Zerbert+Joel=really cute.

It has been over a week since I last posted so here is the list of what has been shaking...Thursday was my birthday. We did some birthday stuff the previous weekend and the day of it, but it was a normal workday. I got a desk and an LCD monitor for the computer--I have been looking for good deals on them for months and they both hit at the same time. Now for a few hours to get the desk together...

I tore my legs up really well playing hockey on Friday afternoon. It was a full 1.5 hour shinny and I was not feeling in shape. Then Saturday was "yard day." I borrowed a chainsaw from a neighbor to cut down a rotten pussy willow tree and take out overgrown 5 privot bushes. Privot roots are really long and intermingle a lot. Thank goodness for unlimited brush pickup (and chainsaws). Anne planted some tomatoes, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, and grapes (along with some ornamental-type stuff). Ten hours and a few blisters later, it was done and we went to Sal's to talk a lot, see Randy, David, and Elizabeth, and not watch Walk the Line (which I still want to see). On Sunday, we did church stuff, I bought the monitor and took Joel to see Gerry. It is always quite relaxing to visit Gerry. I really need to do that more often. Joel seemed quite interested to see Gerry play the piano and organ. Joel is now getting teeth and is getting a bit annoyed at how that makes him feel. He is VERY happy to be outside and often makes it known that he would rather walk around outside than sit inside and watch his parents do indoor stuff. It is great. He forces us to be out in the wonderful weather. How can we complain about that?

This was awesome. Joel will grab on if you put him on your shoulders...Or on Saranga's shoulders. Sal's hair makes for some mighty fine reins. Tasty, too (as Joel found out).

This week has involved starting yard work/outside life, getting more serious about studying the dissertation material, buying a reciprocating saw so that these are possible, having Saranga and Randy over on Friday night for some hangin', and getting up for the 6am service this morning at the graveyard. Anne and Joel are still in bed to continue their night of sleep. The service is interesting--on the day we celebrate resurrection we go to the graveyard and pray that God will raise the dead and bring his heaven to this earth. I think we would be very surprised if it had actually happened this morning.

All else is well. We are having Easter lunch at my parents' and then I have some random projects to finish around the house to fill up the study breaks.

Joel and a good day!

Get your Joel fix here!

Today was a good day. I took off work (had to use up a day), I hung out with Joel, we had my parents over for a grill out (it was my Dad's birthday) and then Dan Nowowiejski (Janelle Badik's husband) over and we took out a large chunk of floor in the basement so the basement-wall-fixer people can do their thing. Dan was awesome and it looks great. I think I need to get a Saws-All now. Dang, those things are sweet.

I live for this smile.

The past week has been pretty good. Anne had a good conference and has come back with a lot of good ideas. Joel is doing really well. He has reached the milestone of grabbing for things and sticking them in his mouth. He actually pet a soft toy yesterday. If you don't have a kid, then you may not recognize how cool this is. It really makes a difference in how he is able to understand and interact with the world. When we look around the yard, he is able to touch things and not just have me point them at him. We also got him some leapfrog "infant learning system." It looks somewhat interesting, but much better than the other things that companies put out as baby toys.

I have been feeling a desire to work out a big more. I am scared a bit by the fact that I can now sit in an office chair for 8 hours with a 1.25 hour drive on either side of that and not feel like I am wasting away. Maybe I have already wasted away. I finally got the chin-up bar up yesterday (on the staircase to the basement).

On the other side, we cooked like crazy yesterday (ok, mainly Anne did). We are doing this so we don't have to worry about where we are going to get food from...the answer is the freezer.

After seeing Casey, Randy, and Sal, Anne and I went over to Sal's and watched Junebug. I am still digesting it. We had a great time discussing what it was all about. I stick by my idea of it being about people who are at various stages of creating identities for them selves...dealing with how they are (according to one character) "not like that on the inside." Anyways, it was a good watch and it had some of the best snappy stupid dialogue I have seen in any movie.

Man, oh man, do I miss this kid. Anne and Joel have been out for 5 days. Anne is at a conference in Alpharetta, GA. She has been to it before and absolutely loves it now. It is (conveniently) just several exits from her parents' place, so Joel has been having a good time with his grandparents this week.

Stuff I have been doing: figuring out how to sleep again. Fixing the stupid RAID (hard drive backup) setup. (I have a bad primary motherboard IDE controller on my hard drive!! How does that junk happen?) I also had my refurbished Maxtor go bad--Maxtor is useless in terms fo getting a warranty replacement. I had a drive go REALLY bad really fast and then they sent me a refurbished drive with a puny warranty (maybe it was 30 days?) and it (of course) is popping out bad sectors now. The rerfurbished Seagate has seek errors just like the one I sent in. The new western digital is fine, so I know I am not going too nuts and that I haven't all of a sudden forgotten how to mess around with hard drives. Anyway, other stuff: Forgetting about daylight savings time until someone said it on the radio; cleaning stuff; grilling for the first time at the new house; eating up all of the old food in the fridge (it was getting pretty desperate in there); tearing out the basement drywall/removing the insulation for the steel beams to be put in next week; helping Randy bang on his rear rotors until they finally came off--we replaced the rotors and pads, along with thoroughly bleeding the system for what may have been the first time; listening to the "public radio fall membership drive" too much; taking care of piles of papers and such; hanging out at Sal's (we watched some Telugu (Indian) stuff on Friday) and King Kong as the traditional Saturday movie-night movie. I think I liked the Telugu movie more).
Ok, that is about it. I am now happily typing on the western digital drive that will be RAIDed soon (it booted, thank goodness). I cannot wait for Anne and Joel to get back.