Flu shots and shot glasses...

So I'm sick. Every muscle, and in actuality, every joint in my body aches. I did not want to call in sick today, but I did, and it was the right decision, but I'm still kind of ticked. Wednesdays have several important meetings, all of which I wanted to be present for. Not to mention that last week I got a new dress shirt. (violet) that goes with my latest tie. (purple) and I was going to look good for aforementioned meetings.

I don't know if I've mentioned it here, but we've started Kiah in on solid foods, and he's loving it. He's eaten a bunch of different foods, and is drinking water and apple juice now. We've discovered that the perfect size drinking glass for him is a little shot glass souvenier of capitol hill (fitting...) that we got from a friend last year. Aww. He's just like uncle Ryan!

Well. Hopefully I'll feel up to snuff tomorrow. There's a ton of snow outside, but it's beautiful here as usual. Have a good one, and comment if you like!

Peace.

Thanks given.

Today is Thanksgiving, and I'm at work. I'm currently giving the operator a lunch break, and I have an opportunity to go over what's been going on lately.

Work has been slow this week. The hotel is pretty empty.

I saw the latest Bond movie last night. It was excellent. They removed all of the cheese, and all the puns, and made a spy movie. It was realistic, tough and gritty. The best acting I've seen from any Bond actor (Pierce who?) and very good dialog. They removed the entry music for the most part, Bond starts the movie with a lowly Ford rental car, no absurdly named badguys, and every fight scene was good. There weren't any pathetic henchmen. All the fights were good.

I gotta go for now, I like this black look better than the grey, but if it's hard on any eyes, let me know.

Hang on sloopy, sloopy hang on...

Well folks, it's been awhile. If you're still checking in, I admire your pluck.

Kiah's been growing like a weed. This last week he's been really cranky, but that probably means that he's teething. Sarah and I thought we saw one this morning... we're not sure yet. He's started in on solid food, rice cereal, so he's pretty proud of himself. We started him later than most people, but we've heard that if you wait till 6 months, it's better for their digestive system.

He'll be 6 months old on the 25th... it's gone by really fast, but it's hard to remember a time when he wasn't a part of our lives. We can count the dates we've had in the last 6 months on one hand, and at times, we feel alone. We've made some good friends out here, but everyone's so busy, and asking folks to babysit makes you feel guilty. Especially if they already have kids. One of those things that will be alot easier when we're near family again.

In other news, veteran member of my blog Jim V. has recently lost his wife. She was a beautiful woman, a wonderful person, and the fastest wit on the block. We will miss her... She only occasionally wrote here, and then only to mock my fake deejaying skills. Please keep Jim and her family in your prayers.

Sarah's week in Chicago went fairly uneventfully for me. I worked a great deal, and watched some old Japanese movies. I also watched the Magnificent Seven, which was a bit of a disappointment, but remakes generally are. King Kong was dreadful. So was Solaris. Ugh... but then again, some remakes are better than the original. The Italian Job leaps to mind. I haven't seen the first Gone in 60 seconds, but I'm betting that the new one was better. Anyway, Sarah came back last Monday, and I can't even express how happy I was to see her. In the 5 years we've been married, we haven't been apart a week. It was really quiet, and lonely, and by Sunday, I was cranky with everyone... Everybody at work is happy she's back too.

Saturday, we watched what will probably be the best Michigan/Ohio State matchup of my lifetime. The teams have never met before as Number one and two. Bo Shembeckler died the day before the game, so emotions were running high. The Bucks tore through Michigan's number one running defense and ran two touchdowns in that were over 50 yards each. It was incredible. The one player who I thought would really break the game open, Gonzales, went almost unused and only had one touchdown. The only thing that kept me from being completely satisfied with the game was that the guy snapping the ball for OSU had broken his hand earlier in the year, and had it in a cast. It healed several weeks ago, but for superstitious reasons, was told to keep it on. Well, it cost us two horrible snaps that resulted in fumbles, and two scores for Michigan. Other than that, I was pretty much happy with the game which was a true battle of excellent offensive crews. Despite the fact that Ohio State won, nearly every sportscaster I saw said that the two best teams in College ball are still OSU and Michigan. It's just a matter of whether the voters will make the National championship game a rematch, or have Michigan go to the Rose Bowl and pick another team to play Ohio State for the title. Needless to say, it felt really good to get the Big Ten title, and to be simply undisputed as the best team in college football. There aren't any thugs on the team, they have a great deal of class, and they won the game by just beating the living daylights out of the Michigan defense. The Bucks scored more points in the first half against Michigan than the Wolverines have allowed in any game this season. Not to mention the 500+ yards that the Buckeyes were able to put up against one of the toughest defenses in the nation. I'm not proud or anything. It was a great game, and I don't expect to see it's match anytime soon.


Well. I'm done for now.

Peacywease.

Time to throw some tea in the harbor.

Well, my mom, giving me the benefit of the doubt, assumed that there browser was broken in some way because it had no updates in the last month. I love her.

In reality, I have been meaning to write for the past few weeks. Like anything else in my life, writing is more a result of a phase than anything. I read like crazy, or play video games, or write, or draw. All of these things phase in or out. Lately, I just haven't felt like writing. Hopefully you haven't felt like reading.

Work has been good. I am still at the front desk. I started getting concerned about being forgotten in one area of the hotel, and having too much time pass, thus limiting the time spent in other areas, so I spoke to my GM who is getting promoted in January to Senior VP. He is the last of the folks who hired me for the position, and is leaving for Boston at the turn of the year. The rest of the people who approached me about the position have left for other opportunities, and I've been feeling a bit that their successors have felt like they were stuck with me. Because I've stuck in the one department, my ability to impress people as a hotel manager is hampered by the fact that they just see me as a good assistant front office manager.

The good news is that the GM got me back on track, and I will be moving to another department soon. I would prefer housekeeping, but restaurants is another good option. The other day something exciting happened, I was approached by the hotel manager to see if I'd fly to Chicago to cover our Doubletree in OakBrook. They're a union hotel, and the workers were threatening to strike. Our director of housekeeping and I were going to fly out to help the hotel in case of a strike, but the union and the hotel ended up working things out. Either way, I was told it was a positive mark for me just to be available, and that they'll think of me in the future if anything like that comes up again. I would've liked to go, as it would've been a great learning experience, and I would have gotten free meals and hotel stay, with some spending money. Not to mention seeing some of my friends and family in Chicago.

Things at home have been great. Kiah is growing so fast, and is holding things on his own. He can sit with his back to the couch and can even sit a little on his own. Not much, but it's a start. We're having so much fun teaching him things every day. He's laughing so much more. He's such a happy baby... I got this really fun video of him sitting on the couch laughing, being a parent is even more rewarding than I thought it would be.

Sarah is a bit bored, but has been handling parenthood wonderfully. She's such a great mom. She just turned 27, and some of our friends took her out for dinner. I had to work, which sucked, but we had a nice little dinner here the next night with the same friends and had a cake and everything. I blew it literally though. After we finished singing, I BLEW OUT HER CANDLE. I don't know what posessed me, I just saw something on fire, and blew it out. I'm retarded.

I saw the Departed a few weeks ago. Really good movie. Alot of people got shot in the head, but it was a good movie. Sarah and I watched Lucky Number Slevin last night. Similar. Good, but alot of people get shot. Netflix is really cool for parents who work and take care of a baby 24/7. It is so nice to just have a stream of movies coming in.

We're looking to get cell phones at the turn of the year. So I'll get the numbers to you when we do.

That's it for now. I'll write more later.

Nicknames and re-released albums...

A few weeks ago, Made in Mexico records announced the re-release of Damien Jurado's most sought after album "Gathered in Song." A live performance in a friend's living room in 1998, it is easily one of his most touching albums. The re-release includes the original 5 songs, and 5 demos for "Rehearsals for Departure", his 1999 album. The first several hundred copies were autographed, so that added to the appeal as well. "Simple hello" is my favorite song so far, but the entire deal is very very good.

On another note, Sarah and I were discussing the approximately 3 million nicknames that we have for Hezekiah. Kiah... Helmet... Monkey... Dookie... Zeke... Manny... Tax Deduction...

In fact, his name has sparked so many conversations in our friends and family that we thought we'd finally reveal the REAL reason that we named him (HE)zekiah im(MAN)uel. That's right. We named him after the Master of the Universe himself. He-man.

Here is a picture of Kiah in his appropriate outfit.

Kiah

Just an update.
After one day of taking his medicine, Kiah is all better.
I don't know what it was, any more than the doctors did, but we're happy he's ok.

Thanks for your prayers.

Jim's 9-11 poem that he wrote today...

Today I saw a patriot
standing on the corner of a busy downtown street
waving a flag in the rain
and I thought to myself how beautiful
it would be to see impaled upon that glittering flagpole
all the ugliness of the hatriots who stood
on that same corner waving similar flags
just five years ago.

True patriotism isn't popular.
And something from the heart can't be mass produced.
If you want to do something
that truly matters...

do it alone.

Ohio State

Tonight, the two highest ranked teams in college football faced off against each other in the regular season. (The last time that happened was 10 yrs. ago.) And I must say, the #1 Ohio State Buckeyes went down to Austin and messed with Texas.

Wow! What a great game. For those of you who know, when any team wins a championship, there are going to be people who question its legitimacy. Folks who say that there were too many close calls... the schedule was too easy... blah blah blah. My best friend would slap them and say a win is a win, but in college football, a win isn't necessarily a win. (See Cal's first game of the season) Needless to say, when OSU went 18-0 and won the national championship against the somewhat unstoppable Florida Gators who at that point had not lost a game in several seasons, people still griped. Well. OSU is back, and has one of the toughest teams I've seen in years. Tonight they blew away the defending champs with their weaker side. Their defense. It was alot of fun for us to watch, and if you find college football boring, I suggest watching the Buckeyes this year. They're going to be the NFL stars you watch a few years from now.

One last thing about the game. Now that Texas is Young-less, they've been forced to replace him with a young man with the most "Texas" name of all time. Colt McCoy. To be ANY MORE TEXAN he would have to be named "Wyatt Eastwood" or change his middle initial to "W." I will say this for him. He hopped right back up after getting knocked down all those times.

Oh, on to the home front. Kiah has contracted what Sarah and I are calling "The mange."
It's some sort of rash that the doctor told us is named Erythema Multiforme which means ugly rash that takes alot of forms and is caused by something we don't know. It's treated by using benedril or minor steroids. We opted for the roids as his penis is already as small as it's going to ever be, and the risk of negative side-effects is negligable. Just kidding, but we did go with the steroid because it won't make him sleepy, and it mainly will keep away a more dangerous rash that he might have but probably doesn't have because gosh! We're doctors and we really don't know, and I don't see any of this when I researched it on google in the back room, and please don't look upset! That hospital bill is mainly for malpractice suits.

Just kidding again. They actually don't know what it is, but he's happy and eating and sleeping and pooping. So we've identified that other than the hideous rash covering his body, he's in perfect health.

Here's a picture of what Mange, and Texas' season looks like.

Confusable

So it's that time. They announced the winners of the "Team Champion of the month." Therefore, I've been preparing to put them in the next newsletter. I received the pictures today, and I must say that July's winner for the heart of the house has a somewhat inappropriate picture. Before I go on, I should mention that her nomination and winning were confusing to everyone, as they announced her name as "Maria... I can't pronounce the last name..." Which led over half of our housekeeping staff to believe that they had indeed won the award. Amongst the hysteria they were able to identify which Maria was the best Maria. The "really short" one. Half of the girls already excited jumped about ecstatically while the others sat down. (It should be noted that this entire episode has been completely fictional, and that I concocted it based around the idea of how funny it was that a "Maria" of many Marias had won the team champion award. However, it does not take away from the fact that her picture is inappropriate.) Maria Campos, the winner of the award is incredibly small. So much so that they had to enter her nomination on an index card as opposed to the normal 8.5"x 11" form.

In her picture, which is taken by a human resources employee hiding in a niche in the hallway to the cafeteria, who springs out on the day that you've dressed your worst, and have had the least amount of time to put into doing your hair, who snaps your picture and runs... we see that she has not only been caught on a bad day, but apparently on a day she wasn't even working. She is completely out of uniform, and not necessarily "appropriately" dressed for a company picture. The second reason the photo is inappropriate actually serves a purpose for our humble blog. It demonstrates just HOW small she is. Here is her picture with her faithful cat, Esmerelda, as you can see below.

10 hours of bliss.

Well, this has been an interesting week. I worked Monday thru Saturday last week. 60 hour weeks stink, and even more confusing, I had to work Monday of this week, so I had Sunday and Tuesday off. This has completely thrown me for a loop, as it has felt like Monday three days this week.

On the good side, my boss Peter has been in, so it's not all on my head all the time. Another bonus is that several of my favourite guests are in house, thus enabling me to use their names without working at it and making me seem more like the concierge/hotel manager guy from "Pretty Woman". (Who is my current hero. The dude is so smooth, it's not even funny.)

I've been working on my class lately. Trying more and more to be elegant. Refined. Upscale. I know that I work for a hotel that wants to be the same things and I want to be a good representation of that. Sarah an determining now whether it is possible, and whether we are willing to move into a rented house, as opposed to our apartment. We currently have a very nice deal where we are, but it is feeling awful small, especially when someone comes to visit, so we are looking.

Kiah has been really developing alot lately, and has started laughing.

Well, I need to get back to work. My break is over. Peace.

Toys.

Now most of you may not know this, but the average church nursery, or any nursery mind you (with the exception of plant nurseries...) is a life and death struggle between the babies inhabiting said nursery. A gladiator pit of sorts, the babies do what they can to kill eachother.

Watch a group of infants and toddlers in the pit (as we will be calling it) for any amount of time, and you will see attempts to shove others into sharp objects, the throwing of blocks, and most prominently, the gouging of eyes. This is especially popular in the toddler set. Place them near an infant, and watch their fingers go straight for the eyes.

In it's infinite wisdom, our generation has taken away the only true defense that children have had up until this point. That's right. Toys.

When I was little, I was given a set of weapons with which to defend myself. Hard plastic. Sharp edges. Pointy noses on dolls... All for my own safety. To protect me from the three year old with the metal jack in the box that at a whopping 9 ounces made a decent bludgeoning weapon.

But not today. Today, all the toys are soft and mushy. Rubber coated. Wimpy. They can't take an eye out! They can't gouge! The only legitimate violent use for most of these toys is suffocation, and that takes time! Before you know it the pit lord, er, nursery attendant is going to see you, and stop you. Because, no matter how dangerous your toy, you probably can't stop her.

Well. My parents, being the loving grandparents that they are, sent us a box with some of my old clothes and toys. Among which, was my weapon of choice... namely, the "Fisher Price Deathmonger Babybasher 5000."


Ha ha. My son is going to RULE!!!

Yes. This monster of a rattle sports hard plastic petals, and a terrifying google-y eyed face to strike fear in the heart of your oponent and a bright red throttling ball at the base which is just the right size to fit down a baby's throat or eye socket. Coincidence? I think not. Here is the Deathmonger Babybasher 5000 pictured below with Kiah, so that you can see its approximate size. This thing is the biggest rattle possible. A weaker baby wouldn't even be able to lift it. This is like those celtic broadswords of Ireland and Scotland that terrified enemy armies. This is epic. It even has a mirror mounted on the back with which to mock your enemies with their pitiful appearance after you've made them pee themselves. If they hadn't already... but that's beside the point.


So if you've seen a nursery lately, and wondered about Kiah's safety... fear not. The boy is well equipped, and prepared to be the terror of the pit! Hmmm. We'll need a gladiator name for him. Perhaps "Helmet."

Mawwaige... Mawwaige is what bwings us togevva today...

So our good friends Daniel and Lara got married today...
I'll post pictures soon.

But that got me thinking about my friend Kristen from Starbucks back in Illinois, and how she got married to this nice bloke named Roy a ways back, so I looked up her myspace and found this picture which is just beautiful, and I needed to post it.

Love ya Kristen! Glad to see you found your rainbow connection.

So things were bad there for a couple minutes...

I got home from work the other day, to find this...

Needless to say, I was bothered. The computer would begin startup, but stalled on the "Starting OSX" screen. (Which, by the way, is one of the silliest screens in the operating system, as it now just a hoax. In the past, when macs were starting up, they would give you a progress bar of your start up. Well, now they've improved the speed of startup so dramatically, that the progress bar is unneeded. However, people would apparently freak without it, or feel that their computer was taking too long to start up, or something... so Apple kept the progress bar at startup, but get this, IT'S JUST AN ANIMATED GIF! Nothing more. It just makes you think that it's kicking butt. That's all.) Anyway, it froze at that screen.

I couldn't boot in safe mode, but I was able to boot from the install disc (By holding down on the C key with the install cd in the drive, for the mac users out there) and run disk utility. No luck. It let me know that there was an error on my hard drive, but couldn't fix it. Well, I remembered that a long time ago, I heard about a way to repair your hd even if you didn't have the install disk, but I couldn't remember the name of the mode that you had to boot into, or the way to do it. So I humbled myself, and did some research online. Unfortunately, I had to do the research at work. On a PC of all things. It was so humiliating. It looked something like this.

Well, the mode is called "Single user mode" and you get there by holding the command and s keys while booting. It comes up with a black screen white type that looks a little like dos, but it's just the unix underpinnings of OSX. Anyway, I ran a script that looked like: /sbin/fsck -fy.

It came up with some "errors" and I ran a script to correct them, and it came back clean!

It wouldn't work right away, so archived and installed the OS, and it booted back like a charm! I was so happy. It's really disconcerting when I think about how much music, how many photos and other things I have that are not backed up. But everything worked out, and it's as good as new again.

Woot.

Well then...

Ok, so the family was out here for the larger part of last week and into this week. Sarah's grandma Marge, her parents Jeff & Linda, and her sisters Kaitlin and Jessica. Here are some pictures from Glen Eyrie, the castle outside of town.







It's just been a very busy past few weeks. Thanks to everyone for your patience, and for even coming back to check the site. We'll get things going again, now that they've quieted down.

Kiah is smiling alot now, and mimicking our voices. He's 14 lbs. now... The nurse giving him his vacines the other day couldn't hold his little legs down without help. I'm so proud.

We had Kiah dedicated to the Lord at church last Sunday. Dedications are a vow to raise him in a way that's pleasing to God. I was dedicated in Sarasota, Florida at a little church called Grace Fellowship, and Sarah was dedicated at Moraine Valley Church in Palos Heights, IL. We've been waiting till Sarah's family was out before we had it done.

This next week, I am not at the front desk, but back in the Reservations department. It will be alot of fun, and hopefully a great learning experience. Yesterday, I was in there for 8 hours, and it was well spent.

Sarah's back to tutoring and Halie has been playing alot of catch up on work that's been missed due to the olympics.

My good friend Jim V. (the guy that always keeps me in check here on the blog) and his wife Paula have been going through some terrible medical struggles over the last few months. Please join Sarah and I in praying for a swift and complete recovery for Paula, and peace for Jim as he holds her hand through this season.

Kiah's gettin big.

13 pounds, 6 ounces... 7 weeks old. Kid's a monster.