I have several issues to blog about, but not a whole lot of time to squeeze it all in. So, I'll have a monster post later on I guess. Right now I'm trying to figure out how to cram in a semester's worth of an internet course into the 10 or 15 minutes I have a night to myself. I know, I know. Why are you wasting time on your blog when you have this work to do. Well, this is more fun of course.
I found out last night my eyesight got worse. Wonderful. Just what I need at this point. I think I'll start carrying a bag to pick up the pieces as they fall off of me.

This past weekend was a blur of activity. Amy's mother was moving from Pittsburgh to Maryland and Glen asked me to give him a hand. Since his part was out of obligation, I told him that I'd help. So, Friday night after work I headed downtown to meet Tony. His very pregnant wife Niki picked us up and we all headed to Monroeville. Glen, Tony, and I then proceeded to spend the next 6 hours unloading the apartment into a U-haul and trailer. We managed to get almost everything. Amy visits her mom frequently so she's going to haul out the last little bit of stuff.
Saturday morning I was up at 5:30 and I loaded our car full of stuff and Terri, Gage, and I set off for Glen and Amy's. I then unloaded the stuff from the car into the van and off we went. We got to Maryland and unloaded the entire U-haul and trailer and helped move some of the bigger furniture into the rooms they belonged in. Then, in lieu of relaxing, Gage was being cranky on his first trip out of state. So, I bundled him up in the snugli and off we went. All told I think I walked him about two miles. And this is after loading and unloading furniture for two days. My knees were ready to fall off my legs. So, then we headed out to dinner and got a little sleep.
We were back up at 6:00 am for the drive back to Pittsburgh. We were supposed to meet another Amy (this one from Terri's office) at 12:30 and didn't want to cancel on her. So, we made it back to Glen and Amy's house and I unloaded everything from the van back into the car. Then once we got home, from the car into the house. After seeing Amy, we headed to Eli's 3rd birthday party. Eli is Tom's nephew. It was the best birthday ever. There was not one present that needed assembly. (That's my job at parties.) Looking around at their house, I had put together two tricycles, a picnic table, a wagon, and a bouncy thing on wheels. The kid is only 3! And, of course, everyone ooohed and ahhhed over Gage. Especially Tom's parents. I've known them so long they're practically family. So, of course they think of Gage as their grandson.
Tom's sister-in-law is pregnant again and due at the end of August. When Eli was born, it was a scheduled C-section and we knew what time it would be. Because of the time of day, Terri and I actually got to meet and hold Eli before Tom did. Now, with him living across the state, there's a pretty good shot the same thing will happen with his (might-be-but-aren't-sure-yet) niece.
After Eli's party we headed to my parent's house to pick up Terri's car and then finally headed back home. So, the weekend was a tad busy. Gage seemed to enjoy everything though.
Today I found out there's a pretty good chance I'm going to re-inherit the nightmare project that I had last year from July to October. Now, I'm certainly finding a way out of here and fast!

The system we use at work decided to crash today in the middle of the most hectic month of the year. Needless to say things are a little touchy around the office. No one is getting anything done, but it's ticking off the manager and the supervisor. They want stuff to be getting done around the office, but there's nothing left to do that doesn't require the computer system. Wheeeee, what a predicament.
Anyway, all turned out well with the babysitting. I didn't realize that Terri was going to be on a conference call from the house, and Gage would never be totally alone with her. So, that made it a little better, not much, but a little.
Of course, the day I don't have a ton of extra non-work things to take care of is the day the system crashes. Such is the content of my life. Next week, once the hurried pace of June dies down in the office, the job hunting starts again in full swing. I want to be out of here by the end of summer. To that end, if anyone hears of anything, let me know.
Gage and I walked around the mall yesterday while Terri was in with her clients. We found out that when you're pregnant, everyone wants to make clothes for you. When you're nursing, look out. So far, we've only found one store that has nursing shirts and pajamas, etc. Makes it very difficult to build a wardrobe, or buy presents.
I've also been scouting different locations for printing pictures from digital media. So far the standard price seems to be about .29 cents per picture. Although I've found some coupons for 20 free pictures and some for .15 cents per picture. So, I'm going to spend some time, figuring out what pictures I want printed and how many I'll need. Then it's off to the different CVS, Rite-Aid and Eckerd's. Ah, I love beating the system. Will I actually save money? Who knows. However, I'll feel like I'm saving money. And, since it isn't a great trek to any of these stores, it's not like I'm driving 90 miles out of the way. We have an Eckerd one block before the house and a Rite-Aid one block after the house. I could actually walk to both. Oh well, I guess I've wasted enough free time today. I've got one or two minor administrative tasks and then it's out of here for the day.

Woo-hoo!
Susiezy has decided to join the wonderful world of blogging. You can see her link to the right.
That link has replaced Diane and Ed since they seem to have fallen off the internet.
Anyway, not much in the way of earth shattering news here today. Terri informed me that she asked my mother-in-law to babysit tomorrow. Not a good day so far. For those of you that don't know me personally, take the normal animosity for that particular relationship and multiply it by infinity squared and you might come close to scratching the surface of the past history. So, I don't have any recent updates about the little one. I've been a little too peeved to call home to check on him.
Yesterday, Terri claims he rolled over onto his stomach. I think it was because he was on the bed and just rolled towards her, but you never know.
Anyway, I'll be venturing out to the mall with Gage again tonight while Terri is in with her clients. I'm hoping to finish up the errands that I've been trying to run since last week.
My dish was hooked up yesterday and I didn't get a lot of time to play around with the features and functions due to class yesterday, but hopefully I'll get to experiment a little tonight.
Anyway, again the main purpose of this post is to welcome Susiezy to the blogging world. I'm sure you'll find her as entertaining on the web as she is in person, unless you don't know her in person and then she'll just be a web page, which may cause some dismay since you can't talk to a web page. Well you can, but people look at you funny. Kind of like the people were looking at the woman I saw in Wendy's today. She had to be at least 80. She was wearing a black leather beret, a red sweater, and gold lame pants. She also had on what appeared to be slippers, but I couldn't tell for sure. But I digress and say again, welcome Susiezy!

Terri called me at work to tell me that the dish is all hooked up. Of course she was watching TLC. That stupid channel reminds me of Oprah. They both give normally good people bad ideas.
The talk around the office today has been Bill Clinton and his book which is released today I believe. I don't have anything against Clinton per se. I mean, I did vote for the man twice. However, I don't see the reason to hype this book. It's about 1,000 pages long and I'm guessing only about 10 pages of that will be actual fact filled information that a reader might find interesting. I was in college when the whole Monica Lewinsky thing broke. Her brother, Mike, attended the same school. We got to experience first hand what a media circus it was. Radio stations called the campus constantly trying to track him down. The news crews came from far and wide and camped out. Mike was in a frat then and normally I'm not a big fan of fraternities and sororities. However, I was very impressed with their conduct. He stayed in the house and his brothers got him everything. They took notes in class for him, turned in his homework, explained to his professors why he couldn't be there personally, and most importantly, fended off the media with a chorus of, "No Comment." everytime one of them went outside. After a while the camera crews realized they couldn't stake him out forever and left. I chalk it up to a small victory for organized friendship. Where was I going with all of this? The sex in the book is what will generate the frenzy. Then when people realize that there's no content they'll back off quickly. At least that's my hope. Who knows? Maybe I'm just bitter because no one is handing me a ten million dollar advance for my words. In any case, I'll wait for it to hit the dollar bin at Barnes and Noble before I pick it up.
After the marathon post to catch you all up to speed, there's not a whole lot left to report. I have class tonight so it'll be a while before I get to see the little one. Last night I ended up putting him in the Snugli and walking him on the treadmill. It worked like a charm. He slept the entire time I was walking. The only drawback was the fact that I can't walk forever like some one man version of "The Long Walk"
I also didn't realize what a popular place the zoo was to hang out. Mark, Robyn, and Jacob go all the time and for father's day Glen, Amy, and Cole went. I guess this means that we'll be taking Gage sometime in the not too distant future.

Well, it's been quite a while since I've posted. So much for getting back to regular posting.
Well, that Monday Tampa Bay won the Stanley Cup. Although I don't think their coach deserved the coach of the year award. Let's see, what else happened recently. I finally came to a head with the morons at Comcast and dumped their ass. The people for the dish are installing it tomorrow. I can get every channel the Dish offers on every TV in my house for 6 dollars less per month than cable. Funny how Comcast just blows. I'd tell you the whole story, but I don't have the three hours to type it out and you don't want to listen to that rant.
That same day my parents came up and I drove Terri to see her clients for the first time since giving birth. So, for just over 2 hours the little one was all by himself with Grandma and Grandpa. He apparently did really well. He had his two week checkup and everything was A-OK. So, again we haven't managed to screw anything up too badly.
A couple Saturdays ago we had a bunch of people out at the house to help with me some long overdue yard work. We worked for about 8 hours, had a picnic type lunch and got a lot accomplished. I could actually see that I had a yard which was an improvement over what it had been.
That same weekend we also went to a graduation party for Jaime. Jaime is the younger Jacob's mom. So, as usual, those functions are always lots of fun. The little one didn't take too well to the heat, but other than that he seemed to enjoy himself. He was in the Snugli (a gift from Uncle Matt and Aunt Alison) for the first time. He has really grown to like being walked around in it.
Then on Monday we had dinner brought to us by Randy, Elizabeth, Katie, and Suzy. It was delicious Chicken Pie and Brownie Sundaes for dessert. We were all talking about the plethora of children. Katie was born in December, Gage in May, and as you'll find out in another paragraph or two, another one followed in June.
So on Tuesday I was off work and hung out with Terri and Gage all day. Alison was scheduled to be induced early that morning, so we waited by the phone just in case. Turns out their son (yes a little boy) decided to be just as stubborn as Gage was. In any case, at 7:03 AM on Wednesday the 16th Nathan Thomas joined dad Matt and mom Alison. I've seen pictures and he's adorable. I'd point you to the site, but I should get Mom and Dad's permission first. Hockey practice will be starting soon for all the boys. Also, before taking off for the sunny world of California and visiting Joe Dwight dropped by with a quilt and bear that his mom had made for Gage. I was blown away by the amount of work that went into it. And, the bear was charged with watching over Gage and making sure that he slept well at all times. We've got some cool pictures of everything, but I have to download them and make them a more manageable file size before I can link anything.
On Friday night we took Gage to see his first movie, "Harry Potter 3 and the Prisoner of Azkaban." We went to see how he'd take to the noise and atmosphere and because the tickets were courtesy of Matt and Alison. He slept through the majority of the film and in retrospect he had the right idea. Suzy told me to take some sort of Xanax or Prozac or something before seeing it. I doubt it would have helped. Those of you that know me know that I like things to stick to their original incarnations for the most part. I rarely like remakes and especially in a popular series like this, I think there's an obligation to get it right. Now, Chris Columbus built a pretty decent world from the books. My biggest gripes with his two films were the main parts of plot and characterization that they left out or conveniently forgot about. Cuaron decided to throw the book away entirely. This movie had about as much in common with the book as this had in common with the Frank and Jesse James story. Anyway, in addition to the fact that he moved major events around within the story, there were missing gaps so big you could fit the Empire State Building through it. I'd go into a ton of detail, but what's the point. Everyone would just disagree with me and then I'd get even more pissed about it. I will say that throughout the books and the first two films my impression of Hogwarts has been akin to a prep school for the witches and wizards. Rowling is very detailed about the robes and the look of Hogwarts to reinforce that belief. Columbus also made it seem very clean and prep like. The attitude of some of the characters, Malfoy for instance, also plays into an elitist type culture. Cuaron took a very dark book and made it...dirty. Everything and everyone in this film seemed grungy. The robes and uniforms were barely present and when they were they were disheveled. The kids were unkempt and the new look of Hogwarts took on that of a barrio or a ghetto. I half expected to see John Cleese swooping by with a boom box on his shoulder listening to 50 Cent with a '76ers uniform on and the shorts pulled down to his knees.
Anyway, Gage was good throughout the movie. Saturday we headed down to my parent's house for an early Father's day. Then we all headed up to an old family friend's house and had a wonderful chicken roast. If you are unsure of what that might be, picture a 12 foot stick with 25 chickens turning slowly over an open flame while being brushed with spices and marinade. Excellent. And everyone, of course, oohed and aahed over Gage. After the roast, we met up with Tom and had a sort of farewell dinner. I still can't believe he's actually moving. Although today was actually his first day of work out there so we'll see how it went. I expect he'll be updating his blog a little more frequently now that he'll have some steady computer access.
Sunday we went to church where Gage receieved another handmade quilt. Then we headed to her parent's house for a second Father's day. Turns out Gage let me pick out a 1/2 inch drill to run my hole saw. Not bad for my first Father's day. And, I'll wish a belated Happy Father's Day to all the first time dads. Rusty, Glen, Randy, Matt, John, Rob, Erik, and me. I don't think I've forgotten anyone, but with all these kids you never know. So, if I did forget someone, my apologies. Also, Happy Birthday to Matt. He's one year closer to catching up with his hair loss.
Tonight I was supposed to go see the Vandermark Five with Mitch, but I'm not sure either of us is going to be able to make it. That's a shame, I would have loved to have met Ken and had him sign my disc. And, tomorrow I get my Dish so all is well at the moment. In case you hadn't gleaned from above, Gage and Mom are doing fine and we'll be sending out hospital pics real soon to those who haven't gotten them hand delivered. And, that's about enough for today.

Well, today was the first day back at work. As expected it sucked. I wonder, as I usually do at work, was I more upset being away from my son or just being at work? I realized today more than ever, I need a new job. I have never had a job in my professional career that even began to challenge my abilities. I have skated through every job I've ever had earning a slacker reputation because I could do the work necessary to the job in less time than most of my co-workers. And believe me, I'm in no way demeaning the people that I've worked with. They are some of the best friends I've made in my life and without them, I would certainly have a big gaping hole to try and fill. They are also some of Pittsburgh's best and brightest workers in their respective fields. I was just never able to lock on to the type of position that would suit me. I used to intentionally let things go at the smaller internet firm I worked at and then see how quickly I could accomplish an entire day's work. My record was just under an hour. About 56 minutes to accomplish about 8 hours worth of work. No wonder my freecell abilities shot up. So now, in addition to just looking for a new job...I'm looking for job fufillment. I can't just skate through another dead end job. I had a company that I was looking at, but being a smaller firm, they've been pretty hard to crack into. I've been slowly expanding my search, but so far nothing.
What does all that mean...not a damn thing to you, o readers of mine. Just me whining about my so called lot in life I guess.
Gage is doing well on his 11th day of life. There are lots of annoying new parent things I could say about him, but I don't want this blog to turn into...My son smiled for the first time today. He did it faster than any other kid I've ever seen. He's a freakin' genius...That annoys me and I won't bother anyone else with it. (Although he actually began smiling about 5 days ago and I think that is borderline genius)
The Calder Cup certainly didn't turn out the way I wanted it to. However, the Baby Pens put forth one hell of an effort and played in more post-season games than they ever had before. The Stanley Cup is going my way at the moment. Tampa Bay scored in the second overtime to force a game seven which stands at 1-0 Tampa Bay with about 7 minutes to go in the second period.
Now that I'm back to work I'm hoping to post on a more regular basis. However, life sometimes gets in the way so I won't promise. I'm also slowly beginning to work on a project with a friend from CMU that started with a great head of steam, but life like I said sometimes gets in the way. She will also yell at me for my use of the ... to space things out. She can't stand that and honestly I can't either, but looking over the posts, you'd never know it.
SCORE!!!!! 2-0 Tampa with 4 mintues to go. And I think it's time for me to go tonight. Although I will say that there are two reasons in my life to be sad at the moment. Ronald Reagan is indeed dead at 93 and less important on a grand scale of things, but very important to me, tonight is the absolute last hockey game of the season. No more hockey until August when the World Cup starts and who knows about next season.

Well, he's one week old. He's still alive and functioning so I couldn't be a total failure, right? And, we're still alive and functioning. So all is going well I guess. Sorry I haven't been more wordy recently. This whole raising a kid thing takes it out of you. My yard looks like the south 40 of a hay farm. I need to get out and take care of that and start on the inside. I thought I would have lots of time this week, but Gage has decided that he's going against all the newborn info. He spends a lot of his time looking at the world around him. We've read through all of the books that Aunt Susie gave him and most of the big book of Curious George that Terri and I bought for him. He seems to like them all. We went for a little outing today to see how he'd do. He was fine in the car seat and the stroller so we don't forsee too many problems taking him out and about. Niki's baby shower is on Saturday as well as Jacob's 4th birthday party.