Sunday, April 30, 2006

Food adventures

Tonight I had grilled Salmon that John made. It was soooo good (because John's a good cook) that I had seconds and thirds.

That should make Splatt & Katie happy.

Friday, April 28, 2006

Babysitting (life in Cali continues)

I'm not sure what purpose it serves to have single men watch little kids. At one moment, it gives you a yearning to get married and have one or 5 of your own. The next moment you are reminded how out of shape you are and how you are struggling to keep up. This of course is followed by the moment where the kids starts screaming and you have absolutely no idea how to get her to shut up.

Yesterday, Sis did a daring thing and left O to the care of Father and I (Papa & Uncle Sean, respectively) . Let's first state that Papa is a very old man (Nearly 60) and so he has a tendency to leave Uncle Sean to tend to O. This would be a little more scary if it wasn't for the fact that Sis took Uncle Sean and Papa & O on a few activities on Wednesday as kind of preppers to Thursday's trial by fire in babysitting.

I haven't babysat in about 15 years. I wasn't a girl, so no one called me up to babysit alot as a kid and add to that I was sick a lot. So yesterday was quite the experience for me.

O, Papa & I went to the park first. Lake Elizabeth is a huge park in Central Fremont where there is a big lake, a bunch of over plump geese, ducks, and pigeons and of course a few sand lots with metal & plastic play ground equipment.
For some reason, I got the joy of playing with O on all the equipment. (Papa went and sat, then layed, then napped on the grass in the shade.) Smethimes, O will ask you to go down the slide before after or with her.
Lesson #1: Lose weight before you have kids. I had a hard time getting my big butt down those enclosed slides. Often times I'd get stuck half way down and need to quickly lose 15 pounds to get down the chute.
O loves playing on the swings. Lesson #2: Don't stand in front of a 2 year old when she is on a swing. I wanted to watch her facial expressions. Instead I got kicked n the mouth by a flayling 2 year old.

We did a few other things at the park like run, talk to water fowl, talk to strange men, kids and other people, Hop, waddle like a duck, etc.

Next we came home for snack. Too many options can be a bad thing. I layed out her snack/dinner items and asked her to choose. In a true momnt of eyes bigger than the stomach, she chose them all and then chose none of them. So I took them all away and chose oranges and cheese sticks to be chased down her throat with yogurt. This satisfied her.
Lesson # 3: Know how to peel an orange. O kept saying "More Orange Uncle Sean" while I was over at the counter trying to figure out how to peel it and then how to cut it. We'll add that one to another adventure in food.

Then came the time to entertain O for about 2 hours until the "get ready for bed" time appeared. With out the internet, I have the hardest time entertaining myself, let alone a 2 year old. In addition, Papa's condo was not made fo a two year old. So we listened to music (Papa kept trying to get O to listen to soft rock, but at home O listens to alternative. Needless to say, O wasn't as entertained.)

At about 7pm John & Uncle Sean took O on a walk (while Papa once again neglected his duties and went to the toilet instead for some personal time).
Lesson #4: Know where you are going ahead of time. We accidently ended up at an elementary school with play ground equipment. This was supposed to be a leiury walk to prepare us for bed time but O got a little excited to be at the "park".

We got back at about 7:30. On our way back, O needed to hold on to Uncle John's and Uncle Sean's hands. To help get her across the street in a hurry, we did a thing where we said "1, 2, 3, jump!" and John an I would pull O into the air by her arms. (I'm praying at this point that childrens' arm sockets are really strong by age two or we might have done some serious harm to O.
Lesson # 4: Don't start what you aren't willing to continue. O really enjoyed having her arms almost pulled out of their sockets. So she would call from below "1, 2, 3, jum!" and expect us to fly her through the air. This got tiring after a while.

We got home and it was time to get ready for bed. I told O to go find Papa and get a diaper change and get her pajamas on. While Papa took care of that, John and I went out side to show him the stuff in my truck going toward a yard sale John is having (Sort of). We come back to the Condo to hear Papa asking for scotch tape. Papa hasn't changed a diaper in an awfully long time and so needed scotch tape to tape up the sides of O's new diaper.

Next are Pajamas. This is follwed by the DVD. O purposely does not have a lot of TV in her life. But she is allowed to watch a little bit before bed. (Also, Uncle Sean made O a DVD that O can watch in the mornings, some times). On her night time DVD is a Disney show called "Charlie and Lola." This is British cartoon played on the disney channel. O came and sat on my lap and watched, totally transfixed on the TV. After two episodes it was time for crib. O gave Uncle John a kiss and then Papa a kiss and it was off to crib.

Lesson #5: Don't look in. John and I were going to go see a friend so Papa was going to stay home while O slept. 15 minutes after putting her down, I went in to see how she was. She's laying in her crib and looks up to see me. She was all settled in and now was wide awake again. Doh!.

I'm very proud to announce, I didn't kill the kid. But at times it was very nerve wracking being a parent for a day.

Monday, April 24, 2006

My life in Central CA

I left Rexburg at 10am on Thursday. By the time i made it to Reno, I wasn't tired so I just kept driving. I made it to Fremont in 15 hours. This gave me time on Friday to start sorting my life.

I'm happy to say I've changed. I'm not who I was when I left. This has allowed me to go through my storage stuff fairly quickly. I look at where I was at 2 years ago; What my priorities were. And I see I'm not that guy any more. I've matured. I've moved on. I've lost some friends. I've gained some friends. I've grown spiritually and mentally. And I'm seeing this all in my sorting of my life. In case you haven't reached this point in your life - it's a good feeling.

Monday, April 17, 2006

Guilty by Species

Before I get too far into todays blog, I'd just like to state how much I hate Idaho weather. After 2 weeks of 60 degree weather, it started snowing last night at 1am and snowed until noon after dropping 6 inches of heavey wet snow. As I write this (3:45) it is starting to snow again.

Now onto todays blog. I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am, I'm not a bear. You may have read over the weekend about the poor 6 year old that was killed by a bear. This act of nature (a hungary bear coming out of hibernation and eating the first thing it sees is natural) was followed by a bear hunt. It didn't take long before a bear was caught and shot.

According to my hunter co-workers - it's actually not that hard to catch a bear. We sell bear bait at my grocery store which is a mixture of turkey, pork, steak, and lamb scraps. Hunters stuff portions of this tapestry of dead animal in a pouch and hang it from a tree. Dumb bears (Honestly how smart do you need to be to figure out that a turkey, a pig, and a cow did not all die in the same spot and then hang them selves in a tree in a pouch.) come along and start to eat the contents when a hidden hunter rifles a bullet into the hungery bear's head.

This is exactly what happened over the weekend. However there is a catch to today's story. The bears that Idahoians kill are killed for food or trophies. The bear killed over the weekend was killed because he was guilty by species. The officials aren't sure whether he was the bear that killed the little girl or if he was just some random bear. If he's the bear that killed that little girl, then the hunt ends there. But if he was just some random bear, then the hunt goes on until it is determined that the human killing bear is dead.

I am almost positive that I would be an unlucky bear. I would come out from hibernation thinking "I got to get myself a woman a some dinner." Smelling the scents of a hot hairy beauty bear, I'd wonder over into that area of the forest. Once there, I'd smell that hodge podge of meat and think "Pork, lamb, turckey and beef? Jackpot!" And just as I stretched my head up to taste it, I'd get shot. All because I was following the beautiful smells of a hottie girlie bear. I am so happy I'm not a bear. I may hate dating, but at least I don't get shot for it. It's better to be a human than a bear.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Another purpose

I have found a need to add another purpose to this blog. It is to report on weird things that happen in Idaho as reported by me and others. Tonights account comes from Charles:

"I was woking the other day in Broulim's and was observing a reset of some shelves in an aisle. One of the men working on the shelves had bent over to look at a leg that needed adjusting and his pants went into plumber mode, if you know what I mean, and he had some substantial cleavage showing. That would be bad enough, but an old, I assume a farmer, walked up behind him and inserted his finger in his cleavage. Yes, I know that is a disturbing image, but imagine if it happened to you. I think I would need some therapy. Just seeing it disturbed me greatly."

i won an IPOD

Okay, technically, I didn't win it. My dad won it. Well - Guess that's not technically true either. In January my father was at a computer and media conference in Las Vegas. While he was there he ventured into the Tivo booth and entered a contest for a FREE Tivo. He won.

Tivo sent my father a $300 Tivo box. My father doesn't even have cable. He get's only the local channels and only really watches Amazing Race. I do have cable, but for the most part, the only time I watch TV is when my roommates leave it on. I'd rather be on my computer. So father decided to send the $300 one to my Brother, and have brother send me the one brother already has that is a bit out dated. However, after much discussion, brother decided to keep both. At this point - brother and I are just fine. But sis and dad decided that I needed to share some how in the winning prize. So father told brother to send me a check. Brother asked for a suggested total and I suggested 5 cents. This only frustrated sister and father. So I agreed to accept up to $100.

Breaking from the story for a second, in March of 2005, while living in Oregon, my cd player in my truck died. The radio still works and the aux inlet still works, but it won't play CD's. So for all of my trips I'm stuck listening to the radio or playing CD's on a portable player using the Aux inlet (and they usually skip). Knowing that I have a 16 hour trip coming in just 1 week (Woohoo!!) I was pondering what to do with those areas of Nevada that get no radio. About the time I was pondering this - two signifigant events happened:

1. I got a $100 check from Sis.
2. They fired one of my co-workers for being a jerk and doubled my hours.

So I decided to buy an IPOD. I see them everywhere on campus and in town. Two of my roommates own them. So I bought a cheap IPOD Shuffle. Shipping was free (It came from China, to Alaska, to Tennessee to my Rexburg doorstep - all in 4 days) and tax was $4.00. So it cost me $103 total, minus my Tivo money - A IPOD for just $3.00. Awesome.

Now I can cross the Sierras with no listening hassles. Woohoo. I just love winning.

Thursday, April 6, 2006

There are somethings money can't buy. For every thing else, there is Mastercard

Trip to the Massage Therapist who first discovered the lump: $20 for 50 minutes (paid cash)
Trip to the doctor's office where it was decided there was really a lump there that didn't belong: $6 (paid cash)
Trip to get my hair cut to get my mind off of my hospital appointment in 90 minutes: $3.99 (paid with my Visa)
Trip to the Hospital's Ultrasound department to look for a lump: $244.50 (80% of which is paid by my insurance, the rest with my Mastercard Debit card)

Knowing that the lump is a usual lymph node and that there are no abnoralities or masses in my neck: Priceless.

Sunday, April 2, 2006

And for Sean's health we turn to...

...Bob and Fred.

Bob - So Sean has had really good health for this semester up till this past week, where three seperate events had happened.

Fred - Starting on Wednesday Sean started to have chest pain. It was radiating from his right lunk just below his peck (or in other words - Sean's right manboob was hurting.).

Bob - How did Sean fix this?

Fred - He took an easy at work on Thursday and Friday and didn't do a whole lot out side work.

Bob - Next?

Fred - Sean had a hiatel hernia reaction Friday night/Saturday morning where he ended up throwing up. Yippee!

Bob - How did he fix that?

Fred - Rice and water. Oh, and took the day off of work.

Bob - And lastly?

Fred - This last one is odd. Sean has a new massage therapist. $20 for 50 minutes and she is as good as Sean's favorite massage therapist Kim. Hannah (which is a favorite girl name of Sean) found a lump in Sean's neck. Sean can't find it.

Bob - A lump? That sounds serious.

Fred - Hannah found it two weeks ago and mentioned it this past week. She says it's not growing and is fairly small, but thought she would mention it.

Bob - Is Sean doing something about this?

Fred - Sean's next appointment is on Tuesday. He is going to schedule a Doc appointment for two hours after the massage. While getting massaged, Sean's going to have Hannah mark the lump with a marker. Then he'll go to the doc and ask.

Bob - Is Sean worried?

Fred - Not really. He's a little annoyed if this interupts his trip to Cali, but beyond that - no - not really. He can't find the lump in his neck, so it must be really small. Sean assumes it is a lymph node of some sort. Sean has had a few of these removed in the past (lumps & Lymph nodes).

Bob - Well - Alrighty then. No worries.