Problem with our son

Today we didn't do much of anything. We were very tired because our son woke up at 3:00 a.m. and he didn't fall back asleep until 8:00 a.m.

He slept for another 4 hours but he didn't have a nap all day so he's somewhat cranky because he's tired.

We'll see how he does tonight, lately he hasn't been getting to sleep until midnight and that's a problem. He's not getting enough sleep.

We'll see if a warm bath will help him.

Long day

My wife headed up to Provo today to visit her cousin who has been hospitalized for a burst appendix and I have been watching our son.

Normally my wife does not have this available to her since there aren't too many people that can watch our son at the last minute. I'm glad to be able to spend time with our son.

She didn't get home until about 8:00 p.m. so at that time we didn't have many options for dinner. We ended up having Domino's pizza. Not what I would have preferred but it was our best option.

So much for what I used to say

I used to say that my children would not dictate what I watched on TV.

Of course that changed when my son continually threw tantrums when his programs were not on TV. So here I am watching Blues Clues, Wiggles and Pingu.

Man has my lifestyle declined.

Sunday dinner

We all sat down for dinner, we had left-over lasagne that I made Friday night. Actually it was a lot of food. I ended up making two trays. We had the smaller tray today and it actually worked out ok.

My mother-in-law is bringing what remains to her neighbors next door.

Church services...er...Temple services, I mean

Today was a quiet day. We drove a bit and picked up some groceries. We also picked up wife's mother from church.

She follows the Mormon religion and their Sunday services are three hours long. I personally just couldn't deal with that. I can handle the Catholic hour long kneel, sit and stand sessions rather than than a 3 hour long session. I also have to admit that I have not attended a Mormon mass so I can't attest to the service itself.

Trouble keeps brewing

We went out for take-out. My wife took me to a local Tex-Mex place call Barbacoa what she frequents. Our son had the chesse Quesadilla and he seemed to enjoy himself.

That is until he threw up on me later that night. He just did it matter of fact, It did not look as if he was suffering or it was painful. The downside was that he was sitting on top of me when he let go so all our clothes, his and mine had to be removed for cleaning. Our son still has diarrhea.

I threw the dirty clothing and covers in the washer but what really freaked me out was that the washing machine was knocking as if I had laid the chothes on only one side of the washer. My mother-in=law said that it is an ongoing problem with the washer and I shouldn't worry too much about it.

I'll try to deal with it.

Bad news

My wife headed to a family event with her mother. It was a girls only thing. They all had a nice afternoon lunch.

Unfortunately for me our son had a bout of diarrhea. I didn't think too much of it at first buyt I knew I was in for trouble when I changed his diaper the third time and it started to get steadily worse.

It's probably just a bug since he's not showing any other signs of sickness, no sluggishness and no fever. We'll just have to keep an eye on him and make sure he keeps a steady intake of liquids to avoid dehydration.

Jeez

I could not finish the installation of the chairs because I did not have the proper Phillips head screwdriver for the chairs. We took a trip to Target and picked up the correct screwdrivers.

Gymboree

My wife took our son to an afternoon session of Gymboree, it was w two hour session so I planned to put the tanble togeyther and take a nap before I went to pick up my wife and our son.

Just my luck my wife called me to pick them up an hour before the free time session was over, just right after I finished putting the table together.

It was a long day but I'm just happy to have us together as a family.

Ugh...what work

Today we took somewhat of a lazy day but it dien't last long. My mother-in-law ordered a dining room table with chairs for us and we had the assignemnt of picking it ut.

When we finally got to the store and I got a look at the package I nearly freaked out.

The package was twice as large as our storage area and we had to tie the packaging to the roof of the SIV. What made me nervous was that the store tied the package down with weak twine. I'm talking about the thin twine that's used for bakery boxes. I was somewhat distraught.

All the way home I was driving 30 MPH on what are 40 MPH roads which people regularly drive 50 MPH so it was a bit nervewraking.

We made it home safely despite my worries and I had to unpack all the table and chairs from the roof of the truck since we had to take my wife's mother to her doctor. It was a bit of work but I got it done.

Anniversary

We went to a European fondue place name the Fondue Pot in downtown Salt Lake City. We had several of my wife's friensds from the area and my sister-in-law and her trainer.

Her trainer is a really cool guy, very soft spoken but on the ball with little things. He's a big fan of Spinal Tap of which I am.

We all had a nice time, considreeng ther city closes at 10:00 p.m. we closed the restaurant down at 11:00 p.m.

Salt Lake City is different from other cities that I know in that the whole city literally revolves around the main Salt Lake City Mormon Temple and all the addresses radiate out from the temple.

It's a bit confusing at first but it makes getting around pretty easy.

A look back

I am well enough for us to go to our anniversary dinner. It's been 3 years for us and quite a few things have happened to us since then.

Since our marriage, my wife lost her job, we got pregnant (after marriage) my wife has undergone several surgeries, I developed diabetes, we had a beautiful baby boy, my uncle died of prostate cancer, my step-father fell into depression because of his borther's death and my wife has moved out to Utah to help her mother.

Now we're looking at moving out to Utah to keep an eye out on my mother-in-law.

wow...and that's only the first 3 years.

Relief

I actually feel better. I haven't had the immediate need to expunge so that's a good thing.

What a way to pass the day

Over the evening I woke up with a terrible case of diarrhea. It held me for the entire day. It wouldn't have been so bad but with my wife taking her written test at the DMV that left me to watch our son while I'm feeling miserable.

My wife passed the test, actually the DMV employee gave her the benefit of the doubt on one question and let her re-answer a True/False question she got wrong. That's WAY different than the NY DMV.

Now my wife is a driver. After she got home I stayed in bed to sleep in hopes of recuperating for our anniversary dinner tomorrow.

So far so good.

Driving tests

My wife took her written test and her driving test today with an instructor and she passed. Utah's process for getting a driver's license is different than in NY. Now all my wife has to do is take a written test at the DMV and if she passes she gets her license.

She wanted to do it today but since I don't know where the DMV is and my wife doesn't know we thought it's best to wait until tomorrow when someone can take her.

First night here

We took a drive from my mother-in-law's home to central Salt Lake City, to some mall type of location called the Gateway. We had breakfast and walked around a bit.

I also got a look at my sister-in-law's apartment which wasn't too far from the Gateway. We didn't have the stroller with us so we drove back home and picked it up and came back. It was chilly but it wasn't freezing. We picked up a few groceries and my wife made pork chops and potatoes.

Not an exciting day but it's just the kind of day I like.

A family again.

I landed in Salt Lake City at 12:30 a.m. this morning. My wife, my son and my sister-in-law were there to greet me. My wife was crying as she held me. I got the sense that my son didn't recognize me.

At his age, 3 months is quite a bit of time so I'm not too surprised. It just gives me incentive to get us all togther that much quicker.

Typical New York moment

Weekend at Bernie's:

In the middle of Summer a mugger approaches the main characters in Central Park, pulls a gun and demands their money.

Andrew McCarthy's character responds with a Get the Hell outta here...It's way too hot and they keep moving along. The mugger is dumbfounded and just shrugs it off as it's too hot to even deal with it.

Preparations

My wife is ecstatic that the time is almost upon us for a reunion. She is a very sensitive person and just talking aobut it is bringing her to tears. I alsmot completed my packing but I think I'm going to miss something anyways.

I managed to deposit my paychecks and wrote a buttload of checks to cover all our bills while I'm gone.

The only one outstanding is my car insurance. I just have to contact my broker to find out what the remaining nut is since I'm almost done for the year.

Fortune shines on me

I managed to get my payroll checks today. I thought I was going to miss them but luckily they cranked them out for me.

Price of gas

Queens Boulevard
Rego Park, Queens, NY

Another 2 cents increase, and the weather doesn't even show that the increase is justified. Maybe the logic is a penny for every day the weather hits 35 or below.

Hm....what's the definition of Profiteer?

I'm a shmuck

I waited too long to ask payroll for my vacation checks. I might not get them now and I have the mortgage and my car insurance to pay. Everything else is no biggie if I'm late but I can't let those two go.

Eeks.

I'm leaving Saturday night and I'm totally psyched. It's been three months since I've seen and held my family. I miss them very much. My wife is the only one that kept me from self-destructing five years ago. The addition of our son also brought my life into perspective but it's been a long time for me even though it's really only 90 or so days.

I'm showing a co-worker what I do so that the paperwork can still flow while I'm gone from the office but she's not keen on doing it.

It appears that I'm the only one in the company suited for the minutia and boredom that my duties engender.

Aw...Crap

I got a new computer running from our IT department and lo and behold we have a new IT
Director who was hired on Monday this week and no one knew it.

For some reason since I have a clue everyone seems to hold me in some regard which kinda creates a rift between me and the official IT Dept.

That was evident today when I called the IT guy we had for the last 6 months before the IT director was hired this week and a small rift was started when the new Director thought I didnt't require immediate attention until I got the company President to push things along.

The one thing all these company newbies fail to realize is that I was the President's go-to guy before we were a huge company so he tends to rely on me before he relies on anyone else. I have a bit more pull than the IT Dept. when it comes to computer crap, it all depends upon how I present it.

On my side, I try to deflect everything to the IT Dept. before I get get involved.

Not a good start

OH MY GOD!!!!

my computer crashed this morning.

Another wasted day

I am spending much of my time getting a co-workiner used to what I am doing so she can take over my position while I'm on vacation. My co-worker is not used to what I do and she is totally not ready for this.

At some point she's going to go crazy but right now shoe's holding tight.

I suspect that I will have more work for me than I will leave when I get back. On a typical day I get about 100 items that have to be reviewed and disseminated, and that's on a slow day. I expect that what I leave will be waiting for me when I get back.

Monday before vacation

our first day with the web based version of our Project Management software looked good until it came to my attention that we had only 1/2 the licenses that we were scheduled to obtain.

Our previous IT supervisor was in charge to obtain them and he dropped the ball and here I am learning 6 months later that he did nothing.

With the software developer's pricing scheme we will have to pay $2,000.00 more for the 5 licenses than the developer's new pricing setup has devised. I managed to give a good sob story to gwt them to accept my company's purchase order instead of their previous requirements of check or charge.

Considering this is my last week before I go on vacation...I'm working too hard.

On top of that I'm teaching a co-working how to do what I do, and she absolutely hates what I do.

I assume that qualifies as job security.

Weekend work

I spent quite a bit of time today working with our consultants to make sure that our database was successfully converted to the newest version of Primavera Expedition (the defecto standard for construction contract management).

I wasn't dealing with them minute by minute but I was dealing with the one of the company's main principle that has just as much of a life as I do....none.

It looks like we'll be able to go live tomorrow with the web based version of our software.

Every day we move along

I arranged to take two weeks vacation starting next week. I'll be flying out to Utah Saturday night. It's been 3 months since I've seen my family and I miss them so bad. I have not slept well in these three months. For example I only had four hours sleep last night and I was only able to get a half hour nap today. It's not fun.

This past month was extremely stressful for my wife out there. It seemed like nothing was going right for her. Early in the week I mentioned to her that perhaps it's her PMS that's affecting her emotions and making her more sensitive to things. Luckily she didn't bite my head off. She thought about it and filed it away in her head.

She called me yesterday and she sounded so much better. Not as melancholy as she had been throughout the week. She started menstruating yesterday and remembered what I suggested about her PMS and realized what was happening to her. Things sounded better with her.

I can't wait to see my family again.

Harry Shearer

Harry Shearer

I have been listening to Harry Shearer's podcast for a few weeks now and it's great. This past week's podcast had several folks from New Orleans talking about what is going on there that we don't really know about.

He did a great job of it.

I suggest it for anyone that loves humor and news from an alternative bent. Harry Shearer has been an exceptional comic for the past 30 years and he is just geting better with age.

For those of you that have been living under a rock all these years he's also done a few voices for The Simpsons.

Spinal Tap rules.

Price of gas

Queens Boulevard
Rego Park, Queens, NY

I don't understand the mentality behind the pricing structure. The weather has been as mild as I recall in the winter. We only had about a week or so of really cold weather but things have not been bad at all.

In the last week the price of gas went up another 8 cents. Something is definitely wrong.

A bad day

We had a big meeting this morning reviewing the status of all the projects. To say that my supervisors were not happy is an understatement. Things have not been moving as quickly as expected. Our project managers have not been as on top of things as they must be.

I have been provding them with logs on I would say a monthly to bi-monthly basis. I wish I could make it more frequently but when I'm juggling regulatory and change order work on 30 or so projects it's not a surprise that on average I'm 2 months behind on my paperwork.

I would consider myself part of the problem but I don't get the information from the project managers on a timely basis either. It usually feels like when they give me the paperwork it's usually on a must have now case. That makes it tough.

I'm always playing catch-up.

This is not cool

I am scheduled to take my vacationin about 12 days and no one is taking any sort of remedy before I leave. My partner in close-out is now out for about 8 weeks because he needed his hip replaced (actually he needs both but the doctors will only do one at a time) and no one is showing any sign of desperation or concern about it.

I'm going crazy.

WTF!!??!!

Mummified body left in home for two plus years - Peculiar Postings - MSNBC.com

This is the kind of thing you see in horror movies. YOu don't imagine there are folks twisted enough in today's day and age to do this.

Like I said....work sucks

Work is driving me crazy. I have about 30 projects to maintain and nothing helps. I am constantly running about 2 months behind and htere is a meeting for Thursday where we have to explain our existence.

Not pleasant.

A return to normalcy.

They say man is a creature of habit. I can only agree.

The Hallmark Channel has returned to mystery features on Sundays now that the holidays are done. I got accustomed to viewing them. I can't believe I got used to watching Matlock movies. I'm still 20 years from that demographic.

Saturday work

I started working in the bathroom today. I took out the showder doors and the rails.

Just my luck, when I removed the side rails an entire section of tile came down. Now I have to replace them. It will require about 15 to 18 tiles to replace but no matter.

I made arrangements with the office to take two weeks off from work so I can take a vacation and see my family. I bought the tickets so I know I'm set but I don't look forward to coming back.

The work load will be very heavy.

Price of gas

Queens Boulevard
Rego Park, Queens, NY

Another 6 cents

Egads

My wife called me and told me she's having her 2nd driving lesson today. Her first was last week and sh thought she did very well.

I'm glad she was able to get in a car and drive a bit because she needs to learn to drive. My big worry is that she will get spooked by traffic. I told her I wouldne't show her any driving skills because I was afraid she would pick up my bad habits. I still feel thats true.

She was comfortable with the instructor and that's very important in learning to drive.

On the work front I completed the review of 17 of the 21 projects to complete. Hoepfully I'll be dones soon.

Yet one more thing

I get a requet from my SVP to prepare all my logs for our GC work for immediate review. Of course that's 21 projects that I am currently 2 months behind in review because of various projects I've been working on.

Just ducky.

Work, work, work

Back to the office and all I can see is work. I'm tired of it.

It's starting to drive me crazy.

All I get are continuous requiests to stop what I'm working on and do something else.

Ah yes

This is our first day off of the new year. I am spending it doing absolutely nothing.

It is grand.

2006 is upon us

Happy New Year to all.