Umm.. the one thing I want to know is what his grades are like as school.. it's pretty obvious he spends a little too much time on the PS..

Added some new fish yesterday, bringing my total to 9 fish. I already had 4 Blue Green Chromis, a Purple Firefish, and a Black and White Ocellaris Clownfish. Now I've added 3 (well, one died last night, so it's now 2) Banggai Cardinalfish and a Convict Blenny. Actually, the Cardinalfish were just put on the endangered species list in September, so I was lucky to get them at all. Luckily these fish are easy to breed in an aquarium so they won't disappear from the trade entirely.. just probably get more expensive.

My corals seem to be doing just fine. Currently I have a orange/tan Toadstool, which is about 1.5 inches across, an inch big Devil's Hand, a small specimen of Deadman's Fingers, and 2.5 inch tall Kenya Tree. I've also got a small Rose Bubble Tip Anemone, as well as many cleaner snails, hermit crabs, and mini sea stars which make up my "clean up crew."

Overall, although saltwater fish are expensive to startup and buy, they are very rewarding to keep. I can sit in front of the tank for hours and just watch the fish and corals move and interact with their environment. It's very relaxing.

Finally, I'll end with a funny clip from Jeff Dunham: Achmed the Dead Terrorist.

Ever stop to think and forget to start up again?

To answer a few people asking if I'm thinking about moving back to K-Dub, I would love to.. but I have too many commitments here in Bismarck; my eldest son is in preschool here, I have my house here, and I have a good job that provides for us. The other big thing is that Wendy's parents are considerably older than my parents and it is far more likely that one (if not both) of them could shuffle off this mortal coil than my parents. As it is, Wendy's dad has been fighting cancer on and off for 4 years now as well as he has some alcohol induced dementia. I wish I could be in both places at once.

I do like living in Bismarck too.. just wish it had an Olive Garden. (We're supposedly getting one in the near future.) We are just about to open our first Ruby Tuesdays which are known for their burgers (mmm). No doubt about it.. Bismarck is getting bigger and bigger.

Bowling's going good.. I've upped my average and found that I need to throw a hook ball now instead of a straight. I went bowling by myself one day to see if I can throw a hook and since then I can no longer throw a straight which means, of course, I need to buy myself a second ball. :( When looking at the pro shop, it looks like an appropriate ball is going to cost me $125. Might just have to be my Christmas present, I guess.

Speaking of bowling, Wendy just got an almost impossible split on Tuesday night.. it was a 6, 7, 10 split (true, not as hard as a 7, 10 split, but that's almost impossible to get the spare!) She is going to be in the Saturday paper since all splits that are successful are put into the paper. I'll see if I can scan it and put it on here.

I don't know why I'm even posting this..

Link: The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test written by donathos on OkCupid, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Dunno if I should congratulate myself or not..

Well, it's been a good while since I last posted.. a good few months.. so I do have a bit to update on.

First off, we had a few camping trips this summer. We tried out a new camping spot called Downstream (about 80 miles from Bismarck) by the Garrison dam. As the name suggests, it on the down stream side from the dam. I was told by coworkers before I went to make sure I brought lots of bug spray but neither time we went did we use it. The first time it was quite hot (90s) and the nights were also quite humid. The second time we went (last weekend), it was cooler, getting close to 36 at night (brrr!) We also took Icee, our dog, the second trip.

The day went fine and the campfire kept us warm before we went to bed. We listened to our XM radio which played movie classics from the James Bond movies. It was fun to try to guess which theme song went with each movie without looking to see first. Jason got sick the first night so we chickened out and went home vowing to return with space heaters to keep the tents warm the following night. Upon our return, we found that we forgot to throw out our trash and our camp site was swarming with wasps. After a quick removal of all open food sources, we went for a trip to check out the swimming area. It was closed, of course, but we still had a good look and plan to visit it next year.

The second night came upon us. It didn't get as cold (around 45 or so), but the heaters in our tents greatly helped. We slept comfortably.. even Icee. :) Eventually, it became time for us to pack up. We said goodbye to our camping season happily.

Wendy and I have also taken up bowling this year and entered in a league. One of my new coworkers, Roy, had been looking for two players to join his team so we volunteered. Now, I'm really not any good at bowling but I like it. The more I work at it the better I get. Maybe by the end of the season I might break 100. :)

Final bit of news worth mentioning is Nathan got staples. We were at bowling practice with the kids when he leaned too far back in his chair and fell over. Nathan hit the back of his head on another chair and cut it open. At first, I didn't think it was that serious since all head bleeds will bleed quite a bit. But when we went to leave, Nathan seemed to look groggy. Half way home, Wendy and I thought he should go get checked out, just in case. I went with Nathan in the ER while Wendy went home with Jason and Lizzy to grab the double stroller. Nathan was a handful, of course but I managed to keep him on his hospital bed for the whole trip. Upon further examination we found a 3/4 inch laceration on the back of his head that was deep enough to see muscle tissue. He required 4 staples.

First off, I had to hold a bit of topical numbing agent on the back of his head. This was the worst part of the trip since Nathan does NOT like to sit still. He cried the place down. After 20 minutes of shear bliss, they put in the staples. Nathan didn't care about the staples being put in.. just that he couldn't move again. Once he was free, he was happy as a lark. Go figure.

He should get the staples out in a week, but until then he has a nasty looking wound on the back of his head. :(

Nothing more to tell.

We’re almost complete with the big move now. Wendy and I decided it was time to separate the two boys (4 years old and 2 years old) and put them in their own rooms. We have a bedroom downstairs but we had used it exclusively as an office till the move. I ended up pulling out the desks and the filing cabinets and bringing the loft that Jason sleeps in downstairs. It was an all day affair! Our office was so cluttered and filthy that half the day was spent just moving the office junk out.

Now that the boys’ rooms were separated, I had to double up on a few items, like hampers and dressers, so it was off to the stores we go. I managed to grab a few good buys from clearance centers. All together it seemed to be a good investment of time and $$ because both boys have done well with their new room arrangements. It’s also very nice to have them in separate rooms because they now get up at different times instead of one of them waking up the other when he’s not ready. Nothing is worse than a whining child who just wants to sleep in a little more when you’re thinking THE EXACT SAME THING YOURSELF!

Well, it’s back to work tomorrow after the snip. I was bleeding till about 2 days ago when I stopped the Naproxen. It seems that Naproxen helps inhibit the clotting factor in blood.. so glad they told me that when I started taking it. Ah well, whatcha gunna do? Looking forward to getting back to work, too. Been way too long since I last started an IV.. hope I still go the skills.

In other news, today is my second frag swap meeting. I am very excited, though my tank is finally starting to look pretty full. I’ve started to run out of room with the current rock setup, so it’s time to think about buying some more live rock. *sigh* Live rock gets expensive fast. True, I have a great local source that I can get it at $7.99 a pound, but I need some 30 pounds. That’s $255 after taxes. I don’t have $255 burning a hole in my pocket right now. :(

Also on the fish front, I finally got my school of Chromis. It’s taken a while to get them all in and alive so I’m pretty happy about that. It’s fascinating to watch them swim as a school, turning directions suddenly, feeding together, and helping each other to ward off unfriendly fish (namely, my yellow tang.) Aquarium keeping is so rewarding.

Gotta bounce!

Been a while since I posted anything, just like always. Biggest thing that happened in this time? Snippy snippy!

But to go into that I have to start from the beginning..

It all started from one of my mistakes. Jason, our eldest, was sleeping after a van ride. Being the good Dad I am, I picked him up and took him to his room to lie down. Since we were just coming back from a trip, he still had his sandals on. On the way past the door, I slipped off his sandals. I sort of figured one had fallen outside the door in the garage when I only saw one sandal that needed to be put away when I went past the garage door 5 minutes later, but I didn't really consciously think about it much.

I was carrying a large package of recyclables to the garage about 1 hour later. I didn't even think about the sandal. It had fallen in such a way that it was leaning on its side. My left foot stepped on half the sandal and my ankle twisted. I didn't lose consciousness, feel anything pop or break, I didn't even fall over, but I was certainly in a lot of pain. I scampered around the garage for a minute or two when the pain subsided.. or so I thought.

I went to work the next day with a small limp. When I had woken up to go to work, it did feel a little stiff but it was not unbearable. I went through my 24 hour shift pretty easy till about 1am when I had a series of 3 calls back to back of heavy patients (all overdoses). On these calls, I could feel that there was a lot of shooting pain up my leg from the ankle. The last patient was particularly hard being on the 3rd floor and the man weighing almost 375 pounds. Thankfully, I have some firemen to help out with the moving but I still had to help out a lot.

The next day when I got off of work I was sporting a very noticeable limp. I looked up when the local clinic was open and went in as soon as it was. X-rays showed no broken bones or serious injuries.. just a sprain. I'm off of work till Monday. Not a big deal.. I get a free week off.

So, I think, "Hey! I'm off work already. Why not call my doctor and see if I can get in for that Vasectomy I'd wanted to do but didn't want to take time off work for? It seemed pretty smart, since I had to take time off anyway. I mean, they say you get it done on Friday afternoon, spend a weekend pampered by the wife, and be back to work on Monday right? Looking at all the info online and reading the little fliers that go with the surgery say it's not a big deal, and certainly doesn't carry as much risk as a tubal ligation; hardly and side effects, rarely any complications. *sigh*

Wednesday I go in and get snipped. The surgery itself wasn't too bad; took the doctor a little longer than usual he said, but still was a success. I called Wendy to come pick me up at the hospital, where she signed my consent form and I was on my way. Then, the trouble started.

I got to the front door and waited for Wendy to bring the van. I was watching one of our kids while she took the other two to the van to get belted in. My son asked me something and it was just then I felt like I had wet myself because my shorts felt cold. Odd feeling. I look down to see my shorts covered in blood. When Wendy came up front I told her I was going back in to the clinic. They sent me straight to the ER (same building). They did the usual tests, thought it was probably pooled blood from the operation, and sent me on my way.

So, then it was Thursday. As was expected, I was feeling a little sore. It kind of feels like someone kicked you in your testicles with the usual nauseated feeling. I was on some pain medications which cut off the worst of the pain, but it was manageable. I’ve certainly felt worse from being kicked there in the past.

Friday came about. The pain increased slightly but was still manageable. I was talking about how I didn’t think it would be possible to go back to work the next day with Jimmy and the boys still swollen like they were.

Saturday was next. Just about the same as Friday I was swollen, itchy, and painful. There was NO WAY I could go back to work like this. Then around 8pm or so, I spiked a low grade fever. I didn’t feel all too bad other than hot, and by the time we thought about taking me in to be checked out, the fever was gone so we forgot about it till the next day.

Then came Sunday. Sunday was an awful day. I felt tired, was swollen to the point of being hard like a softball, and I didn’t want to get out of bed. Still, there was thing to do around the house, kids to supervise, and errands to run so I had to go. I took a long nap in the afternoon. Then came the fever.

I spiked a fever of 101.2, but we couldn’t leave the house since we still had a kid that Wendy was babysitting. Thankfully and out of the blue her mother called us and said her grandmother was going to pick her up at 8. I called our babysitter to watch our kids and Wendy and I went to the ER again.

This time they took an ultrasound after the physical inspection (ouch!). Results came back that I had epididymitis. Epididymitis is an enlargement of the epididymis which is the collection tube that goes from the testes to the vans deferens. (The vans then goes through the prostate, connects with the urethra that expels both semen and urine. A vasectomy cuts the vans deferens to stop the sperm from entering the urethra and being expelled.) I also had inflamed scrotum. It hurt.

Finally they decided to stop fooling around and that I wasn’t just trying to seek drugs or sympathy and started an IV. They gave me Toradol, IV antibiotics, and a liter of fluid since I was dehydrated. The ER doc also prescribed me antibiotics at home, naproxen for inflammation, and more pain meds. He also wanted me to take off till the end of the week, my next day working being Sunday, and to make an appointment with my regular doctor.

The next few days were just as before: pain, inflamed, and just feeling drowsy. Being that tired that long makes anyone irritable, so I do owe a lot of apologies to my wife and family since I haven’t been operating at full power for over a week now. I’ve just felt so down that I’ve started to feel depressed enough to just start eating junk food, which is unusual for me.

That leads to today. I have my appointment with my doc, who wants me off FOR ANOTHER WEEK! That would mean my next work day wouldn’t be till NEXT Saturday! Not sure if I have enough sick time built up for all that, but we’ll have to see. Luckily I haven’t used any sick time for the last two years so I should have enough.

It still doesn’t help me that I’m at home, though. I am a working kind of person. I like to work and to be busy. I work well under a time constraint. These free days are nice and all, but I am going INSANE with all this “free time.” I feel like I just need to get out and DO something for a while, but I can’t. I am stuck here doing nothing because I want to get better.

That all being said, I do have some other things I need to put down not vasectomy related but that will have to wait till another day. I am planning on posting within the next few days about a business venture that I’m hoping takes off. Time will tell, of course, but as I like to remind people, “Old age is a tough price for experience.”