M has learned a new game this past week: 52-card pickup. She doesn't get the full enjoyment yet of spraying them around the room for me to pick up. She usually just takes them off my nightstand and spreads them in a small area on the floor nearby.
I'm glad "So You Think You Can Dance" is over. Was Cat Deeley not the most horrible host/hostess in the history of TV hosting? She wore hideous clothes 90% of the time, her English accent was a lot more annoying than cute, and any time she opened her mouth I just muted her because she never had anything of substance to say. That and Mary Murphy was often loud and screaming. Seriously though. That must be her schtick now. She can't leave it behind. Unless she starts appearing on infomercials.
My buddy D has a bumper sticker that says "Pray for Rain!" Obviously, I'm not praying fervently enough. But it did cool down to 95 earlier tonight and it felt great outside. Those clouds did their job today and held it to a mild 103 today. Summer in Texas. It's faaaaantastic.
At least we have an AC unit that works correctly now.
Have a great week folks.
R
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Friday, August 25, 2006
The Latest
What an incredible two weeks it's been.
Some of M's latest words that I've been working with her on: Honey, Dude and Two. She's been saying Honey quite a bit, but it all started after a long day of work. I plopped down on the floor and she plopped down on me and I said "I love you Honey" and she very cutely replied "Huh-nee!" Dude and Two are cute because she makes duck lips while saying them.
She must be growing because she's been eating/drinking and sleeping a lot this past week. I was noticing last night how long her little legs are.
Things continue to be crazy around here. After getting another obscene electric bill from TxU, we asked the neighbor across the street who we know does AC work and he came over and took a look at things. It took him an hour and a significant amount of our money, but things are much better now, especially in our room, which usually runs 5-10 degrees hotter than the rest of the house.
And my car was leaking gas. And it's got a wobble. I mean face it, it's 13 years old, it has no AC as of two years ago, the radio doesn't work. It's on it's last legs. I'll drive it till it won't go no more.
And C called me Wednesday morning to ask my help in changing a tire on the good car. It has a nice kiwi-sized hole in it. [Editor's note: It apparently was closer to orange-size than kiwi-size; that is, if we're using fruit as an analogy.] Thankfully, however, she was able to navigate her way to the side safely and was only 5 minutes away from work. We decided new tires wouldn't be such a bad idea.
All this to say that, without Christ and His perspective on money, we would probably be in worse moods right now, with God and with each other, especially since I have a tendency to get frustrated easily. We still are well in the black, but it was just one thing after another and it was really getting to me at times. But He is our Provider and He is sovereign.
Oh yeah, the knee. Well, it's been doing okay. The doc said the MRI showed a partial tear of the PCL, but it's in the right cavity and feels tighter than the first time he saw me. He doesn't consider reconstructive surgery an option since it looks so good, but I'll need to lay off it so that it can heal properly.
Work's been fine. A bunch of OOSes on some compounds that should've been run by HPLC, but the batch records weren't updated, which would've saved a LOT of work on my part. However, today was a little slower, so I was able to finish writing a procedure and three analytical methods.
We also said goodbye to Tío & Tía. They're headed back to Spain, particularly Malaga, to reach out spiritually to the students at the university through Campus Crusade for Christ's Agapé ministry. I know C will especially miss the friendship and sisterhood she experienced with Tía this year. We love y'all!
R
Some of M's latest words that I've been working with her on: Honey, Dude and Two. She's been saying Honey quite a bit, but it all started after a long day of work. I plopped down on the floor and she plopped down on me and I said "I love you Honey" and she very cutely replied "Huh-nee!" Dude and Two are cute because she makes duck lips while saying them.
She must be growing because she's been eating/drinking and sleeping a lot this past week. I was noticing last night how long her little legs are.
Things continue to be crazy around here. After getting another obscene electric bill from TxU, we asked the neighbor across the street who we know does AC work and he came over and took a look at things. It took him an hour and a significant amount of our money, but things are much better now, especially in our room, which usually runs 5-10 degrees hotter than the rest of the house.
And my car was leaking gas. And it's got a wobble. I mean face it, it's 13 years old, it has no AC as of two years ago, the radio doesn't work. It's on it's last legs. I'll drive it till it won't go no more.
And C called me Wednesday morning to ask my help in changing a tire on the good car. It has a nice kiwi-sized hole in it. [Editor's note: It apparently was closer to orange-size than kiwi-size; that is, if we're using fruit as an analogy.] Thankfully, however, she was able to navigate her way to the side safely and was only 5 minutes away from work. We decided new tires wouldn't be such a bad idea.
All this to say that, without Christ and His perspective on money, we would probably be in worse moods right now, with God and with each other, especially since I have a tendency to get frustrated easily. We still are well in the black, but it was just one thing after another and it was really getting to me at times. But He is our Provider and He is sovereign.
Oh yeah, the knee. Well, it's been doing okay. The doc said the MRI showed a partial tear of the PCL, but it's in the right cavity and feels tighter than the first time he saw me. He doesn't consider reconstructive surgery an option since it looks so good, but I'll need to lay off it so that it can heal properly.
Work's been fine. A bunch of OOSes on some compounds that should've been run by HPLC, but the batch records weren't updated, which would've saved a LOT of work on my part. However, today was a little slower, so I was able to finish writing a procedure and three analytical methods.
We also said goodbye to Tío & Tía. They're headed back to Spain, particularly Malaga, to reach out spiritually to the students at the university through Campus Crusade for Christ's Agapé ministry. I know C will especially miss the friendship and sisterhood she experienced with Tía this year. We love y'all!
R
Sunday, August 13, 2006
What a Week!
So, last week was crazy with work, but this week was crazy for different reasons.
Let's recap:
At work, I gave myself two titles:
Director of GC and GCMS Services, which is quite an accurate descriptor and it has a nice ring to it. I didn't want to say President because there are others in the lab that are more tenured and I didn't want to step on any toes.
Second, I dubbed myself Chief Morale Officer. This one got a lot of laughs, which fits right in with the name. I like to make people laugh and we have a pretty good time. We try not to take ourselves too seriously or we'll get too worked up over silly stuff that can stress you out. By the way, if you go to the profile and scroll to the bottom of the page, I'm the devilishly handsome fellow on the back row in the blue shirt and yellow tie.
Wednesday, we went to find out if M was having a baby brother or sister. Now, M took her dear sweet time before we poked and prodded her into moving her legs. This little one, however, only took 5 minutes after the sono tech was done with all the measurements. She was rambling on about "there's the feet...and the thigh...and here's the girl parts...and" Wait a minute! Girl parts? We were totally expecting a boy since C's symptoms were so different. But after the shock and mild disappointment wore off, we are very excited about our perfect little girl. So, your next question is obviously, do we have a name? Yes and no. Yes on the middle name, but no on the first. We're still working the kinks out.
We got ants. Not just any ants, fireants. Coming into the house. At multiple points. So we--we being C--called around and got somebody to come out Thursday afternoon and treat the house. We spent Thursday night killing hundreds of ants that had been creeping in through our closet and onto my clothes. Not good times friends; not good times.
Friday morning at work I posited to a coworker that maybe God was giving us fireants so that we could find something else wrong before it got much bigger. Well, since we had so many ants in the closet, the exterminator came out again Friday afternoon and, while he was spraying around the hot water heater, found that it was leaking. So, while we were less than happy about shelling out some more dough to fix the hot water heater, we're glad we caught it before it got much worse.
And in other news, M hasn't really been sleeping all that well. She's teething, which I'm sure doesn't help. Last night she was awake for 2.5 hours. C was very kind and allowed me to sleep in this morning. Thanks babe!
In still other news, FOOTBALL IS BACK!!! Woo-hoo! It's been a long seven months. Just as long as I spend as much time with my girls as I do in front of the tube, I think we'll be alright.
Take it easy and have a great week at work, whether it's in a building or at home.
R
Let's recap:
At work, I gave myself two titles:
Director of GC and GCMS Services, which is quite an accurate descriptor and it has a nice ring to it. I didn't want to say President because there are others in the lab that are more tenured and I didn't want to step on any toes.
Second, I dubbed myself Chief Morale Officer. This one got a lot of laughs, which fits right in with the name. I like to make people laugh and we have a pretty good time. We try not to take ourselves too seriously or we'll get too worked up over silly stuff that can stress you out. By the way, if you go to the profile and scroll to the bottom of the page, I'm the devilishly handsome fellow on the back row in the blue shirt and yellow tie.
Wednesday, we went to find out if M was having a baby brother or sister. Now, M took her dear sweet time before we poked and prodded her into moving her legs. This little one, however, only took 5 minutes after the sono tech was done with all the measurements. She was rambling on about "there's the feet...and the thigh...and here's the girl parts...and" Wait a minute! Girl parts? We were totally expecting a boy since C's symptoms were so different. But after the shock and mild disappointment wore off, we are very excited about our perfect little girl. So, your next question is obviously, do we have a name? Yes and no. Yes on the middle name, but no on the first. We're still working the kinks out.
We got ants. Not just any ants, fireants. Coming into the house. At multiple points. So we--we being C--called around and got somebody to come out Thursday afternoon and treat the house. We spent Thursday night killing hundreds of ants that had been creeping in through our closet and onto my clothes. Not good times friends; not good times.
Friday morning at work I posited to a coworker that maybe God was giving us fireants so that we could find something else wrong before it got much bigger. Well, since we had so many ants in the closet, the exterminator came out again Friday afternoon and, while he was spraying around the hot water heater, found that it was leaking. So, while we were less than happy about shelling out some more dough to fix the hot water heater, we're glad we caught it before it got much worse.
And in other news, M hasn't really been sleeping all that well. She's teething, which I'm sure doesn't help. Last night she was awake for 2.5 hours. C was very kind and allowed me to sleep in this morning. Thanks babe!
In still other news, FOOTBALL IS BACK!!! Woo-hoo! It's been a long seven months. Just as long as I spend as much time with my girls as I do in front of the tube, I think we'll be alright.
Take it easy and have a great week at work, whether it's in a building or at home.
R
Friday, August 11, 2006
Soapbox Time
Okay, so here's the deal: people tend not to take responsibility for their actions.
I know that's not a new one on anybody, but athletes take it to a whole new level.
The latest examples:
Maurice Clarett thinks he can drive around with a tenth of vodka in his system, wearing a bullet-proof vest and wielding four guns, including an AK-47. We all know, though, that this isn't his first run-in with the law. Compounding the issue is the fact that this "man" has entered the gene pool and is madly in love with his baby girl. The life guard must not have been on duty that day. And the worst part is that people are making excuses for him.
Says Dan Shanoff on the 8/11Daily Quickie: "Meanwhile, I can't help wondering if all this would have been avoided if the NFL had let Clarett into the league after his freshman year."
HUH??!!
No, this all could have been avoided if people quit glad-handing him and giving him special privileges since he can tote the rock. If someone said no to him. Maybe spanked him whenever he did something wrong. It's not the NFL's fault for not letting him in early. It's not the Denver Broncos' fault for "not connecting with him [sic]". It's Maurice Clarett's fault for making bad choices and for those in position of authority for not enforcing punishment, and therefore reality, to let him know he's not above the law.
Next up, Jeff Allison. After his second, not first, second, OD on heroin, his friend tells ESPN that "He screwed up a few times before, but he always had baseball to fall back on, and I always believed as long as he had baseball he'd pull out of this thing. It's possible that he doesn't have baseball anymore and I also think that's a deciding factor in what's going on and whether or not he'll be able to pull out of this."
So it's the Florida Marlins' fault that this kid likes to sniff the line, not walk it. Unbelievable.
People need to stop making excuses and start taking responsibility for their actions. Their family and friends need to stop being sycophants (yes-men). Authority figures need to stop brushing their "little indiscretions" aside and make sure that they understand that every decision has a price tag.
All right. I'm done. Taking a deep, cleansing breath. In with the good air, out with the bad.
I know that's not a new one on anybody, but athletes take it to a whole new level.
The latest examples:
Maurice Clarett thinks he can drive around with a tenth of vodka in his system, wearing a bullet-proof vest and wielding four guns, including an AK-47. We all know, though, that this isn't his first run-in with the law. Compounding the issue is the fact that this "man" has entered the gene pool and is madly in love with his baby girl. The life guard must not have been on duty that day. And the worst part is that people are making excuses for him.
Says Dan Shanoff on the 8/11Daily Quickie: "Meanwhile, I can't help wondering if all this would have been avoided if the NFL had let Clarett into the league after his freshman year."
HUH??!!
No, this all could have been avoided if people quit glad-handing him and giving him special privileges since he can tote the rock. If someone said no to him. Maybe spanked him whenever he did something wrong. It's not the NFL's fault for not letting him in early. It's not the Denver Broncos' fault for "not connecting with him [sic]". It's Maurice Clarett's fault for making bad choices and for those in position of authority for not enforcing punishment, and therefore reality, to let him know he's not above the law.
Next up, Jeff Allison. After his second, not first, second, OD on heroin, his friend tells ESPN that "He screwed up a few times before, but he always had baseball to fall back on, and I always believed as long as he had baseball he'd pull out of this thing. It's possible that he doesn't have baseball anymore and I also think that's a deciding factor in what's going on and whether or not he'll be able to pull out of this."
So it's the Florida Marlins' fault that this kid likes to sniff the line, not walk it. Unbelievable.
People need to stop making excuses and start taking responsibility for their actions. Their family and friends need to stop being sycophants (yes-men). Authority figures need to stop brushing their "little indiscretions" aside and make sure that they understand that every decision has a price tag.
All right. I'm done. Taking a deep, cleansing breath. In with the good air, out with the bad.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Update
So, the knee is feeling both better and worse. I'm going to see a highly-recommended orthopedic surgeon on Friday. At least I'll have answers.
Of course, Friday is pretty much doomsday at work. A very high priority project that has a drop-dead due date of next Monday has fallen on hard times. It doesn't help that the autosampler on GCMS#2 decided to quit last night...during the middle of my sequence...before it had finished one of my two standards I was running for this project. Oh well. Not much I can do about it. At least I had managed my expectations well for this week.
M continues to be the cutest thing. I piqued her curiosity the other day when I was practicing for my duet with D for last Sunday. She had a fun time ripping the mouthpiece out of my mouth while I was playing it. So I blew air through it and showed her how to push the buttons. She liked it but wasn't too enthused. So then she climbed up in the papasan and peaked over the cushion at me. Those two cute little beady eyes staring at me in wonderment. I wish I had the camera.
So, you know how competitive C and I are. Well, there's a game called Bejeweled, which I used to play a lot in college. When C plays I try to help her out when she gets stuck. I asked her if I could play a game. So I was doing pretty good and she left the room to check on M. She came back and was wondering if I had started another game. No, I insisted, I was still on the same one. To make a long story short, I played for 23:19, had over 80,000 points, cleared 107 jewels per minute and had a best score of 2800. And it wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't started the game at 5 till ten. But it was fun.
If you haven't heard by now, we are expecting number two at the beginning of January. We go to find out whether it's a boy or girl next Wednesday. I'm pretty convinced it's a boy since C's symptoms are so different, namely that she wasn't yakking every morning between weeks six and sixteen. She's had a fairly good pregnancy up till now considering how her allergies get worse and now that her sciatica is coming back.
How about this weather huh? I hear it's supposed to be a hundred and death-teen degrees tomorrow. Sheesh. Thankfully it's been a mostly dry heat. Because it ain't the heat that gets you--all together now--it's the humidity.
I must be off. C and I are trying to figure out a girl's name, just in case.
Take care and God bless,
R
Of course, Friday is pretty much doomsday at work. A very high priority project that has a drop-dead due date of next Monday has fallen on hard times. It doesn't help that the autosampler on GCMS#2 decided to quit last night...during the middle of my sequence...before it had finished one of my two standards I was running for this project. Oh well. Not much I can do about it. At least I had managed my expectations well for this week.
M continues to be the cutest thing. I piqued her curiosity the other day when I was practicing for my duet with D for last Sunday. She had a fun time ripping the mouthpiece out of my mouth while I was playing it. So I blew air through it and showed her how to push the buttons. She liked it but wasn't too enthused. So then she climbed up in the papasan and peaked over the cushion at me. Those two cute little beady eyes staring at me in wonderment. I wish I had the camera.
So, you know how competitive C and I are. Well, there's a game called Bejeweled, which I used to play a lot in college. When C plays I try to help her out when she gets stuck. I asked her if I could play a game. So I was doing pretty good and she left the room to check on M. She came back and was wondering if I had started another game. No, I insisted, I was still on the same one. To make a long story short, I played for 23:19, had over 80,000 points, cleared 107 jewels per minute and had a best score of 2800. And it wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't started the game at 5 till ten. But it was fun.
If you haven't heard by now, we are expecting number two at the beginning of January. We go to find out whether it's a boy or girl next Wednesday. I'm pretty convinced it's a boy since C's symptoms are so different, namely that she wasn't yakking every morning between weeks six and sixteen. She's had a fairly good pregnancy up till now considering how her allergies get worse and now that her sciatica is coming back.
How about this weather huh? I hear it's supposed to be a hundred and death-teen degrees tomorrow. Sheesh. Thankfully it's been a mostly dry heat. Because it ain't the heat that gets you--all together now--it's the humidity.
I must be off. C and I are trying to figure out a girl's name, just in case.
Take care and God bless,
R
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