C'mon Feel the Noise

White Noise that is. Without it, we would get no sleep.

They say some kids are comforted by the hum of a vacuum or a shhhing sound.. Well, cloudy's certainly one of those kids. It's like an "off switch" for his fussiness... If he's fussy (which he often is), and there's no apparent reason (hunger/diaper/temp); simply turning on some static will usually instantly calm and quiet him.

One day while driving in the car, he started complaining, and would not stop. So just for the heck of it, I turned the stereo to AM, de-tuned it, and switched all the sound to the rear speakers. Sure enough, he soon calmed down.. The next day, when he refused to sleep at night, I turned the (old analog) TV in our bedroom on to an empty channel, and sure enough, it soothed him instantly...

So now.. rather than putting up with the static screen lighting up our room, I burned a CD of White Noise. I know this sounds pathetic, but there are so many radio signals around, that it's almost impossible to find consistent static on the radio.. So I burned a CD from http://whitenoisemp3s.com/free-white-noise and put it on my trusty Sony. ( I still have the same one I bought in high school, and amazingly it still works..)

I think he might be outgrowing it now though; a week ago the noise was much more soothing than Mom or Dad's voice.  The last few days I think he may actually prefer us to the sound of static...

Hello cloudy, my new friend.
Ya know it's sleepy time again.
Because you're often softly weeping,
When you know you should be sleeping.
And no matter how we try to calm your brain.
You still complain.
Until the sound... of static.

10k

So I ran the omaha corporate cup this morning...  The plan had been to walk it with Jenn, but she's really not feeling quite up to walking that far yet...  And we didn't have a plan for strollers for the kids, etc.

So..  since I went by myself, I figured I had to run, even though I haven't been out for a run in a few weeks, and ate too much BBQ and cheese dip while watching football games yesterday.. (BTW, this stuff is awesome... Buffalo Chicken Dip )

So I came in 1463rd place with a time of 56:22... Didn't quite hit the 9-min miles I was hoping for , but I guess that's close enough...
http://www.onlineraceresults.com/race/view_plain_text.php?race_id=12140

Star Wars question...

Ok, if Ben is going to be R2D2 for halloween, the cloudy should follow the star wars theme too, right???

I was thinking maybe he could be the "follow-me" droid..  Ya know the little breadbox on wheels that the storm troopers follow down the hall? 

But does anyone know what that thing is called?  Surely it has a name?

Hug the trees, not the Charmin...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/26/science/earth/26charmin.html?_r=2&hp

Hafa Adai

More videos available at http://www.youtube.com/hairlesshacker

we be jammin?

So I tried to hook up our old VCR to watch old movies, and it just started to eat tape and spit it out. So... I ran to target to grab a new VCR - but apparently they don't actually sell them anymore.. Only thing they had was combo DVD player/VCRs..

So I checked craigslist.. and for $7.00 I found a VCR a few miles away... Woohoo! gotta love craigslist..

So.. from 1987... here you have it....

I don't think there's any excuse for how embarrassing this video is. At least Laura was only 7, she didn't know any better. Hank, as the oldest - I blame you for allowing this..

Found a peanut...

Found a peanut, found a peaaanut just now.. Just now I found a peanut, found a peanut just now.


We got this peanut pic taken a couple weeks ago..

Super Snack Bowl...

So.. to start things off, while the pizza was cooking, we had mozzarella cheese sticks with marinara sauce...

Then we had homemade pizza.. Not just any pizza, but Greek pizza.. The local Italian bakery sells pizza dough which makes for a super yummy crust, to which we added sauce, chicken, tomatoes, mozzarella, feta cheese, and spinach.. YUM.

We also had some Chips with Chili-Cheese Dip, and of course guacamole.

And then there was carrots, celery, pickles, and olives with dill dip.

"Is something wrong?", she said
"of course there is..."
"You're still alive", she said
"but do I deserve to be?",
"Is that the question?"
"And if so...if so...who answers...who answers..."
I... . I'm still alive.. yeeaah..."
-PEARL JAM

So despite my efforts in the past year to aggravate and antagonize my bosses, I find myself still employed today. And it's not because I'm good, or I deserve it more than others, or anything like that. I just got lucky. 2 out of the 4 guys on my team didn't make it. And these were smart, bright, hard working guys. So I can't help but feel a bit guilty that I'm "still alive"...