Archive for April, 2008

Fun Weekend…

Tuesday, April 29th, 2008

We had a good weekend.  Auntie Jan and Uncle Mike came up from Eugene for the weekend…plus, Grandma visited from Cupertino.  This was visitor overload for Zacher as he had someone to play with every minute he was awake.

For adult fun, we got a babysitter on Saturday night and we went to Jak’s Grill for dinner.  This place serves up a real good steak.  I had the Jak’s Filet which was great as usual.  Mike had the Cowboy Ribeye – I’m guessing he’s still full.

The only damper on the weekend were some illnesses going through our household.  Nate and Zach each had colds while dad had some unknown body aches.  The best theory right now is a viral infection that affected my muscles and that lead to pleurisy.  I had pretty uncomfortable chest pain on Monday – the doctor ruled out anything serious after doing some tests, and this lead her to believe it is pleurisy.  I felt much better today after sucking down prescription-amounts of Aleve.  Hopefully this will allow the irritation to mend and I’ll be better by the weekend.

Steph goes away to a conference tomorrow so dad is in charge until she gets back on Friday.  This could be interesting!  Zach has been hit and miss lately – you know, that I’m almost 3 and know everything phase.  One thing is for certain – when he sleeps the whole night in his bed, he is definitely a better kid the next day.  Once he starts climbing in our bed during the night, then he turns into evil child the next day.  Yes, we are doing our best to keep him in his bed.  But, he can sneak in our bed without me even knowing.

Zito Sucks!

Sunday, April 27th, 2008

Barry Zito has really turned into a stinker for the Giants. Last year he had a very subpar year but at least he showed signs of the old Barry Zito. Now he just plain stinks. Today, the Giants lost 10 to 1 to the Cincinnati Reds.

Zito gave up 6 runs in the first inning. Here is his linescore for the 3 innings he did pitch:

IP H R ER BB K HR Season ERA
B. Zito (L, 0-6) 3.0 7 8 8 3 1 0 7.53

What a Bust! Time to think about benching him so he doesn’t keep bleeding off wins.

On a good note, Lincecum, Cain, and Sanchez are solid.  These guys are throwings strikeouts and keeping games close.  Which gets to the next issue – we have little hitting.

Warmin Up the Tub

Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008

The electrician arrived today and spent from 9:30am to around 3:00pm running the 220 line and getting our spa hooked up.  Right now it’s about 82 degrees – it started off at 52 degrees – so it’s warming up quickly.  We’re hoping it will be up to 100 by 10pm tonight.

All the chemicals have been added so there is not much to do but wait.

Snow and New Coffee Maker and the Spa

Sunday, April 20th, 2008

We had snow fall on Friday, Saturday, and today. Never enough fell to stick but yesterday it snowed for about an hour. This morning, while it technically snowed, it was light and only lasted for 15 minutes.

Now on to the new coffee maker. I’ve been pondering getting a single cup coffee maker but wasn’t sure which one. I decided on the Breville BKC600XL Single Cup Coffee Brewer

It brews using K-Cups and it also supplies a K-Cup for your own ground coffee. So far, the results are great. The coffee is good and the coffee maker is extremely easy to use.

Our Sundance Spa was delivered yesterday during our snowy, wet afternoon. Now we just need the electrician on Wednesday and it should be usable by Thursday!  BTW we got a Sundance Altamar

Snow…In April

Friday, April 18th, 2008

Yikes!!!  It’s coming true.  While sitting in a conference room at work from 3 to 4pm – I spent most of the time watching snow fall off and on during the meeting.  I just looked outside at home (7:30pm) and it’s snowing.  The temp has gone from 40 degrees to 36 degrees in about 15 minutes.

I checked out the NWS site and they claim that Snohomish county has received upwards of 5 inches.  Wow!  Tonight and tomorrow could be interesting.

Boston, Nice Weather, and More

Monday, April 14th, 2008

I spent Wednesday through Saturday in Boston on business. Ok, Wednesday was spent flying to Boston, Thursday I was in meetings, Friday was for messing around, and I flew home Saturday morning. I’m definitely happy I took a day to tour around downtown Boston – there is plenty to see.

Let’s start with Thursday, and I don’t mean the work part. We were taken to Fenway Park to watch the Boston Red Sox take on the Detroit Tigers. Wow, what an experience. I just loved the ballpark. In addition it was an absolutely beautiful evening. I did take a stroll around the stadium to check out the place – it has definitely aged well. And for those who don’t know about ‘Sweet Caroline’ – read all about it here. For the record, I had no idea this occurred – so I was pretty amazed.

On Friday we walked from our Hotel north through Boston Common, and then took a stroll through the Massachusetts State House. After the capitol we got some grub at Dunkin Donuts (very popular in Boston) and toured through a graveyard where Sam Adams, John Hancock, and Paul Revere are buried. BTW, graveyards show everywhere around the city. We then continued along the Freedom Trail toward the Old South Meeting House and Old State House. We then cruised through Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market, and then past Paul Revere’s house. After that we walked to the Old North Church (went inside) and finally across the Charles River over to the USS Constitution.

We finished it off with food over at the Union Oyster House – the oldest, continuously running restaurant in the US. If you are ever there, we ate in the booth next to the booth where JFK used to eat. After lunch we cruised through beautiful Beacon Hill, past Cheers, and down Newbury Street. We finished off our afternoon with drinks at the top of the Prudential Tower.

I took an early flight home on Saturday morning, and luckily I did that. Saturday was absolutely beautiful in Seattle. We had a high of 80 at our house. We took the boys to the park for a few hours where Zach played on the slide and threw rocks into the water. The good weather was short lived – back to showers on Sunday and today we never even got to 50 degrees. We had rain, thunder, and cool air. Right now it is 39 degrees outside – pretty chilly for April.

I scheduled our hot tub delivery for Saturday. I spent yesterday clearing the bushes/trees that are in the way of the delivery. Now I’m trying to schedule the electrician to hook it up. We also have many birthdays coming up in April and May – including Zach’s party.

That’s all for now…pictures are getting uploaded, I’ll link them in soon.

View from my seat.

Graveyard with Sam Adams, Paul Revere, and John Hancock.

Inside Faneuil Hall

Brownstones in Beacon Hill.

View from Prudential Tower looking at the John Hancock Tower, I-90, and Logan Airport.

Nate at the park.

Zach navigating the slide.

Zach and Dominic holding hands at the park.