yep, new bike...

Maybe I should finally get a new seat for the new bike? Looks kinda crappy doesn't it? I think the white saddle on the road bike is in better shape.

This past weekend I had "off", no term paper to work on. I decided I'd go to Henry's and pick up my frame. Jeb went to the Rutgers, Scarlet and White football game with my parents.


I took Sophie with me to DE to get the frame and some bits form Henry's. They are busy on Saturdays.

I didn't get a chance to finish this entry before I got my take home final... So, this is all you get until I finish the FRICKIN' FINAL! (Have I said how much I dislike this class?)

I will say this about Sunday's attempted ride at Wissahickon, I f'ed up and didn't finish my bike. Brent was right, my stem was set too low, and I would have killed myself if I tried to ride with only three gears. I almost killed myself riding with all 24 gears at High Rocks later on Sunday!

After this take home final I am done for the summer! (Have I told you how much this class sucks?)

Finally, an update.

A few entries ago I talked about my Planning Law class and how much of bitch it was going to be. Well, I just got through the toughest part. A 20-25 page law paper... yep lots of fun. If anyone is interested the title is "The New Jersey Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act. Too much? Too Fast?". Let me know and I'll send you a copy.
I SUCK at writing, so 20-25 pages was pretty tough. Good thing Kristen was around to bail me out. If I get through grad school she is going to be the reason. Thanks Kris! There were quite a few late nights working on this paper.



some reason the photo is not loading, sorry.

So, it was a 10 Red Bull paper, I had the Guinness once I found out that class was cancelled!

Yep, I was sitting in front of the computer working on the paper until the very last minute. I had to run out to Staples for more paper, we ran out. My classmate Joe, calls and says class is cancelled! I think to myself, "I guess we get another week to work on the papers?" Then Joe tells me he emailed his to the professor. Doh! I can't let him get all the brownie points! I emailed it in after a few beers and dinner from the new taco joint up the street. I got an email back from the professor, he's ok and he's looking forward to reading my paper!?!?!? Man, he's in for a let down!

I have a week "off", no paper to work on, just readings for class. Then we get our final exam, it is a take home, open book. BUT after the final... no more school until late August!!!

I have a bit of a list of things I want to do this summer:

RIDE my new mountain bike! Yep, after 11 years my red jamis is going to a good home.
Blog more. sorry I haven't been updating but now, NO MORE TERM PAPER!
Build the patio under the deck.
teach Jeb to ride a bike
finish painting the house.
listen to the Harry Potter books again in anticipation of the final book.
Read the final book on vacation in South Carolina.
watch some movies, a guy from work lent me "Intermission" he thought I'd like it.
RIDE!
maybe even race my bike?

The kids are doing great. Sophie is starting to pull herself up and stand all by herself. Jeb just signed up for tee-ball.



They had a good Easter.

the pictures aren't loading, I guess when you don't blog for a month you forget how to do it....

Sick Day

Yesterday was a sick day. I had a dentist and an eye-doctor scheduled. I hate the dentist, nothing personal, but I don't really understand the whole process. Both of my grandparents had dentures... What's the big deal??? Right? Anytime I go it seems like I'm there for the next few weeks getting "work done"... ugh.
After the dentist I had about an hour. I got the oil changed then went to Mesquito Grill for a brew and the best buffalo chicken sandwich! the BEST! The beer selection there is unbelievable! I think even Buddy would be impressed. I sat at the bar and the bartender turns on some music, first the Police live, something or other, then Black Uhuru, then Ben Harper... needless to say I felt very comfortable. I think I could have spent all day there. They even had darts! Been a long time since I threw some darts. I'll get back there any chance I get! (sorry I couldn't find a link to a webpage for them) If I find one I'll throw it up on the links list.
Eye doctor, I think I'm finally going to get contacts. So, I can ride my mountain bike and actually see the rocks while riding. Watch out Rick and Brent!

ZOINKS!

Date night.
Tonight is date night. Our neighbors watch our kids one week a month and we watch their kid one week a month. So, today Sophie is apparently being difficult all day. Long and short of it is we end up with Sophie, while Jeb goes over to play with Luke.
Sometimes we go out, sometimes we stay in and cook. Tonight I cooked. Since it is lent, we had scallops "piccatta"... (anyone know anything about scallops and lemon? for some reason I think it is a "no, no"?) It was still yummy. Picatta calls for white wine. I stopped at the PA Liquor store and picked up a cold bottle of Smoking Loon chardonnay, on sale. I decide to pick up another bottle of white. So, at least we have one bottle of white and one bottle of red in the house. Hey, look the warm bottle of Smoking Loon is on sale too! (duh!)
We go through the first bottle of chardonnay and start on the second, a little unusual for us, and wow, this tastes different. How can two bottles of white Smoking Loon taste so different?
Oh?!?! the cold bottle was a chardonnay and the warm was a "viognier". What the hell is a "viogner"? The chardonnay was better (are they trying to fool you into the viogner too, notice the picture?). As Kris put it the viognier was like drinking a bottle of perfume. (must be french... Miche?) but we finished it anyway... Zoinks! TWO bottles of wine tonight!!!! the keys on the keyboard are not as large as usual... good thing for spellcheck....

Dang It...

... I have a few minutes, Jeb is upstairs watching Johnny and the Sprites and Sophie is sleeping. I've had an eventful couple of days.

Wednesday I took the day off and headed down to DE to help out Roger at Henry's. Rick was on vacation. The trip to DE coincided with Kris's planned visit to Blaz. So, the whole family loaded up and headed to DE. Dropped the family off at Blaz's, got to Henry's around 11:30. Got a few repairs done. Hopefully, it was enough to give Roger a few days without much of a repair load. Back in the days of working at Henry's there was nothing worse than being in the shop solo and having to get repairs done in addition to normal shop stuff. It was kinda fun working in the shop, like old times.

Left the shop and went to Capriotti's, our favorite sub shop! Brought subs to Blaz's for dinner, YUMMY! Stayed at Blaz's until about bedtime. The kids were TIRED! It was great to see Blaz, I haven't seen her and kids in a quite a while. Jeb and Cora played all day and both were all tuckered out. Thanks for the hospitality Blaz!

Friday, snowstorm coming, I ended up driving to work. There was an outside chance I could meet Chef at the Mohawk House for a pre-St. Pat's day celebration. By 12:00 there was about 3 inches on the ground and the office closed at 1:00. I guess no bagpipes and irish dancers, oh well. Dang Snow! It took me 4-4.5 hours to get home. I did stop and get supplies, corned beef and cabbage, fish and chips, Guinness and Harp.

Saturday, Derek and family were going to join us Saturday for some St Pat's day festivities but Derek couldn't get a flight home until Sunday, dang snow! Ended up having Corned Beef (CB) and Cabbage with just the family. I don't think I cooked the CB long enough, it was kind of chewy, I guess the 3 hours wasn't enough, Dang Snow! I noticed the beers weren't very cold, hmmm?

Sunday, I get up and see a note from Kris, she got up earlier and went to work. The refrigerator was not cold. In fact, it wasn't working at all. Dang refrigerator! Spent the morning making "ice boxes" out of the snow on the deck.

(I'd put a picture of the "ice box" in here but, the camera took a digger the other day)

It looks like Jeb and I are going to have "soft" ice cream for lunch today!

Sophie's First Birthday...

...or should it be her second? I guess they don't count the day she was born as a birthday???
Regardless, Sophie is now 1.

We had the families over for dinner and cake. The cake was made by one of Jacob's friend's mom. Man was it good cake! I had some for dessert tonight... yummy! I used a fork not my hands like Sophie.

Well have to keep it short, I have to work on a 25+ page law paper on the Highlands Act in New Jersey. Fun stuff!

Pictures

Here's a picture of our newly tiled foyer:


Anyone interested in an Entertainment Unit?


Haven't posted any pictures of the kids in a while:

Sorry no updates...

I've been kind of busy...

Here's a quick update:
- Our foyer is now tiled. Kris did a great job picking everything out. Turns out the guy doing the tile was a motocross guy, I gathered he was a pretty good amateur, and could have gone pro but "decided" not to. (I think he had a family)
- Class last week I was the first person to present a case. I muddled my way through it, but we ran out of time. So, I have to do it again this week. (In fact, that is what I should be doing right now!)
- Thursday night I was suppose to drop some chairs off at the chairman. Instead, I got a speeding ticket! 80 in a 65... ouch... the frickin' cop was tailgating me, so I sped up to get in front of traffic in the right lane. I had no idea it was a cop...DOH!! I wonder how much that is going to affect our insurance.
- we had two pools going at work, an eliminator pool that started with the playoffs. and the "squares" pool. So, I spent Friday, "working" on them...
- Sat Kristen worked, Mom and Grandpa, came over. I ended up making chili, it was good but not as good as the last batch. Maybe because I used Dogfish Head 60 minute IPA instead of Hop Wallop. John and Dad made it up from NC for dinner. They stopped at the Marine Corps museum on the way up.
- Sun, Kris worked again, Mom and grandpa were not coming up because they were preparing for the Super Bowl party, I was on my own, and a little hung over. Jeb watches a lot of tv when Kristen works...
- Sun night loaded the kids up and headed over to D-town for the game. I think I only ended up watching a handful of plays and a couple of commercials. We left at half-time to put the kids to bed, and didn't even turn the game on when we got home.
- I didn't win any money in the office pools. I had a very crappy year in the pools. I guess it is pay back for last year.

Postcards from Mom...

My mother can be a bit quirky sometimes. She likes to reuse stuff, like postcards...

I get a postcard from her the other day. She wants to know if I want a red or flame Le Creuset oval dutch oven (A Christmas present she was going to exchange for me, I can't wait to make some carnitas in it). She put two spaces on the card where I could check which one I wanted. I understand her sending the card, I'm kind of busy and all I would have to do is check the box and send it back, very considerate of her, but she called me to tell me she sent the postcard and asked me which one I wanted over the phone anyway! I don't know where she got this card but it was a gift card she found somewhere for a subscription to Natty G. Now I'd hate to waste a perfectly good postcard that has already been written on. Especially since it already had the postage paid. So, I decided to write mom a little note... on every available space of the postcard and as small as I can write. I gotta get my money's worth out of that postage stamp! Kristen sees me hunched over this card and shakes her head wondering what the heck I'm up to. I proudly show her how much writing I have managed to fit on the empty spaces of the card. Kris shakes her head again, "You think she'll be able to read that?" Hmm, hadn't thought about anyone actually reading it...

... A few days later I get a call from my mom and she can hardly talk, she is laughing so hard, she manages to tell me she has been laughing for the last half-hour reading my card! She liked it! and I guess she could read it, most of it anyway...

Although, I'm still waiting for my Natty G subscription ;-)

Go carts and class

One of the benefits of working for municipal government is I get 13 holidays off. So, I had Monday, Martin Luther King Day off. I spent most of the day running around with the family, we went to the tile store (we're picking out tile for the foyer-downstairs bathroom), etc... After I got jacob to go down for his nap, I headed down to Henry's to pick up a few things and work on my wheels. I got my spinergy as true as I could then onto my tubulars. The rear freehub was all jacked up, ended up cramming it full of lube, we'll see how long that lasts. The most notable thing was that I was able to lift the tublar right off of the rim! The glue was not sticking! Apparently in the last crash-fest, I mean race, I had rolled the tubular and it had popped back on. Boy was I lucky I didn't race Nationals! It could have been ugly!

Went out to a mexican restaurant with Brent, Rick and Jen. I don't get to eat mexican very often anymore. It is a big change from the days working at the shop when we had mexican almost everyday for lunch! The "cart" had some pretty awesome tortas!

At dinner Brent says something about the go-carts in Wilmington. Yep, we ended up racing go carts for the rest of the evening. Those things are pretty fast, my back, shoulders, arms and hands are still sore! My best time was 23.111 and that was on the track when I couldn't get by "Vanilla Killa", she was wearing red high heels while racing. Yeah, I was pretty pissed I couldn't get by her. She even flipped me off at one point! Oh yeah, Brent flipped me off too! It wasn't like I took them into the wall or anything... rubbin's racin'...

Tuesday night had my Planning Law and Administration class. Everything I had heard about the class was that it was pretty easy with a lot of guest speakers. Turns out my class is being taught by a Penn professor, who has been teaching Planning law and Environmental Law for the past 30 years or so! Aren't I the lucky one! Tons of reading, a 25 page paper (due April 17, TAX TIME!), and a take home exam due May 8th (my anniversary)! So, at least I got that going for me!

And I wanted to take two classes this semester... yeah right!

Looks like I'm going to have to put my "spring racing" on hold...
See you all sometime in mid-May! (I hope it won't be that bad)