Romantic Weekend

My parents were kind enough to take my three children and allow my wife and I to slip away for a romantic weekend. We love are children dearly, but 48 hours of grown up time was sorely needed. We go on dates occasionally but we haven't had two whole days to ourselves in five or six years.

Thanks Mom & Dad!

...a few more snow pictures

Home Theater

I am a movie fanatic and love high quality audio. I'm also a huge Star Wars fan.

My wife is helping my son with a school project and they stumbled on this home theater.

I'm moving... I'm going to live in that theater... forever.

Give the following presentation about 8-10 slides and you'll see the theater. http://www.modernhometheater.com/virtualtours/star_wars/slideshow/index.html

More snow

It's snowing again today 1-4 inches possible. Here are some pictures of the backyard.

More pictures of the blizzard

Here are more pictures of the blizzard. I just pulled them off the digital camera today. My wife took the pictures during the blizzard. The blizzard was February 13th, 2007. We got approximately 15 inches of snow. The University of Illinois was closed for two days. I can't remember that happening since I've lived in Champaign.

Our front yard

I am a lucky man to have a wife that beautiful. Isn't she great!

Front yard again

End of our street.

Weather woes continue

The snow is over but the drifting and cold continue. U of I was closed again and half the office staff where I work did not make it in due to weather. Half of Champaign seems to be shut down. Here's another picture.

We're caught in a blizzard

Big time blizzard in central Illinois today. Work closed early. The roads were awful. Even the University of Illinois closed. It never closes. Here's a local picture from my folks.

William Shatner TV Commercial

I watched this this morning and laughed my rear off.

Superbowl Ads

Did you watch the superbowl? Did you see the commercials.

Here's a link to you tube with this years superbowl ads.

Also here is the Oprah/Letterman ad, that isn't on the list. Funniest ad of the night:

New Blog Launched

This blog is still going, but I have launched a Neverwinter Nights/RPG themed blog to chronicle my Neverwinter Nights 2 projects and my general RPG/Neverwinter Nights related thoughts. You can read the blog here: http://enoa4rpg.blogspot.com/

Foot Problems

I have had flat feet for ever and have other foot issues as a result. The vary from being uncomfortable often and occasionally I have mild pain. I've tried orthotics and have been seeing a podiatrist regularly.

I saw the foot surgeon today. Turns out I had already met him once, when I took my oldest son in for a foot problem. He said I have a tendon in the back of my ankle that is tight, and some bones in my foot near my ankle need to be fused. They should be in alignment but are not. The tight tendon will be lengthened.

I will be off my feet at home for 1-2 weeks when I have the surgery. I'll be in a splint for the first two weeks, then a cast for 4 weeks. I'll be on crutches for the period when I have a splint and cast (six weeks). Then I'll have a boot. No shoes for 3 months total. He said the tendon could rupture, but based on my current condition and the fact I am using orthotics he does not believe this is a risk.

I don't have to do this now, but will need to do it someday. I talked to him about working and my need to help my kids. He agreed that it would be good to wait a couple of years until my youngest son is 5 or so, to make things more manageable. Unless the pain gets progressively worse, that is fine with him. Shannon and I will start talking things over.

Merry Christmas

If I don't get to post again, Merry Christmas too all my family and friends who read this blog.

Go Elf Yourself

Go elf yourself!

Scary, isn't it!

Sprained Ankle

I was rushing through the house last night, trying to get something for one of my kids. I was going to fast in sandals. I know better, but did it just the same. I slipped or lost my balance, rolled my ankle and sprained it. I waited about 15-20 min to see if the pain would subside, and very quickly took the advice of my wife and went to the Emergency Room to get checked out.

My wifes folks were nice enough to drop what they were doing and watch my sons while we went out.

No break, just a sprain, but at present I can't put weight on it. I took viactin (sp) at the ER which let me sleep half the night. I have a prescription an my darlin' wife is out now picking it up for me.

With three young boys, and a severe lack of mobility I am not going to be much help. I feel guilty about burdening my wife, all though I know she's happy to help. I feel angry about hurting myself in a silly pointless manner. We were supposed to take a trip to Chicago on Sunday, but I think I've fouled that up pretty badly.

Synopsis:

My ankle is broken.
I feel like an idoit
My wife is great, and will be overburdened.
I screwed up a nice trip to Chicago.
Vicadin (sp) makes me feel good. :-)

Illness Trifecta

All three of my sons are sick today and each with different symptoms. My youngest is throwing up and has a fever, my middle son has a fever, and my oldest has upper respiratory stuff going on. I'm off work to watch them, it would be nice to split the day with my wife, but she's a few meetings she can not move so I'm up for today! If I could only get my kids to all be sick on the same day more often I think my wife and I would both miss less work. :-)

Winter Storm

We had a winter storm in Central Illinois last night and it's continuing now. Last night we had a lot of ice on the trees. I can normally walk under the limbs of the tree in my front yard, and they were so heavy with ice they were touching the ground.

It warmed up a bit in the morning and the ice melts, but we're getting some snow now. It was slick on the roads and visibility was extremely limited due to white out conditions, but it's supposed to improve by noon. Other areas were much harder hit than Champaign, IL. My folks live about 20-30 minutes west and they had no power or heat last nigh and this morning.

The company I work for is supposed to have a Holiday Party tonight. I'm speculating it will be canceled due to the storm, but you never no. Too bad if it is, it's always a fun time.

A Cold?

I think I have a cold. I'm not sure, but I have had mild fatigue for days, and today, I feel a bit foggy headed. This stinks!

Weight

I've got to get my weight under control. I'm not happy with the extra weight I am carrying and no I can do better. I've added a link to my fit day journal to share. In 2000 I was walking 1 hour a day and got down to 238 lbs. Today I am around 275. It's not healthy, I don't feel good and I'm not happy with my appearance. I need to do better.

Last year at my physical, I did well. All results from the doctor were good except my weight, I had momentum and felt like I could get that under control. Instead I've gained 15-20 pounds this year, the worst for weight gain in recent memory.

Losing weight isn't rocket science, it's like a bank account, I can only spend what I have (in terms of calories). I need to not eat garbage (I eat unhealthy snacks), I need to control my portion size and I need to add exercise.

With three kids I don't have luxury of walking for 1 hour every day as soon as I get home, but I can find other ways to exercise. At lunch I can walk, and I can get on the elliptical at home for a few minutes each night. I can try to walk with the kids.

With kids it is easier to create barriers to prevent exercise. Regardless of weather they are real or invented to give myself an convenient excuse not to exercise I have to deal with them. Staying healthy for my wife and kids should be a strong motivator for me. The strongest motivator.

Ah...well. Don't give up. Keep trying. Don't get discouraged.

Happy Thanksgiving

The bird is in the oven, the house is being cleaned by my beautiful wife and we're watching the Macy's Day Parade.

Life is good.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Got the bird and we are putting up the tree.

I picked up the 'bird' today. 21.5 lbs of turkey goodness defrosting in my fridge.

We are also putting up our Christmas decorations tonight. I know it's a bit early but it is a tradition. We started the year my wife and I got married. Our anniversary is on Nov 25th and we were very busy the week before and had the honeymoon afterwards, so we put up the decorations almost two weeks before Thanksgiving.

The next year, one of our sons was due about the same time, so everything went up early again.

Since then it's just been habit.

Bring on that Christmas Tree. Crack out those carols, the holiday season beings tonight!