Fire stick 4k is on sale for $39.99 right now.  Lowest price since Christmas time.

Testing the waters

I have not written in quite some time. Talking with a friend today sparked an interest in me blogging again. Even though my one fan likely doesn't check here anymore, perhaps I will have other fans instead. One of the biggest hurdles for me is finding time to blog consistently. A lot has changed since my last post, for one. Instead of being an expectant father, I now am the father of a two year old. Man, I could write a novel on the joys and sorrows of toddlerhood. Many times these items can even overlap. Being a parent isn't easy, and the fact that my parents did it and babysit is all the more impressive as I go through it. I hear there are differences between boy and girl children, but I will have to find out more through the course of time. My wife and I found a great church about a year ago. Summer of 2013 to be more precise. We were introduced to the church from our friends, the Colberts, who Tracy met through a series of seemingly random encounters. They live a building over from us so it was apparently meant to be. In any case, we started attending church, got Eliza baptized, and enjoy our time there. Most recently, we have been teaching Eliza how to sit through a church sermon. Not the easiest task, I assure you. Tracy works in the nursery at church and so gets to meet quite a bit of the congregation. I am less tied into the church. I hope to find a Sunday School when Eliza is a bit older and can also attend a Sunday School. That is all I have time for at the moment. My daughter is hanging on my arm while I write this from my phone (haha). I hope to write more later. Bye!

Baby?

So, more than can possibly be believed has occurred since the last time I posted a blog entry.  For one, my wife Tracy is now 6 1/2 months pregnant (27 weeks).  That one is the big one that is hard to get my head around.

Of course, looking at my last blog entry, we now know that Terra Nova was canceled after one season (one terrific season that apparently no one appreciated), House is in its final season with one episode left, and Person of Interest is pretty awesome.

Back to the elephant in the blog - going to be a Dad.  It's very exciting and a little scary.  What do I know about being a Dad?  Interestingly enough, I know a lot of people that are becoming parents right now, so I guess I have the comfort of knowing that I am not alone in this.  To date, there have been two births and three pregnancies that I am aware of ... most due right around July (Tracy is due in August).

Tracy's approach has been to read as much as possible on the subject.  Cloth diapering, breast feeding, car seats, you name it.  My approach is one of listening to what she is saying and going with that.  I did pick the car seat, though.  I feel like if I have a question, the internet is a few steps away as I am going through the process. I don't really know what to ask before I have the baby in front of me giving me things to ask.

I really hope our baby is a happy one.  Tracy seems to think we will have a colicky, fussy baby that will only be quelled by turning 18.  I am hoping for a much happier and easy going child - mostly for the sake of our sanity. Either way, we don't really have much say in the matter so we will see.

Her name will be Eliza Diane when she comes out.  First name is from our heads after Elizabeth didn't pass my filter.  Diane is after her grandmother.

We ordered a crib and dressers, which will be coming on Friday.  We have a mattress already, bedding, car seat ... we need diapers and we should basically be set for now.  Most everything else we can realize we need and get the same day if needed.  At least right now that is what I think.

It's going to be a stressful time for sure, but a wonderful one, too.  I hope we can raise her to be a terrific person.

Once upon a time I ate a stupid high amount of calories.  That was today actually.  I came up with the genius idea of making our own molten lava cake like from Chili's.  Well, I ate almost two of them and I am so not feeling like that was a good idea right now.

Tracy and I went to Pensacola the other day to go to the beach (before TS Lee disappointed us with rain but no real wind).  I had a lot of fun and we used our waterproof camera to get some underwater shots.  Unfortunately we had no idea what we were filming underwater so we got nice shots of Tracy's chest and my jawbone.  Next time we should get goggles so we can do it.

Speaking of that trip, it was very confusing because we went to Pensacola Beach and it turned out there was a $1 toll on the way.  We definitely did not have any money on us for that toll so I spoke with the woman and she told me to pay $2 on the way back.  Well ... on the way back there was no toll so I am not sure when I am supposed to pay that toll.  I guess if we ever go again, I will make sure I have money and pay the $2 so we are covered.

Chocolate lava cake of DEATH.

Tracy and I have been watching Heroes pretty consistently for the past few days (weeks?).  We are on season 3 and we will likely be done with the series in the next month.  House and the new show Terra Nova are starting soon not to mention Big Bang Theory so we will have plenty to watch soon enough.  Tracy also mentioned watching Smallville afterwards so we will have quite a bit to watch (unless she doesn't like Smallville in which that will be shortlived).  I have to watch the last season of that yet but need to save money to get that particular blu-ray set to complete my collection.  I also need the Superman blu-ray collection and the Star Wars blu-ray collection.  Man I have a lot of saving to do.

I do not recall if I mentioned this before but Tracy and I are moving to Mobile in November.  She will be starting school at USA (University of South Alabama) in the spring (assuming she is accepted, which there is no reason she would not be).  I will have a bit of a longer commute but it will be better for her older car to have her drive a shorter distance.

My cousin Dana is getting married soon.  Her wedding site sounds interesting though I must admit I am not looking forward to sitting on a stone for an hour while she weds.  Hopefully it will be riveting ceremony that keeps us on the edge of our seats (or, you know, standing).

Yeah, that cake hates me right now.  Tasted good though.

This weekend at work was really slow both Friday and Saturday.  I had off today and suddenly it was hopping busy all day.  I hope tomorrow is that way as well so it will go more quickly.  If it is, we will definitely need to call someone in though.  I guess only time will tell about that.

AT&T sent me a greeting card for thanking me for being an AT&T customer.  They know that they have me under contract so I don't have much choice, right?  They included a coupon for 20% off accessories for our phones.  A shame we already have all the accessories we care to have for the phone.  Plus in a year we can upgrade if we choose to (contract is up in 1.5 years but we can upgrade sooner than that).

Amazon.com keeps making more and more movies and TV shows free to stream on their site.  Every single episode of every single Star Trek series is available for free on there with an Amazon.com prime membership.  Here I was going to waste money on blu-rays when I can view the content for free now online.  I can't help but think they may be losing some money on that deal.  Amazon Prime is still only $79 a year even with the added bonuses and you still get the free two-day shipping during that year as well.  Crazy talk.

NFL football starts next week.  Tracy is not at all excited but I am pretty excited.  I have chosen to watch Sunday night games so that I may see the highlights from the games during the day.  We also have shows to watch on Monday night so Monday Night Football would not be happening.

My car insurance gave ME money this past month.  Quite awesome really.  I went in to talk about ways to save some money and they were like, "well, you're married and we have you in as single so if you can give us your marriage license, we can give you the money back from the time that you got married."  That basically gave me a free month of insurance plus some.  It's only maybe $13 a month I will save but every bit helps towards financial relief.  Moving to Mobile will help too since apartments are cheaper and some even offer free utilities to further discount the experience.  Tracy's car is also less fuel efficient so driving my car the further distance makes more sense.  I will get my bonus next March and then it will be very much easier to swing things.  I just wish I made more money so I could buy Tracy things like flowers and stuff.  Oh well, we will have plenty of time to get stuff for each other down the road once she gets her career going.

Shadow (our cat) is staring at me so I think I am supposed to go help Tracy with the dishes.  He is really good at guilt tripping me.  Ciao!

I was at work the other day and I walked by a senior that was clearly worse for wear.  Sadly, my first thought was "man, I hope I am not an ugly senior citizen."  Yep - hooray for worrying about what I will look like in 40 years.  Seriously though, I'd be happy to look like an older version of how I do now rather than an older and decrepit version that scares people for looking skeletal.

I wonder who I will know in 40 years.  Will I still be talking with all of my friends?  Where will I be living?  So many questions, which five years ago I probably thought I knew the answers to.  I certainly never thought I'd be moving away from home but here I am in Alabama.  With any luck, we will be somewhere near soon *crosses fingers*.  Back to the thought at hand, though, I will be approaching 70 in 40 years - my life will have been "lived" by that point.  What will I have accomplished?  So many questions that only have one way to answer - living until then and finding out.

I have a recommendation for whoever decided to pee on the seat at work.  Go to the doctor - your urine is brown.  Oh, and lift the seat up.  Ugh.

So Spy Kids 4 is coming out soon.  It is "with Aroma Scope" to make it even more immersive.  Ooooo.  For those that don't know, Aroma scope is basically a scratch and sniff card that we will hand out with tickets.  Kids will scratch it when the movie says to (supposedly) and will be able to smell the movie.  Yeah, I think those will be all over the floor for us to clean up.  Love the marketing idea .............

I have been watching Star Trek: The Next Generation and am really enjoying it even though I have seen every episode.  The next one Tasha Yar bites the big one so I am particularly excited about that (worst character on the show in my opinion ... except maybe for Wil Wheaton's character.  Pretty rough acting as a kid (he doesn't do as much anymore but he has improved to be sure).  Not that I could act better ... but in any case, yeah I like TNG.  Season 2 will be rough to go through with their replacement doctor and redesigned story lines for Star Trek: Phase 2 since they had a writer's strike that year.  Oh well.

So I really really want to move - I honestly don't care where but obviously limited to where Tracy can go to school.  I think I am addicted to moving or something after doing it a few times with Rave.  I also want to have Tracy start school so she can finish school (cause and effect really).

I'm watching Phineas and Ferb now so I am going to go for now.  Bye!

http://www.getthebigpicture.net/blog/2011/7/22/man-of-steel-release-delayed-to-2013.html

Sad face.  I guess I can wait ...

I turn 28 in 3 days.  28.  What?  I was talking with Tracy yesterday about college and it dawned on me that I graduated from college 6 years ago.  6.  Employees I work with now were 10 years old when I graduated.  I feel so very old knowing that fact.  Sigh.  I am definitely going to be one of those people that has a mid-life crisis.  I already feel like having it but I am not even close to half way through my life.  I could be more than a quarter of the way through though.  That is pretty crazy.

I asked an employee the other day about a song playing on our advertising and asked if they recognized the artist.  Fortunately, they did not, so I am not THAT old yet.

It has been rather busy at work recently.  Things are running pretty well but they can always run better.  It's frustrating sometimes seeing what I want in my head but not always getting it out to the team the same way.

I wish people would stop peeing on the toilet seats at work so I can stop wiping it up.  That would be great.  Swell even.

Jared is being so kind as to let Tracy and I borrow his Game cube.  As soon as the power cable arrives, gaming can commence.

I really have to take notes about what I want to blog about.  I keep forgetting - this post could have been truly long if I wrote down everything I wanted to mention.  Oh well.  Maybe I will remember some for another entry.  Bye!

http://geektyrant.com/news/2011/5/23/theres-a-1-billion-star-trek-theme-part-resort-being-built.html

Really?  They are building a Star Trek them park but it is in Jordan?  What kind of garbage is that?  Sigh.  I guess I better start saving up money.  It won't open until 2014 anyway but still ... I can't even comprehend why they would pick Jordan.

Wow, Vancouver.  It is hockey ... time to calm down and stop setting cars on fire because your team lost.

Every time I think about blogging, I realize that I only have one reader right now.  Maybe I am wrong but I am pretty sure Tracy is the only reader and I already tell her about my day when I get home -- not sure reading about it would be as exciting if it was already told.

If you read this, go ahead and leave a comment.  Maybe if I knew I had other readers I would be more motivated.  I'm glad Tracy reads it but, like I said, I feel like this would be a bore for just her to read what I likely already shared.

It's so strange to see that Lisa Edelstein will not be on House next season.  Not really because I did not see it coming but because I was thinking that a good season 8 plot would be House working with (read: dealing with) a new Dean of Medicine.  I only had this thought when they mentioned she had not signed on yet but I guess that will indeed be something they have to work with now (unless they choose to just have her be Dean but mysteriously missing suddenly).

Today was one of those days where I just could not get enough sleep.  It was pretty frustrating to be sure.  It's almost seven and I just want to lie back down and sleep until morning ... except I am really hungry now.

Why am I so tired?  Well, I watched Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides last night.  The movie was pretty good aside from the first fifteen or so minutes of character introduction.  I felt like they just wanted to get to the quest for the Fountain of Youth and so they were like, "here's this character, this character, this character, ok go."  Once the quest began, it was overall pretty good.  Not "Curse of the Black Pearl" good but entertaining and fun.

I need to eat.  Time to jump on the bed until Tracy wakes up so I can find out if she wants some :)

http://starfleetacademystore.com/

:D  I want everything hehehe.

Edit:  More specifically ...  http://starfleetacademystore.com/products/101941-delta-shield-tie-bar

Happy birthday to Don Rickles!  85 years old ... wow.

Tracy and I got a free DVD of Away We Go from the GM conference so we decided to watch it the other day.  While I did enjoy the film and it was mildly funny, I have to say that whoever wrote the dialogue tried too hard to put foul language in.  I found myself going "really?" at points when they would randomly put "f'ing" this when it really did not feel like it fit.  In other words, it was forced.  I believe that some language can give a genuine feel to a film since much of the world does curse, but, like I said, some parts I found myself wincing wondering why they chose to curse that many times in the scene when it was not a tense scene or one that called for emphatic language.  Again, overall a good movie but toning it down a bit would have benefited it in this case.

Tracy and I have been doing some (what we would call) serious bike riding recently.  We decided a week or two ago to ride our bikes at 2 am over to Rave (a five mile ride) and back.  We stopped at the theater to rest and then rode back.  Since then, we have taken the ride three or so times more and are now able to do it without stopping unless we ride two days in a row (like today).  Today our legs were burning on the way there so we stopped and had a drink.  Speaking of drinks, today was the first day we had drinks for the ride.  I rode a nice flowery backpack with drinks in it for us.  Surprisingly, the water was still cool when we got to Rave (five miles took us 35 minutes today).  In any case, I was surprised.  The ride was good but my goodness my legs hurt afterwards.  Some day maybe they won't hurt and we will need to push ourselves further to get the exercise ride we are looking for.  For now - that ride is a challenge every day.

My boss did a surprise visit to the theater today.  Always want things running perfectly when he is there ... it was busy but we managed well and the visit was good.  I cannot go into detail on here but good visits are good.  Still hoping to move on soonish.  He said there will be at least one opening over the summer since there is a new theater that will be getting a GM and there will be some movement as a result of that opening so ... if it is somewhere I am looking for and if they decide I am the best candidate then I can get Tracy to school for the spring at least.

I think I should be done for now.  It's almost 3 am and I have to work tomorrow (last day before a day off).  Farewell for now.  Until I write again.

P.S. Sorry about not doing the Bucket List further.  I guess I am just not the Bucket List type of person?  OK, bye.

http://www.amazon.com/Superman-Picture-Anthology-1978-2006-Blu-ray/dp/B004UQPM4E/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I2GOFEVVWMXV51&colid=1R1XLJNJP9JPP

I may have drooled a little bit.  I am such a nerd.  That plus season 10 of Smallville coming out in August - sigh. 

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.

I always have things to write about when I am not by a computer and then when I am by a computer I have nothing to write about.  Sigh.

We went Mother's Day shopping today.  By "went" I mean online, of course.  Both of our parents are a bit far away to be shopping locally.  Hopefully they like their gifts.  If not ... not much we can do about it I guess.

Today was a hectic (self-imposed) day at work.  Started out by bowling.  That part was fun (obviously) but it squished the rest of the day quite a bit.  Got most of it done except for getting the show schedule entered but at least it is flowing nicely.  Bowling was fun - I actually won a game, which I did not expect (the one GM has a much better style throw).  In any case, it was good to meet some other managers from other theaters as well.

It poured today.  Pretty heavily.  While I was driving.  Yeah, it was fun.  You have got to love when your windshield wipers cannot keep up with the water on your windshield.  As usual, it went fine in the end.

Just realized it is time to feed my bird.  This will have to do for now I suppose.  Tracy will not be pleased but her bird is being stubborn and craning for food instead of hopping into her hand.  Wee?

Hi everyone!  It is I.  I have a blog to write and here I am writing it.

Tracy and I started letting our doves out today (well, we have done it before but now they are hand feeding and getting more comfortable with us).  In any case, Jadzia flew out, flew around, hung out, and then went back in her cage on her own (like she did before she was comfortable with us).  She seems a lot more interested in floating around the room then Jhemel does.  I am thinking when they get back together they will both explore together but who really knows?  Jhemel did explore more than the last time we witnessed it.  She walked around  at least.

Tracy started hand feeding the birds when I was at the GM conference.  The first day involved thrashing around the cage until they realized there was food in it for them.  The second day was already so much better.  They seem to adjust quickly, which is nice.

I am pretty distracted tonight thinking about a bunch of different things.  My boss sent me an e-mail that was less than delightful so I have some work to do at work.  Nothing I can't handle though - just time to whip some people into shape :)

I went to a GM conference this past week in Austin, TX.  It was not so bad really.  I got to meet some good people and get refocused going into the summer.  All good news.  I missed Tracy pretty terribly though :(  I wish I could have smuggled her along.  It was a nice area but my allergies destroyed me.  We did have two days outdoors that were pretty interesting.  On Tuesday we did a ropes course that was quite challenging.  My group had to climb a telephone pole and then walk across a wooden cat walk with gaps in it.  Pretty intense.  We also did rock climbing and a zip cord.  It was pretty fun but really tough.

Having difficulty focusing so I will end it here for now.  Farewell!

Hi everyone.  First real blog in a long time.  I'll cut right to the chase now.

I have been thinking about choices in life.  Choices similar to what you would find in a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book.  If you choose differently, you wind up with an entirely different result.  I have been reflecting on the ones I made that definitely would have changed things.  For instance, what if I had chosen to go away to school instead of commuting from home?  Would I still have the same friends from high school or would we have grown apart as distance did?  Not likely since I am away from home now.  What job would I have now?  That one is widely open to try to guess.  If I had gone away to college, I would not have become a manager at Hoyts.  If I hadn't become a manager at Hoyts, I wouldn't have likely stayed there for 10 years and made managing a career.  I wouldn't have met Tracy.  I wouldn't have gotten married to her.  What if I had become a manager but actually tried really hard at the teaching thing instead of expecting it to be easy like I felt school was?  I'd have a teaching job, would not have left home, would not have met the people I have met now, and same thing with Tracy.

Changing subjects because I do that midstream often - the chance of Tracy and I meeting in our lives was actually very very low.  I suppose the same can go for any one person meeting any other one person but I can highlight the choices I made leading to our meeting very distinctly.  She only lived in Niceville (near Destin) for a total of two years.  That was her plan all along.  I was only in Destin for one year.  That does not even account for her coming to Destin and us being able to meet.  The chances were minuscule and yet we did it.  What is even more interesting is that I need her and she needs me.  We do not always realize that, especially when we get upset, but it is definitely true.

I say dumb things sometimes (read: often).  I say things before I really think about what they could be taken as or without thinking what others feelings may be on the subject.  One such thing is regarding Bucket Lists.  I think they can be a neat idea but my thought on what a bucket list should be differs from what other people think a bucket list should be.  Should I have expressed that?  Probably not.  I am not even sure if I upset Tracy when I expressed it, but that isn't the point.  I do it a lot.  I say things, then realize that it sounded terrible to say, and once you say it you will never get it back.

I don't know why I keep thinking that I want to be an actor.  First of all, it is a very very very hard profession to get into (at least on a professional "I make stupid amounts of money" level).  Making movies would be so much fun.  You get to pretend that you are someone else and then thousands of people get to watch your work.  Having that many critics sounds exciting.  Obviously, if I actually became an actor I'd be a failure not because I am a failure but because I cannot actually act.  It is still fun to think about for me, though.

Back to bucket lists.  I told Tracy the other day what I thought a bucket list should be (for me personally - not necessarily for anyone else).  I felt that a bucket list should be filled with something that you have to really really work to do.  For instance, I think running 10 miles would be a good bucket list item.  I think learning to fly a plane is a good bucket list item.  I think writing a novel is another one.  I personally do not think something I can do on a whim should be able to make my bucket list.  I am not going to list for instances for this side because, like I said, I have no filter and would offend someone.  It's just my opinion just as everything I write is.

I feel like I should write a bucket list now that I have talked about them.  I hadn't really felt like writing one until now.  I should probably put some thought into it before writing it.  Maybe that will be my next blog or two or ten.  I actually included items that would make my bucket list in my comment on bucket lists so those are my first two items.

1. Run ten miles without stopping.
2. Learn to fly a plane.

OK, it has started.  I will try to include two items every time I post, regardless on if I have other things to say or not.

I feel like it is time for us to leave Alabama, but there are no job openings for me to go anywhere else right now.  I want to get Tracy into school.  I feel terrible that we are still here because I am hurting her future because of my selfishness.  I want to get promoted so I can support us more comfortably and pay for her schooling.  I did not feel it unrealistic for me to leave by now but here I am - still here.  We will leave eventually, but I want it to be soon so I can get Tracy going and I can get going at a busy theater for the summer.  Every day there is not a job posting, I feel like I am letting her down.

The end.

I will be posting on this site again shortly. Tracy and I have separate blogs now since I do not blog a lot. However, some people probably want to keep up with what is going on in more detail then the snapshots that Facebook offers. With that said, said blog will not be written tonight since my head is killing me (either dehydration or sinuses - it is hard to tell). Everything is well and good though otherwise.

See you soon!

Greetings everyone! I wanted to let you know that I am now blogging in conjunction with Tracy at http://spockanduhura.blogspot.com/

Both of our posts will go there so you can go to one spot for all of your reading pleasure. Have a great day!