My interpretation of what some pessimists claim is reality
I liked last weekend's weather better...
Labels: me
I must have blinked...
...because somehow I missed Spring. I was cold just a couple of days ago and now it's 90 °F outside:
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Spring: Sun...and grass mowing
The epic battle between Man and what passes in our house as grass continues for another year. Taking advantage of warm temperatures I took the mower out of hibernation. I underestimated the April sun and got a little sun burned. Not much happening at the moment. World revolves around the kids, so there is no spare time. Here are the mandatory kid pictures:
On that note I am going to bed.
Labels: Connor, me, Tyler, Xander
Where I bemoan the limited availability of short-grain rice in the US
One of the staples of my childhood was milkrice. Not to be confused with rice pudding, it is short-grain rice cooked in milk & sugar and served either hot or cold, with either fruit or sugar & cinnamon. I wanted to pass down that experience to the next generation, but to my dismay I discovered that it is virtually impossible to easily obtain short-grain rice in the US (Amazon.com has some Thai sticky rice, but I am not sure it is the same). Thanks to a
German deli in TX I was able to order some instant milkrice, the regular variant having been sold out. But after confirming that at least Xander likes it, I was able to get a shipment from good old Germany, thanks to his Grandma.
Labels: me, rant
2009? Already?
Whatever happened to 2008? Anyway:
HAPPY NEW YEAR
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We're baaack
Due to a billing disagreement between my hosting service and myself the site was offline for a few days. The problem was resolved within 3 minutes (yeah!!), I spent 10 times longer on hold (boo!!). Back to our regular scheduled programming.
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Daywalker again
After 4 weeks of working on 3rd shift (midnight - 8 AM) I will be walking among the living again starting tomorrow. While it wasn't that bad sleep schedule-wise, I didn't like being out of sync 8-16 hours with the rest of the company.
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Tyler's first 2 weeks
Tyler is performing according to spec: sleeping, pooping & eating, with some crying in between . His 2 weeks doctor visit has him surpassing his birth weight by 4 oz (now 10 lb 8.5 oz) putting him into the 90th percentile for weight and 85th for height.
Not getting much sleep these days which is exacerbated by the fact that I am back to work for a week now and on 3rd shift for a while (I hope).
Labels: me, Tyler
Life sucker
This morning at 7:05 AM
1 Calvin (who has the ability to suck the life out of us) entered our life - and I am not talking about Sch:TNG III - yet :-). Instead we got a new a
La-Z-boy recliner, replacing a 5 year old model that has been worn down by too many cats in this house. With the departure of two thirds of the cat population it made sense to replace it. Lisa has dibs on it, being like 12 months pregnant and all, but eventually I might be able to sink into its plush, yet lumbar supporting embrace.
1Yes, they delivered at 7:00 AM on Memorial Day. Can't blame them since I asked for it :-)
Labels: me
Auf Wiedersehen (the Heidi Klum way)
My arrival in suburban hell was completed this weekend when we went out and traded in my 2001 VW Jetta 1.8T and bought a 2008 Toyota Sienna to take its place. With the imminent arrival of Sch:TNG III (more about this hopefully soon) there was no way we could have used my old car to transport the herd of Schuetz kids in case our other van was not available. I am actually at peace with the change and am enjoying the new car smell.
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should have been more precise when I taught my kids sharing
So now it's my turn to swallow antibiotics for the next 10 days as I have officially a sinus infection. My face feels like it would like to fall off and tying my shoes is now an unpleasant undertaking. I hope I feel better soon, because in this house you have to be faster than the kids :-).
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Antibiotics are great
We took Connor to the doctor on Monday after
the weekend that wasn't. Turns out he had both a sinus and ear infection. After just a day on Amoxillin he was much better, but it took him until yesterday to get his appetite back. Xander was OK on Monday, but by Wednesday he had the same thing. He's been on antibiotics since, but he still is not back to his old self. At least they are sleeping through the night now.
It seems to be my turn now as my sinuses are filled with that neon green stuff :-(.
Labels: Connor, me, Xander
Another weekend that wasn't
Seems like the sole purpose of weekends these days is to make me happy to go back to work on Mondays. Connor got home Friday with a fever which spiked during the night. His absolute refusal to take any medication didn't help and his cough kept him awake most of the night - and myself, since I spent the night in the chair next to the couch. Saturday to Sunday wasn't much better - even though we forced Tylenol down his throat - which of course stopped working in the middle of the night and we had another delirious 3-year old on our hands. Xander seems to become sick as well and from that pattern it is only a matter of hours before I get sick too - in fact, my throat is hurting already. So this entire weekend can be filed under the category "Sucked".
Did I mention it was my b-day, too? The big 4-0. Whatever
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10 years
Seems like it was just yesterday, but today is the 10
th anniversary of my move to the US. No big celebration, because I just noticed it :-).
Also, Xander is teething, Connor isn't feeling up to snuff as well, so our nights can only be described as short.
Labels: Connor, me, Xander
Taking me somewhere a long, long time ago
Gary Gygax died this week. This on says it all:
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Dilbert love gene present
I am an engineer, therefore I love
Dilbert. I now express that love openly by putting the
Dilbert widget into my blog.
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The other Marcus Schuetz
I always wondered why a lot of traffic to my blog came from people in China googling for my name. After all, I've never been to China, nor do I really know that many Chinese. Yesterday I got an email obviously not meant for me that gave the necessary clue to solve this riddle: turns out there is another Marcus Schuetz floating around and he can be found
here on the web and physically in Hong Kong.
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Big, Fat & Happy
We took Xander to his 4 month doctor's appointment this past weekend. With 18 lb 2.5 oz. & 25 1/4 inches (for the rest of the world: 8235 g & 64 cm) he is a big, fat & happy kid - at least he was happy until he got the 4 shots. The good news is that 5 minutes later he was back to happy.
My cherished piece of wonderful engineering is taunting me again with a check engine light that for the past month comes on for a week, then goes off, just to come back a couple of weeks later and then to go off again. I had it read for free and it tells me that one bank is running lean. According to the lazyweb that means either vacuum leak, oxygen sensor or mass air flow sensor ( $, $$ or $$$ respectively). It's probably time for a new car, but I guess I am waiting for the new Diesels coming out later this year.
Labels: me, Xander
Rant of the day
The rant of the day courtesy of the US Postal Service. Their tracking system is worse than useless, they should be ashamed to actually offer this so called service especially compared to he great job Fedex/UPS/DHL are doing in that area. Case in point: I sent certified first class mail on 7/6. Today the only information available is that the letter was accepted at the post office that day - nothing else. So what is the point?
Not much new otherwise, except that the Jetta (another object of pride (NOT!!), this time for German engineering) needed new coil springs and shocks after one of them broke, causing a disconcerting CLONK sound from the back when turning.
Labels: me, rant
No, I haven't given up on blogging
I am taking advantage of a favorable constellation of the 4
th of July holiday combined with a free Friday (my current employer has a pilot program where you work 9 hours Mon-Thu and you get every other Friday off) to get myself a 5 day weekend. Not doing anything exciting, just running errands and trying to get back into a workout routine. Though I also should clean up the basement.
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Severe blogging slowdown
The reasons for the severe slowdown in my blogging activities are threefold:
- Xander
- Connor
- Work, Lisa and the body's annoying habit of needing sleep.
Nothing will change anytime soon. In the meantime, suffice o say that nothing extremely important (and therefore blogworthy) has happened.
Labels: Connor, me, Xander
Crackberry goodness
Because my current employer does not allow camera phones on its premises, my 6 month old Blackberry Pearl was staying in the car for the last few months. Since it doesn't do me much good there I got myself the Blackberry 8800, camera-less and with QWERTY-keyboard and with GPS. Even though I read otherwise somewhere Google Maps is working with the internal GPS and updating the position continously
Labels: me
16 miles
Almost 3 week after I got my new bicycle the stars finally aligned to yield the right combination of time and good weather and I went out for a ride. Now I haven't ridden a bike in more than 10 years so I probably overdid it with 16 miles for the trip. My muscles will most likely tell me tomorrow.
Labels: me
The value of sleep
Having a newborn makes you appreciate sleep much more. Xander turned 3 weeks yesterday and last night he not only slept for 4 hours straight at night, but also took a nap this morning with me for 2 more hours. As a result I am feeling much less like a zombie today.
The Apple store informed me that my iMac shipped, so I should get it by Monday.
Labels: computer, me, Xander
It's my birthday
Just one more year until the big 40. Between Xander and Connor not much time to celebrate but tomorrow Lisa and I will go out for dinner alone for the first time in forever.
For my birthday I got myself a
bicycle and I finally took the first step to cut the cord to the PC by ordering a 20"
iMac. It should be here by early next week.
Labels: computer, me
Post where I complain that the day is only 24 hours long
Things are moving a a neck breaking pace at the Schuetz house - or so it seems: the basement has been finished a few weeks ago and we immediately we tackled the next project. What was at first supposed to be the nursery for #2 son turned out to be Connor's next room. I spent the last couple of weeks priming & painting walls, chair railings and crown moldings, as well as putting up borders. Connor's new room is Mickey Mouse themed and I got Mickey Mouse outlet & switch covers off ebay. Today we had new carpet installed in the two kid's bedrooms and I assembled the last IKEA furniture. There is still a huge amount of junk flying around the house and time is running out to get everything done before the baby makes its appearance. We were scheduled to go to the hospital next Friday, but it could be that we have to go even earlier.
In health news, Steve has not made an appearance in several weeks. I am getting a new CT done this week and next week a doctor will tell me if Elvis has left the building or is still with me.
Labels: me, Xander
W-2s, 1099s
It was tax time at the Schuetz house this weekend. With Taxcut it took me just 2 hours and the verdict is: owe federal, state refund, overall a wash.
Thanks to carpet, the basement now looks like a room. Just a few touch-ups and its done.
Labels: me
MS Money is still evil
I might have mentioned
before that I am not really a fan of Microsoft Money, but I gave Quicken a shot and liked it even less, so I went back into the M$ Money hell. Now running Money 2006 I was bitten by a several year old bug that duplicated bills in my forecast, without any way to delete them. Going back to a several day old backup made Money forget about online services for some accounts, forcing me to re-enter the information. SO far i've heard no compelling reason to update to 2007. M$ should pay me for the time I spend recovering from their bugs.
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Been there, now done it
Today was pretty much a replay of last Sunday: kidney stone acting up, percocet giving relief at first, but the second one made me nauseous and this time I puked. Good times. Not feeling terribly happy right now.
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Percocet makes you want to puke
As a follow up to my last post, while Percocet did a good job getting me through the pain, the side effect was that I felt like puking for the rest of the day AND it did keep me up all night. You just can't win :-(.
Labels: me
Percocet is your friend
With an x-ray of my abdomen in hand I went to the doctor this week to get his opinion of Steve's whereabouts. Unfortunately the x-ray was inconclusive and since I didn't have real pain for a couple of weeks, there might have been a chance that Elvis has left the building. Well, today I was informed otherwise when I woke up with some aches which progressed quickly to a where-the-hell-is-the-percocet kind of pain. So apparently I am going to carry Steve around for a while. The doctor wants to see me in a couple of months with another CT to make sure that the stone isn't making himself a permanent home in my ureter. This sucks.
Labels: me
Holy Sh*t .. 2007 already
2007 is only a week old and so much has happened already:
New YearEven though I still felt like crap I had to finish clearing out the basement as the contractors were scheduled to start on Tuesday. I managed to get it done, but it was a close call.
Basement
It would have taken me several weeks, but the contractors framed out the basement and wired up the outlets and switches in less than three days.
New Job - againDecember 29
th was my last day at
SESI. Lots of reasons why I decided to look for a new job, none of them tremendously important individually, but together ... . So since Wednesday I am now working at a
slightly bigger company. Better benefits, an even shorter commute (5 miles) and working with people I worked with before.
Kidney stoneStill there. Elvis has not yet left the building. The good news is that it acts up only once in a while (about once per week)
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Later that day
I just took the little one too bed, a tad earlier than usual. He was getting feisty and really didn't want anything to eat, so he just got his milk. Still feeling like first grade doo-doo, so I guess it's time for some more cold medicine and then to bed it is for me as well.
Labels: Connor, me
The best plans ...
..don't survive contact with the enemy. I had planned to clean out the basement in preparation of the start of construction on Tuesday and to make a couple of trips to the landfill. These plans unraveled with Connor getting sick, waking up @ 1:30 AM. Lisa stayed up with him until 4:00 AM, when I took over until almost 8:00 AM. By that time I was getting sick as well. Connor slept for a few hours and I took a nap as well, but I am still feeling like crap. I guess cleanup is postponed until tomorrow.
Labels: Connor, me
Toy explosion
The house looks like Al-Qaeda hit a Toys-R-Us. Connor got more toys for Xmas/B-day than he knows what to do with. Cleaning up is futile as Connor can re-establish pre-cleaning conditions in just a few seconds, however it remains necessary as the dog tends to see the toys purpose as to be chewing toys.
Elvis has still not left the building (surely I would be noticing that, however it is hard to get information on the progression of kidney stone passage online, i.e. average length of passage). So I remain waiting.
Labels: Connor, me
Elvis (Steve) has not yet left the building
So I have been pretty much pain free for the last couple of days and I was hoping that maybe the kidney stone episode was behind me. Yeah, I know, but one can hope, right? So today
Steve calls and tells me he feels neglected and is all pissy about that. I in the meantime am heating my back to alleviate the pain and am lining up the Percocet pills in front of me deciding at what point it becomes unbearable.
Labels: me
I shall call him Mini-Me (or Steve)
...my kidney stone that is, which develops to be a major pain (literally) in the butt (or kidney). OK, so why don't you try to be funny if you feel like somebody is kicked you repeatedly into the kidney and is promissing to come back for more. The pills my urologist prescribed me weren't really cutting it, so I got my regular doctor to prescribe me Percocet. Since I had to pick up the prescription from him (no calling in to the pharmacy for these kinds of drugs) - let's just say the drive to his office was interesting. What else seems to be helping is heat. Lisa got me a heating blanket that helps me to sleep.
Being in severe pain wasn't the ideal backdrop for today's day at work: the other big news of the day was that I tendered my resignation from SESI today. I got offered a job at Northrop Grumman which I accepted. My start date will be in a couple of weeks.
Now back to sleep...
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Early Xmas presents I could do without
So Santa brought me an early Xmas present in form of kidney stones on both sides. The good news are that they are apparently small and don't require external intervention. The bad news are that I will be a tad grumpy from all the pain.
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