Adam’s Blog

OK, yeah, it’s been a while but we’ve been beyond busy. Also, tons of news that might be better shared in person so we actually get to see everyone react, but here’s the run down.

Lisa’s pregnant.

Yeah, I wasn’t going to post that until we were pretty sure everyone we could tell personally knew, but there it is. Right now were are at about 29 weeks and things are going very well. Lisa’s doing beyond great. Hasn’t been sick yet. She did just recently lose the ability to touch her toes, but that’s the worst of it so far and, well, not all that bad.

It’s awsome and cool and scary and whatnot. It’s really one of those things that I don’t even really have my head aorund yet because it’s just so cool.  Oh, and it’s totally going to be a boy. I have ultrasounds to back that up (you have been warned)

Sonogram

We bought a house.

Yeah, it’s awesome. We’d been building it since forever, but it finally just got done. Awesome. There’s a nice tour in the link below.

House is done

I’m getting laid off.

Yeah, the big bummer here. End of the year and I’ll have no more job. Right now I’m hoping to find something part time and flexible, but we’ll see where it goes. If I go back into a full time job I’m going to have to make more than enough to pay for child care, but if it’s part time and not exactly the hours Lisa works, I would actually end up bringing home more at the end of the week, plus our kid gets raised by us as opposed to some stranger. That’s a plus. If anyone of you knows something like that in the greater Beavercreek area, let me know.

So, great times, all in all. We’re really excited. We hadn’t really had time to think about baby stuff until the house was done and now we’re thinking about job stuff, so there’s that. But, of course, the baby has been this constant source of excitement. Now, we’re settling in and realizing that things are going to be beyond awesome. We have a room picked out for the baby and there’s really nothing baby-like about it right now, but there will be soon. Crib and changing table and little baby socks are all forthcoming. Is there anything cuter than baby socks? Seriously. Try to think of baby socks and not smile.

Of course, our little guy is going to have a good crop of cousins, too. My sister and her husband’s  son Camden will be just about 1 year older than him. Awesome and fantastic for the hand-me-downs. On the other side Lisa’s brother and his wife have an almost-2-year-old and are expecting another boy again in May. So our little guy is going to have 3 boy cousins within 2 years of him. Plus whoever comes after. And that’s not counting the 6 boys under 3 that will be at Grandma’s next Christmas and the 4 year old girl who will be bossing everyone around. It’s going to be awesome. And our new next door neighbors have a little boy, so that’s also a plus.

I guess all that to say if this kid ends up a pansy, it’s probably going to be all my fault.

Well, that’s our update. Don’t hold your breath for our Christmas card because, well, we’ve obviously been busy. Real busy. Anyways, hope you all are doing well. Merry Christmas.

Oh, yeah. NEW YEAR’S PARTY. 9:00 Dec 31 at the new place. Wild West themed. Email me or leave a comment if you need directions.

We have power back. And interweb. That is all.

Hooray.

So, I stayed after church Sunday for band practice and was taking one of the kids who lives by us home when we noticed that it was a tad windy.

OK, not a tad windy.

Really, really windy.

Like pretty much the windiest I’d ever seen it.

And I went to Cedarville, thankyouverymuch.

He must have said, “whoa, this wind is intense” about 6 times, and I have to agree with him.

It was intense.

I doped him off, but by the time I got home we had lost power.

This was at 2:00.

Hour 1.

The wind continued with 60-70 mph gusts for about 4 hours. The top of our chimney (a fine piece of apartment construction) was flapping in the breeze. This is also when we noticed that we don’t own a battery powered radio.

Hour 4.

It’s 6:00. We might not get power back tonight. However the tempreature has dropped to jacket weather, so we make a phone call and head out. We’ve got some semi-thawed pork chops and we head over to visit a friend with a grill. Also the guacamole was not going to make it, so we ate that, too.

Hour 6.

It’s 8:00, it’s dark. TV’s off. Computer’s off. My cell phone isn’t even getting that good of reception anymore. This will be the earliest I’ve gone to bed since 3rd grade.

Hour 18.

It’s early, but kinda light as I get dressed for work. I haven’t been outside the apartment complex since 2:00 yesterday, so I’m not entirely sure what to expect. Lisa already got a phone call that power was out at her office so she doesn’t have to wake up. Lucky.

I get to work and there are a bunch of people from the other offices standing outside. I go in and see my boss who sees me and simply says “No power, go home.” I do. Note: this is the highest number of consecutive words my boss has ever directed at me alone.

Several lights are out in the 2 miles between work and home, including the light at Indian Ripple/Stroop/Dorothy Lane/County Line Rd which normally directs 19 lanes of traffic. Fun times were had by all attempting that game of vehicular roulette.

Maybe Europe’s on to something. I’ve never seen a traffic circle lose power.

We decide to head out to Wal-Mart for some necessities (out candle lighters were low). On the way we notice that there are a few hundred trees down, that the wires under those trees were probably important and that we are not going to play Wii anytime soon. At one point there is the top 3 feet of a telephone pole hanging over the road dangling by some wires. That would hurt.

Wal-Mart is, however, closed. No power. Go figure. Lowes, however, has generators and is doing brisk business. We go back home and chat about what to do next. We have some raw food in the house, but nothing that could make a meal, so we walk up towards Panera Bread at the Greene who has both power and ridiculously overpriced food.

I’ve seen more orderly food distribution by UNICEF. Mobs of people are slammed against the counter trying to get anything, and most of them have not had their morning coffee. We skip Panera and just keep walking. We meet up with some friends who heard the Greene had power and take an early lunch at 11:00 at a Mongolian bar-b-q. All you can eat. Good stuff. Curiously, not half as crowded as Panera.

Hour 24.

We’re asleep. After eating a lot of Mongolian food (that isn’t at all Mongolian) and coming home to a dark apartment, there isn’t much else to do. We take a few hours and then get up and re-attempt the drive to Wal-Mart. This time we are sucessful and get 2 lighters, some more batteries and a cd player/radio so we can find out what’s going on.

Turns out, nothing is going on. 200,000 people were still without power (down from 300,000), and that’s just as far as Dayton Power and Light are concerned. Cincinnati, Columbus and all points surrounding and in between are are experiencing wide spread power outages.

And to top it all off, most of our trucks are in Texas.

It sure sounded like a good idea at the time. This is also when we get out first estimate of a return to power: Thursday.

Hour 29

Hungry again. Milk has gone bad. Don’t want to open the freezer if we don’t have to. Besides, what would we do with frozen, raw meat anyways?

Chipotle is open. We get in, split a bowl and walk around the Greene for a while. We get coffee and settle into a very busy bookstore with some magazines. They have wi-fi and therefore quite a following.

It gets dark, we walk home and are in bed before 9 for the second straight night.

Hour 41.

Again with going to work. They’ve got the main light working again, so that’s a little less life threatening this morning. Power’s still out, though, so I head home.

Not the old home, the new home. I wanted to check on the house, but yesterday was just a little too crazy and I didn’t want to be on the road if I didn’t have to. Everything’s fine. No photos to share because, well, my camera’s dead and can’t get recharged. Back to the apartment to pick up Lisa.

Breakfast is Chick-fil-A chicken biscuits. Good times there.

On the way home we stop at a few places and price grills. Nothing jumps out, so we go home and call some very kind friends with extra freezer space. They have power and say we can come over. Awesome.

Lisa has a costume she was working on for the annual Talk Like a Pirate day festivites, so she works on that. I play some PS3 and generally relax, then run to the store for some extra ingredients. I’m going to make these kind people dinner.

Of course, they have 3 teenagers, so the schedule flexes and changes a few times, but I manage to serve a hot and tasty meal.

Regretfully, I had to make it without use of my thumb as I hit it with a hammer while putting the last grommet into Lisa’s costume. Still kinda sore.

The we all go out and see the new house and then we take the scenic, more damaged route back for dishes, ice cream and then home and bed. Stayed out until 10 tonight.

Hour 64.

Alarm on my cell phone goes off, still no power. Get showered and dressed by candle light, then both Lisa and I head to work. We’re not hearing that Saturday might be our day. But it could accidentally be sooner. We’ll see.

Yes, it came, it went, it was pretty cool.

On Thursday Lisa and I took the day off and drove all the way to Hyattasville, Maryland to visit with Jared and Joanna. It’s awesome to see them and a great place to spend the 4th of July since they’re right up by Washington, D.C.

I mean, where better to celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence then the place they signed it, right?

Joanna wants to hurt me right now, I promise.

I know they signed it in New York.

Anyways, we went out there and hung out with them (they are, by the way, excellent hosts and cooks no matter what you might hear). All day Thursday we went to art galleries and museums. The galleries weren’t that crowded, but the National Museum of Natural History (say that 3 times fast) was a bit packed with the under 4 feet and screaming set. Oh well, we expected it.

Then we got some dinner, then kinda hung out and waited for the rain to stop then walked down the Mall.

There was a “cultural” thing set up displaying aspects from 3 different “cultures.” The first of these cultures was Bhutan. It’s a little country in the Himalayas just above India and to the right of Nepal. The second was Texas. We all know where that is, hopefully. And the third “culture,” and the reason for all the quotation marks, was NASA. Yes, the National Aeronautic and Space Administration. They are, apparently, their own culture. The do pretty much have their own language and, arguably, their own food, but I don’t know if I’d promote them to “culture” status. Maybe just “bureaucracy with an overinflated ego that a quarter mile of booths on the National Mall does nothing to deflate” but not a “culture,” per se.

Then we got some seats on the hill of the Washington Monument looking towards the Lincoln Memorial with the reflecting pool at our feet and proceeded to get rained on again. Then fireworks!

Good times.

The next day was spent in more musems and walking around to different monuments (I reccomend the FDR Memorial. Pretty cool) and then up to the Zoo. Good times.

The next day, Church and then a drive to West Virginia to visit my grandparents. Grandma was excited because one of my cousins just had a baby so there were fresh great-grandson pictures to share. He’s a cute one, I must give him that.

Then home.  Sweet home. The place where I keep all my stuff. And now I’m back to work. Sweet work. The place that gives me money so I can get more stuff. Good system.

Anyways, gotta go. Later.

How’s that for a mental image?

So, earlier this week Lisa and I took some time off to “chaperone” the youth group on a white water rafting trip down the New River in West Virginia.

Now, for me a sunburn is a rare thing, and usually very temporary. However, due to the most heinous skin known to man, pretty much and form of suntan lotion makes me break out. Yes, even on my arms, legs and especially back. So every time I go out it’s a bit of a balance between breaking out and not getting burned. Since I was going to be wearing a shirt and a life jacket all day, no problem with the back/shoulder areas. My arms had a pretty good base tan going, so no worries there. I was wearing trunks that covered my knees, so I thought I’d be fine there, as well.

Big mistake.

When you sit down, shorts that went to your knees suddenly leave about four blazing white inches of thigh exposed. That nice, tender skin will roast up quite nicely after 6-7 hours on a raft. Then it’ll hurt to walk. Or wear pants. Even shorts have to be rolled. Then, you get the blisters. Right now I’ve just got a couple of good ones, but I can see where some others will probably raise up over the next 24 hours.

Yeah, I’m in pain. Right now I’m sitting here typing with a pair of khaki shorts rolled up past the afflicted area. Note: khaki rolls better than denim. 

Suggestions for dealing with sunburn (besides my regimen of aloe and Advil) are appreciated.

But the trip was awesome. We went out kinda towards Beckley, WV and started about 10-12 miles above the big bridge just south (upstream) from the Railroad Rapids. My boat was full of first timers and one slightly annoyed guide, but after a hang up on our first rapid (we got stuck on a rock for about 10 minutes) things went smoothly and I’m proud to say I didn’t end up in the river at all. Although, looking back, it might have been a good idea in light of of the sunburn.

Anyways, good times, I highly recommend it. Even I, who does not like the outdoors or water, enjoyed it. Now if I could only walk without having to scream, I’d be golden.

So, here I am, the semi-proud survivor of what has personally been one of the worst weeks I’ve ever had.

Seriously, it has been that bad.

I know several of you have had worse weeks, but enjoy the recap of my worst week ever and understand that I am laughing right now.

Even as I type with 9 fingers. 

We’ll get there.

Monday.

1:00

A.M.

I’m sick. I’ll spare most of the details, other than to say I was loud enough to wake up Lisa. Bonus: sick day Monday.

Problem: our computer had been acting up and finally died Monday. It’s under warranty, so no big, but just a bit of a bummer. It gets dropped off that evening and all is wellish.

Tuesday.

1:00

P.M.

I had gone back to work after one day off and I’m at my desk after lunch when one of the guys who just got back comes in and asks me what I drove in.

I hate it when people ask that.

He then informs me that a car fitting that description has a flat tire.

Yep, it’s mine.

Change the tire, go home. Then out to the nearby theater to watch Prince Caspian with some friends.

Wednesday.

Due to the nice weather and me feeling better and not having time to get the tire fixed, I decide to ride my bike to work.

I’ve done this a few times and really enjoy it.

Except this time.

On the way home I noticed that I’m peddling really hard.

In spite of appearances, I’m not in that bad of shape.

I start looking back and realize that my back tire is out of true so that every time it goes around it hits the brake for half of it rotation.

That explains things.

I got home, but was sore for 3 days.

Car’s down, bike’s down.

So we take the Jeep to small groups.

He’s had a bad habit of not wanting to start right away, and this evening would prove to be a little worse than usual, but nothing that concerned me.

It should have.

Thursday.

I drive the car to work so that I can take it to get the tire fixed afterwards.

I get to the nice tire place and it turns out the road hazard insurance I have only covers the original tires on the car and only while they have more than 1/32 of an inch of tread left.

These tires have 50,000 miles on them.

Tread’s down, I have to pay.

Luckily, this was the worst part of Thursday.

Friday.

I come up with a plan.

Lisa needs to drive to work (she usually carpools) so she takes the car.

I put my broken bike in the back of the Jeep with the intention of taking it in to the bike shop at lunch so I can have it back for what is predicted to be an awesome weekend.

At lunch, the Jeep won’t start.

I shrug, and figure I’ll just get some help with it after work.

So I get out of work a little early as a Memorial Day weekend present and me and a guy from work try to jump the Jeep to get him going.

Nothing.

So the Jeep has stranded me at work.

I get an offer to get dropped off at home.

Then it hits me.

My keys are in the Jeep.

The Jeep is locked.

I can’t get into my house.

On a positive note, no one could possibly steal the Jeep without fixing him first.

So I call Lisa, she comes over, we go home and I just hide and mope for a bit.

The score so far:

Car: broken then fixed. Bike: broken, in the back of the Jeep, and not going to be fixed in time for the weekend. Jeep: broken, going to probably take a good chunk of the weekend to fix.

Saturday.

We wake up early to get the car aligned (the tech was off Thursday) before the Memorial Day weekend crush of buyers.

Then we go over and sign off on the blueprints for our house (YAY!)

The my amazing wife suggests we put the bike in the back of the car, drop it off at the bike store and see how long it will take to get it fixed.

It fit, we got it there. Should be back Tuesday and since it’s our first service on this bike with them, it’s free.

Bonus.

We treat ourselves to Chipotle, come home and I load up on tools to fix the Jeep.

Half an hour later I have the starter almost out.

It’s hung up on a wire and I hold it with one hand while I wiggle the wire loose.

It comes loose.

Suddenly my left hand alone is responsible for holding 20-25 lbs. of starter.

My left hand fails me yet again.

My hand crashes to the ground with the starter in hot pursuit.

Pain.

Grease.

Blood.

I drive myself home with a towel wrapped around my hand.

Douglas Adams was right.

I don’t look because me and blood and mess don’t do so well.

I get home, pick up Lisa and tell her she’s driving.

She asks where, we go to the Emergency room.

Two and a half hours later, I’m walking out with 4 stitches in my left ring finger and both halves of my wedding band in a denture cup.

Could have been a lot worse.

I mean, two and a half hours in the middle of the afternoon on a holiday weekend.

Not bad.

Also, Lisa’s work, as a preemptive apology for probably giving her cancer, has an excellent medical plan. This whole ordeal cost us $4 out of pocket. Yay insurance!

So, my finger’s still really stiff.

Can’t use it to type.

Can’t bend it to hit the keys.

Bit of a bummer.

Thus the 9 fingers bit.

So, how was your week?

Dear NBC,

Just got done watching the season finale of The Office. Wow, that’s a good show. I especially love how it’s not like anything else on TV. Oh, by the way, please stop trying to make everything else on TV like The Office.

Dear guys who make the home ethanol pump,

I was really excited the other day when I saw that there are people that are interested in helping folks make their own ethanol. I mean, a pump in my back yard turning sugar into miles seems like a great idea. Then it hit me: this will make sugar more expensive. I’m all for the environment and all, but if this raises the price of donuts by one red cent, then the cost is too high. This goes double for all you farmers that are using your corn to make gas instead of feeding it to your beef critters. I’ll promise to bike to work if you promise me more angus. Oh, and as a West Virginian, I must inform you that my kinfolk have long perfected backyard ethanol production, and their gear don’t cost 10 grand.

Dear ABC,

Lost is making my head hurt. Please answer all the questions by the end of this season or I fear I may have to stop watching and get a life. We don’t want that.

Dear Gold Key Homes,

While I’m really excited about building a house with you guys, can we just go ahead and do it already? I mean, sure, these things take time, but honestly, October is forever to wait. I’d like to have a house, like, soon. Not too soon as that down payment kinda cleaned us out and we need to save up to buy things like a fridge and oven and dishwasher and garbage cans and a garden hose and a utility sink and a bigger ladder and maybe some sort of cool lawn ornament. Possibly a gnome. Anyways, we’re excited and hope that all our friends and relatives (especially the ones with trucks) can come and see it as soon as possible. Oh, and, yes, there will be a party.

Dear Camden Michael Sevren,

Welcome to, well, here. I mean the whole here. You’re really the reason I wanted to post because I really love bragging on my new nephew. It’s ok if your dad enough of an Orioles fan to name you after a park, just be glad Amber’s not as big of a Reds fan or you could have been River Front Sevren or Great American Sevren and that just wouldn’t have been as cool. At least you’re far enough from Baltimore that it’s going to be a bit of a novelty name. Maybe we can talk Lisa into naming a cousin of yours Wrigley. Actually, that’s not bad. Anyways.

We’re all really pumped and you’re amazingly cute, which is a bonus. Awesome hair, dude. Your dad said you came out with a faux-hawk, which I think is sweet. Work that bad boy image from day one.

Enjoy the sleeping and eating and more sleeping routine. This is the last time you’ll get a chance to be this lazy unless you major in Bible or something like that in college. Have fun, and we’re looking forward to seeing you again soon.

adam

Yeah, so today was one of those typical Ohio days.

I woke up to partly sunny skies and the mid 40’s.

By lunch we had a white out.

Then at 5:00 it was back up in the 40’s, but now partly cloudy.

At 6:00, another white out. My anti-locks clicked on 5 times on the way home, which was about 2 miles.

Now, it’s 6:20 and the snow has totally stopped, there’s a fresh inch or so on the ground and they say it could continue on and off like this…

Until summer.

Miami – 66°

Dayton – 7°

Life – ever so slightly unfair.

That’s where my wife is.

She’s down there with her mom, sister and sister-in-law.

I’m sure they’re having fun, but I’m kinda glad I’m not there.

I do miss her a bit, as she is nice and cooks good food.

That is all I will say about that.

So, I’m a temporary bachelor of sorts. Kinda liberating.

The only problem is that none of my friends are bachelors.

Yeah, I’m that guy. No single friends.

I was lamenting this as Lisa has managed to hang on to some single female friends, but yet I’m just out here with nothing but married people.

Married people who have stuff to do and wives to hang out with.

Oh well, guess I’ll do dinner by myself.

So help me, if I go to Panera, all hope is lost.

At any rate, fun news.

We have a new computer.

My lappy died in October and Lisa’s was showing signs of the same sickness, so it wasn’t actually entirely optional.

We’d been saving for about a year, so we were able to get a nice iMac, refurbished, but still nice.

Got some good features, some strange ones.

How do I share photos between users? Is there any way to let Lisa listen to my music?

Oh well, that’s about all I got. Maybe more tomorrow.

Oh, and more tech junk after the break.

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