The One That Didn’t Get Away
Posted on July 1, 2008 - Filed Under Summer
Travis went on vacation with grandma Janet last week and look what he caught.
He even cleaned his own catch which was nice. He is currently planning a fish fry and begging us to whip out the deep fryer.
Travis is off to a great start for summer vacation. He spent a week at Silverwood and had a great time with mom and Margie and Max.
When Travis returned from Silverwood he spent a few hours at home and was right back out the door for a camping trip with his dad. An awesome start to summer, just wish I could have joined him on some of the fun instead of being stuck with work stuff.
I have some time off coming up and want to at least get out to a couple of Tacoma Rainier games with him before it gets too late and summer passes us by.
Bathroom Terror
Posted on June 30, 2008 - Filed Under Humor, Life, Work
I have seen a lot of things that bother me while using the mens room at work. Most of the time it is basic stuff like people not washing their hands, leaving the stall door open and minor issues like that.
Last week I walked into the bathroom and as I approached the row of urinals I noticed that something wasn’t quite right. There was a man standing at the urinal with his pants and underwear pulled all the way down to his ankles. What the hell?
I honestly did not know what to do. It locked me up for a moment. It was a “did I just really see that” kind of thing.
He was obviously caught off guard as well because he scrambled to pull his pants up and leave the bathroom. I don’t even want to know what he was doing and why it required a full blown open exposure to the elements.
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My co-worker Jim had a funny story about the same bathroom. Jim noticed that there were footprints on the toilet seats all of the time. No prints on the lid, just on the seats. Jim brushed it off but continued to come across the footprints every now and then.
So one afternoon Jim wanders into the bathroom thinking he is alone. Jim sets up shop in one of the stalls and is enjoying a nice quiet experience when he hears a noise that did not come from him. He looks over and can see a pair of feet stepping down off of the toilet in the stall next to him. That is something right out of a b-grade horror movie.
So the toilet stander exits the stall, washes up and leaves the bathroom while Jim is left to wonder what the heck just happened.
We think the guy might just want to avoid the toilet seats as a hygiene issue, but then you have to realize how difficult it would be to stand and squat on the seat. The biggest issue is that your pants would get in the way no matter how you try to arrange yourself on the seat.
I told Toni about this and she suggested that we are dealing with a stall peeper, and thinking about it, that makes more sense. I have not dropped that bit of wisdom on Jim yet and I am sure he’ll be mortified when I do.
Xbox 360 - Dead Again
Posted on June 29, 2008 - Filed Under General
Last year, on June 8th I wrote about the loss of my second Xbox 360 console to the red ring of death.
I come to you today with more sad news. Xbox 360 #3 died today with the red ring of death hardware failure problem. It appears this is going to be a yearly event with Microsoft and my 360. At least Microsoft will repair it for free again. I was told it would be a two or three week turn around time.
Toni left the house today with Alex and is oging to be gone until later tonight. I’ve been on call 24/7 for over a week and thought I would get some game time in while Tonia nd Alex were gone. It was not meant to be. Very similar to the last time this happened. Toni was out of town all weekend and the 360 blew up.
I can’t win. :)
Tippy Toes, Spitting Like A Llama And Throwing Things
Posted on June 26, 2008 - Filed Under Baby Life, Parenting, Stinker, Year One
Alex is finding ways to amuse himself the past few weeks. Some of them are good and others are pretty bad.
First, the fun stuff. He figured out how to walk on his tippy toes without prompting from us. It’s hilarious. He gets so excited and he knows that he is being silly when doing this.
“Flying” is one that has been around for a few months now. He will duck his head down, tilt his arms down against his sides and then towards the back and run through the house. This is his version of flying.
Last night he combined the two and is now tippy toe flying. It’s dangerous yet amusing at the same time. I’m sure he is going to take a header into something and end up in tears but for now it’s grade A toddler humor at it’s best.
Now the bad stuff. Alex learned how to spit and it is really, really annoying. He thinks it’s funny to spit and watch the bubbles come from his mouth and we are having a difficult time breaking him of that habit. Thankfully he doesn’t do it often.
Throwing things is new. If he is mad about something and happens to have an item in his hand you can all but guarantee that it will get tossed across the room. Milk, toys, food, fine china… it really doesn’t matter to him. He is an indiscriminate thrower of things when angry.
Alex is learning how to ignore or say no in new and creative ways. If I ask him something and he doesn’t want to do it he will close his eyes, and shake his head slowly back and forth. He sways almost like a cobra. It’s creepy.
Despite all of this, the kid is pretty damn entertaining and I am having a great time with him. Every day is a new adventure in fatherhood and it’s awesome.
2006 Honda CR-V MPG Update
Posted on June 24, 2008 - Filed Under Commute, Honda MPG, Work
According to MyMileMarker I am now averaging 25.3 miles per gallon on the CR-V. This is up from my previous 24.7 MPG which is a nice change.
I’ve changed my driving habits and it appears that it’s paid off. The bulk of my miles are my work commute from Tacoma to Bellevue which is 60+ miles round trip. I have been using the cruise control when possible to keep my speed at a steady pace. I’ve read somewhere that using the cruise control makes a difference because you are not constantly pumping the pedal and using more gas. Guess what I read was correct.
The second change in habits has been coasting more. I’ve tried to gage the distance it takes me to stop and have eased off the gas a bit to try and coast to a stop when I can.
Those two simple changes have made a pretty significant jump in my MPG and I’m happy with it. Now I am going to change a few things mechanically like tire pressure and maybe some of the other fuel saving tips I’ve read to see if I can boost my MPG even more.
keep looking »
