Ahow @ the movies

Coming out of retirement...

2010-06-03T17:05:00.000-04:00

So its been awhile, but I wanted to drop a note and maybe post something over here occasionally.

If you are a fan of Biggest Loser (and I know a number of you are), I've been posting recaps of the episodes over at Off-Color TV. Turns out the wife of fan-fave Oatmeal (aka Oneal) was reading my blog and we now have an opportunity to ask some questions to Oatmeal and Sunshine and get some answers. Be sure to post your questions over there!

As you can tell...

2009-12-23T23:46:00.003-05:00

I've pretty much retired this blog. I've moved all my activity over to The Digitante since that takes up a couple of hours a night. If you are looking for pictures of the girls and you know me, become my friend on Facebook since I post pictures over there.

I'm going to leave all the content up on this blog however, so feel free to check out the archives.

What's the word, Chicago?

2009-10-02T13:00:00.001-04:00

Are you happy or sad the Olympics aren't coming to the Windy City? Leave your comments below.

I'm kind of bummed for two reasons: first, Indianapolis probably would have benefited from Chicago hosting the Olympics since we are relatively close and second, the wife and I moved away from Seattle right before the Winter Olympics were due to head there, so we missed out.

All in all, it is probably best for Chicago in a number of ways.

Mayor Daly has to dig out of all his messes on his own instead of getting tax dollars to bail him out.

Chicago citizens were going to pick up a lot of the tab for the cost of preparing for the Olympics, but rest assured, the profits from the Games were certainly not going to go back to the citizenry. Even all the increased economic activity would be taxed pretty hard.

And anyway, Chicago is a great city and certainly doesn't need the Olympics to raise its stature in the world.

So in closing, better luck next Chicago. Or congrats on dodging that bullet Chicago. I'm not sure which.

Tap, tap, tap...

2009-09-11T13:51:00.000-04:00

Is this thing on? At least I have the Twitter updates and location over on the side there.

I am planning on posting some baby pictures, but unfortunately, posting over at The Digitante is sucking up all my time. It is going great over there though, so be sure to check it out!

Triathlon cooldown...

2009-08-16T21:30:00.009-04:00

I was going to call this the triathlon rundown, but I've had enough running for the day. Here is how it all went down.

Woke up around 6:15-6:30, got out of bed and threw my tri shorts, regular shorts, and workout shirt on. Packed up my stuff in my backpack, ate the bowl of oatmeal with blueberries the wife cooked up.

Around 7:00, my dad, brother and I road over to the canal and parked by bike at the bike rack. I got my arms "tattooed" with my number for the swim. I laid out my gear in nice neat little stacks and headed over to the start line for my race.

The "tattoo" number:

As I waited around, the Olympic distance swimmer went rolling by. They had to swim 1.5km (0.9 miles) vs my 500m. My legs were bristling and driving me nuts since I had shaved them the day before. No nicks or cuts!

The legs:

My swim started right around 9am. I had some pre-swim jitters when I was still out of the water, but hopping in the water and warming up a little calmed me right down. It was a little chilly, but not to bad. I started off swimming freestyle (crawl stroke), but found that I was completely disoriented, water kept going in my mouth every breath, and I kept bumping into people and the wall. I almost immediately switched to an alternating pattern of backstroke, sidestroke, and breaststroke. My first takeaway was that next time I would definitely practice in the open water of a lake or something during training.

My time on the swim was about 18 minutes while I was actually hoping for something in the range of 12-15 minutes. Considering I did almost not freestyle though, I am pretty happy with 18 minutes.

Here is me (on the right) arriving at the finish line for the swim:

Transitioning was a really cool experience. It gave you a nice little break to relax while you tossed on some socks and shoes, shirt, and a bike helmet. About 3 minutes later, I was on the road. The Olympic tri was 50km bike ride (about 30-some miles). My sprint tri was 25km (about 16 miles). It was a nice scenic ride by the White River.

About halfway through my ride, I saw a dude sitting on the curb with road rash all the way up his side from a wipeout. He bike was about 100 feet down the way. Then about 45 second later, the guy in front of me about hit the curb and had to jump with his foot to keep from wiping out. I asked if he was ok and he just said, "I need to pay attention." Good call!

I was really strong on the bike, passing about 50-60 people and only getting passed by about 5. I was worried that was expending too much energy, but my legs felt good, so I kept pushing. I finished in a little over 40 minutes. I had budgeted 45 minutes in my game plan. Takeaway for this leg: ride harder. My legs could have handled more.

This is me zooming toward the finish line:

A few more minutes in the transition area to swap out bike shoes for running shoes and I was back out the chute for the run. The Olympic was a 10k and mine was a 5k. I ended up running the whole thing (aside from slowing down to drink water so I didn't choke on it). I ran it in about 27 minutes vs my budgeted 25. I will point out that I ran Race for the Cure 5k withOUT biking or swimming first and ran it in 24.5 minutes, so I really can't complain about 27 minutes at all.

Clapping to cheer myself and others on to the finish line.

Big takeaway from this leg: pin my number to my shorts and lose the shirt! I was majorly sweating and overheating.

Biggest lesson learned: I could have majorly sped up my transition stops, however, it was nice to wind down a bit before heading in the next leg.

Here is my victory picture just before hopping in the canal for a nice, cool down soak:

Currently a live tweet going on!

2009-08-02T20:57:00.001-04:00

I am live tweeting my trip to a Social D concert with the wife.

http://twitter.com/ahow628

Party Down...

2009-07-29T15:52:00.001-04:00

If you have Netflix, you need to watch a show called Party Down. It is available on either Watch Instantly or you can put the discs on your queue.

This is a Showtime show so you can expect some crude humor in the same vein as Weeds. However, I always feel like Showtime and HBO shows are more like TV should be, like how it would be if there were no network executives.

It is produced be Kevin from the Wonder Years and produced by Paul Rudd and also Rob Thomas of Veronica Mars fame (not of Match Box 20 fame). It stars a ton of people from VM including Vinnie Lombardi the bumbling private eye, the TA from college, Ed Begley Jr, and Dick Casablancas. Jane Lynch is also in it and also awesome (SB is signing up for Netflix as we speak).

Reuter on TV...

2009-07-27T02:48:00.001-04:00

So the wife and I have been in San Francisco for the past few days for a wedding. One of the interesting things about hanging around is having cable. At home we used to have DirecTV but got rid of it with the babies and summer and all.

Well, part of our cable watching included Daisy of Love. It is basically the runner-up of the second season of Rock of Love and she has her own falling in love show. Barf.

Anyway, one of the final contestants was named Flex and when he talked, his voice sounded exactly like my buddy Reuter's voice. If you know Reuter, you also know it is completely impossible to purge his voice from your head once you hear him say, "WHAT?!?!"

Search VH1 and I'm sure you will find some clips.

Off to Purdue!

2009-07-18T10:29:00.001-04:00

For a really quick trip. Gotta get these girls some Purdue gear before football starts in a couple of weeks!

Indy Tri...

2009-07-15T00:00:00.002-04:00

I am competing in a sprint triathlon in mid-August and I needed a pair of tri shorts (like swim trunks, but they have padding in the crotch for biking). I went to Speedo.com to find some and they had three pairs: a pair of blue ones that were ugly as sin for $65, a pair of black and red ones that were ok for $75, and some awesome silver ones for $100. I was disappointed that the silver ones were so much, but I decided to go with the $75 + $8.95 for s&h. As I was preparing to check out, I noticed a promotion: 25% off purchase of $85 plus free shipping. Turns out I got the awesome silver ones for $75 + $0 s&h! Sweet!

The best part about this triathlon is that I get to swim in the canal. If you don't know the Indy canal, just know that it is impossible to walk along without thinking about jumping in at any given moment. Now I'll get the chance. I'm currently in swimming lessons so hopefully I'll improve my stroke to the point that I won't drown in the 3.5 foot deep water of the canal.

Big girls...

2009-07-14T23:59:00.000-04:00

So, the girls are probably 11lbs, which sounds newbornish, but is actually huge considering they started out at just a shade over 2lbs. Currently, it hurts my arms to hold them for too long. Here are some pictures and a video.

The girls (Peanut hugging Pickle).

Peanut laughing at Mima (aka Grandma).

A little Pickle getting some sun and being a diva.

Lastly, a talking video. Please try to ignore my little boy voice. You are lucky I'm posting this at all.

June 23rd?

2009-07-11T15:16:00.004-04:00

So now I'm a year older, the girls went to Canada (with us of course), and Bruno came out since the last time I posted on June 23rd. That's depressing.

My excuse: The Digitante has continued to take up a bunch of my time, but I'm trying to get ahead. In the meantime, a couple of updates.

The girls - They are a little over 5 months old, however, you have to adjust that for their preemie status. In that case, they are about 2 and a half months old. In any case, they are smiling all over the place. Between the smiling and the talking, they are very happy little ones. They have also found that they like parking their hands in the "hand garage" as we refer to their mouths. While we were in Toronto, the wife and I got concerned because they were sleeping terribly. 2.5 hours at a clip and up for the day at 5:30 is not fun. However, upon our return home, they started sleeping like champs. Most of this week consisted of 7:30pm to 4:30am and then another stint till 7:30am. This morning however, they blew everyone away and slept from 6:30pm to 6:30am. Needless to say, mama and daddy were extremely happy about this.

For my birthday, the wife had a bunch of our friends over for my birthday last week. She managed to keep it a complete surprise. Of course I was oblivious of the obvious signs: Who buys the biggest bottle of vodka for a family of two adults? Why would we need 3-4 desserts for 6 people? Why is the wife in such a hustle to get home? My cluelessness diminished when our friends from Chicago showed up "randomly" on our doorstep. I was on to the ruse when more friends started showing up. Thanks to all those that showed up and also to everyone who commented on my Facebook wall.

The wife and I went on a date last night to see Bruno. Let's just say that while Borat was funnier, it was just barely. If you don't know what Bruno is going to be like, I would caution you: it is extremely graphic, but very funny. If you liked Borat, see Bruno.

More Digitante...

2009-06-23T09:45:00.000-04:00

A little link roundup and an extensive post on passwords.

Check it out: http://www.thedigitante.com/blog

Adrenaline pumping story from Logan Square...

2009-06-22T13:02:00.001-04:00

Guy loses iPhone. Guy tracks iPhone. Guy catches pilferer of iPhone. All in my old neighborhood. As a matter of fact, I used to walk down Medill St everyday for about a year.

The story.

My beer cellar...

2009-06-18T10:17:00.001-04:00

So recently, I've started somewhat of a beer collection. It all started while at Party Pak Liquors down at Stop 11 and Madison on the southside of Indy. I saw a Sam Adams Limited Edition Double Chocolate Porter. About that time we also got a fridge for the garage.

I tossed that beer in the there and followed it up with the Mikkeller Its Alive! Belgian sour beer. My brother and I drank the sour and blogged about it previously (link forthcoming).

The wife picked me up a bottle of Rogue Double Dead Guy which weighs in at a whopping 9%+ alcohol. I love Dead Guy. How much better would Double Dead Guy be?

My most recently aquired brew is two six year old bottles of Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPAs. Normally it would be an exercise for the user to buy the bottles and age them themselves. However, Twitter saved the day and I heard about these bottles.

So where does this leave me? With a problem. What is the appropriate occasion on which to bust these amazing beers out? This has been my struggle lately. Any suggestions for an occasion would be appreciated.

The Digitante is tweeting...

2009-06-16T09:59:00.004-04:00

You can find The Digitante on Twitter here. It really isn't so much tweeting as it is a news feed of various other tech tweets. I re-tweet (RT) anything that I find particular interesting. If you know of other feeds that The Digitante should include, let me know.

If you see things in that feed that confuse you or make you scared, you probably need to give me a call!

On pins and needles!

2009-06-16T01:51:00.003-04:00

I'm sure since I made my announcement two weeks ago about something that was coming, everyone has been waiting with baited breath.

Even if you haven't, here it is:

http://www.thedigitante.com

I'm starting my own business. For now it will be in my spare time, but I would love to help people out. Since you are reading this blog, you are probably a friend or relative of mine, so I have a special deal for you: I'll work for free! The point of this is that I'd like to get a client-base going, so need to get some experience. The result is that all my loyal blog readers (yes, all three of you) get to use me as much as you like.

If you have questions about pretty much anything gadget, computer, consumer electronic, etc related, please contact me and let me know. I'd love to help.

Now get over to my new site! Its still a little rough and the blog needs a color scheme, but it works for now. I plan on working on it over the next few weeks to get some content and get a nice uniform look. If you have any questions you would like answered, please let me know. If you have suggestions on something that might look or work better, let me know that too.

Lastly, if you know of someone else who could use my help, send them my way!

Professional...

2009-06-05T12:02:00.003-04:00

My friend from back in my high school days, Sarah Brown, is a professional photographer in her spare time. She does weddings and portraits on the weekends.

Recently she decided to try her hand a babies. Yes, that is right, we got some professional baby photographs done.

Sarah's website is Sarah Brown Downtown. She lives in suburban Chicago but heads to Indy on a very regular basis. She does great work and I would highly recommend her.

Without further ado, here is the link to the pictures:
http://sarahbrownphotography.blogspot.com/2009/06/double-fun.html

Big news...

2009-06-01T23:42:00.002-04:00

I've got some super big news coming up in the next few days, but I have to wrap up some loose ends before I make the big announcement. In the meantime, stay tuned.

Little travelers...

2009-05-26T13:59:00.005-04:00

So our little girls are quite the travelers. Mama and Daddy threw them in their Baby Bjorn carriers a couple of times this weekend and they pretty much passed out each time.

The locales we hit were:

Scotty's Brewhouse - I hit up Scotty's when I was a young man at Purdue. It was always terrific. The wife and I hit up the new Scotty's in Allen Plaza the day it opened. What an utter disappointment. We have been extremely gun-shy about going back there since. We decided with all the great weather, we needed to hit the giant patio at Scotty's allow for some redemption. When we arrived, the waiter asked if we had ever been there before and I said we had on the first day. He then asked with a tinge in his voice, "How was it?" I told him it was a little rough and he said, "It was for all of us." I was happy about the candor and as it turned out, the food and beer was markedly improved. I had some corn on the cob and a Brugge Tripel. Apparently Scotty's is the only place to get it beside the Brasserie. As usual, the girls slept.

Rathskeller - We sat out in the biergarten and I drank a 32oz Weihanstephener Dunkle and the wife had some Zinfindel. It was super warm and sunny, so the girls had their first drink of water. We got mixed reviews as they would drink a few swigs and then spit some of it out. I feel really bad that it was Indianapolis water. I'd spit it out too. There was a band playing and it just felt like summer.

Costco - We took the girls to Costco and they love it! And by "love it" I mean they slept the whole time except for when we crammed a bottle in their mouths. As usual, everyone that walked by said, "Oh a baby! OH TWO BABIES!" So intelligent. As usual, we ended up spending $200 at Costco. How is it that we can't seem to reign it in when we are there? On the plus side, I shouldn't need cereal until late-July.

Indy Metro Church - My sister joined us at church and the girls slept aside from a giant blowout poop. These girls are definitely related to me.

Upcoming plans:

Toronto - The girls will be heading to the Great Hot North for a Canada Day/Independence Day adventure to meet the remaining godparents, Uncle Peter and Shannon and Graham (in addition to my sister). They will also be baptized and most likely passed around until they don't remember who their parents are any more. I am more than a little nervous about the 8+ hour car ride, but they travel well in their carseats, so we will hope for the best.

San Francisco - Michelle's experience has calmed my neurves a bit, but we are tripling the flight time (6 hours) and doubling the baby amount (2 infants). Fortunately they don't out-number us, so we should be fine. While we are there, we will be attending a wedding reception (the ceremony will unceremoniously be at City Hall) and then we are going to take our little travelers galavanting in Sonoma wine country.

Chicago - We haven't nailed this one down yet, but we plan on coming up to Chicago this summer.

New blog for your blog rolls...

2009-05-26T13:56:00.001-04:00

The wife has a new blog that she just started. It should be mostly about our family. I'll probably link to some posts over there sometimes.

In the mean time, check out the Canadian Hoosier...

Cupcakes!

2009-05-20T15:33:00.001-04:00

Michelle:

Here is a post for you. Just pray they do a roadtrip to Chicago.

Crains Small Business
Cupcakes Take the Cake

Twitter feed...

2009-04-29T17:05:00.000-04:00

So now you can see more crap from me if you dare. I put a box with all of my twitter posts over to the right. Have fun.

Happy shoulda been birthday, dear birdies!

2009-04-27T00:05:00.002-04:00

My little angels: You were meant to join us outside the womb on April 27th, 2009. I worked and worked but couldn't find any significance to the date, being the actuarial mind that I am. Fortunately, you two saved me the trouble by being born on February 8th, 2009. Turns out my birthday is on the 28th day of the month and the wife's is on the 9th day so 2-8-09 worked out very nicely. And welcome home!

Full house...

2009-04-25T23:36:00.003-04:00

We have two additions to our household and no, I'm not referring to Uncle Jesse and Dave Coulier. Peanut and Pickle are both home and currently cooing away in their shared crib. The girls are 5 lbs 4 oz and 5 lbs 8 oz respectively. I'll see about popping up a few pictures but if you want to keep up fully, I would recommend facebook.

Quick updates while I have a minute...

2009-04-23T10:33:00.003-04:00

1) The little Peanut is at home now! We brought her home on Tuesday afternoon. Pickle is expected to come home before Monday. Our house is going to be loud and full. Mama and Daddy are super excited.

2) With a lot more going on, I'm trying to give an update or two per day on Twitter, so you can follow me there. As usual, my name is ahow628.

3) I watched Don't Mess with the Zohan yesterday. It was pretty much as bad as can be expected. It did have some good lines and the cast wasn't half bad: Dave Matthews as the redneck, Michael "Let's get ready to RRRRRRRRumble" Buffer, Rob Schneider doing his normal foreign guy thing, Sloan from Entourage (tell her I said what's up), Tha Jesus, Kevin Nealon (he is the best on Weeds), and Pierre St. James from Ugly Betty. You might watch it if you have some free time and don't mind letting your brain liquify.

Arrr! Pirates!!!

2009-04-16T09:16:00.001-04:00

This came from my buddy's comment in the prior post. Since some people may not have caught the comment, here is the link:

Ron Paul's plan to fend off pirates

In honor of Tax Day...

2009-04-15T12:21:00.003-04:00

The Libertarian Party Prosperity Plan
Abolish the IRS! End The Income Tax! Balance The Budget! Cut Spending! End Corporate Welfare! End Bailouts!

The steps:
1) Repeal the income tax: Adopt legislation repealing the income tax and abolishing the Internal Revenue Service. Until the income tax is repealed, adopt legislation preserving the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts and enacting across-the-board income tax cuts.
2) Adopt the Balanced Budget Amendment: Adopt a constitutional amendment requiring the federal budget be balanced, and balanced exclusively by cutting expenditures, not by raising taxes.
3) Abolish corporate welfare and bailouts: Adopt federal legislation prohibiting any federal spending program that provides payments or unique benefits and advantages to specific companies or industries, terminating programs that provide direct grants to businesses, eliminating programs that provide research and other services for industries and ending programs that provide subsidized loans or insurance to businesses.

Go to www.LP.org today!

The Libertarian Party is America’s only party dedicated to smaller government, lower taxes and more freedom.

To support the Libertarian Party Prosperity Plan, and to join America’s third-largest party, go to www.lp.org today!

Libertarian National Committee -- 2600 Virginia Ave, N.W. Suite 200, Washington D.C. 20037
202-333-0008 - info@lp.org

I've said it before, I'll say it again...

2009-04-07T08:46:00.002-04:00

iTunes recently raised their prices for most of their catalog, especially for new, popular releases, to $1.29. If you still need to be convinced to start downloading your music from Amazon mp3, then I really am just baffled.

Amazon's music is still in the $0.69-0.99 range. The downloader tool that Amazon provides loads the purchased music directly into iTunes, if you use that to sync your iPod.

It really couldn't be easier.

They got me good...

2009-04-02T12:50:00.002-04:00

As you all know, it was April Fool's Day yesterday. My daughters successfully pulled off their first prank with the help of their Mama and some nurses at the hospital.

I stopped by the hospital after work to visit the girls. They had their little hats on which I thought was cute. After talking to a completely sidetracked and distracted wife, I gave up and decided to change my little Peanut's diaper. As I was changing it, she was fussy so I went to rub her head. Turns out she had a little bald spot where her head had been shaved! My first thought was, 'they tried to put an IV in Peanut's head!"

Very quickly I realized what had happened, due to all the laughter from the nurses and my wife. They had switched out Peanut for Pickle who HAD actually had an IV in her head last week.

Poor girls, I had called them the wrong names and everything, but they never peeped a word of it to their poor, bamboozled Daddy.

Before I discovered the ruse, one of the nurse practitioners had come over and asked me how we were going to tell them apart at home. I told her that Peanut had 3 birthmarks on her forehead while Pickle only had one. She said she couldn't see them and I said, "See there is one. The other two must be under her hat." Silly me, I should have checked to see if it was really there, then I would have known.

Good job girls, however, you have a lot of ground to cover if you are going to top that one!

More on Truly Life...

2009-03-31T08:27:00.003-04:00

So my mom's business is more about how to use your money. She doesn't do taxes and she can't tell you what to invest in.

What she CAN do is help you answer questions like:
-I make good money, so why do I still have credit card debt and student loan debt?
-Where does all my money go?
-Budget? I don't want to talk about that. Where is that bucket of sand I usually stick my head in?
-I'm doing pretty well at saving and managing my money, but I feel that I could do better.
-Where am I going to get my next rent/mortgage/car/electric bill payment?

If these are questions you've thought about or are scared to even think about, she is the person for you. Here is some more information from her website:

Budgeting Basics
Do your spending habits reflect your dreams and financial goals? Do irregular bills and emergencies turn your finances upside down?

Learn how to set a budget, track expenses and live with a plan that allows you to reach your goals and fulfill your dreams.

INCLUDES:
* Setting goals and priorities
* Making and keeping a budget
* Tracking expenses and savings

Couples Kick-start
Do you and your spouse fight about money? Do you want to get on the right track and on the same page?

Learn how to blend your hopes and dreams, and then lock arms to make a financial plan that sends you on the path toward realizing your dreams.

INCLUDES:
* Setting goals and priorities
* Making and keeping a budget
* Tracking expenses and savings
* Working the steps to
* financial freedom

Financial Crisis Counseling
Do your finances have you hopelessly baffled? Are you drowning in debt?

Learn how to dump the debt, live within your means and let yourself begin to dream again.

INCLUDES:
* In-depth financial assessment
* Setting goals and priorities
* Making and keeping a budget
* Tracking expenses and savings
* Working the steps to financial freedom
* Eliminating Debt

Financial Fast-track Coaching
Would you like a step-by-step, on-purpose financial plan? Are you ready to pick up the pace to reach your goals?

Fine-tune your plan, take action, and accelerate your way to achieving your goals.

INCLUDES:
* In-depth financial assessment
* Strategic goal setting
* Developing a working budget
* Tracking expenses and savings
* Working the Baby Steps
* Increasing net worth

Financial Tune-up
Are you on track to reach your financial goals? Do you have a plan but have lost momentum?

Learn how to synchronize your daily habits with your goals and energize your plan, so you will be on-target to attain your dreams.

INCLUDES:
* Financial assessment
* Clarifying goals
* Tweaking finanical plan
* Building momentum

Truly Life...

2009-03-30T23:16:00.004-04:00

My mom recently decided to start her own business. If you would like to have some help straightening out your finances or just want to optimize what you are already doing, check out the information below. Try to head over there before Tax Day to get a head start and a great deal. The first half hour meet up is free!

From Susie:

I have officially launched my business, Truly Life Financial Counseling, and am offering an introductory promotion from now until April 15. Check out my website at the link below. Please forward the link to those in your sphere of influence who might benefit from my services.

Feedback regarding my website would be welcomed. Thanks!

Susie Howard
Truly Life Financial Counseling
www.trulylifefinancial.com
317-523-3198

Book recommendation...

2009-03-23T08:16:00.002-04:00

The author of the blog I Will Teach You To Be Rich just came out with his first book today. I really enjoy his blog which bucks the trend of most finance blogs. Most blogs focus on ways to trick yourself out of not buying a $3 latte everyday. However, Ramit teaches you to find "big wins" as he calls them. Example: his book includes scripts for calling your cable company or bank and renegotiating your cable rate or interest rate. This could potentially save 100s of dollars in a year.

Also, if you order his book and send him the receipt, you will be registered for either $1,000 or a free Amazon Kindle electronic book reader. Check the blog for more details.

Here is a link to his book on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0761147489

Long run...

2009-03-22T00:17:00.002-04:00

Today I went for a run from the hospital where Pickle is staying to my parents' house. I had planned on it being a 12.7 mile run, but it turned out (based on my actual route compared to my original Google mapping) to actually be 13 miles. Over all, I ran it in 2:06 which is a 9:41 mile. My last running post was sub-8 minute mile, but that was only 4 miles. Only.

During my run I ended up burning 1845 calories. That is about what the average person burns in a day. I'm feeling good. Now maybe I should just go ahead and sign up for that half-marathon.

O'Hara's

2009-03-17T09:30:00.002-04:00

While Guinness is all the rage for an Irish swill, it just isn't the same as the stuff they pour in Ireland. So to give you a backup plan for this St. Patrick's Day, I would recommend O'Hara's Celtic Stout (aka Irish Stout), O'Hara's Irish Red, and Curim Gold Celtic Wheat Beer. They are considered the best from Ireland, if less well known than Guinness or Harp.

Head over to your local craft beer store and pick some up. I recommend Sam's Wine & Spirits in Chicago, Big Star Beer Store in Seattle, or Parti Pak Liquors in Indy (at Stop 11 and Madison).

Erin go bragh!

Fifthweek update...

2009-03-16T11:44:00.000-04:00

So they both wizzed in their cute little red dresses, so no more red dresses for the moment. Unfortunately, they are too big for their tiny diapers and too little for the middle-sized preemie diapers.

Happy Fifthweek?

2009-03-15T23:11:00.003-04:00

Happy 5th weekiversary? Happy 0.096th birthday? Irregardless, the girls are 5 weeks old. And if after all the pictures you still weren't convinced that they WERE actually girls, we finally have some pictures of them in little outfits. These are the only clothes they can wear at this point because whatever they wear has to have plenty of access for wires or stethoscopes and allow easy diaper changes. Plus it has to be REALLY tiny. We have some onesies that we thought were small enough, but they turned out to be better blankets than clothes.

Without further ado, here they girls are in their little red dresses.

A little Peanut very interested in her hand and not sure why there isn't a pacifier in it.

A little Pickle sleeping on Daddy's chest.

Next goal: No more cannulas!

Toppa the mornin' to ya...

2009-03-14T10:53:00.004-04:00

I ran in the Shamrock Shuffle this morning in downtown Indy. It was a 4 mile race down through Fountain Square (running right by our house). I ran it in 31:55 which gives me 7:59 minute miles. That is far and away a personal best since I've been getting back in shape.

My original personal best was when my high school soccer coach said that no one could run for an hour. After I opened my stupid mouth and said that I could do it, he said I had to run 7:30 miles for an hour. That is 8 miles per hour. Let's just say that I did it in less than an hour and I couldn't hardly walk for a couple of days.

Hopefully there will be pictures from today's race posted in the next week or two. I'll post them here when they are up.

Happy Birthday...

2009-03-08T23:21:00.005-04:00

To the babies! Peanut and Pickle turned 1 month old today. This week for part of their birthday present, they got their "elephant trunks" (CPAP) off. They are down to vapotherm, so we get to see their pretty little faces.

Peanut smiling (from gas, most likely):

Sour beer...

2009-03-05T23:31:00.004-05:00

I was at the beer store nearby the other night and ran into a buddy from college. Fortunately, he works for Cavalier Distributing, a small distributor who only does craft and micro brews. I had heard about these things called sour beers, but had no clue what they were. Turns out they are brewed using wild Belgium yeasts, giving them a tart, sour fruit flavor.

My bro and I busted into a bottle of Mikkeller "It's Alive!" sour from Copenhagen, Denmark. We were both blown away. It was a deliciously different beer than anything else either of us had ever drank. It better have been since it was about $15 for a 25oz bottle.

I would throw this beer in my top 10 all-time beers and highly recommend you buy a bottle for a special occasion.

Mikkeller It's Alive!

State budget troubles...

2009-03-05T11:46:00.002-05:00

An overview of budget troubles in the news:

California leads the pack of states in financial trouble. It has the distinction of having the worst state budget shortfall in U.S. history, $42 billion. Its legislators spent 45 straight hours locked in the Capitol before approving the state’s budget plan. The budget pact contains $12.8 billion in tax increases.

Kansas nearly shut its doors in mid-February when its bills far exceeded its bank account balance. At one point the state suspended income tax refunds and it looked like state employees would not get paid. It took legislative action to transfer funds between accounts to process the refunds and make payroll. It also required $300 million in budget reductions. This was the third time this fiscal year that the state had to transfer funds to keep from bouncing checks. The $775 million transferred between accounts must be repaid by June. State tax revenue this fiscal year is $200 million below expectations.

New Jersey’s governor has called for a two-day furlough of state employees this spring and a wage freeze in July. He also mentioned the possibility of layoffs. The state now has a $3.6 billion gap in its current budget. Tax revenues are $2.8 billion less than projected.

Nearly broke, the state of Minnesota has recognized it does not have enough money coming into its coffers to cover spending for the next 28 months. Its deficit through 2011 is projected to be $5 to $7 billion.

The governor of New Hampshire has proposed laying off 275 to 300 state workers and eliminating another 400 vacant positions over the next two years. He also proposes increasing road tolls by 25 and 50 cents, $10 surcharge on vehicle registrations to pay for highway work, .75 percentage point increase on restaurant and hotel taxes and an increase in cigarette taxes by 35 cents. Gov. Lynch also called for the closing of a state prison and a school for students with behavioral problems and eliminated the catastrophic illness program for public health division.

State revenues for Louisiana continue to deteriorate. That state’s budget shortfall for fiscal year 2009-2010 is anticipated to be $1.75 billion.

Utah is contemplating the early release of 500 prisoners.

In December, the state of Virginia estimated a budget gap of $2.9 billion; that gap has now grown to $3.7 billion. January’s tax revenues were off 15 percent, the worst drop in state revenue in at least 10 years. That decline represents the state’s sixth straight decline in tax receipts.

Wisconsin is calling for a 13 percent increase in corporate income tax over the next two years, in an effort to eliminate a budget deficit of $5 billion. The governor also proposed a tax on hospital revenues, cut $125 million in state spending and changes to tax laws that would result in more online retailers charging sales taxes.

Arizona is looking to close 11 state parks, in an attempt to close a $1.6 billion shortfall for 2009. The Department of Revenue has issued pink slips to 200 of its 900 employees.

State revenue for Nevada is down 38 percent from last year’s receipts.

In the words of Vince McMahon

2009-03-02T09:52:00.002-05:00

"YOU'RE FIRED!"

I would like to take a moment to fire my investment manager (aka The Treasury Department) for their very poor performance this quarter.

Let's say that I'm an investment adviser for one of the wealthiest people in the world. They are so powerful that their actions will speak to millions of other investors and could cause significant changes in the world economy. I go to this person and I say, this company made some terrible decisions in the past couple of years. The same people that made these bad decisions are still running the company. I think you should invest a huge sum of money in this company.

Now fast forward 3 months: bad company's earnings reports come out and they have blown through half the money invested. How long do you think rich person could possibly keep me on payroll for? What do you think the possibility of me getting my pants sued off for negligence is?

Well, the US Treasury Department has done just this. They invested in AIG which had REPEATEDLY made stupid decisions. They didn't require an overhaul of its corporate structure or a turnover in management. Hank Greenberg, who built a great company, had already been run out of town by the shining beacon of ethics, Eliot Spitzer. Then they drop $150 billion into this money toilet and push the handle. Fortunately, there must have been a slight clog because $90 billion of it didn't go down, so now they are getting out the plunger.

How long until I can fire the US Treasury Department?

Definition of a deficit...

2009-02-27T10:44:00.004-05:00

It seems that the cool new thing to do is the herald someone for reducing the deficit. To all those heralders: deficit is not debt. When you reduce the deficit, you STILL have more money being spent than you are making. Debt on the other hand continues to pile up.

Perhaps it would be less euphemistic to so we are not accumulating debt as fast instead of saying we are reducing the deficit. Then it still sounds bad (debt), but is somewhat positive (not as fast).

A better idea would be to FIRST see how much money you legitimately have coming in, including savings and a buffer for unforseen expenses, THEN decide how much you can spend. That is how it works out our house. Apparently the government doesn't abide by my rules. I guess I am under the incorrect notion that the government works for me. Or not.

Give it up...

2009-02-25T10:34:00.004-05:00

I headed over to Brugge Brasserie in Broad Ripple for my Mardi Gras celebration. No beads, no shirtless women, just French Fries. Wow were they good. They had about 15 dipping sauces of which we got roasted garlic aioli, hot curry, sea salt and vinager, and poplar syrup and French dijon. I got the recommendation from the Urban Indy blog.

So starting today, no more potatoes (or bahtatoes, as we say in the biz). I am allowing myself to have sweet potatoes and yams because the are delicious and nutrious.

To misquote the Simpsons:
Homer: So you aren't going to eat chips, french fries, or mashed potatoes?
Lisa: Dad, those all come from the same starchy vegetable!
Homer: Oh yes, some MAGICAL starchy vegetable!

Biggest Loser and Bobby Jindal...

2009-02-24T23:06:00.002-05:00

First off, Biggest Loser: Worst. Episode. Ever. I never want to hear the phrase "Its not fair" ever again. Get over it and move on. Second, Mandy needs to be voted off. What a wuss. I'm sure L-Dogg will fill you all in on the details.

Next, Bobby Jindal: So we were wondering why Biggest Loser was only an hour. Turns out there was a presidential address. When a quarter of your population doubts what you are doing (see my previous post), the only thing you can do is defend yourself and try not to look to guilty. Since I knew this would throw me into a tizzy, I didn't watch the address. What I did catch was an Indian fella named Bobby Jindal who is the Republican Governor of Louisiana. What I found amazing is that his voice in no way matched his look. He is a very thin, medium skin-toned, sub-continental Asian looking guy, but he has a southern accent and reminds me of Hank Hill from King of the Hill. Let me be very clear, he uses cliches and terrible analogies all the time, but I really like his politics. You could certainly tell that he is gunning for the Republican nomination next election. I could even see him shocking the world after winning the election by ripping open his shirt to reveal a large 'L' on his undershirt and say, "I'm Libertarian Man!" He doesn't seem to be too keen on federal spending and would rather make hard choices. Too bad a man like that would never make it to the White House. In the meantime, I think he is going to do great things for Louisiana, starting with rejecting $100M of federal money that had strings attached.

Bobby Jindal quote of the night: "[The stimulus package] looks at spending millions of dollars on so-called Volcano Monitoring when what they should be monitoring is the eruption in spending by the federal government." See what he did there? Nice.

I'll post his address if they post it on YouTube or Hulu later.

Obama disapproval rating...

2009-02-24T13:11:00.003-05:00

The media seems to be trumpeting Obama's approval rating of 63% lately. Here is the funny thing about that: the average rating for the six prior presidents at the 1 month mark was 62%. Congratulations, you barely beat the average. Jimmy Carter was the only one higher than Obama at 71%. And we all know how his presidency turned out.

The more interesting news is that Obama has doubled his DISapproval rating from 12% at inauguration to 24% one month into his presidency. That is worse that all other presidents except Bill Clinton and far above the average of 16%.

GWB and Obama are pretty much tied, with George barely winning the contest, only because he had more "no opinion" pollees.

Here is a recommendation to Obama: stop taking my money and giving it to people who don't pay taxes. Instead of spending (wasting?) nearly $1 trillion, give us a 6 month tax holiday and cut anything non-essential by the federal government. The states can hand it for 6 months.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/116026/Assessing-Obama-Job-Approval-One-Month-Mark.aspx
http://www.lp.org/blogs/donny-ferguson/polls-obama-approval-rate-average-disapproval-rate-high

Amazingly simple video on the credit crisis...

2009-02-21T21:00:00.001-05:00

With pictures!

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

Purple Otter menu update...

2009-02-16T12:33:00.000-05:00

Fubar, please send these recommendations to your management, ASAP:

http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/

Update on the girls

2009-02-14T13:35:00.009-05:00

The girls' room that they will be going home to...hopefully before too long

Peanut sleeping away

Little Peanut's foot

Peanut chillin' out with her shades!

Mama holding Pickle's hand

Pickle

Mama holding Peanut for the first time

Mama and Peanut

Daddy holding Pickle for the first time

Pickle and Daddy

The girls are absolutely gorgeous and are doing well. They had there first bit of milk yesterday and did well! Daddy and Mama are currently holding for a few hours this afternoon. Can't wait until they're healthy so everyone can see them!

Fatherhood has rocked me like a hurricane...

2009-02-08T22:33:00.001-05:00

So the wife and I made a trip to the hospital late last night. She was having some bleeding and we thought it would just be a "we'll hold you overnight" type thing. As it turned out the bleeding didn't stop and as a result, we are now the parents of two brand-new, teeny-tiny, little daughters. Pickle was born first at around 3:15pm and weighed 2 lbs 6 oz and Peanut was second out about 15 seconds after her sister and weighed 2 lbs 2 oz. Here are a couple of pictures of the little boogers:

A cute little Pickle sleeping.

Pickle with Mima's hand in the picture for some perspective.

An adorable little Peanut. She was able to recognize my voice and try to reach for me. She also was holding my finger.

Daddy and a little bitty Peanut.

Some exhausted, ecstatic, scared, proud parental units. Mama and Daddy love their little baby girls.

You know that is less than 40%, right?

2009-02-05T09:12:00.000-05:00

The White House and Obama are all happy that their horrendous stimulus plan has SO much support.

Congrats, you officially ALMOST made it to 40% of governors supporting your awful, do-nothing spending plan. If you think it is just 60% of governors who are against it, you'd be wrong.

Me vs my children...

2009-01-29T13:30:00.000-05:00

So I though together a fun little Excel sheet that had the year, my age, and my soon-to-be-born childrens' ages on it. Some interesting fun facts:

- I'll be 32 when they first head off to pre-school (or pretty school as I called it when I was 4 or 5).
- I will be a 44 year old father teaching a pair of 16 year old know-it-alls how to drive. I'm sure I will consider reaching over to jerk the steering wheel toward a bridge abutment more than once.
- I will be 46 when they graduate from high school (or I'll be 52 when they decide dropping out of high school was a bad idea and get their GED).
- I'll be drinking away my sorrows at a bar on my 50th during the same year they celebrate 21 years of sobriety by drinking till they throw-up, get arrested, get in a fight, or preferably, all of the above.
- They will be married (if averages hold) around the time I plan on retiring (age 53).
- They will be birthing their 1st (and probably 2nd) child when I am hitting 56 and still wishing I could retire.
- They will be dealing with teenagers around the time I actually retire (age 70).
- They will be long retired at age 72 when I am 100 years old, just getting my ACAS, and rotting away, forgotten, in some nursing home.

There is no way I'm going to be saving this spreadsheet.

Reminder...

2009-01-29T08:54:00.001-05:00

Apparently Lauren can't figure out what day of the week it is, so I'll just remind her.

Its your birthday.

Follow up to Winterfest...

2009-01-27T16:17:00.000-05:00

One important part of the Kowalski story from yesterday is that I asked the wife if she knew Brian Kowalski and she asked, "Is that the guy who knocked his teeth out on the train tracks?"

If that doesn't sum up my years in Chicago, I don't know what does.

Winterfest...

2009-01-26T22:57:00.000-05:00

The Brewers of Indiana Guild had its first annual Winterfest beer festival. I had a great time hanging out with some buddies from high school and drinking some delicious brews. Here are some highlights:

- I bumped into Brian "I-knew-it-started-with-a-K" Pulaski. I hadn't seen that guy in 4 or 5 years.

- Most phenomenal beer of the day: Stone 11th Anniversary Ale. WOW! Hops like you would not believe.

- Runner up: Two Brothers Domaine DuPage. It was a nice Oktoberfestish type of fall beer. It had that swishing through dried leaves smell to it.

- Let down of the day: Three Floyd's Oatgoop was all gone! Note to Three Floyd's: instead of putting three kegs in the back of your 1992 Honda Prelude, please just rent a van and bring more like ENOUGH kegs to feed everyone. Thanks.

All in all, a great day. It was ridiculously crowded and they actually turned away a buttload of people. Hopefully they know what to expect for next year and have better crowd management and more space.

I can't wait to be at the festival 15 years from now and tell some whipper-snapper, "I've been coming to this festival since it started back in 2009. See, I've got all the little tasting cups!"

New TV show...

2009-01-22T09:30:00.000-05:00

So I've decided to invent a new TV show. This is my proof of intellectual property for my new show. TM.

The show will be called Law & Order: CVU. The CVU stands for Constitutional Violations Unit. These investigators will be charged with the arrest and prosecution of those who don't uphold the Constitution in their daily lives. Some of the episodes I've come up with so far:
- Senators and Representitives will be arrested when it is found they are legislating things other than Interstate Commerce.
- A sting operation is in effect where the Unit has information a fellow named Brady that a gun is going to commit a crime. Turns out that after days of investigation and stakeouts, the gun is still just sitting there on the table, not moving, not commiting a crime. The conclusion is that guns DON'T hurt people; criminals with guns DO hurt people. The second amendment is safe to live another day.
- In the season finale, CVU brings the President of the United States up on charges of perjury. They have him on camera, stating that he will uphold and protect the Constitution of the United States of America. Despite his degree in Constitutional Law, he never had any intention of upholding or protecting the constitution.

Now this all sounds silly, but it brings up some interesting points. President Obama was sworn in two days ago. As a part of that swearing in, he repeated the Presidential Oath. Unfortunately, a Nervous Nelly Chief Justice misspoke the Oath. The President ended up re-doing the Oath later that evening because he wanted to uphold the Constitution and do things the right way. I hope he takes that role very seriously and stands up for the rights of States and individuals. Just the same way he stood up for something as trivial as the correct wording of the Presidential Oath.

Anzio...

2009-01-22T09:20:00.000-05:00

On today's date in 1944, Allied troops began landing at Anzio, Italy during WWII. I'd like to give a salute to all of Lee's buddies who are still traipsing around the Globe on the USS Anzio!

Deliciousness and other stuffs...

2009-01-21T08:32:00.000-05:00

So on Saturday, the wife and I took the babies on their second in vitro trip to Chicago. Saturday night we played BINGO with Tom and Joanna and some others. We also played "The Game of Things" which, when we bought it looked lame but ended up being one of the best board games we've ever played. I highly recommend it.

Anyway, Sunday morning we ate brunch at Dunley's on Clark. It was great. I had these hash browns that had creme of mushroom soup mixed in. After that we headed over to Ikea to see about procuring some cribs. We ended up liking these $140 cribs, but they were out of stock, so we just picked up some mattresses and planned on ordering them online later. On our way out of the store, I decided to swing through the AS IS section which has scratch and dent returns. While I was browsing, the stock guys pushed out two of the exact cribs we wanted for $75 each. Perfect!

The sad part of the story is the part where the wouldn't quite fit in so I had to take them apart a bit and I broke one of them in the process. It should be easy to fix, but it was still frustrating. We ended up saving the $65 each on the cribs, plus we saved shipping which would have been UPS rates which could have been $308! Talk about savings!

Last but not least, I had a craving on the way home, so to fulfill my desires, we swung by Arni's for an Arni's Jr Salad and a Ground Pepperoni Pizza. They were amazing. On a very positive note, they are putting an Arni's in Greenwood, so I will have access to one of my favorite spots. Of course, it will be no replacement for the Market Square Arni's in Lafayette.

A movie and a TV show...

2009-01-15T13:32:00.000-05:00

First of all, we watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall. It was a pretty funny movie. One main recommendation about the movie: don't watch the extended version because it only involves male genitalia. Good times. All in all, it had some great lines, but was only just above average.

On an interesting side note, the yoga instructor is Pat the crackpot marriage counselor from The Joe Schmo Show, perhaps the greatest "reality" TV show of all time. Basically, they throw one regular guy named Matt into a typical reality show house. All the rest of the characters are actors who are in on the joke. There is the Rich Bitch, the Gay Guy, the Virgin, the Game Player, the Smarmy Host and others. Anyway, they rig everything up so that crazy stuff happens and the whole time Matt is just a nice guy who can't figure out quite how to react to all these dysfunctional people in the house. His most famous line from the end of the last episode is, "What is going ON?!?!" in a horribly whiny, slightly cracking voice.

Now for the next connection: we are currently watching True Beauty and let me say, Ashton Kutcher is a genius. Punk'd, Beauty and the Geek, and now True Beauty. The premise is that 10 contestants have been brought in because they are good looking. However, the tests on the show are meant to test their character, such as leaving confidential files on a table next to them and seeing if they look at them. At the end, the two worst contestants are taken before the judges and one of them is given the boot. The booted contestant is shown their awful behavior and told the premise of the show. The first week was awesome. The girl completely freaked out and was yelling at the judges about how she wasn't a bad person and she is the hottest chick ever. Should be great.

Canadians tie it up...

2009-01-04T13:23:00.000-05:00

Although Cam let me down, I won't let you down. Here is the game tying goal with 5.4 seconds left on the clock...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGXTCUczjDk

The first big purchase...

2009-01-04T01:09:00.000-05:00

So the wife and I headed out on a mission this afternoon. We wanted to knock out some baby stuff. We can't quite get stuff like bottles and things of that nature because we are having a shower (or more accurately, my sister is having a shower for the wife). We did however pick up two car seats.

This has been quite the debacle. It all started when we purchased a car a little over a year ago. We wanted to be somewhat practical and go with the sedan. We ended up getting an Infiniti G35x. We figured, we can throw a rear-facing child seat behind the wife seat, since she is a shortypants and eventually, when we have our second child, the first one can be behind my seat with a forward facing seat. This car will last us through at least two kids! OOPS! As mentioned in previous posts around here, we are having twins, that means two rear-facing seats at once. This is an issue since ol' lanky pants (me) has to have my seat all the way back.

Our first reaction was "We HAVE to sell this car!" It turns out that the seat will fit, but I have to lean my seat forward a tad and slide it forward a bit, but it will all work out.

There you have it, first official baby crisis averted!

A special thanks goes out to my mom's side of the family for the giftcards for the car seats. Peanut and Pickle were going bonkers the entire day. I'm pretty sure they knew we got them some presents.

1 out of 2...

2009-01-04T01:02:00.000-05:00

So I just got done watching the Colts lose to the Chargers. I would be much more heartbroken, but it was perhaps the most mediocre game I've ever seen. Philip Rivers threw the ball at the ground about 30 times, Dallas Clark and Anthony Gonzalez were mentioned a total of once in the second half (Anthony dropping a catch that was nearly intercepted), and Darren Sproles was the star of the game because the Indy D barely showed up for the game. Also, the wife mentioned that if the Colts wait till next year, the babies will get to see them win the Superbowl, so that takes some pressure off.

On the other hand, the Canadians won in a shootout at the World Junior Hockey Championships. They scored the game tying goal with 5.4 second remaining after pulling the goalie and dodging a long shot at an empty net. I'll link to the video after Cam over at Fantasy Hockey Scouts posts it tomorrow. Hear me Cam? I need a link!

Sincerest condolences...

2009-01-02T22:38:00.000-05:00

My heart goes out to the family and friends of one of my good friends from Seattle/Chicago, Tony Williams.

Tony moved to Seattle with a buddy on a lark with no money in his pocket and no job. He ended up being the activities coordinator for an old folks home. Between trips to Tulalip Casino and grilling burgers on the patio, Tony was always rocking a smile and a sarcastic comment.

There aren't any details on the situation thus far aside from the fact that Tony went to sleep after a New Year's Eve party and didn't wake up the next morning. Tony was 28 years old.

Movie quick reviews...

2009-01-01T13:49:00.000-05:00

Unbreakable - M. Night Shamalamadingdong is such a weirdo. He goes so far outside the box, that you know almost exactly what is going to happen. Bruce can't be hurt? Sam breaks all his bones? I wonder if they will be archenemies? I might give this one 2 stars. It is pretty boring though, so we'll bump it to 1.5 stars.

I Am Legend - Most of this movie was Will Smith alone. Kind of reminded me of Tom Hanks in Castaway. It is really weird to watch a movie with only one person in it. The premise itself was kind of stupid. The CGI was terrible. I would put this at somewhere between 2 and 3 stars.

I've got Cable Guy going right now. Superman (the original), Dan In Real Life, Back to the Future Part II, Home Alone, Simpsons Movie, and Assassination of Jesse James all awaiting me. I'll get to those at some point here.

Good ol' GHS...

2008-12-15T12:22:00.000-05:00

Its no wonder our soccer team had a heck of a time getting new uniforms. The AD was apparently stuffing wads of cash in his pockets!

Amazon customer reviews...

2008-12-12T09:55:00.000-05:00

I can never get tired of the Amazon customer reviews on some of the weird stuff Amazon sells.

Playmobil Security Checkpoint

I noticed that my child is now more interested in current events. Just the other day he asked me why we had to forfeit so much of our liberties and personal freedoms and I had to answer "well, it's because the terrorists have already won".

$500 Denon ethernet cable

The first time I downloaded a picture to the printer over this cable, the bits moved so fast the printer collapsed into a naked singularity, right there in my office.

Tuscan Whole Milk

After a long hard week full of days he would burst through the door, his fatigue hidden behind a smile. There was an icy jug of Tuscan Whole Milk, 1 Gallon, 128 fl oz in his right hand. With his left hand he would grip my waist - I was always cooking dinner - and press the cold frostiness of the jug against my arm as he kissed my cheek. I would jump, mostly to gratify him after a time, and smile lovingly at him. He was a good man, a wonderful husband who always brought the milk on Friday, Tuscan Whole Milk, 1 Gallon, 128 fl oz.

JL421 Badonkadonk Land Tank

The only real negative with this tank is that it shows up on radar a little more than I like (although there is a polyresin graphite stealth model available). Also, the included spare isn't full size.

Uranium Ore

Ran out of toothpaste, and remembered how you're supposed to be able to use baking soda to clean your teeth, so of course, I accidentally used this instead, and Wow! all I can say is, my teeth have never been cleaner! They sparkle, they tingle, and for some reason, they STAY clean now, no matter what. Highly recommended!

Silly people...

2008-12-11T09:46:00.000-05:00

So in my department at work, we have decorated our area as a Christmas village (clearly not my idea) for a holiday competition. Some of the other areas have other themes such as "A Christmas Story" complete with a flagpole and a Red Rider BB Gun and there is a Colts Christmas area that has blue and silver wrapping paper on the doors and a blue and white Christmas tree with Colts ornaments on it.

So over in the Colts Christmas area, there is a door that has fake snow all around it and a sign that says, "Colts Freeze Zone." So at first glance, I'm thinking, "Yeah, freeze the opposing offense in their tracks. Cool." But then I say it out loud to myself and it sounds like "Colts Free Zone." Oops, some people obviously don't think about the consequences of their actions. I am sure Freud would certainly paint my co-worker as a Pats fan.

New baby pictures...

2008-12-11T08:54:00.000-05:00

We got some Peanut (Baby A), some Pickle (Baby B), and some feet. Also, we found that at least one of the babies is certainly related to me. It was the fidgety little booger ever. I certainly wouldn't give it the quarters before we got to the toll plaza. As a result, Peanut wouldn't turn and give us a good profile shot. Also, they have gotten big enough to where we can't get a shot of both at the same time.

The ultrasound tech said they are healthy and good to go. They currently weigh 10 oz. Although they are 20 weeks along, they are measuring 19 weeks which being smaller is typical for twins.

Pickle profile:

Terrible Peanut profile:

And a little, tiny footprint (about 1 1/4" long):

Outsourced...

2008-12-06T00:53:00.000-05:00

This was a cool smaller budget movie that the wife picked out that is in a similar vein of Namesake which I may or may not have reviewed. Basically, a dude from Seattle is the manager of a call center. His department gets shipped to India and he is supposed to get the new center running. He does all this begrudgingly at first and in true cinema style, he ends up liking his job. It was a terrific movie and I would recommend throwing it on the Netflix queue.

Dayman...

2008-11-25T10:37:00.000-05:00

Ah-AH-ah
Fighter of the Nightman
Ah-AH-ah
Champion of the sun
Ah-AH-ah
You’re a master of karate and friendship…for everyone
Dayman, dayman
Ah-AH-ah

Libertarians...

2008-11-20T23:37:00.001-05:00

So I have some good news: apparently the Libertarians in the Indiana gubernatorial election carried 7% of the vote when they were actually expected to get 6%. Last election they got 3%. Very impressive.

They are lead by Andy Horning, who, by all accounts, is a great guy. Hopefully this is just the start and Indiana can start leading the charge for more State's rights and less Federal government.

I am teetering on the edge of starting a short series (like 5 posts) about some of the main Libertarian issues and how they match up to the parts of the liberal and conservative agendas that people like. So if you've ever felt that you like this part of the Republican party but that part of the Democrats, you are either a Libertarian or a hippie. Most people aren't hippies and most don't realize they are actually Libertarians and never knew another party existed that was exactly what they were looking for.

If you have opinion on whether I should do my little series or just shut my stupid face, let me know in the comments.

Crappy-song-that-I-inexplicably-love of the week...

2008-11-20T23:33:00.000-05:00

Go ahead and download Beyonce's If I Were A Boy. I did. Of course I want to stab my eardrums out. After I listen to this song again. And again. And again...

Diwali is a festival of lights...

2008-11-18T16:21:00.000-05:00

So put on your saris, it's time to celebrate Diwali.
Everybody looks so jolly, but it's not Christmas, it's Diwali.

Mmm... Chakri... (or Chakli if you prefer)

Tech tip of the day...

2008-11-14T12:57:00.000-05:00

So I threw it out there awhile back that people should check out Firefox 3 and the number of people checking out my blog with it went up. Smart people.

I've got a new tech tip for you that I've found extremely valuable. If you ever type in your screename for gmail, blogger, your online banking, or anything else, you know the annoyance that goes along with either mistyping your login name or having others use your computer. Fortunately for me, my name "ahow628" is usually at the top of the list. But I still get screwed by the occational "ahos628" from when I wasn't paying much attention.

To combat this, just highlight the name you want removed and hold down Ctrl and press Delete. Poof! Unwanted autofill are gone! This works for anything that pops up below the box you are typing in, including your address, birthday, town, etc when filling out forms.

Biggest Loser (WARNING: SPOILER ALERT!)

2008-11-12T09:48:00.000-05:00

Dear Jebus

Thank you so much for all that you did for Biggest Loser last night.

I would especially like to thank you for sending that special angel known as Amy C. down from Heaben to protect the innocent and the black team.

Please work on banishing that debil, Vicky, to the depths of H-E-double-hockey-sticks and please let Brady meet a nice girl to replace her with because he could certainly do better.

Crunches,
Ahow

Dern tootin'!!!

2008-11-10T10:47:00.000-05:00

The Goose read my mind...

Incredible Hulk...

2008-11-08T22:33:00.001-05:00

So a couple of years ago, I went with Reut, Fubar, Mich, and L-Dogg (I think that was the group) to see Ang Lee's interpretation of the Incredible Hulk. I wasn't the worst movie I've ever seen, but it was not good. The thing I remember most about the movie was buying the biggest bucket of popcorn, loading it with the fake butter and eating the whole thing. Then the next day at work, I ruined my shirt because I was sweating pure movie theater popcorn butter.

Fast forward to tonight: I watched the new Edward Norton version of Hulk. Awesome. There were a couple of cheesy "Hulk smash!" type of lines but for the most part, the douche chills were kept to a minimum.

A few highlights: Stan Lee cameo, Lou Ferrigno cameo, the purple pants, and the hungry exchange.

One of the coolest things going on right now is that The Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America, and a couple other super heroes are supposed to join Nick Fury in a couple of years to form the Avengers. So far, so good.

Tomorrow I'm hittin' the movies...

2008-11-07T23:20:00.001-05:00

It should be a good chance for the wife to catch up on some sleep.

Help us pick a movie.

Look out for Cletus...

2008-11-07T23:14:00.000-05:00

He's crashing the Facebook party!

My new favorite month...

2008-11-05T23:44:00.000-05:00

NOVEMBER!

Turns out that because I work for the State, I get Election Day off. Not to mention I get Veteran's Day and two days for Thanksgiving every year.

Two let downs on my day off:
1) Not getting to cast a legitimate vote - Please see my rant from the other day concerning Indianapolis Water, except please insert Bureau of Motor Vehicles in place of Indianapolis Water. It doesn't make sense, but suffice it to say, they registered me to vote, yet decided actually turning anything in to the State was completely option. And by "completely optional", I mean "not going to happen."
2) Heading over to Fireside Grill for lunch and to salivate over the 20 beers on tap (Abita Turbo Dog!) and the 50 beers in bottles, only to find out they don't serve beer till the polls close at 6pm. BOO BLUE LAWS!!!

Almost lastly, congrats to Obama. I think with democratic majority across the board, this country is going to either be much better off or much worse off, although I'm leaning toward worse. Of course, that could be because I work hard and am preparing to see 10% or more of my dollars disappear in the next 4 years.

I'll give him this much: he promised change, but he certainly didn't specify good or bad, so I can't fault him for whatever happens. Plus, my conscience is clean since I cast my (provisional) ballot for Libertarians anyway.

And lastly, in the gubernatorial election in Indiana, the Libertarian (Andy Horning) ended up pulling about 7% which is more than the 6% he was projected and firmly trounced the 2004 vote get of 3%. Congrats to the Libertarians...

Indianapolis Water and Indianapolis water both suck...

2008-10-30T11:20:00.000-04:00

So we got our first water bill in the mail the other day and I went to pay it with a smile on my face, but things have gone horribly wrong now. Let's go through the list:

1) www.indianapoliswater.com - I would include that as a link, but you would get an error page. Turns out, when I typed in Indianapolis Water as a Google search, there is a review written. Apparently Lisa K. wrote in Feb 2007 that the website was inaccessible. Here we are almost two years later, and it is still inaccessible.

2) $2.50 fee - If you pay your bill online (a pipe dream if you read point #1) or pay by phone, they charge you a "minimal fee of $2.50 per transaction" according to my bill. Let's see, a bill of $47.94 with a fee of $2.50? That would be over 5% for a fee for online transactions. Here is a list of fees charged by every other company I do business with online:
Chase - 0%
American Express - 0%
Discover Card - 0%
Brighthouse - 0%
Vectren Gas - 0%
Indiana Power and Light - 0%
Amazon.com - 0%
Purdue Credit Union - 0%
DirecTV - 0%
AT&T - 0%
Infiniti Financial - 0%
Countrywide Lending - 0%

Heck, I can take $100 out of an ATM and the most I've ever gotten charged was at a casino where they charged me a 4% fee.

And listen, I can understand a fee for a phone transaction because the person has to fiddle with a keyboard and all that junk. But for online payments? No body talks to me, there is no paper check to get lost, take to the bank, type into a screen, and no envelope to open. ALL of the companies listed above allow online bills which means, no one stealing my identity by getting their hands on my mail, no cost to the service provider for paper or ink, and I can know when my bill comes because it pops up in my email and I can label it or add it to the calendar.

All of this came to a head when the customer service rep told me the $2.50 fee was charged because I didn't have to use gas to drive to drop off my check or take the time to write a check. So now you are charging me $2.50 for my convenience? How thoughtful of you, douchebag.

3) Water quality - We have been taking gallon jugs with us to my parents house whenever we make a trip down because the water is completely undrinkable. It tastes funny, I don't feel good after I drink it, and currently there is a class action lawsuit pending that says that Veolia (the company that manages Indianapolis Water) has done fraudulent actions including over estimating bills, not reading meters once every two months as required, and doctoring water quality reports. To cap things off, instead of monitoring the water supply themselves, they managed to talk my alma matre (Purdue) into using water quality monitoring as an experiment to further pad their pockets.

To wrap things up, I am planning on calling and ranting at a manager over there to #1 get the website going and #2 get that awful $2.50 charge waived. I'll report back on my progress. In the meantime, if you live in Indy, complain about the water to the company and the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission.

Big news keeps getting bigger...

2008-10-25T00:42:00.000-04:00

So we went for our ultrasound today and as the tech was scanning and taking pictures, the wife asked, "Why does the baby's head look like it is detached from the body?" The tech replied, "Its not, both of their heads are perfect." The wife and I looked at each other for a split second with a look that was a perfect mix of sheer terror and glee. Then we both burst into hysterical laughter.

For the next hour, I was laughing constantly. I was in such shock that my body couldn't even process the situation. Just a week before, I had a passing thought that we may have twins. Turns out my gut feeling was spot on.

Here are some pictures for you:

Two head are better than one...

They are in bunk beds, as the tech said (one is above the other)...

Baby A has its back to us:

You can see some little Baby A toes...

Baby B's spinal cord:

There are some more pictures, but it is kind of more of the same.

Its official: I am currently reproducing twice as fast as most of the rest of the world. Booyah!

Reuter, I present to you...

2008-10-20T16:46:00.000-04:00

Your new bowling ball...

The bug...

2008-10-20T11:17:00.000-04:00

So the wife and I went to the doctor on Friday to have her checked out. Turns out she has a parasite that has been feeding off of her for the last 3 months or so. The good news is that the parasite will be exiting her body approximately April 27th. However, I've heard that this particular type of parasite, even once it is out of the body, continues to suck resources from you for another 18-30 years, depending on whether it just graduates high school, goes to college, or continues on to med school or law school. Personally, I'm hoping for a professional athlete.

That's right folks, we're having a baby. Friday we got to hear the heart beat, which was quite the experience. Needless to say, the exam room at the doctor's office got a little dusty about that time. This Friday we will be heading back for the ultrasound so I should be able to post some pictures of the little bugger known as Lil' Howie.

Unlike Michy Mich, the wife and I will not be finding out the sex of our baby. In all fairness though, it is definitely going to be a boy. I can't even imagine a scenario where I could make a girl. The wife is convinced it is going to be a girl. Even though I say I want a boy, I know I am going to be a sucker even if we do have a little girl. All 6'4" of me will be wrapped around that 1/2" little pinkie.

Happy Birthday!!!

2008-10-17T08:56:00.000-04:00

To Alan Jackson.

If you are in the AJ mood, here are some recommendations which can be downloaded from Amazon's mp3 store: I'll Try, Little Bitty, Chattahoochee, Drive, Little Man, and Remember When.

As a pointer, Amazon's mp3 store is better than iTunes because there are no restrictions on the music you download, you can load them on non-iPod music players and burn them to CDs as much as you want, unlike iTunes purchases. Also, they quality of the mp3 is much greater. The Amazon downloader tool also will automatically add the mp3 to your iTunes in case you do have an iPod. It really is a win-win situation. And some of their songs are $.89 instead of $.99.

If you do have purchases that you've made on iTunes and wish you could load on a non-iPod music player, google a program that is free called DoubleTwist. It will "liberate" your music for you.

Movie roundup...

2008-10-12T23:42:00.000-04:00

So if you are a fan of movies like Snatch, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and Boondocks Saints, I would highly recommend a movie called Dead Fish. The only famous person I knew in the movie was Gary Oldman who was great in it. It is available on Netflix Watch Instantly and probably your local Blockbuster.

Secondly, I watched the Grindhouse double feature: Planet Terror and Death Proof.

If you are a fan of genre movies and like Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez movies, definitely check those two out. They are super gory, but it is to the point of hilarity, like a guy gets shot in the arm with a pistol and his entire arm explodes. This is right up there with Kill Bill and From Dusk Till Dawn.

See L-Dogg, I told you...

2008-10-11T00:47:00.000-04:00

Comcast is nothing but bad news. And you think it will stop, but it never will.

Dump them ASAP...

If you do anything on Nov. 4th, vote Libertarian...

2008-10-11T00:46:00.001-04:00

I hate the elections. I can't wait till they are over...

http://www.lp.org/blogs/andrew-davis/time-for-change

Fubar would be proud...

2008-10-07T22:54:00.000-04:00

I went to my first Bootcamp at my gym yesterday. Let's just say I had very high expectations of how much work it was going to be. Let's also say that it far exceeded my expectations.

First, the good stuff: Playing basketball once a week and running occasionally definitely helped because I certainly didn't throw up.

Now the bad: I nearly passed out from not breathing during arm raises which lead to an almost puke. That was about 20 minutes in, but I recovered.

Here was the tally of the main exercises:
Class: 225 pushups, Andy: 25 pushups. The rest of the time, I just kind of dipped my shoulders or tried to keep my body straight.
Class: 425 crunches, Andy 300 crunches. Fortunately, I've been doing these for the past 3 weeks on my bedroom floor before bed, so I wasn't too embarrassed about that. However, the leg portion of the crunch exercises was tough. I usually had to bend my legs instead of holding them straight out.

Those were the main things. We also did a crapload of squats, mountain climbers, dips, curls, hammer curls, stair jumping, and lunges.

I am pretty excited to go back next week.

Note: I just Freudianly just typed "year" instead of "week" in the preceding sentence. What a wuss my brain is.

Always Sunny, season premiere...

2008-09-29T10:58:00.000-04:00

I haven't watched the two newest episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, but the first two episodes were spectacular.

Over last season and this, they have been doing great things with Charlie. That guy makes the show, although there really isn't a weak character.

I feel like a broken record, but if you haven't tried it out yet, Hulu has Seasons 1, 2, and 3 as well as the new episodes 8 days after they air. Also, you can subscribe to the new episode feed on your Google Reader (or your feed reader of choice) so you know exactly when the new episode is available.

Quote of the first two episodes (The Gang Solves the Gas Crisis):
Mac: Let's hit 'em where it hurts!
Charlie: The dick!
Mac: No, the wallet. Not the dick.

More quotes once I lighten the DVR of the more recent episodes.

Worst Week...

2008-09-29T10:53:00.000-04:00

So we saw the commercial for this show about a month ago and thought it had potential. My main concern was going to be the "good stuff in the commercial" thing. Turns out I was WAY off.

This really is similar to a TV version of "Meet the Parents" but every awkward situation thus far has been original and unhacky. I hope they keep it up because this show has vast potential.

Quote of the episode: "I'm going to punch you in the face."

Wow, over a month...

2008-09-29T10:39:00.000-04:00

After going on a B-Flo-esque sabbatical, I am finally getting settled in to a flow (or a rut) here in Indy.

At this point, we are 80% unpacked, 50% painted, 50% furnished, and 100% working.

Most of the stuff that isn't unpacked yet requires additional furniture, which I'll get to in a sec.

We still need to paint the first floor, upstairs guest bedroom, and the upstairs hallway. The first floor is going to wait till I figure out what I'm going to be doing down there. At this point, I am thinking a little bar area, poker table or pool table, and a brewery in the storage room. The upstairs hallway is going to be a bugger because the highest point is about 30 feet in the air, so a heckuva ladder is going to be required.

Well, as I just mentioned, a poker or pool table is on the list (albeit far down the list) and our main concern at this point is bedroom furniture. Its been ordered and should be in about a month from now. The only other things left are a new couch, a new TV, and some odds and ends.

Work is quite enjoyable. They originally wanted me to start work back in May, but I wasn't able to swing that. As a result, I've had quite the workflow since I started and it shouldn't be slowing down much at all. Being kept busy is always nice.

That is it for the moving and work stuff, but I have some TV show reviews to go over, so expect a flurry of posting.

Just wrapping things up...

2008-08-21T13:49:00.000-04:00

So everything in our apartment is boxed up and ready to be moved out. We have way too much crap, but fortunately, we are going from 785 sqft to 2620 sqft, so I'm sure the new place will look quite barren.

So here is the plan for our drive across the US:
1) Leavenworth, WA: So what happens when a mining town's mines dry up? They decide to completely redo the town in a Bavarian Village motif, obviously. And this is Leavenworth. Should be cool.
2) Missoula, MT: Umm, so, yeah. Nothing to see here. It is Montana after all.
3) Grand Tetons, WY: Doing some camping and hiking for a day or so.
4) Yellowstone, WY: Some more camping and hiking.
5) Chico Hot Springs, MT: I'd give you more details, but it is our two year anniversary and this blog is supposed to be PG-13.
6) NYC, NY: Jays are playing the Yankees (aka the Skankees) for one of the last games at Yankee Stadium. Plus, the Canadian wife is loving the Jays. We got tickets to both a Sat and Sun game, plus a stay at the Warwick Hotel in Manhattan.
7) Washington, DC: From one Washington to another. We are going to do some touristy stuff there.
8) Richmond, VA: Visiting a great aunt and great uncle so they can meet the wife.
9) Indianapolis, IN: Home!!!

The countdown begins...

2008-08-09T20:01:00.000-04:00

So at this point, I have no idea what day it is. I only know it is Saturday because I was told by the wife that we are having a going away party tonight at our apartment.

So last week, I had mentioned that we were going to be taking a trip to Indianapolis to search for a house. Turns out that we found the house we were looking for. At this point, our offer has been accepted and the inspection is complete. We are in the midst of a mortgage approval and close on the house on September 5th. The last step is that we take possession of the house on September 7th.

If you are interested, here is a link to our beautiful house. Caution: awful elevator music ahead.

Anyway, tentatively mark your calendars for a Halloween Party on October 31st. Before that we are going to be laying low because of exams.

Olympics opening ceremonies...

2008-08-08T12:09:00.001-04:00

So I just watched the opening ceremonies live from Beijing. It was awesome. I don't want to ruin anything for you but watch the torch lighting portion. Absolutely amazing.

There are a few things that I have a problem with as far as China is concerned however:

1) Leave Tibet alone - I am not, nor have I ever claimed to be, a hippie. However, the Chinese government is just being a bunch of jerks about this. As Lil' Jimmy Norton would say, "Leave him alone!"
2) Internet censorship - Leading up to the Olympics, the government kept saying they were going to open up the internet for free speech. At this point, some absurdly high number (75%?) of the internet is still censored. Way to follow through.
3) Technology - Choose a side China. They go one of two ways: either they pirate western technology or they make up some completely new technology that isn't compatible with anything else in the world.
4) Economics - Get ready for a massive crash to their booming economy. It is currently being supported by the $6 billion dollars that they spent getting ready for these Olympics. If you think that growth will continue after the Olympics, I would say that is a bit naive.

Only one person will appreciate this...

2008-08-08T02:26:00.001-04:00

And maybe less than that.

So I got the Purdue University School of Science newsletter. The big news was that a retired professor (Emeritus Professor, I don't know what that means) got a big award. It was none other than David Moore, my stats professor from sophomore year. I probably could have been ok by just reading the book. The main problem was that he wrote the book, so all the holes in his teaching that might have been covered if someone else wrote the book were also holes in the book too.

Also in this issue of the newsletter was Professor Penney, the adviser for the actuarial department, handing out awards. He was such a weird dude. Every time I would talk to him, he would look at me as if he had no clue who I was, even though I had met him and talked to him once or twice a week for a few semesters.

Lastly, when I was in Indy, I met this kid who was assisting the dude taking my brother and future sister-in-law's engagement pictures. He mentioned that he was going to Purdue as a freshman for something called "Actuarial Science", including the quote fingers and the lack of confidence as he winced at the thought of explaining what actuarial science was AGAIN when he actually had no clue what it was. He said he got interested because he likes math and could make a crapload of money, so at least he is in it for the right reasons. Little did he know he was talking to a pair of actuaries (me and the wife). We gave him more info about actuaries than he could ever want to know. Also, my mom made him dry the dishes after dinner. I'm pretty sure I'll never hear from that kid again.

In related news (literally)...

2008-08-01T12:52:00.001-04:00

Happy birthday to Bryan!

In honor of all the postings he has given us on his blog over the last 6 months here is a nice little post I wrote:

What could have been...

2008-08-01T12:41:00.000-04:00

There was a time when me and Reuter were inseparable. We sang "Friends in Low Places" together. We traveled to Florida, Vegas, and various other locales together. If we could have made babies together, it would have been beautiful and looked something like this:

Unfortunately, Michy-Mich swooped him up and whisked him away in a whirlwind, fairytale marriage.

Despite my sadness over what could have been, I'd like to wish him a happy 29th birthday. Its hard to believe you are only a year older than me...

House shopping...

2008-07-30T13:16:00.000-04:00

So we are in Indiana currently doing a little house shopping. Right now we have 8 properties on the docket. Most are condos with a townhouse or two thrown in the mix. Once we take a look, we will post some pictures and links of our favorites so we can get some feedback from the community.

In the meantime, we need to get pre-approved for the mortgage, but that shouldn't be a problem.

Upcoming is a review of Dark Knight as will as an overview of the "theater" aka bar that we watched it in.

New blog...

2008-07-27T14:26:00.000-04:00

So my buddy Cam that I met in Seattle recently started a Hockey-based website.

http://www.fantasyhockeyscouts.com/

Basically, he would do anything to not have to deal with all the douches crowding the actuarial world, so he decided to move on. He told me if this doesn't work out, there are always opportunities in the cat burglary business. However, I don't think that svelte little body would stand up to the tortures of prison life, so hopefully he can stick to hockey and humor.

Throw that site on your reader or in your bookmarks and be sure to check out the Daily Distraction.

Also, Cam, give me a link, buddy...