To Chase...Or Not

Well, my severe storm chase target for Thursday, May 22 really hasn't changed. The computer models are still indicating southwest Nebraska or northwest Kansas will be the best area to see anything good (tornadoes). But, since it's going to be such a big event, and since we're in the midst of many storm chaser's "chase"cations, I'm beginning to think it's going to be a zoo (circus) with so many people out and about. Plus, with gas now getting dangerously close to $4/gallon, perhaps I need to rethink this plan. On the one hand, I could easily not chase the event and watch it from the comfort of my home, while eating some pizza and drinking a beer. Plus, I'm sure someone will be streaming the storms live from their cars too. And, it's not like I haven't seen tornadoes before, in fact, I've seen many, many tornadoes. But, on the flip side, if something big happens and I missed it, not because of prior work or family obligations, but because I decided to just stay home and save the hassle and be lazy, I'd be extremely upset. Dilemma, dilemma. Plus, this could really be my last big chase for awhile, do I really want to give that up? Friday will also be a big day, and I'd almost hate to give up two good chaseable days.

Love, Love, Love My Car

Did I mention that I love my car? LOL! Honestly, it's great, and there are so many features that I really appreciate. Those HID headlights are awesome at night. I always curse when I see them on someone else's car because they are so bright, but they make a huge difference and really light up the highway much more than standard lights. I hooked up my phone via Bluetooth this evening, so now I can make and receive phone calls through my car. How cool is that? I can also hook up my Ipod and play music through the Bose 264W, 9-speaker stereo system. Awesome! The smart key (with accompanying push button start) is really the bomb. Still got 25 mpg on this last tank of gas, so perhaps that might be the average. Really, there are only 2 features that seem to be lacking (versus our Honda Accord), and that's power passenger seats, and automatic locks when you lock the driver door. Also, I'm finding that it will be incredibly hard to keep the Majestic Blue clean. When it's freshly washed, it's absolutely gorgeous. But about 10 seconds after that, it really starts to show the dust. Ah, lesson learned I guess. When I get a new car in 10 years, I won't go so dark. Oh well, if that's all I've got to complain about, life is good.

Storm Chasing...Hmm, I Just Can't Give It Up

Well, after considerable thought, I just can't quite storm chasing cold turkey. It's like a drug. Quitting cold is hard to do. So, I've made a couple of concessions, but am willing to take my wife's older car out for chase trips, but would be even more judicious about what I'd drive into. I never trashed my old beater car when I was storm chasing, so no reason to believe I'd trash my wife's car. And, if it comes right down to it, I'd certainly back off it meant that I'd be putting the car in jeopardy. Plus, I do have the technology available to know where the storm is, where it's moving to, and where the most dangerous part of the core might be.

For me, it's not so much about getting into the core of the storm, but just getting out on the open road to see a few sites and to glimpse what Mother Nature has to offer. I don't particularly enjoy driving long distances or traveling on gravel/dirt roads when the chase is on, but just like to get out of the city.

It looks like storms will fire on the high plains later this week. I do have chase opportunities on both Thursday and Friday of this week before I have to be back at work on Saturday. Right now, it looks like southwest Nebraska or northwest Kansas for Thursday, May 22, then again in perhaps western Kansas Thursday.

Window Tint is Great

The window tinting on my new car turned out great. There still are a couple of water bubbles, but hopefully, the next few warm days will iron those out. All in all, I'm very pleased with the new car. The first tank of gas averaged 25 mpg, so hopefully once it gets broken in, I can boost that up just a bit.

Catching Up

Well, indeed, my alternator on my old car was replaced last week and I was soon on my way. I did do a bit of storm chasing in western Kansas, but it was all "crap"vection, and nothing really interesting ever presented itself. Driving home Tuesday, I debated about whether I wanted to get a new car now, or try to nurse the old car along. I also debated on possibly starting to finish our basement. In the end, the idea of a new car won out. On my way home through Lincoln, I stopped at the Nissan dealership and talked shop for a bit. After driving a 2008 Altima 3.5SL, and then talking money, after about 3 hours, I walked out with a new car. Going in, I told myself that if I could get them down to the invoice price, I'd buy it on the spot. Well, they came down to $49 above invoice which was close enough to not pass up the deal. Woohoo! Who knew that buying a car could be so easy!

Last Wednesday, I went to work. I got off at 4pm and thought since it was such a nice day that I'd clean up my old car and get it ready to sell. I washed and vacuumed it, then placed an ad on Craig's List around 630 pm. By 815 pm, it was sold. It all happened so fast that it left me without transportation the next day since I couldn't pick up the new car until Thursday evening. It was almost comical.

On Thursday, I picked up the new car, and man is it sweet. I'm so happy I almost can't contain myself. The new car is smokin hot. It's a V6 with 270 horsepower. Definitely more than I need, but I'm at the point in my life where a little excess is OK. It has a low growl when you fire it up, has a smart key with a push button start, high intensity xenon headlights, and just all-around a hot car. It's totally awesome and I'm very pleased with how it all has turned out.

The only casualty will be my storm-chasing hobby. Unfortunately, I'm not going to drive a brand new car on dirt roads into a supercell thunderstorm. Initially I was a little bummed about that, but now, a week later, I'm OK with that. Storm chasing was fun while it lasted, but it's almost as if, "I've been there and done that" as I've seen some incredible sights. So, in the end, I get a new car and can go out on a personal high.

I'm getting the windows tinted today, which should complete the package. I was going to add a rear spoiler, but believe I'll let that go and just enjoy the ride.

Sitting in a Familiar Spot

Well, here I sit in the automotive repair shop, awaiting a diagnosis on my car, in anticipation of a chase day. I was hoping to catch a few storms on my way home through western Kansas today, but first have to get my car repaired.

Yesterday, after letting the car sit, it started just fine, not once, but 4 times. It did finally die though, so I'm guessing the alternator has flaked out. I'm not very comfortable with getting car repairs so far from home, but have no choice. It's not like I can band-aid it to make the 600 mile trip home.

So, after they get the battery charged, they'll be able to run a diagnostic on the alternator and hopefully in a couple of hours, I will be on my way.

I did have an awesome trip to Colorado. I went to a Cinco De Mayo Party, had lunch with my brother, sister, niece, and their families, and just enjoyed a great day.

Quick Trip to Colorado

I decided to take a quick trip to Colorado today to see my brother and sister. Also, I'm setting myself up for one more storm chase in western Kansas on Monday on the way home, so it just made sense to drive out to Colorado in the meantime for a visit.

The drive out was OK, although it was a comedy of errors the entire trip. I got a late start leaving Omaha as I realized I forgot to send 50th birthday cards to my brothers! Happy birthday guys! Then, I realized I only had 1 stamp, but had 2 cards to send. So, I had to stop and gets stamps too. I decided to stop in Kearney to get some lunch, but had to go to the bathroom first. There was only 1 person in line at the Subway, so I thought it would be OK. Upon exiting the bathroom, a family of 11 (3 adults and 8 kids) were now in line. Ugh, it took 30 minutes to get sandwiches made for that brood. By the time I got my sandwich, I was torked. Needless to say, since I was running late, I hit the road. Because of the high gas prices, the truckers seemed to have slowed down to 60 to 65. I guess they're just trying to save a little money by driving a little slower. That's not a problem, unless you get stuck in a convoy and get past them. I got stuck in 3 separate convoys throughout the day. It was only slightly annoying. Plus, I was on a deadline and had to be at my brother's house by 5pm. Time was running low. Then, about 50 miles outside of Colorado Springs, my battery light came on. Damn. I guess the alternator probably blew. This happened just outside of Simla, CO, and I was too worried about the battery light to realize that I had gone from 65 to 55 to 45 to 35 in the span of about 2 blocks. So, I got pulled over for doing 60 in a 35. I pleaded with the officer that I had a "legitimate" excuse, even though he's probably heard it hundreds of times. Funny thing, he actually believed me. We popped the hood to make sure the belt was on, it was, and he said to get going. I was very thankful that he understood. It's a bad feeling to have your car break down hundreds of miles from home.

So, after a very eventful day, I arrived at my brother's house on a wing and a prayer. The battery died about 2 miles from his house, and I literally coasted onto his street.

It's always something with that car. Well, with almost 170,000 miles, what else would you expect. I guess I shouldn't get so bent out of shape when the car breaks down, I've sure experienced my fair share of them. You have to have transportation, there's nothing else you can do "but" repair the car. I'm beginning to think more and more that now is the right time to get a new car. I was trying to nurse this one along for as long as possible, but it's becoming an increasingly difficult challenge.

What a Great Storm Chase

Yesterday was such a roller-coaster of emotions. After spending most of the day at the repair shop trying to fix my car, I was pretty upset that I'd missed a big storm chasing opportunity. I did finally get on the road by 345 pm and chased storms up by Sioux City. I wasn't hoping for much, but at least wanted to salvage part of the day. Actually, I ended up chasing an EF2 monster of tornado. I actually got some great video and some awesome pictures. So, after going from a low of dealing with my car repair, I was soon experiencing something that I've never seen before, and also reaching an ultimate high. Wow, what a great day afterall. And, I wouldn't have captured that tornado if the sequence of events didn't happen as it did, so perhaps it was fate that I spent most of the day on the sidelines. I've got a review of the chase here.

We Just Lost the Moon

That's a quote from Apollo 13, after the astronauts realized that they weren't going to be able to land on the moon. That's exactly how I feel. I'm still sitting in the service center at 130 pm, with work still being done on my car. The IAT sensor was bad, so they replaced that. But, it didn't fix the problem with the car. Then they thought it must be the ignition module since the crank shaft sensor wasn't throwing any codes. That didn't solve the problem, and they finally got the crank shaft sensor to fail. So, am finally waiting for that part to arrive. But, it's too late for reaching my chase target in southeast Kansas where a big event will likely occur later this evening. I'm about 6 hours away, and at this point, even if I left right now, I'd be arriving likely after things were already popping. Storms will continue well after dark, but chasing after dark doesn't have the reward for me. So, I feel like I've just lost the moon. I know it's not the end of the world, but it's also very frustrating at the same time. There is still some potential here, perhaps in northeast Nebraska, but it's certainly not going to be as impressive of a show as the southern target. But, as I said before, I really didn't want to be stranded hundreds of miles from home either with a car that wouldn't start.

Car Acting Up Again

Well, it's been awhile, but my car started acting up again yesterday. It wouldn't start at the mall, but it eventually did. Last night, it wouldn't start at Menards, but it eventually did. So, this morning, I decided to get the fuel filter replaced (it needed it anyhow). That didn't help, and it wouldn't start after that. So, there's a new problem developing. Three years ago, I had to have the crank shaft position sensor replaced, and I wonder if this isn't the same problem. I'm sitting at Tuffy's now having it diagnosed. It could also be an ignition coil, who knows. But, I was also heading out today to do some storm chasing, and having a car that won't start is not a good thing if a supercell is bearing down on your position, or getting stuck in the middle of nowhere hundreds of miles from home.

Date Night

Our daughter headed off to Outdoor Education today so we had a free evening tonight. We decided to go out for dinner to Red Lobster (haven't been there in a long time). Then, we went to the movie "21", which was about the MIT students who tried to beat Vegas a few years ago. It was a good movie, and a great evening out with my wife!

Third Mowing of the Season

Well, the third mowing of the season is under wraps. Another 200 gallons of yard clippings. Wow, can't believe my yard is growing so much. Well, the lower notch on the mower helps too! I emptied the mower bag 34 times today. Basically the same as last time, one pass down the yard and about half way back and I'd have to empty the bag. On about half of those dumpings, the blade was bound up with clippings, so I'd have to tilt the mower up to dig them out. The yard looks pretty good though. There's still a lot of dead thatch though, really wishing I would have gotten the chance to dethatch earlier this year. So, the yard, when mowed, still looks a little yellow due to the dead thatch. But, it looks great when the grass grows over it.

On a side note, my landscaper came late last week and remulched the beds. It looks great! It was a little pricey, just over $200, but it saved me the hassle of getting the mulch and doing it myself. I don't have a truck anymore to get it, so would have had to pay a delivery fee anyway. Money well spent, since I didn't really have the time to get it done.

I also got my sprinkler system fixed. Indeed, the backflow valve had broken. That repair was $85, but no way to avoid it. Things break, and if you don't fix it, you can't use it.

Storm Chasing

A couple of days ago on April 24th, I had the opportunity to do some storm chasing in northwest Kansas. I had the day off from work, and thought if something did develop in my own area, I wouldn't be needed. I left home around 1030 am, after a fitful night's sleep the night before. I guess I was just giddy about the first chase of the season. All data continued to point to severe development across southwest Nebraska or northwest Kansas. There was some debate among chasers that southern Kansas would be the hotspot. Indeed, the weather parameters were off the charts there, but alas, it remained capped, and nothing happened down there.

I arrived in Arapahoe, NE by mid afternoon, about 4 hours in advance of anticipated development. This was also the first chance I had to use my new data connection through Alltel. It worked great. Upon arrival, I analyzed the mesoanalysis data for about an hour, and decided that I needed to shift further south toward, Norton, KS. Upon arriving in Norton, KS, I waited for another hour, and started to drive to Hill City, KS, but stopped and decided to head west. This proved to be the right choice as I intercepted the second warned cell of the day, which would eventually develop into a moster supercell that would roll eastward across Kansas for the next 5 to 6 hours.

I encountered a couple of hail cores, both about 1" in diameter, and also was able to position myself directly under the wall cloud. It was very cool. I also was blasted with rear flank downdraft winds in excess of 60 mph, which created a horrendous amount of blowing dust. I also heard this weird, howling sound, which was likely the RFD, but it almost sounded as if a sound engineer were somehow adding the sound effects from Twister.

After chasing the supercell storm for about an hour, darkness fell, and I realized I couldn't see the character of the dirt roads anymore. I couldn't tell if they were wet or dry, couldn't see the ruts, etc. I attribute this to my recent LASIK surgery. I may never have "good" nighttime vision again I'm afraid. So, I decided to get back onto paved roads and follow the storm east. The storm actually followed Highway 24 exactly, so was able to follow behind one or two miles for another couple of hours.

By late evening, I was very tired, and decided to let the storm go. In another one to two hours, it produced a 15 mile long tornado after midnight. I doubt I would have been able to follow it as it veered off the main highway, given my poor nighttime eyesight.

All in all, it was a great day. I put about 825 miles on the car, had a great chase opportunity, and overall had an awesome time. My equipment worked well, and I estimate that I had a cell phone data connection 95% of the day. The new mobile computer desk worked great. I do need to gery-rig some supports to keep the laptop from sliding off, but that's an easy fix.

Sigh, I'm Still Fat

After working very hard over the previous 7 months, having lost 43 lbs, I realized today that I'm still fat. My body fat percentage is still in the lower 20s despite my best efforts to make it go any lower. I still have love handles that hang over the side of my shorts, and I have moobs' (man boobs). Overall, I've reduced my clothing size from a size 36/38 to a size 31/33 and have lost 43 lbs, but I've still got the same old trouble spots that I had before, it's just that they're in slightly different proportions, but nevertheless still there. Needless to say, it was a real downer. I guess I just need to accept the fact that I'll never be that buff dude that is smokin' hot. I never have been, so not sure why I've got this delusion that I ever would be.

Nothing is Ever Easy

I dusted off my bicycle last night in hopes of getting out and getting some great exercise. The tires were flat, and the batteries were dead on the tail light and the cyclo computer. I did have new batteries, but the screws were so small in the Specialized Elite computer that I had to go to the store to buy a jeweler's set. Thankfully, it was only 94 cents at Walmart. LOL. But, one of the screws is set so tight, I've stripped the heads. Damn. Now I'm stuck, and have no way to get that stupid screw out. Ugh. Nothing is ever easy.

I also got a call from the guy that aerates my yard each spring and fall. He's coming tomorrow so I had to flag the sprinkler heads so he doesn't run them over. Typically, I just run the sprinklers on each zone for a couple minutes so I can drop the flags. This was the first time I've opened up the valves this year, and upon doing so, saw a huge stream of water flowing down the check back-flow valve. Crap. Have to get it replaced. I have no idea (let alone time) how to replace it, so will call the sprinkler guys tomorrow to get them out for a service call. Nothing is ever easy.

Then, after walking in the house, my wife said she couldn't access the part of her website that sends out her weekly newsletter. Upon some quick debugging, it appears my web provider is having trouble with their MySQL server. I opened a trouble ticket, but they have no idea when it will be fixed. Nothing is ever easy.

And, I've been having a tooth ache off and on for the last month. The pain is actually coming from the tooth that I had the root canal and subsequent crown put on at the beginning of the year. It must be referred pain from the tooth next to it, so I need to call the dentist to have it check. Nothing is ever easy.

The moral of the story? I guess Murphy was right. If there's any chance that something can go wrong, it usually will.

Hate, Hate, Hate Yard Work

The saga continues today. After getting off work at 4pm, I decided to get the remainder of the yard work done this evening since it might rain tomorrow. I quickly regretted lowering my mower one notch, as I had to literally change the back with each single pass through the yard. My back yard is about 100 feet out, and the bag was full of clippings at the end of a single pass. Yowza, that was a lot of work. When I normally mow my yard, I'll create about 100 gallons of clippings. Tonight, about 200 gallons were produced. And, with every bag dump, I had to flip the mower up to clean out the grass that was binding the mower blade. Ugh. It was a horrible job.

Then, I decided to move re-arrange my reed grass. I moved 4 clumps from the back yard to a huge bed I have in the front yard. It previously had 3 clumps, but now it has 7. I need to grab 2 more clumps from the side of the house. This was no easy job. The reed grass is 5 years old, and about 18" in diameter. I had to dig up the clump, then carry it to the front yard. Each bunch weighed about 75lbs. And, I had to relocated the existing 3 bunches in the front yard. Needless to say, it was a LOT of work, and I'm not done. But, it should improve that bed in the long run.

Yard Work, That Time of Year

A couple weeks ago, I started to get the yard prepared for spring. I cut down all of the reed grass, trimmed the dead branches from the rose bushes, raked the leaves away from the foundation of the house, and blew leaves out from under the bushes, from under the deck, etc. I also mowed for the first time, and then put down spring fertilizer and crab grass preventer. Over the last week, especially after the last rain, the grass started to green up.

This afternoon and evening, I spent about 4 hours in the yard and pulled grass from all the mulch, and also decided to pull up all the brick edging and re-seat it. Wow, that was a hard job. But, it looks much better, and I feel better and the overall front yard appearance. I also mowed the front yard again, and will finish the back yard tomorrow. I decided to move the mower lower one notch this year. Wow, that created a lot of grass clippings, but I think overall the yard will look a lot neater.

I'm not really happy with the overall landscaping scheme in the front yard, but am likely stuck with it in the meantime. I do need to re-arrange some reed grass tomorrow as well, and re-arrange some of the boulders we have strewn about the landscaping. I do have some perennials in the bush beds, and also plant some annuals as well. But, it's nothing special, I wish I had more of a green thumb and the time and patience to take care of it all.

I've also got a commercial flagpole that I need to install, but can't really decided if I want to put it on the left or right corner of the house. Supposedly, our covenants prevent the installation of flag poles, but a neighbor on the next street over has installed a flag pole, so if he can do it, I will too.

While raking the grass in the front yard, I uncovered no less than a half-dozen cigarette butts in the stripe of grass next to the street. Nothing peeves me more than someone throwing out their cigarette butts on my property. I assume they came from folks driving by and tossing out their butts. I'd like to pop anyone in the mouth if I catch them doing it. Smokers can be so rude sometimes. You see it all the time, especially at stop lights, just take a look on the ground. You'll often see hundreds of cigarette butts. Disgusting.

Anyhow, my back aches, my legs hurt, and my hands look and feel like hamburger. I imagine in a few years, I'll just say to hell with it and hire a professional lawn service and just sit back on the deck and drink a cold beverage instead. In fact, that option is sounding better and better. I used to love yard work, but unfortunately, my age is starting to show.

Maintaining My Weight

Well, 3 months after the end of the Biggest Loser Competition, I'm holding steady around 162 lbs (not unless you count the day that I gained 4 lbs from eating Thai food). I feel great, and really feel this is where I want my weight to be. I can't believe, when looking back, that I felt healthy when I weighed 205, and hopefully will never go back to that point. In fact, we went clothes shopping tonight (with a 30% Kohl's coupon), and I bought size 32 shorts and medium shirts. Even the size 32 was big, and I probably should have bought a size 31. I've never worn a size 32 in anything, and have never worn a medium shirt. It's just surreal. Or if I have worn clothes that size, it may be been during my junior/senior year in college, I can't remember.

Seeing Things Like I've Never Seen Before

Today, we visited Coco Key Water resort here in Omaha. Essentially, it's an indoor water park attached to the Holiday Inn Convention Center, similar to the Great Wolf Lodge resorts. This was the first time that I've had the chance to swim in a public place since my LASIK eye surgery. Wow is all I can say. It's the first time in my life that I've actually been able to see everyone and everything while swimming, and was actually able to keep track of my daughter. Previously, I'd always wear sunglasses, but with such poor eyesight, was basically blind, and could never see anything more than a foot or two in front of me. Losing track of my daughter at the water park before was a common occurrence. Now, I could see her from across the complex. In other words, I love, love, love my new vision and have no regrets. Even though my vision is occasionally blurry or fuzzy, it sure beats what I had before, and the slight inconvenience is OK with me. I'm now 4 months past surgery, and I assume this is probably as good as it's going to get. I do see 20/15, with about 1/4 of a diopter. The optometrist indicated that it would be too risky to do a surgical enhancement, so I may just have to settle for what I've got. We'll see if things change in another 2 months.

Gearing up for Severe Storm Season

It's now April 1st and the first severe storm warnings of the season were issued yesterday morning. That means it's time to start gearing up for storm chasing as well. With that in mind, I've changed my equipment slightly. I recently purchased a new Dell 1525 widescreen laptop (sold my old Dell 600m laptop on Craigslist in a couple of days). The new laptop can now handle my weather software with ease and also draw 3D renderings of thunderstorms, etc. I also changed cell phone carriers and now have a data plan with Alltel (last year, I had AT&T). I believe Alltel has much better data service, mainly in rural areas. I also purchased a mobile desk to use in the car to hold the laptop. Other than than, not much has changed, and I intend to chase a few severe storms here and there. If you recall, last year, I chased a few storms, most notably the Greensburg, KS EF5 tornado. I've thought about purchasing a Kestrel 3000 wind/temperature/dewpoint meter, and may still do so before the heart of the severe weather season arrives. Bring on the storms! I also need to get my "chase" manual up to snuff with updated maps, charts, diagrams, and references, and get my "go" box ready to go also. Essentially, I want things to be ready that I could leave within a moments notice if necessary. Of course, chasing thunderstorms for fun revolves around my work schedule, and I'm not willing to drive extreme distances since my car already has 170,000 miles on it, but nevertheless, I will be out at least one more year. If I eventually get a new vehicle, I imagine it would severely limit my abilities to core-punch a severe storm.

Sold My Truck

Well, I decided to sell my 2000 Ford Ranger pickup truck. I haven't really driven it much at all over the last 3 years, and I'd like to get a new vehicle within the next 6 to 12 months. It wasn't really doing me any good losing value sitting in my driveway, so I cleaned it up and put an ad out on Saturday. I got a call Sunday morning, and sold it Sunday evening, just as the Super Bowl was beginning. I got exactly what I wanted for it, and it was a very quick, painless transaction. Wow, amazing how that all comes together. I'm tempted to go out now and get a new vehicle, perhaps an SUV and take advantage of some dealer incentives, along with a rebate bonus on my GM card. But, I'm not even sure what I want for sure, so at least I've got a few months to get out and do some shopping and do some test driving. It should be fun, at least for awhile.

Tired of Winter

Ok, we're still in the midst of winter, with about 8 weeks still to go. I have to admit, I'm downright tired of the snow and cold. Last Saturday, it was 8 below zero. If that wasn't bad enough, this morning, it was 12 below zero. We've had snow on the ground for a solid month now, and it's becoming a PITA to track in all the slush, mud, sand, grit, and junk into not only the garage, but the house too. I don't mind cool weather, in fact, it's refreshing to be outside when it's in the 30s and 40s. Over the previous 5 winters here in Nebraska, we've ranged from extreme to mild, and you never what you're going to have from year to year. But this year, I'm done. Definitely ready for spring. But, it's going to be a long 8 weeks unfortunately. Hmm, the thought of a nice warm beach sounds good. I think I'll look into retiring somewhere in Florida.

Weight Loss Continued

Well, 2 weeks after the end of our Biggest Loser competition at work, I'm down another 4 pounds, to 168 lbs (down from 205). Wow, I can't believe that. My wife thinks I'm getting too thin, but honestly, it's addicting, and it's a great feeling to see the weight still fall off. I still have a healthy body fat percentage, and I'd like to get that below 20%. We'll see.

I've had many people ask how I've lost the weight. Basically, I've been following a modified "Abs Diet" plan. The Abs Diet is a regimen that includes whole grain breads, non fat dairy products, whey protein, eggs, green leafy vegetables, oatmeal, almonds, lean meats, beans and legumes, natural peanut butter, and berries. I eat other things as well, but these make up the 12 power foods that have made up the bulk of my diet. I have also allowed myself to cheat a bit, that's why I say a "modified" version of the diet plan.

Another key for me has been 30 minutes of daily exercise at least 5 to 7 days a week. That may seem like a lot, but really, it's probably the most important part. It's important to supercharge your metabolism, and daily exercise is so important. I initially started with cardio workouts every day, and about 3 weeks into the program, started adding weight training every other day as well.

Also spacing meals every 2 to 3 hours is very important, so your metabolism is in high gear all day long. Basically, I'd have snacks between breakfast and lunch, between lunch and dinner, and one snack before bed. Yes, eating before bedtime is important, as long as you eat the right foods.

Another recommendation of the Abs Diet is to eat as many grams of protein per day as your current weight. While my protein intake was never that high, I easily increased it to 120g to 150g per day. Ideally, I wanted to strive for a 40/30/30 blend of carbs, protein, and fat, which is also suggested by the "Zone Diet" as well.

And finally, another key to my success was a daily log of all food eaten, and a daily log of exercise. To this end, I used the Calorie King software which is one of the best that I've seen. It has a database of 50000 food items, with a plethora of restaurants as well. It was very important for me to log everything everyday, and I think was a huge reason for my success.

My final 14-week average of nutrient intake was 46% carbs, 28% protein, and 26% fat. My average caloric intake over the 14 weeks was about 1600 calories per day, and my average exercise burn per day was about 225 calories.

Add a little bit of hard work, will power, determination, and the competitive spirit in me, and I was able to drop 33 lbs during the competition, and now down 37 lbs total, or about 18% of my body weight. Believe me, if I can do it, you can do it too. Trust me, push yourself beyond your limits and you'll be amazed at what you can accomplish!

Below is a chart of my weight loss over the previous 4 months. Nice, steady, downward curve, just where it should be. In other words, I don't feel that I've lost the weight too fast or too slow, just right.




And, here is an image during my final weigh in for the contest. I thought I'd better grab a shot of myself on the scale, just in case someone at work didn't believe me. Ha. I threw my work ID badge in there just to prove these really are my feet.




And, if anyone is interested, here is a PDF file of my food and exercise log. It's about 1.5 mb, but does list my daily food intake, meal-by-meal, over the course of the nearly 4 months of the contest. About 95% of the food entries are real, and the remaining items were substitutes as necessary. Also, items were usually combined to make a frozen smoothie for breakfast, and occasionally for snacks.

Bottom line, if you're trying to lose weight, get up off the couch and do it. Change your eating habits, get some daily exercise, keep a journal, and you'll be losing weight in no time. The final point for me, this is a lifestyle change. It's not really a diet plan per se, but a paradigm shift of how I eat and ultimately live.

Excellent Vision...Most of the Time

I had another LASIK follow-up visit today. My eyesight in both eyes remains at 20/15. However, the doctor did note that my eyes were extremely dry, despite my using eye drops every 3 to 4 hours. I have noted that about 90% of the time, my vision is great, and I have absolutely no regrets in doing this procedure. But about 10% of the time, my vision is bad, ranging from a slight blur (result of dry eyes), to a very subtle shadow to the right and down from all text, etc. The doctor suggested that the double vision could be a result of low blood sugar, but I discount that since I've been eating better now over the previous 3 months than I have in a long time. The doctor did say to increase the eye drops to every 2 hours, and also gave me a prescription for Restasis to help with the dry eyes. I said I'd try the increased eye drops first, and use the scrip later if the dryness didn't get better. I also attribute it to the fact that it's only been 6 weeks since the surgery and I'm ultimately still healing, which I think is reasonable.

Weight Loss

I haven't mentioned this, but since October 1, I've been in a Biggest Loser weight loss competition at work. Thirteen other folks were also participating, including co workers, friends, my boss, and even my wife. The competition wrapped up today, after 14 weeks. In the end, I was the biggest loser, having lost 33 lbs, which is was 16.1% of my body weight. My weight dropped from 205 to 172, and body fat dropped from ~29% to ~21%. I feel great, probably the best I've felt in many years. While it's been a long, arduous process, I'm so proud of what I've accomplished. Now, the key will be to keep it off. To that end, we've decided to start training to complete the Lincoln half marathon. I anticipate we'll try to run some of it, and walk the rest. The only road blocks would be my wife's doctor's permission. She has asthma, and hopefully, he'll give the OK to proceed. Plus, I also found out that you can't use headphones during the race. I exercise everyday with my Ipod, so that might be a tough hurdle to overcome. After taking a week or two off, the marathon training will begin. Not that we'd have any chance of winning anything, it's just that we've never done it, and it will be the next stepping stone to keep us on the path moving forward.

Emergency Room Bill

We received the bill for my wife's emergency room visit for her kidney stone. The bill, which included the drugs, the physician charges, and 2 CT scans was about $4500. Yowza! That was a very expensive 1mm grain of sand. We do have good insurance though. In fact, emergency room visits from accidents are covered at 100%. In hopes that this would be ruled an accident (my wife accidentally forgot to drink enough water), we'd be covered in full. Ha. Back to reality. Blue Cross allowed about $2800 (versus $4500), and we're responsible for 10%, or about $280. Still a big chunk of change, and one of those unavoidable expenses. After seeing the type of pain my wife was in that night, we didn't have a choice.

Attended My Niece's Wedding

We spent the previous weekend attending my niece's wedding. She got married to really nice kid and they make a wonderful couple. I know they'll be really happy together. My brother and sister came in from out of town, and overall, it was just a fun weekend to spend with family, catch up on old times, and just have a great time.

Seeing Double

This morning, my eyes weren't doing so well. I woke up and things just weren't right. I had to work at 8 am, and I just couldn't put my finger on the problem. We had a business presentation to attend, and while viewing the PowerPoint slides up on the big screen, I realized I was seeing double. Sure enough, all the text had a shadow, to the right and down about 1/16". I believe my eyes were just really, really dry, or tired, not sure. But, I used extra drops, about once every hour throughout the day, and it eventually improved. It kind of freaked me out, but a co worker who also has had LASIK surgery said it is a normal part of the healing process. I hope so, otherwise, I'll be needing a surgery enhancement in the very near future to correct this new-found astigmatism.

Eyes Doing Well

I had my 1-week-post-LASIK eye appointment today. My left eye has improved to 20/15, and my right eye is 20/20. The doctor did say though that my eyes were a little dry (to be expected) and that I really need to be using the drops as often as possible. I've noticed over the last couple of days, sometimes my vision is a little fuzzy and this happens when my eyes get dry. Otherwise, everything else looks good, and overall, I'm still happy with the results. Outside vision is 100% crystal clear, and that's to be expected as well, since the bright light keeps the pupil more closed and thus focuses the light a bit more. I now am on my own for the next month, and will go back in mid January for the next followup.

Winter Storm Winding Down

Well, the storm is finally over. We received about one quarter inch of ice, with about 2 inches of snow on top of that. It's really not that bad here locally, but I believe it's much, much worse across southeast Nebraska and southwest Iowa. There, they've received almost three quarters of an inch of ice, with a lot of locations without power. I was able to get out and scoop off the driveway, although the ice layer remains underneath the snow. Roads don't look that bad, at least the plows have been through at least once with some sand as well.

Emergency

My wife woke up in extreme pain this morning, around 1 am. It was enough pain that she was doubled over, moaning loudly, and in quite a bit of agony. We immediately diagnosed it as a kidney stone, given her symptoms. With an ice storm raging outside, we didn't have a choice but to drive to the emergency room. I woke our 11 year old daughter to tell her that we were going to the hospital, and that we'd be back as soon as we could.

After a 3 hour visit to the ER, a CT scan confirmed that she has a 1mm kidney stone. While that's not huge, it was enough to cause the severe pain. The doctors gave her some pain medicine, and said hopefully it will pass within 24 hours. It was currently lodged in the valve between the kidney and the bladder and that was causing the pain.

Actually, the roads weren't that bad, surprisingly. The road crews had been out all evening treating them, and with the traction control on our car, we had no problems.

It sure has been an expensive week medically for us. A root canal, LASIK eye surgery, and now a trip to the ER for a kidney stone. Let's see, that's about $7500 so far. A few more bucks and we could actually deduct our medical expenses this year on our taxes. Ha.

It's amazing that these things always come at the most undesirable time. Like my tooth ache last weekend, and now my wife's kidney stone in the middle of the night during an ice storm. Sure wish we could time these things better, so they don't fall over the weekend, and not all at once. Spreading them out over the course of year would also help, rather than in a span of 8 days. Wow.

Beautiful Snow

We had a beautiful snow today, about 4.5 inches. There wasn't a lot of wind with the snow either, which made it very pretty. By mid afternoon, the snow had stopped, and I was able to scoop out not only our driveway, but several neighbor's as well. By 2 pm, the sun had come out, and it was all over. I love snows like this. Not too much so it doesn't impede travel, and just enough to cover everything to make it white and pristine. I wish all snow storms were like this one.

Better Than I Expected

I went to my doctor's appointment this afternoon for a day 1 post op checkup. They indicated that I'm seeing 20/20 in my left eye, and 20/25 in my right eye. Wow, that's pretty good. Again, still a haze around all objects, but I can definitely see through it, and it will eventually go away (hopefully).

Mall Masacre

I can't believe what has just happened. A shooter has entered the Westroads Mall here in Omaha and shot and killed 8 innocent people, and wounded 5 others. This is so tragic, and I feel so sad for the victims and their families. Such a waste.

Day 1 Post LASIK

I woke up this morning and could see. I could actually see really well. It was a very surreal feeling to see so well just 15 hours after the surgery yesterday evening. My eyes didn't really hurt, and weren't that dry. There is still a haze around all objects, and that's normal, and will continue for some time as I continue to heal. But, through the haze, everything is clear. I printed out some random eye charts to gage my progress, and I'm guessing I'm seeing around 20/30 this morning. I have a doctors appointment this afternoon to make sure that everything is still ok.

The surgery yesterday was actually pretty easy. I arrived about 20 minutes prior to my scheduled time and completed the final paperwork. I had to sign one more waiver indicating that I understood the risks, etc. I had to arrange for payment (yes, they expect you to pay first), and then I waited for about 10 minutes. They took me back into a pre-surgical room, took my blood pressure, gave me a series of eye drops, and gave me a Valium and a Motrin. The surgeon came in to speak with me, and then examined my eyes one more time with the microscope just to make sure there weren't any deal breakers. I was then escorted into the laser room and lied down on the bench.

In a couple more minutes, there were ready to begin. They added a few more eye drops, taped my left eye shut and attached a suction cup to my right eye. My vision went black, and they then used a laser to create the corneal flap. I didn't hear or see the laser, but it only took about 5 seconds. They then reversed the procedure and cut the corneal flap on my left eye. Again, I didn't hear it or see it, and it only took about 5 seconds and was painless, although there was pressure.

Then they inserted another instrument in my right eye, lifted the flap, and positioned the laser. They asked me watch the blinking red light, and in about a minute, after lining everything up, the process began. I could hear zap-zap-zap and could smell a faint smell of burning flesh. The actual laser process lasted less than 30 seconds. The laser was removed, my corneal flap was replaced, and my eye was irrigated to help smooth out the flap. The whole process was repeated for my left eye, nearly identical procedures.

After the surgery, I stood up and could see. Things were blurry and hazy, but I could see. They took a picture of me with the surgeon, then placed some protective goggles on my head, and then checked my post-op vital signs. My blood pressure was about 2 points lower then when going in. Then, I left. I was at the surgery center about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Immediately after the surgery, I could see, but I would guess something like 20/80 or 20/100. I could make out letters, etc, but couldn't see very clearly. I came home, had some dinner, and lied down to rest. I watched TV through the evening and dozed off and on. By about 1100 PM, my vision had significantly improved. Still fuzzy, but much better than just after the surgery. I did the eye drops as directed and went to bed. I slept well.

LASIK Surgery Today

Today is the day for my LASIK surgery. I'm slightly nervous, but overall, am very positive about the outcome of the surgery. I've thought a lot about this over the last couple of weeks, and have gone from not wanting to risk my eyesight, not wanting to give up what I have now (crystal clear vision), versus feeling bad for not having done this sooner. I have confidence in the surgeon and have confidence that everything will be OK. It's an expensive procedure, but something I'm willing to pay considering the benefits I'll be receiving. After today, my life will be changed forever. Wow.

My First Root Canal

It was a rough night last night. The pain in my tooth was so bad that I couldn't sleep. Nothing helped either. I took about 10 Advil over the course of the night, which did absolutely nothing at all. The Anbesol didn't help, and neither did ice packs. I was in extreme pain the whole night. This morning, I called the dentist at 745 am, enroute to his office, hoping that he could get me in immediately. Their first response was that they were overbooked today, and could I come in tomorrow. I politely said, "No, this can't wait until tomorrow. Plus, I have eye surgery scheduled tomorrow too." Then they said that I could come in at 1pm today, and they would squeeze me in through the afternoon, but that I'd be there several hours. I again said, "No, this can't wait. I'm in extreme pain, we've got to do this now." So, they conceded that I should come in right away this morning. I agreed.

Overall, the procedure wasn't as bad as I envisioned. Bascially, it's just like getting a cavity filled, but longer. The dentist gave me a shot of juice, and said that we'd know right away if the tooth needed a root canal if the pain went away. The pain did go away, and I felt much better. He then game me about 3 more shots, and the procedure began. He drilled out the former filling in my tooth, then cleaned and filed out the roots (I had three), then placed a rubber filler in the voids. He then put a temporary filling in and sent me home. It did take about 2 1/2 hours, but it didn't hurt. I could hear everything he was doing, I just couldn't feel it.

So, $795 for the root canal, and another $805 for a crown that I have to get put on in a couple of weeks. Yikes. That's $1600. But, at the time, I didn't care what it cost to have it fixed. And, we don't have any dental insurance to cover that. Ugh. Oh well, I didn't have a choice in the matter, and it was either deal with the pain, or have the procedure done.

Tooth Pain

Yesterday evening was pretty rough. The pain in my tooth continued to increase, to the point that I thought I'd have to go to the emergency room at one point. I had my wife get some Anbesol, and used an ice pack to help manage it. While the pain was pretty bad, it eventually settled back to a dull ache. This morning, I called the dentist at his home residence and discussed my options. He said he could do a root canal today if the pain was unbearable, or if it could wait until tomorrow, to call right away in the morning to see when they could fit me in. I decided to wait as the pain was just a dull ache, and decided to just tough it out. It will be a long day.

An Ice Storm

We experienced an ice storm today. It started about 4 am this morning, and lingered through much of the day. Ice accumulations locally were around one quarter inch, but by early afternoon, a warm front moved through the area and shot temperatures up to near 50. So, the ice melted pretty quickly, and there wasn't too much damage. There were a few downed limbs and trees here and there, but overall, just a quick shot.

I did have a tooth ache today. Back in August, I had a cavity filled. The dentist said that it was deeper than he thought, and questioned whether or not I might eventually need a root canal on the tooth. I haven't had much trouble over the last few months, except some acute sensitivity to hot and cold. Otherwise, that's been it. But, I think something is definitely wrong, as now it's a constant, dull ache that just won't go away.

We also had to cancel the wedding shower for my niece, which was scheduled for 2 pm in Fairbury. With the ice storm, they all felt it just wasn't worth it to have people on the roads risking their lives. She's getting married at the end of December so they'll have to push the shower back to January. That's too bad.

Another Day, Another Storm

We've had rain over the previous 3 days, with about three tenths of an inch Tuesday morning, and another 1.1 this morning. Thus, the grass continues to grow like crazy. I just mowed Monday, and now it needs it again. Oh well, at least it's good exercise.

On a side note, I was out of town last weekend attending a professional conference. The first night there, while eating dinner with everyone else, I played a little Keno. I don't play very often, and it was something different. Well, I played 5 games, picked 10 numbers, and won $142, with $2 in game 3, and $140 in game 4. Wow, that was amazing. I picked 7 out of 10 I believe, and it was a complete surprise, as I could only find 6. But, who's to argue with the computer. Woohoo!

We're having a big family party at our house this coming weekend. Finally, by then, it should be dry, cool, and pleasant. It sounds like a big turnout (I have 7 brothers and sisters), so it should be a fun evening.

One Last Waterpark Visit

My daughter starts school in two days, and thus, we decided to get one last waterpark visit in. It was supposed to very hot today with a high around 100, so we needed something to keep us cool. We decided to head to Mahoney State Park one more time as it's close, and always fun with the huge waves. Today was no different. For a Monday, there were a lot of people there, but I'm guessing everyone else had the same idea, i.e. one last blast before school starts, plus it was so hot. It was packed, and by 2 pm, it was wall to wall people in the wave pool. It's fun when there are so many people, but also a little dangerous too. In fact, by mid afternoon, my daughter gave up trying to use the innertube and just body surfed. I did have to laugh though, I witnessed a 50-something lady (with leathery skin) putting on a full course of makeup, including base, powder, eye shadow, lip stick, lip liner, and she even curled her eyelashes. Doh! What a piece of work. I rolled my eyes to the guy sitting next to me, and shrugged his shoulders. Then he asked her why she was putting on makeup. She made a comment that she wanted to look good, and that she was only here for the sun and not the water. Ugh. No wonder her skin looked like a crocodile shell. Oh well.

Would You Believe It

Well, another storm rolled through yesterday afternoon and produced another 1.24 inches of rain at my house. It also produced wind gusts from 50 to 70 mph. We didn't experience any damage, but a lot of trees were blown down across town and some power lines were downed. In fact, I was at the gym around 6 pm. The main line had already blown through, and it was just raining very hard. I had just stepped onto the elliptical trainer when the lights went out. I thought about sticking it out, but decided to head to the gym at another location instead. The grass sure looks great and I'm sure the farmers are very happy at this point. The crops sure look good, and estimates now are that they'll experience a record harvest, and grain prices are very high. For what it's worth, it looked like the deck is OK. The stain that I'm using requires a solid 24 hours to dry, but it only made it about 18. But, it was another very hot day today (before the rain arrived) and that probably helped.

Am I Crazy?

I've been meaning to re-stain my deck as it's been 3 1/2 years since it was last done. But, we do have a covered deck, so it seems to weather the weather a bit better than an uncovered deck. But, it's a big deck, 12 x 20, and 15 steps up, so I've been putting it off, not really wanting to tackle the big project. Plus, I've never stained a deck myself, so was a little nervous about the whole process. So, I waited until the hottest and most humid week of the year to do it. Ha. Actually, I stained the stairs a couple of days ago, and spent about 5 hours this afternoon and evening staining the spindles. It sure is tedious work as I'm using a brush. But, it does look really good. I still have another couple of spindle sections to complete, the floor boards, and the undercarriage. At least I won't have to do it for another 3 years. It's supposed to rain tomorrow night, so I wanted to get as much done as possible.

Another Storm

Well, yet another storm rolled through late last night, shortly after midnight, producing another 1.34 inches of rain. Wow, just amazing. I'm glad I did begin the staining process on my deck yesterday or I would have been mad as the rain was not in the forecast. Instead, we headed to the Pawnee Plunge waterpark in Columbus, Nebraska. It was a fun park, probably even better than Mahoney State Park, and definitely better than the water park in Fremont. We spent about four hours there, and had a great time, although my feet were very sore near the end from walking on all the concrete. Got some great sun, not a burn, but definitely more color.

More Rain

Well, the rains have really been plentiful over the last 2 to 3 weeks. The pattern has shifted such that we're getting periodic, beneficial rains. Today, we've received another 1.35 inches, and we could get some more tonight. The yard needed to be mowed, as garbage collection is tomorrow. It was still wet, but I plowed through it anyhow. Well, the grass wasn't so wet, but the ground sure was. Soggy in fact. But, it's done, and looks great. The humidity over the last week has really been oppressive as well. Dewpoints have been in the mid to upper 70s. That's very moist. In fact, so moist, that when you walk outside, you immediately break into a sweat.

A Deluge

After another day of rains, I measured 1.83 inches. Most of that fell yesterday, just under one and one half inches, and a bit more fell overnight. I'm sure the grass will be growing like a hayfield in the coming days. But, we really needed it, it's been a week without any rain at all.

Smoke and Rain

It was supposed to rain early this morning, and boy did it ever. It was a hot day yesterday with highs in the 90s and high humidity with dewpoints in the 70s. I spent most of the day inside working on an upcoming work project, even though I'm still on vacation. I thought about trying to get some sun, but spent most of the afternoon at the computer.

The cold front finally arrived early this morning. I drifted off to sleep around 1 am, only to be awoken at around 2 by the smell of smoke of the sound of thunder. It was raining very heavy, and I swore the house was filling with smoke. I woke up quickly, in a panic thinking that the house had been struck by lightning. I'm not sure why I thought there was smoke in the air, but everything was fine, and I sat up and enjoyed the rain for the next hour. We ended up getting 2.90 inches in just over an hour, wow that was a heavy rain. We sure needed it!

But, while sitting here typing this message, watching Driving Miss Daisy on TV, I heard a drip in the living room. Sure enough, there was water dripping from the archway in our dining room. It's directly below our chimney flue, so I'm guessing because the rain was so heavy that some rain got in and dripped down between the wall. I peered up into the attic but couldn't find anythings, and there aren't any stains in the dryway or ceiling, so it seems to be between the wall. Ugh.

Traveling Home

We stopped by the Amana Colonies in Iowa on our way home to shop a bit. We had a nice lunch at a local German restaurant, then had an uneventful trip home. We picked up our dogs at the vet, and enjoyed a BBQ Chicken pizza from Papa Johns.

Chicago Day Two

Museum of Science and Industry
Top of the John Hancock Building
Navy Pier
Lodging along the banks of the Mississippi River in the Quad Cities.

Chicago Frustrations

The main reason for visiting Chicago was my wife was meeting several of her Internet chat board members for the weekend. They've been chatting on their cross stitch discussion board for months and decided to meet in a central location for a fun weekend. Thus, the plan for today was that she'd be busy with her friends at the hotel, and myself and my daughter would head out on the town to do a little sight seeing.

After a complimentary breakfast buffet (part of our hotel package), we got in the car and started to drive. I studied the city map quite a bit last night, and thought I had an overall feel of where we were and where we intended to go. We left the hotel around 930 am, and immediately encountered the most horrible traffic I've ever been in. We were well in the suburbs, and downtown Chicago was at least 30 miles away, if not more. Basically, it was bumper to bumper the whole way, driving at 15 to 30 mph as we inched past Ohare Airport. I really thought the traffic wouldn't be that bad for a weekend, but that was a very bad assumption. It was a nightmare.

We did finally arrive downtown and drove along Lakeshore Drive, next to Lake Michigan. It was a beautiful lake, and a gorgeous day. We really enjoyed that. The speed limit along the highway there was 35 to 45 mph, but people weren't happy unless I was driving 15 to 20 mph over. I really just wanted to drive the speed limit and take in the sights, but everyone kept honking at me. It quickly became apparent that Chicago is one the most impatient cities I've ever been in.

After driving for awhile, we arrived in South Chicago. It definitely didn't seem to be the best neighborhood, and we quickly decided to turn around. We were severely short on gas, with about 400 miles on the tank thus far and the needle flirting with empty. But, I really didn't want to stop at either of the 2 gas stations that we did see as it seemed very unsafe to do so.

We then headed back north up Lakeshore Drive. I thought it would be fun to visit the Lincoln Park Zoo. While it was an OK zoo, it definitely doesn't rival the Henry Doorly Zoo here in Omaha, but it was a great way to pass the lunch hour. After leaving the zoo, we decided to head back to the hotel to rest. My daughter was furiously reading the new Harry Potter book that we purchased earlier in the morning, and just wanted to vedge. I was OK with that. However, we got stuck in downtown traffic (not intentionally) and a real panic began to set in. It was just as it appears on TV, bumper to bumper traffic, cabs driving like lunatics, everyone honking their horns as soon as lights would turn green, and thousands of people on the sidewalks. It was at that moment that the low fuel light came on in the car. I became very nervous. I thought we'd chug out in the middle of the chaos and would never get out. I usually don't pray a lot, but I did at that moment, quietly asking for a gas station. After a couple of turns, the situation became worse as we got stuck behind a construction project with cement trucks blocking the path. After pulling in front of a couple of lanes of traffic, I turned the corner, and low and behold, a gas station loomed in the next block. What dumb luck to find the only gas station in the middle of downtown Chicago. Needless to say, I was relieved beyond words.

We spent the part of the afternoon at Panera Bread. We enjoyed a nice snack, and just relaxed. Hannah read her book and I surfed the Internet. We then headed back to the hotel and enjoyed a mid afternoon swim. For dinner, I really wanted some Chicago style pizza. I looked in the yellow pages and found a nearby restaurant that sounded awesome and quite delicious. However, after driving there, I then realized that it was only a takeout place. After failing to find the mall (which I thought might have some food options), we drove upon another local pizza place and had a great dinner after all. After dinner, we headed to the movie Ratatouie, which was absolutely great. All the while, my wife really enjoyed her day with her Internet cross stitch friends, so all in all, we all had an OK day with lots of adventure.

I must say though, I guess I'm not too fond of Chicago after our first day. The traffic is just overwhelming (for a Saturday, geesh), and the impatient people are really just too much to put up with. I know, perhaps I have a closed mind, but that's what we mostly experienced.

Chicago, A New Experience

Our daughter came home from summer camp today. In fact, she didn't get dehydrated like we thought, and had a great time. It was very hot both Tuesday and Wednesday with highs in the mid to upper 90s, but when the cold front came in late Wednesday night, they had a pleasant day Thursday. She got home about 1pm, and we headed out the door for Chicago around 2 pm. After a pleasant 7 hour drive, we arrived at the Marriott Northwest hotel here in Northwest Chicago. I've never been to the windy city, and am somewhat nervous about the traffic. We traveled Interstate nearly the entire way, crusing steadily around 80 mph without seeing any police. We didn't really like the tollway, but that seems to be the norm.

First Day of Vacation

To celebrate my first day of vacation, we lounged around the house and enjoyed a mid afternoon movie at the dollar theatre. We watched Spiderman 3. While it was an OK movie, we thought the plot bounced around too much, and that the producers tried to squeeze too much into it. It was also a little long, between 2 and 2 1/2 hours, and I found myself peeking at my watch halfway through. Thus, it was OK, but definitely not as good as the movie we saw earlier this week.

Sweet Rain at Last

Well, the rain finally came. We had such a wet May, but since the beginning of June, it's been very dry. In fact, we're now several inches below normal for the summer, despite being above normal for the year. I ended up working late, which I didn't mind, and then enjoyed a nice rain through the remainder of the night. We ended up with 0.93 inches, which really hit the spot. It was especially timely, as I hung up my rain gauge just yesterday, which I discovered buried in a box in the garage.

As a side note, I'm now officially on vacation for the next 8 days. Woohoo! I'm so excited, I definitely needed some time off. We're heading to Chicago tomorrow, and will be back in town early next week.

Great Movie

After we dropped our daughter off at Camp, we headed out to a movie, Live Free or Die Hard, the next installment in the Die Hard series. It's been several years since the latest Die Hard movie had been released, and we were excited about getting out on the town. The movie was great, and was definitely better than both the 2nd and 3rd movie in the series. It had a nice plot, relevant to the 21st century, and had enough action to keep us interested for the 2 hour duration.

Unpleasant Necessities

I had to visit the dentist today for my bi-annual cleaning. I don't really enjoy going to the dentist, although I'm not sure anyone really enjoys this necessity of life. The anxiety leading up to the visit, the visit itself, then the guilt that you feel for not brushing well enough. And, to make matters worse, I have a cavity. I never get cavities. I think I've had like 5 in my whole life. Ugh. That put me into a really rotten mood, nevermind that it's supposed to be 95 today, and near 100 both tomorrow and Wednesday.

Speaking of the heat, our daughter is heading off to summer camp tonight. Last year, she attended camp during the absolutely hottest week of the year. On Thursday last year (1 day before the camp was over), she got sick with dehydration because she wasn't drinking enough water. This year, we've had a couple of hot spells, but unfortunately, it's setting up to be one of the hottest weeks of the summer, again! I remember my camp days attending Boy Scout camp, way back when. I don't remember the heat bothering me too much, but let's just say that sitting in sweltering heat, with no air conditioning at all doesn't sound like much fun at this point in my life. Maybe I've just gotten old and spoiled, but that's the absolute last thing I'd want to do. Oh well, hopefully she'll make it through this time, but I'm betting even money that we get a call later this week that she's sick with dehydration. We'll see.

Dinner, Drinks, and Dancing

We headed out for a night on the town with some college friends yesterday evening. In fact, this was my old college roommate. It's funny how life's travels take you from one place to another, and after many years, we've ended up in the same town.

We headed to Granite City for dinner, which is a small brewpub here in Omaha, although it appears to be a national chain as there are locations in several states. I had a barbecue chicken pizza which was delicious. I also had a couple of their light ales, and it was good too, although I'm not much into weird and chewy beers at all.

After dinner, we headed over to another bar in town, the Seven Monkeys. We joked about going to another bar for drinks and dancing after that, something we haven't done in many, many years. The band playing that night supposedly was known for its 80s repertoire, something that would really appeal to us. However, we never made it out of Monkeys as we sat there the remainder of the night and enjoyed many, many cocktails. My wife ended up drinking a Jungle Juice martini (wtf, never heard of it), then several more double chocolate martinis. I have to admit, they were tasty, even the one that she nearly spilled all over my arm.

After a few hours, we decided to call it a night. However, as we drove out of the parking lot, I joked about heading to the next bar where the band was playing. Even though my wife was already off her rocks, we ended up at the Arena Sports Bar to listen to a few songs. After a couple more chocolate martinis and a couple more Bud Lights, we headed for home.

We had a great time, although I think my wife is having second thoughts this morning. She didn't feel too well most of the day, but seems to be back to her old self this afternoon. Ah, we're not as young as we used to be. We commented that back in college, we could do this 2 or 3 times a week, get home at 2 am, and be up and ready to go to work the next morning at 7 or 8 without thinking twice. Now, it seems it takes nearly a day to recover from a drinking binge, and several more days just to catch up on sleep. Alas, to be young again.

A Visit to the New Waterpark

A new waterpark opened up in nearby Fremont, Nebraska this past week. Usually we drive to Mahoney State Park to visit the waterpark, which has a wave pool, a regular pool, and two slides. Fremont has been trying to build a waterpark for years, and the voters approved it this last year. I must say, the Splash Station Water Park was OK, but I was a little disappointed. We're used to the huge waves (3 to 6 feet) that can be found at Mahoney, but the waves at Fremont were very gentle, only 1 or 2 feet. The slides were fun though, and the Fremont water park did have a rope ladder/lilly pad area for the kids which seemed great. Plus, the tubes were free at Fremont, (versus $3 at Mahoney) and the admission was cheaper ($9.50 for 1 adult and 1 child versus $13 at Mahoney). So, overall, it was a nice waterpark, and I'd say we'd definitely go back. They did have about 5 huge umbrellas too (about 30 feet in diameter), which allowed for ample shade opportunities (which Mahoney doesn't have). So, given all that I've mentioned, I'd give the Fremont Water park an 8 out of 10.

On the Diet Yo Yo Again

Well, the day after the fourth of July was an eye opener for me. I woke up, and was about 2 pounds shy of my all-time highest weight. My clothes were getting tighter, and I just wasn't happy. So, I started a diet again. Sigh, it's a never-ending battle. In the past, I've had great success with a modified Atkins plan, although I can't really be as strict as that plan allows, and I can't really do it for a lengthy period. So, over the last week, I've cut out the carbs, limiting my intake to about 30g per day. The plan works, and 1 week later, I'm down 8 1/2 pounds. Granted, there isn't really any change in my overall size, except I've flushed out a lot of extra fat. The clothes fit just a bit better, and overall, I look better too. But, that's about enough. I now plan to ease back to a normal diet, watch the sweets, and eat balanced meals. We'll see what happens.

I've Got the Blues

Yesterday evening, I attended a live blues concert at a local bar. One of my coworkers supposedly loves jazzy blues (unbeknownst to me) and one of his favorite groups was making a stop here in Omaha. I've never really been much for blues-type music as I've always attributed it to a much slower beat that I normally desire. But, I must say, this was an awesome group, with mostly up-tempo songs (120 to 160 beats per minute) that really got my foot tapping. It was a fun evening, and I stayed for both sets, which lasted almost 3 hours (with a half hour break in between). I even danced to one of their songs. The group was the Candye Kayne Band. While the music was just a touch too loud, I suppose that's to be expected considering we were in a local bar, but otherwise, it was a great night to get out and enjoy something that I don't normally do.

Enough is Enough

Ok, it's July 5th and the Independence Day holiday is over. Will you please stop shooting fireworks? Over the last few nights, it's sounded (and occasionally felt) like a new world war had begun in our neighborhood and across the city as folks continuously shot off box after box of fireworks. I understand the need to celebrate, and I myself indulged in some pyrotechnics on Tuesday evening at my wife's sister husband's parents (did you get that) house. Each night, since about last Friday, the boom, boom, boom sound has sent our two dogs into a near violent fit each night. That's understandable, they are small dogs, at 7 and 12 lbs. They get scared when thunderstorms develop. Trying to get them to go the bathroom outside has been a near impossible feat. Even late into the night, the fireworks continued. On July 3rd, fireworks lasted until almost 1 am. Last night, they were going well past midnight. Well, tonight, they are still going. I tried to take the dogs outside around 930 pm, thinking we'd be safe, but sure enough, about 2 minutes later, boom, pop, bang, there they go again. Now I'm not a prude by any stretch of the means, but enough is enough. We've all wasted more than enough money on the fireworks, let's let the holiday go, and wait until next year.

A Quivering Pile Of Goo

Well, it's that time of year when we celebrate our independence by trying to blow up everything in site. It seems that there are more and more fireworks every year. I myself am looking forward to attending a friend's potluck party with an incredible amount of shells, canons, rockets, and whatnot. Everyone brings a sack full, and when combined, it fills an entire pickup truck. It's a non-stop barrage for a couple of hours at least. Unfortunately, our two dogs don't enjoy the excitement. In fact, they usually end up as quivering piles of goo each night that the fireworks are exploding. Poor dogs. For some reason, the same thing happens with thunderstorms, which usually results in a period of hyper ventilation, along with extreme anxiety. At least it's only for a week, but it seems we all might celebrate the independence holiday just a little too much?

Minor Pet Peeves

I'm sure that everyone has something (or someone) that just bugs them to no end. I have several, probably too numerous to mention in this post, but here goes:

I hate the wind. Living in Nebraska, we experience the wind on most any given day, and often, the wind is just too much for enjoyment. But, that's part of the sacrifice of living on the plains. Ha. But, the last couple of days, while I've been lying in the back yard soaking up a few sun rays, there hasn't been much wind. In fact, not even enough wind to blow the flys and mosquitoes away. So, while lying there baking in the sun, sweating profusely, I think every fly and nat within a 1 square mile area was attracted to me. Had the wind been blowing even a little, the breeze would not only helped cool me off, but also blow those pesky bugs away. So, it seems we have the wind when we don't want it, and don't have any wind when we need it the most.

You may recall, a few months ago, I got a new Ipod Nano. It's a great toy, and I use it almost every day. I have hundreds of my favorite songs on it, and I enjoy it very much. However, the earbuds really suck. They are the second-generation ear Ipod ear phones, and don't fit my ear very well. In fact, they fall out on a near-constant basis. Ugh. I hate that.

Have you ever wondered why they call it iced tea? Well, I think that means there is supposed to be ice in it. Well, duh. When driving through drive through for fast food, I often order an iced tea instead of soda. Especially when it's hot, the soda is often too sweet and just makes me feel crappy. But, more often than not, what I get is not a glass of iced tea, but a cup of luke-warm, brown colored liquid. Most of the iced tea is brewed, and is kept at room temperature (or warmer). With the paltry amount of ice that the fast food joints put in the cup (trying to give us more beverage for our buck), the tea melts the ice right away. Yuck. Fill the damn cup up with ice, then add the tea. It makes for a very refreshing drink. Thus, in this instance, I think I'd be better off walking in to do it myself. Ugh.

It seems that many modern stop lights have sensors embedded into the pavement to signal when the lights should turn. However, have you noticed that often, the sensors are buried in the "middle" of the lane, in between your tires? Thus, when you pull up to a light, more often than not, your tires straddle the sensor, but never trigger it. Then, you sit there for what seems like an eternity, waiting for the light to change, but it doesn't know that you're sitting there because you haven't triggered the sensor. Then, when you try to back up to hit it again, invariably, there is some yahoo right behind you. I definitely prefer more-modern stop lights that have cameras to sense when to change the lights.

And finally, hair cuts are something that everyone (well, just about) must endure. But, why do hair stylists feel the need to make small talk while cutting your hair? I'm perfectly content sitting in the chair staring into space letting them do their thing. I don't want to distract them and end up with a bad haircut. Plus, sometimes, I just don't want to chat. And then, when the hair cut is done, it seems that many times, I end up with uneven sideburns. Why is that? I mean, they measure on each side before trimming, but one always ends up longer than the other. Do I have a lopsided head? I don't think so, but I may have to have that checked.

By the way, my family (wife and daughter) are leaving me this week. They're heading to Kentucky to visit friends. Unfortunately, they're coming back. Ha. :)

Making Salsa

It's that time of year for the garden produce to be converted into tasty salsa. This year, I planted 6 tomato plants and 9 pepper plants. I planted 3 jalapeno plants, 1 chili plant, 1 habanero plant, 1 banana hot pepper, 1 banana sweet pepper, and 2 green pepper plants. We didn't have a late season freeze this year, thus I was able to get the plants in a little earlier than last year. Well, there were enough peppers and tomatos (mostly) to make my first batch of salsa. Making homemade salsa can be a real chore, but I love the taste so much that it's definitely worth it to me. I didn't quite have enough tomatoes, so I did buy a few tomatoes at the store. I miscalculated and still didn't have enough so ended up using a couple cans of diced tomatoes as well, one of which was Italian Style. So, the salsa turned out somewhat on the mild side, and has an italian flavor. Oh well. The canning process was uneventful and everything looked good. We'll see how it tastes in a few months.

Photographing Fireworks

One of the advantages of living where we do is we have an unobstructed view of 3 professional fireworks displays from the comfort of our deck. Tonight was the first of the season and I decided to photograph some of the displays. Unfortunately, the pictures didn't turn out as good as I'd hoped. They are OK, but are not the stellar fireworks images that you occasionally see. Oh well. I have a Canon Rebel Digital Rebel XT with the 28-135 IS lense. Overall, I really like the camera, but have been disappointed time and again with the results. Even though the lense was a bit pricey, I just don't think it's worth the money.

Omaha Summer Arts Festival

The Omaha Summer Arts Festival is this weekend. We've never attended, but decided to drive down to see what the vendors had to offer. It's held each summer in Downtown Omaha. This is similar to the St. James Art Fair that is held in Louisville, KY each fall. I'm sure many communities have something similar. We were quite disappointed. It was an eclectic mix of a lot of crap that wasn't really worth our time. We walked through a couple of times but didn't really see much of anything that sparked our interest. My wife did see some fruit/food paintings that were interesting. But, the prices were out of reach. An 11x17 painting of a bowl of fruit was about $500. My daughter just attended an art class this past week. She painted a beautiful 11x17 canvas of a beautiful flower. I'd much rather frame and hang that than pay thoses types of prices for a piece of common art.

More Storms Across Eastern Nebraska

After sleeping in a bit this morning, I was up and on the road around 10 am. The prospects for severe storms seemed real today, but the tornado threat was very marginal due to much less wind shear in the atmosphere. I decided to bag on another day of storm chasing and opted for a drive through the sandhills. I ended up at Calamus Reservoir, near Burwell, NE. A coworker goes there to fish quite often and I've never been there. It was a beautiful lake, about 8 miles long, nestled in the gently rolling sand hills. Actually, it was very picturesque. I wanted to do a little swimming but couldn't find the beach. So, I stopped on the shoreline, set up a lawn chair, and just laid in the sun for awhile and listened to my Ipod. It was a nice warm day, but not hot, with puffy cumulus clouds all around. After a couple of hours, I decided to head for home. Soon though, the cumulus clouds started to build, and it was quickly apparent that I'd be chasing thunderstorms all the way home. They were huge and were producing small hail and gusty winds. I was about 40 miles behind them the entire afternoon so had a good show the whole way. It was a good day, especially after the successful chase yesterday.

Chasing Storms Once Again

It's been awhile since I've had a chance to chase storms of any consequence. I had a couple of days off, and summertime thunderstorms were expected to fire today across the Dakotas, then slipping south into Nebraska tomorrow.

After getting off a midnight shift this morning, my original plan called for getting some sleep until about 1 pm or so, then I'd head north toward Sioux Falls (about a 3 hour drive) to see what I could see. Well, the storms were already firing by 9 am. That's a typical time that storms decrease in intensity, but not today. They continued to strengthen, and soon, a convective discussion was in effect for southeast South Dakota. So, I headed north at 10 am with no sleep.

By 1 pm, I caught up with the line of storms. I drove around a few back roads southwest of Sioux Falls, but the storms were all garbage. Some heavy rain, penny sized hail, and gusty winds. I decided to let the storms go and stopped for lunch. After lunch, I decided to head west to catch some of the storms that would develop across the Black Hills. I did stop at a rest area to get some sleep, but only slept for about 1/2 hour. It was enough to keep me going.

By late afternoon, storms were firing in both northwest and southwest South Dakota. There were still another 3 hours away, and I really didn't want to drive that far. At the same time, storms started to fire in north central Nebraska. These storms were about 80 miles to my south, a much more appealing target.

So, I drove south on 183, watching the storms continue to grow. They were quickly strong enough to produce severe weather, and eventually a tornado warning was issued. (Picture below is the storm about 20 minutes after the warning was issued, about 50 miles away.



I finally caught up with the storm around 8 pm. I had lost my cell phone connection, thus I didn't have radar data, so was chasing blind, but using NOAA Weather Radio for positioning. I core punched the storm and ended up about 3 miles southeast of the mesocylone. It was a good ride. I never did see a tornado, but did see a funnel cloud (image below). This was just a couple of miles to my west.


Unfortunately, the road I was on dead-ended (turned into a cattle path), and I had to turn around a backtrack through country dirt roads that had already received a lot of rain. That wasn't very fun, but I eventually made it back to Oneill, Nebraska where I'm staying tonight.

All in all, I've been awake for almost 24 hours, with only 30 mintues of sleep, and almost 600 miles later. Wow, adrenaline can do weird things!

New Exercise Routine

Boys and Their Toys

Linoma Beach, A Fun Afternoon

Disappointed in Local Beaches

The beaches at Branced Oak Lake west of Lincoln aren't the best.

Mahoney State Park Fun

Big Mac Attack

14 Years

We celebrated our 14th anniversary today! We had a great time while in Kearney and got to see some new things. This morning, we visited Pioneer Village, which is located in Minden, NE. It has a huge collection of various things, including cars, boats, trains, tractors, furniture, and so forth. The collection spans the beginning of each piece, and has numerous pieces through modern history. I visted the place once on a field trip in Elementary School, and I believe I may have visited it once with my folks. It's ironic, nothing has changed about the place over those last 20 years. It was still the same as it always was. It's an interesting museum, definitely worth a visit.

Below, mom and daughter and dad and daughter enjoy a break.

Getting Away for Our Anniversary

New Furniture

Spring is Here

Well, spring has arrived. About two weeks ago, it really warmed up, and it's been so incredibly nice. Spring is probably my favorite time of year. All of trees come back to life, the lawns green up, and the flowers begin to bloom. It's just such a nice time, and everything is alive. However, along with that comes responsibility. It's also time to clean out the flower beds, get the yard ready, rake up the old leaves, pull winter weeds, and just generally clean up. I should get the yard power raked and aerated again. That's a big job, and it's getting a bit late since everything came to life so soon, but I suppose if I don't get it done, it will still be OK. I guess that's why they always call it spring cleaning.

I started the big job today, and it will likely take a couple of weeks to get everything done. Our yard need special attention. Our two dogs have really done a job on the front yard. There are a lot of dead spots, and I need to get the old grass up, and plant some new grass. That will probably not happen for a couple of weeks, still too much of a chance that it will get too cold at night to kill the new seedlings. I did put down fertilizer this morning. The forecast calls for rain today, and again tomorrow night and Thursday, heavy rain at that. So, the heavy rain should really soak the fertilizer in.

I also have a large sink hole on the side of the house that I need to get filled. I'm calling the landscaper today. Also, the water shut off valve in front of our house has sunk about 8 to 12 inches below grade, and I need to get that fixed too. There's always something. While I'm at it, I intend to get the roof vents replaced on top of our house, as they squeak from time to time (they're the spinning kind) and I'm just tired of listening to them. We also need to get our deck re-stained this year. I'm really not looking forward to doing that, in fact, I downright dread it. We paid a professional to do it the first time when we built the house 3 years ago, but I think I'll just have to bite the bullet and take a weekend in May to get it done myself. And, I need to repaint the trim around our garage. The paint has started to peel there, and I need to scrape it off, prime, and paint again. The construction is nearly complete in our neighborhood. There are only about 10 lots left, but nothing near us. Thus, the dust should be considerably less this year, since we're surrounded by grass now. But, the dust from last year is still thick on the outside of the house. Thus, I need to get some house wash and dig out the power sprayer to wash things down. And while I'm at it, I intend to wash all of the windows too. I've got one of those long 16' poles to be able to reach the windows on the back side. Another odd job regarding windows is to revarnish the trim on the inside of the windows, but only on the bottom, it's flaking off on the bottom piece, from 3 years of sun and condensation when it gets really cold outside. I also need to get the A/C checked, oiled, cleaned, and prepped for the summer. And sometime in there, I need to really clean out the garage. There are about 20 boxes of junk that I need to get rid of, I need to put up some more shelves, need to sweep out the corners, and get it spiffied back up. I won't even mention our basement. I think it's beyond repair, and not much we can do about that, except hide it. That's our strategy for now. Ha.

Busy, busy, busy. Wish I could hire a crew to come in and just get everything done. Unfortunately, when you're lazy like I am, all this stuff piles up beyond belief. It seems like I'll never get any of it done, but I just need to concentrate on thing at a time, and eventually, I'll tackle this mountain of chores. I don't really have any help, so it may take me a couple of years. Ha. Oh well. Imagine what it would be like next year, the list will probably be twice as big.

Getting Older, Falling Apart

I'm getting older. I'm not really that old by modern standards, but I can definitely tell a difference. I'm heading for my 37th birthday this year. I'm getting gray hair. My temples temporarily went grey about 3 years ago when my daughter suffered a health crisis, but now, it's an everyday occurrence. Not completely grey, but a few more hairs go grey each month. My right shoulder has been giving me problems over the last 2 months or so. I think it's in the process of becoming frozen, although it could be a referred pain associated with gall bladder rouble. I did have an attack of which may have been gall bladder related about 3 weeks ago at work, but it only lasted a minute, and was the only one I received. Of course, there's my back, which gives me periodic trouble. Whenever I throw it out, it takes between 2 and 10 days to get back to normal. I have dry skin during winter. I think the correct term is seborrheic dermatitis, but it really affect my eye lids and ear lobes. Nothing seems to help. I developed a ganglion cyst on my right index finger a month or two ago (I developed one back in college on my wrist, but it went away). And last but not least, I've overweight. Of course, none of that is serious or life threatening in any way. We all have our aches and pains. I'm sure the list will only continue to grow.

Winter's Grip

We had another small snow yesterday. Here in Omaha, we received 3 to 4 inches, but from 6 to 8 inches fell across southeast Nebraska. In fact, school was canceled for today, mainly because the buses would have had a hard time getting into the neighborhoods. It was the first snow day this year. Over the last couple of weeks, we've had a couple of minor snows, an inch or two each time. But, it's been very cold. I'm not looking forward to seeing our gas bill for this month, I know it will be quite high, even though we've got a programmable thermostat, and generally keep things on the cool side. Definitely looking forward to spring, and present indications suggest it should warm back up later this week, with highs in the 40s and 50s next week. Thankfully. I guess I don't mind winter so much anymore (I used to really hate it), as long as it's not cold. Speaking of winter though, our garage is a mess. The floor is just a disaster with week upon week of salt and crud accumulating underneath of the vehicles. Bring on the winter thaw.

Annual Church Fundraiser

Yesterday was our annual church fund raiser. This year, we were raffling off a house worth $275,000. I won the cash grand prize of $3000 last year, so was almost positive that we wouldn't win this year. It was a really nice evening, the food was good, and our table mates were colleagues of my wife at school. We thought it was perhaps a little too crowded, with a lot of shoulder and elbow bumping, but that's OK. They also had free alcohol all night long, of which I made sure I got my money's worth. Ha. I was definitely feeling it by the end of the night (but not so bad this morning). We did bid on a couple of items, and won one. We purchased my wife's boss as a lawn boy for a day! Woohoo! I doubt we'll ever cash it in, but it's fun holding it over his head. We also went in with 2 other couples and purchased a wine tasting/gourmet dinner. It was a little expensive ($125 per person), but the money goes to our church so it's for a good cause. It sounds fun, and is something we've never done before.

The Tax Man Giveth

This year was the second year in a row that we received a tax refund from both federal and state. Yeah! Actually, our taxes really aren't that complicated, thus it's an easy matter to enter the data into our tax program. I figure if we're getting a refund back, we might as well do them early, and have access to the money now, rather than later. All in all, we're getting back just over $1000 this year. I initially thought we might just spend the money on a spring break vacation, but then again, we may just save it for a rainy day. It's a good feeling knowing that they're done though for another year though.

Daughter Doing OK

My daughter had her bi-annual checkup with her orthopedic surgeon today. Everything is OK. The pain she was experiencing a couple of weeks ago hopefully can be attributed to doing crunches in her PE class. Overall, she's doing great. In fact, the curve in her spine is now at 67 degrees, down from 73 degrees 6 months ago. And, she's grown an inch. Her doctor thinks that because the front of her spine is still allowed to grow (whereas the back of the spine is fused), that her kyphosis should continue to improve with age. That's a good thing. We'll see. But otherwise, Hannah is doing great, and her doctor is very pleased. Hannah did ask if she could ever ride a horse. The doctor paused, with great consternation, but did agree to her request. Now, she wants to go to horse camp. I'm not so sure about that, but at least she could ride a horse if she wanted.