By popular demand...

By popular demand, and to get my Mom off my back... it is time for another blog post. I won't beat the dead horse of explaining how busy I am and why I haven't updated... That's just how it is and I will eventually figure out the part of my day that is ripe for me to do some blogging.

2009 seems to be humming right along faster than any year prior. Although, it seems like that every year I guess. We are just a little over a month from our trip to Poland for our second wedding. Given how much effort we had to put into planning the first one, and how hands off we are on this second one; It doesn't feel real yet. Maybe when I go to reserve my tux this weekend that will help make things feel a little more real. Don't get me wrong. We are super excited... it is just hard to believe that in a month and 8 days we will be standing in a Cathedral built in the 1300's before god, friends, and family getting married again.

This week my office switched over to the 4/10 (10 hours a day Mon-Thurs) work schedule. Getting here at seven was no change for me, but having soooo many people here in the morning has been an adjustment. The message I am trying to politely get across is "Just because I am here and working at 7am, doesn't mean it is ok to call me. Until I have had time to drink a cup of coffee and check my email... I am unavailable." A couple of curt phone calls seems to be getting the point across. I don't love staying until 6... but I am sure it will seem like less of an inconvenience come Friday when I am playing golf instead of writing code.

Monika just found out yesterday that she passed her Thermodynamics class with a B+! I know this is a really tough class and many many people have to take it multiple times. I couldn't be more proud of Monika for getting such a good grade on her first time taking the class! Way to go honey!

The big life changing even for our family is that Monika began playing golf! She is doing so well that it won't be that long before she posts a score lower than mine. That day will be a hard one for me, but I will find a way to muddle through I am sure. I had asked Monika to play golf with me for quite some time, but schedules never worked out and I got the impression she wasn't that interested. With our hectic lives during the week and weekends only being two days, I never liked leaving Monika at home for the 4+ hours it took to play a round of golf. So I had started to play a little less often. Then one day Monika announced she would be joining me at the driving range. From the first swing of the club when she sent that little golf ball flying through the air... she was hooked. Since then she is always up for a round when we can find the time. I have played golf more in the last three weeks than I think I played all last year. Color me a happy husband!

Other stuff:

• Yesterday our pool table finally made the move from the old house to the new house. I missed having it.
• Buffy is loving her trips to the dog park. Monika and I take here twice a day and she (Buffy) goes nuts the second she hears here leash... because she knows where she is headed.
• Congrats to my friend Brett who tied the knot over the weekend. I really wish we could have made it to the wedding.
• The average temp here in Vegas is now over 100 every day. I look forward to getting over to Poland in August where it should be much much cooler.
• ... in the strangest places... Last night at the dog park Monika and I met a Polish couple that happens to live near us. It was very funny when Monika just heard this lady calling her dog in Polish.
• Life is good

Cheers!

--C

He cut me!...

Soooo.... A little over five years ago, I went to a dentist. A very VERY bad dentist. She botched some fillings and put me through hell via a botched root canal... Half way through she actually sent me home with instructions to go to an Endodontist the following morning. I was not happy. At least she got the crown right.

It is at least with a little understanding (I hope), that you can see why I have not darkened the door of a dentist for quite some time. Yes. I realize that is a mistake. You don't have to point it out to me. EVERYBODY feels the need to point out that I should have gone. And yeah... it is starting to irritate me a little. Let me get this out of the way... "I KNOW I SHOULD HAVE GONE AND THAT IS WHY I AM HAVING SO MANY PROBLEMS NOW!" Oh... also... I do brush several times daily. I just didn't floss....

Anyway.... (rant over).... Today I went to see the endodontist to have my root canal and he was going to determine if I needed a second one. Yeah. I was nervous. I had been referred to Dr. David Fife and from what I had heard... it would be a breeze. Didn't matter. I was still nervous.

Turns out this was easier than a teeth cleaning. After some quick x-rays and an explanation of what he would be doing, he leaned me back... numbed me up and went to work. It was great. Didn't hurt at all and I think he was actually working on the tooth for all of 20 minutes. When he leaned the chair back up and told me he was done, I couldn't believe it. Really really great job!

Now... several hours later I can't even tell I had anything done. No pain is a good thing. AND.... he sent me home with the groovy picture below.

Thank you Dr. Fife. You did an outstanding job!

--C

Life in General...

Not to sound like a broken record, but in spite of trials here or there... life is good.  Life is REALLY good.  I don't get tired of typing that, but I know y'all probably get tired of reading it.  Sorry... just how it is.

Monika and I are gearing up for our trip to Poland.  The tickets have been purchased, time off from work approved, and Mom gets here a couple days before we all leave for Poland.  OMG... I just realized that we leave two months from tomorrow!  I won't lie... I am a little bit nervous about the wedding over there, but nowhere near as up tight as I was about the one here.  I think it is because we aren't having to plan everything.  Outside of getting ourselves, and our clothes there... Monika's mom is taking care of the rest.  Definitely a different experience.

One thing I don't think I was prepared for is... what it means to get married in the Catholic church.  I am Lutheran, and Monika is Catholic.  We decided that we were going to have the "church wedding" in a Cathedral in her home town.  I figured that was pretty much it.  Decide where... book the church.  Done.  haha... I was WAY wrong.  Apparently when you want to get married in the Catholic church there are all kinds of things you have to do before the church will approve your wedding.  Thank goodness Monika had the 411 on this.  When we went to see the priest at a local church here in Vegas, she whipped out document after document after document documenting baptisms, birth (certificates), affidavits from friends and family... I sat there stunned as the priest asked for something and she handed it to him.  We had two more sessions with the priest (deacon actually) where we talked about general life issues to make sure we (Monika and I) had talked about some of the things that can cause some friction in a new marriage.  I was not happy with having to do this, but now that I have been through it... I actually really enjoyed it.  The deacon was very nice and the three of us had some really great conversations.  I have to say... I am thinking about attending that church now.  I also really can see the value in these sessions for younger couples who are about to get married.  It isn't counseling... Just a time to make sure you are both on the same page of some of the bigger issues.  

Next weekend (13th), our final hurdle to get our marriage approved will be in the form of a "pre cana" class.  This is basically an 8 hour pre-marriage counseling class.  I really wasn't looking forward to this, but after our meetings with the deacon I am a little more open minded.  And... I will be with Monika, which makes anything we have to do ok.  After our class, we get our certificate to the deacon and he sends off the paperwork.  We should get everything done *just* in time.

On an unpleasant note... I went to a dentist for the first time in over five years.  You can guess how well that went.  I am in the midst of getting things taken care of and fortunately for me I have found an OUTSTANDING dentist.  But... that is a topic for another post that I will write once I am on the other side of all this.

Lastly... If anybody out there is looking to buy a '67 Mustang, I am selling.  Or if you know anybody, send them my way.

http://lasvegas.craigslist.org/cto/1202590051.html (Craigs list ad)

--C

Nickels and dimes...

I would not classify myself as "cheap", but I get annoyed when it is obvious that some random company is trying to take advantage of my wallet.  Below is something I have known about for a while, but last night while at Smith's (our grocery) store the difference was just so blatant that I had to blog about it.  Is this going to be interesting?  Probably not.  Potential to save you some money?  If you actually follow the instructions.  Will you save enough to take a vacation?  Not bloody likely.

Ok... So... You know that special "foam" based hand soap that came out a couple years ago?  Much easier to use and wash off than the original gel-like hand soap.  After trying it once, I quickly replaced all the soap in my house for this new fangled type of soap.  I didn't love that it was more expensive, but I figured that with a better product you have to pay a little more.  No big deal.  

About a year ago I read online that the only difference between

 the old style soap (pictured left)

 and the new fangled foam soap (pictured right)  was the little dispenser nozzle and the amount of water.  The soap is exactly the same... only watered down.  So... the soap company (dial in this case) actually uses less of their soap product... waters it down... puts a dispenser that infuses air to the mix to make foam... and "voila"...  New product and they charge about twice as much.  Color me annoyed.*

So what can we as consumers do?  Follow these instructions....

Instead of paying $1.90 for the foamy soap, spend $0.99 for the old school gel soap.  (You will actually have to have one of the foamy soap containers to start with.... sorry.)

1. Take an empty foamy soap container.
2. Marvel at the marketing that managed to pull one over on us.
3. Fill the bottle 1/3rd to 1/4th full of the old school soap.
4. Add water to fill the rest of the bottle.  (do this slowly or you will end up with a mess)
5. Put the foamy soap dispenser cap back on.
6. Shake a little to make sure it mixes up well.
7. Enjoy stickin' in to the man by making that one $0.99 bottle of soap last the equivalent of 4 foamy soap bottles.

There... now I feel better.  

--C 

*Disclaimer:  I say there is no difference other than the dispenser and more water being added.  This is my observation and not based in any research.  I could be wrong, but to me the results seem to indicate I am correct.  But I leave the determination up to you.  So... Dial people... if you stumble across this blog... Don't sue me for shedding light on this!

Days in the sun...

You know what the average temperature is supposed to be in Vegas right now?  In the 80s.  Is that what we had the last couple weekends?  No!  *%*$&#!  When Monika and I moved into our new house, the backyard was just a barren expanse of dirt with a smattering of rock.  Not very inviting, and we knew we needed to do something about it.

Being married to a soon-to-be civil engineer, pretty much the sky was the limit with what we could do.  We toyed with the idea of pouring a concrete patio, but eventually decided that it wasn't what we wanted.  Instead we elected to go with pave stones.  The planning began and when we finally went to Stone World, Monika had a page of calculations supporting the amount of material we wanted to order.  It was actually very funny because the guy who worked there was plugging away on his calculator to get the information.  I don't think he believed Monika had done the calculations correctly.  After about 15 minutes he gave us the numbers.  Monika politely smiled and showed him the paper with a couple numbers circled.  He had done nothing more than confirm her numbers.  Ha!  And to this guy's credit he took it in stride and didn't flash any attitude... Instead you could see his respect level jumping up a notch or two.

We ordered everything and had it delivered later that week.  We had originally planned to build the patio back in early April, but what happened? Of course... it rained.  We get about four inches of rain per year, but you KNOW when you need to do something like this, it is 100% chance of rain that day.

Due to our schedules, we had to wait until the past two weekends to finish the project.  With the thermometer soaring around the 100 degree mark, the conditions were less than ideal... But with a lot of sweat, a lot of sunscreen, and a lot of help (thanks Luke!) we finished.  I won't lie.  It was difficult and not something I would want to do again, but after we were done, the sense of accomplishment walking across the patio was awesome.  Below are a couple pictures that don't do it justice.  These are from my phone, but hopefully I will find the time to get the high-res photos off my camera this weekend.  As for the tent... this is only a temporary solution until we decide on what to do for shade.

Dimensions of the square area are 16' x 16'.  Then there is a smaller area of where we put the grill.

--C

*PS... I knew it already, but this project just confirmed again what an awesome wife I have.  I definitely won the lottery when she said "I do".

This and that...

I have "puppy watch" tonight. Normally Monika and I share in this responsibility, but tonight my lovely wife is taking a final exam and I am here with Buffy. Don't get me wrong... I am not complaining. Just giving you the run down of the situation. I am sure Monika would trade places with me in a heartbeat if that was an option. In fact she jokingly asked if I wanted to take her water resources final for her. I responded by asking her if she wanted to pass. I have glanced at her homework and there is just no way.

Thankfully tomorrow is Monika's last day of exams for the semester. She took a huge number of classes and I am happy to say she has come through it with flying colors. I am soooo proud of her. I just don't know how she managed to juggle so many things.

After a little while Buffy didn't really want to play anymore, but she cried every time I left her and went inside... so for a little while I sat outside in silence wondering what to do... Then it dawned on me that I own a laptop! (Yeah... firm grasp of the obvious) So I thought I might write up a little blog post to let y'all know I am still alive. I just don't seem to have any time anymore. But as a good friend once told me, it is better to get busy living life rather than just writin' about it. Guess that sums it up.

The funny thing was when I fired up the laptop out here, suddenly Buffy became very interested in what I was doing. She didn't seem to grasp the concept of the computer and sat there looking at me with her ears folded back. Then she started to... well... the only way I can describe it is that she started talking to me. Kind of groaning a little while whining at the same time. Sounded like somebody on the wrong side of a bottle of vodka if you asked me describe it. I am not sure exactly the point she was trying to get across, but in my head it was something like "Daddy! I don't know what you think you are doing, but I am NOT pleased that you are paying attention to that shiny thing sitting on the table instead of playhing with me. I would close the laptop, she would stop talking and walk away. If I opened it, she would come back and start again. It really was very cute. She didn't want to play with me, but she didn't want me to pay attention to anything else.

With that... My Monika is home and I want to go say hi!

--C

Buffy has a new toy...

Just after I write a post explaining how Buffy has no interest in the toys we actually purchase for her, she proves me wrong. Go figure.

Here are yet some more pictures of us with the dog. I do realize you are all probably sick of these by now... But what can I say? She is just soooo cute I have to take at least 150 pictures a day of her.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=73697&id=580092347&l=59a7b06a35

--C

Figures...

As I am sure is the case with most people, the second Monika and I brought little Buffy home we went out and bought all kinds of stuff for her.  Puppy toys, leashes, treats, etc... We really went a little crazy with the toys.  We know there will be a time that Buffy starts to chew on everything and would like to teach her early on that toys are what she should be chewing.  Not the furniture or the TV.

So with the floor and backyard littered with all kinds of puppy toys... What are her favorite toys?  An aluminum can, a plastic bottle, a plastic flower pot (what they come in when you buy them at home depot), and a stick we found while walking one day... The toys we bought for her?  Nope... no interest.  Figures...

Oh... and she seems a little too interested in my iPhone... That is not going to end well for me.

--C

Picture Post!...

First... My apologies for the time between posts.  I am still trying to find the balance of time while taking care of the puppy.  I am not complaining at all... just I am finding my time is a lot more scarce than it used to be.

Second... While I introduced the puppy as "Angel", her name has since been changed to "Buffy".  She seems to like it better... or at least she sometimes responds to this one.  For those of you who liked Angel better... sorry.

Here are some pictures we took this past Sunday while watching Luke participate in the Scottish Highland Games here in Vegas.  He took a respectable second place overall.  I completely expect him to "bring home the gold" next year.

Picture Link:  http://www.facebook.com/album.php?

aid=72726&id=580092347&l=f5f3d5580c

While attending the Highland Games, Monika found some time to walk around the park and take some pictures of the wildlife.  I think one cool pic is the picture of the palm tree with all the snow on the mountain in the background.

Picture Link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=72731&id=580092347&l=622008c8b6

My mom has been bugging me for a couple weeks to

 take some pictures of the progress in the back yard.  Here they are...

Picture Link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=72730&id=580092347&l=ffb747034a

And finally... My favorite subject besides Monika.  It took great restraint to not post several hundred pictures to this album.

Picture Link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=72727&id=580092347&l=9f2a567ea9

Enjoy!

--C

Introducing Angel...

I will write more later, but here are some pictures of our adorable new Boxer Puppy.  Isn't she cute?!

Photo Album:  http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=70623&id=580092347&l=017f40529f

--C

Manual labor...

Monika has spring break from college this week and so it seemed the right time to get started on the heavy lifting portion of our backyard.  First task to knock out was the 15ft x 16ft pave stone patio.  We ordered our material on Sunday and it got delivered yesterday.  We ordered three pallets of pave stone, two tons of type II base, two packs of sand for the top, and one ton of sand to go under the pave stones.

By the time I got home from work yesterday, my lovely wife had already moved a little more than one entire pallet of pave stone to the backyard.  I was amazed.  After a quick bite and a change of clothes I grabbed the wheel barrow and started helping.  As the sun dipped below the horizon we had successfully moved all the pave stone to the backyard.  With each brick weighing five pounds, we did some quick math to figure out how much weight we moved.  It was 8,100 pounds!  Over four tons!  AND... Monika moved over one ton by herself.  Amazing.

Tonight we get to work on the type II material which should be easier to move... I hope.

Surprisingly, I am not as sore today as I thought I would be.  Yeah, I am stiff... But not anywhere near as bad as I thought I would be.  Guess the hot bath last night helped.  :-)

--C

(And yes... I do plan to post some pictures of the before and after when I get a chance to pull them off the camera)

Where to start?...

I am stuck in that place where I have a lot of stuff to write about but I didn't just want to talk about all of it in one or two sentences.  Then it became more than a week since I posted and I felt like I needed to write a longer post.  Then I just didn't have the time or inclination to do that... Then more time passed... etc. etc. etc.  So I will now just do a quick re-cap post of the last 9-10 days.

Last weekend (like 9 days back) was a wonderful weekend.  Instead of sticking to our normal weekend routine, Monika and I went out on the town Saturday and spent the day shopping and acting like a tourist.  Even rode the roller coaster at the Adventuredome.  It was a really fun day!  On Sunday we decided to do a little work in the back yard and that ended up being A LOT of work in the back yard.  We planted several of the trees we had purchases recently and also made a big flower bed that took much much longer than we planned.  By the time we were done, it looked great... and we both were sportin' sun burns.  

I moved to a different department where I work last week.  The move happened for a couple different reasons, all of which really had nothing to do with me.  I was excited about the new environment but was a little nervous about what I was walking into.  After spending a week there I can say that it is a good move and I really like the people I work with as well as the work I am doing.  Doing my best to kick ass and build a good reputation for myself.  Working so far.  It seems they are having trouble finding enough stuff to keep me busy before the big project starts.

Bowling went well last week.  I didn't bowl the best, but our team won 7 out of 7 points.  Nice!

This past weekend Monika and I purchased all the materials for the patio in our backyard.  The patio is going to be roughly 16ft x 15 ft.  That means three pallets of pavestone.  Two tons of type II compacting material, one ton of sand, and a couple bags of filler sand to go in the cracks when we are done.  Everything gets delivered today.  Since Monika is on spring break she will start moving it to the backyard.  We considered getting some day labor guys, but in the end decided to do it ourselves.

I finally finished my taxes last night and will be overnighting the packet to my CPA today.  We celebrated with some Polish Vodka (me) and some champagne (Monika).

Tonight I bowl and then the rest of my free time will be spent on yard work for the foreseeable future.  I am looking forward to it!

--C

Since the dawn of man....

Since the dawn of man... men have engaged in battle to determine who is the strongest and fastest.  I the early days it was to determine supremacy of the tribe... who would be the best leader.  It is a tradition that has been handed down from generation to generation, and last night I partook in this... the grandest of human traditions.  We were battling for the right to where funny little metals of fake gold, silver, and bronze around our necks.  What could be more glorious?!

Luke and I were part of the racquetball team for our company in the Las Vegas Corporate Challenge.  There were also men's singles, women's singles, and a women's doubles team.  The first up on our path to glory was the women's side of our team.  They fought strong and brought home the medals for us.  We took the bronze in women's doubles and the gold in women's singles.  I do have to say that the gold in women's singles doesn't surprise me.  Shirley tends to wipe the floor with most of us when we play mano-o-womano.  I should also mention that Shirley is our coach.

I was able to watch one of the women's doubles matches before I had to go warm up.  They fought hard, but in the end victory was not going to be there for them.  After facing defeat, they were asked to play again to determine 3rd/4th place.  I did not see that match, but judging from the shiny medals hanging around their neck I knew that they won!  Two medals for the women's side of the team!  

And then it was time... Luke and I entered the court for our match in stone silence.  As we all hit the ball a few times against the wall to warm up I tried to measure our opponents to find which was the weaker player.  I was not successful... they both seemed a bit weak.  We had no problems and it was a good opponent to work out our jitters.

As the night wore on, Luke and I continued to slay our opponents.  We seemed to slowly get a better feel for these courts with really dead walls.  In our second to last match it was a much tougher opponent.  We ended up winning the match 2 games to 1... but if we had not stepped up our game a bit... it could have easily gone the other way.  I think Luke had one run where he served and we scored 6-7 points in a row... and I had a run like that also.  When your opponent starts to get flustered, you just step up the pace and keep hitting to them.  That's what we did and they ended up falling apart.

The team that ended up knocking us out was really really (OH MY GOD!) REALLY GOOD.  It is one thing when you loose to somebody you know you have a chance of beating, but when you aren't even in the same league as your opponent you have to just shrug and thank your lucky stars you didn't end up playing them in the first round.  After watching those guys play, I now know the level to which I want to elevate my game.  We walked away with the bronze medal. Time to take a week or two off... and then time to start practicing!

--C

Golf at Tuscany...

Every year, the company I work for participates in the Corporate Challenge.  I normally take part in a couple of the events.  In fact, I took the silver medal in singles racquetball a few years back.  Sorry... just had to throw that in.

Well, as you can probably guess by the picture on the right, there is a golf event also.  One or two people from each company compete one day to determine the winner.  But the question arises.... Who should represent the company?  You could always just use everybody's handicap to determine the best golfers, but what fun would that be?  Instead, my friend Nass organizes a little tournament for our company to determine the best golfer and who will don the colors of our company and bring home the gold.  I have not been able to participate in years past due to a myriad of reasons, but all that changed this year. This year I was going to compete.  This year I was going to win!!!!  .... .... Until I found out that they don't count your handicap.  Damn.

Anyway, I had no illusions I was even close to the best golfer out there, but it is a chance for everybody in the office to get out on a course together.  This year, the mini-tournament was held at the Tuscany Golf Club in Henderson, NV.  I know this is a development course, but it wasn't one I had played before so I was a little excited to get out there.  The temperature was a brisk 72 with some clouds in the sky as we approached the first tee box.  As we flipped our tee to determine who would go first, I knew it would be me... and it was.  I always hate the first tee.  It feels very foreign when I walk up there and this shot sets the tone for the day... at least when it is a bad shot it seems to set the tone.  When it is a good one... not so much.  

With a slight breeze blowing from left to right, I let my driver rip.  There it was... a beautiful shot slightly to the right of the fairway and then a draw back to just left of center.  Perfect!  I let out a sigh of relief as I tried to look cool walking off the tee box to the rest of the group congratulating me on a great first shot.  Everybody else hit with varying results and we were off.  We all headed out to our balls and proceeded to wait five minutes for the group in front of us to get off the green.  Since my shot was the closest I waited for everybody else to hit.  Pretty good shots by everybody.  Then it was my turn.... I was 160 yards out... the wind had shifted to be in my face and it was at least 20 yards uphill.  I had selected my 7 iron, but with the wind and uphill I was thinking it would not be enough.  (And no... I don't hit my irons very long... just how I play)  No more waiting... I swung and watched as the wind ballooned my ball up in the air.  I watched just knowing the it would be short of the green and run back down the hill at least 30 yards.  To my amazement, the ball hit the fringe an rolled onto the green.  I walked back to the cart actually stunned by the good fortune of the first two shots.  Maybe this would be the day I break my best score of 89!

That feeling of elation did not last long.  I managed to three putt leaving the green with a bogey instead of the birdie I should have had.  The rest of the day went pretty much like that.  I was great until I got within 40 yards of the hole.  I couldn't chip to save my life.  My pitches were pretty good, but when you are only 5-10 feet from the green that is generally too much of a shot to get it close.  I had several chips that only got half the distance to the green.  Two bunkers took three hits to get out of each.... And even if the hole had been 2 feet wide I still think I would have missed many of my putts.  My time at the driving range the past couple weeks really helped, but my not practicing the short game really showed.  That used to be the best part of my game... Well... not the putting, but the short shots onto the green.

Oh... and putting two in the water on 18 didn't help my score either.  I won't even say what it was, but I was in the triple digits... Ugh!

Didn't matter though.  Had a great time playing and it was fun to be on the course with a bunch of people I am used to seeing in the office.  I look forward to posting a better score next year!  Better watch Mr. Man with the score of 75!

If you want to see a couple pictures I took:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=67418&id=580092347&l=cc035f32ac

--C

Knife fight!...

Sometimes you just can't resolve your issues with words....

--C