Friday, January 30, 2009
01/31/2009: Baby Update
Will keep this one brief. In about 6 weeks we'll know the sex of the baby. Stay tuned, TV land, stay tuned!
01/31/2009: Home improvement confessions of a perfectionist...
Okay, I'll admit it. I'm a perfectionist. And wouldn't you know, sometimes that makes life difficult. That's not to say I'm perfect. Far from it as a matter of fact. Just ask Mary :). But that doesn't stop me from trying to apply those ideals to many different aspects of my life. I could go on about this for days and we might need a therapist couch, but tonight we'll stick to the topic of home improvement.
Since moving into our house in July of 2006 we've undertaken a number of projects. We renovated the kitchen our first year as well as refurbished our two master bedroom walk-in closets. We added a wooden fence for the benefit of containing our two favorite puppies and then followed that up with a new sprinkler system and a backyard of new sod. I've spent a good amount of time outside trying to get the better of so many different species of plants, trees, and assorted shrubbery. Last year I tackled a limited guest bathroom remodel. What started out as a desire to simply update a vanity turned into something a bit larger, with drywall work, new plumbing, baseboards, and my redoing the tile floor. And we won't talk about the general painting, arranging, and other tasks associated with trying to make a house a home.
It's funny how, when buying a house, you tend to overlook all of the "projects" that will inevitably come with the purchase. Or short of that, perhaps you downplay them, either in terms of effort, cost, time required, etc. You're just happy to have a home, someplace to hang your hat. But the projects do come. Sometimes you take them on yourself. Other times you realize that you're really not a skilled contractor. Then they take longer than you expected. And they cost more. But it's worth it in the end, right? RIGHT???
Forward to the present - I'm sitting in the living room looking at a mattress/box spring set leaning up against our couch. There's a car carrier sitting to my right by the front window. A small chest of drawers rests near the kitchen on a small furniture dolly. Home Depot and Lowes receipts litter the dining room table. Our refrigerator is sitting in the middle of the kitchen, having been pulled away from the wall so I could investigate the cause of leaking water. Walk into the master bedroom and, short of a bed in the center of the room, you'd be hard-pressed to know it was a bedroom. Three roomfuls of possessions lie against every available wall, organized yes, but still indicative of that state known as chaos. Some of you were at our house not too long ago and may remember that it looked nothing like this. Oh but things change quickly...
Late last year I decided to redo my office. Somewhat outdated with 70's style baseboards and extremely worn carpet, I wanted something a little nicer, especially since I was spending so much time working from home. Then, with the discovery that a baby was on the way, we decided to redo the guest bedroom as well, turning it into a baby's room. For a brief moment I had planned to tackle these tasks by myself and had even scheduled a week of vacation expressly for this purpose. Fortunately I was saved from home improvement purgatory when my vacation was canceled and I was sent to Mexico for a project. Ask Mary, I can be good at some of the small things and am fairly handy around the house. But the larger a project, the longer it can take me. I'm good at taking things apart and great at starting projects. But sometimes my attention wanes or perhaps I get distracted by a newer project. Or worse yet I get frustrated by an inability to achieve the level of perfection I expect of myself. You think that sounds bad, you should try working with me professionally!
Well, the contractor is almost done with the two rooms and I think things look much better than they did before. Give me a couple of days to move furniture back and perhaps things will start looking normal again. Oh, but I do crave normalcy! But then, did I mention that, having now redone two of the rooms, we are considering redoing the flooring throughout the rest of the house?
It's funny. By the time we move from Austin in 3-4 years, we'll probably have redone the whole bloody place! I sure hope the next family likes it!
Since moving into our house in July of 2006 we've undertaken a number of projects. We renovated the kitchen our first year as well as refurbished our two master bedroom walk-in closets. We added a wooden fence for the benefit of containing our two favorite puppies and then followed that up with a new sprinkler system and a backyard of new sod. I've spent a good amount of time outside trying to get the better of so many different species of plants, trees, and assorted shrubbery. Last year I tackled a limited guest bathroom remodel. What started out as a desire to simply update a vanity turned into something a bit larger, with drywall work, new plumbing, baseboards, and my redoing the tile floor. And we won't talk about the general painting, arranging, and other tasks associated with trying to make a house a home.
It's funny how, when buying a house, you tend to overlook all of the "projects" that will inevitably come with the purchase. Or short of that, perhaps you downplay them, either in terms of effort, cost, time required, etc. You're just happy to have a home, someplace to hang your hat. But the projects do come. Sometimes you take them on yourself. Other times you realize that you're really not a skilled contractor. Then they take longer than you expected. And they cost more. But it's worth it in the end, right? RIGHT???
Forward to the present - I'm sitting in the living room looking at a mattress/box spring set leaning up against our couch. There's a car carrier sitting to my right by the front window. A small chest of drawers rests near the kitchen on a small furniture dolly. Home Depot and Lowes receipts litter the dining room table. Our refrigerator is sitting in the middle of the kitchen, having been pulled away from the wall so I could investigate the cause of leaking water. Walk into the master bedroom and, short of a bed in the center of the room, you'd be hard-pressed to know it was a bedroom. Three roomfuls of possessions lie against every available wall, organized yes, but still indicative of that state known as chaos. Some of you were at our house not too long ago and may remember that it looked nothing like this. Oh but things change quickly...
Late last year I decided to redo my office. Somewhat outdated with 70's style baseboards and extremely worn carpet, I wanted something a little nicer, especially since I was spending so much time working from home. Then, with the discovery that a baby was on the way, we decided to redo the guest bedroom as well, turning it into a baby's room. For a brief moment I had planned to tackle these tasks by myself and had even scheduled a week of vacation expressly for this purpose. Fortunately I was saved from home improvement purgatory when my vacation was canceled and I was sent to Mexico for a project. Ask Mary, I can be good at some of the small things and am fairly handy around the house. But the larger a project, the longer it can take me. I'm good at taking things apart and great at starting projects. But sometimes my attention wanes or perhaps I get distracted by a newer project. Or worse yet I get frustrated by an inability to achieve the level of perfection I expect of myself. You think that sounds bad, you should try working with me professionally!
Well, the contractor is almost done with the two rooms and I think things look much better than they did before. Give me a couple of days to move furniture back and perhaps things will start looking normal again. Oh, but I do crave normalcy! But then, did I mention that, having now redone two of the rooms, we are considering redoing the flooring throughout the rest of the house?
It's funny. By the time we move from Austin in 3-4 years, we'll probably have redone the whole bloody place! I sure hope the next family likes it!
Monday, January 5, 2009
01/05/2009: The Holidays & Baby's First Present
Happy New Year! Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!
I'm sitting here watching Ohio State play Texas (a much closer game than I think anyone would have thought, at least through the first half) and was thinking it might be a good time to update the blog. That, and our friend Margaret reminded me that an update was overdue ;-). Oh, before I forget - be sure to look for me on TV this Thursday while watching the BCS National Championship game. My seat is pretty crappy, but maybe I'll get some sympathy TV time! Alas, Mary won't be joining me - as she says, for what the ticket cost, she's not that into football... Go Gators!!!
This year Mary and I stayed home for Christmas as my parents, brother, and their 13 year-old Cairn terrier (Brandi) came to visit us for a week. It was definitely nice not traveling and I think that will be one of the plusses about having a baby (one of many). People will have to come to us, at least for a little while. Overall we had a nice visit. We played some golf, went out to see a couple of movies, ate too much, and sat around discussing religion as often as my parents could work it into the conversation (They're Baptist, for anyone following along at home.). Oh, and just so it is immortalized for all time, please note that I finally managed to beat my father at golf. It may have taken me 32 years, but I did it!
Okay, so you guys are probably more interested in hearing about baby-related things. New Year's Eve, Mary and I decided to drive over to our neighborhood Subaru dealer and see what sort of year-end specials they might have. Our current car is older ('95) and we've been wanting something with a few more safety features. Our choices are kind of limited, as we have to consider both of the dogs as well as a baby. You might think they could all sit in the same seat, but Riley's a licker and I'm not sure the baby would enjoy that. Or maybe the baby would, but I'm sure we'd get some strange looks from people. We both agreed that minivans are out, at least for now and I wasn't all that interested in another station wagon. We'd heard a lot about the Subaru brand and pretty much anyone we talked to about them had only positive things to say. To make a long story long, we got a good deal on a 2009 Forester (we liked the look of the redesigned Forester better than the existing 2008 and earlier models) and so ended up making a purchase. Baby's first real present, and boy was it a doozy!
Next big project - working on the baby's room. We're excited!
-
I'm sitting here watching Ohio State play Texas (a much closer game than I think anyone would have thought, at least through the first half) and was thinking it might be a good time to update the blog. That, and our friend Margaret reminded me that an update was overdue ;-). Oh, before I forget - be sure to look for me on TV this Thursday while watching the BCS National Championship game. My seat is pretty crappy, but maybe I'll get some sympathy TV time! Alas, Mary won't be joining me - as she says, for what the ticket cost, she's not that into football... Go Gators!!!
This year Mary and I stayed home for Christmas as my parents, brother, and their 13 year-old Cairn terrier (Brandi) came to visit us for a week. It was definitely nice not traveling and I think that will be one of the plusses about having a baby (one of many). People will have to come to us, at least for a little while. Overall we had a nice visit. We played some golf, went out to see a couple of movies, ate too much, and sat around discussing religion as often as my parents could work it into the conversation (They're Baptist, for anyone following along at home.). Oh, and just so it is immortalized for all time, please note that I finally managed to beat my father at golf. It may have taken me 32 years, but I did it!
Okay, so you guys are probably more interested in hearing about baby-related things. New Year's Eve, Mary and I decided to drive over to our neighborhood Subaru dealer and see what sort of year-end specials they might have. Our current car is older ('95) and we've been wanting something with a few more safety features. Our choices are kind of limited, as we have to consider both of the dogs as well as a baby. You might think they could all sit in the same seat, but Riley's a licker and I'm not sure the baby would enjoy that. Or maybe the baby would, but I'm sure we'd get some strange looks from people. We both agreed that minivans are out, at least for now and I wasn't all that interested in another station wagon. We'd heard a lot about the Subaru brand and pretty much anyone we talked to about them had only positive things to say. To make a long story long, we got a good deal on a 2009 Forester (we liked the look of the redesigned Forester better than the existing 2008 and earlier models) and so ended up making a purchase. Baby's first real present, and boy was it a doozy!
Next big project - working on the baby's room. We're excited!
-
Thursday, December 18, 2008
12/18/2008: Christmas Letter - 2008
For anyone who didn't receive our annual Christmas letter, but who'd still like to know about things happening from the past year...
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2008 – A Year in Review
Sitting on a plane as Mary and I fly to Maryland for my company’s annual holiday party (which is when I tend to write these letters), I realize that yet another year has come and gone, and quite quickly at that. A lot has happened in the past year so let’s get right into it. Owing to my usual style, I’ll be sure to use as many words as possible!
2008 wasn’t a bad year for Mary in terms of school. She finished her second year of graduate school at Texas in May and then spent a good bit of the summer studying for her comprehensive exams in August. When I say “comprehensive”, I mean just that - two days of essay exams at eight hours apiece. And they are important. Without passing them you can’t go on to the next part of the program, your dissertation. She was allowed to bring in whatever supporting materials she wanted, but with no idea what questions would be asked, the outcome was anything but certain. Mary is a good student however. She studied hard and it showed. Her grades were among the highest you can get. All she has to do now is write her dissertation and how hard can that be? I’m thinking three, four more years, tops…
Talking about Texas makes me think of college football, where another season is sadly drawing to an end. While Mary isn’t the biggest college football fan, we still have a deal. Owing to her Baton Rouge roots and my love of the Florida Gators, either LSU or Florida is supposed to go to the National Championship to represent the SEC. And by golly, it’s worked the past two years (sorry, Ohio State). So with LSU’s unfortunate collapse this season (They gave up 30 points to Troy!), it looks like it is Florida’s turn again. With a pretty solid performance against Alabama in the SEC championship game, Florida is off to Miami for a game against Oklahoma on 01/08/2009. And yes, I’ll be there. I missed our victory against Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl two years ago and don’t want to miss this game. Hopefully I’ve picked the right year to go! For my Texas friends, let me just say that I think Texas should be our opponent instead of Oklahoma, but we’ll leave that to the pundits to debate. Go Gators!
No major trips to report this year, nothing as exciting as Alaska, that’s for sure. But there have been a number of smaller ones worth mentioning. [1] I managed to get in my annual golf trip with the boys, Dave, Dave, and Chuck. This year we descended upon south Florida, Miami and Key West. I even got to see my good friend Ligia and her family, though it was only for about 10 minutes at a rest area (as we traveled the Florida Turnpike in opposite directions). [2] Mary countered with a trip to Phoenix to visit a good friend from high school, Karen. Her trip was pretty exciting, visiting Flagstaff, the Grand Canyon, even Sedona. Rumor has it she was really there [Sedona] to be vetted as a potential vice president for John McCain, but I guess Sarah Palin was just the stronger candidate. Oh well, maybe 2012... [3] I managed a trip to North Carolina to visit my friends Dave, Ashley, and their son Matthew. [4] We both made it to Maryland on several occasions, a good friend’s wedding as well as my company’s holiday party. [5] We enjoyed a great trip to Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving, spent with Mary’s mom, her brother Charles and his girlfriend, Katie. Charles and Katie are quite the chefs and we enjoyed a terrific Thanksgiving meal, topped off with chocolate pecan pie and pumpkin spice cupcakes! [6] Mary’s on her way to Washington, DC for another friend’s wedding at the end of December. Fortunately, we won’t have to travel for Christmas this year – my parents and brother are actually coming to us. Christmas in Austin – now that has quite the ring to it…
Speaking of Austin, we continue to enjoy our lives here. We’ve grown more comfortable with the church we’re attending and have made several friends within the young adults group there. Mary continues to enjoy the music scene and we’ve made it to a number of concerts over the past year. Mary’s mother even came in from Baton Rouge to attend a Ben Folds concert with us in October. I continue to putter around the house, though it’s debatable whether I’m making things better or worse. We finally got the new sprinkler system in last year, along with a back yard full of sod. That has paid tremendous dividends, as evidenced by the many pictures we have of Annie and Riley rolling around in the grass. I also recently began a remodeling project in the guest bedroom and office, though that was sort of put on hold when my vacation was canceled due to a last minute business trip to Mexico. And while some of you might laugh, yes, it gets a notable mention here; single-stream recycling was introduced in Austin this October and I like it! Now you can almost recycle anything, which further enhances Austin’s reputation as one of the greenest cities in the country. I don’t know where we’ll end up when Mary eventually graduates, but hopefully it will be a place as nice as Austin!
One final note before we adjourn for those who may not yet know… We’re expanding the family in the New Year, thinking that Annie and Riley could really use a playmate. They’re each about two years old now so it’s probably a good time. Of course there is a lot to consider when making a decision like this - another mouth to feed, toys, medical bills, a new bed and other furniture (this one might just get its own room). We’re very excited and think Annie and Riley will welcome the new addition, scheduled to arrive sometime in late July 2009. And no, we’re not talking about getting a new dog… ;-)
We hope you have enjoyed the last year as much as we have and that you have a wonderful Christmas! Best wishes for health, happiness, and prosperity in the New Year!
Merry Christmas!!
Monday, December 15, 2008
12/15/2008: Ultrasound picture
Nothing fancy about this post. Just thought I'd upload an ultrasound picture. This is from December 8th, when we were able to get confirmation of a heartbeat. Must be pretty exciting to be inside a uterus. Baby's heart rate is approximately 140 bpm. Photogenic little kid, wouldn't you say? So the baby is identified by the arrow. Inside the same sac-like structure is also a little circle (upper right). This is how the baby gets its nutrition. Interesting...
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
12/09/2008: Now how did THAT happen?
Just about 3 weeks ago I was in Mexico on business, teaching a PeopleSoft training class to a small group of folks. It was a Friday morning and we were getting ready to start when I noticed an e-mail from my wife. "Call me ASAP!" it said. Not sure what could be wrong, I picked up the phone and called home.
"I'm pregnant!" Mary said.
Let me back up a second. Mary and I have been married for about two and a half years. We've talked about having children and only recently, very recently, did we sort of start trying. I say "sort of" because we weren't trying all that aggressively. We had warmed to the idea of adding to our family, outside of the two puppies we already treat as children, but weren't sure when would be the best time. Mary's getting ready to start her dissertation, I still have to travel for work more often than I would like and then there is the eternal question - "Is anyone ever really 'ready' to have children?" Let's just say it turned out to be a bit easier than we expected. And while we were and still are nervous about the entire concept of parenthood, we're excited!
Question - does this constitute a "life-changing" event. ;-)
Well, enough for my first blog post ever. More to come as we hopefully do a better job of documenting our lives for those of you interested in following along. For now, mark your calendars - July 26, 2009. It's coming...
"I'm pregnant!" Mary said.
Let me back up a second. Mary and I have been married for about two and a half years. We've talked about having children and only recently, very recently, did we sort of start trying. I say "sort of" because we weren't trying all that aggressively. We had warmed to the idea of adding to our family, outside of the two puppies we already treat as children, but weren't sure when would be the best time. Mary's getting ready to start her dissertation, I still have to travel for work more often than I would like and then there is the eternal question - "Is anyone ever really 'ready' to have children?" Let's just say it turned out to be a bit easier than we expected. And while we were and still are nervous about the entire concept of parenthood, we're excited!
Question - does this constitute a "life-changing" event. ;-)
Well, enough for my first blog post ever. More to come as we hopefully do a better job of documenting our lives for those of you interested in following along. For now, mark your calendars - July 26, 2009. It's coming...
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