Saturday, April 28, 2007

It feels so good to be back

I gotta tell you, it feels good to write a blog. After my one work-week hiatus, I was starting to get a little twitchy. At various points during the week, I thought "oooh, I gotta remember that, so I can write about it on Saturday." Sadly, I remember very few of those things.


Not watching TV for the week wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it was going to be. I read three books during the week. Actually, the hardest night was last night, when I finished my third book and Rachel was gone to a conference in Medford. Sitting all by myself at 11:00 pm last night, I finally cracked, one hour before the official end of my "week."

I know, I know, you're probably thinking "You had one hour to go man! How could you give up then?" Easy. It was too quiet. I wasn't tired. And I missed SportsCenter.

At work, this week turned into a big ordeal. As soon as people found out that Kristi and I were shutting down our televisions for the week, the first question was "why?" The answer: we both felt we watch too much tv. Every day when we get to work, the first thing we do is recap the previous night's television shows. It got to the point where I even thought maybe the only reason we were friends is because we both watched Heroes and The Office.

Turns out we still had plenty to talk about this week.

What I wasn't expecting was the number of people at work who almost seemed to want us to fail. When I told people I wasn't watching TV Monday thru Friday, they said "That's cheating! That's not even a full week!" I explained that a majority of the tv watching I do is in the evenings, and that on weekends I'm usually doing stuff most of the time. When I told people that I was recording a few shows, they howled "So you're going to watch twice as much TV next week! You're cheating again!" No, I figured I typically watch about 4-5 hours of TV a day during the week. I get home from work around 6, and the TV is typically on until 10 or 11, depending on what night it is. That's 20-25 hours during a normal work week. I recorded 6 hours of television. For the week. That's almost 75% of my normal viewing time that I cut out. Plus, the whole goal of this week for me was to cut back on my TV watching. I think I did this. And besides, Kristi and I set the rules, so how did we exactly cheat?

It really felt like people wanted us to fail, or thought we were weird for even trying such a thing. It was a very strange feeling.

I have to admit, sitting at the table for dinner without the news or Jeopardy! on in the background was actually pretty nice. I didn't miss anything, I was able to keep updated on world happenings by reading websites. I really didn't miss much on Myspace either apparently, though I did check it periodically for emails, just in case anyone had questions about our upcoming class reunion.

I read that 90% of the people who participate in unplug your tv week are still watching less tv a year later. I believe it. I think I'm going to stick to watching my shows, but I'm going to eliminate a lot of the crap that I watch just to fill time.

In other news, Rachel's last checkup went fine, the baby's fine, and she's actually started to not feel nauseous all the time, a sign she's entered her second trimester. The packet we received from the doctor's office says that the baby will be able to hear our voices in about 3 weeks.

What the heck do you say?

Friday, April 20, 2007

Who's with me?

Who's with me? I'm going to attempt to make it from 12 am Monday to 12 am Saturday.




http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2007/04/get_unpluged_next_week_from_yo.html

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

I should have known

Quick word of advice:


Make sure to get a woman's permission before posting her uterus online.

We've since talked about it, and I think we're ok with it now.

I've started watching "Notes from the Underbelly" on ABC.....it's a pretty funny show, although I think it's infinitely funnier to those people who are currently expecting children. I think I'd have probably rolled my eyes and switched the channel were I not six months away from Daddy-dom. But if anyone else is watching it, I'd be interested to hear what you think.

Monday, April 16, 2007

I guess I should tell you.....

Anyone who reads my surveys might have noticed something. If you don't read them, I don't blame you. I doubt I'd read them all either. The past few weeks, anytime a survey has asked what I'm looking forward to, I've said "Halloween." I'm not a big Halloween guy. But, Rachel's pregnant, and her due date is October 30!


Yup, I'm gonna be a daddy. I'm extremely excited and nervous at the same time, as all expectant fathers are. We spent this weekend painting a nursery, which was damn near a disaster. Turns out that Andy isn't that handy with a paint brush. We weren't planning on repainting the ceiling, but due to my lack of dexterity, looks like we'll be doing that next weekend. We also somehow managed to vacuum up a sock. How this happened, neither of us know. We couldn't figure out what was clogging the hose, so we tried poking it out with a long stick. When that didn't work, we taped a paring knife to the end of the stick and jabbed it, trying to break up the clog. All this resulted in was a vacuum hose with a hole in it.

My child is going to be so proud of me.

In other news, Subway next to my house is damn close to getting boycotted. The new guy they hired sucks so bad, I may be forced to demand his firing. The conversation I had with him Saturday went like this:

"What can I do for you?"

"I'd like a footlong turkey and ham on Italian Herbs and Cheese, please."

"Ok, I'll get that as soon as I figure out what's wrong with this glove."

(He fiddles with his glove for the next 30 seconds before figuring out he put it on backwards.)

"Did you want that toasted?"

"Yes, please."

"Ok, so that was a footlong turkey on white?"

"No, Italian Herbs and Cheese."

"Right. I thought I'd take a guess."

"I already told you what kind of bread I wanted."

"Oh, right. Guess I'm a little out of it today."

(He proceeds to make a turkey sandwich)

"Um, that was a turkey and ham sandwich"

"Right. (He glances at the chart of how to make sandwiches) Four turkeys, four hams, that's the formula."

"I know. I get it every time I come in here."

"Ok, so was this toasted?"

"Um.....Yes."

We had a similar run in with this douche last week. He's one more strike from me humiliating him by refusing to let him make my sandwich.

I'll close with some Frequently Asked Questions about the baby for those of you who may have them.

- Rachel's due date is October 30th

- We don't know the gender yet, and we don't want to find out. We'll know when it's born, just like you.

- The ultrasound picture in my profile is what the baby looked like at 8 weeks. The head is the blob facing down.

- Rachel's cravings change constantly. In the past two weeks, we've gone from pb&j sandwiches, to Little Debbie Zebra Cakes, to Salami.

- We're still working on names, but right now we're leaning towards Jonah for a boy. The girl's name changes week to week. Right now Kylan and Keira seem to be the leaders.

- We are accepting suggestions for names, so feel free to offer one up.

- Prizes will not be awarded for coming up with the name.

- No word yet on baby showers.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Are you kidding me?

How is it possible that I've lived in Oregon my entire life and nobody has ever told me about the events of November 12, 1970? You'd think at some point, some family member would've at least mentioned this. At least sometime, like say on the 25th anniversary of this event, I'd have seen a news story about it. This really could be one of the most absurd and ridiculous things to have ever happened in the history of America, and I'm not making that up. Just watch the tape......




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Vmnq5dBF7Y

Friday, April 6, 2007

oops I did it again

Nothing puts me in a more sour mood than spilling a spoonful of yogurt on my pants at work. Sad thing is that this happens to me once a week or so. For one, it's embarrasing that I can lose track of food between the time I scoop it out of the cup and the time the spoon reaches my mouth. How's that for a short attention span? But yogurt makes some very dubious looking stains on your clothing; when these stains happen to be in the midsection reason, one can't help but wonder if other people are thinking the worst. Fear not coworkers.....it don't like work THAT much.


In other news, I recorded The Office last night while I was playing basketball. I get home and Rachel's already in bed. She says "I didn't watch The Office, but you can watch it if you want." I say I probably will, but I'd be willing to watch it again with her Friday night." So what do I do?

Watch it and delete it.

I'm not exactly racking up the Husband of the Year points at the moment. On the other hand, the fact that a yogurt dropping show deleter like me can maintain a relationship with someone of Rachel's caliber must mean I'm doing something right.

Right?

Thursday, April 5, 2007

Kicking the University out of Oregon State

Yesterday, Oregon State unveiled a new logo to identify all their sports teams....and interlocking "OS"
I find it ironic that the letter dropped stands for "university" as in, the academic portion of the whole thing. However, this isn't a completely uncommon practice - University of Oregon used to have an interlocking "UO" before they went to the rounded O they have now. Many people refer to the Trojans as simply "SC." Then again this has nothing to do with academics, it's merely a logo for the school's athletic teams. Like all new logos, people are going to need time to adjust.

It seems like every year some professional team switches their logo or their colors. Sometimes they do this to symbolize a new era in the franchise's history. For example, after the Patriots hired Bill Parcels and drafted Drew Bledsoe, they made a switch in their uniforms and logo. Most times, however, I think teams do this to generate more money. Nobody wants to be the dorky kid who has the "old" Diamondbacks t-shirt that his mom bought him for Christmas 3 months ago. They have to get the new one just so they don't get beat up at school, or have to sit with the chess team at lunch.

I think that's all this is.....a way to sell new merchandise. The OSU bookstore currently is selling sweatshirts with the new logo on them.....for $50. And really, I'm ok with the change, although I'm not too keen on $50 hoodies. As long as 5 years from now they're not changing the logo again in order to fund the new concession stands at the football stadium.

Monday, April 2, 2007

Quick HIts

*Ate at a restaurant called Lil' Sambo's yesterday in Lincoln City. The name used to be Lil' Black Sambo's. I don't think I'd ever eaten there if someone hadn't suggested it. Turns out they serve a pretty good breakfast, though they charge $4 for a side of sausage. Still not big on the name though.


* My co-worker came into work today proclaiming herself a "new woman." Too bad the new one doesn't work either.

*I've had a headache for the past 24 hours. Just drank a Pepsi. It's starting to go away. Coincidence?

*I've watched every game of the NCAA tournament that's been on CBS to this point. Championship is at 6 tonight. My first class of the term? Just happens to be at 6pm tonight. God hates me.

*If you haven't watched "Planet Earth" on the Discovery Channel, you're missing out. It's amazing to me that there are still places like that on Earth, since all I ever see is concrete and asphalt. If it paid to be an enviromentalist, I might consider it.

*I got a B in Financial Accounting. For my first class in 3 years, I'll take that as a good sign.

*Baseball season starts today. If I hadn't taken 8 of the last 12 days of work off, I might've been at home today watching all the opening day games. At least I'll get to see the Angels at 7 tonight. Oh wait that's right....I have a class.