The Crossroads of Nowhere

Amelia Loves Gracie

2009-02-02T18:32:00.003-07:00

Worlds most good natured cat

Baking

2008-12-15T14:37:00.000-07:00

From Baking

Amelia help K bake Xmas cookies yesterday

Amelia Goes For a Swing

2008-12-04T19:00:00.002-07:00

We put Amelia in one the toddle swings at the park today. She loved it.

Amelia Meets Grandma

2008-11-13T13:56:00.002-07:00

From Grandma Georgine Vists

Amelia got to meet her Grandma Georgine for the first time this week. It was a fun time. I think they both fell in love.

From Grandma Georgine Vists

Contacts

2008-11-10T11:27:00.003-07:00

From Gateway Park

I first got glasses, 15 years ago when I was in the 7th grade, since then I have worn glasses nearly every waking moment. Partially because my eye sight had deteriorated to the point where I would need mega coke-bottle bottom glasses, and partially cause I had never tried contacts before, time I decided to give contacts a try. Amelia's new found love grabbing my glasses also made switching to contacts seem like a good idea to try.

So far I love them. Why I waited so long to try them will forever remain a mystery too me. They far more comfortable and easy to put in then I feared they would be. Still after living about half my life glasses always on, not wearing them is a strange experience. I am a major fidgeter, a lot of my fidgeting used to involve my glasses, now when I reach absentmindedly reach for them they are not there, which feel weird in an almost indescribable way. Taking a shower also feels very odd, I took me a while to realize that the reason that showering seemed oddly different was that for the first time in years I could actually see things while showering. Bizarre.

So based on the early returns, not withstanding a few torn contacts, that my experiment with contacts is a smashing success.

From SanDiego

Kyai'u

2008-11-05T09:33:00.006-07:00

My parents had to put their dog Kyai'u down today. While this comes as no surprise, he was over 15 years old and on his last legs seemingly for years, it still makes me very sad. He will always hold a very special place in my heart because he was my first dog, and has been part of life for a little more than half of my life.

We got Kyai'u in 1993 when I was in 7th grade, for a long time prior to that my brother and I had been begging my parents to get a dog. We finally won my mother over and my father while not explicitly supporting getting a dog dropped his opposition (despite this opposition he would soon become one of Kyai'u's biggest fans. So minutes after my father left town on business trip, we were in the car on the way to get a dog.

As 13 year old boy, a toy poodle was certainly not my first pick when it came to dog breeds. But I really didn't care, I was getting a dog and could not have been happier. Bringing Kyai'u home is without a doubt one of my favorite childhood memories.

Kyai'u was a great dog, he was smart, loyal, affection, and despite very small size believed has was the toughest dog on the planet (an attitude that almost got him killed more than once). He was everything that a dog should be, and was case in point why dogs are considered man's best friend. Throughout my junior high and high school years one of my favorite of my days was taking Kyai'u on a walk after dinner. He was my loyal friend what more could I have asked for.

While it makes me sad that my time Kyai'u has come to end, I feel better knowing that he lived a life will lived and that my life greatly enriched by his being a part of it. He truely fufilledhis purpose as a dog.

Good dog Kyai'u.

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T09:55:00.001-07:00

Happy Halloween!

Tupperwear!

2008-10-28T12:17:00.000-07:00

Amelia has acquired many toys in the five and half short months that she has been alive. She loves most of them, but none of them are her favorite toy. That honor goes to the humble tupperwear container. As fare as Amelia is concerned nothing compare to the joy of tupperwear. She can easily manipulate it, hold it all kinds of crazy angles, it has plenty of corners and edges to chew on, and the way she can see things through yet not reach through and touch what she is seeing blows her mind. So huzzah for tupperwear.

Kicking off Marathon Training

2008-10-27T09:42:00.006-07:00

Now that the weather has cooled off a bit. I have decided to begin training for my next marathon. It now been a year since my last one, and I am beginning to feel the itch to run one again. So yesterday afternoon I went for a relatively easy 12 mile run. Dang, is it nice to be able run in the afternoon again.

Cutting through the soft sand of the open desert is always very tiring. It always reminds me of those dreams where I am running but my legs don't work right and feel bogged down. Still running though such soft sand is an excellent workout.

I love running along the railroad track because of the line of salt cedars that the railroad has planted as a windbreak creates some rare shade. I do find it ironic that while railroad is spending time and effort maintain its windbreak of salt cedars a few miles away along the river versions agency are spending a lot time and money trying to eradicate salt cedars which are a horribly invasive non native species.

Often when running along the railroad track a train will come up from behind me. This is no real safety issue as I run well off to the side of the tracks and can hear the train coming long before it gets to me. Still the engineers always see to think it is necessary to sound the their whistle when they are just a few feet behind. Damn, that almost make jump out my skin.

I love running through the farmland this time of year, all the lettuce and broccoli fields are so pretty, such multitude of shades of green. I also really enjoy the strong salad bowl smell that these areas have, for example when running by broccoli fields the smell broccoli can be almost overpowering. But in a good way, it is such a green and alive smell that I love.

I love running along the canals that crisscross the area. Not only only are the beautiful, they area always accompanied by canal service roads which make the perfect place to run. The are flat, not paved, run for miles, and have next to no traffic.

The Scourge of Baby Pattern Baldness

2008-10-24T13:13:00.003-07:00

Amelia is balding faster than a 40 year old man.

From more amelia

3 Days old

From 7-5 amelia

6 weeks old

From August 11 Amelia

3 Months old

From bath time

4 Months old

From Reaching

4.5 Months old

From Tupperwear

Today

Running

2008-07-22T18:03:00.003-07:00

The jogger finally came in the mail. The best part about is that it our car seat snaps into, so I don't have to wait until Amelia is older to begin taking her on runs. We can go now.

Running with the dogs and Amelia is still a little bit tricky, but with a little practice we will master it. Amelia though loved, her were filled with wonderment. She loves to be moving. It even made her smile, something she has only begun to do

Amelia Meets Haley

2008-07-22T11:47:00.002-07:00

This weekend Amelia got to meet her cousin Haley, technicaly her second cousin but since she will never have any first cousins as close as she will ever get. It was fun to bring them together, espcialy since they are only a month a part in age. It was amazing to see the differnce between a two month old and a three month old. Amzaing what a differnce a month can make in the development of an infant.

Bowling

2008-07-17T11:35:00.002-07:00

We went bowling with some friends last night. Amelia came a long and had a blast. This is the 2nd time that we have taken her to the bowling alley, and she loves it. She loves all the activity and sounds, she was wide eyed with wonderment the entire time we were there. She especially enjoyed "Xtreme Bowling" which is when switch off the regular lights and turn a bunch of black lights, you could tell that she thought was about the most amazing thing she had ever seen.

Amelia Update

2008-07-15T12:45:00.003-07:00

I have not posted for a while, so I feel like doing an update on Amelia.

The dogs continue to bond even more with her. The just want to be near her. They also see to recognize how fragile she is. Normally they are like two bulls in a china shop, but they are very calm and careful around Amelia. This good, because one of main worries was them running her over due to there oafishness

Amelia is coming to really love going in the pool. But of course when it is over 110+ who doesn't enjoy the pool. Especially now that I finally admitted defeat and hired someone to clean the pool. I don't know how they get is so blue, I never could.

Now that she can mostly hold her head up, we have started to put her into her bumbo. She loves it. She is so much happier when she is sitting up and able to see the world around her.

Just for fun we stuck her in her high chair for the first time, just to see what she would think. She liked sitting at the table with us while we ate.

Amelia has also rolled over from front to back for the first time. She is not doing regularly, but she has done it a couple of times. She always looks shocked that she some how ended up on her back.

More pictures here

Amelia Goes For Her First Swim

2008-06-29T14:34:00.003-07:00

K & Amelia

In Goes Amelia

Legs All the Way

Going In

Berkeley & Zack Join the Party

Berkeley Shakes Off

Bottle

2008-06-09T10:40:00.001-07:00

This weekend we gave Amelia her first bottle, it was a truly amusing experience. As is normal for her she was howling with hunger when I presented her with the bottle. She howled even louder because the bottle was not what she wanted, then I squeezed the nipple so a little milk shot it to her mouth, the look of shock on her face was priceless. To her the idea that milk could come from somewhere other than mommy was totally mind blowing. It was fun to watch her try to process this new development.

Berkeley and Zack Heart Amelia

2008-06-01T15:46:00.004-07:00

Berkeley & Amelia

One of things that we most worried about before bringing Amelia home was how the dogs we react to her, we need not of worried. The dogs love Amelia. They took to her almost instantly. Zack is thrilled to have a new purpose in life, protecting Amelia.

One can almost always find Zack positioned very near where Amelia is sleeping keeping watchful eye over her. The minute she starts fussing he goes crashing though the house to find us to let us know about it. He is just so thrilled to have some to protect. Berkeley has always lacked a protective instinct, but she does like to be as near to Amelia as she can.

Though they have been thus far foiled by the diaper vault, the dogs are present at every diaper changing, just waiting for that one time that the diaper gets improperly placed in the vault. There two favorite things to eat are poop and paper products, there could be little else as appealing to them as combo of there two favorite snack items.

My Two Favorite People

2008-05-28T16:58:00.000-07:00

I love this picture

Back to Work

2008-05-28T12:31:00.001-07:00

Gratuitous Baby Picture

I have gone back to work for a few hours a day. and finding it kind of a surreal experience, as unlike my home life where everything has changed, nothing has changed at work, the same massive piles of unorganized papers sit where I left on my desk, the same dozen windows that I left open on my computer on the 16th where still open on my return this morning. Sitting back at my desk I could have been just down the hall getting a cup of coffee rather then being gone for 11 days having my totally changed.

In some ways this is a welcome comfort. Becoming a dad has been the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to me, however on some levels it is all unnerving. There is no easing into parenthood, a little person shows and boom, you are a parent. It kind of feels like being asked to drive in heavy freeway traffic during a blizzard the first time you ever got behind the wheel of a car. It is nice to spend a few hours where everything familiar and I feel like I am in total control. However I would still much rather spend all my time with Amelia.

Amelia's First Bath

2008-05-26T09:04:00.005-07:00

Yesterday Amelia's umbilical cord stump fell off, so we were able to give her first real bath. Nothing like the smell of clean new baby. Now if only the dogs were so easy to bathe, which is today's task.

The Arrival of Amelia

2008-05-24T07:50:00.007-07:00

K Mowing at 6:00 AM

The Friday before last while at dinner K began to have ever more frequent and strong contractions. We thought she was about to enter labor, my mother booked a flight to come to town the next morning, then contractions stopped.

The next morning I woke at 6:00 AM to K mowing the front lawn in some sort insane nesting/labor inducement bid. It must have worked because when she came in she noticed that her shorts were all wet, her water had broke. In what amounts to truly amazing timing that was right when my mother showed up and we were off to the hospital.

Off to the Hospital

At the hospital it was confirmed that her water broke and she was admitted. We were told that because her water broke that Amelia would have to be delivered within 24 hours. However she still was not having contractions, so we just spent the afternoon just sitting around waiting for it all the begin.

Waiting

Early Saturday evening they decided to induce labor, it was also it this point that K got an epidural. The contractions started coming fast and furious. However thanks to the epidural K says that the only reason she knew she was having contractions was by watching a monitor that she was hooked to that showed such activity, a major relief for her. According her from the boobs down she felt nothing. Then sometime around 10:30 it came time for the pushing. Sadly the epidural did little to block the pain of this as K was quickly in tears of pain. But in a short 20 or so minutes the tears of pain were instantly changed to tears of joy when Amelia was born at 10:56.

K Meets Amelia

Meeting my daughter for the first time was an experience amazing beyond words. The second that she wrapped her impossibly tiny hands around one of my fingers, I fell totally and absolutely in love with her.

Amelia Grabs My Finger

Amelia

Happy Family

Me and Amelia

K Grows Impatient

2008-05-17T06:55:00.002-07:00

Last night K started to have regular and strong contractions, they stronger, more frequent, and more rhythmic, very nearly reaching the point that would have sent us to the hospital. Then after a couple of hours they stopped. K was deeply disappointed.

This morning I woke up at 6:00 when I noticed that K was not in bed with. As it turns out she had woken up with the overwhelming urge to mow the lawn. As she described it was all she could do to wait till dawn to go out and mow and as soon as the sun was up she was out there mowing. The urge to mow is odd for her as she has not mowed in over 3 years. This mornings urge to mow is combo nesting/put her into labor thing.

Man, I hope Amelia comes soon.

The Wait Goes On

2008-05-16T12:23:00.005-07:00

A Very Pregnant K and I and the County Picnic Last Month

So it looks like another weekend of endless waiting for K and I. All this waiting sucks, I want to be a dad.

Waiting is So Hard

2008-05-13T15:37:00.002-07:00

Berkeley Also Finds it Hard to Wait

As of today K has reached week 37 of her pregnancy, as of now she could go into a labor at anytime and the doctors would let her deliver. In fact there are some signs that Amelia will be here sooner rather than latter. K has been having contractions all week, is 3 cm dilated, and was told by her doctor to stop working.

The waiting has been excruciating, much for K than me of course. There is nothing left to do but wait, the house is ready for Amelia’s arrival. K has wrapped her master’s degree and is done teaching for the year. So now all there is do is wait, and damn is that hard.

Hopefully at tonight doctor’s appointment we will learn a little more about how much longer we will be waiting.

Farwell to 1531 West Fredonia

2008-05-01T21:10:00.002-07:00

Lately I have been feeling old, I am about to become a father, and as K loves to point out I turn 30 next, but in the my defense that is only true in that in turn 30 in 2009, I actually I have more than a year until my 30th birthday. But today I found out something that made feel even older, the house that K and I spend most of our college years living in has been torn down.

The fact that that house is gone makes sad and nostalgic for many reasons, it was the first house that K and I shared together, it where I proposed to K, it was the first place I lived that was not either my parents house, a dormitory, or a frat house, it is where I spent three of the five years that I lived in Peoria, and so many of my favorite college memories, such as the piñata parties, took place at that house.

The best part of that house on Fredonia Avenue was it's location, quite simply it could not have been in a better place. It was directly behind my fraternity and across the street from K's sorority, campus was less than a block away. Living there I was closer to most of my classes than I was, when I was living in the dorms. It was so nice to live that close to the frat house, I got to have all the fun of the frat house, but not suffer any of the downsides of living in frat house, my houses was far quieter and did not have that distinct odor of the frat house.

The house it self was 80 to 90 years old, it was at one point and grand family home, but for over 50 years, a professor of mine once told me how he has rented the house out as student right after World War II, had been chopped into three apartments and rented out as student housing. As such it was a very quirky apartment, we had a gigantic living room, but the bathroom and kitchen put together would fit inside the master bathroom of the house I have today. The only way we could get the couch into the house was to remove a window. One also had to be careful climbing the steps to the porch as each step and sagged to a radically different angle.
Even though it has only been five years since we moved out, 1513 West Fredonia, seems like a lifetime ago already. It makes me sad however to think that it has now just been totally obliterated, even if you can never really go back, it would have been nice to a least visit. Even sadder is the fact that do a computer crash that we have lost all pictures from that fun era of our lives

Homer Goes Home

2008-04-24T12:17:00.004-07:00

Berkeley Samples Homer's Ear

Homer finally got his new home last night. He is now living in the Phoenix area with a very nice couple. But for him the most exciting part is without a doubt the 1.5 year old Vizsla that he is going to get to live with. They brought the Vizsla down with them when they picked Homer up to see if they would be compatible, I have never see two dogs click so well. They both have the same maniacal drive play as hard as they can, as much as they can, when ever they can. They were quickly chasing each other around our pool at insanely fast speed. It is nice that they are the same age, so that throughout out there life they will always have approximately the same energy level. A very nice match.

A Rare Moment of Rest for Berkeley and Homer

Berkeley however is not nearly as thrilled with Homer finding a homes as in the three weeks we had him, had grown quite attached to him. It was sad to see her go on a hunt for him when she got up this morning. Even though she could not keep up with him, she really enjoyed playing with him. The cats on the other hand are feeling absolutely triumphant, no doubt they hope the number of weimaraners will continue to decrease. So now the house is once again relatively peaceful, but only for a few weeks, when things will change again, this time forever.

Three Weimaraners Can Ger a Little Overwhelming

An Even More Pregnant K

2008-04-22T09:26:00.002-07:00

Less than six weeks to go!

Amelia Get's a Cousin

2008-04-18T09:40:00.001-07:00

Yesterday's K's cousin give birth to beautiful little girl. I have no doubt the Amelia and her will be lifelong good friends.

Another Foster Weim

2008-04-06T14:41:00.005-07:00

Unexpectedly we are once again hosting a foster weim. Yesterday we heard about a weim that was being held down at our local shelter. So we decided to go pick him up and start the process of finding him a new home. Likely when I go up to Phoenix on Thursday on unrelated business I will be taking him up with me to his new home.

We have decided to call him Homer, and is it turns out he just a pup. My guess he is somewhere between 10 and 16 months old. He appears to physically be fully grown, but he still posses all of his puppy exuberance, something almost certainly lead him to being dumped in the shelter.

Like most puppies Homer is mouthy, he likes to examine everyone and everything with his moth. Who ever dumped him in the shelter, after having for only six weeks (they adpoted him from the shelter in February) saw this typical puppy behavior as him being vicious and left him at shelter with a report indicating that he was very aggressive and bitey towards people, a virtual death sentence at our local overcrowded shelter. It makes me mad the people would not go through the trouble to the research to find out that all puppies go through a mouthy stage, but they can easily be broken of it, and that it does not mean that they are vicious or dangerous dog. In 24 hours that we have had I have already broken him of much his mouthiness towards people.

Homer is having great fun playing my weims, particularly Berkeley, they are enjoying chasing each other around the house. Poor Berk who just tuned five, is finding however that keeping up with a puppy is extremely tiring. I wonder what she will think when the baby shows up in June.

More Stuff for the Nursery

2008-04-04T08:35:00.002-07:00

My mother is definitely having fun with the idea of being a grandmother. Last night we received a package from her that it contained more decorations for Amelia's room that she made, letters that spell out Amelia's name that matching the bedding for the crib, which she made for us earlier. It looks amazingly good. It is also apparent what an awesome grandmother that mother is going to be.

Zack Day!

2008-03-31T12:50:00.003-07:00

Four years ago today we brought Zack home from the shelter in Lake Charles, Louisiana. We don't know much about his history other that he had been turned into the shelter twice, so since he does not have a birthday, he gets Zack Day. Over the past four years he has become the best dog that anyone could ever ask for. I have never met a more loyal dog, he truly devoted to us. Even in the middle of the night he has got our back. He is also responsible for ensuring that I do not slack on my daily runs. We will celebrate Zack Day tonight the only way that he would ever have it, by going for a run.

Isuzu Ascender

2008-03-30T08:55:00.011-07:00

For a while now K and I have know that we would have to buy a new vehicle. Our newest vehicle was 8 years old and had over 130,000 miles on it. With a baby on the way we have long figured that a new vehicle was in out not to distant future. We had tentatively planned on looking for a new car this fall, however this week I came across this article, which lead to our plans being bumped up.

Our New Ascender

Ever since my department bought some Chevy Trailblazers, I have really come to like them. One of the few products that Isuzu still was offering was a rebranded Trailblazer selling as an Isuzu Ascender. After reading that article we decided to see if we could get an Ascender a fire sale price.

Some quick research online showed that Isuzu was offering an $8,000 rebate. With this as a starting point decided to contact a dealer an see if we could negotiate a deal good enough to make pulling the trigger on buying a car now worthwhile.

We located a dealer up in Tempe that still had a brand new 2007 Ascender in stock. We figured with the double whamy of it both being a brand that was going out of business and it by 2007 model that the dealer would be most anxious any kind of deal just to be rid of it

Berkeley Inspects the New Car

Not wanting to make the three hour drive to Tempe without a reasonable prospect of making a deal, K began to negotiate with them over the phone. She eventually worked them down to $19,200, on vehicle that was listed at $30,400, and listed for $34,000 when badged as a Chevy Trailblazer. K also reached a tentative agreement of the value of the vehicle that we were going to trade in. With the framework for a deal this unbeatable worked up, we made plans to drive up to Tempe on Saturday morning.

We got up there, test drove the Ascender, loved and decided to make an offer on it. They agreed to the price that K had negotiated on the phone, however we hit snag when it came to value on the trade in. They were offering us $1,500 less than they had agreed to on the phone. Pissed that they were playing games like that with us, we stormed out in huff.

Within 10 minutes of leaving the dealership K's cellphone range, and the salesman was telling her that he talked to his boss's boss, or some such B.S. story, and that he could go a $1,000 higher on the trade in, despite telling us earlier that he could do no such thing. We decided despite the fact that we were still getting a little less than we expected on our trade in, it was still to good of deal to pass up. To make up for it we just bumped up our down payment slightly. That afternoon we drove back to Yuma in our new Ascender.

I am loving it. Even though K will be the one primarily driving it, it is the first time that have ever bought a new car. All my other car's, including the one that I drive everyday to work, are hand me downs from my family, or the car that K had when we got married. Also it is such a nice comfortable vehicle. One of the more exciting things is that makes vast stretches of the desert that were previously unaccessible to me, in either of our sedans, open for my exploration. I am really looking forward to that.

Our old car

Done With the Rocks

2008-03-27T08:58:00.000-07:00

The Finished Project

Shoring Up the Back Wall With The Removed Rocks and Dirt

The Ground Behind The Back Wall Had Severely Eroded Away Over the Years

Removing about 4" of the Old Rock and Dirt

Behind the Pool Before, Weed Chocked Gravel

The Side Yard After

The Side Yard Before

I Hate Winds From the West

2008-03-14T13:54:00.002-07:00

We are supposed to 40 mph wind out the west this evening. I hate strong winds out of the west.

Amerlia Yawning

2008-03-11T19:20:00.002-07:00

K had a 4D ultrasound today. While it did not come out as cool as they look on brochure because she spent the whole time covering her face with her hands. We did get this cool clip her yawn. It it is amazing, you can see her lips and tounge. It is hard to believe that this image, despite looking a lot like a lump of cheese is my daughter. I can't wait for her to get here

A Few Pictures From This Weekend's Project

2008-03-10T11:23:00.005-07:00

Looking Out the Front Door
Added the Spanish Bayonet (2nd from left)

The Front Door

A Cool Looking Puprple Cactus We Added

Despite A Weekend's Worth of Shoveling the Gravel Pile is Still Depressingly Large

12 Tons of Gravel

2008-03-05T20:48:00.004-07:00

Zack Comes to Investigate the Pile of Rocks

As part of our effort to complete all our desired home improvement we had 12 tons of gravel delivered today. 12 tons of gravel sounded like a lot of gravel when we ordered it, but now that it is all sitting in the middle of the driveway it looks like an awful lot of gravel. I am pretty sure I know how this weekend if going to go.

We are going to use it to spruce up all the plant beds and to replace all of the grass in the side yards. Grass in climate like this is ridiculous, grass in side yards is just absurd. I manged to fill in one small bed tonight, and am very pleased with how it has come out.

Zack, could not be more excited. He has a strange obsession over rocks, and an even stranger obsession with eating rocks. We actually purposely got gravel of size that he could not swallow. We got some strange looks while we are to the nursery browsing the samples and saying things like "do you think this size is to big for him to swallow?" None the less Zack is thrilled and spent the whole time while was working outside tonight proudly carrying arround the one treasured rock that he selected out of the pile.

Filling in the Cactus Bed

Pregnant K

2008-02-27T12:26:00.002-07:00

Hard to believe that K's due date is now less than 100 days away. I have to sat pregnancy lots real good on her.

The Desert in Bloom

2008-02-25T13:30:00.008-07:00

A White Flower

Recent rains has caused the desert to bloom like I have never seen it bloom in the nearly three years that I have lived here. So yesterday I took the dogs out to the field behind the house to enjoy the scenery. As pretty as it was other parts of the desert are even more covered with flowers.

Zack Stretches His Legs

Looking Back at the House

Zack!

In Some Places The Ground Was Almost Totaly Covered With These

Berkeley

Amelia's Crib

2008-02-24T12:43:00.004-07:00

We just got a package from my mother. She made all the bedding for Amelia's crib. It all looks really great. It is fun to see how exited about Amelia that she is.

New Tattoo

2008-02-23T08:27:00.004-07:00

I finally got my new Tattoo on Thursday,the 21 point sun represents the day I got married. The sun because it was the summer solstice. The 3 large points represent the year, 2003, the six larger points the month, June, and all 21 points the day, the 21st. There is not red in design, the red in the picture is just my skin being irritated from the tattooing process. I absolutely love how it came out. Best Valentines Day gift ever

New Floor and Rug

2008-02-19T17:22:00.003-07:00

Here is a picture that I managed to snap before the camera battery died of you new floor and rug. I'll take some more tomorrow.

Out With the Carpet

2008-02-11T22:03:00.001-07:00

Before the Change

With our unexpected tax refund windfall we decided to remove the nasty carpet that has been bugging us for a long time. It stinks and it is stained. There is no question that when we go to sell the house that we would have to replace it, so we figure why not do it now when we can enjoy the benefits of the change. This weekend we saw that Sam’s Club had some laminate floor on sale that we really like the look of, so we took the plunge and bought 30 cartons of it.

Removing the Old Carpet

The first step to installing it was removing the old nasty carpet, an easy task. It was disturbing to find out that the builder did not clean the floor before the floor before putting the carpet down, there was about a quarter of an inch of sand beneath or carpet. My first thought was that this was just dirt that had worked its way down there over the years, then I began finding things like fast food salt and pepper packets and other types debris, so clearly they installed the carpet over whatever dirt and trash was on the floor at the time.

An Industrious K

The click lock flooring goes in extremely easy, we got about half of the 500 square feet that we are going to do, done on Sunday, we will finish the rest over the three day weekend. K, who is amazingly industrious for someone six months pregnant did an amazing amount of the work

The Partialy Completed Dining Room

Cat Poop is Fattening

2008-02-05T13:29:00.000-07:00

At the Buffet

We realized the disgusting truth behind Berkeley's weight loss this week. Until about a month ago Berkeley had progressively become a fatter and fatter dog. Diet dog food, two runs a day, it didn't matter she kept getting fatter. Then about a month ago she started loosing weight. We were afraid that she was loosing weight because she was sick, until this week when realized the disgusting truth. The one thing that changes since she started loosing weight was my installation of a cat door that now allows the door to room with the cat box to be kept closed. Thus leading to the disgusting conclusion that her habit of eating cat poop is what was making Berkeley fat

Churchill House Olive

2008-02-01T12:12:00.000-07:00

What the Color We Picked Looks Like on a Sample House

We are having a child in a few months, so it seems important to get a few projects that we will not have the time or money for once Amelia gets here. Number one on this list is repainting the house. Not the most sexy or exciting thing, but in places the paint is coming off in fist sized chunks leaving bare stucco exposed. So we are devoted part of out forthcoming tax refund to painting the house.

We, by which I mean K, has selected a color, Churchill House Olive. I am exciting because we will be the first none beige house on the block. The fact all the houses on block are beiege is made even worse by the fact that the houses dirrectly adjacent to ours also share an indentical design and floorplan. So we are striking a blow for inviduality.

Out House Now

Open Space

2008-01-28T16:04:00.000-07:00

One of the things that I enjoy most about my jobs is the site visits that I occasionally get to take to the more remote parts of the county. I love how wide open these places are, it is some how refreshing to be in a place so big and empty

Maybe This

2008-01-25T14:03:00.000-07:00

I kind of like how the outline looks with just the thicker lines

Tattoo Design Possibilities

2008-01-25T09:50:00.000-07:00

For Valentines Day I am going to get a tattoo, I finally squirled away enough loose change to make it happen. For over a year I have been set on the design below as the design for my next tattoo, however now I thinking about making a few tweaks to it.

This is the current design for my next tattoo. The 21 point sun represents the day I got married. The sun because it was the summer solstice. The 3 large points represent the year, 2003, the six larger points the month, June, and all 21 points the day, the 21st. I am not sure what will be in the rest of the design. The thing in the center is an old alchemy symbol for fusion. However I am not sure about the symbol in middle anymore. I am thinking about possibly simplifying the design a little bit

One possible way that I am thinking of changing it is just to make the entire design solid. I kind of like how it looks like this.

The other approach that I am thinking about is just getting the outline done, though with thicker lines. One advantage to this is that I could add things into the middle at later date.

I still have a few weeks to mull all this over, but man, am I excited. I have been wanting this tattoo badly for over a year.

Inga, Now Katrina

2008-01-10T13:02:00.000-07:00

I got an e-mail from the family that adopted Inga. She is looking really good, and is apparently fitting in very well in her new household. They also renamed her Katrina. I still like the name Inga. But there is something that is appropriate about naming a weimararaner after the most destructive hurricane ever.

Amelia

2007-12-29T11:54:00.000-07:00

Thursday we found out that we are having a girl. We have already decided to name her Amelia. K came up with this name a few weeks ago, and we both decided that we liked it. What we didn't know until we started telling family members of our name selection is that name Amelia has deep roots in my family.

When I told my grandmother what we planned on naming the baby, I found out that one of my great-grandmothers was named Amelia. Interestingly it was her husband, my great-grandfather that my parents named me after.

Talking to my parents I found out for the first that had my brother or I been born a girl, Amelia was on the short list of girls names that they were considering.

The fact that we unknowingly picked a name with so much family history, absolutely convinces me that we picked the right name. Now that my little girl to be has a name my impending fatherhood to be feel even more real, and that is exciting.

Amelia or Owen

2007-12-26T11:55:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow we will know. K has an appointment tomorrow morning at which we should find out the gender of our child. I am way more excited about this than I was for Christmas.

Inga Goes Home

2007-12-19T10:56:00.000-07:00

K and Inga

This weekend Inga's new family came down from Phoenix and picked her up. Inga found all this very exciting and when the time came for her to go she jumped into the waiting car with out even looking back.

It was amazing how far she came in two plus weeks that she stayed with us. Most notably she managed to pack 10 lbs, on to her emciated 39 lbs frame. Unfortuantley in order to this we had make a lot food avalible, something that Berkeley and Zack to full advatage of and they porked out, Zack is pushing 90 lbs. But even more amazing than Inga's physical recovery was how hew sweet personality emerged as came to feel safe, and how she quick and easily she integrated herself into our household.

A Full Couch

While I a very happy that Inga has gone to a great home, it is sad to see her go. She was such a great little dog. Berkeley ans Zack have been even sorry to her go, they had really accepted her as one of the pack. The cats however are estacic, they love the idea of the number weimaraners in the house going down. They must think Santa came early.
I

Inga and I

Through the Lettuce and Broccoli

2007-12-10T08:33:00.000-07:00

Lettuce Field

After talking about it for weeks I finally got off my butt yesterday and began training for my next marathon. I only went 12 miles because I had to knock off two months worth of rust. It was great to go for a long run again, a nice reminder of why I love to this. I was also reminded why I love winter down here. It was perfect running weather, in the high 50's and somewhat overcast. For a change running outdoors was brisk and refreshing.

This time of year the valley resembles a giant salad bowl. Between November and April 96% of the green vegetables eaten in the U.S. are grown here. One of the funniest things is how much the valley smells like a salad bowl this time of year. The broccoli fields in particular have a strong odor. This is not fun for K right now, one of the more bizarre side effects of here pregnancy is that the smell of green vegetable, which she used to love, now make her nauseous. This being case, she could not be pregnant in worse place or time. Fortunately the veggies smell does not make up onto the mesa where we live.

Broccoli Field

3 Weimaraners on a Futon

2007-12-02T12:40:00.001-07:00

All 3 Weimaraners

Last night the weimaraner rescue group sent around an e-mail profiling Inga and announcing that she was available for adoption. With in 12 hours three families had asked to adopt Inga. The rescue group has selected a nurse from Phoenix as the lucky person who gets to adopt her. I am currently awaiting a phone call from her so that we can set up the logistics. While I a thrilled that she has found a good home, it will be a little sad to give her up because she is so sweet, and fits in to our household so well. However with a baby on the way we really don't need a thrid weimaraner .

Sleepy Inga

Inga

2007-11-30T18:50:00.001-07:00

Inga Rests at Ease

Tonight I brought the rescue weim home from the vet. Even though ultimately we will be passing her on to a permanent home, I decided that she needed a name, so I have decided to call her Inga.

Inga Has a Bite to Eat

Aside from suffering bad bloody runny poop, a common sympton of stress in Weimeraners, she seems to be doing well. She has her appetite back, something she did not have at the shelter. Someone must of crate tranied her, because when she saw the bed in a crate that I had preapared for her she made a beeline for it. Berkeley and Zack are getting along just fine with her and house is a peaceful as a house with three Weimeraners in it can be.

Zack Checks Inga Out

Soon Inga will be off to the family that will love her forever, but I am going to enjoy having her around for a few days because she seems like a very sweet dog.

Poor Weim

2007-11-29T12:56:00.000-07:00

I have wound being the contact person of the Weimeraner rescue group for my county. Last night I got the following e-mail through Weimeraner recue group, from the local Human Society, the very heartbreaking picture, above, attached.

Sorry for this pic, but I wanted you to see her real situation. She is a stray about 18 mo and in heat. How ever there is more than that causing the blood and weight loss. I have a doc coming to see her and give me an opinion as to what the issues might be. However we can not treat serious issues, nor can we spay her or put her up for adoption. I have been on vacation and sadly,it has cost her in time. So sorry, can you help her? She is sweet and friendly, but is getting very sick. let me know.

This morning I got more e-mails, that painted a dire picture for the poor weim in question. It sounded like she pyometra, an serious medical emergency. So I worked with the rescue and my vet and set it up so I could pick up the weim at the humane society and rush it my vet for emergency care fortunately the weim rescue group has the resources to pay for the emergency care. So at about 10:00 I left work and headed down to the humane society. I steeled my self for the very real possibility that all I was going to be able to do for the poor dog was to take it more comfortable environment to be put down.

In the shadow of the Mexican border and adjacent to the sewage treatment plant, the local human society is a truly grim place. As I waited for them to bring her out, I was prepared for the worst. But when they brought her out I a began to have hope, because despite extremely emaciated and filthy her eyes still sparkled, her eyes brightened even further when realized that I was taking her away from the shelter. Still I have never seen an adult weim that small, she would weigh in 39 lbs. Berkeley my adult female weigh close to 80 lbs.

Happily at the vet had god new, besides being malnourished the only thing wrong with her was low grade infection. So currently she is getting spayed. After she has healed up, she will be heading off to the Phoenix area where the rescue group has lined a couple of prospective homes for her.

Sadly I am pretty sure that I know where this dog came from. Apparently she found very near my house. About a year ago I ran into a older women with a weim puppy. Seeing that that I had mine with she began asking me questions about the breed. She had now idea that they are extremely high energy breed. It is not uncommon for people who ignorant of the true nature of the Weimeraner to abandon them when they are about 18 months old when they have ceased being oh so cute puppies, and are no 50-80 of dog driven insane by a lack physical activity.

It chills my heart to think very likely that that seemingly sweet old lady who was doting on her cute little puppy that day would in 18 months abandon that same dog out in the desert. God people suck sometimes. I am just glad this story has a happy ending.

With Fingers and Everything

2007-11-27T17:58:00.000-07:00

K and I, went to the doctor again this afternoon. For the first time what they were showing us on the ultrasound really looked like a baby, with fingers and everything. We could see it waving its little arms around, and kick. It's little nose, ears, and eyes were evident. Then the they let us hear that heartbeat. What a profound moment, hearing the heart of my child beat for the first time. Wow

Next Marathon

2007-11-21T11:41:00.000-07:00

It has been more than a month since I ran the Long Beach Marathon. Since then aside from take the dogs on their twice daily runs I have not been doing much running. However I am starting to feel the itch to do long runs again. The weather has turned absolutely beautiful for running. The upper 60's are so much nicer for running than the upper 90's.

So I have decided to get ready for tomorrow's Thanksgiving feast by making myself hungry with resuming training for a marathon.

Have selected the Lost Dutchman Marathon in Apache Junction, AZ, as my next race. I have heard lots of good things about it, so I am excited.

Eat My Shorts

2007-11-15T11:50:00.000-07:00

Zack Snack

Three years ago one or dogs Zack got a sever case of bloat that resulted in emergency surgery to remove a 10" by 3" section of his stomach. He recovered well and leads a normal life, except for the fact that he now prone to upset stomachs. When he has an upset stomach he takes the advice of Bart Simpson literally and eats my shorts.

Zack apparently finds the consumption of amount of fabric to be soothing to his stomach. The picture above is of an old pair of my shorts the now make up part of Zack's bedding. It is his propensity to eat fabric that has resulted in Zack's bed now being composed of discarded clothing and old blankets. After he ate a multitude of holes in all the dog beds that we bought him, we figured that we might as well give him stuff that we don't care if he eats.

The Dogs Rest in Their Beds

Meander Blue

2007-11-12T17:27:00.001-07:00

The Soon to Be Nursery

Since I had the day off for Veterans Day, I decided to use the time to pain the room that is going to be the nursery. K chose all color called Meander Blue, despite this choice we still do not know the gender of the child. Of all home improvement tasks I think I loath painting the most. But, I managed to get the room paint with only a minimal level of difficulty, no major spill of foul-ups, so I will count that as a win.

Now that we are starting to put together a nursery, the whole impending fatherhood thing is starting to feel a little more real. My parents just bought us a crib for the nursery. K found it on Craigslist for a very outstanding price. Apparently it is some sort of ubercrib. All the fine details of it are lost on me. But K is very happy with it, so that makes me happy.

One of My Favorite Parts of the Nursery is the Nice View of Gila Mountains That it Has

Red Meat

2007-11-05T15:00:00.000-07:00

Today the doctor told K that the pregnancy has made her slightly anaemic. Her doctor told her that she needed to eat more red meat. This has be the most fun advice I have ever heard of anyone getting from a doctor. This overturns the prepregnancy advice she got from her doctor to eat much less red meat. So tonight's menu: juicy steak!

Fossil Dig

2007-10-28T18:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday K and I got to go on a fossil dig. The dig was part of a class from our local community that K is currently enrolled in. I tagged along because a fossil dig sounded like something really cool to do, and because someone had to gear all the stuff for the pregnant lady.

The dig was way out in one of the most remote parts of the desert about 20 miles northwest of where we live. The creature that is being dug up this site is an ancient miniature camel, that was about the size of a large dog. Apparently our barren desiccated corner of the world use to be home large herds of mini-camels who roamed across a marshy landscape.

The dig site was on the banks of the wash where rushing water from the rare storm cut down into the layer of rock containing the fossils. The whole looks exactly like how you would imagine a site for digging up fossils, except for the 500 kilovolt power lines running directly overhead. The air was filled with a sound that resembled crackling bacon. The rock that the fossils were in was very soft and could mostly just be pulled apart by hand.

Most of the fossils where just fragments and extremely hard to spot, at least for me. K seems to have much better eyes for this sort of thing. Of all the people there, she made the best find of the day, the end of femur bone still articulated with what ever bone the femur attaches to, and whose name I can’t recall. My best find was a toe bone.

It was a pretty good time. The only really negative was the heat, we had a unusually warm day and nearly broke 100. Needless to say, all us of us were pretty wilted by the end of the day. The other thing that is a shame is that we forgot to charge the camera so we have no pictures of the trip. Two weeks from now the class going to fossil on the beach in Mexico. We are not going that trip. A remote isolated beach in the middle of nowhere in Mexico seems like a bad place to take pregnant women.

More Fun Than a Barrel Full of Monkeys

2007-10-26T20:26:00.000-07:00

K's Halloween costume showed up in the mail today. A Barrel Full of Monkeys. That is so sweet!

A Heartbeat

2007-10-25T10:11:00.000-07:00

The whole becoming a father started to feel a little more real yesterday. K had her first appointment with the OB. All the news good, everything going exactly they way it should it this point and both her and out child are healthy. We had our assumption of a due date in very early June confirmed.

The really cool part of yesterday though was the sonogram. We got to see the baby's heartbeat, which was so cool. I am kind of blown away by the thought that I know have a child with a beating heart.

Go Rockies

2007-10-23T19:57:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow the Colorado Rockies play in the World Series for the first time and I am excited. To describe my self as a big baseball fan would be a lie, I can't not remember the last time a watched a baseball game start to finish devoting my full attention to the game, I enjoy a baseball game the most when it is on in the background while I do other things, this allows me to pay attention during the interesting parts and do other things during the copious dead time that baseball games are so full of.

However back when I was in elementary school/junior high I had a much greater love for baseball and followed closely. It was an exciting for baseball in Colorado, as in 1993, the summer before my 7th grade year the Colorado Rockies played there first year, and I like much of the rest of the state was swept in Rockies fever. One of the fondest memories I have from this era of my life was going to a game during their first month of existence at the old Mile High Stadium. They were beyond bad, but nobody cared and over 70,000 people, an unheard of attendance figure for baseball, packed the stadium.

As the years went by my interest in baseball slowly waned, the Rockies never got good, and I just have never found baseball to be interesting enough to follow that closely unless a team I liked was winning, and for better or worse the Rockies remained my team. Once I left Colorado, the Rockies and baseball fell even further into the background. However with there amazing feat of winning the last 21 out of 22 games which has vaulted them into the World Series, had brought them back into the forefront of my attention. Once again I am excited about the Rockies and baseball, if for no other reason than it reconnects me with the 13 year old version of my self who was so excited about baseball back in the spring of '93.

Wrap Up

2007-10-22T21:11:00.001-07:00

I took a while but the finally posted the pictures from last weeks marathon, so this good time to wrap the whole experience up. I didn't exactly get the time that I wanted but I still had a hell of a time.

The majority of the course ran along the water front in Long Beach, so the course is very scenic, with the high light being running along side the Queen Mary, which is now permanently moored in Long Beach. Not surprisingly for an event with the word "beach" in its title a good chunk of the race was actually run on a bike trail on the beach, which fit all the classic stereotypes of what a beach in Southern California should look like. I also got a kick out the fire boats which put on a display, as seen in the picture below.

One of the the things that I will remember most of about this race is actually the drive to the race. The night before the race K and I stayed with her father and grandmother in Santa Monica. Because she is a Southern California native and has one of the best sense of direction of anyone I have ever met, we decided it would be best if K drove us down to Long Beach. Apparently her pregnancy has robbed her her once vaunted sense of direction because we made the wrong turn and wound up about 20 miles north of where we should have been before we realized we were lost. I did manage to make it the start line about three minutes before the gun went off, however because I was at the back the huge number of people in the race it was another 10 minutes before the crowed thinned out enough to allow we to actually cross the starting line.

A lot of the last half of the marathon was run through a residential area. In couple of places younger kids had set up there own water stands, something that really made me smile. It also brought some really old memories, when I was about five there was a short-lived marathon that's course ran directly along the field behind the house we were living in at the time. I have hazy memories of standing on the balcony with my parents and watching all the runners go by. I remember peppering my parents with question about what where these people and doing and why would they want to run so far.

Another Tortoise

2007-10-18T10:06:00.000-07:00

Recently K got another baby deserter tortoise from the state fish and game department. This one is even younger and smaller than her first one, eventually it will grow to the size of dinner plate, but for now it easily fits within the palm of my hand. Her students has decided to name this tortoise Yoshi, in keeping with Super Mario themed names that have selected for her tortoises. However Yoshi is more commonly now by the nickname of “stupid.” This nickname is result of the nearly daily occurrence of Yoshi being found in the water dish, turned upside down. In the wild natural secretion would not be kind to Yoshi.

Post Race Analysis

2007-10-15T19:30:00.000-07:00

Above is chart showing the my minute/mile pace for each mile of yesterday's Long Beach Marathon, the data was obtained from my GPS unit. I finished with a time of 4:24, far from my goal of 3:55. As can be seen in the above graph I gradually slowed down for almost the entire race. In the 10 previous marathons I run, I have never had such a long gradual decline in speed.

The last marathon that I ran before this one, in Los Angeles, in March followed the typical pattern, I able to hold a relatively stable pace until about mile 20 when I hit the wall and my pace drops dramatically.

I guess all this goes to show, some times you start a race and you can immediately tell that "you got it" that day, and some day you know that it is just not going be your day. Yesterday was the later.

All this aside I still had a great time. When they make the pictures available I will write a post about the fun parts of the race, of which there was many.

Back From Long Beach

2007-10-14T19:48:00.000-07:00

Just got back from Long Beach, it was fun trip, the marathon was fun, but sadly my time absolutely sucked, I was about 25 minutes slower than I had planned on. Oh well, more details later.

Fired Up

2007-10-10T14:51:00.000-07:00

It is now only a few days until I run the Long Beach Marathon, and I am starting to get so excited. I always love the days leading up to a marathon. I love the anticipation that comes with almost doing something that you have spent months thinking about. I also love it because I get make an absolute glutton of my self. My goal right now is to cram as many calories down throat as possible in preparation for Sunday's race, which will burn off 3,000 calories in a few hours. This morning breakfast, 3 pork chops, 3 eggs, and yogurt. For lunch 2 packs of ramen noodles. Mmmmm, sweet gluttony.

Last Run Before Long Beach

2007-10-08T19:03:00.002-07:00

At the McPhaul Bridge

It is now less than a week until I run the Long Beach Marathon, so having today off for Columbus Day I put in my last training run, a leisurely 13 miler. So I decided to run up to one, one of the more bizarre local landmarks, the McPhaul Bridge.

Closed

The McPhaul Bridge is a suspension bridge that has been abandoned for decades. In its time it was no doubt an impressive structure, it was designed by the person who designed the Golden Gate Bridge. Now it stands decaying in the middle of nowhere the highway it once carried long since rerouted, and the river it spanned long since run dry.

The Gila Rive Has Long Since Run Dry

I am really excited about this Sunday's marathon. I think that I have a real chance for a PR. Also with a baby on thee way it is hard to say when I will have the time or money for a marathon. So it should be fun this weekend.

On the Bridge

Looking Good

2007-10-02T11:04:00.000-07:00

I am very pleased with how my little office desktop fish tank has tuned out. It is amazing that has only taken me about five weeks to get it to this point. It is really a soothing thing to have on my desk at work.

Anti-Climax

2007-09-30T08:38:00.000-07:00

So it has now been a few days since I found out that I am going to be father. While that is still tremendously exciting news, the immediate aftermath has been surprisingly anti-climatic. Despite receiving life changing news, life has continued more less in the groove that it has for the past couple of years. The big changes are still over the horizon, the only difference is that we now know for certain when this life changing events will arrive. Suddenly nine months seems like a very long period of time. On the other hand considering how much things are going to change it may not be enough time at all.

Cometh, The Stork

2007-09-27T17:32:00.000-07:00

K is pregnant! I am both happy and and a little overwhelmed. This is going to take a while before it becomes totally real. Very exciting though.

Waiting Is the Hardest Part

2007-09-26T12:39:00.000-07:00

Parts of the whole trying to have a baby thing are very fun, others not so much. Definitely in the not so much category is the waiting to see if success has been achieved. This is especially true when there are some signs the success possibly has been had. All this makes so difficult to focus at work. Hopefully there will be resolution soon.

Saturday Good, Sunday Bad

2007-09-24T10:58:00.000-07:00

The Canal Access Road

For the first time in ages, I had beautiful weather for running this Saturday, when I got for my run it was a wonderful feeling 65 out. During that night it a rained so at dawn when I left for my run, the whole world a pleasant cool damp feel to it. Compared to the scorching heat that I have been running it was pure paradise, and real reminder why I love running.

A Great Day For Running

I ran 20 miles on Saturday, which makes it my second 20 miler this month, now I have only one 20 miler left and my preparation for the Long Beach Marathon will be complete. I am starting to like my chances of setting a personal record this October.

12 Hours Later Blood Was Still Coming Through the Fingernail and the Band-Aid

As great as Saturday was, Sunday just sucked. The Broncos lost ugly which always puts me in a rotten mood. Then last night I absolutely crushed my index finger in the sliding glass patio door. I smashed it hard enough to split the finger nail at its base and send blood spurting out the hole. Then I made the unfortunate discovery that the urgent care center a mile from me closes at 7:00, and so I had to drive 12 miles into town. At least it is not broken, but damn, that hurt more than anything that I have done in years. Typing without using your index finger is a pain.

A Great Weekend

2007-09-17T09:16:00.000-07:00

Saturday night K and I went to see 3:10 to Yuma. We were impressed it was one of the best movies that we have see I a while. Great actions scenes with with an interesting enough plot to make the movie something other than a montage of actions a scenes. I have to say that I was greatly amused by the fact that they made movie with a premise of someone fighting to the death in order to be sent to the town I am living in. The prison (now a state park) referenced throughout the movie is less than I half mile from the theatre we watch the movie in. In the picture below it is the cluster of whitish building on the horizon.

The Levee

For this weeks long training run I decided to run the Colorado & Gila River Levee. Running on top of the levee caused me to flash back to my time in New Orleans. Back when I was graduate student at the University of New Orleans, I would very often spend pass the huge amount of time between my morning and night classes by running on the many levee running through New Orleans. Levee's are the idea place to run, they are flat, separate from traffic, surfaced with easy on the knees gravel, and are usually in a scenic areas.

On the Levee

Interestingly there was a time when the levee that I was running along would have marked the border between the United States and Mexico. Prior to the Gadsden Purchase, which was the addition to the continental United States the Gila River marked the boundary between the US and Mexico. As I was running it was an interesting mental exercise to picture how the area would be today if they Gila River still was the border. The key to long distance running is keeping the mind thinking about something other than how miserable your body is.

A Very Primitive Rest Stop

The run went very well, I knocked out 17 miles with no difficulty. I have little doubt that I will be ready for the Long Beach Marathon this October. I am starting to excited about it because it is now less than a month a way. I have not run in race since the Los Angeles Marathon last March, so the the itch to race is growing.

A Field Being Flood Irrigated

The first signs of fall are finally making there appearance. This morning when I woke up the temperature was below 70 for the first time in about four months, this morning run with the dogs felt wonderful. A further sign of fall was the number of fields I saw on my Sunday run being prepared for the this fall and winters lettuce crop. Soon the roads will be once again chocked with produce trucks.

Capping off a great weekend, was another nail biting Broncos victory. For the second weekend in a row the Broncos pulled off a victory in manner that I had never seen in 20 years of watching football. The Broncos choked away a big lead and the game went into over time where the Raiders appeared to hit the winning field goal. I saw this, and quickly made for the exit of the bar where I was watching the game, not wanting to hear the Raider fans celebrate. But as I was about to step out the door I noticed that the TV was showing the referee and not the Raiders celebrating. The Broncos had called a time out seconds before the kick, the Raiders would be forced to kick again, a kick they missed. Suddenly the gloom of seeing my favorite team loose to their hated rival, was replaced with the joy of having a second chance. A chance the Broncos capitalized on by driving down the field and kicking the winning field goal. What an ending, you can't find drama like that anywhere else on TV.

Agenda

2007-09-14T12:36:00.000-07:00

I am very excited about this weekend. The agenda is full of very fun things.

Tonight: A party in Mexico with K's former coworkers
Saturday: Another 20 mile run
Sunday: Broncos v. Raiders

Truly I live a good life.

Denver 15, Buffalo 14

2007-09-11T10:51:00.000-07:00

This Sunday’s last second Broncos win was a great reminder of why I love football. There is nothing better than watching your favorite team pull out a last second victory. No scripted drama is even as remotely compelling. Unlike other thing that you watch on TV the bad guys can and often do win in football. The suspense can not be recreated in scripted drama. People do not gather in bars to watch the latest episode of Law & Order. The surge of elation that I experienced when the ball sailed though the uprights is the drug that keeps me hopelessly addicted to football.

20 Miles

2007-09-08T19:14:00.000-07:00

A Pre-Dawn Start

This morning I finally go.t my 20 mile run in. I got up at 5:00 in order to avoid the worst of the heat. Unfortunately I got a rather slow start and did not actually leave the house until around 6:00. Still, the weather was a relatively pleasant 80 degrees. One new thing for the run was that I was trying a visor, I have never liked how they looked, but I was curious to see if they were any cooler than a regular hat. As it turns out they work great

Following the Tracks

I started the run by following the same route along the railroad tracks as I did last week. Because I started before it got light out, I did not feel comfortable running along the roads and the railroad tracks provide a nice look route that is separate from traffic.

A Burrowing Owl Takes Flight

While running along the tracks I came across one my favorite desert creatures, the burrowing owl. There is just something about the idea of a pocket sized owl that lives under ground the amuses me.

Through the Citrus Groves

It was a very successful run, the 20 miles went by as easy they could. Unfortunately the problems arose when I got home. When I got home I found a note on the door from K, saying that she had gone out looking for me. Apparently she though that I left right at 5:00, and such I was still not home an hour after I should have been. I did have a cell phone with me, but because it just barley charged I had off in order to save power for a situation where I would need it. Unfortunately it was K's cell, so I had no way of calling her and letting her know that I had made it home ok. So she was left to worriedly search for me while in actuality I was at home floating in the pool. I think we need a better system

Weekend

2007-09-07T10:10:00.000-07:00

This weekend I am doing my main training run on Saturday morning instead of Sunday. The Broncos game starts at 10:00 am on Sunday, and there is now way that I am letting anything interfere with my enjoyment of that. Saturday is also forecast to be slightly cooler. The forecast low is 79, this pretty sweet because it has been a while since I have seen the thermometer drop below 80. The route that I have selected is not particularly scenic or interesting, along the frontage road going into town. But it has the major advantage of having places to stop buy things to drink, which means that I won’t have to carry as much water which will be very nice.

The big excitement for this weekend is the start of NFL season. As ever I am optimistic about the Broncos chances this year. I am going to go down and watch the game at a sports bar with some friends, they are Packers fans, but I guess I can forgive for that. But, beer, football, and hot wings, the good life has returned. Now if the weather would just cool off.

Crown Betta

2007-09-05T12:43:00.000-07:00

I added to the seconf fish to my little office fish tank, a crown betta. I am really enjoying how he looks. I have always had a fascination for bettas, going back deep into my child. He makes a very nice desktop distraction.

Blueberry Oscar

2007-09-04T11:04:00.000-07:00

This weekend K and I went into a pet shop that we rarely go to. While there we noticed a really cool looking fish, it was labeled as a Blueberry Oscar. They were very cool looking, and on impulse we bought for her classroom aquarium, despite the fact we had never heard of this type of oscar before. Though I knew better than to buy a fish without research that type of fish before hand we bought it anyway. When I got home I googled "blueberry oscar" and found out the disturbing truth.

First of all there is no such thing as a blueberry oscar, it is simply an albino oscar that has been dyed blue. Even worse thhe dye process is very bad for the health of the fish and only last for a few months. Most fish that get dyed live short and stunted lives. I feel really bad for supporting such cruel activity out of ignorance. Hopefully K's oscar will beat the odds and live long life as a once again white oscar.

Postscript: Sadly a few days after writing this post, K's Blueberry oscar died. Hopefuly other will not make my mistake ans support such a cruel actvity

Back on Track, Along the Tracks

2007-09-03T13:25:00.001-07:00

The Run Started at the Crack of Dawn

Today was my first successful long run since I messed up my ankle about a month ago. I decided against going for the 20 miles which I had originally considered. Instead I decided on the more modest distance of 14 miles, since this run was successful I will jack it up 20 miles next week. In order to avoid the particularly brutal heat that we have been having lately I got up before dawn to start. Unfortunates because Arizona does not participate in daylight savings time, this required me getting up at 5:00. Also unfortunate is that avoiding the heat this time of year is also a relative term. It was 87 degrees at 5:00 this morning.

One of the Many Gullies Created by Saturdays Storm

On my run I was able to inspect some of the aftermath from Saturday night's violent storm. So how I totally slept through the entire thing but results were impressive. Below is some of the things that the local paper had to stay about it:

...after the weekend storm that ripped through town with hurricane-force winds gusting up to 84 mph...

...The storm dropped 1.79 inches of rain between 12:25 and 2 a.m., according to Accuweather. The area traditionally receives about 3.02 inches of rain annually...

It is to bad that I slept through the entire thing, it would have been cool to see. Impressive to me was the fact that more than 24 hours latter there was still some standing water. I have never seen anything like that around here. The soil, on the mesa at least, is pure sand, plus it was sunny and 115 yesterday, so the fact that there was still any standing water speaks to power of the storm.

Tamarisks and Railroad

I ran along the railroad service road which is one of my favorite places to run. One of the reason I like it is the thick screen of Tamarisks that railroad has planted, this is only predominantly shady runs in the area. The only problem is that Tamarisks are considered an extremely noxious weed. About two miles to the south, a major effort is being made to eradicate them along the river. Yet here, not only has the railroad planted them, they are maintaining them with an extensive irrigation system. That just seems a little messed up

Part of the Irrigation System for the Tamarisks

This weekend is the first of dove hunting season, and the hunters were out in force this morning. I was constantly being startled by the near by blast of shotguns. At times the firing was fast and furious. Fortunately I reached the city limits, where hunting is banned, before long.

One of the Dozens of Smashed Sega Dreamcasts

I came across a truly odd sight. Next to the railroad track I cam across dozens, maybe hundreds of smashed Sega Dreamcasts. The Sega Dreamcast was a failed competitor to the Sony Play Station 2 video game system. Why so many were smashed and strewn along about a quarter mile of track I will never know.

Apparently I Would Have to Wait Until I Got Home to Go for a Swim

The five miles of the run were far less pleasant than the first nine. Not only was the temperature starting to push triple digit, I left the mesa and went down into the valley. Usually this are is lush with crops. However this is one the few times of the year that the fields lay fallow and bear as the harvest of this summers cotton crop has mostly wrapped up, and the planting of the first of the lettuce crop has just barley begun. Add to this all the rain on Saturday night, and I would up running through five miles worth of steaming mudflats. Yuck, definitely not this area at its finest,

Through the Mudflats

It was a great run. I was able to confirm that I am still on track to compete in the Long Beach Marathon. I should be able to get 20 miles in next weekend, especially considering that high are supposed be about 10 degrees cooler than this weekends.

A Tortoise Mansion

2007-09-02T17:29:00.001-07:00

This week a mention my officemate that my wife had gotten a desert tortoise, he told me that he used to have a tortoise and that he still had a tortoise terrarium setup that we could have we wanted, because he no longer needed it. Today we went over to pick it up. It is virtual tortoise mansion, he gave us a 50 gallon aquarium and the necessary basking light, and a stand. Considering it would have cost us well over $100 to buy all this, it was an extremely generous gift. So now Baby Bowser, the name K's classes picked for the tortoise, has a spacious new home. Much nicer than his old 10 gallon aquarium.

Summer Holds On

2007-09-01T15:17:00.001-07:00

It is the 1st of Septemeber, the football season kicked off, it's Labor Day weekend, thing should be moving in autumnal direction. Unfortunately summer has really decided dig in its heals. I doubt that it is actually 128 degrees, that thermometer has always tended to read hot. However that is a high as I have ever seen it go, most likely the real temperature is closer to 120. Another indicator of how hot it is that the pool thermometer is reading 90 degrees. The fact that an unheated 8,000 gallon pool is at 90 degrees says a lot. I can't wait for fall to get here for real

Sunset Platty

2007-08-31T12:52:00.000-07:00

My new office fish tank is coming slowly, but nicely. I add so decorations, fallen Greek temple theme. I chose them simply because I already had them from years ago. I enjoy them because they remind me of those fun years back in Peoria. The bulbs I put are also progressing nicely, I think I need some more though. The aquarium will look much better once it is fully planted.

I also added the first fish on Monday, a Sunset Platy. I have always had a fondness for platties. I will probably round on the tank with a sword tail and some guppies. Unfortunately the number of kinds of fish that can be put in such a small tank is limited.

The Long Road to Long Beach

2007-08-30T10:18:00.000-07:00

The next marathon that I am going to run is Long Beach Marathon on October 15th. This seems like a very long way off, or it did until I realized that as of this weekend I only have 4 more weeks to train for it. The race is six weeks from this Sunday, however the last two weeks before a marathon are supposed to be spent resting, so this leaves me just four weeks for training.

Because I have not gotten a good training run since I twisted my ankle it time kick thing into high gear, come hell or high water. For all my previous 11 marathons I have only done one training run of 20+ miles prior to the race, for this one I want to see what happens if do more than one. Hopefully it will help me reach my goal finishing a Marathon in less than 3:45. So this weekend it is time to pound 20 miles.

K's Fish Tank

2007-08-27T16:37:00.000-07:00

Even though I started setting it up over a month ago, I have never posted any pictures of the 50 gallon aquarium that I have set up in K's classroom. It is coming along very nicely. We are filling it with chiclids, a type of fish that I have never done before. But so far it has all gone very smoothly.

The fish tank is a big hit with her students. Between the fish tank and the tortoise she is well on the way to having the "cool science" classroom that she has always wanted. Personally I am kind of jealous of her classroom aquarium, it turning out better than the one at home.

Tortise

2007-08-26T21:05:00.000-07:00

The Arizona Department of Fish & Game has a program that adopts out
desert tortoises . These tortoises are the offspring of previously captured tortoises that can not be returned to the wild. More than year ago K put her name on the list to adopt one these tortoises, with idea of getting on for her classroom. This week she got a call saying that they had a tortoise available for her.

So now we have a desert tortoise, well until we move out of state, he remains property of the state that must be returned if we move out of state. He does not have a name yet. K is conducting a competition in her classes to give him a name. Apparently he is a big hit among all her students. One of the elementary schools in town has constructed a desert tortoise habitat in their yard, K and her principal are talking about doing the same at K's school.

She brings the tortoise home over weekend, Cosmo my fat black cat it utterly mesmerized by the tortoise. He has spent hours this weekend with his nose pressed to the glass of the tortoise trying to figure what the hell the tortoise is.

Cut Short

2007-08-26T10:10:00.001-07:00

The Roadside was Absolutely Littered With Cotton

Originally this weekend I had intended to to a 20 mile training run. I was going to run all the way to the Proving Grounds and back. But I got a late start this morning and it was already 95 when I left the house at 8:00, so I decided to cut the run short, and just go up to the abandoned suspension bridge and back, and run of 13 miles.

Giant Bales of Cotton at the Cotton Gin

The cotton harvest has begun at road side was littered with mounds of cotton that had blown out of passing trucks. It looked like a nearby cotton ball factory had exploded. About three miles into my run, as I was passing the cotton gin, realized that I was not even going to be able to complete my shortened three mile run. The heat was probably well into in the triple disgits, my ankle, thanks to the brace was killing me. Because my next marathon is not until the middle of October I decided to call it quits and head for home.

Heading for Home

I has been a number of years since I have to cut a run this short and that is little frustrating. But, it is important to know when to call it quits. Fall can not get here fast enough, I have almost forgotten what it is like to run in pleasant temperatures. I can't wait for January where every day is sunny with a high in the low 70's.

Limpy McHobbles

2007-08-24T10:28:00.000-07:00

Last Monday Berkeley came in from the backyard with a very deep gash on one her back legs. It was deep enough that you could see the fascia that cover the muscle. This is third time she cut her self like this, we have no idea what she cutting her self on. She did the same thing in Louisiana, and our backyard now has items in common with that backyard.

Ever since she got this cut Berkeley has been walking around on three legs. Much to her disappointment this means she has been left out of all the runs this week. Fortunately it seems to be healing well and she is starting to put weight on it, but only when she thinks no one is watching. She loves to milk injuries for sympathy, attention and treats. With the lack of run, and the many sympathy treats she has gotten noticeably plumper. This weekend I will start running her again. She is dog with dozens of nicknames and she acquired a few more thanks to this incident. They include “Tripoda”, and “Limpy McHobbles.”

A Birthday Present

2007-08-23T10:12:00.000-07:00

Aside from the the beverage fridge the other present that K got me for my birthday was a little 5 gallon fish tank for my desk at work. After getting all the necessary permission to set it up I set it up last night after work. I am very excited about it, I think it is going to look very good, and gives me something to put in the corner of my desk that formerly did nothing but collect papers that should have just been thrown in the trash.

The frustrating thing about new fish tanks is how slowly the set up process goes. I will not be able to fish in there until Monday. It is hard to see in the pictures but I added some aquatic plant bulbs, it will take a few weeks for them to sprout and start to look. The entire set up will probably take about two months before every thing that will go in there is in there. I have learned through hard won experience that the price for being impatient is a lot of dead fish.

New Fridge

2007-08-19T20:26:00.001-07:00

Our Cluttered Pantry Where the Fridge Will Go

Lately for our birthdays K and have given each other gifts that improve the house. My birthday is coming up this week. I decided to get a new beverage fridge to to replace the one that I currently keep in the garage under the bench.

Getting the Fridge into the Pantry Required Trimming Back a Shelf

For years we have kept the beverage fridge out in the garage. This is a less than ideal set up for several reasons. First it is just inconvenient to have to go out the garage to get a cold drink. Second, our garage is not well ventilated or air conditioned. From May to September it stays about 100 degrees around the clock. It takes a lot power to keep a fridge cool in such in environment. By moving the beverage fridge into to the air conditioned house I hope to keep the power bill down a little

In Order to Ensure a Straight Cut a Installed a Temporary Guide Rail

The other advantage of doing this is that Krissy will be able to take our old beverage fridge into her new classroom, which apparently will be useful. I will however probably need to scrape the beer logo stickers off it before she puts it in her classroom.

Unfortunately I Was Unable to Get All the Way Through With the Circular Saw

The only place indoors that we could put that made any sense was the pantry. Unfortunately do this would require a little more work than just setting it where we wanted it and plugging it in.

What the Circular Saw Couldn't Reach I Had to Finish By Hand

I had to remove a chunk of the built in shelving in the pantry. This really was not a big deal because the shelves on the back wall are unusually deep. So deep that items often go missing within there depths.

The Hole

On of the great things about owning a home is that I can do things like saw a giant hole in pantry shelves I can do it. There is just something nice about being able to customize your home exactly the way you want it.

Adding a Leg to Support the Remaining Shelf

There is no outlet in pantry so the difficult part of this project was figuring out a way to get power to the fridge. I though about adding a plug into the pantry. However after getting a shock from a 220 volt power supply while working on the pool pump last summer I have lost my appatite for electrical projects. Fortunately I came a much simpler solution.

The Nearest Outlet is Above the Washer

The solution was to punch an extension cord through the wall into the adjacent laundry room. The trick would be doing it in a way that does not look totally trashy.

The Hole for the Power Cord to Pass Through

I came up with a way to run a cord through the wall with only make a small hole that would be easy to patch up when we eventually sell the house.

The Beheaded Extension Cord

In order to get the extension cord through the tiny hole I had to cut the head off it and the subsequently rewire it. This made me smile because in Junior High I once had project to make a how to video tape, a chose to show how to rewire a plug. The memory makes me smile because my brother Nate who was into videography at the time helped me film and made sure that I turned out real nice.

Threading the Cord Through the Wall

The difficult part of the operation was getting a cord through the very small hole in wall. Finlay I cam up with obvious solution of attaching the cord to a stiff lead made of wire coat hanger. Since we no longer go to the dry cleaner it was very hard find a wire coat hanger, fortunately there was one left in the house.

The Installed Plug

Moving the washer out the way to bring cord through I found a major treasure trove of missing socks, apparently when they go missing under the washer is one the places they go.

Rewiring the Plug

This project went very smoothly, a very surprising development. Almost inevitably when I do something like this I mess something up, and then have to come up with a creative solution to the problem I have caused.

The New Plug, Plugged In

Normally projects that I do come out functional but very inelegant. I am so pleased with this project in addition to working like it should it is not an eyesore. A major accomplishment for me.

Painting, the Final Step

Overall this turned to be a great birthday gift. I think it adds a lot to our house. I am already finding it nice to not go out to the garage to get something to drink.

The Final Product

Duke!

2007-08-19T10:02:00.000-07:00

Berkeley & Duke

This weekend Berkeley and Zack's best weimer pal Duke came to stay with us. All three dog had a fun but loud time. Although by the end Zack was starting to get a little grumpy as he grew concerned that Duke might never leave. One thing that this weeekend to prove is that two is perfect number of weimaraners, three is just too much dog.

One of the New Blushing Tetras

I continued the restocking of my aquarium, I got three blushing tetras. I had never heard of them before I saw them it PetsMart. It is always kind of exciting when I find something new for the aquarium. They survived the first night which good because it seems like if things are going to dies they will do it with in the first 24 hours. Duke was utterly fascinated by the aquarium, he would sit there and stare bugged eyed at it, occasionally snapping at a fish, I have never seen a dog entranced by a fish tank before, Duke is an odd one.

Weekend

2007-08-17T11:09:00.000-07:00

There are lots of sign of the arrival of fall that are cropping all over the place. School is starting up, Monday is K’s first day with students. Football is getting underway, the seemingly endless NFL preseason has begun. Serious talk has begun ad the pennant race in baseball. Halloween stuff if begining to crop up in stores. Unfortunately summer is not showing in the one place that I really desire to see it, the thermometer.

Despite these signs of fall, outside summer shows now sign of releasing the area from its vicious grip. Day after day the sun rises and thermometer being inevitable climb to 110 and beyond. By this time of year I have lost patience with this. I am so tires of the heat, I want to be able to open a window at night, not sweat through a shirt within 5 minutes when I go running, see people on the streets again, and not spend so much on air-conditioning. Sigh, it will be at least a month until things get noticeable cooler, and not until just before Halloween will the weather be what could be called pleasant.

Duke

It is going to be another three weimaraner weekend, but this time instead having a puppy over, we are watching Berkeley and Zack’s running buddy, Duke. Should be fun because all three dogs get along very well. It should however be a very loud weekend as there favorite game is to wildly chase each other around barking at the top their lungs.

We will probably also do something this weekend to celebrate my birthday, which is Tuesday. Hard to believe that I am going to be 28, how did I get so damn old? I am not sure what we are going to do, probably just something low key, most likely having a few people over for a BBQ.

According to my training schedule I am supposed to do a 20 miler this weekend. I am not sure yet if my ankle is up to this. It still a little tender from last Friday’s fall. It is improving pretty fast so I will probably just wait and see how it feels on Sunday morning.

A Rant

2007-08-14T10:40:00.000-07:00

Currently I am extremely irked by the American Institute of Certified Planners. The AICP is the organization that dose the professional certification for my profession, As of May I finally had worked long enough as a professional planner to qualify to take the AICP exam. The deadline for applying for the November AICP test is today, the application to take the exam is very extensive, consisting of eight very long a tedious essay questions about my professional planning experience. There is also a registration fee, but nowhere on there website did they mention how much the fee was, so I assumed it was a nominal fee.

This was a bad assumption, after spending over a total of ten hours working on the application, I hit submit, and a screen asking for my credit card information and $450 poped up. How infuriating they only tell you the price after you spent hours working on the application.

Sadly all this mean I have to wait another six months to take the AICP exam. I was not expecting it cost so much. When K and made a budget for the summer, during which she was not brining in any paychecks, we did not include an extra $450. So now I have to wait until May of 2008 to the exam. If I had a little advance warning of the price I would have been able to set aside the money for it.

If you are going to charge that much for exam at least be up front about it, don’t hide the true cost until the last minute. I guess this partially my fault for assuming a organization with professional certification organization would act in a professional manner

Blue Comes For a Vist

2007-08-12T11:44:00.000-07:00

Blue and Berkeley

Yesterday our former foster puppy now named Blue came over for a visit. She is looking very good, much less malnourished. She was so skinny when K rescued her about two weeks ago. She is clearly still making up for lost time as she hunted down and ate every scrap of food she could while she was over.

Berk Teaches Blue About the Joy of Dirty Dishes

All three dogs had a great, but very loud, time. We introduced Blue to the pool which both intrigued and frightened her at the same time. Berkeley finaly stoped seeing Blue as competition and began to have fun with her.

Tired

The end result of all this was some extremely tired dogs. This worked out well for us. Because of my twisted ankle Berkeley and Zack are not going to get to run for a while. Blue's visit provided a great outlet for a that weim energy. Though we don't have room or the time for a third dog, it is fun borrow someone else puppy for a few hours.

Damn It

2007-08-10T20:07:00.000-07:00

Tonight I suffered an injury for the first time in over five years of running. I took a bad step coming off a curb, and rolled my ankle completely under me, making matters worse the 240 lbs worth of dogs that I was running with kept going causing me take a dive face first into the asphalt.

I am currently icinig my ankle hoping that it won't swell to much. Damn it.

Quiet Weekend Ahead

2007-08-10T10:53:00.000-07:00

It looks like this weekend will be quite one, as of yet we have no plans for it. I even plan to throttle back the running slightly. The past three weekends I have been bumped my mileage up significantly, so I am going to take it relatively easy this weekend with a nice slow 13 miler to the abandoned suspension bridge.

I have already added something to my aquarium this week so I did not even the pleasure of looking forward to adding something to my aquarium. Another factor auguring towards a quite weekend is the fact that K has already informed me that she will be spending most of it working on homework. Sigh, I guess I will get something the things that I have been putting off for a while done, like cleaning out my pit of a garage.

Next weekend should be a lot more exciting we will be doing something to mark my birthday, though I don’t what yet. We will also be watching our friends weimaraner, so with three full grown weims in the house it should be chaos, which is actually kind of fun.