so, um, yeah…

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I guess I really suck at this whole updating thing, huh?  I had great intention to update with lots of little things that the baby did and whatnot.  I guess when I’m at home, I’d rather spend time soaking it all in than writing it all down.  I’ll probably regret it in a few years when I can’t remember anything and didn’t write any of it down.  Lately, though, it’d look like this:  Brianna’s sick.  Still sick.  Not better, yet.  More sick.  Ear infection.  Sick.  I feel bad for her.  Wish we could get her better.  She’s been sick for 3-4 months now, with different things.  That’s more than half her little life.  Makes me want to yell at doctors who keep insisting that there’s nothing to do but wait.  I don’t like waiting. 
 
She’s not quite walking yet, but man, she’s trying.  She’ll stand up, balance herself, reach out for something else, and then let go of whatever she’s holding on to.  Of course, she instantly splats on the ground, but she doesn’t cry… she just wants to get up and try again.  She’d probably keep trying til she got it if I kept helping her up.  She has to be the cutest baby ever, in my humble, completely unbiased opinion.  :)  
 
She’s getting mobile, too.  Not crawling, though.  She just blinks a few feet in a random direction when you’re not looking. 
 
Let’s see… what else is up….
 
Work is work.  I’m the flight lead for STS-130/20A, so that’s a lot of fun.  Not too much work, though, so I’m keeping myself busy teaching lessons and trying to get certified in different things.  I find that work is more stressful and less fun than it used to be.  It’s mostly due to politics and some stress from certain people I work with, but those things are unavoidable, so what can you do?  It’s not unbearable…  but I do leave work pissed off from time to time.  I don’t think it’ll drive me away from here, though. 
 
I definitely miss family, though.  It’s inexpressible how much it sucks to be 12 hours from family.  Someday, I’m sure I’ll decide that it’s not worth a cool job to be this far away from family.  I kinda hope it’s not too late by then.  I don’t want Brianna to think that grandparents are people you see once during the summer.
 
Also, I bought a car. 
 
A GT500. 
 
Finally.   :)
 
My wallet might regret it, but for now, I don’t.  Although, it’s a beast of a car, and honestly scares me a little.  I’m sure I’ll get over it, but right now, the thing’s putting out over 600 HP at the wheels (thank you pulley and cold air intake mods).  When you hit the gas, it screams.  Literally.  Oh wait.. that might have been me.  
 
I don’t think I’ll be driving it to its fullest for a while.  I don’t care what kind of traction control the thing has, it’s hard enough to keep it in control on dry roads in a straight line when you give it some gas.  But hey, I’ve got a while to figure it out, right?
 
 
 

the other other shoe

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Quote of the Day:
 
"when the other shoes stop falling for a few months, i'll relax.  right now, though, i'm being stalked by a hover-centipede with ill-fitting footwear."

wiki

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I’ve managed to avoid feeling the need to edit Wikipedia articles (even the one about Blackle being Google’s attempt to further racism)… until now.    Found the article on Shanghai, and just couldn’t help but clarify and tweak a couple of the rules.   Now, it’s almost perfect.   I would change the scoring, but I guess that can wait.
 
 

updates

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I guess I haven’t been writing on here much these days.  I think I’ve been spending more of my computer time on facebook.  I’ve enjoyed catching up with people and seeing what they’re up to, and haven’t been spending as much time here to rant about things to be read by all two of you who still come here occasionally.  :)
 
Generally, life is both the same, and completely different.   Everything still pisses me off.   I still have to deal with people at work who are incompetent, and people who get special treatment, and crap.  I still have to deal with HOA managers who c’nat tipe or spel, and think that hurricanes only blow down fences that can’t be seen from the street.  I still have to deal with politics at church.   
 
But on the other hand, there’s Brianna.   It’s impossible to be pissed off when that little baby smiles at you.  And she does!   She’s so cute.   And so ahead of her age.  :)   They said she wouldn’t be smiling for a few months, but she’s been smiling for weeks now.   She’s been holding her head up, and can support her weight on her legs, and lots of other stuff that tiny babies supposedly can’t do.   The smiling is my favorite, though.  It’s not the random smiles from gas pains, either… sure, she had those, but she smiles at you, now.  She’s ticklish, too.   You can tickle her belly and she smiles.   Just precious. 
 
I was actually sad to have to come back to work after we had her.  I’m trying to take off every other Friday to be at home, but that’s not working, schedule-wise.  Maybe it’ll work in the future.  
 
And maybe I’ll be able to clean the house more in the future, too…  Chelsea and Chris are in town for spring break, and the house is a mess.  I feel bad about it, but haven’t been able to clean it up, yet.   I’d just rather sit and stare at the baby…   maybe that’s why my parents never cleaned the house?   :)
 
Oh well…   must run.    Later.
 
Quote of the Day:
 
"So, farewell, best of luck, avoid boiled cabbage, don’t eat earwax, and always look on the bright side of life."  – from Eldest, by Christopher Paolini.  (and probably the only good quote of his books so far.)
 

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still don’t have time to write up everything I’ve been meaning to say, but let me throw some thoughts down here.

First and foremost, my daughter is amazing. She was born about 5 days ago (Feb 1st) at 11:48pm. Her name is Brianna Katelyn, and she’s named after her Godfather, Brian. She was a c-section baby, due in part to her size (9 lbs!), but mostly because her mom spiked a nasty temp about 21 hours into labor.

The c-section itself was a nightmare. Deedee’s pain meds didn’t take care of all the pain, and after the baby was born, the Doctor told someone to “hurry up, she’s bleeding!” but no one would tell us what was going on. It was quite a horrifying experience.

BUT… there were some good things to come out of it. Like Brianna. :) We didn’t know if she’d be a boy or girl, so hearing them say “it’s a girl!” and hearing the little girl start crying was quite an experience.

Pretty much every hour since then has been an experience, too. Even right now, I’m sitting her sorting through some pictures of her (she’s such a cute baby), and turning around every few second to rock her. Last night, she spent about two hours just staring at me. I stared back. Couldn’t have done anything else, even if I had wanted to. :)

and it’s so odd. I’ve always been apprehensive about handling newborns. I usually pass if given the chance. But this one, I knew from the moment they handed her to me that she was different (obviously). I think I almost hold her too much. Not that you can hold a baby too much, but that maybe I’m robbing her mom of some much needed baby snuggles. :)

and she laughed! I know babies aren’t supposed to laugh for weeks, but she laughed. I’m a little jealous, actually, cause it was my neighbor who made her do it. She tickled the baby’s chin, and she smiled. She did it again, and the baby made the cutest smiley face and chuckled. Got a whole house full of witnesses. :)

As far as pictures go, I’ll probably only be posting them on Facebook. I know a couple of people who are very protective of pictures of their kids, and I happen to agree with them, so I’ll be controlling those pictures a lot more than just pictures of me or Deedee.

five days in, and a life time to go… to-do list: continue to take lots of pictures. buy shotgun. find a piece of land to bury teenage boys.

funny conversation:
Deedee (to baby): wake up…
me (to baby): “grab a brush and put on little makeup”
D: Are you singing that kid rock music?
me: huh? that was System of a Down?
D: so you are singing that kid rock music?
me: no. (to baby) *sings* “’cause you wanna be a cowboy-baby”
D: what?
me: Now I’m singing that Kid Rock music.

ok, it was funnier in person. :)

I’ve also been told to stop making Deedee laugh. Apparently laughing is painful after a c-section. so when Deedee says that the baby is exhausted after making that much poop, I cannot add comments about how it certainly did take a lot out of her. :) bad example… I think that just made her stare at me and blink.

oh, and I have found my weakness. my kryptonite. It is not dirty diapers or being spit up on. It is baby boogers. Seriously. We were in the hospital, and this kid sneezed something the size of new hampshire out of her nose. and it was five different shades of yellow and green. and it’s making me sick just to think about it. I almost lost it. she’s done that twice now… ::shudder:: seriously.

ok, I should run. gotta go spend time staring at the cutest kid in the world.

Quotes of the Past Few Days:

“At that point, it’s no longer a pacifier; it’s a kid-corker.” – Deedee

“That’d put a half-inch dent in a block of warm butter.” – Deedee’s Dad

“That’d make you want to go home and punch your momma.” – Deedee (about spicy food or something)

Oil & the economy

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Someone should ask me how upset I am that Exxon’s profit fell this year.   Really. 
 
It amazes me that people are talking about this in the news as a sign that the oil industry is in trouble.   Look, people, Exxon did not lose money.   The company did not take a 33% loss.  They lost 33% of their PROFIT.  Boo-freakin’-hoo.  This is the same company that posted the record, all-time high profit last quarter.  They still posted a huge profit.
 
It must really annoy me, because I don’t even feel like continuing to rant about it.  
 
Sometimes, people are dumb.
 

Yup…

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Quote of the Day:
 
"I think it’s the creepiest when you sit there really quiet with a grin on your face rocking back and forth." – coworker
 
 
 

some day…

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one of these days I'll get around to posting all the stuff I've been meaning too.   some day…  
 
Quote of the Day:
 
"I imagine someone trying to eat his brain would be a lot like biting an electric fence" 

Seriously?

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HSID teachers caught with pot:  http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/6159600.html

I am so disappointed.   I just cannot fathom how stupid people can be.   These are high school teachers, supposedly teaching our kids to be smart, and yet, they’re so stupid…

And if you think I mean they’re stupid because they had pot, think again… 

They’re stupid because they were TOLD they would be searched.   Like, two weeks ago, HSID told all their teachers that they were going to bring drug sniffing dogs to campuses and search the teachers’ parking lots.   Two weeks notice, and they still got caught?  I mean, are you serious?   I couldn’t believe they gave them notice, anyway.   Someone said it’s because they’d lose too many teachers otherwise, and I thought, well, at least they’ve guarenteed themselves that they won’t lose any now.  Apparently, I was mistaken.  

People that stupid deserve exactly what they got.  

Quote of the Day:

"To err is human; to arrr is pirate."   :)

All gunked up

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In a meeting today about leaking quick disconnects onboard ISS, the expert on the system made the statement that they usually have more problems with the female parts and haven’t had any problems with the male parts because they’re more exposed and less likely to get all gunked up. 

We had to stop the presentation for a few moments after that.  

Several people did not understand why. 

Poor Troy nearly imploded with restraint.  That was just as funny as the comment itself.