We're Moving!!!!

Yep it's that time. We've outgrown the current location and are ready for new and better things. It's time to get a website.

I drank the Google Kool-Aid a little while back and just keep falling in love with what they do. From the new web browser "Chrome", to Google free web building application "Sites" I love it all. Even Igoogle has come back on my hot list. So anyway the move. I have not committed to a domain name yet but I will at some point. For now here is the URL for my Site.

http://sites.google.com/site/point9mm/Home

Please check it out. You can comment on Blog Post, read beer reviews, or see my Favorite Family pictures, which all consist of hank at the moment, but I'll get there.

If you have any questions about how to make you own web page using sites drop me a line and I'll give you some pointers.

Working hard, or hardly working...

So it's the time of year when the tax business is normally slower and I take a bunch of time off to be lazy. Well the tax biz has not been that slow thanks in part to your local congressman. Lot of law changes and tax updates mean a lot of time reading and mor to the point updating forms and procedures. See when the new First time home buyers credit comes out that will affect 1 in 200 clients we have to make sure we don't miss it or take it whe not allowed to. Further more this little gem as a 16 year ripple effect that we have to be ready to deal with for our current clients and clients we'll get 12 years for now. That a little bit of a headache.

Also when the home energy credits were renewed for 2009, we have to come up with a nice way to tell the people that did energy related improvements in 2008 that they are hosed. B/c while it was renewed for 2009, it skipped 2008. Not to mention that in most cases it's a tiny credit that involves a lot of hoop jumping. In short it's been a huge, huge waste of our time. We probably spent an average of 7 min per client talking about the energy credit, which is 8750 min or 145 hours. If we bill $100/hr that's $14,500 of time that maybee netted all of our clients combined $3,000. That doesn't count the time we spent learning about the credit, training our staff about the credit, or updating our files and procedures to deal with the credit. So like I said, IT'S A HUGE WASTE OF TIME/MONEY FOR EVERYONE. (we haven't even talked about the amount of time and resources that the IRS spent getting rules, forms and procedures ready and training there people to deal with it.

So next time you hear about some little tax credit or rebate (don't even get me started on rebates), or other legislative gem do so with a bit of skepticism. Most of the time no matter how good natured, it's a waste of taxpayer time energy and resources.

But even though business is not as slow as I'd like it to be, Erin and I have managed to get some stuff done around the house. We have redone the nursery, painted the master bedroom, added wardrobes, painted the Family room, kitchen, morning room and dining room, installed garage door openers, bought a new living room set, and got a dining room table.

We had help from both sets of grandparents who watched hank so we could paint. While a bunch of the painting was done in the proceeding 2 to 3 weeks, we went on a bender last weekend. We painted all day Friday until 3am and all day Saturday until 1:30 am. The result was a finished Living room, Kitchen, and morning room. The red was mildly terrifying as it looks like crap until coat 3. But now that it's done... I like it.

Midge update

New skills this week which signal an end of piece is near. I used to hold Henry's hands so he was in a standing position and drag him around the room so he would "walk". Now I hold him by the fingers and try to keep up as he walks around the room investigating things.

He can grab the edge of the sink during bath time and stand up.

He now cry's when he falls down regardless of whether or not he hit anything.

Beer and Baby

Two points of interest. I tried a new beer today. It was Michelob's Winter's Bourbon Cask Ale. Now since I became a beer snob I've poo pooed beers made by huge brewers. Budweiser, Coors, even collage staples like rolling rock and corona. Though I have stayed loyal to Yuengling, that's a tasty lager, or try there black and tan. But I digress, Michelob is definitely in the bad big brewer category. But 2 things made me rethink my snobby opinion.

1. I read an article in consumer reports magazine which rated beers, and it put Michelob very high on the list.
2. While on a tour of the Rock Bottom Pub in Bethesda the Brew master said he like Michelob.

So I decided to quit pre-judging, and give each beer it's due consideration.

That said, the Winter Bourbon cask ale was very good. Almost too smooth and nice, like they must have cheated and added in non beer stuff to make the beer taste that smooth. I feel like there must be a catch. Until I find proof that Michelob did in fact cheat, I gotta give it to them It was a very tasty beer. Erin almost liked it. I will be trying some of there other beers, because if they are all that good, I have a line of cheaper beers that still satisfy my high brow palette.

Baby news...
The kid is getting better and better at crawling. Not up on his knees yet, but fast none the less. all in all he's just a great time. I spent all day with him yesterday. We ate, played, fussed, napped and did it all together. Absolutely nothing special happened all day, yet as he was falling asleep in my arms I was praying to my self that I hope, no matter what happens over the years I always remember the day. It was that unassuming every day of early fatherhood and I feel like I could bask in that moment for a long time.

I always knew I wanted to be a dad, but I never knew it would be this good.

Life comes at you fast

At 9:30am last Friday we the installers came and put in our garage door openers.
At 9:30pm last Friday the door was closed while the bike rack on the CRV was still sticking out of the garage. 1 piece of metal and two screws ended up on the floor before we could stop it. That's fast even for us.

Second Best Man

This weekend I had the honor of completing my duties as best man, for the second time. The first was July 2000 for Bob and Sandy, and I did a chump of a job. Well it really wasn't that bad, but I have always wished I could have done better. When Ryan gave me the go ahead as his best man I was determined to do the best job possible. Both Ryan and Bob have been great friends of mine over the years and I'm so glad to have to opportunity to stand up with both of them on such a special day.

Now about the strippers...

Kidding, I'm not telling you about that stuff. I will say that the Bachelor party was a hit. It ought to have been with all the fricken time I put in on it. I have counted 72 e-mails exchanged with various parties, and a lot of phone calls and text messages to get it in gear. Really the final plan wasn't all that crazy, but it just took me a lot of time to come round to it. I have to give a big shout out to Kevin and Big Ryan Caldwell. Both were instrumental in bringing the plan together and reminding me to chill out, Ryan will dig what ever we do.

I do have to mention one part of The party. We got a brewery tour of Rock Bottom brew pub, in Bethesda MD. Geoff, the brew master, was "The Man". We got the coolest tour you can imagine. Geoff was through, cool, intense and informative. We were all in awe of him, and everyone said "There is a man that loves his job!" The tour was so awesome we tried to tip the guy. I almost think we pissed him off. He did it just because he was happy to share what made good beer good, and his beer kick ass. After the tour he poured us a bunch of free beers to taste, and I gotta say. I was in heaven. It was crazy good beer.

So if you are every with in a 2 hour drive of Rock Bottom - Bethesda, stop in have have some great beer. I recommend the brown ale, or better yet taking a cab so you can try one of everything.

The day of the wedding most things went pretty smooth. A bunch of people were taking care of details, and everything just kinda happened. The reception was awesome. The location overlooking DC at night was just breathtaking. Of course there was a toast I was in charge of. This is the item I pooched at Bob's wedding. I tried to roast Bob and Sandy a bit and just sounded like a tool. So with Ryan I wanted to make sure I got it right. I worried so much about it I didn't actually start writing in until the day of the wedding. Thankfully it all came together. the toast went very well, and more importantly I felt I was able to convey to the crowd and to Ryan and Kristen, how highly I thought of them, and how exciting there future together is.

It was truly a special day.

Triple boil over Beer

i have been more than a little intrepidacious about cracking open a bottle of the Barley Wine Geoff and I made on his last trip over. We had at least 3 boil overs, I changed the recipe a lot, and I went with a very diffrent hops that a big kinda homeless looking guy recommended at the brew store. Further more with the boil overs, we lost enough sugar that I was worried the champagne yeast would ferment all of the available sugar leaving a strong but empty tasting beer.

Lot of worrying about nothing. I had a sample last night, just to test quality, and it was good. Not outrageous, not awesome, but very nice. It has a full beer flavor and a subtle but strong kick.

While tasting the brew, I was bottling the second half of the batch. you see I split the batch after Secondary fermentation, bottling 2 gallons, and racking 3 off Tertiary fermentation where I added a bunch of oak chips. The 3 gallons has aged a additional 2 weeks, for a total of just under 6 weeks. I've never gone past 3 weeks before so we'll just have to see what happens. I think it's going to kick a little ass.

Little changes

Well for me it is just starting to happen. Lots of little changes that indicate my boy really is starting to grow. He is now big enough that I need to change the height in the jumper. When I kissed his head last night after bath time I was kissing a bunch of hair, not a cute little bald head. More than a few outfits are now to small, and he drinks and entire big bottle of formula in the morning and night. I remember when it was just 20mi in a tiny bottle, now it's 9 Oz. Does it always change this fast? I hope I can keep up.

Midge report

Hank is able to sit up now which very cool. He can't do it on his own, but if you put him in a seated position, he'll hang out for a while. He is also very giggly and interactive. Uncle Ryan hung out with us for dinner and bath time and got to spend some quality time with the little man. It was awesome seeing Ryan interact with Hank and have a good time. I look forward to more friends meeting the little man as he grows up.

Ryan and I did get up to the field and to a bit of flying. Ryan did not grab the controls as it was pretty busy in the air with up to 6 planes at a time flying. He was, as usual, a great wing man. I got to chat with him about his new place and life with "bride-to-be' Kristen. All the usual ups in downs of a move and merging of stuff, but I could help but be excited for them both as they get ready jump in. It reminded me of how fun marriage was in the beginning. The newness, and the excitement, and the permanent coed spend-the-night. I know it fades with time, and I just hope for Ryan and Kristen, that as the newness fades, and the weeks turn into months and into years, that it is replaced by the warm constant glow of love. Not that temporary full time coed spend-the-night type love, but the "we'll still be spooning at 80 type love".

I know my wife is saying "how fun marriage was in the beginning... it's not that way now...?" (women and only hearing what they want.... grumble grumble grumble). It's not new any more, and like more and more of my good memories, no matter how good things were I have no wish to go back. The road ahead is so much more exciting for me. The road I'm on with Erin looks better and better all the time. (Especially now that we have a little passenger.) I like my warm glow, it is constant and ..... well, warm and I just fricken like it.

No more babbling, night all.

Hank's Big Day

So it finally happened. Hank got his heart fixed. God willing that is that last in a long set of hurtles we had to clear to get hank here and healthy. He really is a modern medical marvel. From the fertility work in the beginning, to the genetic scare, to the early delivery, and now patching a hole in his heart. We have talk a lot about how lucky we are to have, and to have so close such excellent medical care.

The video shows you the day from our perspective.


This diagram shows you about how the procedure went down and how the device looks in place. They ran a line starting at his crotch up his femoral artery and into his heart. Once there they ran some test and determined that hand had twice as much blood circulating to his lungs to get oxygen, as there was going out to his body with oxygen. This is the result blood flowing through the hole in his heart and back to his lungs instead of out the vein and to the body. The Dr. later told us that 2:1 is way past the surgical precedent. After the test they then ran the device up the line and put it in place.



This is the actual device in hank. It's a crazy world when they can put this in the heart of my little boy and he comes home the next day with out a stitch.

Good news bad news

This has been an interesting week. On the bad side, I found out one of my former students, to which I used to be very close, took his own life. Of all things it was over a girl. I don't say that to diminish how he was feeling, but because I can see from my perspective that the pain in a relationship is temporary. I don't pretend to understand where he was coming from, or how he was feeling when he made this decision, but at the funeral all of those that survived him could see what a waste of a very good life it was. Now having a baby boy, I think I understand just a little more than I would have previously, just how painful it must be for his family. My heart aches for them. I have found my self wishing for some thing I could do, or something I could give them to lessen their suffering, but there is nothing.

The service was very good. I was amazed at how much the words of the minister and some of the friends of the deceased helped me in my sense of loss. After the internment everybody seemed to be rejoicing in the memories and the good things that were left behind. On the good side I got to see many of my former students. I was thrilled to hear of their successes and failures, knowing that both are all part of they journey of youth. A lot of the students in attendance got to be friends through the engineering club I started at LHS 8 years ago. It warmed me to see how close they still were even if it had been a while since they last spoke. I was told by some that the club had ment a great deal to them.

I have spent a lot of time this week thinking back to my high school days. To the good times and experiences I had, and to all of the door ahead of me that I didn't even know I would have the chance to open. I have also spent time thinking of Rob, My friend who died when I was in school, and the doors he never had. If it can be said, I feel Rob's passing was easier. It was an accident, nothing anybody could do, just a great loss. My former student took his life, he had in front of him what was taken from Rob, and chose to give it away. I would be mad except that I know better. He must have been in a horrible place in his mind. I feel great sorrow for him.

But I did stop by Rob's grave for the first time in a long while. It's been so long it took me 20 min to find it. I stared for a while, not able to say the words that I was thinking. Finally I ask Rob to keep an eye out for a new soul in town. I actually said it out loud, which was tough. I personally don't believe in an after life. No heaven or hell as far as I can tell. I figure you get your shot and that is it. But I do hope and hope that I'm wrong. That there is some place, where we will all gather one day, with our friends and family, and laugh and tell stories and talk of the wonderful times we had. I really do home for that.

I miss my friends, Rob and Roy. I will pray, even if it's not what I believe, I will pray, just in case I am so lucky as to see them again some day.

latest brew

In answer to Geoff's question, no. But my beer will have a lot of bite. It is a English Ale recipe that when sampled at brew time was too bitter for my taste. I'm not worried, I like to try everything. If it's to bitter then it means I'll have only one at dinner and not 2. I was quite happy to get another batch underway and am happier yet to report that it is actively fermenting. I plan on bottling about 2 gallons of it in a week or so and then moving the rest to secondary fermentation and dry hopping it. I'm not sure that's what I'll do, but if I like the beer "as is" at bottling time then I'll try to the extra step. If it's already too bitter at that point then I'll save my extra hops for another occasion.

In other news is the room makeover at my folks place. I feel a little guilty encouraging them to do the project since it has not been a smooth road. I will say that grumpy has taken charge and is making the room as kid friendly and fun as possible. While not the room I would have designed, I think the kids will love it. I'm heading over early morning to help for a couple hours each day before I start work proper. I'll put up some photos when the room is done.

Last item on todays post - Glasses. I have been pissed off since the first time I saw Ryan Jenkins in a pair of Oakley's that I can't wear shades. Well it's not that I can't, but I never got any prescription shades as a kid, and as an adult I know why, the are fricken expensive. The last time I got glasses, which was around the last Christmas season, I paid, after insurance, like $350 for two pair of glasses. It was outrageous. I got one pair of regular glasses and one pair of transition lenses, which I haven't seen since the move.

Well I finally sat down one day and tried to find a better solution, I did. Online glasses ordering. While a number of sites look good I ended up using ZenniOptical I ordered 2 pair of prescription shades, different frames and different tints, and even had to pay up for a really strong prescription in one eye, and got them delivered to me in about a week for................. $45. That's it. I mean holy crap what a deal. I could have gotten 14 pair of glasses for what I paid around the holidays.

I was thinking for $45 they have to be a piece of shit. But they are very comfortable and very nice. I will never buy glasses from a shop again. Online is the way to go. So if you know someone who wears glasses, send them the link.

To Blog or not to Blog

I keep admonishing myself for not blogging when I so often say to my self "Oh, I should blog that." I suppose that bloggers guilt is common, but I hate it. I want to share just a couple tid bits for family and friends that I don't talk to as often as I should and there has never been an easier way to do it. I just have to sit my ass down and do it. I managed to write a couple of good old fashion letters the other day, long overdue ones and felt great for doing it. I hope to do more soon, and blogging is certainly no harder than that.

Topics to Blog on

- Brewed another batch of beer
- Found a very cheap way to by prescription shades
- Henry's medical update
- Grandkids room makeover
- studying for the EA Exam
- Selling the Townhouse
- Smoked meat
- vacation

I will make a very concerted effort do get at least a few of these items on line this week and keep everyone better informed.

Fly time

If you haven't seen Henry roll over then scroll down. I got some video of the Square yard in flight and Paul's decathlon as well Enjoy.

Hank trys to roll over

What can I say he gave it a good go. (notice that Ozzy is playing in the backround, I think he loves rock and roll.... Roll get it....)


And then it happened. Holy Shit. This is good stuff. I can't believe that he is growing up already. Next thing you know he's going to want the keys to the car. I love it.

Sq Yard

(Stock photo of frame)I had the chance to go flying on Sunday morning. I took the Sq yard up for it first flight and..... it did really well. Up in the wind it can jump around a bit, but low and slow it's great. I'm thriller it fly's so well. Now that I know it works I'll finish up some final touches of the plane and start to learn how to operate my radio to do mixes and such. Many thanks to Paul for helping me work through some last min kinks. Photos to come next time.

Hank hits the pool

Hank and Mommy wen tot the pool toady while I went to the Fun fly up at the Pegasus field. I didn't flu any but just watched, but it looks like Hank had a great time.

Henry the train

Did you now there was a train named Henry. I didn't. My sister got me the book from the Thomas the train series about the green train engine Henry. I was sitting and reading the story to Henry when I was smacked upside the head with the parallelism of the story of the train Henry, and my son Henry's own problems. If you haven't read the story, or my wife's blog which details it, here is the short version. The Green engine named Henry is never feeling very well and is often not up to pulling trains. The train service is thinking of retiring him when it's pointed out that his fire box is to small and he's otherwise a good train. The decide to get him some special "welsh" coal which has more punch and see how it goes. Well, with the new coal Henry does great. No stopping him, you wouldn't know the difference. But at some point they stop buying the special coal, and rebuild Henry's firebox instead. With the new firebox he doesn't need special coal and is running great.

My son Henry need to be on special milk/formula that has almost twice the calories as a normal baby gets. With it, he's doing OK, keeping up causing trouble and all the things baby's do. But it's a temporary fix to his heart trouble. At some point he will need corrective surgery on his heart, and if it goes well he should be great after that. The two stories are basically the same. I started to tear up a little while finishing the book (don't tell my wife) just because I so want my son to have the same happy ending that the engine Henry had. Well cross your fingers, we go in for a consult tomorrow (Monday June 9th) and we'll see how it looks for our little engine.

(On a separate note I finished a blog entry that got posted two below this one that's kinda funny. Check it out.)

The art of sneaking a cigar

This is a craft that I am forced to hone my skills on less I forgo the occasional smoke all together. So the other day I was bound and determined to have a cigar, but nobody else in my family was playing along. Erin and I got up early (8am, I know, not impressive, but for us it's good on a Saturday morning) and decided to run some errands. We did some hit and run shopping, and grabbed some food. When we got home Erin was really very tired. Her shift the night before had not gone well. To be honest I was tired to, but I could see my window of opportunity opening.

So... Erin fed Henry while I unloaded the car. but the time I was done she was fading fast. She decided to take a little nap with Henry on the couch. Perfect!!! Erin and Henry both occupied and I get some time to grab a smoke. But where, it was one of those rainy miserable days. the front porch was an option, I didn't want Erin to hear me going in and out of the house. Wind blowing in from the front of the house didn't held, and put the garage off the list too. Hummmm, maybe the stair well coming up from the basement. Yes, it is just barely sheltered from the rain, and Erin won't hear the door. Perfect!!! So I go get my cigar and my ash tray/lighter/cutter/beer/beer opener/portable phone/chair and ash tray table. So I get every thing situated, I have the portable phone set up to monitor the kitchen phone which I have placed by Erin in case she needs anything. So I'm out back, I've trimmed up my cigar, Lighter on , the first wisp of smoke is rising, and the baby starts to cry. Erin calls my name. Shit.

Shit, Shit, Shit.

I put down my cigar, which has not fully lit, and go up stairs. Erin say to me in a very sleepy voice, "Can you take Henry. Of course, let me just watch my hands. Off I go, wash wash, scrub scrub. And grab Henry who sill looks sleepy. I take him upstairs and get him calm and settled, and put him in his crib. He is pretty calm, not quite asleep, and sucking happily on his binky.

He looks content, grab the baby monitor and game on for the stogie.

Back down stairs, set up baby monitor... no reception out side, I can set it just inside and leave the door cracked... or that will work. Set up Erin monitor.. good. Time to enjoy. I light up and have several great puffs. Ahhh. My plan is flawless. Erin is sleeping, Baby is Sle.... crying. Shit. Shit shit shit.

I set down my cigar and head in. I have to note at this point that in having a preemie or any young baby for that fact their is a lot of worry about exposing the baby to smoke or toxins. So the rule is (and I agree with it) if you smoke, wash your hands and change shirts before handling hank. So I wash my hands head up stairs change shirts, Binky the baby, hit play on the music box and head down stairs.

The rest of the story is pretty predictable. smoke for 5 - 10 min, wash hands change shirt, sooth Henry, head back down, all while being quiet enough to not awake Erin. About 5 cycles and 3 re-lights later I wrap up a very nice cigar, and do my final round of clean up. Baby has now decided to sleep solidly, and Erin is still out.

Is a cigar really worth all the hassle... no, but catching a couple quiet min to have your thoughts to your self and ponder how luck you are to be in the life you have. Yea, that's worth it. I've found that smoking a cigar is one of the only times I'm able to do that. So I'll just have to stay crafty and make my moments when I have the chance.

 
I had the day with hank as Erin got sprung to do a little light shopping. The photo is Hank and I doing research on cell phone plans. (We figure we can save $450 per year going to tracfone) I had a great time just sitting and enjoying him. I was going to try to sneak in a cigar today but no dice. I did get in a good run though and that's probably the better option.

I'm feeling a little lost in the new house. Not that I can't find stuff, but thier is so much to do I don't know where to start. I find myself just watching movies instead. I gotta get a note pad and get a list going. I work much better with a list. First item on list, get something to make a list on. We'll see how that goes.

The Midg

This is a story I typed about 1 month ago and didn't finish. Enjoy....
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We have taken to calling Henry the Midg, which as Erin Like to point out is short for midget. (Get it, short for midget.... short.... midget... yea I know) So as National scrap book day approached, and Erin Launched into her mission to make sure the CK Message Board was having some fun, I was on Midg duty. No big deal (actually it's a little deal, get it... midg...) I've been itching for some time with the little man. It good for me, building up my parenting chops.

So I decided to take the little ma on some errands. We hit best buy, Walmart, and home depot. He always a big hit in stores. Especially if we have his shades on. Ladies can't resist the munchkin when his shades are on. The problem is keeping the hands off of him. I guess he takes after his old man that way.

So... we were at our last stop, home depot. I've got a variety of items large and small and I head to the check out. It turns out that I hit the lane with a little person in a wheel chair checking people out. He comments on the baby and I say " Yea, it's may day out with the mi...". Oh shit. I can't say midg, that's short for midget, that would be offensive. Err, think fast, Little Man - no, dwarf - no, munchkin - no, shit every thing I call Hank is some type of joke on little people.

Talk about situations that I wasn't prepared for. Baby's should come with one of those warning labels, "Warning, don't nick name your you kid a version of a little person name. It'll screw you one day." So I finally had to come up with an end of my sentence. Sweating now, I say "It's my day out with the mi... man". Hanks gotta love it, baby to man in less then 3 months. Thankfully my faux pas went completely unnoticed. He finished checking me out and gave me by receipt. I say thanks and head out. As I walk out Henry starts to fuss and the cashier says, have a good one, I hope the imp behaves for ya.

Imp... that a good one. I hadn't thought of that.

Well hello there...

Two items on today's post. 1st - a story I've been meaning to share for a while. On or about April 9th I headed out to work at around 5:30AM. I was looking to find a place I could get office snacks and some half and half before I got in. I tried two convenience store with no success and then I stopped in High's in Middletown. Since this was the last stop I was going to make I know I would be getting the creamer, but I was really hoping to find this new style of Emerald cashews "Sea Salt and Pepper" that Erin had got me and which was awesome.

I cased the store from one end to the other and found nothing. I finally gave in, and went for the creamer. While walking back to the front of the store, creamer in hand, I passed the magazines rack. It was one of those racks with a line of reputable magazine's on the front bottom row, and 5 lines of magazine's with plastic bag on them and a well designed black strip to protect the eyes of the innocent passerby.

I have to admit I slowed down to snails pace as I passed so I could look at all the... articles on the covers of the reputable magazine's. Well, come on there is a very innocent and natural curiosity about what is behind those black plastic wrappers. Doesn't everybody at least glance as they go by. One of them was a college edition and I have always been a fan of higher education. One was entirely dedicated to plastic containers, very noble.

All fun aside I really only glanced, and I never stopped moving. The amount of time in which my head was turned in the direction of that rack was 3 seconds tops.

It's amazing what can happen in three seconds. In that short window of time a high school buddy of mine, Will Stan , walked around the corner and said hi. Now Will is a great guy, I knew him from school and church, and he was always a very family type guy. So here he rounds the corner to see me, almost standing (I never stopped I swear) with a container of creamer in one hand and I look like I'm staring at the nudy magazines as if I've been there since 3am debating weather I'm going to go with the lingerie edition, or girls of Walmart.

So I begin to studder and flub my way through a how are you. If Will was passing judgment I never knew it, and besides he's a pretty laid back guy, that's not really his thing. But I can't help but feel guilty that here we both are now, family men, and in our first meeting in years I've got creamer and a wondering eyes. I must have made a mighty fine impression. Timing is everything.

We did end up chatting for 5 min or so, and it turns out he lives near me and has 2 kids of his own. I do hope we will get together and maybe laugh about it at some point. Will's a hell of a nice guy and it would be great to resume our friendship. maybe we can grab coffee or something. I'll bring the creamer!!!

2nd - A couple of beer notes. I have had to of Dogfish's more exotic offerings lately. World Wide Stout was an expensive bottle I bought on the way home April 15th as a little treat to me. If you are a beer fan I would recommended it for the experience. It uses "a ridiculous amount of barley" which make for a strong, yet kinda sweet beer very rich in flavor. It's not something you'd drink 2 of, but it's worth having once.

Also I had the chance to try Burton Baton which kicked a hell of a lot of ass. This is a beer I would love to try again and would drink 2 or 3 of. Dogfish describer it as "A blend of oak-aged English strong ale and our 90 Minute I.P.A.". The problem is the price, which makes me want to try to brew some my self. I'll let you know how that goes.

Grumpy and Henry

 
--Erin dropped off Henry today at the house while she got a hair cut. Grandma and Grumpy got to spend a little time with the guy. He fussed and fused until grandma fed him (110ml yea!!) Then all he wanted to do was sleep. He slept with Grandma until her arm was sore and then he slept with Grumpy. Grumpy has the best belly for baby nap time. I got a hair cut and just watched my dad with Henry. I imagine is wasn't all that different when I was a baby. I like the idea. I always felt very comfortable with my parents as a kid and Henry looks very comfortable as well. I hope he grows up to have the same fond memories of childhood that I have. Rock on Grumpy!!!

So the tax season has come and gone. Lots still to do, but lots more time to do it. I have officially started screwing off at the office (only for a couple min though I promise) and this is the proof. Here's to rejoining the world...

Daily Diaper Digets vol 1

First, Erin is trying to steal my thunder. She had her shot at the whole blog thing and gave it up. Now that I'm up and rolling (kinda) she wants a piece of the action again. She has started her personal blog back up and is trying to out post me. To be honest she is out posting me. I've kinda fallen off the map as of late. This is the second day since Feb 10th that I've been able to sleep in and have a bit of personal time. If my luck holds up I'm going to go smoke a cigar before my shower. That would kick ass.

In the vices column I have had time to resume drinking, a past time which is coming in very handy. I will say that I've had my first baby screaming during a booze generated headache at 4am experience. While I really needed those 2 very strong drinks the night prior, in hindsight I should have made them either smaller or weaker. There is something about a baby's scream (not cry, but the full on whale) that cuts through the fog of a headache to pierce the brain at it's core. I guess it Henry's way of telling me to lay off the sauce.

As for beer, I am loving the ginger sisson i made before tax season. It's only down fall is that it heads up a ridiculous amount. However if you just give it a min it's fine. I haven't had much time to go buy stuff. I did some Guinness and Bass Ale "Black&Tan's" around St. Patty's day, which was great. Other than that my only good samples were from a client that owns a liqueur store and dropped me off a mixed six pack of seasonal brews. 2 Sierra Nevada celebration ales, 2 pyramid snowcap ales and 2 Troges Nugget necter. I have to say that the timing of this free 6 pack couldn't have been better and was a great surprise. My favorite is the Snowcap which was great.

Buy the way, I just finished that cigar I was hoping I would get. (2 hour delay in finishing this entry). It was a ISOM I got from a friend as a congrats for Henry. Damn fine one too, and again the timing is perfect. I really needed a little relaxation time and I feel a little more centered now for having it. My favorite part of smoking a stogie is just stopping to think for a while.

As far the the Diaper Digest, the little guy is doing well. We are still monitoring his heart, which has 3 holes in it. Apparently this should not cause great alarm, but i am admittedly worried. The Dr's have indicated he will get worse, and then should get better. Should, being the operative word. We do know that there will be no sudden changes in his condition, they should be gradual and easy to spot. The hope is they will heal on their own, but if not surgery (hopefully in the distant future) is an option. For the moment though we are just enjoying him.

He is filling out and starting to focus a little when he looks around. He does all the normal baby things, and I love it when it's my turn to care for him. I'm hoping to do much more of it when tax season wraps up.

The house is coming together, and hopefully we'll get a lot more done today. Which we won't unless I quit blogging and get to work. So long for now, I hope to write lots more in the future.

Online at the Lincolns

We are back in touch with the digital world!!! Maybee we'll get some pics and stories up soon!

Little Changes

I saw Abby today for a little bit and while talking I mentioned that the thing that's been stewing my brain right now is all the little changes that I haven't been able to stop an fully appreciate. Here are a couple that come to mind.

- My mini-beer-fridge was commandeered very suddenly and is now the "milk fridge". That change, in and of it self, speaks on so many levels.

- I now love getting up at 5 am because it's my time alone with Henry.

- I own two houses (for the moment) and live in neither.

- everybody kinda laughs, just a little, when they hear I'm a new parent, it's like there is a joke I don't know about.

- I instantly became unafraid to touch buts and poo, though admittedly I haven't touched that much of either yet.

- I've always been bad at spelling, but now all sense of grammar has gone out he window. I've become especially good at dropping anything that comes after an apostrophe. This makes for fun reading as "can't' turns to "can', and so forth.

I'll think of more later...

Kinda almost not really back to normal.

 
..........
If you've been keeping score at home we have had a baby 5 weeks early, during tax season, while closing on a house, and moving. That's about 12 things more than I can handle . While I've had some moment to remember to remember what it's like to relax (see photo above the Saturday after Henry was born) they have been very hard to come by. I've lost roughly 10 lbs and I'm not on a diet. But to be really honest. I feel like I'm not the one that's been through a hard time. Erin and Henry have had to tough it out.

Looking back at the whole thing I wouldn't complain, at least not a lot. We are all healthy, and we have had some amazing support from friend family and coworkers. Especially from Cindy my Mother-in-Law. She has been nothing short of Amazing. She has feed us, housed us, and run like 8 million errands for us. It's like having a guardian angle that makes a mean cherry pie. You just can't ask for much more.

We feel very lucky. More to more soon including gory details for those that have been asking.

Wooped

I'm exhausted. Besides working the long hours right now I am trying to help Erin pack the house. Since Erin has been very sick (first flu, then stomach flu) she has been regulated to bed rest and couch duty. We did get a good system going for about 2 hours where she would sort and label stuff into boxes (while laying on the couch) and I would bring stuff to her or remove full boxes. Other than that I'm flying kinda solo.

However I have already heard that a lot of people will be coming to help with the move so that is a huge relief. I feel very luck to have such friends and family. I will post/ e-mail move details it gets closer.

That's all for now, a good night sleep and a short run will do me wonders.

Down with the sickness

So Erin and I are just now recovering from the plague which descended upon our house. We lost a week of our life, and are starting to pick up the pieces. For my part, I have never been so sick in my life. I've never had the flu that I can remember, and god willing I never will again. I might go for a short run tomorrow, just to try to rejoin humanity. Erin did get very sick, but not as sick as I did. She is doing better now. As I type the Giants are leading 10 to 7 in the super bowl, which is awesome. The house is looking good, we stopped in on it today.

On the beer front today is the first day in weeks I have felt like having a beer, so I have hit the Ginger Sassion. It has turned out to be a fascinating beer. It is very spicy, and a remarkable balanced beer. I think it's a winner, but probably not a beer that the average person would like. It's an interesting change of pace. That reminds me, we have a winner in the beer video competition which turned out to be a game of torture your friends. Congratulations to Brian who guessed 42. The correct answer was 35. Brian wins a six pack and $5, which he can collect while helping Erin and I move over the first weekend in March. Ryan, as runner up will get a big fat bottle of beer.

That's all for now, it looks like the Pats might score. We'll see.

More fun shopping for baby

Yea, this is actually the first of the 2 videos, and another reason why I don't think I can handle the shopping thing. As much as the idea scares me I think I just have to tell Erin to buy whatever she thinks is important, b/c I have no clue.

Baby Shoping

The video says it all, I'm hosed.

Poker Night

Poker was a hoot, and if you missed it here is the recap.

Tie Breaker!!!!

The beer video contest was everything I hoped it would be. It consumed 20 to 30 min of peoples lives and made them strain their eyes. I love it. The results are in and we have a tie between Ryan and Brian. Each scored 11 points out of 25. The answers to the questions will be posted tonight as a comment to the original video. Check the out to see how you did.

As for a tie breaker... While brewing the batch of beer I kept track of every time I "tended the pot". The includes any time I removed the lid and or stirred the brew starting after the malts were added (which you can see early in the video when the pot gets moved off the burner while I add stuff, then put back on) up until the pot is moved to the sink for cooling. Simply tell me how many times I "tended the pot" in and e-mail by Friday, and I'll decide a winner. The winner can clam their prize when they come to help me move.

Good Luck

Ginger Saison - (Video Quality improved 1/7)

At Erin's suggestion I brewed one last batch of beer before Tax season, move, and baby. So I pulled a recipe from the book "Extreme Brewing" by Sam Calaione - owner of dogfish head brewery. Just for kicks I decided to make a video of the brew process. I have a couple of trivia questions for those who are observant enough to pull the details. To make it exciting I will award $5 to the person with the most correct answers, and a six pack of the brew in question. To enter into the Lincoln Brew Trivia competition just post your response by Friday 1/11/08, on my blog. Feel free to forward the blog to anyone you want. The only requirement is that you sign your entry, and you only get one entry.

Good Luck, here are the questions!!!

1) How many full glasses of beer did I consume during the entire process?

2) What is on the red cutting, that I cut up?

3) What is the unusual object in the back of my shirt? (It's only there for about 45 sec of video)

4) What piece of technology do I hold up early in the video?

5) Erin is in and out of frame in the first half of the video, then she shows up again in the second half. What does she show up with, and from where?

6) Which cat shows up on camera?

7) At the 30 sec mark of the video, what the hell am i pulling out of the pot?

8) How much time elapses in the video. (Hint: the Video is 15FPS, and the camera shot 1F every 5S)

9) I can be seen cleaning 3 things in the video, what are they.

10) Toward the end of the video I sit down twice and do two different things. As specifically as possible, what am I doing either time?

If you don't want to give out your answers, e-mail them to me, but to be eldgible to win you must still post a comment on this entery of my blog indicating your in the competition. If you don't know my e-mail... that's a damn shame.

Good luck,

Matt

Christmas was good.

Tis better to give than to receive, some years I believe it, some years not so much. this year was all about giving for me. Don't get me wrong, I scored some Killer gear for Christmas. Here is a list of some of Erin's and mine gifts that have already hit it big.
- Blender - We got a simple blender, on, on more and off. It blends. Since Christmas we have broken it out at least 10 times. The major treat - smoothies. 1 cup soy milk, 1 banana about 5 frozen strawberries, one pack of sweetener (sweet&low). Blend, drink.
- Beer - I got some Dogfish Head 90 min IPA and a bottle of their 120 min IPA. The 90 has really grown on me. It is strong, very malty, and very hoppy. Much more of a malty flavor than most IPA's. The 120 min is just the 90 min, but more of it. Even more malt, and hops flavor. For me, I can't believe I'm going to say this, it was too much. I think the 60 min is still my favorite, but I'm going to have to try it against the 90 again to be sure. What a lovely dilemma.
- iShuffle - Was getting use on Christmas day, and accompanied me on a 6 mi run Dec 26. Rock the Shuffle!!!
- Clothes - I told the wife I wanted to look more GQ, and I got hooked up. Love it!
- Appliances - ok, we haven't used them yet, but we bought all the appliances that we need to wrap up the new place. Delivery date - 2/26/08.

As I mentioned giving was the big thing for me. The big give, was to who else, the parents. My parents have really been great to me. Mom has taken me in the family business and taught me the ropes of taxes, and dad makes me lunch and keeps me in hot coffee. I'm probably unique among people in that I see my parent almost every day. It certainly is a contrast to the days before I worked for mom. Back then I could goo weeks without seeing the folks. So with all the parental love comming in the least I could do is give a little back. With the help of some $ from dad, I ... bought and installed a new dishwasher, installed a new garbage disposal, bought them all new dish wear and glasses, and all new tablecloths, place mats, and dishcloths/washcloths/sponges.

While Patrice was a little defensive about her old dishwasher, the project was a big hit on the whole. I'm excited about the changes, and hope mom and dad like it.

Tis the season

 
It's officially here... Tax Season. It's an odd way to earn a living, 75% of the work squeezed into 25% of the year. With changes in staff, office procedure, software and tax law (at the last min... thanks for that congress) I'm amazed that things are going as well as they are. Danielle and Nancy, the new ladies in the office, are awesome. They have both proven to be excellent finds, and very dedicated to their job. I am thrilled to work with them. Judy is back again (for year 10?!?!). Every day working with Judy is nothing short of awesome. She is so professional, and yet funny and easy to work with. I truly feel like we are a team.

And then there is Aunt Bobbette. I say Aunt, b/c I've she's been my neighbor since birth and always very, well Aunt like. Bobbette rolled in for the first day this year and was not happy. She would like to be full on retired, and the only thing keeping her from it is the guilt we heave on her every time she mentions leaving. I do feel bad that we have guilted her into staying, but not that bad. You see I think, that after she gets over the first day, that she really likes working hear. As a matter of fact, today being day 3, I can say for certain that she is enjoying working. When she is in the office she helps all of us. Running copies back and forth, handling the phone, or just a piece or to of brutal honesty. I realize that this may really be her last year. She doesn't need the job, she just does it b/c she knows how much we need her, and for that I am thankfully. But just maybe Bobbette will realize that she doesn't just put up with us, she really enjoys being apart of what we do here. For that I'm hopefully.

(You be thinking "wait you mentioned everybody except your mom, what type of lousy son are you", to which I'd say "Is that really necessary, I'm saving the best for a later post. Chill man.")