Summertime!

I don't care what the moon and sun tell us, Memorial Day marks the start of summer, and since Memorial Day is over, summer is here.

To celebrate summer, and since I had the day off, Carrie and I visited Fredericksburg, TX. I highly recommend a trip down to the hill country if you are just looking to get out and enjoy some down time. There isn't a whole lot to keep you entertained, so you might as well bring the wife and dog. That's what I did. On Sunday morning, we climbed enchanted rock. Again, I highly recommend a trip to Enchanted Rock State Park. Banjo and I got to the top of the rock, and Carrie got most of the way up there. She pooped out near the top. We ditched her and went to the top.

Then Sunday afternoon, I went and saw Darrell. Just so you know, D is good. He's got 3 great little girls.

Rants:

While in Fredericksburg, Carrie and went to eat at an upscale German restaurant (my favorite). As a reference, our plates were about $19 each. (for Fredericksburg, that is four stars). A table full of folks came and sat down right next to us. I had the Cheese Schnitzel and Carrie had some other sort of Schnitzel. The other table ordered as follows:

1. broiled skinless chicken breast
2. Grilled chicken salad
3. Chicken fried steak
4. cheeseburger

Why in the world visit the best German restaurant EVER and order this nonsense? Go to chili's, Friday's, Black Eyed Pea, etc. Why not go to Texas de Brazil and order a hot dog. Go to PF Changs and get yourself chicken fingers. I'll go to restaurants and see out of place food and ask, "who orders that?" I guess I now know, these folks from Fredericksburg.

Been a while

I think the shine on the blog has worn off a bit! Maybe once the kid comes and I'll have more time! Other things going on, I'm training for a marathon. I haven't actually signed up for the marathon, but I joined a running club to train for one.

Carrie is officially in her third trimester. Just 3 short months from now, and I'll have a little girl. Just to answer the usuals (August 18, Girl, Emily Kate, almost done). If you're not sure what this is, it is the answer to all of the questions that EVERYONE asks.

Ranting:

I was watching a comercial and the question of "ideal weight" came up, so I got to wondering what my ideal weight was. I'm 6ft. 4in. .....205lbs. Currently I'm just under 230, according to this website, I'm obese. Not big or "have a few to lose" but obese! Kinda harsh. Oh well, It's my own doing.

Which brings me to this. Anyone/everyone who is overweight (including me) can blame it on one thing. Laziness. McDonalds is easier than preparing a healthy meal. Sitting on the couch is easier than jogging. You always hear this nonsense about glands, big bones and slow metabolism. Fact is, people who eat right and excercise are the healthy ones. If you have the above conditions, it just gives you a steeper hill to climb, but it's climbable.

Maybe I'll get back to blogging, by the way, the "I'll have more time once I have a kid" was clearly a joke. Those that know me, should have caught that.

BW

Weekend Fun

Well another in-law weekend in the books. Normally, I would use these lines to take cheap shots at the in laws, but 1. It's an obvious joke and 2. I really had a good time.

What I don't understand is baby showers. Why do we feel like we have to throw baby showers? and wedding showers? How many times in life do we send out invitations to friends and family knowing that they'll feel obligated to buy a present? Birthdays, graduation (HS, College, Grad School), wedding shower, baby shower. All that said, we are certainly appreciative for all of the gifts, but for me it is awkward accepting them. I guess you just deposit the gifts in a "virtual bank", then withdraw when someone else has a birthday, graduation or shower.

While the women were showering, Carrie's uncle Dean, took me and her cousin Patrick golfing. What a great time! I can easily forget the frustration of my 108 on the golf course (just 46 strokes from the course record) and enjoy spending a great day outside. It didn't hurt that Dean hit a 110 - what a loser.

Got a lot more to say, but I got to keep it short, chances are the folks reading this have trouble with big words and four paragraphs represents a month of reading.

Week 23

We are at 23 weeks. Only 17 short weeks to go, then we'll have a baby! At this point it is still not entirely real. I think Carrie would say different, but with the exception of feeling a couple kicks and tip-toeing through an emotional minefield, not much has changed for me.

Rants:

I was advised to bring back more anger to the blog. So many targets so little motivation to type. I've got strong (and correct) opinions on so many things. Maybe I'll scatter shoot them:

1. A fan was kicked out of Yankee stadium for not being respectful during God Bless America.
2. Miss USA has been criticized for vocalizing her opinion on gay marriage.
3. Texas can secede.

#1 The rule at Yankee Stadium is that you stand respectfully and don't mill about during God Bless America. If you don't like the rules, don't pay to go to the game. I'm ignoring the flag waving American defense, and I'm ignoring the freedom of speech angle too. What is wrong with following the rules, or paying the consequences? If you break rules, expect punishment. There are millions of things that you are not allowed to do in Yankee Stadium. You can't smoke. If you smoke, you might get kicked out. You can't wear a giant Indian headdress, or you might get kicked out. You have to be respectful during God Bless America or you get kicked out! Quit acting like an idiot. Besides, the Yankees suck.

#2 How can someone's opinion be wrong? It's an opinion! She was asked what she thought of gay marriage and she gets criticized. That's just dumb! I am pretty sure the gay rights folks are big on open mindedness. To call someone names for answering a question honestly is about as close minded as you can get! Those silly gays need to be more accepting of other viewpoints!

#3 Kinda fun to think about, but this is dumb. I'm proud to be an American.

How much did I pay?

I just finished my tax returns for 2008. It is amazing how much of my daily pay goes to taxes. Take that federal number, add in the homeowners tax I pay, then add 8% of every dollar I spend for sales tax and you realize how much goes to the government. You pay 30-40% taxes before you get it, then you pay 8% as you spend it! WOW!

I know taxes are a sensative subject, because it immediately becomes political. I don't mind taxes, just make sure that they are being used prudently. It is also a very popular opinion that the rich should have their taxes raised. I'll go a step beyond that, they should pay the taxes they owe now. Three of Obama's cabinet appointees had tax evasion issues. THREE! They are all rich. If we raise their taxes, they'll just avoid the raises too. Daschle was the former senate majority leader (the ranking democrat in the senate, also a rich guy), and he owed $140,000 in back taxes. If he was an athlete or an actor, he might be in jail. Let's not raise taxes on the rich, let's collect the taxes they already owe!

Fact is, as long as their are a million tax laws and tax shelters, it creates enough confusion that the super smart tax geeks can "hide" money or blatantly cheat and claim ignorance. Dallas' own Ron Kirk chose the second option. Meanwhile, I'm digging through files of paper trying to find the amount of money Carrie received for jury duty. By the way, it was $6, and I reported $6 in income. The rich get the mine, the poor get the gold, and I get the shaft!

It's a girl.

Well, just as I predicted, Carrie and I are having a little girl. The first thing we are going to work with her on, is proper lady like behavior! When I asked the sonogram lady how sure she was about our girl, she showed me. "Here is one leg, and here is the other. I'm sure." They were at opposite ends of the screen. Apparently my girl was spread eagle in there. That will be focus #1, no more of that. I will either teach her to properly cross her legs or I will glue them crossed.

Carrie and I are very excited, now we are anxious to hold our little girl, and for goodness sakes, we don't have a name yet. I guess everyone feels like they have to ask the same questions as everyone else. Immediately after we announce that it is a girl, the next question is ALWAYS, "Do you have name picked out?" We've been pretty quick with information, and we will tell everyone when we decide the name. I'm sure by that time, the questions about the nursery will come. I just think that it is funny that almost everyone asks about the name, even the men where I work. What do they care? Most of them have never been to my house or met my wife. Why do they care about the name of my unborn child? They never asked for Carrie's name or my mom's name (also very important women in my life)

Enough baby stuff, I need to brag! Yesterday, I ran 7 miles in 69 minutes 54 seconds. That is a sub 10:00 minute/mile pace for 7 miles! My goal has always been to be able to maintain that pace, and yesterday the wind was strong, which never helps. I'm sure that there are many out there that can better that time, but I would say amongst 240lb. 35 year olds, I'm near the tops!

Check out the poll to the right!

Ouch

I am trying to get back into shape, but man I'm getting old. There was a day that I could play basketball all day, go to bed and play again the next. Now, I played on Thursday and today (Monday) is the first time that I can walk comfortably.

A friend a work told me that basketball is a jealous sport it won't allow you to play other sports. I laughed because he's an idiot, but in this particular case he was right. I have been trying to play basketball and jog. I got up to jogging 20 miles/week. Last week I could only go 4.5 miles because basketball knew I was cheating on it. This week, I've gone 5 miles, but I play on Thursday again. That might ruin me for the rest of the week.

I was really pleased with my performance on the court. I was able to score 27 pts. in a losing effort. (our team scored 39)

Rants:
How is it in this economy any business can afford to make their customers mad? I can think of one industry that has no concerns for their customers. Doctors! The last time I went to the doctor for me, I had to wait 1.5 hours to see the guy. Then, when he walked in, I unloaded on him at how unprofessional he was for not keeping a schedule. All doctors have the same excuse, "there was an emergency with another patient." This is genius because you can't argue. If there was truly an emergency, wouldn't they tell you when you checked in that the doctor is running behind due to an emergency. They won't because they don't care about you!

This brings me to the baby doctor this week. Carrie and I were supposed to find out the sex of the baby on Thursday. We set the appointment six weeks ago. The doctors office called yesterday to tell us that the lady that does the sonograms doesn't work on Thursdays. Do you think that this is something that they could have figured out in five weeks. Better yet, maybe they could keep a collection days and dates separated out into little boxes. I have a couple of these, I call them a calendar. They are good for tracking off days and dates. Now I'm fairly smart, but not doctor smart, and I already figured this out. Wonder if they will figure this out. Nobody tell them to see how long it takes.

Fact is, we are powerless versus the doctors. There are only a few that accept our insurance and are close and are seeing patients this week. They don't need you and they don't need me, and they act like it! I wish we shopped for doctor's like we shop for cars or houses, but we don't. Work gives us a list of approved doctors and we find the closest one to the house and never change. They know we will just take it where they shove it...now I got to check my list for a proctologist.