Archive for the ‘Life as we know it’ Category

• Updated info

  Date: 2009.12.29 | Category: wedding | Response: 0

  I’ve updated the Wedding Information page with some new information. There is a contact form if you have any questions and don’t have my email address. I’ll respond as quick as I can.

• My uneducated view

  Date: 2009.12.23 | Category: Life as we know it, ahh the news, rants | Response: 0

  I’m 15 pages deep into Economics 201 I don’t know near enough to figure out what has and hasn’t work in our economy in the past few years. I’m sure that with one to two more years of study I still won’t know enough to figure it out. What I do know is that the “talking heads” on our 24hr news stations surely can’t grasp a problem as large as the one we face. There are simply too many variables involved. Normative economic principle (how people should behave) and positive economic principle (how people will behave) both come into play. How many people have put off spending money because of the “economy”? How many of these people are salaried and haven’t seen a drop in their income nor an increase in their cost of living? Why would they stop spending at their normal rate (unless they decide to pursue a different monetary goal)?

  Questions like these are why I love economics – huge, broad, expansive questions with long detailed answers – answers that we may not get correct. Sure, our policy makers are educated and their advisors often have PhD’s in their respective fields but the problem is simply massive. By the time we’ve collected and analyzed all of the data the situation will have surely changed.

  Look at the weather, for example, how often have we been told that that the mean temperature on our planet is rising. How much bizarre weather have we all experienced in the past few years? Isn’t it strange that Seattle had its warmest and driest summer ever but is experiencing one of its coldest winters so far? Our climate, much like the economy, is a massive system with millions of variables. To think that we can figure out what is causing it and “solve” the problem completely is ridiculous. I think that we can find solutions that will improve our situation but I doubt we can “stop” the warming like we can stop our cars in front of a stop sign. It’s simply too big. If we ALL changed – today – forever – we could start a gradual change in both the economy and in our climate. Without everyone involved its simply going to take time.

  Wait a minute? I remember a speech from our President shortly after he came into office saying that it would take some time for our economy to recover. Hmmm… good advisers? Wise choice of words? Absolutely! Recent indicators show that we are on our way out of this hole that we have dug – we’re not out of the woods yet but we’re headed into the right direction.

  Just my two cents.

• Havoc in our day

  Date: 2009.12.18 | Category: Life as we know it, family | Response: 0

  Havoc – general destruction, devastation, desolation or wasting. In our case, its a little puppy that hasn’t destroyed anything as of yet. She does have a nose for socks and she always seems to find them. They can be off the floor but if we leave her unwatched for a minute or two she’ll come out with one. It’s like “hey, look what I found!”
  

  
  
  

  Jessica likes the puppy

  
  
  Puppy training is not without issues but it does help to be down to two dogs. She picks up alot from Duke and that certainly helps us out. Hopefully she doesn’t pick up any of his bad habits. She is crate trained (miraculously) but house training is still going to take some more time. Yesterday, for example, she woke up from a nap to follow us to the basement. When she got to the laundry room where we were standing she decided she had to pee. There was no warning – simply, I’ve got to pee. Great.
  
  
  

  They like each other

  
  

  She and Duke get along great – when I went to the back yard I found them snoozing in the same dog house. She follows him practically everywhere he goes. For the first week she slept in the same dog kennel with him and she snuggled right up to him. Now that she is in her own kennel I no longer get to sleep in. As soon as my alarm goes off she reminds me that she has a small bladder and that she needs to go outside. Reminding me is a good thing – not pooping on the floor is a good thing – and I’ll grudgingly take her out early in the morning as long as the arrangement continues.
  

  
  
  

  She really likes Duke

• Aaaand we’re done

  Date: 2009.11.28 | Category: Life as we know it, family | Response: 0

  We both overate but we survived the day and nobody got any food poisoning. The smoked turkey turned out quite well and was a hit – a few people overlooked Jessica’s contribution until I pointed it out. They realized their error in logic and quickly told Jessica how much they liked her version.

  Jessica and I had to do some early morning shopping because we aren’t made of money and we had to get a few good deals. We did our research and found the best deal was at Best Buy. They were going to hand out vouchers starting at 3AM. We arrived at 130AM to find a line that was at least a hundred deep. We were quite cold but we persevered and got what we wanted.

  I’ve been trying to do my best impersonation of Clark Griswold. As it stands, out house is the only one with Christmas lights… and we have a bunch of them all over the house. I’ve got a few more strands to place and I need to fix the extension cords but its mostly complete. We’ll shop the clearance sales and buy as much as we can so that next year gets slightly more comical. I love putting lights on the house – I really like watching people slow down to see how ridiculous it looks. I’ll try and get some pictures up later.

• Time will tell

  Date: 2009.11.11 | Category: Life as we know it, family, work | Response: 1

  Due to the federal holiday I am not required to be at work so I’ve got a few things planned. I’m heading to an animal shelter to check out a dog that needs a home. We’re hoping that we can provide that home. We’ll see how it goes in time. They want all other dogs to meet the one you’re planning on adopting. This is no big deal – the big deal is that the shelter is over an hour away. So, if for some reason it doesn’t work out Duke is going to have a long and boring day in the car ahead of him. I’ve got a few other “projects” that require my time. Unfortunately, its little too cold outside to finish one or two of them. I have the appropriate clothing but a specific temperature range is required to finish something. If it warms up before noon I’ll be in business. If not, well, time will tell.

  Jessica, on the other hand, is at work today and wishes she could be with me. On top of that, she didn’t wake up at the right time this morning so she is working on a massive energy drink. I hope that her heart doesn’t explode at some point.

• Halloween

  Date: 2009.11.03 | Category: Life as we know it, family | Response: 0

  Our 2nd annual Halloween party was another smashing success. Almost everyone that came to drink ended up getting smashed. Jessica’s entire family showed up this year complete with an RV to make Joe’s costume seem that much more authentic. (see the photo below and think of Chevy Chase movies) We have a bunch of leftover beer and I’m not sure that I can get through it all by the time I leave at the end of this year. I’m just glad that we didn’t run out.

  

  The beer choices weren’t particularly good because we decided to go with recession inspired beer choices – everything had to come in a can. The choices were Coors Light, Keystone Light, MGD, Busch Light, Olympia, Schmidt, PBR, Miller High Life, and my favorite Hamms. All were bottom end beers but it didn’t hamper anyones view of the party. As with last year, I was amazed at how quickly our house filled to capacity. We need a bigger place if we keep on throwing parties like this. It was a blast and Jessica can’t wait until next year – I can – we still haven’t got the place cleaned up.

• It only took me 9 years

  Date: 2009.10.04 | Category: Life as we know it | Response: 0

  For nine years I have been sporadically working on acquiring a single piece of paper. As of Thursday, I have finally earned my associates degree. While I don’t technically have the degree because they only award them twice a year and I’m in the middle of the window I still have all the required credits. I can only hope that the the remaining credits that are needed for a bachelors degree don’t take another nine years to attain.

• f(x)=-1(4x-4)^2+3

  Date: 2009.09.23 | Category: Life as we know it | Response: 0

  I’m in my final math class for my associates degree and the equation above makes perfect sense to me. As a self proclaimed hater of math I somehow enjoy knowing what that equation means. I can actually visualize the graph of that parabola. I actually enjoy this class enough that I am going to take the next one in the series. Sure, its freshman level college algebra but I understand it – and – I think I’m proud of myself.

  I’ll be done with the second math class before I deploy at the end of the year so the timing is going to work out quite well. Before I leave I’ll be sure to register for a few online classes and try and knock out as many credits as I can while I’m deployed. I should have “oodles” of free time on my hands so I might as well be productive. I doubt that I’ll move on to calculus but I know that I will take statistics. Hooray for school! Hooray for learning!

• Carl Needs a Home

  Date: 2009.09.19 | Category: Life as we know it | Response: 0

  We went out to lunch today and when we came home I found a new face in our driveway. It was a Border Collie mix who was hanging out with our dogs by the fence. I quickly closed the gate and attempted to grab him. He was reluctant to be caught but after about 25 minutes John and I were able to grab him. We didn’t want him running out onto the busy street so I put a leash on him and just hung out with him for a little bit. John got on the phone with the vet to see if they did micro chip scanning. I tried to give him some water and cookies but he wasn’t interested. He had a collar on but no ID at all. His collar was hanging off of him so I adjusted it and he didn’t seem to mind. He was very sweet and knew basic commands so I figured he was someones pet. I called him Carl.

  We went to the vet and they scanned him but couldn’t find anything. He was about 45lbs, intact, and covered in fleas so we purchased some advantage flea killer and applied it right away. John and I talked about it and we came to the decision that we wouldn’t be able to keep him ( for many various reasons) so we decided to take him to the Humane Society.

  While we were there we saw quite a few people bringing in stray cats, one other stray dog, and a woman with a lab. This is the reason I HATE going to the humane society. This woman was in her mid 50s and the dog was 22 months old. The dog was friendly with people and the other dogs that were in there. She was dropping him off because she didn’t want to deal with him anymore…. I started to cry right then and there. John was trying to be nice but I’m sure he thought I was going crazy. Why would you get a pet if you had no intention of meeting it’s basic needs? Why would you get a pet if it’s a hassle to feed it, play with it, or keep it’s environment habitable? I was so upset. It’s not fair for animals who get really shitty owners. I’m sure the lab “Captain”  will find a great home maybe with kids who will throw the ball all day for him but it just makes me sad.

  So we left “Carl” as I called him at the shelter. I just checked the humane society website and saw that they have him up there under lost pets already. I hope that he clears all of his tests and finds a nice family. I hope I saved his life and gave  him a chance for a good home. Good luck Carl!

  http://www.thehumanesociety.org/pet_seekers_strays.php

• Feeling a little bit restless

  Date: 2009.09.09 | Category: Life as we know it, family | Response: 0

  On Saturday I woke up feeling like death warmed over. Jessica started feeling like garbage on Sunday morning. Since that time, we haven’t been able to do much. Sure, we scrounge for some food and leave the house to get the necessary supplies but we have to trade turns with the walker/shopping cart that we both cling to for support. We’re both fairly active people and having the stamina of a half drowned cow is really starting to get on our nerves. We may have all of the ambition in the world but we don’t have the strength to get anything done. When was the last time you felt winded when you went to get your mail? (If you’re over the age of 65 that question doesn’t apply.)

  We went to lunch (courtesy of Jessica’s parents) and slept for most of the day. Yes, that’s about as exciting as it has been around here. We were planning on a BBQ but we postponed until the quarantine has been lifted. My sister is headed out next week so I can only hope that we rid ourselves of the funk – my sister would probably hold it against me if she flew across the country and I ended getting her sick. She doesn’t like to be sick – and I don’t want to die.