I should be sleeping

I have to work tonight so I should be getting some rest to prepare for it. But, of course, I'm not. After I dropped the kids off at school I had to take my mom to a doctor appointment, then we had an early lunch, I stopped to pick up some gifts for the Easter Bunny (he's lazy, you know) and by the time I got back home I had to pick the kids up in an hour. Now they are home, so rest is out of the question.

I should be much more rested than I am. I was off Sunday and Monday (I even took a nap on Monday) but I'm not. I know a lot of it is psychological. My brain knows that I have to be up all night so it goes into Tired Mode as soon as it realizes the midnight shift is coming up. It usually starts two days early. Just to get me prepared.

Speaking of the weekend, we went to our friend's house for a wine tasting party. I was fun, we had a nice big group of friends and got blasted on wine. I'm kidding of course, we are all responsible drinkers. (Stop laughing!) I will say that the guy running the wine tasting seemed to want us to get toasted. We tried about 12 wines and he went through them very quickly. Since I'm not a wine drinker, I was slow to finish each one, but he was quick to move on to the next. You know, wine hits you pretty quickly when you haven't had dinner yet. The last two wines I made sure the guy gave me just a splash for me to try. I didn't want to get all stupid(er); they kids were there, you know?

It was a good time, though. We haven't all gotten together in much too long, so this was a great idea. We all plan on getting together more frequently now. Next time we'll have a beer tasting.

So, needless to say, Sunday was a day of lounging. We got home kind of late on Saturday, the kids were tired, daddy had a headache, the dogs were tired, so we just hung around the house. Well, Jenn went to work out, but she'd more devoted to that than me. I was going to run on Sunday, but I wasn't up for it, and Monday I was too lazy. This isn't good since I have a race on Saturday. Yes, you are right, I'm on the midnight shift that day so I'll finish at 7am and the race starts at 9am. Is it possible to fall asleep while running? We'll soon find out.

After school on Monday I took the kids to a nature center near our house. I brought my camera, and had the kids take theirs, and we took some pictures. It's a pretty big place. I've been there before but not to the farm part of the center. I was expecting some old barn to be sitting out somewhere in a field that used to be a farm back in the day. Turns out, there were animals there and everything. We've only lived here 15 years and had no idea. We win Parents of the Decade.

This cow seemed to be afraid to come out of the barn. Or it was a fake head, it's hard to tell. Maybe he did like life in the suburbs.

I feel bad for the people whose houses were right in front of this farm. It stunk pretty bad.

More lovely pictures are on my Flickr page.

That's about all I've been up to. Time for a nap.

It's amazing how one extra push of the snooze button can affect your day

Have you ever noticed how sleeping that extra 7, 8, or 9 minutes that the snooze button gives you can throw you off track? It's does for me. 

Take today, for instance. I started off okay, got it the shower with no problems, but that was about all that went as planned. I went to the laundry room to check on my pants in the dryer. Unfortunately, the clothes in there were still a bit damp-ish, so I had to turn it on a bit longer. Not a big deal, I had to shave anyway. 

After shaving, I took out the pants, and they were all twisted up; basically unwearable, unless I work in a cave where nobody will see me. So I straighten them a bit, and throw them back in the dryer to de-wrinkle. No time for an iron, if I knew how to use one. 

Again, not a huge deal since I had to get a lunch together. The shirt was okay, so I put that on and searched for something to eat. At this point it was about 6:25 am, when I should be on the road. I grab a frozen meal, and get some cereal for the morning. Of course it's a brand new box, do I have to wrestle with the packaging to get it open. I shove that in my bag, grab my pants, work on the wrinkles still in them, put on my shoes and coat, and head for the door.

Keys. Where are they? Oh yeah, they are in my pants in the bedroom. Run up the stairs, get the keys, run down and leave. It is now 6:35 am. I work at 7 am. 

Luckily the stop lights were cooperating; at least in the beginning. I did get stopped at one that I was hoping I'd miss. It is a long light. 

I did make it to work on time (6:55 am) but not as early as I'd like. See, when I go in I take over for someone; it takes a few minutes to explain what has been done, and what needs to be done. 

So, was that it? No. It wasn't. I had a bit of trouble logging into the computer, of course, and I didn't realize one program didn't come up properly. I noticed it about two hours later. It made for some make-up work. 

Oh, then when I went to eat my lunch, I realized I forgot a fork. Lasagna is not easy to eat with bare hands. 

The moral of the story? Get up when your alarm goes off. Will I learn this lesson? No. I never learn this lesson. 

A conversation with my dog

This morning, around 7:oo am, my son came into our room to see if we were up yet. Of course we weren't, so he used our bathroom and climbed into our bed. This isn't a big deal since he will usually go back to sleep. The problem is our dog, Quincy, sleeps directly under my son's room and he knows when my son gets up. Barking ensues, as it did this morning. I tried to ignore it and hope Quincy would get the hint and go back to sleep. He didn't so I trudged down the stairs to his crate. This is what happened. (I used the Google Dog Translator to decipher my dogs responses. It's an early beta, only a few select people have it).

As I get to Quincy's crate he immediately lays back down. I open the door and he rolls to his side, he knows this is the way to make it near impossible to put on his collar.

Me: What are you doing? You were barking to go out. Get up!

Quincy: What?

Me: What do you mean what? Get up, you have to go out.

Quincy: No, I'd rather sleep.

Me: But you were just barking to go out two seconds ago!

Quincy: Huh? Are you sure that was me? I don't remember barking.

Me: How could you not remember?

Quincy: Dude, my brain is the size of a hand grenade, I'm lucky I remember to eat.

Me: (forcing my hand under his neck to get his collar on) I'm out of bed so you are going out.

I lift him up and start pulling his collar.

Quincy: Hey, this is the back door. I should probably go out.

Door: Slam!

I went to lay on the couch, knowing that he wouldn't be long. About ten minutes later I heard him barking. I got up to let him in.

Quincy: Oh, you're up?

Me: Hmph, get in your cage please.

I decided It would be best for me to sleep on the couch next to him. I thought that would keep him quiet for a while.

Me: Go back to sleep Quincy. It's early.

Quincy: (passes gas).

Me: Thanks. Go to sleep.

I close my eyes and start to drift off.

Quincy: Psst.

I ignore him. Pretend to sleep.

Quincy. Psst. Dude, I need to go out.

Me: You were just out! I know your baldder isn't that small.

Qunicy: I didn't do anything out there. I just looked at the birds flying around and took a short nap in the grass. I was tired.

Me: So am I!

Quincy: So are you, what?

Me: Argh, you're driving me crazy!

I whip off the blanket, open the cage and put Quincy outside. I head upstairs to go back into bed for a while. Now my daughter is in the bed too. There is 7 square inches for me to sleep. I find a way to fit in the spot and drift off again.

15 minutes pass.

Quincy: (From outside) Hey! You guys awake? There is a squirrel out here you might want to see! Hey! Hey! Hey!



That was the end of me sleeping for a while. I did get to take a nap later. I needed it.

On a similar subject; you know what is so much better about having a puppy in this day and age? Being able to look up things that are poisonous to dogs in an instant. Quincy got part of and apple and banana today. Those are okay, by the way. Raisins are no good. Oh, and chocolate is bad, but they need to have 1 ounce per pound of body weight for it to be toxic. Thanks Google!

I'm exhausted

My son had a friend over for a few hours today, so why am I exhausted? They played nice, mostly in his room, and he was only here for three hours. It should have been a piece of cake. Really, it was, I think I'm wiped out from the week. My wife has been out of town since Monday. You never realize how nice it is to have both parents home until one is gone. Usually, if one of has to get something done, the other could watch the kids for a few minutes. Plus, you can share the wealth on reprimanding. It's not easy to be constantly telling the kids not to jump down the whole flight of stairs, or on top of the dog. I've had plenty of days where I was home during the day with them while Jenn was at work, but I could get that short break after she comes home. The same goes for her when I'm working on the weekends. I'm pretty lucky though, my wife is just gone on business. Some people have to do this all the time on their own. I give them all the credit in the world.

On a lighter note, the giant collar my dog has to wear is driving me crazy. It hurts when he runs into you with it, and he's marking up the walls. At times I can see him get dpressed about it. He'll be running around, playing with a toy, then loose it since he has no peripheral vision, then give up and lay down. It's kind of sad. It's also very dirty. That thing is a major dirt collector. I'm pretty sure it is breeding some kind of major bacteria or something. I try to clean it out, but Quincy keeps trying to eat the paper towel I'm using to clean the thing.

I don't know how he eats with it on either. When he is eating, the cone completely covers his food bowl. At least there is no loose food flying around. I wonder how loud it is when he is chewing his food? He eats dry food, so the chewing must be echoing in his head. Have you ever tried plugging your ears while eating cereal as a kid? ( i know you have). It must be extra loud for Quincy since dogs hear so much better. Lapping up water? Forget it; it must sound like he is under a waterfall. He is supposed to keep the cone of restrictive licking on for 14 days. I may take it off sooner. Don't tell my vet!

OK, time to force the kids to bed early. I need a break...

Something is out there!

Last night I watched The Mist. It was decent horror movie, based on a Stephen King novella, about a mist (duh) that rolls into a town; but not your average mist. Without giving anything away, I'll just say that some very odd creatures were out in the mist and killing those people that were foolish enough to go outside.

These types of movies don't generally scare me after I am done watching them. (I'm choosing to ignore The Exorcist). Sure, I jump when things happen, but when the movies is over, I forget about it. I did have a concern after watching this movie, however. See, there were some giant bugs in the movie. I don't mind bugs for the most part, but when I see swarms of them, I can get the feeling they are crawling on me when I go to sleep. I'm happy to say I was too tired to care last night. Which is good because you know what I saw when I looked out the window before bed? Yeah, fog. We had a dense fog advisory overnight. Sweet dreams! Did I mention my wife was out of town too? Yeah, nobody was there to wake me if something was trying to get it.

Anyway, I slept fine. Tonight I am watching I am Legend. Hmmm, is it mysterious plague weather tonight?

I have the IMDB.com page up for The Mist as I am writing this. I have never looked at the part that lists plot keywords before. This movie lists, spear, run out of gas, person on fire, and restroom. Do people really search for movies were people are on fire? I guess if you are doing some kind of trivia thing. What about restroom? Who searches for that in movie? Do I want to know?

My daughter put me to sleep

I was relaxing in the recliner while my daughter was 'reading' to her babies. It was a quite calming, even though she reads very loud and is always telling one of the kids to sit down and pay attention. So, I drifted off. The next thing I know, it is very quiet. I open my eyes and my daughter is standing in front of me.

"Why are your eyes closed," she asked me.

I lied and said I was just resting my eyes. I told her to keep reading -- I wasn't ready to get up yet.

I guess I'm a grown up

Sometimes I don't feel my age. I'm not old, I'm 39, but I'm not young either. The time from the end of college, to marriage, to kids in school, flew by; I still feel like I'm too young to have kids in school. When I go to pick up my son at kindergarten, I feel like every parent there is older than me since they have kids in school. The funny thing is, I'm probably older than most of them since we started a little later than most people.

The other day I picked up my son at his friend's house and his mother introduced me to her high school age daughter as "mister". Ugh. I think I hit on this point before, but I feel like I'm not mature enough to be responsible for kids. I think I do okay, but sometimes I feel like I'm still a kid in a way myself.

I remember, about two years ago, my wife and I were pushing the kids in the stroller around the block and some high school kids walked past us. They didn't acknowledge us, of course. I asked my wife, "Do you think we seem old to them?" Yes, she was pretty sure they felt that way. In my mind it wasn't all that long ago that I was in high school, but it was over 20 years ago now.

All I need to do to remember I'm not a kid anymore is try to stay awake past 11pm. I can do it, but it's not as fun as it used to be. In college the cool parties didn't start until 11pm, then you go to bed at 4am, wake up for dinner, and go out again. I can't imagine doing that now. I just hope that I can stay up for the whole episode of Battlestar Galactica tonight. It ends at 10pm, you know, and I have to work tomorrow at 7am. How am I supposed to function with that kind of schedule? Where are my slippers? Get off my lawn you kids!

Wish me luck

Tomorrow we are running in the Shamrock Shuffle in Chicago. This is the longest race I've ever down. Well, I really shouldn't call it a race since I don't plan on coming anywhere near the lead, but you know what I mean. It's an 8K which isn't all that long, but with the lousy weather we've had around here, I'm not as prepared as I'd like to be. On top of that, the weather is supposed to be rainy and cool. So I expect to be sick next week.

Today I feel like I am walking through a vat of molasses. Not the way you want to feel the day before a race. Maybe, deep down, at a sub-conscious level, my body is telling me to go slow and rest up. Yeah, that sounds right. Now, can I convince my wife that I should just lay on the couch all day? She can too since she is running as well. No, I don't think it will work either. She was nice enough to let me sleep in this morning, but it didn't help me much.

So watch for me on the news. I'll be the guy taken away in a stretcher. Hopefully I'll have enough strength to do the weekend assignment tomorrow. Hmmm. Maybe I should try to get that done tonight.