xray. The doctor took a look and recommended the xray without a doubt.

Belle posed well for all of the shots, sitting on daddy's lap and holding her wrist very still in the x-ray's cross-hairs. I asked the tech if we could see the pictures (as I had been telling belle that we were imaging her insides, so she was very curious). The tech was really nice and pulled the shot back up on the computer, though he told us in no uncertain terms that we could not ask him any questions about them for legal reasons. :) Belle thought the pics were great! She held her hand up towards the screen and told the tech "Pictures of my insides! Those are my bones!" *big awwww! moment*

The doctor came back with the, now surprising, news that Belle did indeed have broken bones. Bone(s) plural I asked? Yes, she broke all of the bones in her wrist.

Ow! Poor Annabelle! Her pain tolerance must be amazing. The nurse splinted her arm and we were on our way with a number to call in the morning to get a hard cast. Belle had waited patiently between doctor moments in the ER for about 3.5 hours total, and had waited patiently through mom & dad's decision making process, and the car travel. She is such an incredibly patient and trusting child! I love my little gymnast!!

Annabelle's Happy Feet

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnJYhmALvbw

Annabelle, like Cheryl and myself, loves to dance. Often when we pass by the computer, she'll ask for music, or pretend to turn the music on using her keyboard, then ask for help when the PC doesn't spring to life. Once the music is it, the festivities begin. Ska-like dancing, scarves, ring-around-the-rosie and more are soon to follow.

Sometimes, Belle takes a quick break and Cheryl and I get to cut a rug, serving up some fresh 6-count, or westcoast lindy... Man! I love my dancin' family!

Catch the Bus - Are You Up to the Challenge?

Here's what I wrote on the "contact us" section of the rgrta.com website today after a very frustrating morning. True story below. My backpack is intact and so is my arm (though a little sore from being jerked).
-------------
Funny story: My bus broke down, so I hoofed it to the next stop (corner of main and winton). Busses kept whizzing by my stop. I couldn't flag them down. :( I even went so far as standing in the middle of the road, but to no avail. (NOTE: the driver didn't even slow. The impact from the bus hitting my bag almost took me off my feet. If I had been any closer, hospitals and lawyers would have been involved :/)

So, I called the rgrta phone number to figure out where I could catch a bus that would stop. (888-288-377). The schedule option couldn't understand me (odd, I've never had trouble with an automated phone system before.) After 10 minutes looping through the phone system, I decided I'd have to bother an operator.

I called the number above again and hit 0 to get an operator. I was put on hold in the queue and waited. And waited... 20 minutes later, one of the busses actually stopped! I boarded and spoke with the driver. Turns out the other busses were headed for the garage (1100 E Main was displayed)! I figured busses that wouldn't stop would be labeled "Not in Service". Haha!

Is there a flowchart for how to navigate your phone system? It would be great if I could get schedules using the phone's keypad instead of voice because the system just doesn't understand me.

I don't think there are operators though... I've tried dialing several other times today and after 30 mins in the queue each time, I've never reached an operator.

Cash Money Money

I had a crazy day today. It started well! I was productive, had a great lunch with some developer buddies, and was enjoying the sun...

Out of my window I saw a car accident. It's kind of unreal when it happens right there in front of you. A car tried to pull a u-turn on main street across three lanes and ended up meeting head on with a pickup truck. They had to pry them apart...

That wasn't the crazy part though.

An hour later, around 2:30pm, I saw two guys stash something in a nook by my building. It's a really difficult to see nook, unless you happen to be on my floor, in my building. I called the cops and they sent someone down to check it out. The officer arrived just as someone else arrived... the other guy smacked the railing and kept walking. I didn't assume anything. The officer asked me what it was, and I didn't have a clue... I just pointed him to where it was. The officer carefully kicked the leaves off to reveal a bag. The officer then opened the bag and muttered, "whoa". "Whoa what?" I asked. He replied that it was a bag full of money. A LOT of money. There were only a handful of people that walked by while the cop and I were there. He was photographing the area and waiting back to hear from dispatch if the money was related to any downtown robberies. Eventually, I went back to my office and the officer went back to his car.

No sooner had the cops left, then the people who stashed it, and the people who had come to pick it up, came back to the site. Seriously?! Who the heck comes back to the scene after something like that? The bad news? They had each walked by individually while the officer and I were talking. They've been walking up and down my street since... I called the cops again, but they are always gone by the time the officer is there. Carazy day man... I'm not waiting at the corner bus stop (they keep walking by) or taking my bus home today.

Magnetism

The left side of my body has recently become highly magnetized. Maybe it's the fact that I consume plenty of iron and work in front of a computer, maybe it's the fact that I sleep north-south, or maybe, it's because I love my ladies and they adore me. :)

Annabelle is on a solid, mixed diet of food and milk. This morning at around 6:30am, she had exhausted the milk supply. Cheryl, spectacular keeper of the watch that she is, struggled out of bed to fetch some more rice milk from the fridge. No sooner had she left the bed than I felt *bumbadum jiggle jiggle oomph*. The baby slid all the way from the other side of the bed, firmly attaching herself to my left side... still asleep. :D We slept for another 20 minutes then got up for breakfast, books, and the wonderfully creative world of our two year old. :)

Night before last, I went to bed before the ladies. This happens fairly frequently because Cheryl is usually on a project or enjoying the downtime by the time I resign, so she stays up 20-30 longer. She had been working on a sewing project, so she made it to bed well after I was asleep. When I woke up in the morning, she was fast asleep in the crook of my arm, (the same area that Annabelle frequents). (Side note: between the period and this side note, Annabelle called me over for a brief tower building session on "Daddy lap! Daddy lap. :)".)

I love that my ladies like to cuddle whenever I'm around. :) I'm one happy dude. :D

9am and the Day is Golden!!

It's 9am, and I'm already exuberant!

Last night, I hit up the hardware store and radio shack, assembling tools, then replaced my wife's cell phone screen... SUCCESS!!

It was another quick sprint for the bus today, but I caught it in the nick of time. My heart racing, I settled in for the ride. Hysteria by Muse was the leading song on my iPod's Genius mix. The song's frantic bass matched the tempo of my body. It was a zen moment. At peace with the work I'd done the night before (and the excellent, if short, gaming session with Brion, Ray & crew), I got off the bus. I LOVE stepping off the bus. The bus windows (like any car) are visibility tinted (around 15%). When you get off the bus, it feels like the day greets you fresh (a brighter, more ambiently noisy day than the one that you struggled out of bed to only 30 minutes prior).

Today was special though...

Today, the light cloud cover disperses the light. No sun glasses are required and with the 60 degree weather your view is crisp. The typical wind noises, rustling tree leaves, a piece of paper scrapping down the street, and our constant *shhhwwoshshehshshh* were absent. The day was still. It's like in the movies when someone is in a memory and time is frozen. I could hear EVERYTHING! My ninja-like footsteps on the concrete sounded like a runner's *trat trat trat*. Swiftly, and stealthily, a chipmunk darted out for a bread crumb, well, normally it would have been stealthy; today, however, the *skitter skitter* was plain as day, drawing the attention of the other folks walking down the street with me.

A quick conversation with our lovely security guard, Stefanie, and a chance encounter with Murthy (the new me in my old job) then up to my terminal. The Westlaw setup routines are running, so I've got time to *ticka tap calick* out this post, excitedly anticipating the feats I can accomplish today... *AIAIAIAIAI*!!!! (P.S. You can ask Mike, I actually made that sound :)

Aaaaah! I Love Vacation!!

This very instant marks roughly the 792,000,000th millisecond I've been on vacation. During that time, I've been to the grand canyon of the northeast, crossed a 30ft precipice via a fallen tree, been to 6 holiday parties, watched 9 movies (one of them 4 times... I LOVE Iron Man!!), watched 12 television shows, shot 3 hours of home video footage, edited 2 photos of lovely ladies, packed for two vacations, been winter camping, gone sledding, been to the bank twice, played 3 hours of video games, slept A LOT, and played with my daughter often.

For the next ~259,200,000ms, I'll be enjoying a Shaker village, hiking Mt Greylock (map: http://tiny.cc/greylock), and enjoying a jacuzzi with my ladies.

The time has been refreshing and I have more than a few new friends to show for it. W00t!

Now for a few short stories:
Annabelle is getting used to having me around. Every day, we play for hours, inside and out. After the winter camping trip, it's hard to keep her inside. She always wants to be outside, roaming the paths, bathing random objects in light with our gigantic MagLite. A MagLite is more than a flashlight... it's daytime in a can. You turn the thing on, and POOF you can see everything... and the people on the receiving end of the beam are blind... Needless to say, with a 1 year old handling the flashlight, I've been on the receiving end more than a few times. :D

I'm keeping active. It's not for the sake of being active... it's just a habit I haven't bothered to kick. ;) While winter camping, I took a 7 mile hike up and down the wall of the Grand Canyon of the northeast. This hike involved a multitude of small pleasures, including a 3 mile run down a very narrow, winding trail, jumping across small creeks, climbing a 30', nearly vertical hill, standing 4 feet from a waterfall's edge with no railing between me and the 100' drop, a little tree climbing, and a LOT OF FRIGGIN GEESE. I'll probably post some of the footage over the next 6 months.

I have a new toy! It rocks. Period. Here's something I put together with my new toy, about my new toy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mAi2hsFx0A&fmt=6

The new year is here! This is the first year I've kept a budget. Hitting the end of the year and seeing where all the money went and knowing that there was plenty left over was a spectacular feeling!! My car needed a few hundred dollars worth of work last month. Normally, I would just have taken the money out of an account buffer that was already running perilously low, but not this time. This time I had the money saved specifically for car work, and the bill didn't affect my normal spending one bit. My debts (all good debt) are dropping like flies. Keeping a budget feels like pulling money out of thin air. *happy sigh*

We went to Curtis' place for the new year. What a party! We talked MOBOs, Kentsfield vs Wolfdales, watched movies, and had a whooping good time. Getting to and from the party was insane though. There were high winds, and the corolla has a very tall profile for a compact. We were headed down the road at a very moderate pace (40mph) approaching the 104 bridge in webster. Some of the other cars near us weren't nearly as conservative... until they got a few feet onto the bridge where they were no longer shielded from the spectacular crosswind... The SUV in front of me shifted nearly 4 feet sideways into my lane. I slowed further as the cars to the left and right of me suddenly slowed and started sliding. I narrowly avoided an accident, as did the rest of the pack.... it was harrowing. As we continued down the highway, was saw pile after pile of snow pushed up where cars had spun off the road into ditches and guard rails. The road before Curtis' was completely flooded. I think someone must have hit a fire hydrant as there were several feet of water in the ditch and across the road, but fortunately, it hadn't seeped onto the street we needed. Getting home was a similar experience.

Looking back over my last 6 months of posts, it seems like no one is commenting anymore. Is anyone still reading this? Have I gone boring? Say it's not sooo! Agh!

All I Need is a Mugging

Today, I came in to work and noticed that my drawer was open. Someone had ruffled through my desk drawers and found my small cash-stash ($50 in ten dollar bills and quarters) that I keep around for pizza lunches on Fridays.

The list of theft's that I've been a victim of now include:

• Cash ($50) from desk at work
• MP3 player ($20) from coat pocket while playing indoor soccer
• Wallet, glasses and keys ($130) from church while attending a potluck
• Bicycle & snowboard ($970) from apartment (they ripped the door off)
• Backpack (Wallet, Thomson Portfolio, MP3 player, reading glasses, portable game system - $430) from my car's trunk while packing up from a LAN gaming party
• Ironman watch ($40) from pants pocket at gym

I'm averaging a theft every 10 months for the last 5 years.

How about you? Any stories?

The Johnsons Set Up a Christmas Tree!

Link: http://www.youtube.com/v/1aOYi-4loIE&fmt=6

With the scent of freshly baked cookies hanging heavily in the air after an afternoon of baking, we set out to put up our christmas tree. Pandora Radio set the mood with hits from the "Rockin Holiday" station: http://pandora.com/stations/574a57ea7384db17645cedeeb33c1e25425ba2910f7abf8b. I marched box after box of tree trimmings, decorations and other such flair up the entry stairwell from the garage under the approving eye of my 14 month old daughter. With each box came an inquisitive look followed by a pointed exclamation and bubbling laughter. Annabelle was getting quite excited!

I opened the first box, and immediately Annabelle was touring the contents. Each item was observed, moved, poked then discarded for the next item. We started to assemble the tree. When I unfurled the lower branches, Annabelle didn't quite know what to make of the bouncing branches, and stared for a few seconds til Cheryl asked her what she thought of that. As you saw in the video, Annabelle promptly did an interpretive dance to display the awkward excitement of the event.

Soon after, came lights, ribbon and ornaments. Annabelle put up the plastic ornaments near the bottom, while Cheryl and I adorned the upper sections of the tree. When the angel topper came out, Annabelle lept into my arms, ready to assist in its placement.

The tree was finished, so we tossed the boxes back into the garage then laughed, played tag, and danced around in the living room til we were all exhausted enough to hit the sack. What an excellent Sunday!!

Baby Heartbreaker?

Annabelle didn't want me to go this morning. She never wants me to leave for work, but today...

I was off in the bathroom, brushing my teeth after my nice hot shower which came after my breakfast of cocoa crispies and yogurt (typical routine), when I heard "Ohhh, daddy's getting ready for work. He's got to get going."

Annabelle said something unintelligible back, so I decided to check in. I was greeted with a squeal of delight and an arm wave, followed directly by open "Daddy, pick me up!!" arms. When I picked her up, she laid her head on my chest and hugged me. A nice, long "goooood morning daddy, I love you" hug.

I smiled at her and told her I had to get to work, then put her down where she quickly turned to Cheryl with a big smile like "Aha! See! Daddy's here!!", then I left the room to fill my water bottle and leave... but this was far from what Annabelle had in mind. She wimpered a bit from the other room, then convinced Cheryl to bring her to the living room. When Annabelle made it into the living room, she let out a quit, gasping "Dad" and watched intently as I readied my bag. My sunglasses are always the last step before I leave the house and when Annabelle saw them come out, she franticly scrambled across the floor to grab my leg in a desperate attempt to keep me from leaving.

I played for a minute or two longer, but then I really had to leave... Work needs a better schedule.

My Weekend (3 Big Events in 1.5 Days)

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE-Bw_kpNtk

Data Recovery Master!! All your byte[] r belong to us!

Yes yes, once again I have recovered data from a dead on delivery hard drive. This one was particularly challenging because the more I used the drive, the worse it got.

When I got the drive, it couldn't be read. Blast. I popped it out of its enclosure, dissasembled my laptop and popped it in. Then promptly realized that I missed a screw and went to remove the drive... it... stuck... AGHAGAHGAHGAHAHGGAHAGAHA! Stupid 'almost' form factor drives AGH! With great anticipation I wriggled and buffeted the drive for nearly 15 minutes before I could remove it. I will NEVER forget a single screw again.

When I started up the computer I got the typical error message that causes all in IT to despair... that's right... corrupted ntos...

So what then? SpinRite diagnosis of course! A quick scan showed that the drive was in poor shape with multiple physical damage areas. Ooof. This eliminates all of the Stellar suite (my favorite data recovery tool). Refreshing with sprinrite isn't an option either because you can hear the scraping... bad news.

And so he realized that his typical recovery arsenal wasn't going to cut it. Off to the everpresent crawler of the web he went with high hopes and eager spirit.

Hey, this is my blog! Keep your digital comments to yourself.

Ok Dave. *computer snickers* I hope you like the blue screen, it's my NEW favorite companion.

Oh brother! Upgrade or something *lays the smackdown on computer: ctrl+alt+SMACKDOWN*

Where was I? Oh yeah google.. I searched for a linux livecd with windows networking capabilities and local NTFS rw. The first result took the cake by far, I highly recommend getting this tool for emergencies if you don't have it yet: http://www.sysresccd.org/Main_Page

A little zsh manipulation and I was off and running. The data streamed off the broken drive onto my stable desktop while I slept (between 3am and 7am). When I woke up, I burned the 18 gigs of data to DVDs and scooted off to work.

Booyah! I can even recover laptop hard drives! To think that the person had been quoted at $800 for what I did in one evening. Wait, maybe I could do this on the side...

Do you or does anyone you know, have data recovery needs? (Lost/deleted files, corrupt hard drives, dods)?
What do you think? Could anyone benefit from this service?

P.S. Does anyone know of a good way to create polls?

What a Weekend!

I've traveled every weekend for the last month or so. I'm lovin' it! The fresh air, scenery, and faces have left me in a state of "My cup is full and overflooooowing! Yes the Lord loves me! I'm as happy as can be. My cup is full and overflooooowing."

Cheryl and I took a trip over to Ogdensburg so she could attend my counsin's wedding shower. Cheryl rode down with the ladies and I drove Allan over later in the evening. The trip up was a lot of fun. (Every trip is a lot of fun now that I have my TomTom ONE portable GPS navigation system.) One of the legs of our drive went through Canada. Conviniently enough, we had our passports because we intended to go to the indoor waterpark in Ottowa the next day. We had no issues going into Canada and expected none coming back into the states less than an hour later...

Well. We rolled up on customs. The guy asks for our passport and I shuffle through the passports that I had in my bag (we were brining the girls' passports to them because they left them behind) and passed mine and Allan's over to the officer. In retrospect, that wasn't a great idea... The eyebrows went up and we entered the "RED ZONE". "What did you do with the other people?" he asked, suddenly suspicous of the quantity of luggage in the back seat. I told him where we were going and why I had the extra passports. He was still suspicious, but he took it and ran the cars plates. "Um, whose car is this?" he questioned, again suspicious because I certainly wasn't the Cheryl Johnson it was registered too, and I'd already been 'caught' with multiple passports. I told him it was registered to my wife and passed him the registration. He looked at it, looked at the plates, crouched into a defensive stance and stated "the plates don't match the registration" preparing for a judo chop to my neck or something equally as painful and undeserved. I laughed a little and started to sweat as I frantically searched the glove compartment for the new registration... Aha! there it was, hiding at the bottom of the mess of insurance papers and gas receipts. After that, we were allowed to pass with little adieu. Phew!

The rest of the weekend was basketball, canoeing, and EXCELLENT conversation, the likes of which I have missed dearly in the past few months. I'm really starting to question the church I'm with because I realized how useless I feel given the hold on my activities, and the lack of challenge in the absence of good iron.

I also realized that I'm still just as funny as I used to be, it's just an odd sense of humor that the people in my current vicinity don't particularly appreciate. Ah well. Good thing being dull dones't make me less of a person!