So, we made it back to DBQ without any real problems. No slashed tires or anything. The time up at my folks was a lot of fun. Carter loved playing with Sarah and even once we were home, he still raised his juice cup and said "cheers." He does this at every meal. Between shaking hands and making toasts he's being groomed well.

My folks' new house was really nice. I wondered what it would be like to stay there and not at "my house." But really "my house" is in DBQ. I haven't lived at my folks since my freshmen year of college. So while I love the memories of that house, that's all they were - memories. And they'll still be there.

The weekend was fun. I patched a few holes in the drywall of the bathroom. Stupid design and former owners. They put in a shower/tub and did their own backsplash for it. Except it doesn't cover the whole tub. So we've got water, and then some molding drywall issues. So many fun issues with the crap former owners do.

I'm playing catch up at work right now. I just started an online 3 week course for work, and damn it's going to be a lot of work.

We are heading up to Amy's family the next two weekends, it will be busy but fun. My days consist of playing with Carter, catching up at work, classwork at work and home, getting ready for the baby (doing some more reading with Amy), reading some mindless Star Wars books for relaxation, and some sleep and caffeine somewhere in there.

Reading the birthing books is really interesting, but there are so many conflicting ideas. One says, fight the pain, the other says work with it, still others say to tell your body that there is no pain. I guess it is good to have a variety of ideas to try if one doesn't work. But it feels like you are going in circles sometimes.

By the way, I did see SW:III again and I still loved it and was just as wrapped up in the story the second time around.

Congrats Sarah! Thanks for all the great memories over the years. From playing duck-duck-goose (no grey duck you crazy MN's), to singing to Starship as kids, to driving to high school parties, to sharing a beer and good conversation as adults. We've been through a lot. Congrats friend. 

Congrats again to my Sis she walks at graduation this weekend. Way to go!!! Come on who doesn't want to work with a lawyer that enjoys a ballgame and looks good in a hat. Congrats 

Some people like there weed, others prefer Sudafed based drugs, still others take to the bottle. Sure I enjoy a “good” beer. I prefer mine the watered down red-necked American way. For me a beer is not supposed to fill you up, it is supposed to quench your thirst. If alcohol didn’t dehydrate you, I’d say it’s a damn good substitute for water. But here my economics comes into play. There is a huge diminishing returns on beer. Those first few swigs are so refreshing, but then by the end of the can (see I told you I prefer it like a hick – just no Busch for me – I’m living the High Life) it’s just a beer.

But my drug of choice is caffeine. How can it not be for any semi-dysfunctional member of society? Caffeine gets you up earlier, puts a smile on a bad day, keeps your body shaking when it gets tired around 3:00, keeps you moving at night, and allows you to stay up later. Who doesn’t want a simple non regulated drug that does that? Sure I can go without it. I did for the last two days, since I wanted to make sure that it would have it’s full effect on me when I hit the road at 5:30 am. Didn’t end up going to the conference, but I can tell you my day is better with that pot of coffee. More alert, less crabby (just ask Amy), still awake at 10:00 pm or 11:30 and that’s a good thing with a child on the way. Caffeine is the narcotic for me. It’s cheaper than alcohol, better on most major organs (expect maybe the heart), and its’ side effects are much more desirable.

Here is my challenge: I just opened a new tin of coffee and I will not buy another beer until that tin is emptied. I’ll let you know if the temptation that is the few remaining cans of High Life make it through the weekend.

And speaking of temptations, I think I may finally cave in after all of 42 hours and go see Star Wars tonight. I almost went last night, but I wavered and fought the temptation. Any else out there seen it yet? I’ll start a review post soon and I’m interested in your thoughts.

Back to that 5:30 roadtrip, I was supposed to go to a librarian conference today but I didn’t want to be 3.5 hours away from Amy and Carter and leave them without a car. Amy’s still having contractions, a couple every hour. They do seem to be getting stronger, she has to stop what she’s doing every so often. The midwife isn’t too concerned. Which I guess is good, but damn if these contractions are going to stick around for another 6 weeks… it’s going to get hard on everyone involved.

Well, that’s it for now. I’ll write more later, maybe even a movie review. I still having issues with posting pics, but I haven’t spent too much time trying to figure it out. So sorry for the boring page.

Wow, contractions, contractions, contractions. Amy spent most of the entire day dealing with contractions. They kept getting stronger and closer together. But 6:00 last night they were 4-5 minutes apart. After talking with our midwife a couple times during this, she kept suggesting that we could come if we wanted to have someone look at us. Well, we figured that it was best to get it figured out.

Of course, they had to actually admit us and Amy had to get all hooked up to the monitors. It was strange (since it reminded me of everything with Carter's birth), but also exciting. Once all this happens, the contractions start to slow down and get weaker. So that was it. We were there for about 2 hours, watched a little cable, got fimilar with the rooms (very nice by the way), and they said we were okay to go. Well, at least they stopped for a while so Amy could sleep.

I just hope this doesn't keep up for the next 8 weeks, so that Amy can keep moving in relative comfort.

Well, I've been trying to upload some images to the blog for the past day. But no luck so far. Not much going on with me, but Amy's been having contractions since last night around 6. They stopped over night, but started back up this morning. It's too early, only 33-34 , but who knows. If they are not real, they're strong enough to been physically draining. I guess we'll see... so stay tuned.

I graduate officially today. My name's probably being called around this time. Oh well, I haven't been to a graduation since high school. My next one I'll go to will probably be Carter's. I just hope I get the piece of paper.

And finally - Congrats to my sister!!! She did it. She finished law school. We've been through a lot as brother and sister, and like all of these pairs there is plenty of ups and downs. But throughout it all she's my sister and I love her. Whether we were playing duck-duck goose (not "grey duck" you crazy MNs) in our grandparents front lawn or dropping her off at a high school party or sharing a good beer and conversation we've been together. So today I tip my hat to my sis. Congrats sis. I'm so damn proud of you yghutes vxd hj rgvbfhbbnnbhn nbnbv b kjfvnxbfvhvffdtfdgv (and so is Carter).

I just realized that I can change the settings so that you do not need to create username to post. Sorry it's taken a while. But if that was holding you back from postings, you've got no excuses now... well other than you just don't give a shit.

I just finished up my last final for this semester. I still have to revise it, but I'll be done well before it is due Thursday night at 11:00. Been busy that last few days trying to finish up with my coursework. And now like every good college student, I'm ready to crack open a six or 12 pack and relax for a while. I have a few workshops that I'm taking for work this summer, but no classes. Now I'm looking forward to catching up on a few things around the house and getting some reading done before I see SW: RotS.

I've read the lead in novel to the movie back during my spring break in April. Yeah, I know it's sad that I spent my spring back reading SW, but it sure beat reading about how to catalog and organize information for library catalogs. Although if any of you out there have trouble sleeping, I've got some great reading material that I'll promise will knock you out in under 2 pages. Just as Amy how many ties she's looked over at me and I'm sitting up asleep. I did a lot of the famous head-bobbing-falling-asleep-in-class-college-style this semester.

Well, it's 12:30 and I'm starting to ramble. I'll look to see if anyone else can create main posts here and not just messages, but in the meantime, I'd be happy to repost it on the main page if someone had something they wanted to share.

By the way, if anyone has some time to kill - click on the "Next Blog" link at the top of the right hand side. It takes you to a random blog. I've seen some pretty interesting ones (movie reviews, favorite book quotes, cooking ideas, personal dating issues). If you're bored by my thoughts (hell even I am sometimes) check out some of the crap other people post. And while you are at add a random comment of their blog too.

Talk to you tomorrow

Here's a shot of Carter and I from earlier this spring. He's the best. 

After playing around with the code to try to get the table and links to work again, I decided to change templates to get it working. Hope you like it.

I'm adding a picture here of Carter and I from earlier this spring. He's the best little guy. Today he got a Dora pillow case, he ran into his room and came out with his Winnie the Pooh blanket, dropped it in the living room and headed back to his room. He climbed into bed, laid on his pillow and covered up with his Dora pillow case.

Oh, if you are curious, the "Rocky" spoof I talked about earlier was actually very entertaining. Training montage, Mr.T. spoof, steps, not actually beating the champ and all.

We had Carter's birthday party this weekend. It was such a fun time. I'll write more later, but he had such a good time. All his little daycare friends were there and he just played like crazy. I'm going to try to post some pictures this evening (well try is the keyword). No presents got further than the door. Carter wanted to open them as soon as he saw them. Which was great because then everyone got to see him open and be excited about their gift. On Sunday, Carter asked for "more presents." So we'll see how he is today when we are out of presents to open.

He got a lot of fun stuff, even a Veggie Tale spoof of Rocky so I'm looking forward to that. That's really what my movie viewing has been reduced to... Veggie Tales movies. I just watched one that spoofed Blazing Saddles, right down to the Madline Kahn song & dance and Brooks' aloof governor. I'm not complaining although I'm looking forward to their Lord of the Rings a little too much.

Since the last FF ranking generated a little debate, here are the newest rankings from ESPN's Scott Engel, with my comments attached:

QUARTERBACKS
1. Peyton Manning - of course
2. Donovan McNabb - back for another strong season
3. Daunte Culpepper - question marks at WR, look at what happened w/o Moss
(I think this is the top tier, after this I'd throw dice for the others, and wait a few rounds)
4. Trent Green - who knew? They should have a solid O this year
5. Kerry Collins - Lots of weapons, but come on it's Kerry Collins, #5?
6. Marc Bulger - Martz will always pass alot
7. Brett Favre - I agree with G from the last post, their D will suck and Farve will have to pass alot, just hope your league doesn't take too much off for INTs
8. Jake Delhomme - good WRs as long as they stay healthy, ground game could be interesting
9. Tom Brady - solid as always, I'd put him higher just because he's consistent
10. Michael Vick - my how the over marketed have fallen
11. Drew Brees - I love Brees, he's taken his Flutie Flakes and now has the weapons
12. Jake Plummer - was pretty up and down last season, but has a good cast and OL
13. Matt Hasselbeck - "remember me, I used to be a top 5 QB"
14. Aaron Brooks - good skill, just too inconsistent, would be nice to see WR step up
15. Carson Palmer - glad I picked him last year, and wish I held onto him, will continue to rise
16. Brian Griese - who knows, maybe Saban will make a difference... maybe
17. Byron Leftwich - good raw talent and speed, question marks around him
18. Chad Pennington - used to be a top 10, used to be is the keyword
19. David Carr - put up numbers last year, a solid backup
20. Steve McNair - how much can he play, how soon will Volek start?
21. Eli Manning - give him another year
22. Ben Roethlisberger - lots of hype, but not the fantasy numbers
23. Kyle Boller - is he even a bye week play?
24. Joey Harrington - with Gracia breathing down his neck, it'll be a matter of time
25. Drew Bledsoe - good guy, but below Boller? really?

Okay, for those that noticed the blog was down for the past two days. Somehow, I goofed up the html code in the template. I reset the template and there we go.

Anyhow, I'll post some more later -

Okay, after falling off of my pledge about having new content everyday - I'm back. "Falling off" that's an interesting way to put it. Hmm, it's been a few days since I've had a beer, it's been a few days since I've posted... I see a conection. It all revolves around a nice friendly golden can of Miller High Life.

Anyhow here's my bitch of the day... no one talks to me. I haven't posted in a few days cause no one else is posting. Okay... today jeffy gave a message. Thanks. But I started to think that no one cared or was interested. Then today, when I realized no one cared - I realized niether did I.

Read it, post to it or not - I'm still here ranting. I care about my thoughts. Okay that's not really all that true either. You all know me. I'm not the most reflection person in the world. I perfer to keep moving too much, rather than stop and think. Well, this blog is my stopping area. I'll share my thoughts if for no other reason than to keep me out of thearpy. Okay, not really thearpy, but hell maybe it will work to reduce the stress rash on my arm (more than you wanted to know, but hell if you are still reading this just be glad it's not contaigious).

Well, this weekend was fun. We got Carter a big boy bed to sleep in. He only fell out once on Saturday. But for someone who is pretty young to get scared, he is pretty worried about being in the room all alone. He's doing well with it though. Other than my back hurting from sleeping on the floor next to him, everything is fine. No fainting, nothing exciting - although the nurse did call last week to see if I was doing okay.

I'm out for now, but I'll be back... maybe we'll talk