Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Yes, I Love Technology -- Always and Forever

I'm back. I guess the news around here is that we are indeed going to Thailand and almost had tickets bought but are reconsidering our timing. The plan was for me to head over the beginning of May, hopefully find a job and a place to live and kind of get things set up so that when Kristen and Chantrea came over (in mid-June) they could move right in. Kristen's younger sister is getting married on June 17th so she wants to stay for that for sure. Anyway, as I said we were all ready to go ahead with these plans when last night I realized that I don't know how well I'll do being apart for six weeks. I think I'd lose it so we're rethinking the timing. Maybe we'll all just stay and go to the wedding.

In other news Kristen and I just purchased an MP3 player. It was actually part of our Christmas but we just hadn't gotten around to it until now. We went all out and got the newest thing. Actually that was mostly me. I put in a bunch of my personal money so we could get the one that I wanted. Kristen just wanted something pretty basic. I wanted all the bells and whistles. We ended up getting the Creative Zen Vision: M. This thing won best in show at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show. It's basically a competitor to Apple's iPod video. It's got 30GB and plays video (divx, mpeg 1 and 4, and xvid), audio (obviously), has a microphone, FM radio, and can display pictures. I've only had it for about a week but it is awesome! I guess I don't need to go on about it forever though.

This past Wednesday Kristen and I went on our first date in forever. Funny how once you have kids it's really hard to get away. We just went out to eat and window shopping for a bit but it was really nice to have some alone time. And eating out is always nice.

Saturday I went in to get a Maryland drivers license now that we've been here for four months. Actually the only reason I'm getting it is because my Utah license expires in March and also our insurance expires and we need to get new insurance and that requires us to get the car registered in Maryland. I HATE government operations. Needless to say, I still don't have the license and I have to go back again. Such a pain.

Yeah, I'll end on that note.

Friday, January 06, 2006

Start Anew

Here we are in 2006. A new year means we get to forget the past and start again with the goals and resolutions. For me that usually lasts about three weeks. Anyway, one of my resolutions is to post more often. So, all four of my readers are in for a treat -- for the next three weeks, at least. I don't know why but I always feel like blogging on Xbox night but of course don't get around to getting even close until it's time to get on Xbox live and kick some butt!! Fortunately for me (and you all) Chantrea was extremely tired today (no nap) and I got her down by 7:30. Lately it's been more like 8:30 or 9:00. So here I am at 7:50 getting an early start to this captivating post.

We had a very nice Christmas. It was a lot of fun to see my parents and Justin's family. His kids are still a riot. His youngest, Jacob is six weeks older than Trea and about five pounds lighter. I swear she is such a chunk. A cute chunk, though. My parents have this little Santa that sings when you press a button and for three straight days that's all I heard as the kids just wanted to push the button and dance. They loved that Santa. Chantrea is finally starting to use a few words and some signs. She will sign eat and more, and sometimes please (although she's usually stubborn and just looks at me like you already know I want it). She will say "daddy" (which is funny because she won't really say "mommy"), "ice," and she says "gah" when she's done. She got that from me saying all gone. The cutest thing though is that she does the sign for sleep when she's tired. It's nice because she can usually recognize when she's tired and she doesn't really fight going to sleep (most nights). Anyway, enough about my kid.

So, I have a new LOST dilemma. We have now seen the entire first season but I want to be completely caught up -- NOW. I could buy the second season episodes on iTunes for $2 but I don't want to pay $10 for a TV show. Yes I'm cheap. That's my dilemma, do I fork over the cash to "get my fix" or just be content with having seen the first season. Another thing I've recently thought to myself is this: even though I absolutely LOVE Lost I don't think it's a show that I would like to own on DVD. My reason being this: when the show ends and goes off the air there will be an end to the suspense and mystery of everything. Once you know how it all ends do you really want to watch it again? I don't know, maybe I would but then again maybe I wouldn't. Let's just say it's not like owning a comedy on DVD. I could watch Seinfeld a million times.

I watched the Rose Bowl last night -- that was a great game. I was disappointed that USC lost but the game was a great one. More exciting though was the Orange Bowl. I couldn't believe triple overtime. Congrats to Penn State on that one. Joe Pa's still got it. His effective use of time outs to score at the end of the first half was coaching at it's best. Speaking of sports (what a great segue), what's the deal with every old coach making another go at it? Is there really no good, young talent out there? Bill Parcells, Joe Gibbs, Vermiel (well he's done now but he did give it another go), and Marv Levy, among others. There's probably some Packers fan performing science experiments to figure out how to bring Vince Lombardi back from the dead to coach again. Who else is coming back -- Ditka, Schula, Walsh? I'm just kind of tired of seeing the same old crew. I want some new faces. These guys had a good run. Let's just call it good. There's got to be some young talent out there ready to make the jump, whethere that be college coaches or NFL coordinators. And why are they coming back? It can't be the money. They've got to have plenty of that. They just can't let it go. If I had that kind of money I'd be taking it easy and spending a lot of time with family and traveling. I wouldn't be coaching -- again.
I'm just sayin.

As I'm sure most of you have heard, Bono was voted as one of Time magazine's Persons of the Year along with Bill and Melinda Gates. As an avid U2 fan, I had to make mention of that. The articles in the magazine were very interesting. I've always loved U2's music but I have a whole lot of respect for what Bono has done and continues to do with the influence that he has. A lot of people could use their status for good but really don't. He recognizes the opportunity and takes advantage of it. Anyway, if you haven't read the articles, make time and read them.
Well, to close, I'll update you on where we'll be this year. We are still planning on heading to Thailand. We've actually been looking at some of the finer details lately. We are looking at sometime between March and June. We were planning on heading out in March but Kristen's sister is getting married in June and Kristen's not sure she wants to fly over and then fly back to Utah in June. So, we are working out that detail among others. Also, we are narrowing down our list of possible cities.

I'll keep you updated. We got a new digital camera for Christmas so hopefully, I'll post some pictures of Chantrea soon. My posts never turn out as great as they seem in my head but then again, I think everything in my head seems better than reality so . . .