Hannah vs. The Outbreak Monkey

Over the past month or so, everybody in the family has been battling one form of illness or another.  It all started with everyone suffering from bad stomach cramping.  It then evolved into a mutant virus that might be confused with the stomach flu.

Emma was the first to begin exhibiting flu-like symptoms.  She ended up missing two days of school and, even now, is still not functioning at 100%.  Holly also got hit by this bug causing her to miss three days of work.  I think that she is now finally over it after a week of suffering.  I’ve been experiencing some symptoms including stomach discomfort and a fever but, so far, I’ve managed to avoid too much downtime. Alex has been able to avoid the majority of the contagions very effectively.  Hannah, on the other hand, has not.

11 Years

On Saturday, Holly and I celebrated our eleventh year of marriage by realizing that we’re old.

I wanted to do something nice with her so I made reservations at Ye Lion’s Den, a restaurant in Ogden specializing in deliciousness.  When we usually go out to eat, I try and get something that won’t break the bank; anniversaries are different though.  I like good food and if I go to a place with really good food, I want to enjoy it.  Needless to say, I enjoyed it.

Holly decided that she would be a bit adventurous and order her rib eye steak medium.  (Normally, she likes her meat very well done.)  I think that she mistakenly asked for medium rare though because that cow just needed a few band-aids to get it back out grazing in the fields.  She ended up sending it back and a few minutes later, she received a piece of meat that was no longer mooing and was absolutely amazing.  Fortunately for me, she couldn’t eat it all so I got the leftovers.  The meat wasn’t as good the next day but it was still very tasty.

Halloween 2008: The Aftermath

So Halloween this year was pretty good.  We started our festivities early in the week with some pumpkin carving.  We had five huge pumpkins but a lack of time so only three of them ended up getting carved.  Holly decided that it would be fun to do Shrek and I unleashed my inner geek (what’s new?) and did Mario of Super Mario Bros. fame.  Emma decided to do an original creation which turned out pretty good.  Like every other year, there were lots of dads commenting on how cool our pumpkins were as their kids took our candy.

This year will be known in my mind as the year of the recycled costume idea.  Emma decided that she wanted to be a devil, Alex wanted to be a tiger, and Hannah wanted to be a clown.  Whether it is dumb luck or just coincidence, we have each of these costumes in the appropriate sizes in our costume box.  Everybody was happy and we saved money.  You can’t ask for more than that - especially if said costumes yield free candy.

Greed And Corruption: The New American Way

Given the recent headlines, you may think that this is going to be a post on the economic crisis that our country is facing.  Well, you’re wrong.  However, what I say in this post can be related to the problems that our economic and housing sectors are going through because the root problems are the same: greed and corruption.

I actually want to give everyone a follow-up on our recent car situation.  You may remember that our Dodge Colt finally died and that we had to buy a new car.  If you remember those facts, then you probably also remember how the fine folks at Auction Direct in Clearfield made a very valiant effort to screw us over.  At the time, it looked as though our returning the Nissan Maxima was the end of the story but it actually wasn’t.

Having Two Remotes Is Fun

Some of you may remember a few months back when I posted my thoughts on Logitech’s Harmony One universal remote.  I love this remote.  It has got to be one of the best gadgets in my house.  Anyways, I discovered a new use for it: teasing my kids.

Sunday night, Emma and Alex were watching television.  I was standing behind the sofa with my Harmony One while Emma was trying to surf channels using the television’s remote.  She would change the channel and I would mute the television.  She’d then un-mute it and I’d change the channel.  After a few minutes of this Emma became extremely frustrated and actually got up to change the channel.  I muted the TV again.  She was so angry that she shut the television off and told Alex that they couldn’t watch TV because it was broken.  At this point, I couldn’t contain myself any longer and began laughing.  I told Emma that the TV was fine and that I was the one causing the problems.  She responded by hiding my remote when I wasn’t looking.  Lucky for me, I was able to find it relatively easily.

All Aboard!

In an effort to further reduce expenses associated with commuting to and from work, I’ve decided to quit my job and become a ward of the state through the glories of the welfare system.  Actually, that’s not exactly accurate.  What I meant to say is that I’ve started taking UTA’s FrontRunner service to and from the office.

About a month ago, Holly mentioned that Weber State students are able to get free bus passes.  These passes also include passage aboard FrontRunner, Utah’s version of a “high speed” commuter train that runs from Ogden to Salt Lake and back again.  While I question these alleged high speeds, it does a nice job of getting me to work in about the same amount of time that it would take me to drive.  It’s also free for me since I’m a student so it’s really a no lose situation.  The only downside is if I miss the train.  Waiting on the platform for 30 minutes until the next train arrives isn’t fun.

Death’s Icy Embrace May Be Near

I think that I’m dying.  As I type this, I can barely breathe, my chest hurts, I’m sweating profusely, and I want to go lie down.  No, I’m not sick.  I’m just physically exhausted from pushing our car half a mile to our house.  This is probably confusing to you so let me start at the beginning.

Our 1994 Dodge Colt has 198,000+ miles on it and has been trying to completely die on us for the last few years.  We’ve managed to keep it going by replacing the clutch, transmission, fuel pump, and distributor.  Over the past few months, the car has been able to drive shorter and shorter distances each time we take it anywhere.  This hasn’t been too big of a deal because the weather has been warm meaning that I could drive my scooter.  Now that it’s getting colder in the mornings though, I’ve been wanting to be able to feel my fingers when I get to the office.  Yesterday I drove the car into work knowing full well that I might not get home.  I was right.  It died half a mile from the house.

The Baseboards Strike Back

I’ve come to a horrible realization over the past week as I have been cutting and installing the baseboards and door moldings in the basement: I’m allergic to the wood that I’m using.  Well, that’s somewhat misleading because I’m not using real wood.  I’m actually using medium-density fiberboard or MDF as it’s more commonly called.  MDF is an engineered wood made by breaking down softwood into wood fibers and then combining it with a wax and resin binder.

Something that I’ve learned about it is that formaldehyde resins are commonly used to bind MDF together, and testing has consistently revealed that MDF products emit formaldehyde and other volatile organic compounds that pose health risks at sufficient concentrations, for at least several months after manufacture.  Well, I think that I have some recently produced MDF in my basement.

The Pinks Of Their Eyes

This morning, Alex woke up screaming.  Holly went in to see what the problem was and found him standing in the middle of the room with his eyes closed.  Holly asked him what was wrong and he told her that he couldn’t open his eyes.  She asked if they were glued shut and he said that they were.  He also said that Emma did it.  (Emma can be so mean. )  She took him into the bathroom and cleaned the excessive amounts of eye boogers out so that he could once again see.

It was at this point that Holly was convinced that she, Alex, Emma, Chelsea, and maybe Hannah all have pink eye.  She took the kids to the doctor where her thoughts were confirmed.  Chelsea got lucky and just has allergies.  For now.

Be All That You Can Be

I recently earned my Associate’s degree from Weber State University.  Since I’m on the twenty year plan, I anticipate that I’ll have that Bachelor’s degree by the year 2018.  That’s beside the point though.  Fourteen years ago (has it really been that long?) when I graduated from high school, I received calls daily from recruiters trying to get me to aim high and be all that I can be which is obviously one of the few, the proud, you know the rest… Back then, I received so many calls from recruiters trying to get me to enlist that I felt it bordered on harassment.  Now that I’m a new graduate all over again, the calls are once again coming, and yes, they are starting to border on harassment.