Breakthrough in Relations

The snows in northern NY are not completely gone yet, but the temperatures have been quite nice recently. Some of you know that I love to play sports like Football, Ultimate Frisbee, or any sport that speed/hustle can compensate for . . . well for lack of skill. In any case, I organized a game between the officers and enlisted students in my section at the Nuclear power plant I work at.

-- I don't know how much you know about officers & enlisted in the Navy (or the military in general) but I'll try to briefly explain. Officers outrank enlisted people. There are 8 officer and ~35 enlisted students in my section. Since we are being trained right now, as far as military hierarchy, we are the bottom rung. But the officers have some benefits and don't have to do some of the tedious things that the enlisted people have to do. Officers are also graded by tougher criteria and are required to know more. But in spite of all the differences, we have tried to establish good working relationships. --

So I organized a game of ultimate frisbee / football, and proposed that it should be officer vs. enlisted. That peaked every one's interest and we played on Thursday on a field still slightly soggy from melting snow.

We ended up playing three games to 7 of frisbee. We lost horribly the first game 7-3. But the officers regrouped and we won the next two games 7-5 each. I hurt my left thumb in the first game blocking a pass, but still managed to contribute significantly both completing several TD passes and receiving a few as well.

Then we played football. All the officers were pretty tired, so we mixed up the teams. I used some medical tape to tape up my thumb and I played. I was the quarterback for the majority of the time. I was very pleased because did much better than I expected. My team won both games. I was covered in mud, and very happy. I had a lot of fun. . . . I also had a broken thumb.

One of my biggest worries was that Woodine would respond to the injury like:

"I can't believe you played 5 games with a broken thumb and you're still happy about it!?"

This worry ended up being unfounded. To my relief, she said:

"I'm sorry you hurt your thumb, but I'm glad you had a fun time. And you know, sometimes those things happen."

She even told me about when she played high school softball and she broke her finger, taped it up and played the whole game. I love my wife. :)










P.S. I think the whole event was a success. Everybody had a lot of fun, we got some exercise, and there is a tighter bond between students at work. The only downer is the fact that I have a broken thumb and now I can't say I've never broken a bone :(

Thank You Watercolor

So, since we've been married, I've written a lot more thank you notes than I ever did before. I think it's a good change, but I've always loved making my own cards. I know it's pretty ghetto to do, considering I usually made it from construction paper. I think Woodine saved a few of those construction paper wonders I made for her. So, I found a way to satisfy my urge and still make something that I think is pretty good. Here are some of the results:



















I attached the thank you note on the back and ta-da I have a thank you card. I think a certain SPH-1 and Daddy-O might recognize one of these. Hopefully. I find that I don't have the personal drive to paint if it is just for me, so I love this new set up. I get to watercolor, and someone gets a card. The only downside is saying goodbye to the pieces I like when I put them in the envelope. But at least I have the pictures.

Would you rather....

Buy a stroller that

1. Is larger, but folds semi-compactly and has sturdy wheels?

2. Is a little smaller and also folds semi-compactly but is a little lighter?

3. Folds most compactly, has 2 -handles instead of a bar, and is a little smaller then the large one?

Full size? Compact? Can we supersize that?

We are going with Graco because their Snugride carseats got great safety ratings.

Who you gonna call.....?

Lint Busters!Our dryer vent was clogged, so I cleaned it out. Woodine liked the pictures so much she wanted to share.

Broadway - Baby - Blokus

So Woodine and I went to NYC Friday thru Saturday. We used Priceline to get a relatively cheap hotel right next to Broadway. We showed up, set our stuff down in our room, and walked to Korea town. We had some pretty good Mandoo (potstickers) for lunch and walked around the block to look at the Empire State Building. On our way down Broadway, Christine saw a Jamba Juice and since there aren't any where we live and she had some gift cards for Jamba Juice we had a nice smoothie.
For dinner we went to a different Korean restaurant. I was happy that Woodine liked most of the things we had - even some I don't especially care for! Then we went back to Broadway and saw Wicked. We had the album already so we knew a lot of the story, but we both were pleasantly surprised by the things we didn't expect. It was a great show. It was very witty. We both loved it. I'm glad we chose to go to Wicked over any other.
I liked how it incorporated so much stuff that was in the Wizard of Oz. From the ruby slippers, flying monkeys, Tin Man, Lion, Scarecrow, and even the tornado. I guess I'd be repeating myself if I said we REALLY liked it. But we did. . . and so I did (repeat myself).

We also went and saw Liberty Enlightening the World (A.K.A the statue of liberty) and learned that that was its real name. I liked watching the video on how they made it. The engineer in me loves that stuff. I think Woodine was surprised I spent so much time learning about Lady Liberty. I think she intended on spending more time on Ellis Island. Sorry honey!

On Friday in the midst of sleet and snow, before we headed to New York City, we went and took some pictures of our baby. The ultrasonic fashion advisor was there and apparently Pink is in this year. I loved watching our little baby move around in Woodine's belly. She was so active! She kicked and moved her arms, and even rubbed her eyes with her hands as we watched. We were relieved to find out that she doesn't have a cleft lip (you can't tell about the palate with ultrasounds). Both of us were convinced before we went in that we were having a girl, but as the lady was doing the ultrasound, we both saw something (possibly the umbilical cord) that made us think it was a boy. The lady kept on saying 'him', 'he', and 'his' as she was talking. I realized I had been looking forward to having a girl, and found myself trying to reconcile myself to having a boy! But then the fashion advisor said that our baby was a girl. So then I had to undo my emotional reconciliation I had just begun. I have a lot of nieces and nephews, but I think I am finding (and will continue to find) that the emotional investment in a child skyrockets when they are your own.
She was nestled in a little ball in a pocket of the uterus where the Fashion Advisor said it was really difficult to get good pictures. Our baby girl refused to turn around and face the ultrasound lady. Woodine and I were really happy with all we could see, and I guess if we missed out we have nothing to compare it to and be disappointed about. Plus I was pretty impressed that the ultrasound could make out the color of our baby's tights. Technology these days. I'm just wondering what she did with her shirt.

About a week ago, we went to Target because we got some gift cards for Christmas we still needed to consume. Woodine bought maternity clothes, and I bought among other things, a game called Blokus. We have played it . . . maybe a little more than we ought to have recently. Let's just say we have missed our bedtime most nights because of it. Its great because it is a simple game to learn. The rules are:

1. Each player takes a turn placing a piece touching the corner of at least one of their own pieces already in play
2. You can't place a piece that touches the edge of any of your other pieces

The winner is the person who can place the most pieces on the board. Purple won by one piece in this picture. We bought the small travel version, but I think I will be buying the 4 player version with some of my other gift money because we like the game so much.