The Infamous Boat!!!!!

Michelle's parents own a boat. It sits in their garage (and has for a long time). Michelle's dad used to go fishing on the weekends with his father back in the day. Now, Vic has taken up golfing. Still the thought of this boat has always stirred up many fun ideas like "should be bring it up to Chicago?" or "we should take it on a lake sometime when we visit".

Michelle always laugh at me. As she says, "The last time the boat was in water was before I was driving". Enter the power of the GRANDDAUGHTER!

Vic has told me there is some work that needs to be done on the engine. Every time we visit, I always ask "how is the boat coming along?" or more specifically, "Samantha sure will love taking boat rides". He is probably thinking "Who the hell is this kid? I always have Yuengling in the fridge when he comes down. What more does he want?". He has a point.

It still doesn't stop me from asking about it. I even tell him that I would rent the truck to tow it, buy the gas to run it. Whatever. Well, I had worn him down and it was on his every changing list of things to do. Then, their bathroom/closet catastrophe happened (a leaking pipe in the wall for years...). So he spent the last year or almost year building a new bathroom. He did an amazing job on it by the way.

Well, randomly I received this picture yesterday.



To say I was excited is an understatement! Although given his sense of humor, I can also see just taking the picture as a joke and sending it to me. I guess I will find out next time we visit.

Either way, it was a very fun picture msg to get in the middle of the day!

The perfect pour

The people that invented this should get some award. They are heroes to me.

I did get the link from extra mustard at ccnsi.com. So I need to give credit where credit is due.



The whole article is incredible. I can not wait to go to a stadium that has this technology. The ability to pour draft beer 8 times faster and each pour is perfect....wow. SIGN ME UP!

Why do I crave a beer now?

A Glimpse into my weekend

I think every week I will have one post be a story around my experiences of fatherhood and more specifically around this unusual world of raising a girl. Today, this story, is just about the wonderful world of an everyday parent.

Let me setup the weekend. We had a quiet weekend at home for the most part. Fedea came over Saturday night to watch the football game and the bulls-heat game. He left around 10:30. After that, Michelle went to bed and I stayed on the couch flipping the channels. I saw that Transformers was on TBS and I am easily hooked on movies. It ended on midnight...so at 12 when it ended, I was heading to bed but Samantha was crying.

Typically, Michelle gets up with her in the middle of the night (if needed) and I get up with her in the morning. Since I was already up, I went in her room and she was sitting up. I rocked her in the chair for a few minutes and she fell asleep. No big deal right? Well, I tried to put her down and she woke up and screamed no. So....I stood over her crib holding her calming her down. Once again, she was asleep so I tried to put her down. As soon as she hit the bed, she started crying again. At this point, I am thinking, "How does Michelle do it??? I can't get her to go back to sleep!"

So, I resort to the only way I know how to put her to sleep...THE COUCH! It always works for me. This time though I decided to just sit down on the couch and let her lean against my shoulder. Of course with her was her blanket and Minnie Mouse. Well we were on the couch for about 30 seconds before she pushes back slightly and just blows her lunch and dinner all over me. (why oh why did I try to put her back to sleep...)

Luckily this wasn't my first rodeo with vomit. When Michelle was out of town a couple months ago, Samantha has a 24hr bug that reared its ugly head. Lets just say it was a long night for a single parent...a story for another time. (I have been nailed twice now by Samantha...Michelle -0...WTF!!!!!)

Well, as she was vomiting as much as possible all over me she starts crying. I try to console her but she can't really lean on my shoulder as it is dripping on its own. I stand up with her and her blanket (thank goodness that was there. it caught a lot). I yell for Michelle and run to the bathroom. Michelle was of course in a deep sleep and woke up in a pure PANIC. She comes out of the bathroom to see her daugher standing in the tub crying, with Minnie and her blanket of course swimming in vomit and me running past her with my shirt dripping everywhere I go (I was heading to our shower to take up my shirt and rinse it out).

To speed this up, we calm her down, put news clothes on her and have her come lay in our bed with us (15 min process). Well, the next couple hours we spent with me holding the bucket, Michelle holding the hair and Samantha throwing her face into the bowl. She only threw up a few more times. Poor girl.

Don't be too alarmed. It was bizarre actually. She was fine all day, never had a fever and never showed symptoms. We still don't know what happened. Sunday she definitely was not right and really didn't eat but she drank a lot of fluids and was in good spirits. Luckily both Michelle and Samantha are home tomorrow for MLK day.

A few things I learned from that night...

1. I am NEVER on overnight duty again. I try to put her back down and instead her meals come UP!
2. Throwing up sucks extra for girls or should I say people with long hair. Not only do you have to hold hair back but vomit also gets in there. YUCK!
3. My love for peanut butter runs deeper than I ever thought. Even though I saw it coming flying out, I still had a craving for it on Sunday.

In the end, it was a very sharp reminder that I am no longer a college kid or even a single guy in my 20s. I am a 34 yr old father of a 21 month old daughter. I mean 10 years ago...my Saturday night...lets just say it looked a little different...ok, a LOT different.

New year, new blog

One of my goals for the year is to keep this blog up and running. I want two blogs a week. You might think...well we are already 12 days in. Fine...last week was a bit of a punt on my end. My only excuse is that I was broken from my trip to Cinci and then when I got better, I got sick again. I even called in sick to work two days in a row...I had never done that before.

Brings me to a few thoughts I have...

1. A-Team the movie...I watched it last week. I loved it. Keep in mind that I loved the show as a kid. The movie did a great job of keeping true to the show. It was a fun action movie.

2. I saw my first 3D movie, Chronicles of Naria. I loved those books as a kid. The movie was filmed exclusively in 3D. I really liked it and I was impressed with the new technology. It was a great picture. Since I already wear glasses, wearing some more did not bother me. I dont think I would buy a 3D tv any time soon. Not sure I want to be wearing those glasses all the time at home. Sports in 3D would be pretty sweet though...It would be a fun idea for a bar to have a 3D tv.

3. Even though I was off of work for like 10 days around the new year, it did not feel like a vacation. I mean I had a blast on every turn those 10 days took me but by the end I was exhausted. Strange really. It honestly felt good to get back into a rhythm at home.

4. I am especially angry with Loyola basketball. The start of the season was so good. I should know better but I was dumb enough to have high hopes on our in-conference play. Boy was I wrong! No more expectations...this team is terrible. Is it time to fire Coach Whitesell??? I think so.

5. Gambling makes everything more fun. It is proven time and time again. This season of Top Chef I started an office pool around the show. I have never had more fun watching Top Chef. I need to incorporate gambling into my life more.

"Money won is twice as sweet as money earned." - Fast Eddie (RIP Paul Newman)