Sitting here, listening to some old Japanese tunes. Finishing up taxes, paying some bills, getting this form to get distributions from my retirement account, and trying to get this website for the church ready to launch. Things are getting busy and down to the wire, it seems like. Actually, I think everything that we needed to do kind of came down to the wire or something like that.

This weekend, we just decided that we should have some sort of relaxing weekend where we do something that each of us want to do before the baby gets here, which, technically could be anytime going forward...that's crazy to think! Maybe it could be a February 29th birthday. That'd be weird, but I think pretty cool. I'm not sure how they do it in legal stuff...I suppose your birthday would be the 28th or something.

I'll probably tell my boss tomorrow the more exact fact that Laura will get 6 weeks of leave starting when the baby arrives. Still not a definite date for my work, but that's really as close as it's going to be for now. It'll be exact when the baby arrives.

I've been starting to get bored at work since there's really nothing to do the past week or two. Hard to find something to do out of nothing...can't really surf since my cubicle-mate sits behind me, although facing away from me. I guess I could, but it would be too much stress. There's a lot of foot traffic near my desk. Oh well..2 months to go. That's weird to think...

For some reason, the last few weeks, I've really been wanting to take a trip to California to see my old friends that I recently connected with again. I guess I could have tried this hard a year or two ago when I actually had the time and money. I have that problem a lot...procrastination. I need to start learning to just do it. That 50" plasma still shows in stock at the Sears near our house. If it's still there when we get that retirement distribution, which should be about $1550 or so after all the taxes, I'm gonna get it, I think. Sucks that the account is currently sitting at $2400, but $85 goes to taxes!

Anyway, I should get to sleep. It's almost midnight.

The drive from OKC to Tulsa wasn't as bad tonight. It went by faster than normal. Perhaps it was the episodes of Engines of Our Ingenuity that we were listening to. It was interesting. It's this program that I heard on the classical station I usually listening to during my commutes. They narrate short, 3-minute snippets of interesting information about inventors, etc. from the past. I like it. I recently downloaded a lot from the program's archives. I might start listening to it on my commutes since I can put lots on my USB drive for the car.

Tomorrow I'm getting lunch, as I believe I mentioned, with an old friend from the park service. Haven't seen him in like 7 years. Should be interesting what we talk about. I will probably fall back to gaming since that's what we had in common.

Posting from work. Just over an hour until home.

For most of the day today I was contemplating on ordering this 50" 1080p Plasma TV from Sears. It was a good deal at $549 + tax. I just didn't know what to do! I think I still have it in my shopping cart, which it looks like prevents other people from buying it. We really don't need it, but if we do get it, we'd have to rearrange some stands and possibly get a new stand for it, so...it sort of costs more than it costs, if that makes sense. On the other hand, Laura does have a $350 or so credit from Amazon points, which we can apply to her cc statement, so that essentially brings it down to about $250 after taxes. Pretty cool deal. Still dunno though!

Tomorrow we head to Tulsa for Laura's shower. I'll be taking photos there. I'm still deciding on whether or not to upgrade her parents' computer with the spare parts I have. It really shouldn't take long, but these things usually tend to take longer than expected. I also may eat lunch with an old friend from the NPS job I had years ago. He moved to OK about a year ago and lives in Tulsa, pretty close to Laura's parents' house.

I wish today was Friday, though.

Arg. This is how it starts. First it's a day. Then two days. Then it's four days like this time where I skip a blog. I dunno how, but it just escapes me to write a blog daily. This weekend went by quick. Saturday was Laura's birthday. We tried to find a place to eat. It was actually sort of stressful. We went to Inspirations, the tea place near our house, but they were rude (like the reviews said) about having to have a reservation and that it was Valentine's Day weekend or something so it was just a set course meal for lunch. Anyway, we left there and starting driving SW. Laura wanted to go to Mimi's Cafe. It looked packed, but the wait was like 5 minutes. It was pretty good. Afterwards, we went to B&N and home. Later that night, Kelly made pumpkin pie for Laura so we went there, getting Bravo's to go on the way there.

Sunday...I can't remember what we did Sunday...I think just lounged around. So far, it's been an uneventful week, I guess. Work is good. They know now. My boss asked me if I knew any more details on my departure, but I really didn't know, so I told him that and that Laura is still fighting with HR about leave.

That's about it. See ya, hopefully, tomorrow.

My hands are pretty cold at the moment, making a little hard to write.

Just listening to some old Japanese tunes on Youtube. I'm amazed how much of what I listened to in the 90s are on here. I'm beginning to think EVERYTHING is on here. I should mark these as favorites to rip sometime.

I told my work today about quitting late April/early May. I was thrown off guard because I had originally planned to have the meeting at 3pm. In the morning, however, there were some technicians drilling holes and stuff around my boss' desk so he couldn't sit down. He asked out of nowhere if I wanted to have the meeting now instead or wait. Now, I actually had said "If we can wait, that'd be great." Obviously, he heard a little different and was like, "Great, let's go in the great room." I thought to myself, dammit, I'm not ready!

So, we walk over to the table and get to discussing. Everything went surprisingly smooth. He was really understanding and was sympathetic and told me how he liked me working there. He asked if I did as well.

Weird thing was, his boss and the director walked through the great room on her way to the airport while we were talking. That was pretty awkward. We were both like, uh, have a good flight. It was sort of like the movies where the viewer knew everything, but the bosses didn't. Anyway, he's going to tell his boss and probably the director tomorrow, which means, I'm not through with this yet. I still need to get through the aftershocks. Hopefully, they're nice about it. My director is sort of loud and in your face when she converses. Just how she is, I guess.

Well, at least it's Friday.

The baby's coming soon! A few more weeks. Getting nervous.

Missed the entire weekend, damn! I'm slowly starting to get behind on my blogging.

Anyway, it was a good weekend, albeit fast. Hm...now I can't remember what we did Saturday. Oh, Dawn, Ron, and Laura's parents came down to hang out with us. We ate at Lottinvilles and then to Kelly's for a little bit.

Sunday, we ate some pho at this weird little restaurant downtown. It was good, though.

And now it's Monday. Tomorrow I'm going to see if I can set up a meeting with my boss about when the baby comes. A couple more days to prepare for me...sigh.

I got the first page of my fantasy book written. I literally stared at the screen for like 20-30 minutes to write the perfect first sentence. I hope it turns out good.

One of the few times I'm able to blog from work. It's raining like crazy now, although, actually, it just died down. The thunder was loud though. Laura and I were both thinking about Callie.

Counting down the hours and minutes to go home. Three more hours...sigh.

This weekend Laura's parents and Dawn and, I think, Ron are coming to visit us and Kelly. We're getting lunch tomorrow and they're seeing our houses. We need to clean a bit tonight, but our house is mostly clean!

Dang, already February! 6 more weeks and it's baby time. Still hasn't hit us yet, but today Laura's back was bothering her. I'm trying to find some motivation to start writing my fantasy, but I also want to finish my autobiography up as well. I found a few resources for making your own book, complete with instructions on printing and sewing up the bindings of the pages, which I think is the hardest part in my opinion.

Other than that, the car parked outside of our house is STILL there...I'm really not sure at this point. I dunno if it's the neighbor's friends or what, but I'm going to start looking up what to do to have it towed...not my fault if they get pissed. Either tell me what they're planning to do or just park in front of another house...not ours.

The bubbles in the tint are actually starting to go away...a couple more days will tell us how it'll be I think. The problem "bubble" is the last one that is left and it's about half the size it was yesterday.

So tired today.

Anyway, my birthday was good. We ate pizza and Laura made me an apple pie with Reddi-Whip. It was all good! Low key is how I like it. Got a baby bag, some baby books, and a baby carrier that I need to get used to. Wait, it feels like I already talked about what I got...anyway...

Church website is coming along...a few more weeks I think and it's ready to go.

Work did sing for me yesterday. Embarrassing as always, but oh well. Sometime next week is going to be the dreaded day to tell them about my next few months...ahhhh.

The last spot on the window for the tint to cure is the spot that I was talking about. It seems like there's some bubbles in it, which I don't think is going to go away...we'll see though. It should all be gone by now, but after one more day, if it's not gone, I think it's going to have to go back for repair...sigh.

Other than that, it's 7:30p and I already want to go to bed.

Garsh, it's already the end of the weekend. Why do they go by SO fast and the rest of the days just drag like no other?

Anyway, Saturday was a productive day, I suppose. We ran some errands, went to Barnes and Noble, cleaned up around the house and made some homemade mall pretzels. They're a bitch to make since you have to knead the dough for like 10 minutes, but it's so good.

Did much of nothing today though. Oh, almost forgot! Laura, Kelly, Ryan, and Wesley got me tint for the front windows of our car for my b-day present. It looks good. There are still some bubbles in their that need to evaporate away, but I'm skeptical that it will. I know that from personal experience, swirls and stuff go away, but these are like, big water bubbles, probably just under a 1/4 inch or so. I parked the car outside most of the day today since it was sunny. The driver side is getting much better, but many more to go on the passenger side. Apart from that, I got a baby backpack thing to carry the essentials, some books and a baby carrier. The carrier is kind of hard to use at first, but I'm hoping after many repeated uses, it'll go on easy.

Tomorrow I have a meeting with the Deacon again to go over some final web stuff. I just want to get this done at this point. They're taking so long to get the content we need for the website.

I'm also done with my autobiography. I think I may have already mentioned that. I just need to go through it one more time cleaning it up and I'll let Laura read it. I thought about printing it out as a book, but I think it's too much to go through just for this. I will definitely for my other fantasy book.

If only I had more time.

Tomorrow is of course my birthday. I'm not looking forward to my work singing for me...I know they are, but maybe, just maybe, they'll forget somehow like they did at my previous work. Doubt it because it's on the calendar...I could go delete it off the calendar...

Anyway, laters.

Glad Friday is here!

Let's see, the big news was that yesterday morning, I accidentally spilled my coffee over my crotch as I was getting out of the car. I'm not sure, but I wasn't really paying attention to how I was holding it I guess. I remember trying to carrying a few things with my hands, so I probably carried too much. Anyway, it really spilled half on me and half on the car seat, which was good for me but crappy for the car. It didn't leave a stain, though. Surprisingly, I didn't have a stain on my khaki pants, either. Strange.

Today, we went to this Spring convocation for faculty and staff. It was better than I expected. I thought it was going to be an hour and a half of mingling, but it was all sitting down and listening to people speak. The president of the university, though, I must say, was a pretty good motivational speaker. After a while, he got a little boring, but from what I could see, he did most of the speech from either memory or on the fly, which was impressive. I couldn't do it.

Finishing up hypnobabies tonight and going to sleep I think.

We've been going to sleep so early, it's crazy talk. But, I'm finally getting more sleep, so that's good. I still wake up a few times during the night...dunno why. I must hear Kip or just wake up for no reason, but thankfully, each time I wake up, I see that it's only 1am, 2am, etc.

Another boring day at work today.

I actually called the tag agency and the exam site to see what I needed to do to get my OK license and pretty much I just need to bring my current license and a birth certificate. No tests or anything. Woot. I may try and do that tomorrow.

I also want to swing by the clinic sometime and maybe get this sinus/headache thing looked at. I think I have a sinus infection, because it has been like this pretty much from after I got that 2-day cold during Christmas. I'm pretty sure it's not allergies too.

Had the infant CPR class today. I suppose it was good information, but the teacher sucked. She was just annoying to me. Also, they gave us little babies to practice on...they gave us alcohol wipes to wipe the mouth so we could practice giving it mouth to mouth...it's like, come on, no, I'm not going to put my mouth on this thing that has had hundreds of people's mouth on it....

Anyway, I'm tired.

The weekend is almost already over. They go by so fast. Did a little cleaning of the junk drawer, got some more hangers for the closet and some trash bags for picking up poop and for the little trash cans. Nothing else interesting.

Tomorrow we have a 1-hour infant CPR class after work.

Among other news, I finally finished (I think) the outline of the fantasy story. It's time to just write, write, write. I need to learn little though on how to write a novel. I'm not quite sure about when conversations occur and stuff.

Well, the dermatology appointment went okay. Nothing wrong with any of my moles, although he didn't do a very thorough check. He looked at them from like 2 feet away...anywho.

Got wrapped up in my fantasy book outline/plot. It's 1am and I'm going to be tired tomorrow! We're taking Wesley to the science museum, so hopefully that's fun and Kelly and Ryan get some cleaning done.

Lates.

Oops, sorry. I missed a couple of days there.

Didn't miss much though. The extra weekend day went by really quick. We didn't get to eat at the New York Pizza and Pasta place I wanted to take Laura, though. Josh never called, either. Oh well. I wasn't sure what I was going to say anyway.

Tomorrow I'm going to have to get an appointment at the dermatologist. They never responded to the online form.

At least it's already Thursday tomorrow. I love short weeks.

Gotta get back to finding a present for Matt and my Mom. Also, I think I'm done with my preliminary autobiography!

We got the stuff for the popsicle stick bridge building competition and did that yesterday. Wow, we sucked! Laura actually did great and built this arched bridge and held the most amount of books. I started out, what I thought was good, but that hour went by quick and I just ran out of time. I had to resort to just creating a flat bridge that held like 2 books. Ryan had the most difficulty. He had the right idea, but just ran out of time. Now I know how those cake decorating shows on TV feels like.

The place I wanted to take Laura today, the New York Pizza and Pasta place, was closed today, so hopefully they're open for MLK, Jr. Day tomorrow.

I made great progress on my blog as well. I'm at the point where I'm in Portland now, so only a little bit more to go. I'm at 60 pages already!

Finally, the weekend. The day went by quicker than I had thought, which was good. I asked Laura if she wanted to do a toothpick, bridge building contest to see who could build the strong bridge this weekend. I think she's up for it. I was at Hobby Lobby and saw the big pack of wood sticks and I just thought of it because I remember making these in middle school, I believe.

Anyway, Josh wrote back and he's calling me over the weekend, which is cool, but it's also going to be weird talking to him after 10-15 years of nothing. Plus, I'm not a talker on the phone to begin with.

Oh, and while I was parked at Hobby Lobby, this lady parked next to me (I was already at the farthest spot you could be from the entrance) all weird, i.e. taking up more than the space for one car. I got mad for some reason that someone would park like that, so I threw my last potato wedge from KFC on her windshield and rested in that area where the windshield wiper blades rest. Bam. I was like, planning to do it for a few minutes, too. I just didn't want anyone to see me do it. As I moved my car closer to the entrance (since I was actually going in), she didn't parked as badly as I thought, just crappily...still, she took up way too much on the second spot, so whatever.

Time to take a bath.

Glad tomorrow is Friday. And a 3-day weekend to boot. Time to relax. Laura and I have a couple of things to do for the birthing this weekend. Coming up with a birth plan/choices and maybe coming up with an itinerary of things to do in the coming month. I figure we should do that now before time is out.

I want to FINISH my autobiography this weekend. I probably have 10 pages or so to go. Once I get that done, I want to get into getting my fantasy book started. Still doing research and coming up with a solid plot. I have a plot already, but I want to make it good.

I'm going to try and get an appointment at the dermatologist tomorrow as well. Sort of nervous for that.

Anyway, gonna work on the book a bit.

Another long day. Seems like every day I'm losing time doing stuff like surfing and working on my projects. Work was quite boring today and it should be the same tomorrow. Now, about quitting...

We had our baby yoga class tonight. I actually liked it a lot and I think it helped us get a better idea of how to stay relaxed and stuff from early labor to birth. I think it could have been a little shorter though. 3 hours was kind of long. 2 or 2.5 would have been just right, I think. About half way through I almost started laughing because this one yoga move was the exact same as Spongebob's "take it arouuuuuund town" thing that he did this one episode. Laura and I have been laughing at it ever since.

Anyway, I'm fricken tired. It snowed a bit tonight and it was windy as hell, but we were inside the entire time it was doing its thing. Probably was a good thing, although it was annoyingly loud in the building that we were in.

I actually got up from bed to come write this blog, so it better be a good one, huh?

Actually, it is going to be a good one. Why? Because I got a surprise e-mail today from someone that I thought would never e-mail me. Josh Petrone, from my childhood. I was like, whoa, what? To keep it short, I was pretty excited to finally get back in touch with him after almost 10 years. The last time I saw him was sometime in 2001 I believe and it was only for one night since I went to California to see my brother and couldn't stay that long. Anyway, we have a lot of catching up to do. I gave him a super condensed version of my last 10 years and I'm hoping that he will do the same. If I ever get out to California to visit my Dad's cemetery, I'm definitely going to meet up with him and relive the old times. What got me was this one thing we used to do as kids that I totally forgot about, he mentioned it at the end of the e-mail and it just brought back memories. Those were the days. Trouble and care-free. Well, maybe not trouble-free.

Among other news, met with the deacon of the church again tonight to go over some website stuff. It's going well and it should hopefully be up by the end of the month or by the end of next month at the latest. It's really his side that's taking up time since he needs to get me the changes to the text, photos for pages, etc.

I'm not going to like working with the people who redesigned their website, though. The project manager is this girl who, to me, seems all cocky, but, whatever. The deacon said that they're paying like $90/month to host this site...I'm like, what the fuck?! (in my head of course). They aren't getting ripped off or anything. I think they've been paying this for the last 2 years too, without even having the website up and running, even now. That's crazy...what a waste of money.

Anyway, I'm tired. I'm going to bed.