Infections, Infections, Infections

So it is almost finished finally. What started out as a nasty little cold turned into a terrible family infection. My wife, my daughter and myself all got colds which turned into a sinus infection and double eye infection for me. My wife got a sinus infection and one eye got infected, my daughter also got a sinus infection. The only one who seemed unaffected was my son until overnight he came down with a sinus infection, an ear infection and a double eye infection.

We are all still on a ton of antibiotics but things seem to be getting better. I don't know what was in the cold we got but it took all of us for a ride. What a horrible week. I actually read that there is a new type of cold spreading throughout the US this year that in known for causing upper respiratory infections. It has caused at least 10 deaths since last year. Hopefully this isn't a sign of things to come.

Technorati Tags: Infections, Colds, Sick, Antibiotics

Outdoor Cat Becomes Indoor

So I posted this summer about our outdoor cat that had adopted us. He hung out with us all summer and into the fall. He started to live in our garage and was clearly an abandoned cat. He was the nicest outdoor cat we had ever met. My daughter named him Flower and when we were outside he was always there.

It has started to get cold out and winter is on its way. We didn't want to leave him out in the cold over the winter so it was either we bring him to the humane society or we bring him in the house. If we brought him in he would need to be fixed and declawed but if we brought him to the humane society you don't know what would happen. We felt it was worth it to bring him in so we got him fixed and declawed last week.

Technorati Tags: Cats, Adopting, Humane Society

Vikings vs. Bears Game 5 - Win (34-31)

The Vikings pulled one out! This was a must win for the Vikings, it is a tough year for our division since the Lions and Packers are playing good this year. We need every win we can get. The Bears are coming back from the Super Bowl so it wasn't looking good for the Vikings this year. More things against the Vikings this Sunday was history, we hadn't won in Chicago since 2000.

It was a nail biter all the way, the Vikings made it a little too much in the end. Peterson is the man! Peterson ran for 224 yards in a new Viking's single game record performance. It was only his 5th start in the NFL and he has the all time single game rushing record for the Vikings. Along with that he had 3 touchdowns and a kickoff return that got us in position to win the game. People are talking that Peterson is the best running back in the NFL right now. Good too since that is really the only thing on the offense the Vikings have.

Jackson was ok yesterday, he didn't have any interceptions and no fumbles. He had one 60+ yard touchdown pass but had a rough day otherwise. Seemed like most passes he threw were dropped, granted not all of them were great passes but at the NFL level you have to make those catches.

The Vikings defensive for most of the game wasn't too bad, a few mistakes here and there but pretty solid until the 4 minute mark in the 4th quarter. The Vikings are up by two touchdowns with 4 minutes to go in the game and the defense decides to lay down. The Bears quickly score 2 touchdowns to tie up the game making it look like we were going to overtime. Thank God that Peterson was able to run the final kick return into Bear's Territory and allow Longwell to kick a 55 yard game winning field goal. The field goal in itself was amazing, a career long 55 yarder late in his career.

Hopefully Jackson can keep improving on the passing game since defenses will be focusing more and more on Peterson. The defense needs to play all 4 quarters and hopefully Peterson can carry the team. They have some tough teams coming up.

Go Vikings!

Technorati Tags: Vikings , Peterson , Jackson , Bears , Football

Rain, Rain, Keep it coming

So after less than 1 inch of rain from May until August, in Sauk Centre, of this year we are finally catching up. The Sauk Lake was low and the Sauk river was terribly low. A couple of weeks ago we got 4 inches of rain and have had a couple of other 1 inch rain events since.

We had quite a weather weekend, on Saturday it got up to 87 with a dew point of 71. That is July weather and was just plan too hot for October. We had a major transition on Sunday. Got up to 73 then dropped from there. Yesterday and overnight we got another 3 inches of rain! We got two storms, one yesterday afternoon and the other last night.

The first storm was a lot of thunder and lightning, some heavy rain but mostly a light rain. The second storm was bigger, thunder shaking the house and sheets of rain that caused flooding in the streets.

What was interesting besides the 3 inches of rain was in-between the two storms we had a power outage for about 35 mins. Not sure what this was from, was before the flooding and was way before the second storm hit. Also our power is provided by the city of Sauk Centre so it shouldn't have been affected by storms elsewhere. If I read about it in the paper and find out I will comment on this post.

Technorati tags: Rain, flooding, Minnesota, Storms

Bush Doesn't Care About Children

So it doesn't get much lower than denying our children health care. President Bush has decided to veto a bill that would extend healthcare coverage to 4 million kids for an extra $25 billion over 5 years. This is too much money according to Bush. In the same breath he is asking for $200 Billion for part of 1 year for our war in Iraq. Good thing his war is more important than our children.

I am sorry most things Bush does I disagree with but this is over the line. I guess he has no heart and maybe no soul. I hope the Republicans and Democrats in congress can pull together on this issue and throw that veto back in his face. Congress it is time to stand up and get a backbone against Bush. If we can't help our kids what future are we going to have?

AP Article

Technorati tags: Health Care, Children, Veto

Smoking Survey

Well last night I got a phone call from a phone survey company. Ended up being pretty short for once. They asked one question, have I smoke part of all of a cigarette in the past week. I said no and they ended the survey. I have a feeling this survey is a anti-smoking ban survey. The ban for all work places including bars and restaurants started on Monday. Guess they are looking for ammo to try to repeal the ban next year, they have already said they will try.

I am glad we finally can say good bye to the smoke in bars and restaurants here in Minnesota.

 

Technorati tags: Smoking, Ban, Bars, Restaurants, Cigarettes

The Fall Switch

So it is October 1st and winter is coming fast. I took some time this weekend to do the Minnesota garage switch. I moved my lawnmower, racks, and dirt shovels to the back of the garage. I moved the snowblower, and snow shovels to the front of the garage.

I am planning on switching out the oil and firing up the snowblower this week sometime so when the snow does come I will be ready. I put some gas stabilizer in the lawn mower since it doesn't start I can't run out the gas. I need to put some gas stabilizer in my boat's gas tank too and it should be ready for winter.

Even though we may not get any snow until December I want to be prepared for it. Seemed weird pulling out the snowblower when the forecast for the next week is still in the 70s.

Bring on the snow!

Technorati tags: Winter, Snow, Snowblower, LawnMower, Fall

Vikings Game 4 - Lose (23-16)

Man it gets harder and harder to write about the Vikings with the season they are having. Now this weekend was pretty much what I thought it would be. I really doubted the Vikings could pull it out unless the Vikings defensive had a huge day. They didn't and the Vikings lost.

The Vikings offensive is still nowhere to be found, Holcomb did ok with Jackson still being hurt. We got Chester Taylor back and he was some help. Classic Vikings receivers, dropping balls left and right, some pretty horrible passes. The defense didn't play well again the pass which is what the Packers do.

The Vikings did have a chance to come back in the end of the 4th quarter but that chance was taken away by a terrible no call. That last interception should have been called back because of  defensive pass interference. Not saying that the Vikings would have converted on the drive but it would have been nice to let the drive play itself out.

Thankfully the Vikings have a bye next week which should give them time to get healthy again. About the only thing I hope for anymore this year is that the Vikings don't finish last in the division and even that will be tough.

Oh by the way, I am sick of hearing how wonderful Brett Favre is, we know he is a great quarterback and will be in the history books. Every other word out of the commentator's mouths doesn't have to be my God he is amazing. Shut up and call the game. Also if Favre is really that great and the only thing carrying the team what are they going to do when he retires?

On to the next game.

Technorati tags: Football, Vikings, Packers, Favre

Company Paintball

So I had the most fun I have had in years yesterday, we had a company paintball tournament at crossfire paintball. I believe that we had 24 people show up and we all got rental guns and unlimited ammo.

They had 4 courses at crossfire; speedball, short course with log barriers, short course with plywood barriers, and a 7 acres wooded course. The wooded course was the worst of the 4, they didn't keep that course up at all and it was nothing but heavy brush. The heavy brush included tons of thorns which I crawled through, cutting up my hand and neck.

Speedball was fun, it was a ultrashort course with plastic tubing barriers. You went through a ton of ammo here since you were shooting all of the time, couldn't move much on this course. I ran out of ammo the first time I played this course and ended up picking up paintballs one at a time off the ground and putting them into my gun. Amazingly with one of those ground balls I got Adam right in the head. Also it was a good try when LiLu rushed us in the speed round and was promptly shot over 10 times by 3 of us. Better luck next time.

The other two courses were fun because it was big enough you could run between barriers and have a little more strategy. My favorite course was the plywood barrier because I could actually fit behind the plywood and still see around to shoot.

My favorite round was the final round which was the iron man. If you got shot you just had to go back to the starting point and come back out. You play till you are out of ammo, last team with ammo wins. This is a good round to go all out. In this round I was running between barriers, turned around to slide into the barrier. I didn't get hit but basically went through the barrier ending up on my back which is where I got shot.

Overall it was a great time, I think I shot Adam the most. I got shot most of the time in the head. I wish I had the time and money to play this every weekend.

Some Videos take during:

Particle Board Course (1st Attempt)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7160682515785350728&hl=en

Speed Ball (1st Attempt)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8045813634081767295&hl=en

Speed Ball (2nd Attempt)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2064943413261697333&hl=en

Iron Man

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5737397960163736631&hl=en

Technorati tags: Paintball

Rain Event 9-20-07/9-21-07

Man what a storm we had on Thursday September 20th. It was a strong thunderstorm; lots of wind, lightening, hail, and rain. When driving home I got within about 5 miles of Sauk Centre and the torrential rain came down. I was driving about 40 mph on I94 and couldn't see anything in around me. Hail was pelting my car and the booming thunder was incredibly loud. Most traffic had pulled over on the shoulder but I kept going because I had to get home.

Once I got into town the streets were flooded, with my little Civic I could feel the water running across the bottom of my car and was just hoping I wouldn't stall out in the street. The home was fine, we are on a big hill so flooding has never been a problem for us. Part of our driveway did get washed away but not too bad. What really shocked me was when I checked my rain gauge. We got over 4 inches of rain!! That is the most rain I remember getting since 2001, lets hope that this storm will mark a new more generous precipitation cycle. I would love ton of snow.

 

Technorati tags: Rain, Storms, Flooding, Central Minnesota

Vikings Game 3 - Lose (13-10)

Here we go again, looks to be a tough season for the Vikings. Not like this is news to most Vikings fans. While we all hoped the Vikings would come out and shine most of us knew already in the off-season that this would be a tough year. The Vikings don't really have any offensive stars to take the team to the top of the division. Peterson continues to look great but can't pull all of the load himself, Chester Taylor is still hurt which is a big blow to the offensive.

Jackson was hurt and out this week, we had to go with a backup QB in Holcomb. Holcomb looked pretty good in the 1st quarter but like the rest of the Vikings team got worst throughout the game. The Vikings really looked like they would pull this one out until the 4th quarter. Classic Vikings, play 3/4ths of the game and give it up in the end. I would say that I would put my hopes on Holcomb any day over Bollinger.

If the Vikings want any chance to not finish the season in last place in the NFC Central they need to get healthy. Already after week 2 injurys were everywhere on the Vikings team. Both major offensive and defensive major players were hurt. This is also a classic Vikings problem, they are always hurt. I am keeping my blog entry about this game a little shorter because it really isn't worth talking about.

This coming week is the 1st meeting of the Packers and Vikings for the year. I am not very positive about what is going to happen, the Pack is hot this year and everyone seems hurt on the Vikings team. You never can tell though, when the Vikings and the Packers meet all rules go out the window.

Go Vikes!

 

Technorati tags: Vikings, Peterson, Holcomb, Football, Packers

Vikings Game 2 - Lose (20-17)

So what a disappointing game this weekend for the Vikings. I think this is one of the sloppiest games I have seen. Not only did the Vikings have 5 turnovers, but the Lions had 5 turnovers as well. No it wasn't rainy or muddy, it was just a worthlessly played game.

Jackson was at fault for more of the turnovers on the Vikings side, he was trying to force the ball into dangerous places and got burned numerous times. When had had time and took his time he was throwing great passes but was also trying to make things happen when they weren't there.

I am not sure what the offensive game plan was for Sunday and why they went that way. We have a running back in Peterson who had over 160 all purpose yards in week one and they hardly used him this week. Seemed like we tried to put the entire game on Jackson's shoulders and as we all saw he isn't ready for that.

Our defense looked ok, they had a hard time with the starting QB and their no huddle offense. The Vikings had opportunities to win the games but after the game they played didn't really deserve it. Jackson got hurt in OT and Bollinger came out to play, this sealed the game for the Lions. Bollinger is the most worthless backup QB out there, he was worthless last year and this year is not better. The couple of passes he had were wild and ended up dropping a snap for the last turnover that nailed the coffin shut.

It doesn't appear Jackson was hurt bad and will be back in next week, hopefully so will Chester Taylor. I think if the Vikings are going to have any chance this year they need both Chester Taylor and Peterson healthy and in the game. Let the running game control the pace of play they have Jackson pass when he can. Jackson isn't ready to take all the load of the team and we don't have anyone else who can.

Our division is looking tough this year and the Vikings will have to fight to stay off the bottom. Lions have a high powered offensive this year. Packers have a great defensive this year and the Bears are back with their great defensive as well. Hopefully things will be better next week.

Technorati tags: Vikings, Football, NFL, Lions, Travaris Jackson

Go Vikings!

Fall is Here

So fall is here in Minnesota once again, I love fall, I think it is the best time of the year. I do not like the days of 90s in Minnesota, I know compared to a lot places in the US and the world 90s isn't that hot but in Minnesota it is plenty hot. I like the cold, in fact in the dead of winter I enjoy the -30 degrees days (I don't like paying for heating my house) it is kind of a pride thing, being a Minnesotan and going on day to day in that kind of cold. I won't get on my soap box about Minnesotans who don't like winter, maybe another time.

Back to fall, this morning it was a nice crisp 34 degrees at my house. Perfect fall morning where it will get into the upper 60s maybe 70 during that day. Doesn't get better than that. This year we had well over 30 days over 90 in Central Minnesota and the average is closer to 13 days over 90. The past few years we have been well over the 13 days of 90s every year. Also throughout the year it has been warmer including winters.

We have had well below normal snow fall in Central Minnesota since at least 2001, ends up just being gray and cloudy for November and December. I am hoping for a fall that stays around where it is now for September and into October. Hopefully November will bring early snowfall which I doubt and maybe we can have more of a normal snowfall year this year.

I am hoping for at least 1 foot of snow for Christmas, hasn't even been close in recent years.

Technorati tags: Weather, Snow, Fall, Winter, Minnesota

Minnesota Vikings Win Season Opener

Well the Vikings are 1-0 after this weekend. I would have to say in pretty typical form the Vikings defense won the game for them again. Last year the only way the Vikings could score points was with there defense.

The defense scored 14 out of the Vikings 24 points yesterday and overall looked pretty good. The defense had there good and bad moments they can improve but did well enough for us to win the game.

The offence for the Vikings wasn't great but was better then pretty much any game last year. They moved the ball pretty well, Travaris Jackson was throwing well and scrambling well for his first season opener start. When the pressure was on him he could have made some better choices and his receivers could have caught the ball better but they really showed promise for later in the season.

Running back Adrian Peterson in his first NFL game looked damn good, he had the only Offensive touchdown of the game and looked like he had great vision and speed. It really is too bad that Chester Taylor had to get hurt already because him and Peterson could have made a great one-two punch in the running game. Peterson stepped it up though to fill in for the injured Taylor by rushing for over 100 yards in the game.

Back to Travaris Jackson, he seemed to keep the offence going when his running game seemed in jeopardy. I think Jackson is the future of this team or at least has the potential to be.

I will say this only in the season's first post, all last year I said Johnson is washed up and we need to put in Jackson. This did not happen until the end of the season last year and because of it we had one of the worst offences in the league last year. Already in the first game of the season Jackson had a better game than all of last year for Johnson. Go Travaris Jackson!

 

Technorati tags: Football, Vikings, Fan, Travaris Jackson, NFL

Bats, Bats, and More Bats

So I have lived in my house for almost 2 years now. The first year we lived there we had a pretty sizable bat problem. On average I caught 5 bats a week in the house. I had a bat exterminator come in and for about $900 there sealed up all the holes in the house and extracted all the bats.

Well everything was going well until about 3 weeks ago. Since then we have had 4 bats in the house, most at night but one during the day. This gets quite annoying even though I am such a pro now at catching bats it takes no time.

Thankfully I have a 2 year warranty on the bat job so the "bat guy" is going to come up and take a look for us. I think there are a ton of bats in the area and it will always be a little annoyance for us. Oh well I guess it keeps me on my toes right?

 

Technorati tags: Bats, Old House

Projects - Kitchen Faucet

Well after buying a new Kitchen Faucet about 3 months ago and it sitting in the basement collecting dust I finally got it installed this past weekend. I hate anything to do with plumbing and water. I am not a small man and it always seems like, plumbing projects get me to squeeze into really small spaces and bang on pipes, normally breaking crap.

Getting the old faucet out wasn't too bad this time, I have gotten pretty good at knocking them loose with a couple of vise grips. Once I got it out I put in the new faucet which was easy, then I connected up the water lines and turned the water back on. Both of the connections leaked, tightened them up and then only one leaked. Pulled that one off taped it up with Teflon tape and retightened it. Still leaked so I tightened it even more and the leak got worse. I remembered that I had this problem once before and had gotten a paste that sealed the threads. Put this on, tightened it up one more time and everything worked great.

Finally I have a good faucet to use in the kitchen. The whole reason I had to replace it was that I broke off the aerator including the threads and it made a terrible noise when you turned it on low. Another project bites the dust.

 

Technorati tags: Facuet, Kitchen, Plumbing, Teflon Tape

Heart Stress Test

So I had a good time yesterday, I got to go into the doctor for a heart stress test. I have had really high blood pressure lately and was feeling a heaviness in my chest when working out sometimes. I went to the local hospital for the test which is nice because I didn't have to run all the way to St. Cloud to do it.

Well what they do at these things is take your blood pressure and heart rate at rest both laying down and standing up. Then they have you take off you shirt to put on a bunch of probe patches all over your torso. Well for those patches to stick they not only have to shave patches off you but have to "rough" up the skin with what they call "scratch pads". Basically they rub you with sand paper which is fun let me tell you.

So after they got me all prepped I got to sit around waiting for the doctor for about 20 mins and then they put my on their treadmill. You start off at a walk and every 3 mins they raise the speed and incline of the treadmill. Every couple of minutes they take your blood pressure and they watch your heart on their equipment. When by the time you get to level 5 you are running up a hill and I am getting quite tired, thankfully I made it.

Everything in the test turned out well and man was I sore later that day. I guess I should have stretched first. Oh well. Now how do I get my blood pressure down.

 

Technorati tags: Heart, Doctor, Stress Test, Running

BBQ for the 4th of July

BBQed for 9 hours yesterday, I cooked a turkey on the grill for the first time. Did it real slow with indirect charcoal and smoked it with apple wood. I basted it in butter about every hour. The turkey came out pretty good, I had a little bit of a hard time not overcooking the breast while still getting the legs done. The turkey legs are typically about 20 degrees behind the breast and you want both of them to end up at about 165. Problem is by the time you get the legs to 165 the breast is at 185 and getting too done. We tin foiled the breast when it reached 165 and finished the legs, seemed to work pretty good.

The favor was wonderful, I think I really like the apple wood. After about hour 8 I was looking up ways to get both the breast and the legs done at the same time and found a trick I might use next time. Cool the breast with an ice pack while the rest of the turkey is at room temperature before putting it on the grill. You want to make up this 20 degree difference in cooking speeds so if the breast is 20 degrees cooler they both should get to 165 at about the same time.

 

Technorati tags: BBQ, Turkey, 4th of July

There goes the Neighborhood

So can one house on your street ruin the entire neighborhood? The answer is yes! We had a nice quiet neighborhood and lived on a less traveled street. When we moved in it was great, all the neighbors seems to have kids and it was nice and quiet for the most part. I mean every now and then we would get a loud motorcycle but nothing on a regular basis.This is good for me because I have two little kids and neither one likes loud noises.

So in the past couple of weeks someone moved out of their house down the street from us, thankfully not next to us, and I think they started renting the house out. Single handedly the people who moved in have doubled the traffic and noise level on our street. At any one time there are between 5-10 vehicles in their driveway. Most of them beat up old trucks with loud exhaust and crappy cars with no exhaust. Mopeds, scooters, motorcycles, you name it and all loud. This has royally pissed me off and I hope they can't pay rent and get kicked out.

It is really sad when one house ruins it for the rest.

 

Technorati tags: Neighbors, Loud

Out with the Old and In With the New

So I had to have our old family cat put down this week. Jasper was somewhere between 16-20 years old and we had owned him for about 7 years. He had really been slowing down over the past 6 months and we felt he didn't have too many more years left but seemed healthy. Well this week he started throwing up blood all over and just laying around not wanting to move. We knew this was the time so we had him put down at the local vet.

We have another cat that is about 1 year old but with Jasper gone we needed another cat to fill his place. My wife wanted to go as soon as possible so we packed up the kids and headed to PetSmart who houses cats for local humane societies. We found a cat that my wife and daughter likes and adopted him. He is a little white and tan cat that is 8 weeks old.

It has been fun already trying to get our current cat to accept the new one but my daughter loves her new cat. I am sure the two will get together soon just fine.

 

Technorati tags: Cat, Adoption

Baby Back Ribs!

I BBQed up some baby back ribs this weekend and damn where they good. Found a recipe online for a rub and one of my grilling books for the BBQ sauce. I also cooked up the corn and bread on the grill as well.

The grill was able to hold to racks of ribs, 10 ears of corn and a loaf of bread. We will be eating on those ribs all week!

 

Technorati tags: Ribs, BBQ

Chocolate Chip Cookies

My wife makes the best chocolate chip cookies in the world. Whenever she makes them I end up eating way too many, I guess that is one of the reasons I have a gut. It is always a hit too when I bring them in for Brad and Brye so I try to bring in a bag before I eat them all. Sorry Steve now that you are in Portland you don't get any more of my cookies.

I am not sure what I like better though, my wife's chocolate chip cookies or her fresh baked pie. Mmmmmmmm Pie! It is good having a wife that can cook and bake wonderfully tasty things.

Technorati tags: Cookies, Pie, Baking

Half.com

Well I am on this selling binge trying to get rid of extra stuff around the house and make some money in the process. My wife has a bunch of nursing books from when she was going to school as an LPN. These books are still in use for some nursing programs so I was looking for a way to make some money back on them.

One of my friends told me to put them on half.com which is run by eBay and man is it slick. You just need the ISBN # and it puts in the picture and description for you. Also it gives you average sale price and last sale price for these books. I would recommend to anyone, sounds like they also reimburse you for shipping so we will see how it goes.

Technorati tags: Books, Selling, eBay, Nursing

Bud Ice Penguin Commercials

These are classic.

Technorati tags: Commercial, Penguins, Bud Ice

Kids are Growing Up Fast

My daughter is growing up so fast I can't believe it. She can go through all of her ABCs, she can count to 10 in Spanish and English. She has a wonderful imagination and just loves when you read her books. She isn't even 3 yet and just seems so smart.

My son just turned 1 and he is climbing on everything, walking every chance he can get and just trying to get into trouble. The other day he climbed the stairs all the way to the 2nd floor, never was able to get over the 2nd stair before that. He loves to stomp and kick everything in site, way more energy than my daughter had. He is a handful.

It is great having kids, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Technorati tags: Kids

Old Company Bought Out

The old company I worked for named NorthernPCS which was a SprintPCS affiliate in Minnesota has been bought out by Sprint Corp. Sad to hear that it is going corporate but knew it would happen, NorthernPCS is a great company and I love working for them.

I left like many other people because I knew this was going to happen sooner than later. NorthernPCS was one of the few affiliates left standing, one of the best too. Good to all you NorthernPCS employees in your future endeavors.

http://www.betanews.com/article/sprint_scoops_up_another_affiliate/1181749841

http://www.sctimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?aid=/20070613/news01/106130045/1009/rss

Technorati tags: SprintPCS, affiiate, Buyout

Selling on Craigslist

So I posted stuff to sell on craigs list for the first time. They have a pretty easy you use interface and no fee to sell your stuff. I watch it all the time but have never sold anything before. I had a ton of stuff left from the garage sale we had.

Only time will tell if the stuff really sells.

Technorati tags: Craigslist, Garage Sale, Selling

Outdoor Cat

We now have an outdoor cat that either we have adopted or he has adopted us. One day this little tom showed up and he has been hanging around ever since. It has been about a month now, he sleeps in our bushes in the back yard. Whenever you go outside he comes by to get pet. My daughter named him "flower" so that is his name.

We haven't officially adopted him or anything just give him some food and water every once in a while.

Technorati tags: Cat, Outdoors

Boat - New Floor Installed

I installed a new plywood floor in my boat and now it is ready for indoor/outdoor carpet, and seats. I used 3/4" treated plywood for the flooring. It is quite stable and heavy as hell. I should have taken more pictures after I ripped out all the rotten wood from the old floor but I do have some before and after pictures to look at. I will continue to update as the boat repairs go on.

Before:

After:

Technorati tags: Boat, Repair, Floor

Dog - Finally Not Sick Anymore

So have three hellish days of the dog crapping all over the floor she has stopped doing it. I don't know what got her sick but I am not taking any chances for a while. She used to get all of our table scraps but now they all go right into the garbage disposal.

I need to get her in for some shots and get her tested for heart worm. More money I don't want to spend on her.

Technorati tags: Dog, Sick, Vet

Boat - Finally got it registered

I was able to get my boat registered in my name this weekend and the new registration sticker is good until 2009. I bought this boat for cheap and I am fixing it up. I wasn't going to spend any more money on it if I couldn't get it registered.

I wasn't sure I was going to be able to since the guy I bought it from lose all the documentation he had on it and he moved to AZ. Now I just have to get it useable.

Old Post on the Boat

 

Technorati tags: Boat, Registration, Fix

Storms with a Big Bark and Small Bite

So there was a big build-up to the storms that were rolling into Minnesota yesterday and as always not much happened around here. All week they were talking about heavy thunderstorms coming and the day before both of the Dakotas where covered in thunderstorms. I love thunderstorms so I was hoping we would really get something this time.

So I am watching radar and it looks like we might get hit by at least a few cells, not long lasting but looked like fun. Well everything was pretty dark but all we got out of it was lots of wind and a little rain. Not even enough rain to empty out of the rain gauge.

It really seems like all of the storms hit southern Minnesota and nothing ever comes though central Minnesota. I am not saying I want tornados or tennis balls size hail but it is nice to have some big boomers come through. Oh well always next time.

Technorati tags: Storms, Weather

My Dog is Getting on My Nerves

So I have had to clean up 4 major accidents in my kitchen from my dog in the past 3 days. My patience is wearing quite thin with her. I need to call the vet and see if there is something I can do to stop this. If she had a dog house outside that is where she would be staying right now.

I still think keeping her in the garage for a while might be the way to go.

Technorati tags: Dog

Dogs - Are they really worth it?

So the last two morning I have woke up to a really fun sight. My dog has had diarea in the kitchen. So before my first cup of coffee, before I really wake up I have to get the bleach out and wipe up that mess. It is wonderful being the first person up in the morning.

If I wake up to it tomorrow that dog is staying out in the garage at night from now on. Give me a break two nights in a row!!! I have to get it extra clean too because my son crawls all over the floor.

That is one thing to think about when getting a big dog, when they get sick they make a huge mess!

Technorati tags: Dog, Sick

My New Grill

Well the garage sale went well and I got my new grill. It is pretty sweet, I have done two all day cookouts on it so far. The first weekend I smoked a Pork Butt for 8 1/2 hours, it was so tender you could cut it with a fork. Then last weekend I smoked a Beef Brisket for about 5 hours and it came out with a get smoky flavor.

I am continuing to try out new meats and new wood for the smoking. With this unit you can cook with direct heat or indirect heat. It is a big upgrade from my old piece of crap grill I got for free 7 years ago.

Technorati tags: Grill, BBQ

Ping/Pong Update 5-24-07

Games Won:

1st Set

Chris - 1

Brad - 2

2nd Set

Chris - 2

Brad - 1

Technorati tags: Ping Pong

Weird Power Outage

Had a power outage that lasted about an hour last night. It took out the entire town and I am not really sure why. There wasn't any bad weather or anything just died and took quite some time for it to come back. It seems like this doesn't happen very much anymore unless there is a lightning strike that knocks it out.

Continuing to get the garage sale together, set up the tables last night. I got the signs and some balloons so people can find it. It isn't supposed to be a very nice weekend, kind of cold and possibility for rain. So I don't know how good we will do.

Technorati tags: Garage Sale, Power Outage

Ping/Pong Update 5-23-07

Games Won

1st Set

Chris - 1

Brad - 2

2nd Set

Chris - 2

Brad - 2

Technorati tags: Ping Pong

Garage Sale

Well the garage sale date is coming up soon. We are having a garage sale from this Thursday through Sunday, maybe Monday. I went out and got some tables from my Brother in Law last night. I put an Ad in the St. Cloud times and on Craigslist so we will hopefully get a good turnout.

I think things have started off good, I sold a laptop that was in the garage sale to Brad. New grill here I come!

Technorati tags: Garage Sale, Grill

Ping/Pong Update 5-22-07

Games Won:

1st Set

Chris - 1

Brad - 2

Technorati tags: Ping Pong

Ping/Pong Update 5-21-07

Games Won:

1st Set

Chris - 2

Brad - 1

2nd Set

Chris - 1

Brad - 2

Technorati tags: Ping Pong

Over the Weekend

Finally got my daughter's kite flying this weekend even though the wind still wasn't what I would have liked to it be when we were flying. It seems like the wind picks up when we aren't trying to fly the kite then goes down when you do.

Getting ready for a garage sale this weekend, trying to get enough money to by a new grill. I have been grilling with the same old small free grill for the last 6 years. I want a new one! Also the garage sale will be nice to get rid of junk we have laying around.

Technorati tags: Garage Sale, Kite

Ping/Pong Update 5-18-07

Games Won:

1st Set

Chris - 2

Brad - 1

2nd Set

Chris - 4

Brad - 0

Technorati tags: ping Pong

Kite Makes the Wind Go Away

So my daughter got her first kite yesterday and it seemed to be the perfect time since it has been windy everyday since the beginning of may. So we eat dinner and decide to go out and try to fly her kite. Guess what the wind died down to almost nothing. What is the deal with that, so the wind is back this morning and we will give it a whirl again tonight.

Technorati tags: Kite, Wind

Ping/Pong Update 5-17-07

Games Won:

1st Set

Chris - 1

Brad - 2

2nd Set

Chris - 2

Brad - 1

Technorati tags: ping Pong

Ping/Pong Update 5-16-07

Games Won:

1st Set

Chris - 0

Brad - 4

2nd Set

Chris - 0

Brad - 4

Technorati tags: Ping Pong

Lawn Mowing

So I finally stopped putting it off and started to mow my lawn yesterday. I have about 3/4 of acre of pretty much all lawn and I have to mow it with a push mower. It isn't that bad other than it takes forever and makes my hand numb from the mower vibrations. I got my front lawn down last night in about an hour and will slowly start on my much larger back yard tonight I hope.

Things are already getting dry, we haven't gotten much rain at all this Spring and it looks like the drought will continue. I imagine by mid June my entire lawn will be crispy again and then I won't have to mow it anymore. Thing that is bad about that is the grass is no longer soft and isn't in good shape for the kids to play in. Hopefully we get enough rain for things to survive.

Technorati tags: Lawn, Rain, Drought

Wedding Over the Weekend

So I went to a wedding this weekend in Duluth, Minnesota. It was one of my niece's weddings. She married a guy with the same name as me, Chris, so off the bat he couldn't been that bad of a guy. I met him over Christmas when they came to our house for the Christmas party. He is a real nice guy with a good head on his shoulders. He couldn't have been luckier to marry such a wonderful woman as my niece Anna.

The wedding was wonderful, my wife was the maid of honor, my daughter was the flower girl, and I was an usher. Everything went smooth and I think everyone had a good time. The kids were quite tired and it was good to get them home on Sunday to get them to bed. It was a temperature shock too. 50 degrees in Duluth and 90 in Central Minnesota. Dang

Technorati tags: Wedding

Ping/Pong Update 5-14-07

Games Won:

1st Set

Chris - 2

Brad - 2

2nd Set

Chris - 1

Brad - 3

Technorati tags: Ping Pong

Ping/Pong Update 5-10-07

Games Won:

1st set

Chris - 2

Brad - 2

2nd Set

Chris - 4

Brad - 0

Technorati tags: Ping Pong

Tick Season Begins in Minnesota

It is tick season again, time to check yourself for ticks whenever you spend time outside. If you have kids and they are playing outside be sure to check them over for ticks. Time to treat your dogs and cats against ticks as well.

I seem to attract deer ticks myself, two years in a row I had a deer tick attached to me. Knock on wood I didn't get lyme disease. Deer ticks are so small you might not even know it is there even if you are looking at it.

Tick Tips

Technorati tags: Wood Ticks, Deer Ticks, Lyme Disease

Ping/Pong Update 5-9-07

Games Won:

1st Set

Chris - 2

Brad - 1

2nd Set

Chris - 1

Brad - 3

Technorati tags: ping Pong

Lazy Smokers - Am I the Only One Annoyed?

One of the things that really piss me off is smokers who are too lazy to use an ashtray in the car. I can't stand driving behind someone who is throwing cigarette butts out the window at me.

You know what, use your ashtray! If you don't have an ashtray in your car use something else in your car. If you can't do that don't smoke in your car. I think that everyone who throws a cigarette out the window should get a $500 littering fine.

I could care less if you smoke but keep the smoke and the trash away from me!

Technorati tags: Litter, Smoker

Ping/Pong Update 5-8-07

Games Won:

1st Set

Chris - 1

Brad - 2

2nd Set

Chris - 0

Brad - 4

Technorati tags: Ping Pong

Ping/Pong Update 5-7-07

Games Won:

1st Set

Chris - 0

Brad - 4

2nd Set

Chris - 0

Brad - 2

 

Technorati tags: Ping Pong

Switch from Snow Blower to Lawn Mower - Spring is here

I made the switch this weekend. Got the lawn mower up and running this weekend, lawn is getting quite long. I put some fuel stabilizer into the snow blower and moved it to the back of the garage now.

I have been considering fertilizing my lawn this year but it looks like it is going to be another drought summer from what I have been hearing. I don't think it is really worth spending money on the lawn if it is going to die this summer again anyway. If I had a well I would water the lawn but city water is too expensive.

Also looking into planting some trees in the back yard, one side of our property doesn't have a natural or man made border between lawns. Since they are both rather large I would like to plant trees to make a natural border.

 

Technorati tags: SnowBlower, LawnMower, Tree, Lawn, Spring

Ping/Pong Update 5-4-07

Games Won:

1st Set

Chris - 2

Brad - 1

2nd Set

Chris - 2

Brad - 3

3rd Set

Chris - 2

Brad - 2

Technorati tags: Ping Pong

Gas Over $4/Gallon This Year?

Well every year gas continues to go up, in fact this month it went from a normal or $2.59/gallon to now $2.99/gallon. What is the hell is going on?

One of the reasons that the industry says gas prices went up is increased demand, they always say this and I have a hard time believing "increased demand" causes this big of a difference in prices. Another one you hear every Spring and Fall is the transition from Summer blend to Winter blend or winter blend to Summer blend. This causes refineries to lower production for a period of time.

Well I wanted to know what is the difference in the "blends" and why my prices continue to go up. I full a very interesting article on it.

Full Article

Technorati tags: Gasoline, Refineries

Ping/Pong Update 5-3-07

Games Won: 

1st Set

Chris - 3

Brad - 0

2nd Set

Chris - 4

Brad - 2

 

Technorati tags: Ping Pong

Student Loans

If you have a lot of old Student loans out there and you want a breakdown of what is left on all of your loans and who they are through check out here. It is a good one stop shop for most student loans and pell grants you have taken out.

You will need your Fafsa pin to access this info.

 

Technorati tags: Student, Loans, Fafsa

Ping/Pong Update 5-2-07

Games won:

First Set

Chris - 3

Brad - 1

Second Set

Chris - 1

Brad - 3

 

Technorati tags: Ping Pong

Free BWW Today at Work

I love BWW aka Buffalo Wild Wings and we got them for our monthly free lunch at work. It doesn't get much better than spicy garlic wings. I tried a Blazin wing today and I thought it would be hotter considering how everything fears them. What I was told though is you won't get the full effect until the sauce is dripping off the wing.

 

Technorati tags: BWW, Free, Food

Daily Ping/Pong Update

I am going to start keeping a tally of Brad and I's ping pong games. I am a horrible ping pong player but if I get enough games under my belt maybe I will get better.

5/1/07 - Wins

Chris - 6 Games

Brad - 6 Games

One of My Favorite Shows

One of the TV shows that I try to catch everyday is the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. This is a great show that gives you a break down of current political events with a twist of comedy. The comedy is needed otherwise you would just get depressed.

Here is a debate with John McCain I quite enjoyed:

Let it be know I don't just like the Daily Show but also really like the Colbert Report too.

Interesting survey about viewers like me:

Survey

Built Firepit in My Backyard

One of my projects, the only one I got finished, that I was working on this weekend was to build a firepit in my backyard. We have wanted one since we moved in so that we have sit out have a fire and look over the lake.

I think it turn out good, we had our first little fire, have to be careful I found out afterwards that we are in a red flag warning for fire danger. Hopefully we will get some rain soon so we can have more fires. It was perfect though sitting out on my patio with a fire enjoying the quiet nice looking over the calm lake. 

Computer Monster

This is hilarious

 

Home Repair - Love these Pictues

Check out these picture galleries for nightmare repair jobs. I have lived in two older houses and have done my share of repairs. Make me fell better about the work I have done.

Gallery 1

Gallery 2

Windows Live Writer

I am going to try my first post using Windows Live Writer. My buddy Steve Novoselac told me it was the best thing since sliced bread so I figured it was worth checking it out.

I setup both of my blogs in windows live writer. My technical blog which is a wordpress blog had some errors when I was setting it up so I don't think I will use Live writer for that one yet. This blog had no problems so here we are with this post.

What I should get my dog

My dog is scared of the rain and whenever it is raining outside or thundering and even sometimes snowing she will drive me insane. At night she paces back and forth throughout the room and up and down the stairs. During the day she drools all over the floor, follows me everywhere and generally annoys me.

Check out the following new product:

"Reconcile is a beef-flavored, chewable version of fluoxetine, better known as Prozac. It's supposed to take care of all those things dogs -- particularly puppies -- do when their human parents are away: chew, bark, whine, pee on the living room carpet."

Story about it on NPR

As soon as it is free I will get it.

Finish My Son's Room

Currently my son is sleeping in a bedroom across from the master bedroom as a temporary bedroom. We want to put him into the room next to my daughters room. There is one problem and that is it needed to be finished off.

It needs to be drywalled from top to bottom, the ceiling and the walls. The walls need to be prepped to support the drywall. Currently it is just concrete with plaster of the top of that and wallpaper on the plaster. The two ways of getting the walls ready that I can do is put up furring strips which sounds like it will be a huge pain or build a new wall all the way around up against the current concrete walls.

I am by no means a carpenter or drywalls and by no means have a ton of money to throw at someone and say fix it. So I have been trying to figure out among drywall contractors, general contractors and friends how I can afford to finish off my son's bedroom.

Tuesday

Daughter is sick again, this time it appears to just be a small cold hopefully she doesn't have it for every long. It is finally nice enough for her to go play outside but when she is sick she doesn't feel like doing much of anything.

My son has really started to crawl now, which is funny because he was just starting to walk and he found it easier to crawl. Is is getting all over the place and finding the oddest things. Keeps me busy keeping on eye on my son who is 11 months and my daughter who is 2 1/2 years old.

My dog is driving me crazy lately, she paces the bedroom at night panting and if I don't keep her in check she will run up and down the stairs all night too. Crazy dog.

Cleaning the Garage

Dang, I took a look at my garage yesterday and it is scary messy. My wife want to start cleaning it up and so do I but we have a lot of junk in it. I moved into my current house about 1 1/2 years ago and never really organized the garage, I just threw everything where it fit.

My wife and I started weeding out stuff for a garage sale this spring but there was so much crap piled up,it was hard to even see what we had. I have a feeling I will be working on my garage for a long time to come to get it the way I like it. I hope to make enough money from the garage sale to buy a new grill I want, we will see if that happens.

Boat - Part 1

I bought a boat last fall from a neighbor that was moving away. Bought it for $150 which is pretty good for a boat,trailer, and motor. The motor works, the boat floats and the trailer is in pretty good condition.

Everything else on the other hand it not in such good condition. The floor is rotten, the wiring is messed up, no seats, battery needs replacing, fuel line is shot etc..... So I started to tear out the carpet and what was left of the seats this weekend. I need to get a book on the boat motor and need to figure out what to do with the floor.

I am really excited to get this boat up and running so I can get back out on the lake. I haven't been about to go boating in quite some time. Need time and money first.

My buddy Brye's boat

Bathroom Exaust Fan

Well I finally finished my bathroom exhaust fan project in my house. The old fan I had I refused to use because when you turned it on it shook the entire ceiling and made just a terrible noise. I purchased a new ultra quiet fan which of course was a different shape and installed that.

Took me forever to get the old fan out since it was install before the ceiling was finished and was screwed in about 8 places to the rafters. Ripped that down and opened up the hole so the new fan would fit. Installed the new fan, tested it and it worked like a champ. Then I took a piece of scrape drywall I had gotten from my buddy Brye and fixed up the hole I had made. Patching the whole wasn't too bad other than have to find some wood shims because the scrap drywall was thinner than the exciting drywall.

Well at least I have a fan I can use now and will be sure not to get mold all over the ceiling and walls from too much moisture.

New Personal Blog

This is the first post on my new personal blog. I have a Technical Website called Super-Networking.net which includes a blog. This website includes tips, tricks, bootlegs, and workarounds for IT networking.

I don't want to blog about personal stuff or anything non-technical in that blog so I setup a separate blog for for that.