Sick

I'm sick. I'm actually feeling a little better today than I was yesterday. I slept for an extra hour this morning, which helped. If my current rate of improvement holds, I should be feeling pretty much normal by the time we get to Peru. If I had to get sick, I'm glad it was this week instead of next week.

I talked to Mom last night. Every time I hear about Caroline I want to rush out and buy a plane ticket for Casper for right now. :) I think it will really be better when we go in October, though. She'll still be really little, but they will have hopefully gotten into the swing of the baby thing so that having company won't be so disruptive. I can't wait to see her, though.

Olympic gymnastics was really weird this year. I watched the final individual competitions last night, and I couldn't believe the judging. Not only that, but the audience threw a fit at one score that was too low. They changed the score, but it was still a bit lower than the audience wanted and they kept whistling and yelling throughout most of Paul Hamm's routine. I feel sorry for that guy. Here's the second controversy he's been in the middle of, and he has no control over any of it! All he did was come to the Olympics and do his best routines. He can't help that the judges make mistakes. It has to sour the experience a bit, and the athletes don't deserve that.

Conformity

What is the obsession people have in this country with uniformity? Sarah has been talking about painting her apartment for months. The managers didn't tell her that she couldn't do it, but they didn't exactly encourage it either. Finally, she just did it thinking that she would be OK with either losing her deposit or repainting it white when she moves out.

Now I ask you - why do apartments always come with white walls, neutral carpet, and white countertops? I mean, I personally would be much more attracted to an apartment that had some color in it than to a boring, standard, neutral color scheme. I suppose if a person owned an orange couch, you wouldn't really want an apartment with purple walls. But, come on - you can always paint!!! And the idea that Sarah should have to lose a deposit or repaint that wall white when she moves out is ludicrous because the apartment complex always has to repaint between residents anyway.

It's the same thing in my neighborhood. You have to use standard paint colors. You have to apply for permission to change your landscaping. It's boring. Sure, in life you sometimes end up with the oddball that paints his house hot pink. But, on the whole I think I'd rather live down the street from a pink house than see how much everyone wants to look just like everyone else.

On a completely different topic, we saw the Machu Picchu exhibit at the museum yesterday. It was a great way to hype up for our trip. 4 days to Peru!

Duck heads

I really have no excuse for not writing every day this week. Since Tuesday, I've been in a all-day class at work - Java Advanced. I produced an OK-looking GUI that doesn't actually do anything. I took Beginning Java about two years ago, and I remember just enough to get by for this class. The problem is that I don't really have anthing to use it on. Maybe I can think of an applet to write for my web page.

I talked to my sister on Tuesday. She's feeling better now; she got kind of sick from the epidural and blood loss after the delivery. They should have gone home with the baby yesterday. They've promised pictures soon. I'm trying to be patient, but it's really hard.

I was in Target last night and I decided to buy my niece a teddy bear. Only, apparently teddy bears are out these days. So, I settled for a stuffed black lab puppy. They didn't have one Holly's size. (Holly is my stuffed black lab puppy. She was Gavin's first Christmas present to me - thus the name.) So, I had a choice between a little one about 8" long or a huge one about 2' long. I went for the little one. I figured the big one would probably scare Caroline more than anything.

Now, I wasn't going to get footwear. I specifically wanted to show everyone that I could buy baby stuff without getting socks or shoes. But as I was heading back to the grocery section I caught sight of these little "bath booties" that had velcro straps with duck heads on them. They were so cute, and I broke down. Apparently, I am not capable of buying baby stuff without getting footwear. It's an obsession; I admit it. When she's old enough, I'll buy her little baby Tevas. :)

I'm an Aunt!

My sister is so lucky! 5 hours, and she didn't really even realize she was going into labor until well into it. Mom and baby are doing great.

Caroline Ava Weiss
7 lb. 18 in.
Born August 16, 2004

Apparently, she has hair and little tiny eyebrows already.

Everybody was still reeling when I talked to them. Dad couldn't remember the area code to tell me when he gave me the number at the hospital. Pat couldn't say anything but "she looks so great" when I got him on the phone. :)

Aunt Jen and Uncle Gavin - wow, is that weird or what!

Baby Time

I got a call from Dad less than an hour ago, saying that my sister went into labor!! She's been having mild contractions for about a week now, and I guess she went in for her doctor's appointment today and they found out she was at 3 cm. So, into the hospital she goes and they're going to break her water soon. Her "due date" was next week, so it's pretty much right on time.

I'm so excited! It really, really sucks being so far away so that all I can do is wait for a call. Then it's going to suck because I have to wait until October to see the baby! Jes and Pat do have internet now, so I'm hopeful for some pictures. Unfortunately, Mom and Dad - who will probably have more leisure for stuff like that - don't think of e-mail yet as a way of communicating big news. Dad did call my cell phone, so that was a positive sign.

Aunt Jen

Lunch Wars

Should it disturb me that the most lively discussion I've heard all week has to do with where we will go out to lunch today? Let me summarize:

8:17am - Sarah... "Great weather today. Let's go somewhere for lunch outside."
8:37am - Becca... "Great idea. I like these places..."
8:38am - Matt.... "Quiznos in the park!"
8:39am - Gavin.. "Fudds! Milkshakes... mmm milkshakes."
8:47am - Jo......... "No fudds! Meds and Quiznos in park!"
8:50am - Gavin.. "No Meds! Quiznos OK."
8:51am - Becca... "Booo Quiznos!"
8:55am - Sarah... "Jason's Deli?"
8:56am - Gavin.. "MILKSHAKE!"
8:56am - Matt.... "Jason's Deli bad!"
8:56am - Sarah... "Somebody has to give."
8:57am - Becca... "Let's include more people in this disfunction."
8:58am - Gavin.. "Pssst. I 'heard' that Becca will go to Quiznos."
9:00am - Ryan... "TOASTY!"
9:01am - Jo......... "Stop fighting! Why can't we all get along?"
9:01am - Sarah... "You're all freaks. Why don't you like food?"
9:02am - Becca... "Jo's so weird: she doesn't eat anything green or foreign."
9:02am - Bini...... "Too many e-mails!"
9:03am - Sarah.. "Silence minion!"
9:04am - Jo........ "I do too eat foreign food! Don't pick on me!"
9:05am - Becca.. "I'm not touching you! Ohhh sushi!"
9:06am - Jo........ "Stupid American. Sushi is so over."
9:11am - George "You're all mental. Quiznos!"
9:12am - Jo......... "Wow, I've done more work in the last hour than I have since June."
9:13am - Sarah... "I think I hear my computer ticking."
9:13am - Jo......... "Nanner, nanner, nanner."
9:14am - Bini...... "Mommy!"
9:24am - Jo......... "How about Kemah?"

And the discussion continues... I may have paraphrased slightly. :)

Lo siento

OK, OK, OK. I know that I am a total slacker for not writing for the last week. Even though I have been accused by some (Becca) for not writing for two weeks, you will see if you look at the date of my last entry that it has, in fact, only been one week. :P

I'm still working on the Rocky Mountain National Park / Long's Peak report. For all that I haven't had any real 'work', besides training that is, on my desk for months and months, I came back from Colorado to find software testing for 5 new applications (that's 5!) sitting on my desk. The plans need to be done before we leave for Peru on the 27th, and I have a 4 day long Java class to attend next week, so I'm going to be busy. I have been completely snowed under with sims and meetings since we got back. So, there are my excuses - do with that what you will.

I now have to go to a debrief for a long sim that took up the first half of this week. We made a pretty significant error at the FDO console, so I'm not looking forward to explaining about that. I can always hope that they'll concentrate on systems as usual and forget about me. Usually, that's not a goood thing, but sometimes...

I took the dogs to the lake in the new neighborhood last night. Roxy was acting really weird. Zoya jumped right in the water and started swimming. Roxy wouldn't go off the little ledge into the lake. Like she was scared of getting wet above her belly. She'd wade out until she got to the drop-off and then start whining and back away. It was very weird - I've never seen her do anythin like that before. She is a total coward, though. She got in some really goopy mud on our way there, and then didn't like how it felt on her paws. She kept stopping to lick and look at me like "Aren't you going to help me?"

101 in the shade...

Roxy is feeling better. She ate her dinner last night and even started to play a little bit before bed. Unfortunately, we had to leave them inside today because Texas is freaking hot right now. Right now it's 90 degrees with a heat index of 101. It's like the weather is trying to rub in the fact that we are now back from Colorado and stuck in Texas for the next three weeks. :P

I talked to my parents last night. Apparently, I did visit Rocky Mountain National Park once before - when I was like 5 or 6 years old. Obviously, I don't really remember it. Although once my mom told me that, I did get this weird de-ja-vous thing about Trail Ridge Road. I think that may be my imagination, though.

I'm still sorting through pictures from the trip. I took a lot, so it will take me a while to get them ready. Here's a sneak peek, though.

Rocky Mountain National Park

Well, if you read this blog, ever, you know where I was this weekend. Gavin, Sarah, Becca, Rich, Jason, Emily, Carter, and I all went to Rocky Mountain National Park this weekend. Of course, I will write a trip report with pictures. And I'll post the best of the plethora of pictures I took on my Yahoo photo album. But for tonight, I'll just write a quick summary.

Thursday, everyone except Gavin, Becca, and I flew into Denver early for a baseball game. We flew in later that night and we all drove up to stay in Estes Park (hotel) for the night. The next morning, we hiked in Glacier Gorge and camped in a campground. Saturday, we put on our packs and took off from the Long's Peak trailhead. We packed in to the Battle Mountain group site, which is about 2.8 miles from the trailhead and 1600 ft up. Sunday, we assulted the mountain, and were turned back a few hundred short (vertical) feet from the top. The Trough may be free of snow soon if the temps keep up, but I think it was probably snowing some up there again by Tuesday. Saturday we hiked up to Chasm Lake without packs and then claimed all our stuff and headed to Estes Park for showers and "real" food (according to Carter). Tuesday, we got up early and drove the Trail Ridge Road on our way back to Denver to catch our planes. It was a fantastic weekend even though we didn't summit. Read the trip report when it comes out - it'll be worth it!

Today I got back to work to find a fresh pile of software testing in my inbox. I've been not so busy for a while and asking for new work, but software testing isn't exactly the most glamorous thing I could do. I guess it needs to be done, though, and maybe I'll get a sneak peek at some Return to Flight issues. Next week we're doing a "major case" sim. That basically means they're going to break something big and let us work on it for a few shifts to see what we do with it. I'm working Orbit 2 and Orbit 1, which isn't really realistic, but at least I'll get some good experience.

Departure to Peru is only 20 days away. I'm vacationing at least once a month until after Christmas! Isn't that Awesome?