This morning, I had my semi-annual dental appointment for a cleaning. Now, I suck at the dentist.
I don't know about other dentists, but I am amazed at how much stuff the dental staff remembers about me. I find it simply remarkable that they can remember so much detail about me considering that I only show up twice a year. I sometimes wonder if they make notes in my chart or something when I leave. Either that or my house is bugged. (Damn you, Patriot Act!)
Anyway, the appointment was good. In addition to a cleaning, my dental hygienist (Joan) took x-rays of my teeth. Apparently, these x-rays (known as panoramic x-rays) show the full root and should be taken about every five years. The last time I had those type of x-rays done was nine years ago in 2001.
In case anyone is curious, I have had other types of x-rays since 2001. Those x-rays are known as bitewing x-rays (which are taken about every two years) and are used to check decay, bone loss, etc. I know it sounds silly, but I never knew there were different types of x-rays at the dental office. I just assumed an x-ray was an x-ray. It never occurred to me that there were differences.
Aside from learning about dental x-rays, I also learned from Joan that children should probably start going to the dentist around the age of 3 or so. The reason is not necessarily for cleaning and such, but more for getting children familiar with a dentist and other people probing inside their mouths. Plus, they can better tell if children have actually been brushing their teeth and whatnot.
And proof that I am a clueless parent, I also learned that parents should be cleaning their child's teeth (or gums) with water (with fluoride) up until the child is able to brush his or her teeth to remove bacteria. That never donned on me either. Apparently my baby daughter (Briana) is going to be a mess growing up. She's going to be "the experiment"... probably now with messed up teeth.
Anyway, Joan is a wealth of knowledge. Oh, and apparently parents should never share spoons or clean pacifiers with their own mouths... due to bacteria reasons.
Needless to say, I had an interesting time at the dentist. It was nice to learn about all those things. Plus, it's always a good visit when you find out that you have no cavities... which I don't. Yay!
Although the one piece of bad news that I did receive at the dentist's was that gummy bears (or gummy candy in general) are bad for your teeth. In addition to being candy, gummy bears are bad due to its gummy consistency. That was very disheartening to learn since I absolutely love gummy bears. Oh well.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Thursday, July 29, 2010
I Suck At B.Good
Tonight, Karen and I... and our baby daughter (Briana) decided to try something different for dinner. And by something different, I mean we did not end up at our favorite restaurant of Not Your Average Joe's in Norwell.
Nope, instead, we ended up at the Derby Street Shoppes in Hingham. Located at the Derby Street Shoppes is a place called b.good. Now, I suck at B.Good. I believe the place is relatively new to the Derby Street Shoppes.
Apparently, Karen had heard that the new location opened at the Derby Street Shoppes. As neither of us have ever been to a b.good, we thought we'd give it a try.
For anyone curious, b.good almost reminds me of Five Guys... only with a slightly larger menu. That slightly larger menu includes salads and shakes in addition to burgers. The gist of the place is that they want to make fast food "real". And by real, they mean by people... not factories.
Needless to say, the food was good. I had the burger known as the Adopted Luke with sweet potato fries and homemade strawberry lemonade. For anyone curious, the burger is named after the one and only Leonardo DiCaprio. (No, Luke is not short for Leonardo.) The burger, "Adopted Luke", was named after DiCaprio's role as Luke Brower in Growing Pains. Or as inventor of the name puts it, "the rascally, much more interesting Cousin Oliver".
The burger was good, as were the sweet potato fries and lemonade. Yum! I'd eat there again.
Nope, instead, we ended up at the Derby Street Shoppes in Hingham. Located at the Derby Street Shoppes is a place called b.good. Now, I suck at B.Good. I believe the place is relatively new to the Derby Street Shoppes.
Apparently, Karen had heard that the new location opened at the Derby Street Shoppes. As neither of us have ever been to a b.good, we thought we'd give it a try.
For anyone curious, b.good almost reminds me of Five Guys... only with a slightly larger menu. That slightly larger menu includes salads and shakes in addition to burgers. The gist of the place is that they want to make fast food "real". And by real, they mean by people... not factories.
Needless to say, the food was good. I had the burger known as the Adopted Luke with sweet potato fries and homemade strawberry lemonade. For anyone curious, the burger is named after the one and only Leonardo DiCaprio. (No, Luke is not short for Leonardo.) The burger, "Adopted Luke", was named after DiCaprio's role as Luke Brower in Growing Pains. Or as inventor of the name puts it, "the rascally, much more interesting Cousin Oliver".
The burger was good, as were the sweet potato fries and lemonade. Yum! I'd eat there again.
I Suck At Wipeout
On Tuesday, my friends (Marc, Kelley, and Andrea) came over for our weekly get-together. On the agenda for the night was another episode of Wipeout. Now, I suck at Wipeout. I especially suck at Wipeout because it turns out this week was a repeat episode. D'oh!
Nevertheless, it was great just to hang out with everyone. In case anyone is curious, Andrea brought peanut butter balls. (Cue Rachael Ray's "Yum-O!" sound.) She had originally made the peanut butter balls for Marc, as payment for chauffeuring her to our house. As it turned out, however, she drove herself that day. But we still got to partake in the yummy deliciousness known as balls... peanut butter balls. It sounds so dirty, but tastes so good.
And if the double entendre imagery isn't bad enough, I have come to find out that my mother enjoys balls... the peanut butter balls. While taking care of our daughter (Briana), my mother tried a peanut butter ball and loved it. And apparently now, any dinner that my mom now organizes, she wants to invite Andrea because of those balls... not like she did not want to invite her before or anything.
Lesson learned: women enjoy balls. (Snicker.)
Aside from the balls, I also got to try a slice of pizza from Whole Foods. I couldn't resist when Andrea offered me a piece of hers. The slice of pizza was a regular slice of pepperoni pizza. The pepperoni, however, was on steroids... which is interesting considering Whole Foods has a reputation for being organic and all of that. The pepperoni slices were simply huge. So naturally, I had to try the jakked up pepperoni slices. It was good.
Anyway, like I said earlier, the night was fun just hanging out with everyone. And of course... the balls! It was all about the balls...
Nevertheless, it was great just to hang out with everyone. In case anyone is curious, Andrea brought peanut butter balls. (Cue Rachael Ray's "Yum-O!" sound.) She had originally made the peanut butter balls for Marc, as payment for chauffeuring her to our house. As it turned out, however, she drove herself that day. But we still got to partake in the yummy deliciousness known as balls... peanut butter balls. It sounds so dirty, but tastes so good.
And if the double entendre imagery isn't bad enough, I have come to find out that my mother enjoys balls... the peanut butter balls. While taking care of our daughter (Briana), my mother tried a peanut butter ball and loved it. And apparently now, any dinner that my mom now organizes, she wants to invite Andrea because of those balls... not like she did not want to invite her before or anything.
Lesson learned: women enjoy balls. (Snicker.)
Aside from the balls, I also got to try a slice of pizza from Whole Foods. I couldn't resist when Andrea offered me a piece of hers. The slice of pizza was a regular slice of pepperoni pizza. The pepperoni, however, was on steroids... which is interesting considering Whole Foods has a reputation for being organic and all of that. The pepperoni slices were simply huge. So naturally, I had to try the jakked up pepperoni slices. It was good.
Anyway, like I said earlier, the night was fun just hanging out with everyone. And of course... the balls! It was all about the balls...
Monday, July 26, 2010
I Suck At Bridget Jones's Diary
Feeling that we should do something productive, Karen and I ran a few errands today in the hot and humid weather. Among those errands was to mow the lawn and go to Target. I also went grocery shopping and video game shopping... to which I now have a new game to play on my Playstation 3! I picked up Assassin's Creed 2. I can't wait to start it. It seems so long since I last played a video game (even though I don't think it was that long ago).
Anyway, when all the errands were done, Karen and I decided to watch a chick flick. That chick flick: Bridget Jones's Diary. Now, I suck at Bridget Jones's Diary.
(The video below is a trailer for Bridget Jones's Diary.)
Neither Karen nor I had ever seen the 2001 movie based on the novel of the same name by Helen Fielding. Apparently, the novel is somewhat based on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice... which now makes sense because one of the characters in the movie is named "Mr. Darcy".
Needless to say, the movie was rather predictable. I did not have high expectations for the movie because I'm not a big Renee Zellweger fan or a Colin Firth fan... or even a Hugh Grant fan. That said, I will have to admit the film was entertaining even if it were predictable.
Anyway, when all the errands were done, Karen and I decided to watch a chick flick. That chick flick: Bridget Jones's Diary. Now, I suck at Bridget Jones's Diary.
(The video below is a trailer for Bridget Jones's Diary.)
Neither Karen nor I had ever seen the 2001 movie based on the novel of the same name by Helen Fielding. Apparently, the novel is somewhat based on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice... which now makes sense because one of the characters in the movie is named "Mr. Darcy".
Needless to say, the movie was rather predictable. I did not have high expectations for the movie because I'm not a big Renee Zellweger fan or a Colin Firth fan... or even a Hugh Grant fan. That said, I will have to admit the film was entertaining even if it were predictable.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
I Suck At Junk Mail
Saturday was a rather uneventful day, in part because our baby daughter (Briana) has not been herself lately. Briana recently had some vaccinations, which I think has been making her feel a little off.
So Karen and I basically stayed home with Briana all day. Interestingly enough, Karen and I did not have any plans for this weekend, which seems like a rare occasion. Lately, it seems like every weekend both Karen and I have something going on.
This weekend, however, our original plan with my BFF (Kerry) had fallen through. It was probably just as well because Briana has not been herself lately. And naturally, with the free time, I did absolutely nothing productive. I probably would have considered working on the house, were it not for the hot and humid weather. I can't function when it is hot and humid. I literally become lethargic and unmotivated. It's probably a good thing that my friend (Hot Amy) never challenged me when it was a hot and humid day.
Consequently, the highlight of my Saturday was going through my junk mail. Too bad I suck at junk mail. It seems like every other day, Karen or I will receive junk mail from a credit card company saying that we are pre-approved for their card. If I didn't have an existing credit card, I'd probably relish the invitation. But I already have a credit card that I like.
Needless to say, I never read the junk that comes with the credit card invitations. I generally open the mail, sort out what I can recycle, and shred the rest that contains either my information or some invitation code or whatever. I've gotten rather good at it because it takes me no time now to go through junk mail from credit card companies.
And then... I stumbled upon the fine print on one of the credit card invitations. There was something about opting out of credit card solicitations. Naturally, I became intrigued. After all, if I can stop receiving credit card junk mail, then I can save the environment by having less waste delivered to the house. And those who know me know that I am all for saving the environment.
Anyway, I wondered if the whole opting out of credit card solicitations was legit, or some idea concocted by the credit card companies. It turns out that the fine print is actually legit.
The program is called OptOutPreScreen. According to my friend, Wikipedia:
"Optoutprescreen.com is a joint venture among Equifax, Experian, Innovis, and TransUnion, allowing customers to opt out of receiving credit card solicitations by mail.
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), consumer reporting agencies are permitted to include customers' names on lists used by creditors or insurers to make offers of credit or insurance that are not initiated by the customer. The FCRA also provides customers the right to opt out, which prevents consumer reporting agencies from providing credit file information to others.
Beginning on August 1, 2005, the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 took effect, which amended the FCRA to require consumer reporting agencies to include in their credit offers a statement allowing customers to stop unsolicited offers either by phone (1-888-5OPTOUT or 1-888-567-8688) or via https://www.optoutprescreen.com.
Customers may opt out from receiving offers for either five years or permanently. To opt out permanently, customers must confirm their requests in writing, by mailing in a Permanent Opt-Out Election form, available through the website. Customers who have opted out will no longer be included in offer lists provided by consumer reporting agencies. Customers who have previously completed an opt-out request may request to opt back in at the website as well."
Anyway, I gave it shot. I called the toll free number. So we'll see how well the program actually is. Not getting junk mail from credit card companies would be awesome.
So Karen and I basically stayed home with Briana all day. Interestingly enough, Karen and I did not have any plans for this weekend, which seems like a rare occasion. Lately, it seems like every weekend both Karen and I have something going on.
This weekend, however, our original plan with my BFF (Kerry) had fallen through. It was probably just as well because Briana has not been herself lately. And naturally, with the free time, I did absolutely nothing productive. I probably would have considered working on the house, were it not for the hot and humid weather. I can't function when it is hot and humid. I literally become lethargic and unmotivated. It's probably a good thing that my friend (Hot Amy) never challenged me when it was a hot and humid day.
Consequently, the highlight of my Saturday was going through my junk mail. Too bad I suck at junk mail. It seems like every other day, Karen or I will receive junk mail from a credit card company saying that we are pre-approved for their card. If I didn't have an existing credit card, I'd probably relish the invitation. But I already have a credit card that I like.
Needless to say, I never read the junk that comes with the credit card invitations. I generally open the mail, sort out what I can recycle, and shred the rest that contains either my information or some invitation code or whatever. I've gotten rather good at it because it takes me no time now to go through junk mail from credit card companies.
And then... I stumbled upon the fine print on one of the credit card invitations. There was something about opting out of credit card solicitations. Naturally, I became intrigued. After all, if I can stop receiving credit card junk mail, then I can save the environment by having less waste delivered to the house. And those who know me know that I am all for saving the environment.
Anyway, I wondered if the whole opting out of credit card solicitations was legit, or some idea concocted by the credit card companies. It turns out that the fine print is actually legit.
The program is called OptOutPreScreen. According to my friend, Wikipedia:
"Optoutprescreen.com is a joint venture among Equifax, Experian, Innovis, and TransUnion, allowing customers to opt out of receiving credit card solicitations by mail.
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), consumer reporting agencies are permitted to include customers' names on lists used by creditors or insurers to make offers of credit or insurance that are not initiated by the customer. The FCRA also provides customers the right to opt out, which prevents consumer reporting agencies from providing credit file information to others.
Beginning on August 1, 2005, the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 took effect, which amended the FCRA to require consumer reporting agencies to include in their credit offers a statement allowing customers to stop unsolicited offers either by phone (1-888-5OPTOUT or 1-888-567-8688) or via https://www.optoutprescreen.com.
Customers may opt out from receiving offers for either five years or permanently. To opt out permanently, customers must confirm their requests in writing, by mailing in a Permanent Opt-Out Election form, available through the website. Customers who have opted out will no longer be included in offer lists provided by consumer reporting agencies. Customers who have previously completed an opt-out request may request to opt back in at the website as well."
Anyway, I gave it shot. I called the toll free number. So we'll see how well the program actually is. Not getting junk mail from credit card companies would be awesome.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
I Suck At Double Features
Last night, I decided to treat myself to a double feature while Karen and our baby daughter (Briana) went to bed. By my standards, Karen and Briana went to bed fairly early. I am generally a night owl. And like my niece (Kaleigh) is apt to say, "I'm not tired". That was the case last night. Unfortunately, I suck at double features.
The first movie of the night was Gamer.
(The video below is a trailer for Gamer.)
I had never heard of this movie (and there's probably a good reason why). The movie stars Gerard Butler, who is a participant in a futuristic game where people can control other people as players in a violent survival game. Think the Sims... only that the Sims are real people.
It's basically a story about mind control gone awry and how people can lose independent thought. Also in the movie are Kyra Sedgwick (who I would cast as my friend, Amy the Czar... not to be confused with Aimee or Hot Amy), John Leguizamo, Ludacris, Terry Crews, and Milo Ventimiglia (of Heroes fame).
Needless to say, I did not have high expectations for the movie. Heck, I had no expectations for the movie because I had never heard of the movie until recently. That said, the movie was okay. I've seen better. (I've seen a lot worse, too)
Following Gamer, I ended up watching Paranormal Activity.
(The video below is a trailer for Paranormal Activity.)
For anyone curious, Paranormal Activity is a horror film about a young couple being haunted by a demon. The movie is presented as found footage, much like the Blair Witch Project from years past.
My friends (Marc and Kelley) had seen the movie and I think they thought it was good. Of course, they might have enjoyed the audience commentary more while watching the movie. Apparently, some viewers in the theater could not contain their surprise during the movie.
Anyway, I thought the movie was good. I thought the male lead (well, his character) was a doofus, but the movie as a whole was refreshingly different. While I was watching Paranormal Activity, I kept thinking about my friend (Garv), who... to put it lightly... is a scaredy cat. He is afraid of ghosts... and probably all things that go bump in the night. Let's just say that Garv probably would be terrified after watching the movie. (He'd probably be shaking under the covers just hearing about the story.)
All in all, last night was an interesting double feature night.
The first movie of the night was Gamer.
(The video below is a trailer for Gamer.)
I had never heard of this movie (and there's probably a good reason why). The movie stars Gerard Butler, who is a participant in a futuristic game where people can control other people as players in a violent survival game. Think the Sims... only that the Sims are real people.
It's basically a story about mind control gone awry and how people can lose independent thought. Also in the movie are Kyra Sedgwick (who I would cast as my friend, Amy the Czar... not to be confused with Aimee or Hot Amy), John Leguizamo, Ludacris, Terry Crews, and Milo Ventimiglia (of Heroes fame).
Needless to say, I did not have high expectations for the movie. Heck, I had no expectations for the movie because I had never heard of the movie until recently. That said, the movie was okay. I've seen better. (I've seen a lot worse, too)
Following Gamer, I ended up watching Paranormal Activity.
(The video below is a trailer for Paranormal Activity.)
For anyone curious, Paranormal Activity is a horror film about a young couple being haunted by a demon. The movie is presented as found footage, much like the Blair Witch Project from years past.
My friends (Marc and Kelley) had seen the movie and I think they thought it was good. Of course, they might have enjoyed the audience commentary more while watching the movie. Apparently, some viewers in the theater could not contain their surprise during the movie.
Anyway, I thought the movie was good. I thought the male lead (well, his character) was a doofus, but the movie as a whole was refreshingly different. While I was watching Paranormal Activity, I kept thinking about my friend (Garv), who... to put it lightly... is a scaredy cat. He is afraid of ghosts... and probably all things that go bump in the night. Let's just say that Garv probably would be terrified after watching the movie. (He'd probably be shaking under the covers just hearing about the story.)
All in all, last night was an interesting double feature night.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
I Suck At Wipeout
Last night, my friends (Marc, Kelley, and Andrea) came over. On the agenda for the night: Wipeout. Now, I suck at Wipeout. Usually, all of us get together on a weekly basis on Tuesdays, which is the day Wipeout happens to be on (that and Thursday). But seeing as how Marc and Kelley recently got back from their vacation down in the Cape, we opted for Wednesday instead.
Needless to say, it was a good time. I do thoroughly enjoy getting together with friends. It's always good for a few chuckles. Plus, for me, it allows me to catch up with my friends. Unlike the majority of my other friends, I have not really gotten into Facebook and the whole social networking thing. I am hardly ever on Facebook. True, I'm a friend whore and basically accept whoever requests to be my friend. (I have problems saying no.) That said, connecting with people from the past who I never spoke to really does not appeal to me. Nor does stalking people... or connecting with random strangers. What appeals to me is connecting with my current friends... who really are "friends" in the sense of the word... and not the Facebook definition of "friends".
Unfortunately, due to my lack of Facebook usage, I do sometimes have to learn about things concerning some of my friends from other friends. I do find that a little awkward, but it's just the way it goes now.
Regardless, I do always look forward to my weekly get-together with Marc, Kelley and Andrea. Like I had mentioned earlier, Marc and Kelley had just gotten back from their vacation down in the Cape. They had stayed in the same vacation spot that Karen, Andrea, my bff (Kerry) and I had stayed at last year.
Last year, Kerry organized what was to be a vacation getaway with a bunch of friends. She had great intentions of being able to spend an entire week with friends. After all, what could be more fun than spending a week with friends? At the time, there was a lot of interest from friends concerning the idea.
Unfortunately, the idea for the vacation getaway began late. Consequently, decisions had to be made quickly to make the plan come to fruition. And like I try to tell people who organize things, you can't please everyone. So what was supposed to be an entire week with a bunch of friends... still ended up being an entire week with a bunch of friends, just a smaller circle of friends. And truth be told, I don't think things have been the same since among those circles... which is somewhat unfortunate.
Regardless, as Kerry and everyone had such a great time last year, she planned the same type of vacation this year. And this year with everyone's busy schedule, only Marc and Kelley could attend the vacation getaway with Kerry. Thus, it was good to hear about Marc and Kelley's experience last night.
Apparently, Kerry's friend (Steve) who visited them in the Cape will now be forever known for saying that he "goes straight for the pooper". I do not know the context to which that phrase was uttered. If Steve were in a relationship, his significant other must feel so lucky. I'm sure that phrase will most likely be remembered, along with the now famous lines of "we'll be your eyes", "first off, he's married", "calling Kerry", etc.
Anyway, it was a fun night hanging out with everyone. There were definitely some chuckles. I got a kick out of the idea of "S and Elmo" which came up during conversation. Just the thought of Elmo dressed in tight black leather yelling "what's the safety word?" in his high pitched voice cracked me up.
Speaking of Elmo, there was a brief moment where Karen and Kelley were a little surprised by Briana. While playing with Briana (and her Elmo), they heard Briana utter something that sounded like "Elmo". It was weird. Of course, she probably was just making random sounds, but it did sound like she uttered "Elmo" which was funny.
All in all, it was a fun night.
Needless to say, it was a good time. I do thoroughly enjoy getting together with friends. It's always good for a few chuckles. Plus, for me, it allows me to catch up with my friends. Unlike the majority of my other friends, I have not really gotten into Facebook and the whole social networking thing. I am hardly ever on Facebook. True, I'm a friend whore and basically accept whoever requests to be my friend. (I have problems saying no.) That said, connecting with people from the past who I never spoke to really does not appeal to me. Nor does stalking people... or connecting with random strangers. What appeals to me is connecting with my current friends... who really are "friends" in the sense of the word... and not the Facebook definition of "friends".
Unfortunately, due to my lack of Facebook usage, I do sometimes have to learn about things concerning some of my friends from other friends. I do find that a little awkward, but it's just the way it goes now.
Regardless, I do always look forward to my weekly get-together with Marc, Kelley and Andrea. Like I had mentioned earlier, Marc and Kelley had just gotten back from their vacation down in the Cape. They had stayed in the same vacation spot that Karen, Andrea, my bff (Kerry) and I had stayed at last year.
Last year, Kerry organized what was to be a vacation getaway with a bunch of friends. She had great intentions of being able to spend an entire week with friends. After all, what could be more fun than spending a week with friends? At the time, there was a lot of interest from friends concerning the idea.
Unfortunately, the idea for the vacation getaway began late. Consequently, decisions had to be made quickly to make the plan come to fruition. And like I try to tell people who organize things, you can't please everyone. So what was supposed to be an entire week with a bunch of friends... still ended up being an entire week with a bunch of friends, just a smaller circle of friends. And truth be told, I don't think things have been the same since among those circles... which is somewhat unfortunate.
Regardless, as Kerry and everyone had such a great time last year, she planned the same type of vacation this year. And this year with everyone's busy schedule, only Marc and Kelley could attend the vacation getaway with Kerry. Thus, it was good to hear about Marc and Kelley's experience last night.
Apparently, Kerry's friend (Steve) who visited them in the Cape will now be forever known for saying that he "goes straight for the pooper". I do not know the context to which that phrase was uttered. If Steve were in a relationship, his significant other must feel so lucky. I'm sure that phrase will most likely be remembered, along with the now famous lines of "we'll be your eyes", "first off, he's married", "calling Kerry", etc.
Anyway, it was a fun night hanging out with everyone. There were definitely some chuckles. I got a kick out of the idea of "S and Elmo" which came up during conversation. Just the thought of Elmo dressed in tight black leather yelling "what's the safety word?" in his high pitched voice cracked me up.
Speaking of Elmo, there was a brief moment where Karen and Kelley were a little surprised by Briana. While playing with Briana (and her Elmo), they heard Briana utter something that sounded like "Elmo". It was weird. Of course, she probably was just making random sounds, but it did sound like she uttered "Elmo" which was funny.
All in all, it was a fun night.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
I Suck At Not Your Average Joes
Yesterday, Karen and I went to Not Your Average Joe's located in Norwell. Now I suck at Not Your Average Joe's, but there's a reason why I enjoy it so much: I like the food... a lot.
Anyway, Karen and I decided to bring our baby daughter (Briana) there for dinner last night. Even though we are frequent patrons of the restaurant, we really have not dined there for some time. Recently, we have been mostly doing takeout. Truth be told, we've been hesitant to bring a four month old to any restaurant because we're not exactly sure how Briana would react to being in a restaurant.
Interestingly enough, Briana was great at the restaurant. She was a little serious at first. But after she got adjusted, she was all smiles again. And as luck would have it, we had a familiar waitperson (Renee).
Our waitperson was excited to see us come back. Apparently, she knew that we had been missing for awhile... signs that perhaps Karen and I do frequent Not Your Average Joe's a little too much. So she was quite happy to meet Briana.
In fact, she was so happy that she got the manager of the restaurant to come over. It's also pretty sad because the manager knew that we had not been there in some time.
Anyway, to celebrate Briana (as the manager put it), he gave us a free dessert with our meal that night. For Karen and I, that was definitely a new experience. Karen and I hardly ever have dessert at Not Your Average Joe's because we are usually stuffed from the meal... and the great tasting bread.
To now have dessert... that was exciting. To have it for free made it better. Karen and I ordered the Peanut Butter Thing. We did not think we would be able to finish the dessert (being stuffed and all). Boy, were we wrong. We scarfed that peanut butter thing down like there was no tomorrow. It was that good.
Needless to say, it was a great dining experience at Not Your Average Joe's last night. The manager and waitperson's kindness definitely made my day. Thank you again Not Your Average Joe's.
I'm starting to think that perhaps Karen and I should bring Briana to every place that we frequent now (not that we don't already) to see if we can get stuff. For instance, what would happen if I held her up for everyone to see at Home Depot or Lowes?
Anyway, Karen and I decided to bring our baby daughter (Briana) there for dinner last night. Even though we are frequent patrons of the restaurant, we really have not dined there for some time. Recently, we have been mostly doing takeout. Truth be told, we've been hesitant to bring a four month old to any restaurant because we're not exactly sure how Briana would react to being in a restaurant.
Interestingly enough, Briana was great at the restaurant. She was a little serious at first. But after she got adjusted, she was all smiles again. And as luck would have it, we had a familiar waitperson (Renee).
Our waitperson was excited to see us come back. Apparently, she knew that we had been missing for awhile... signs that perhaps Karen and I do frequent Not Your Average Joe's a little too much. So she was quite happy to meet Briana.
In fact, she was so happy that she got the manager of the restaurant to come over. It's also pretty sad because the manager knew that we had not been there in some time.
Anyway, to celebrate Briana (as the manager put it), he gave us a free dessert with our meal that night. For Karen and I, that was definitely a new experience. Karen and I hardly ever have dessert at Not Your Average Joe's because we are usually stuffed from the meal... and the great tasting bread.
To now have dessert... that was exciting. To have it for free made it better. Karen and I ordered the Peanut Butter Thing. We did not think we would be able to finish the dessert (being stuffed and all). Boy, were we wrong. We scarfed that peanut butter thing down like there was no tomorrow. It was that good.
Needless to say, it was a great dining experience at Not Your Average Joe's last night. The manager and waitperson's kindness definitely made my day. Thank you again Not Your Average Joe's.
I'm starting to think that perhaps Karen and I should bring Briana to every place that we frequent now (not that we don't already) to see if we can get stuff. For instance, what would happen if I held her up for everyone to see at Home Depot or Lowes?
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
I Suck At The Lost Symbol
Last night, I put a slight dent in my summer reading list. I have a been a little backlogged in terms of borrowed books. So I was quite excited to finally be able to return one of those books to its rightful owner. That book: The Lost Symbol.
Now, I suck at the Lost Symbol. The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown is the third book to feature Robert Langdon, the character now associated with Tom Hanks and his the stupid long hair thanks to the movie adaptations.
The plot, set in Washington D.C., centers around the quest for the Lost Symbol which unlocks the power of the Ancients. Suffice to say, the Lost Symbol is the focal point of Freemasonry. The antagonist of the novel enlists the aid of Langdon and coerces him into finding the location of the power of the Ancients by kidnapping his friend, who happens to be an influential leader of the Freemasons.
Without revealing too much detail, I thought the book was good. It should go without saying that I thought the book was definitely better written than the Twilight series.
I have actually enjoyed reading all of Dan Brown's novels. As of this post, Dan Brown has written five novels, three of which feature Robert Langdon. (The two that do not are Digital Fortress and Deception Point.) In general, I find Dan Brown's books to be a quick and fun ride. The Lost Symbol is no different.
Now, I suck at the Lost Symbol. The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown is the third book to feature Robert Langdon, the character now associated with Tom Hanks and his the stupid long hair thanks to the movie adaptations.
The plot, set in Washington D.C., centers around the quest for the Lost Symbol which unlocks the power of the Ancients. Suffice to say, the Lost Symbol is the focal point of Freemasonry. The antagonist of the novel enlists the aid of Langdon and coerces him into finding the location of the power of the Ancients by kidnapping his friend, who happens to be an influential leader of the Freemasons.
Without revealing too much detail, I thought the book was good. It should go without saying that I thought the book was definitely better written than the Twilight series.
I have actually enjoyed reading all of Dan Brown's novels. As of this post, Dan Brown has written five novels, three of which feature Robert Langdon. (The two that do not are Digital Fortress and Deception Point.) In general, I find Dan Brown's books to be a quick and fun ride. The Lost Symbol is no different.
Monday, July 19, 2010
I Suck At Beverly Hills Chihuahua
Yesterday, the women in my life (Karen and our baby daughter, Briana) decided to have a girls day out. My friend (Jen) had contacted Karen during the week about getting together other this past weekend. Thus, the three of them went out for lunch... and some apparent shopping.
So while they were out and about, I decided to do a couple of home improvement tasks. The first task on hand was to re-caulk the pedestal sink on our first floor bathroom. I had originally caulked the sink prior to Briana's christening. Unfortunately, I think the caulk was too old because the caulk had not dried at all since that time. That was a week ago, so I knew something was up. So naturally, I decided to redo the caulking around the sink.
The other task on hand was to install curtain rods in Briana's room. My friends (Ellen, Cass, Leeann and Garv) were gracious enough to install the blinds in our daughter's room shortly after Briana was born and still in the hospital. As part of Briana's baby shower gift, we had also received some new Disney curtains from Karen's coworkers. The only problem: we did not have the appropriate curtain rods to go with the blinds.
Consequently, Karen and I decided to add the curtain rods. Thanks to our little exchange at Target, we were able to finally get the curtain rods. So needless to say, the curtain rods also had to be installed for the new Disney curtains.
So while Karen and Briana were out with Jen, I opted to tackle those projects. Plus, it only made sense to install the curtain rods while Briana was not sleeping in her room. Anyway, by the time I finished, Karen and Briana returned home.
Fresh off an exciting girls day out, we then decided to watch a family movie: Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Too bad I suck at Beverly Hills Chihuahua.
(The video below is a trailer for Beverly Hills Chihuahua.)
For anyone curious, the Disney movie is about a chihuahua from Beverly Hills that gets dognapped in Mexico. With the help of a German shepherd, she tries to find her way back to home. The movie has the voice talents of Drew Barrymore (as the chihuahua), Andy Garcia (as the German shepherd), and Edward James Olmos... Team Edward... (as the villainous dog, El Diablo).
I must say, I was surprised by the movie. I actually enjoyed the movie very much. It was definitely cute... and definitely Disney. I think what I enjoyed most about the movie was watching Briana's reaction to the movie. Prior to Beverly Hills Chihuahua, Briana had never cared much for any of the family movies that Karen and I watched.
But last night, Briana's eyes were literally glued to the Beverly Hills Chihuahua movie. It was as if she wanted to watch the movie because it had talking dogs in it. That was cute. I had never seen her so into a movie before.
Anyway, it made for an interesting night.
So while they were out and about, I decided to do a couple of home improvement tasks. The first task on hand was to re-caulk the pedestal sink on our first floor bathroom. I had originally caulked the sink prior to Briana's christening. Unfortunately, I think the caulk was too old because the caulk had not dried at all since that time. That was a week ago, so I knew something was up. So naturally, I decided to redo the caulking around the sink.
The other task on hand was to install curtain rods in Briana's room. My friends (Ellen, Cass, Leeann and Garv) were gracious enough to install the blinds in our daughter's room shortly after Briana was born and still in the hospital. As part of Briana's baby shower gift, we had also received some new Disney curtains from Karen's coworkers. The only problem: we did not have the appropriate curtain rods to go with the blinds.
Consequently, Karen and I decided to add the curtain rods. Thanks to our little exchange at Target, we were able to finally get the curtain rods. So needless to say, the curtain rods also had to be installed for the new Disney curtains.
So while Karen and Briana were out with Jen, I opted to tackle those projects. Plus, it only made sense to install the curtain rods while Briana was not sleeping in her room. Anyway, by the time I finished, Karen and Briana returned home.
Fresh off an exciting girls day out, we then decided to watch a family movie: Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Too bad I suck at Beverly Hills Chihuahua.
(The video below is a trailer for Beverly Hills Chihuahua.)
For anyone curious, the Disney movie is about a chihuahua from Beverly Hills that gets dognapped in Mexico. With the help of a German shepherd, she tries to find her way back to home. The movie has the voice talents of Drew Barrymore (as the chihuahua), Andy Garcia (as the German shepherd), and Edward James Olmos... Team Edward... (as the villainous dog, El Diablo).
I must say, I was surprised by the movie. I actually enjoyed the movie very much. It was definitely cute... and definitely Disney. I think what I enjoyed most about the movie was watching Briana's reaction to the movie. Prior to Beverly Hills Chihuahua, Briana had never cared much for any of the family movies that Karen and I watched.
But last night, Briana's eyes were literally glued to the Beverly Hills Chihuahua movie. It was as if she wanted to watch the movie because it had talking dogs in it. That was cute. I had never seen her so into a movie before.
Anyway, it made for an interesting night.
I Suck At Wipeout
What began as a day with no plans quickly turned into family day on Saturday. After running a few errands in the late morning and early afternoon, Karen's family came over for a little visit.
In particular, Karen's parents' friend (Maryann) was meeting them for dinner. As Maryann had never met our baby daughter (Briana), she asked to stop by after dinner. Likewise, it has been a while since she saw my niece (Kaleigh) and nephew (PJ). Thus, Karen's mother organized a little get together at our place so that Maryann could see everyone after dinner.
Since Karen's parents and Maryann were going out for dinner, we decided to have dinner with my favorite sister-in-law (Janine) and Kaleigh and PJ while we waited. Janine was kind enough to pick up pizza from Sal's pizza on her way over. Needless to say, the pizza was good.
Anyway, my favorite niece and nephew were all wound up. Apparently, they are big fans of Zhu Zhu pets. Me? Not so much. If Zhu Zhu pets are still around when Briana is older... she is not getting one. (Of course, she's not getting anything under my tyrannical rule.)
Regardless, Kaleigh and PJ played with their Zhu Zhu pets for quite a while. When they were done playing with them, we decided to watch some family television. Apparently, there is a program on Disney that only shows clips of Wipeout for kids. Upon seeing the commercial, PJ was so excited that he exclaimed he loved Wipeout.
Now, I suck at Wipeout. As it turned out, Karen and I happened to have some episodes of Wipeout on our DVR. So we decided to watch a full episode of the show. Needless to say, watching it with PJ and Kaleigh was a riot. They were glued to the show.
And in typical kid fashion, they were like "I can do that!" Interestingly enough, there are times when I think to myself "I can do that" while watching the show as well. Anyway, PJ and Kaleigh were enthralled with the show. It was funny just watching how into the show they really were.
Needless to say, it was good to see Maryann and everyone. After everyone had left, I decided to unwind a little by watching a movie. That movie: Black Rain from 1989.
(The video below is a trailer for Black Rain.)
For anyone curious, the movie (directed by Ridley Scott) is about two New York cops (played by Michael Douglas and Andy Garcia) who apprehend a Yakuza member. They consequently have to escort the Yakuza member back to Japan, where he escapes from their custody. Thus, they attempt to recapture him. And the hilarity ensues... just kidding.
Actually, the movie was typical of the time... with its protagonist (Michael Douglas) and his long flowing locks. The music was pure cheese... as were the action sequences. But at the time, I'm sure it was the rave. After all, the movie did get nominated for an Oscar for Best Sound and Best Sound Effects Editing.
Interestingly enough, I had never seen the movie... up until Saturday. I remember the previews for it growing up, mostly because I thought that the scene where the Yakuza guy riding on the motorcycle with his sword scraping against the ground causing sparks to fly was pretty cool. (Hey, I was young at the time...)
Needless to say, the movie was okay. Dated, but okay. And for anyone curious, the actor who played the Yakuza member was the model for the main character in the video game Onimusha 2. (In real life, he passed away from cancer shortly after Black Rain.)
In particular, Karen's parents' friend (Maryann) was meeting them for dinner. As Maryann had never met our baby daughter (Briana), she asked to stop by after dinner. Likewise, it has been a while since she saw my niece (Kaleigh) and nephew (PJ). Thus, Karen's mother organized a little get together at our place so that Maryann could see everyone after dinner.
Since Karen's parents and Maryann were going out for dinner, we decided to have dinner with my favorite sister-in-law (Janine) and Kaleigh and PJ while we waited. Janine was kind enough to pick up pizza from Sal's pizza on her way over. Needless to say, the pizza was good.
Anyway, my favorite niece and nephew were all wound up. Apparently, they are big fans of Zhu Zhu pets. Me? Not so much. If Zhu Zhu pets are still around when Briana is older... she is not getting one. (Of course, she's not getting anything under my tyrannical rule.)
Regardless, Kaleigh and PJ played with their Zhu Zhu pets for quite a while. When they were done playing with them, we decided to watch some family television. Apparently, there is a program on Disney that only shows clips of Wipeout for kids. Upon seeing the commercial, PJ was so excited that he exclaimed he loved Wipeout.
Now, I suck at Wipeout. As it turned out, Karen and I happened to have some episodes of Wipeout on our DVR. So we decided to watch a full episode of the show. Needless to say, watching it with PJ and Kaleigh was a riot. They were glued to the show.
And in typical kid fashion, they were like "I can do that!" Interestingly enough, there are times when I think to myself "I can do that" while watching the show as well. Anyway, PJ and Kaleigh were enthralled with the show. It was funny just watching how into the show they really were.
Needless to say, it was good to see Maryann and everyone. After everyone had left, I decided to unwind a little by watching a movie. That movie: Black Rain from 1989.
(The video below is a trailer for Black Rain.)
For anyone curious, the movie (directed by Ridley Scott) is about two New York cops (played by Michael Douglas and Andy Garcia) who apprehend a Yakuza member. They consequently have to escort the Yakuza member back to Japan, where he escapes from their custody. Thus, they attempt to recapture him. And the hilarity ensues... just kidding.
Actually, the movie was typical of the time... with its protagonist (Michael Douglas) and his long flowing locks. The music was pure cheese... as were the action sequences. But at the time, I'm sure it was the rave. After all, the movie did get nominated for an Oscar for Best Sound and Best Sound Effects Editing.
Interestingly enough, I had never seen the movie... up until Saturday. I remember the previews for it growing up, mostly because I thought that the scene where the Yakuza guy riding on the motorcycle with his sword scraping against the ground causing sparks to fly was pretty cool. (Hey, I was young at the time...)
Needless to say, the movie was okay. Dated, but okay. And for anyone curious, the actor who played the Yakuza member was the model for the main character in the video game Onimusha 2. (In real life, he passed away from cancer shortly after Black Rain.)
Friday, July 16, 2010
I Still Suck At Infant Massages
Yesterday was the third and final lesson provided by Early Intervention for giving infant massages. Sadly, I still suck at infant massages. Hopefully, I will have a long long time to practice what I've learned on my baby daughter (Briana).
On the agenda for the final lesson were techniques for the face and certain yoga positions. I actually had a little chuckle with myself because I knew there already existed a pose in yoga called the happy baby pose. So naturally, I thought to myself... does all Briana do is lie on the ground and be herself?
Of course, I was totally mistaken. I guess that is why I suck at infant massages. And in case anyone is curious, I did not even learn the happy baby pose in the third and final lesson. Other yoga techniques were taught instead. Oh well.
Anyway, Briana seemed to enjoy the facial massage. She started cooing and making happy sounds. It was pretty wild to be able to watch her speak. I probably would be cooing too if someone gave me a facial massage. I've never had one, but I imagine it must be relaxing.
Needless to say, the infant massage lessons were great. I'm glad that I was able to learn them. The techniques even proved to be useful later that night. Let's just say that thanks to my magic hands, Briana eventually pooped in her diaper. Sure, it was not until close to midnight, but she pooped nonetheless. Prior to pooping, she had been a little fussy.
The power I wield in my hands...
On the agenda for the final lesson were techniques for the face and certain yoga positions. I actually had a little chuckle with myself because I knew there already existed a pose in yoga called the happy baby pose. So naturally, I thought to myself... does all Briana do is lie on the ground and be herself?
Of course, I was totally mistaken. I guess that is why I suck at infant massages. And in case anyone is curious, I did not even learn the happy baby pose in the third and final lesson. Other yoga techniques were taught instead. Oh well.
Anyway, Briana seemed to enjoy the facial massage. She started cooing and making happy sounds. It was pretty wild to be able to watch her speak. I probably would be cooing too if someone gave me a facial massage. I've never had one, but I imagine it must be relaxing.
Needless to say, the infant massage lessons were great. I'm glad that I was able to learn them. The techniques even proved to be useful later that night. Let's just say that thanks to my magic hands, Briana eventually pooped in her diaper. Sure, it was not until close to midnight, but she pooped nonetheless. Prior to pooping, she had been a little fussy.
The power I wield in my hands...
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
I Suck At Target
Tonight, Karen and I went to the local Target. Unfortunately, I suck at Target. Our shopping excursion, however, was actually quite exciting if saving money is your thing. I find Target offers rather good savings in general. Like my BFF (Kerry) has said in the past, you just cannot go to a Target and not spend $50. The savings are that enticingly. Needless to say, both Karen and I were quite surprised by the amount of savings from tonight.
Awhile back before our baby daughter (Briana) was born, Karen purchased a breast pump at Target. For anyone curious, breast pumps are fairly expensive items. Luckily, we had purchased the item during a sale and had an additional coupon thanks to our registering at Target for Briana's shower. Naturally at the time, Karen verified with the sales associate that we could return the item so long as we had a receipt. Sure enough, the sales associate said yes.
Briana was born prematurely on St. Patrick's Day. And with most premature births, our health insurance covered the cost of the hospital grade breast pump that was provided to us while Briana was in the neonatal intensive care unit and the special care nursery. Interestingly enough, our health insurance is covering the cost of the hospital breast pump for nine months.
Needless to say, Karen has been using the hospital grade breast pump because it is more efficient. With her maternity leave over, she returned to work thinking that she would instead use the pump that was purchased at Target. After all, that pump was designed to be portable. (Hospital breast pumps are a pain to lug around if you are commuting.)
As it turned out, Karen's employer actually has different hospital grade breast pumps at work, which actually work with the tubing that she already has from the other hospital grade pump. Thus, she discovered that she did not need the breast pump that she purchased from Target.
Long story short, Karen decided to return the breast pump to Target. We had gone to Target a couple of days ago and were surprised to find out that we actually could not simply return the unused/unopened breast pump because the receipt was too old. Instead, we could do an exchange of products.
As breast pumps are fairly expensive, we were a little perplexed with what we could exchange the pump for. My first initial reaction was an Xbox, but Karen wasn't going to go for that. Truthfully, I would not get an Xbox anyway... with my unfavorable stance on all things Microsoft. And for the record, the Xbox would not have been for Briana because like I have told many people... Briana is not getting anything. Nothing!
So Karen and I took a couple of days to think about what we could get at Target that would add up to a price comparable to a breast pump. Dropping off Briana with my favorite sister-in-law (Janine) and my favorite brother-in-law (PJ), Karen and I headed to Target to make our exchange. We actually ended up borrowing Janine's minivan for transporting purposes.
And in case anyone is curious, Janine's BFF (Gretchen) got a big kick out of my backing Janine's minivan out of the garage. In an effort to avoid hitting Gretchen's car which was somewhat blocking the garage, I accidentally took out a few folding chairs and a mop in the garage. Oops! Sorry Janine!
Anyway, the reason why we had borrowed Janine's car was because we were going to pick up a convertible crib (with changing table) for Briana. As far as dimensions go, the box for the convertible crib (with changing table) would not fit in either Karen's car or my car. That was just the tip of the iceberg. Because the convertible crib (with changing table) was marked down, we had to add a bunch of other items to get the price close to that of the breast pump.
Eventually, we ended up exchanging five curtain rods, a big can of baby formula, a big box of baby wipes, a Bumbo baby sitter seat, a couple of bibs, and the convertible crib (with changing table) for the breast pump. And the funny thing is... monetarily, the sum of all of those items exceeded what Karen had originally paid for the breast pump. After all, Karen bought the pump when it was on sale and had used a coupon.
I believe Karen had calculated that we received over $60 worth of what is essentially free stuff. I thought that was wild. Had Target just refunded the amount of the original purchase like we had first requested, the company would have saved money. Instead, due to their store policy, we had to exchange the pump not for what we originally paid for the breast pump, but for what the price of the pump currently is in their system as. Luckily for us, that price was fairly high and much higher ($60 higher) than what Karen originally paid.
Needless to say, it was a good way to end the night. I debated about assembling the convertible crib (with changing table) tonight, but opted instead to just veg out and unwind.
Awhile back before our baby daughter (Briana) was born, Karen purchased a breast pump at Target. For anyone curious, breast pumps are fairly expensive items. Luckily, we had purchased the item during a sale and had an additional coupon thanks to our registering at Target for Briana's shower. Naturally at the time, Karen verified with the sales associate that we could return the item so long as we had a receipt. Sure enough, the sales associate said yes.
Briana was born prematurely on St. Patrick's Day. And with most premature births, our health insurance covered the cost of the hospital grade breast pump that was provided to us while Briana was in the neonatal intensive care unit and the special care nursery. Interestingly enough, our health insurance is covering the cost of the hospital breast pump for nine months.
Needless to say, Karen has been using the hospital grade breast pump because it is more efficient. With her maternity leave over, she returned to work thinking that she would instead use the pump that was purchased at Target. After all, that pump was designed to be portable. (Hospital breast pumps are a pain to lug around if you are commuting.)
As it turned out, Karen's employer actually has different hospital grade breast pumps at work, which actually work with the tubing that she already has from the other hospital grade pump. Thus, she discovered that she did not need the breast pump that she purchased from Target.
Long story short, Karen decided to return the breast pump to Target. We had gone to Target a couple of days ago and were surprised to find out that we actually could not simply return the unused/unopened breast pump because the receipt was too old. Instead, we could do an exchange of products.
As breast pumps are fairly expensive, we were a little perplexed with what we could exchange the pump for. My first initial reaction was an Xbox, but Karen wasn't going to go for that. Truthfully, I would not get an Xbox anyway... with my unfavorable stance on all things Microsoft. And for the record, the Xbox would not have been for Briana because like I have told many people... Briana is not getting anything. Nothing!
So Karen and I took a couple of days to think about what we could get at Target that would add up to a price comparable to a breast pump. Dropping off Briana with my favorite sister-in-law (Janine) and my favorite brother-in-law (PJ), Karen and I headed to Target to make our exchange. We actually ended up borrowing Janine's minivan for transporting purposes.
And in case anyone is curious, Janine's BFF (Gretchen) got a big kick out of my backing Janine's minivan out of the garage. In an effort to avoid hitting Gretchen's car which was somewhat blocking the garage, I accidentally took out a few folding chairs and a mop in the garage. Oops! Sorry Janine!
Anyway, the reason why we had borrowed Janine's car was because we were going to pick up a convertible crib (with changing table) for Briana. As far as dimensions go, the box for the convertible crib (with changing table) would not fit in either Karen's car or my car. That was just the tip of the iceberg. Because the convertible crib (with changing table) was marked down, we had to add a bunch of other items to get the price close to that of the breast pump.
Eventually, we ended up exchanging five curtain rods, a big can of baby formula, a big box of baby wipes, a Bumbo baby sitter seat, a couple of bibs, and the convertible crib (with changing table) for the breast pump. And the funny thing is... monetarily, the sum of all of those items exceeded what Karen had originally paid for the breast pump. After all, Karen bought the pump when it was on sale and had used a coupon.
I believe Karen had calculated that we received over $60 worth of what is essentially free stuff. I thought that was wild. Had Target just refunded the amount of the original purchase like we had first requested, the company would have saved money. Instead, due to their store policy, we had to exchange the pump not for what we originally paid for the breast pump, but for what the price of the pump currently is in their system as. Luckily for us, that price was fairly high and much higher ($60 higher) than what Karen originally paid.
Needless to say, it was a good way to end the night. I debated about assembling the convertible crib (with changing table) tonight, but opted instead to just veg out and unwind.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
I Suck At BJ's Wholesale Club
With my perverse mind, I got a little chuckle from what I was originally going to call this post. Consequently, I added "Wholesale Club" to the title so as to not give other sick and twisted individuals like myself the same laugh.
Needless to say, I suck at BJ's Wholesale Club. Last night, Karen, our baby daughter (Briana), my mom, and I went to BJ's... the place... not the action.
My mother currently has a trial membership there. When she signed up, she received a coupon book. As there were coupons for diapers in the coupon book, she recommended that Karen and I check out the place to see if it would be worth it to purchase diapers there.
So off we went last night in search of diapers. It was a thrilling shopping excursion... Truth be told, the diapers that we got with the coupon did end up to be a good deal. We ended up getting some other bulk items as well, but the main one that I was the most proud of... was the six pound bag of gummy bears.
Yum! Six pounds of gummy goodness! Karen thought I was crazy to be so excited for six pounds of gummy bears. Of course, I had to remind her of the significance of the gummy bear. After all, my favorite gummy candy was originally going to be our wedding favor until that plan fell by the wayside.
To this day, I still think people would have enjoyed receiving gummy bears for a wedding favor. After all, they take takes up less room than those other wedding favor trinkets that people get (unless of course, you don't eat them). What do people do with those trinkets anyway?
Sadly, the gummy bears were not used as our wedding favor. Thankfully, I have a great friend (Jen) and a great BFF (Kerry) who brought them to our wedding... no, not as guests... but as packs of yummy fun to be shared with by all. Yum.
Suffice to say, I was pretty excited about six pounds of gummy bears. Membership to BJ's Wholesale Club would be worth it just for the gummy bears alone... and possibly the Twizzlers. And making things even better, there was a coupon for the gummy bears! How can you beat that?
I doubt the gummy bears will last long in our house. So, I may have to go on another shopping excursion with my mom soon before her trial membership runs out.
Needless to say, I suck at BJ's Wholesale Club. Last night, Karen, our baby daughter (Briana), my mom, and I went to BJ's... the place... not the action.
My mother currently has a trial membership there. When she signed up, she received a coupon book. As there were coupons for diapers in the coupon book, she recommended that Karen and I check out the place to see if it would be worth it to purchase diapers there.
So off we went last night in search of diapers. It was a thrilling shopping excursion... Truth be told, the diapers that we got with the coupon did end up to be a good deal. We ended up getting some other bulk items as well, but the main one that I was the most proud of... was the six pound bag of gummy bears.
Yum! Six pounds of gummy goodness! Karen thought I was crazy to be so excited for six pounds of gummy bears. Of course, I had to remind her of the significance of the gummy bear. After all, my favorite gummy candy was originally going to be our wedding favor until that plan fell by the wayside.
To this day, I still think people would have enjoyed receiving gummy bears for a wedding favor. After all, they take takes up less room than those other wedding favor trinkets that people get (unless of course, you don't eat them). What do people do with those trinkets anyway?
Sadly, the gummy bears were not used as our wedding favor. Thankfully, I have a great friend (Jen) and a great BFF (Kerry) who brought them to our wedding... no, not as guests... but as packs of yummy fun to be shared with by all. Yum.
Suffice to say, I was pretty excited about six pounds of gummy bears. Membership to BJ's Wholesale Club would be worth it just for the gummy bears alone... and possibly the Twizzlers. And making things even better, there was a coupon for the gummy bears! How can you beat that?
I doubt the gummy bears will last long in our house. So, I may have to go on another shopping excursion with my mom soon before her trial membership runs out.
Monday, July 12, 2010
I Suck At Christenings
I think my baby daughter (Briana) has had the most parties of anyone her age. For anyone curious, she is almost four months old and after yesterday she has already had four parties in her name. She had a red egg and ginger party (the customary Chinese one month party), her baby shower (she attended because she was born prematurely), a 100 day party (the party she should have had at one month were it not for her being born premature), and now... her christening party. Too bad I suck at christenings.
Briana is averaging roughly a party a month. I guess it is to be expected. She was, after all, born on St. Patrick's Day. Suffice to say, I am dreading the day she turns 21. Regardless, yesterday was her rite of baptism within the Catholic church.
Were it solely up to me, Briana would not have been baptized because I am not one for religion. She would have original sin like her father. I would be okay with that. Unfortunately, other people probably would not.
Needless to say, I was definitely not looking forward to yesterday. Besides the whole religious significance of the day, I would have to say hosting a large party after the christening was not exactly high on my to-do list. There were just too many things that were potentially stressful for a day that I was very indifferent to. Those things included the baptism itself, renovating the bathroom, inviting family and friends, cleaning the house, cleaning the house again after the party, etc. For Karen, it was probably worse because it was mainly her family that was invited.
The christening itself was not all bad. I thought the priest was good. He is definitely more comedic and more sociable than other priests that I have seen. Were I Catholic, I probably would go to his parish just because I think he's funny... and pretty knowledgeable about things.
I had a quick little Bible lesson on christenings... during the christening. For example, I learned there were three holy oils: the Oil of the Sick; the Oil of Catechumens (which I lovingly refer to as the Oil of Cat and Humans), which strengthens a person for their struggle between good and evil; and the Holy Chrism which apparently is the most important oil of them all. Perhaps that is probably why the Holy Chrism is so pungent... being mixed with syrup. That oil is used to anoint one with the Holy Spirit. In other words... you're in after you get it!
Luckily for Briana, she got the Oil of Cat and Humans... and the Holy Chrism. And now her path towards guilt and more guilt begins. Interestingly enough, I also found it a little funny that within a family of so-called Catholics, not one of them could tell me what the symbol displayed on the church altar was.
The symbol on the altar looked like a P interposed with an X. It turns out, the symbol actually is a superimposition of two letters on top of one another... just not the letter P and X. The symbol is called a chi rho. According to my friend Wikipedia, the symbol "is formed by superimposing the first two letters in the Greek spelling of the word Christ". Thus, "ch" is the chi, "r" is the rho. Put them together... and you get chi rho. Thanks to Constantine I, the symbol stuck.
Anyway, the christening was good. I was tempted to do something that I had witnessed during another christening I had attended... and that was to ask the priest "are we all done?" with eager enthusiasm. I, of course, decided to refrain, which can be hard for me sometimes.
I think everyone who attended the party after the christening had a good time. That is always one of those stressful things while being the host... making sure everyone is enjoying themselves. For the most part, I think everyone mingled nicely. They shared holding duties of Briana very well.
I believe Karen's grandmother even got to use the newly renovated first floor bathroom. She was, however, not the first one to christen the bathroom. That honor actually goes to Karen. My BFF (Kerry) had the pleasure of being the second one to christen the bathroom. After that, I lost track of who went to the bathroom. I got a little sidetracked with being the host.
Speaking of Kerry, I must say thanks to her and my other friend (Andrea) who attended Briana's christening. Truth be told, I am always surprised when friends want to attend these things for my daughter. I definitely was not expecting them to attend. Logically speaking, I do not know why they would even want to. Nevertheless, it was nice that they cared so much about Briana. So thank you both!
I should probably thank Hot Amy too. Although she did not make the christening itself, she did make a little appearance with her fiance (Mark) at the party. It was nice that they were able to stop by with ice cream! Yum! There's always room for ice cream.
One of the things that I dislike about hosting large parties is not having enough time to socialize with everyone. It's almost like I am Catholic. I have these feelings of guilt when I do not spend enough time with all the people who cared enough to attend the party for my daughter. So for people like Karen's grandparents and Karen's aunt (Margie) and Aunt Margie's husband (Tom), I feel bad for not really socializing that much with them. Same thing goes with Karen's cousin (Matthew) and Karen's Uncle (Paul). There's just too many people to see within a given time frame.
I'm sure everyone understands, but it's still a feeling that I am not particularly fond of. I just hope everyone had a good time. At the end of the day yesterday, Karen and I were just so tired and just so relieved. We were definitely happy that the stress concerning Briana's christening was over.
And now we can wait to stress about her 1 year birthday...
Briana is averaging roughly a party a month. I guess it is to be expected. She was, after all, born on St. Patrick's Day. Suffice to say, I am dreading the day she turns 21. Regardless, yesterday was her rite of baptism within the Catholic church.
Were it solely up to me, Briana would not have been baptized because I am not one for religion. She would have original sin like her father. I would be okay with that. Unfortunately, other people probably would not.
Needless to say, I was definitely not looking forward to yesterday. Besides the whole religious significance of the day, I would have to say hosting a large party after the christening was not exactly high on my to-do list. There were just too many things that were potentially stressful for a day that I was very indifferent to. Those things included the baptism itself, renovating the bathroom, inviting family and friends, cleaning the house, cleaning the house again after the party, etc. For Karen, it was probably worse because it was mainly her family that was invited.
The christening itself was not all bad. I thought the priest was good. He is definitely more comedic and more sociable than other priests that I have seen. Were I Catholic, I probably would go to his parish just because I think he's funny... and pretty knowledgeable about things.
I had a quick little Bible lesson on christenings... during the christening. For example, I learned there were three holy oils: the Oil of the Sick; the Oil of Catechumens (which I lovingly refer to as the Oil of Cat and Humans), which strengthens a person for their struggle between good and evil; and the Holy Chrism which apparently is the most important oil of them all. Perhaps that is probably why the Holy Chrism is so pungent... being mixed with syrup. That oil is used to anoint one with the Holy Spirit. In other words... you're in after you get it!
Luckily for Briana, she got the Oil of Cat and Humans... and the Holy Chrism. And now her path towards guilt and more guilt begins. Interestingly enough, I also found it a little funny that within a family of so-called Catholics, not one of them could tell me what the symbol displayed on the church altar was.
The symbol on the altar looked like a P interposed with an X. It turns out, the symbol actually is a superimposition of two letters on top of one another... just not the letter P and X. The symbol is called a chi rho. According to my friend Wikipedia, the symbol "is formed by superimposing the first two letters in the Greek spelling of the word Christ". Thus, "ch" is the chi, "r" is the rho. Put them together... and you get chi rho. Thanks to Constantine I, the symbol stuck.
Anyway, the christening was good. I was tempted to do something that I had witnessed during another christening I had attended... and that was to ask the priest "are we all done?" with eager enthusiasm. I, of course, decided to refrain, which can be hard for me sometimes.
I think everyone who attended the party after the christening had a good time. That is always one of those stressful things while being the host... making sure everyone is enjoying themselves. For the most part, I think everyone mingled nicely. They shared holding duties of Briana very well.
I believe Karen's grandmother even got to use the newly renovated first floor bathroom. She was, however, not the first one to christen the bathroom. That honor actually goes to Karen. My BFF (Kerry) had the pleasure of being the second one to christen the bathroom. After that, I lost track of who went to the bathroom. I got a little sidetracked with being the host.
Speaking of Kerry, I must say thanks to her and my other friend (Andrea) who attended Briana's christening. Truth be told, I am always surprised when friends want to attend these things for my daughter. I definitely was not expecting them to attend. Logically speaking, I do not know why they would even want to. Nevertheless, it was nice that they cared so much about Briana. So thank you both!
I should probably thank Hot Amy too. Although she did not make the christening itself, she did make a little appearance with her fiance (Mark) at the party. It was nice that they were able to stop by with ice cream! Yum! There's always room for ice cream.
One of the things that I dislike about hosting large parties is not having enough time to socialize with everyone. It's almost like I am Catholic. I have these feelings of guilt when I do not spend enough time with all the people who cared enough to attend the party for my daughter. So for people like Karen's grandparents and Karen's aunt (Margie) and Aunt Margie's husband (Tom), I feel bad for not really socializing that much with them. Same thing goes with Karen's cousin (Matthew) and Karen's Uncle (Paul). There's just too many people to see within a given time frame.
I'm sure everyone understands, but it's still a feeling that I am not particularly fond of. I just hope everyone had a good time. At the end of the day yesterday, Karen and I were just so tired and just so relieved. We were definitely happy that the stress concerning Briana's christening was over.
And now we can wait to stress about her 1 year birthday...
I Suck At Home Improvement
Saturday was the piece de resistance for our first floor bathroom. With our baby daughter's (Briana) upcoming christening scheduled for the following day, I kicked it into high gear to finish the renovation of our bathroom. (Historically, I've always been good under pressure. Whether it was an exam for school or some deadline for work, I usually do well.)
Karen had wanted the first floor bathroom to be functional for Briana's christening. Her reasoning was that she wanted her grand parents to be able to come over to our house following the christening. And because her grand parents have trouble with stairs, the bathroom on the first floor needed to be operational in the event they had the need to use it. So for many straight nights after work, I have been diligently working in the crawlspace installing the plumbing drains and vents. (Yes, it's very fun to be cramped... sitting on dirt...)
When the drains and vents were done, I began installing the pedestal sink. Naturally, I suck at home improvement. I finished installing most of the pedestal sink by Saturday morning. I had a few odds and ends to tidy up because, like most plumbing projects, I ran out of drain fittings. So I did have to return to the local hardware store to purchase more drain fittings.
Luckily, Karen's parents stopped by on Saturday to watch Briana. They provided a much needed assistance because otherwise I would not have had the opportunity to just get up, run out of the house, and go to the store. (Although I must say... I have been pretty good lately in cutting down the time that it takes to get Briana ready to go places.)
Needless to say, I was able to finish installing the pedestal sink thanks to the help of my in-laws. As well, I was able to install the vanity and the lights above the pedestal sink. I was thrilled to have finally hooked up the lights. For the longest time, I had been working by a work light in the bathroom. Now there is a switch that can turn on and off the lights. Yay, no more work light!
As well, by having my in-laws take care of Briana, Karen and I were also able to clean the house for Briana's after-christening party. Our house definitely needed to be cleaned. For Karen, the growing number of dust bunnies was causing undue stress. As it was, she was pretty stressed out about the whole christening and the preparations for it.
Regardless, after such a productive day, my in-laws, Karen, Briana and I ordered takeout from Sal's pizza located in Norwell. The 19" pizza was very filling. Needless to say, the pizza was good... as was the bruschetta. Thanks again to my in-laws!
Ending the night, Karen and I decided to unwind and watch a movie. That movie: I Hate Valentine's Day.
(The video below is a trailer for I Hate Valentine's Day.)
Up until a few weeks ago, I had never heard of the movie. One day, the movie just happened to be on television. After reading the guide information about the movie, I figured Karen would want to watch it. So, I had DVR'd the movie.
For anyone curious, the 2009 movie is a romantic comedy about a florist who has a rule to never have more than five dates with anyone as anything more will ruin the romance. This is obviously a very predictable movie because you can most likely guess that something happens when she finally meets a man and has five dates with him.
The movie stars (and was written and directed by) Nia Vardalos (of My Big Fat Greek Wedding fame). Interestingly enough, John Corbett (also of My Big Fat Greek Wedding fame) plays the romantic interest... again. All in all, it was an okay movie. Like I said, the movie was predictable. The movie needed Joey Fatone. Just kidding.
Truth be told, the movie did make me chuckle because it reminded me of someone I know who has rules about dating and all of that. Plus, there's that underlying theme about having these rules so as to not get hurt thing. Nevertheless, the movie was okay. Karen seemed to enjoy it, so that's good.
Karen had wanted the first floor bathroom to be functional for Briana's christening. Her reasoning was that she wanted her grand parents to be able to come over to our house following the christening. And because her grand parents have trouble with stairs, the bathroom on the first floor needed to be operational in the event they had the need to use it. So for many straight nights after work, I have been diligently working in the crawlspace installing the plumbing drains and vents. (Yes, it's very fun to be cramped... sitting on dirt...)
When the drains and vents were done, I began installing the pedestal sink. Naturally, I suck at home improvement. I finished installing most of the pedestal sink by Saturday morning. I had a few odds and ends to tidy up because, like most plumbing projects, I ran out of drain fittings. So I did have to return to the local hardware store to purchase more drain fittings.
Luckily, Karen's parents stopped by on Saturday to watch Briana. They provided a much needed assistance because otherwise I would not have had the opportunity to just get up, run out of the house, and go to the store. (Although I must say... I have been pretty good lately in cutting down the time that it takes to get Briana ready to go places.)
Needless to say, I was able to finish installing the pedestal sink thanks to the help of my in-laws. As well, I was able to install the vanity and the lights above the pedestal sink. I was thrilled to have finally hooked up the lights. For the longest time, I had been working by a work light in the bathroom. Now there is a switch that can turn on and off the lights. Yay, no more work light!
As well, by having my in-laws take care of Briana, Karen and I were also able to clean the house for Briana's after-christening party. Our house definitely needed to be cleaned. For Karen, the growing number of dust bunnies was causing undue stress. As it was, she was pretty stressed out about the whole christening and the preparations for it.
Regardless, after such a productive day, my in-laws, Karen, Briana and I ordered takeout from Sal's pizza located in Norwell. The 19" pizza was very filling. Needless to say, the pizza was good... as was the bruschetta. Thanks again to my in-laws!
Ending the night, Karen and I decided to unwind and watch a movie. That movie: I Hate Valentine's Day.
(The video below is a trailer for I Hate Valentine's Day.)
Up until a few weeks ago, I had never heard of the movie. One day, the movie just happened to be on television. After reading the guide information about the movie, I figured Karen would want to watch it. So, I had DVR'd the movie.
For anyone curious, the 2009 movie is a romantic comedy about a florist who has a rule to never have more than five dates with anyone as anything more will ruin the romance. This is obviously a very predictable movie because you can most likely guess that something happens when she finally meets a man and has five dates with him.
The movie stars (and was written and directed by) Nia Vardalos (of My Big Fat Greek Wedding fame). Interestingly enough, John Corbett (also of My Big Fat Greek Wedding fame) plays the romantic interest... again. All in all, it was an okay movie. Like I said, the movie was predictable. The movie needed Joey Fatone. Just kidding.
Truth be told, the movie did make me chuckle because it reminded me of someone I know who has rules about dating and all of that. Plus, there's that underlying theme about having these rules so as to not get hurt thing. Nevertheless, the movie was okay. Karen seemed to enjoy it, so that's good.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
I Still Suck At Infant Massages
Today was part 2 of 3 in my quest to learn infant massaging for my baby daughter (Briana). Unfortunately, I still suck at infant massages. Because Briana was born prematurely, she qualified for the Early Intervention program. Among the services offered through Early Intervention is infant massaging.
So naturally, I figured it would be great to try to learn the art of infant massaging, which according to the instructor also translates to adults as well. And really, who couldn't use a good relaxing massage now and then, right? I know I could. My neck always feels stiff these days. (Hint! Hint!) Regardless, I'm sure Briana is definitely thanking me for learning it.
Last week, I had learned about massaging the arms and stomach. In fact, the massage techniques actually came in handy one day. After I had massaged her stomach, Briana quickly pooped. Coincidence? Possibly.
Today's techniques involved the arms, the chest, and the back. Like the legs, massaging the arm are quite similar. Massaging the chest was rather quick as well as it only had two movements. Unfortunately, all hell broke loose when it came to massaging Briana's back.
Briana currently does not enjoy being on her stomach for a prolonged amount of time where she has to keep her head up. Karen and I have to regularly make sure Briana does her "tummy time" exercises, which is basically having her lie on her tummy in an effort to get her to support her head. The exercise aids in developing her head support. Briana will do well for a short period of time, before resting her head on the ground... and then eventually she will whimper and cry because she does not want to be in that position.
Needless to say, Briana did not want to be on her stomach for the back massage techniques. She cried like there was no tomorrow. Of course, adding to her discomfort was the fact that she was hungry. I had to take a little timeout to feed her. So, the instructor simply continued demonstrating the back techniques on the doll that she brings with her. Show me on the doll where the bad man touched you! Just kidding.
Anyway, aside from her disdain for being on her stomach, Briana seemed to enjoy the massage this week again. She was even cooing for a little while. Someday, I'll get it right and I'll be a massaging machine. And then Briana will be the most relaxed baby ever... yeah right.
Shortly after, I continued working on renovating our first floor bathroom. Originally, my friends (Marc, Kelley, and Andrea) were supposed to come over for the night. We had shifted our plans this week from Tuesday to today because Karen and I had a little church meeting/christening preparation on Tuesday. Our plan for tonight was to hang out and catch a couple of episodes of Wipeout. Unfortunately, Marc and Kelley had a bout of what I like to call "the Kelley runs", which is a nice euphemism for stomach issues. Hopefully, the both of them are okay because they are leaving on vacation at the end of this week. Andrea, meanwhile, was swamped with work so she could not make as well.
So with Briana's christening coming up this weekend and Karen's wishes to have the first floor bathroom functional for the christening, I figured it was a good time to work on the house. Sadly, the main projects to tackle for the bathroom involved being in our crawlspace as drains and vent pipes needed to be run.
I dislike plumbing work, mostly because it is dirty. When it comes to installing drains and vents, there is the added annoyance of not really knowing what fittings you will need and all of that until you start running pipes. Had I a whole arsenal of pipe fittings, I probably would not mind it. But since I don't, I have to guess as to which pipe fittings I will need and how many of each. Inevitably, I always guess wrong, which means that I have to make multiple trips to the local hardware store. It's annoying... and time consuming.
Of course, it probably would not have been so bad had I not tried to fix an existing problem with one of our drains at the same time. For some bizarre reason, we have a drain in our house that empties outside. I have no idea why the drain pipe leads outside and not into the main stack. It just came with the house that way and has remained that way for... about 8 years that I know of.
Naturally, the drain to the outside irked me, primarily because the drain to the outside was not even done well because it left a gaping hole in our foundation... which potentially could be large enough for small critters or whatnot to enter. For all I know, critters may have already used it as an entrance into our crawlspace. The thought annoys me... so much so that I had to fix it. So, what better time than now to make that particular drain lead to the main stack like all normal drains? After all, I was doing plumbing work anyway. I might as well just do it now and patch the hole another time.
Needless to say, with the increased number of drains and vents to work on today, I had to make multiple trips to the local hardware store for pipe fittings. Consequently, I now also have a bunch of pipe fittings to return as well. Sure, I was annoyed. The first trip I took today, I figured I had enough items. This was before grabbing takeout dinner from Not Your Average Joe's in Norwell. (Cue Rachael Ray's "Yum-O" sound.) Not Your Average Joe's has become my favorite restaurant. Interestingly enough, it seems like Karen and I have not eaten there in a while. So it was good ordering takeout today.
Anyway, while in the crawlspace I discovered that I needed more of a certain type of fitting. So I quickly went back to the store and purchased more. The sad thing is... I'm not even done with the drain and vent installation. After tonight, I'm close, but I'm not done yet. I just have one last fitting to purchase and that should be it. In terms of functionality, however, the first floor bathroom should drain properly. (And the other drain that previously led outside should as well.)
Now all that is really left to do before Briana's christening is install the pedestal sink. We'll see if I have enough time and supplies to tackle that in the upcoming days. After all, I'll need more drain pipe fittings, supply lines, and possibly bolts. So we'll see.
So naturally, I figured it would be great to try to learn the art of infant massaging, which according to the instructor also translates to adults as well. And really, who couldn't use a good relaxing massage now and then, right? I know I could. My neck always feels stiff these days. (Hint! Hint!) Regardless, I'm sure Briana is definitely thanking me for learning it.
Last week, I had learned about massaging the arms and stomach. In fact, the massage techniques actually came in handy one day. After I had massaged her stomach, Briana quickly pooped. Coincidence? Possibly.
Today's techniques involved the arms, the chest, and the back. Like the legs, massaging the arm are quite similar. Massaging the chest was rather quick as well as it only had two movements. Unfortunately, all hell broke loose when it came to massaging Briana's back.
Briana currently does not enjoy being on her stomach for a prolonged amount of time where she has to keep her head up. Karen and I have to regularly make sure Briana does her "tummy time" exercises, which is basically having her lie on her tummy in an effort to get her to support her head. The exercise aids in developing her head support. Briana will do well for a short period of time, before resting her head on the ground... and then eventually she will whimper and cry because she does not want to be in that position.
Needless to say, Briana did not want to be on her stomach for the back massage techniques. She cried like there was no tomorrow. Of course, adding to her discomfort was the fact that she was hungry. I had to take a little timeout to feed her. So, the instructor simply continued demonstrating the back techniques on the doll that she brings with her. Show me on the doll where the bad man touched you! Just kidding.
Anyway, aside from her disdain for being on her stomach, Briana seemed to enjoy the massage this week again. She was even cooing for a little while. Someday, I'll get it right and I'll be a massaging machine. And then Briana will be the most relaxed baby ever... yeah right.
Shortly after, I continued working on renovating our first floor bathroom. Originally, my friends (Marc, Kelley, and Andrea) were supposed to come over for the night. We had shifted our plans this week from Tuesday to today because Karen and I had a little church meeting/christening preparation on Tuesday. Our plan for tonight was to hang out and catch a couple of episodes of Wipeout. Unfortunately, Marc and Kelley had a bout of what I like to call "the Kelley runs", which is a nice euphemism for stomach issues. Hopefully, the both of them are okay because they are leaving on vacation at the end of this week. Andrea, meanwhile, was swamped with work so she could not make as well.
So with Briana's christening coming up this weekend and Karen's wishes to have the first floor bathroom functional for the christening, I figured it was a good time to work on the house. Sadly, the main projects to tackle for the bathroom involved being in our crawlspace as drains and vent pipes needed to be run.
I dislike plumbing work, mostly because it is dirty. When it comes to installing drains and vents, there is the added annoyance of not really knowing what fittings you will need and all of that until you start running pipes. Had I a whole arsenal of pipe fittings, I probably would not mind it. But since I don't, I have to guess as to which pipe fittings I will need and how many of each. Inevitably, I always guess wrong, which means that I have to make multiple trips to the local hardware store. It's annoying... and time consuming.
Of course, it probably would not have been so bad had I not tried to fix an existing problem with one of our drains at the same time. For some bizarre reason, we have a drain in our house that empties outside. I have no idea why the drain pipe leads outside and not into the main stack. It just came with the house that way and has remained that way for... about 8 years that I know of.
Naturally, the drain to the outside irked me, primarily because the drain to the outside was not even done well because it left a gaping hole in our foundation... which potentially could be large enough for small critters or whatnot to enter. For all I know, critters may have already used it as an entrance into our crawlspace. The thought annoys me... so much so that I had to fix it. So, what better time than now to make that particular drain lead to the main stack like all normal drains? After all, I was doing plumbing work anyway. I might as well just do it now and patch the hole another time.
Needless to say, with the increased number of drains and vents to work on today, I had to make multiple trips to the local hardware store for pipe fittings. Consequently, I now also have a bunch of pipe fittings to return as well. Sure, I was annoyed. The first trip I took today, I figured I had enough items. This was before grabbing takeout dinner from Not Your Average Joe's in Norwell. (Cue Rachael Ray's "Yum-O" sound.) Not Your Average Joe's has become my favorite restaurant. Interestingly enough, it seems like Karen and I have not eaten there in a while. So it was good ordering takeout today.
Anyway, while in the crawlspace I discovered that I needed more of a certain type of fitting. So I quickly went back to the store and purchased more. The sad thing is... I'm not even done with the drain and vent installation. After tonight, I'm close, but I'm not done yet. I just have one last fitting to purchase and that should be it. In terms of functionality, however, the first floor bathroom should drain properly. (And the other drain that previously led outside should as well.)
Now all that is really left to do before Briana's christening is install the pedestal sink. We'll see if I have enough time and supplies to tackle that in the upcoming days. After all, I'll need more drain pipe fittings, supply lines, and possibly bolts. So we'll see.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
I Suck At Church Class
On the agenda for the night: a church class. Yes, thrilling I know. Now, I suck at church class. Unfortunately, it seems like many of the things that people (in particular, Catholics) do for their religion involve taking some sort of class. There is the marriage preparation class (also known as pre-Cana); There is CCD (which stands for Catholic Christian Doctrine); So naturally there must be a class for christenings, right?
Apparently, tonight's class was not so much of a class, but more of a meet-and-greet type of thing. Awhile ago, Karen had inquired about getting our baby daughter (Briana) christened at the local church (St. Helen). Again, were the decision solely up to me, I would not have Briana christened as it will bias her toward a specific faith without giving her the opportunity to choose otherwise. But since things are sometimes done to appease family members, sacrifices sometimes have to be made. Nevertheless, when Karen inquired about getting Briana christened, we were told that we would have to take a class. That class was tonight.
Joining in on the class festivities was my favorite sister-in-law (Janine) who was asked to be Briana's parent. For anyone curious, my favorite brother-in-law (PJ) is the other godparent. But since he had to watch the kids, it was only Janine who was available for the night. Thus, the three of us attended the church class.
Like I had mentioned earlier, the class was basically a meet-and-greet. Karen and I met the priest (again). We had first met the priest during our marriage preparation class over seven years ago. As far as priests go, I find him more sociable than other men of the cloth. Plus, he seems a little more realistic in terms of teaching faith within today's society.
Essentially, the class was for parents who have their first child. Granted, Briana is our second child because we lost our first (Braden) during his early life. But since we never had a church christening, we had to attend the class.
Truth be told, it was a nice meeting with the priest. He essentially told us what to expect on the day of Briana's christening, what the christening is all about, etc. He was just easy to talk to. I can't believe the christening is so soon because I still have not finished the first floor bathroom renovation project yet. My time to spruce up the bathroom is definitely running out.
Apparently, tonight's class was not so much of a class, but more of a meet-and-greet type of thing. Awhile ago, Karen had inquired about getting our baby daughter (Briana) christened at the local church (St. Helen). Again, were the decision solely up to me, I would not have Briana christened as it will bias her toward a specific faith without giving her the opportunity to choose otherwise. But since things are sometimes done to appease family members, sacrifices sometimes have to be made. Nevertheless, when Karen inquired about getting Briana christened, we were told that we would have to take a class. That class was tonight.
Joining in on the class festivities was my favorite sister-in-law (Janine) who was asked to be Briana's parent. For anyone curious, my favorite brother-in-law (PJ) is the other godparent. But since he had to watch the kids, it was only Janine who was available for the night. Thus, the three of us attended the church class.
Like I had mentioned earlier, the class was basically a meet-and-greet. Karen and I met the priest (again). We had first met the priest during our marriage preparation class over seven years ago. As far as priests go, I find him more sociable than other men of the cloth. Plus, he seems a little more realistic in terms of teaching faith within today's society.
Essentially, the class was for parents who have their first child. Granted, Briana is our second child because we lost our first (Braden) during his early life. But since we never had a church christening, we had to attend the class.
Truth be told, it was a nice meeting with the priest. He essentially told us what to expect on the day of Briana's christening, what the christening is all about, etc. He was just easy to talk to. I can't believe the christening is so soon because I still have not finished the first floor bathroom renovation project yet. My time to spruce up the bathroom is definitely running out.
I Suck At Cookouts
Yesterday was Day 3 of our cookout weekend. Karen, our baby daughter (Briana), and I were fortunate enough to have been invited to a cookout every day during the Fourth of July weekend. That invitation also included the observed day which was yesterday. So three straight days of cookouts! Too bad I suck at cookouts.
The cookout on Monday was in Lowell. Karen's cousin (Karlene) and her husband (Tommy) invited us up to sunny Lowell for the shindig. There's a lot to like about Lowell, or so the city will have you believe. On Monday, I'm afraid there wasn't too much to like about Lowell in terms of the weather. The temperature was simply hot. There's no other way to describe the weather.
Unfortunately, I can't deal with really high temperatures. If you add humidity to the mix, I am literally a pile of dead weight (as if I weren't already) and most likely I will be sprawled out on the ground trying to cool off. I tend to think that the outside heat interferes with my body temperature, which is normally pretty high. (For anyone curious, Karen generally shoves her feet under my butt during the cold winter nights to warm up.) So I like to think that the outside heat only makes my core temperature rise... which consequently makes me a lethargic and dreadful.
Anyway, with stifling temperatures, I thought I was going to pass out. Luckily, Karlene and Tommy have a pool. And I must say, the pool was very refreshing! It is days like yesterday which make me think about how nice it would have been had Karen and I purchased a house with a pool.
Granted, I did not use the pool that much anyway. I had briefly used the pool to cool off after tending to the grill, which you can imagine gets hot outside in the stifling weather. Aside from that, I basically tended to Briana most of the day. And for the most part, Briana was very good in the extremely warm weather. She was probably better than her father.
Were it not for the unbearable weather, I probably would have socialized a little more. Karlene and Tommy had invited their friends over for the cookout. Karlene does not like to mix her circle of friends together. She had done so awhile back (also during the Fourth of July) and received positive results. In fact, her friends asked to hang out with all of us again. So, I was a little annoyed with myself for not being more social on Monday. It's just the heat... kills me.
Needless to say, it was good to see Karlene and Tommy's friends again. They are very nice people. And their children (all boys) are well behaved as well. I think my niece (Kaleigh) may have felt a little left out because she was the only girl that was there... outside of Briana. So she had no one to really play with.
But I must say, Tommy is quite the popular person. Karen counted how many times the kids said his name within a one minute period and it ended up to be something like 7. So on average, the kids called out for Tommy about every 9 seconds. Tommy! Tommy! Tommy! Tommy! Tommy!
Anyway, despite the heat it was a good time. One of Karlene's friends (Kim) made a lovely delicious berry pie. (Cue Rachael Ray's "Yum-O" sound.) Their other friend (Kevin) grilled some pork skewers that were also pretty good. But the berry pie... in my mind... was the easy clear-cut favorite. Of course, my opinion may have been biased since I ate nothing but meat the prior two days.
All in all, despite the high temperatures, the cookout was good. Apparently on the ride back from Lowell, my favorite sister-in-law (Janine) had a brief lapse in her driving-direction skills. I was passed out in the back seat of course (due to the high temperatures) so I could not witness the incident firsthand. I did, however, wake to hear Karen laughing so hard that she was in tears. It made it an interesting ride, that's for sure.
The cookout on Monday was in Lowell. Karen's cousin (Karlene) and her husband (Tommy) invited us up to sunny Lowell for the shindig. There's a lot to like about Lowell, or so the city will have you believe. On Monday, I'm afraid there wasn't too much to like about Lowell in terms of the weather. The temperature was simply hot. There's no other way to describe the weather.
Unfortunately, I can't deal with really high temperatures. If you add humidity to the mix, I am literally a pile of dead weight (as if I weren't already) and most likely I will be sprawled out on the ground trying to cool off. I tend to think that the outside heat interferes with my body temperature, which is normally pretty high. (For anyone curious, Karen generally shoves her feet under my butt during the cold winter nights to warm up.) So I like to think that the outside heat only makes my core temperature rise... which consequently makes me a lethargic and dreadful.
Anyway, with stifling temperatures, I thought I was going to pass out. Luckily, Karlene and Tommy have a pool. And I must say, the pool was very refreshing! It is days like yesterday which make me think about how nice it would have been had Karen and I purchased a house with a pool.
Granted, I did not use the pool that much anyway. I had briefly used the pool to cool off after tending to the grill, which you can imagine gets hot outside in the stifling weather. Aside from that, I basically tended to Briana most of the day. And for the most part, Briana was very good in the extremely warm weather. She was probably better than her father.
Were it not for the unbearable weather, I probably would have socialized a little more. Karlene and Tommy had invited their friends over for the cookout. Karlene does not like to mix her circle of friends together. She had done so awhile back (also during the Fourth of July) and received positive results. In fact, her friends asked to hang out with all of us again. So, I was a little annoyed with myself for not being more social on Monday. It's just the heat... kills me.
Needless to say, it was good to see Karlene and Tommy's friends again. They are very nice people. And their children (all boys) are well behaved as well. I think my niece (Kaleigh) may have felt a little left out because she was the only girl that was there... outside of Briana. So she had no one to really play with.
But I must say, Tommy is quite the popular person. Karen counted how many times the kids said his name within a one minute period and it ended up to be something like 7. So on average, the kids called out for Tommy about every 9 seconds. Tommy! Tommy! Tommy! Tommy! Tommy!
Anyway, despite the heat it was a good time. One of Karlene's friends (Kim) made a lovely delicious berry pie. (Cue Rachael Ray's "Yum-O" sound.) Their other friend (Kevin) grilled some pork skewers that were also pretty good. But the berry pie... in my mind... was the easy clear-cut favorite. Of course, my opinion may have been biased since I ate nothing but meat the prior two days.
All in all, despite the high temperatures, the cookout was good. Apparently on the ride back from Lowell, my favorite sister-in-law (Janine) had a brief lapse in her driving-direction skills. I was passed out in the back seat of course (due to the high temperatures) so I could not witness the incident firsthand. I did, however, wake to hear Karen laughing so hard that she was in tears. It made it an interesting ride, that's for sure.
I Suck At Fourth Of July Cookouts
On Sunday, my friends (Cass and Ellen) had a cookout to celebrate the Fourth of July. Unfortunately, I suck at fourth of July cookouts.
Nevertheless, the cookout was a great excuse to just hang out with a bunch of friends... relax... laugh it up... etc. In addition to my friends (Marc, Kelley, Garv, Leeann, Andrea), Karen, our daughter (Briana) and I, Cass and Ellen's respective parents attended the cookout.
For me, it was the first time I got to hang out with Ellen's parents. They are very nice. Interestingly enough, they think that I am a great father. Boy do I have them fooled or what? Apparently, they thought I did a superb job of taking care of Briana while at the cookout.
I also got to hang out a little with Cass's parents as well. Cass's father brought steak, lamb, ribs... other beef products... to the cookout. Ever since my little "incident" on Black Friday from years past, I have purposely made sure that my pieces of meat are cut up into small pieces that are easy to swallow. (For anyone curious, it was a piece of steak that Cass's father had made that I had choked on during that fateful Black Friday.)
Needless to say, I still get a little ribbing from that incident. Sunday was no different. It was definitely nice to see Cass's parents again. Growing up, my friends and I used to see them all the time because we either hung out at Cass's or at Garv's. I believe Cass's mother even reminded us that it was our friends (Ron and Ben) broke one of their vases while playing around. (I think they may have also shattered some glass that was covering a table, but I could be mistaken about that.)
All in all, it was nice to see everyone. I think I had the most fun just hanging out in the backyard while a good number of guests went inside the house... only to watch the Jaws marathon on television. While Kelley rolled around the dog excrement-infested lawn, Garv, Cass, Andrea and I were just being silly.
The topic of discussion was mainly how I was going to be a pushover when it came to my loving daughter, Briana. Garv did his best impression of Briana pleading to go with her friends to a Lady GaGa concert. Cass thought I'd simply defer to Karen. Meanwhile, Andrea (probably from experience) said that Briana, in an effort to get her way, will start small and eventually work her way up to asking for bigger and better things. Sadly, none of them believed that I would say no to Briana. I'll prove them all wrong.
Anyway, as the night when on, we ended up inside watching the Boston Pops on television. Happy belated Fourth of July! Aside from the usual fireworks display in town, there were also random fireworks that were ignited by Cass and Ellen's neighbors. It was interesting.
Needless to say, it was a great relaxing day with friends. It was a nice way to celebrate our country's independence.
Nevertheless, the cookout was a great excuse to just hang out with a bunch of friends... relax... laugh it up... etc. In addition to my friends (Marc, Kelley, Garv, Leeann, Andrea), Karen, our daughter (Briana) and I, Cass and Ellen's respective parents attended the cookout.
For me, it was the first time I got to hang out with Ellen's parents. They are very nice. Interestingly enough, they think that I am a great father. Boy do I have them fooled or what? Apparently, they thought I did a superb job of taking care of Briana while at the cookout.
I also got to hang out a little with Cass's parents as well. Cass's father brought steak, lamb, ribs... other beef products... to the cookout. Ever since my little "incident" on Black Friday from years past, I have purposely made sure that my pieces of meat are cut up into small pieces that are easy to swallow. (For anyone curious, it was a piece of steak that Cass's father had made that I had choked on during that fateful Black Friday.)
Needless to say, I still get a little ribbing from that incident. Sunday was no different. It was definitely nice to see Cass's parents again. Growing up, my friends and I used to see them all the time because we either hung out at Cass's or at Garv's. I believe Cass's mother even reminded us that it was our friends (Ron and Ben) broke one of their vases while playing around. (I think they may have also shattered some glass that was covering a table, but I could be mistaken about that.)
All in all, it was nice to see everyone. I think I had the most fun just hanging out in the backyard while a good number of guests went inside the house... only to watch the Jaws marathon on television. While Kelley rolled around the dog excrement-infested lawn, Garv, Cass, Andrea and I were just being silly.
The topic of discussion was mainly how I was going to be a pushover when it came to my loving daughter, Briana. Garv did his best impression of Briana pleading to go with her friends to a Lady GaGa concert. Cass thought I'd simply defer to Karen. Meanwhile, Andrea (probably from experience) said that Briana, in an effort to get her way, will start small and eventually work her way up to asking for bigger and better things. Sadly, none of them believed that I would say no to Briana. I'll prove them all wrong.
Anyway, as the night when on, we ended up inside watching the Boston Pops on television. Happy belated Fourth of July! Aside from the usual fireworks display in town, there were also random fireworks that were ignited by Cass and Ellen's neighbors. It was interesting.
Needless to say, it was a great relaxing day with friends. It was a nice way to celebrate our country's independence.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
I Suck At Basketball
Today marked the beginning of a very busy weekend for Karen and I... and our baby daughter (Briana). With it being the Fourth of July weekend, we had a bunch of cookouts on our schedule... one every day of the weekend... Monday too if you include the observed holiday as part of the weekend.
The cookout that was scheduled for today was at my friends (Ron and Trinh) who live right up the street in nearby Pembroke. Truth be told, we had another cookout also scheduled for today at my friend's (Hot Amy) in Quincy. Never liking to overbook things (because of the added stress of trying to accomplish too many things in one day), I decided to simply attend the cookout which had invited me first.
In this case, the invitation I received first was for Ron and Trinh's. Naturally, Karen attempted to go to both cookouts, in part because her family was going to be at Hot Amy's. And of course with relatives, particularly my mother-in-law, Briana had to go to be "shown" to everyone. Plus, there were rampant rumors that this would be the last cookout they host on the third of July.
Anyway, Karen only stayed at Ron and Trinh's for a little while, which was fine with me because I find Ron and Trinh's place to be like a mini-vacation spot complete with a pool. Ron and Trinh, are by far, the most gracious hosts I know. Trinh had hand-made so many burgers, it was unreal. (The burgers by the way were very delicious.) The amount of food was crazy.
Ron was a great bartender as well. He was doing his best to push the "special" of the day: the Brazilian drink known as the Caipirinha. Of course, I think he just liked saying the word "caipirinha". Apparently, he had recently discovered the drink while on a trip. (And for anyone curious, I thought the drink tasted like a mojito... just without the mint.)
Needless to say, it was definitely a great time (as usual) at the mini-vacation spot known as Ron and Trinh's. It was good to catch up with old friends. I think the highlight of Ron and Trinh's party was the basketball game we ended up playing outside of his garage.
Too bad I suck at basketball. Luckily, everyone else at the party sucks at basketball too. Although, I'll have to give Ron and my friend (Garv) credit. They seemed to be in the best shape out of everyone there. It was a good thing that I happened to be on their team... not that I did much because I was sucking wind pretty early on.
I have not shot a basketball in quite a long time. Up until today, I can't remember the last time I played basketball. But just playing basketball again with a bunch of friends was fun. It reminded me of my childhood where a bunch of us would routinely get together to shoot some hoops (then at a basketball court located at Mass Fields in Quincy). It was something to do with a bunch of friends... just hang out and play.
Surprisingly, I thought I held my own while playing basketball. Granted, my friend (Marc) did have to spell me a few times. Like I said earlier, I was simply gassed from all the start-and-stop running.
Anyway, time simply flew by. Before I knew it, it was fairly late. And with Karen and Briana at Hot Amy's, Marc and my friend (Kelley) invited me back to their place for the UFC 116 pay-per-view. Naturally, I could not say no because this was the return of the heavyweight champion, Brock Lesnar. Lesnar suffered a possible career ending bout of diverticulitis after his last championship match last year (which he won and made a total ass of himself after the fight). An interim champion had been determined in the meantime and so Lesnar was set to face the interim champion (Shane Carwin) to unify the titles upon his return.
The pay-per-view was good. Carwin almost actually won the fight in the first round. Unfortunately, like my current basketball conditioning, Carwin was gassed after a few minutes. Lesnar ended up winning early in the second round.
Of course, watching the pay-per-view naturally reminded me of my BFF (Kerry). Kerry, who was present at the last UFC pay-per-view that we watched... which was Lesnar's last match until today... had made the funny comment that she "could so do Joe Rogan". Joe Rogen (of Fear Factor fame) is one of the announcers for UFC. Of course, she meant that she could do his announcing job, but the Freudian slip was just classic... and comical.
Regardless, today has been a great fun day. I had a good time hanging out with friends.
The cookout that was scheduled for today was at my friends (Ron and Trinh) who live right up the street in nearby Pembroke. Truth be told, we had another cookout also scheduled for today at my friend's (Hot Amy) in Quincy. Never liking to overbook things (because of the added stress of trying to accomplish too many things in one day), I decided to simply attend the cookout which had invited me first.
In this case, the invitation I received first was for Ron and Trinh's. Naturally, Karen attempted to go to both cookouts, in part because her family was going to be at Hot Amy's. And of course with relatives, particularly my mother-in-law, Briana had to go to be "shown" to everyone. Plus, there were rampant rumors that this would be the last cookout they host on the third of July.
Anyway, Karen only stayed at Ron and Trinh's for a little while, which was fine with me because I find Ron and Trinh's place to be like a mini-vacation spot complete with a pool. Ron and Trinh, are by far, the most gracious hosts I know. Trinh had hand-made so many burgers, it was unreal. (The burgers by the way were very delicious.) The amount of food was crazy.
Ron was a great bartender as well. He was doing his best to push the "special" of the day: the Brazilian drink known as the Caipirinha. Of course, I think he just liked saying the word "caipirinha". Apparently, he had recently discovered the drink while on a trip. (And for anyone curious, I thought the drink tasted like a mojito... just without the mint.)
Needless to say, it was definitely a great time (as usual) at the mini-vacation spot known as Ron and Trinh's. It was good to catch up with old friends. I think the highlight of Ron and Trinh's party was the basketball game we ended up playing outside of his garage.
Too bad I suck at basketball. Luckily, everyone else at the party sucks at basketball too. Although, I'll have to give Ron and my friend (Garv) credit. They seemed to be in the best shape out of everyone there. It was a good thing that I happened to be on their team... not that I did much because I was sucking wind pretty early on.
I have not shot a basketball in quite a long time. Up until today, I can't remember the last time I played basketball. But just playing basketball again with a bunch of friends was fun. It reminded me of my childhood where a bunch of us would routinely get together to shoot some hoops (then at a basketball court located at Mass Fields in Quincy). It was something to do with a bunch of friends... just hang out and play.
Surprisingly, I thought I held my own while playing basketball. Granted, my friend (Marc) did have to spell me a few times. Like I said earlier, I was simply gassed from all the start-and-stop running.
Anyway, time simply flew by. Before I knew it, it was fairly late. And with Karen and Briana at Hot Amy's, Marc and my friend (Kelley) invited me back to their place for the UFC 116 pay-per-view. Naturally, I could not say no because this was the return of the heavyweight champion, Brock Lesnar. Lesnar suffered a possible career ending bout of diverticulitis after his last championship match last year (which he won and made a total ass of himself after the fight). An interim champion had been determined in the meantime and so Lesnar was set to face the interim champion (Shane Carwin) to unify the titles upon his return.
The pay-per-view was good. Carwin almost actually won the fight in the first round. Unfortunately, like my current basketball conditioning, Carwin was gassed after a few minutes. Lesnar ended up winning early in the second round.
Of course, watching the pay-per-view naturally reminded me of my BFF (Kerry). Kerry, who was present at the last UFC pay-per-view that we watched... which was Lesnar's last match until today... had made the funny comment that she "could so do Joe Rogan". Joe Rogen (of Fear Factor fame) is one of the announcers for UFC. Of course, she meant that she could do his announcing job, but the Freudian slip was just classic... and comical.
Regardless, today has been a great fun day. I had a good time hanging out with friends.
I Suck At The Stepfather
After having such a productive day on Thursday, I decided to take it easy on Friday.
During the day, I decided to watch a movie (again) while my baby daughter (Briana) was napping. That movie: The Stepfather.
(The video below is a trailer for The Stepfather.)
Now I suck at The Stepfather. Having seen the original movie from 1987, I figured I had to watch the 2009 remake. For anyone curious, The Stepfather horror movie from 1987 actually spawned two sequels. And if you are extra curious, the original Stepfather from the original movie is none other than Terry O'Quinn (Locke of Lost fame).
I might have watched the two sequels to the Stepfather. I can't remember because it was a long time ago... and neither sequel was too memorable. Most likely, the movies were terrible and I was just watching them to complete the series.
Anyway, the remake film from 2009 stars Dylan Walsh (of Nip/Tuck fame) as the Stepfather, with Sela Ward and Penn Badgley (of Gossip Girl fame... but I since I don't watch the show I remember him from John Tucker Must Die) as the mother and son who end up with the possible stepfather.
The basic plot is simple: a serial killer has a Modus operandi of schmoozing with single parenting mothers in hopes of becoming a stepfather to the family... only to kill the family later on. Sure, in real life it would probably take a single parenting mother more than several months to decide to remarry, but this is the movies.
Needless to say, the would-be family catches on to the stepfather's intentions and attempt to thwart his plans. Having seen the original Stepfather movie, I was not expecting too much from this remake.
Interestingly enough, I found the movie entertaining... probably for Amber Heard, who happens to be blond of course. All in all, it was an okay movie. It passed the time while Briana was napping.
During the day, I decided to watch a movie (again) while my baby daughter (Briana) was napping. That movie: The Stepfather.
(The video below is a trailer for The Stepfather.)
Now I suck at The Stepfather. Having seen the original movie from 1987, I figured I had to watch the 2009 remake. For anyone curious, The Stepfather horror movie from 1987 actually spawned two sequels. And if you are extra curious, the original Stepfather from the original movie is none other than Terry O'Quinn (Locke of Lost fame).
I might have watched the two sequels to the Stepfather. I can't remember because it was a long time ago... and neither sequel was too memorable. Most likely, the movies were terrible and I was just watching them to complete the series.
Anyway, the remake film from 2009 stars Dylan Walsh (of Nip/Tuck fame) as the Stepfather, with Sela Ward and Penn Badgley (of Gossip Girl fame... but I since I don't watch the show I remember him from John Tucker Must Die) as the mother and son who end up with the possible stepfather.
The basic plot is simple: a serial killer has a Modus operandi of schmoozing with single parenting mothers in hopes of becoming a stepfather to the family... only to kill the family later on. Sure, in real life it would probably take a single parenting mother more than several months to decide to remarry, but this is the movies.
Needless to say, the would-be family catches on to the stepfather's intentions and attempt to thwart his plans. Having seen the original Stepfather movie, I was not expecting too much from this remake.
Interestingly enough, I found the movie entertaining... probably for Amber Heard, who happens to be blond of course. All in all, it was an okay movie. It passed the time while Briana was napping.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
I Suck At Infant Massages
All things considered, I would say that today was a productive day.
While my baby daughter (Briana) was sleeping in her bedroom, I watched Punisher: War Zone.
(The video below is a trailer for Punisher: War Zone.)
The movie is about the comic book vigilante known as The Punisher. Being someone who grew up on comic books, I naturally had to watch the movie. And for anyone curious, the movie is a reboot about the Punisher and not a sequel to 2004 movie (or the original Dolph "I must break you" Lundgren movie).
Anyway, I had low expectations for the movie mainly because the majority of movies based on comic book heroes never exactly pans out right (like the Dolph Lundgren Punisher movie). To my surprise, I thought the movie was entertaining. Sure, it was over the top in terms of violence with people getting their heads blown off and whatnot, but it was entertaining. Plus, Julie Benz (of Angel fame) was in the movie. So my opinion of the movie may have been biased a little... even though she wasn't blond in the movie.
Briana eventually (and conveniently) woke up just in time for her infant massage from yours truly. Too bad I suck at infant massages. Heck, I suck at adult massages. I'd have to say, my friend (Jen) gives good neck rubs.
One of the services provided by Early Intervention is to learn how to give an infant massage. The program is in three parts: legs and stomach; arms and chest; and head. Luckily, Briana qualified for Early Intervention because she was born prematurely. The infant massage program was recommended to Karen and I, so we decided to schedule it for Briana.
Unfortunately, Karen had to work and was not available to learn first hand about the infant massage techniques. So I, as the ever popular dad, gave Briana her first massage. Truth be told, I think Briana enjoyed it a lot. She was quite calm for most of the massage. She did fuss near the end, only because she was hungry. But other than that, she was great.
Interestingly enough, I did learn some things about massages. Apparently India and Sweden are known for massages. I also learned a song to sing to Briana while giving her a massage. (The song is basically sung with accompanying massage movements.) All in all, the infant massage was fun. I can't wait to see what is in store for part 2 of the program.
When Karen did return home from work, I naturally had to demonstrate the massage techniques for her so that she too could give them to Briana. Unfortunately, I'm a terrible teacher. (Plus, I do suck at infant massages remember?) Karen would probably do better reading the handouts and learning on her own than to learn it from me.
Later in the evening, I decided to continue my productivity and work on the first floor bathroom renovation project. With the floor tiled and grouted, the next step is the plumbing. I have been dreading this step because I am not a big fan of plumbing... because a) it's dirty; and b) I would have to spend a good chunk of time in our crawl space being dirty.
Before the floor had been tiled and grouted, I did finish running the water supply lines to the bathroom. The remaining plumbing, however, was never completed. And by the remaining plumbing, I mean the drains and vents for the bathroom fixtures (ie. toilet and sink). Consequently, there are just holes in our bathroom that lead to our crawlspace.
The amount of work I had done on the drain was to remove a section of cast iron pipe so that I could lay the floor down correctly. And back when I removed that section of cast iron pipe, I remember getting covered in black dust... a result of my cutting into the pipe with a circular saw.
Unfortunately, I had discovered that I did not remove enough of the cast iron pipe the first time around. The first time around only gave me enough room to put the bathroom floor down. There was no way I could connect a bathroom fixture to the current location of the pipe. So naturally, like most projects, there was going to be addition work before working on the drains and vents. That work: cut the cast iron pipe yet again... just further down the pipe so as to allow for new pipe to be run.
After the first time around, I thought I'd get well prepared tonight. I got my safety glasses; my mask; my circular saw; and my blade to cut through the cast iron pipe. Last time, I forgot the mask... to which my face was horribly covered in cast iron dust. The dust was everywhere, including my teeth. I swear, I'm probably going to die from all the gunk that I've inhaled while working on home improvement projects.
Even with the mask this time around, I still had black dust particles in my nose. It's nasty, which is why I was definitely not looking forward to removing another section of the cast iron pipe. And making things worse, my blade broke. The blade just flat out came apart. I had to make a little pit stop at Sears to get another blade.
Before it got too late, I eventually cut through the entire diameter of the 4 inch cast iron pipe. Again, I was covered in black dust. Like I said earlier, I'm probably going to die from inhaling all this stuff while doing home improvement projects. But at least the section of cast iron is removed and I can now continue with running the drain and vents for the toilet fixtures.
While my baby daughter (Briana) was sleeping in her bedroom, I watched Punisher: War Zone.
(The video below is a trailer for Punisher: War Zone.)
The movie is about the comic book vigilante known as The Punisher. Being someone who grew up on comic books, I naturally had to watch the movie. And for anyone curious, the movie is a reboot about the Punisher and not a sequel to 2004 movie (or the original Dolph "I must break you" Lundgren movie).
Anyway, I had low expectations for the movie mainly because the majority of movies based on comic book heroes never exactly pans out right (like the Dolph Lundgren Punisher movie). To my surprise, I thought the movie was entertaining. Sure, it was over the top in terms of violence with people getting their heads blown off and whatnot, but it was entertaining. Plus, Julie Benz (of Angel fame) was in the movie. So my opinion of the movie may have been biased a little... even though she wasn't blond in the movie.
Briana eventually (and conveniently) woke up just in time for her infant massage from yours truly. Too bad I suck at infant massages. Heck, I suck at adult massages. I'd have to say, my friend (Jen) gives good neck rubs.
One of the services provided by Early Intervention is to learn how to give an infant massage. The program is in three parts: legs and stomach; arms and chest; and head. Luckily, Briana qualified for Early Intervention because she was born prematurely. The infant massage program was recommended to Karen and I, so we decided to schedule it for Briana.
Unfortunately, Karen had to work and was not available to learn first hand about the infant massage techniques. So I, as the ever popular dad, gave Briana her first massage. Truth be told, I think Briana enjoyed it a lot. She was quite calm for most of the massage. She did fuss near the end, only because she was hungry. But other than that, she was great.
Interestingly enough, I did learn some things about massages. Apparently India and Sweden are known for massages. I also learned a song to sing to Briana while giving her a massage. (The song is basically sung with accompanying massage movements.) All in all, the infant massage was fun. I can't wait to see what is in store for part 2 of the program.
When Karen did return home from work, I naturally had to demonstrate the massage techniques for her so that she too could give them to Briana. Unfortunately, I'm a terrible teacher. (Plus, I do suck at infant massages remember?) Karen would probably do better reading the handouts and learning on her own than to learn it from me.
Later in the evening, I decided to continue my productivity and work on the first floor bathroom renovation project. With the floor tiled and grouted, the next step is the plumbing. I have been dreading this step because I am not a big fan of plumbing... because a) it's dirty; and b) I would have to spend a good chunk of time in our crawl space being dirty.
Before the floor had been tiled and grouted, I did finish running the water supply lines to the bathroom. The remaining plumbing, however, was never completed. And by the remaining plumbing, I mean the drains and vents for the bathroom fixtures (ie. toilet and sink). Consequently, there are just holes in our bathroom that lead to our crawlspace.
The amount of work I had done on the drain was to remove a section of cast iron pipe so that I could lay the floor down correctly. And back when I removed that section of cast iron pipe, I remember getting covered in black dust... a result of my cutting into the pipe with a circular saw.
Unfortunately, I had discovered that I did not remove enough of the cast iron pipe the first time around. The first time around only gave me enough room to put the bathroom floor down. There was no way I could connect a bathroom fixture to the current location of the pipe. So naturally, like most projects, there was going to be addition work before working on the drains and vents. That work: cut the cast iron pipe yet again... just further down the pipe so as to allow for new pipe to be run.
After the first time around, I thought I'd get well prepared tonight. I got my safety glasses; my mask; my circular saw; and my blade to cut through the cast iron pipe. Last time, I forgot the mask... to which my face was horribly covered in cast iron dust. The dust was everywhere, including my teeth. I swear, I'm probably going to die from all the gunk that I've inhaled while working on home improvement projects.
Even with the mask this time around, I still had black dust particles in my nose. It's nasty, which is why I was definitely not looking forward to removing another section of the cast iron pipe. And making things worse, my blade broke. The blade just flat out came apart. I had to make a little pit stop at Sears to get another blade.
Before it got too late, I eventually cut through the entire diameter of the 4 inch cast iron pipe. Again, I was covered in black dust. Like I said earlier, I'm probably going to die from inhaling all this stuff while doing home improvement projects. But at least the section of cast iron is removed and I can now continue with running the drain and vents for the toilet fixtures.
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